Germans in Wrocław: “Ethnic minority” versus hybrid identity. Historical context and urban milieu

After 1945, German Breslau was transformed into Ur-Polish Wroc?aw at Stalin’s behest. Most of the remaining prewar population was expelled, and a stable population of a few hundred with German ethnic background is estimated to have lived in the city since then. This paper is based on qualitative analysis of 30 oral history interviews from among the self-defined German minority. It pays close attention to historical context, urban milieu, and salient narratives of identity as shaping forces, which include the suppression of German culture under Communism, prevalent intermarriage between Germans and Poles, and the city’s qualified reinvention as “multicultural” after Polish independence in 1989. Together with the group’s relatively small numbers, these narratives play out in their hybrid approach to ethnicity, often invoking blended cultural practices or the ambiguous geographical status of the Silesian region, to avoid choosing between “national” antipodes of “German” and “Polish.” The results follow Rogers Brubaker’s insight into ethnicity as an essentializing category used to construct groups where individual self-perception may differ; and the concept of “national indifference,” previously applied to rural populations. It also suggests we might better approach circumscribed “minority” identities such as these, by seeing them as a form of “sub-culture.”     

民事诉讼证明标准

证明标准是民事证据法中的一个基本问题 ,本文介绍了几种主要民事诉讼证明标准 ,考察了英美法系和大陆法系的多元证明标准 ,分析了我国传统证明标准的缺陷 ,认为我国应建立多元制证明标准 ,并提出了具体的建构设想。     

国际反恐与先发制人军事行动

先发制人军事行动原則上应被禁止。但在极端情况下采取预先性自卫,已在国际上得到越来越多的响应,其可能的法律依据是联合国会员国或联合国机构对联合国宪章的解释实践。预防性军事行动由于明显缺乏国际法律依据,且这种对自卫权的扩大解释没有被国际社会绝大多数成员所接受,故仍应予以严禁。求助于联合国安理会应对国际恐怖威胁仍是一种最为可取的做法,为此各会员国有必要在武力使用的具体标准和程序问题上尽可能达成共识。     

宪法实施视域中司法裁判宪法援引的实证分析

全面推进宪法实施采用广义的宪法实施内涵,有利于将宪法基本原则和宪法规范贯彻落实到国家与社会生活的各个领域。司法裁判中的宪法援引是宪法实施在司法领域的具体实践,因此,对宪法援引的实证研究能够获得宪法实施的直观印象。借助于新兴的大数据技术,检索含有宪法援引内容的裁判文书,对其进行统计学处理和分析,形成关于宪法援引案件的系统性认知。在此基础上,运用宪法学原理对宪法援引进行解析,以主体为宪法援引的区分标准,将其分解为当事人宪法援引与法院宪法援引两种不同类型,便于深入考察司法实践中宪法援引的具体方式和实际效果,进一步印证宪法援引在推进宪法全面实施过程中所具有的实践价值。     

Die Entwicklung der Europasoziologie aus der Differenz national/europäisch

The terms ?national“ and ?European“ mark different spacial frames which are relevant for the interpretation as well as political regulation of the society. In the case of progressive European integration, these spacial frames are increasingly compete. Attitudes and interests of different actor groups relate to these spacial frames, thus turning ?national“ and ?European“ into the poles of a conflict relationship. In this way tensions become visible, which are crucial for the Europeanization of society hence fundamental for the development of the Sociology of Europe. Sociology needs to be adapted to this constellation by overcoming its nationally framed categories and by understanding spacial frames that develop in practice as empirical data and thus as a part of its subject.     

Amtliche Statistik,Sichtbarkeit und die Herstellung von Verfügbarkeit

This essay analyses the programmatic dimension (?Normalerzählung“ or ?normal account“) of official statistics as a social institution and identifies the two concepts of visibility (?Sichtbarkeit“) and availability (?Verfügbarkeit“) as basic principles of modern official statistics. Up to the 18th Century, the proto-statistical attempts at the quantification of the social can still be described as producing ?visibility without availability“. But with the birth of official statistics as an institution in 19th Century the two basic principles are closely coupled. This coupling in statistic visibility regimes of different ranges and depths appears to be unbroken up to the 1970s and 1980s. Towards the end of the 20th Century, however, these principles are increasingly put to the question. This article argues that this can be interpreted as an indication of a reflexive modernization of the official statistics. These developments will finally be illustrated by empirical examples from the public discourse of unemployment statistics.     

Arbeit, Strafe und der Freiraum der Subjekte*

Over the last decades labour has changed considerably; now individualization and personal enterprise are beginning to shape its character and meaning. In this way, labour has acquired a kind of narrative, which is shown in examples of online-recruiting by German companies. On the other hand, punishment nowadays does not focus on rehabilitation and is, it may be said, handled without any narrative. A comparison of both developments suggests significant changes in social integration and control.     

Ein romantisches Gehirn – Zum <Emphasis Type="Italic">cerebral turn</Emphasis> der strukturalen Anthropologie

Sociology has so far discussed the results of neurobiological research with regard to two different aspects: normatively, as the question for the creatorship of actions, and methodologically, as the question for their relevance in explaining social actions. In doing so, it often ignores the fact that neurobiological naturalism particularly challenges theoretical sociology to account for (socio-)ontological questions of constitution. This paper suggests that, as to this matter, sociology by itself makes advances to the natural sciences. With the help of the example of Lévi-Strauss‘ structural anthropology, it will be shown why and to what range this demand is met. The beginning of the paper explains the extent to which Lévi-Strauss’ programmatic naturalism is romantically motivated. At the level of practical realisation, the next part follows the question to what extent a naturalist position can actually be deduced from the general context of the empirical fields of research within structural anthropology. Finally, the concluding part of the paper discusses the socio-theoretical, cardinal question for the relation of emergence and reduction on the basis of the example of Lévi-Strauss.     

Felder und Institutionen. Der soziologische Neo-Institutionalismus und die Perspektiven einer praxistheoretischen Institutionenanalyse

The rise of new institutionalism in American sociology and its quest for a theoretical foundation has improved attention to Bourdieu’s theory of practice. The article examines chances of a combination of new institutionalism and practice theory as well as prospects of a practice-theoretical analysis of institutions. With some exceptions, it is revealed that neither in theory nor in empirical research Bourdieu’s theory of practice is properly considered by new institutionalism. Nevertheless, fruitful connections between new institutionalism and practice theory are identified especially with regard to basic problems of institutional analysis: the ambiguity of the concept of rule and the delimitation of social institutions as a sociological object of research.     

Moderat bevorzugt, extrem gewählt. Zum Zusammenhang von Präferenz und Wahlentscheidung in räumlichen Modellen sachfragenorientierten Wählens

This article demonstrates, on the basis of survey data from the 2005 German national election, that voters often systematically choose more extreme parties than warranted by their own preferences. Estimation of Grofman’s (1985) spatial discounting model reveals that party preference and vote decision follow different utility functions. Preferences turn out to be purely proximity driven, i. e. voters prefer parties with positions close to their own. Moving from preference to the vote of the top-ranked alternative, a devaluation of party positions and a significant shift in voter utility towards more extreme parties is observed. These results show that voter behaviour may change, even though voter preferences remain unchanged. Results also suggest that the remarkable success of FDP and Linke in the 2005 election is more likely due to shifting behaviour by moderate voters rather than to sweeping changes in the German electorate’s preferences toward welfare policy.