The section is dedicated to the tasks and developments of social services and institutions in the context of social science theories, empirical findings and social economy approaches. In our research and teaching, we empirically investigate the regulation and provision of social services and social security by the welfare state, the foundations of social work in terms of labor and social law, and the conditions, objectives and expected consequences of the economization of social services and social security. We are interested in the social constructions, relationships and discourses that underlie the social orders. The focus of the analyses is on the welfare state and its social embedding, and here in particular on the historically and internationally varying distribution criteria of resources, the social processes underlying a change in this control, and the respective effects, especially in changing social compositions.
In an international comparison, we examine the extent to which the institutions and sociopolitical orders established in the postwar period meet today's challenges and demands, how social resources and life courses are readjusted, and what effect the various sociopolitical reforms have on society as a whole. Special emphasis is placed on the differences and developments in the relationship between the welfare state order and social work.
The focus of research an teaching is on:
• internationally comparative research on the welfare state and capitalism
• theory and empirical analysis of institutional change
• social inequality, societal redistribution and rights over resources
• societal frameworks of social and socio-ecenomic sustainability in international comparison
• sociological analyses of socio-political change (marketization, fragmentation, individualisation, egalisation)
• international differences and developments of the relationship between welfare state order and social work
• international differences and developments of the relationship between welfare state order and familial and professional care work
• citizenship and processes of normalization
• development of methods for systematic comparative welfare state research
