Work, Welfare State, Inequality

The research area Work, Welfare State, Inequality focuses on the public regulation of market-induced and life situation-related inequalities and the associated conflicts. Our research programme understands social security as a core element of political culture and investigates welfare state regimes as central social norming and relational mechanisms of modern societies and arenas of social opportunity distribution. It thus profiles security and inequality as leading categories of contemporary historical social analysis.
Research on the transformation of work plays a central role here. Industrial production regimes are analyzed from a cross-system perspective as models of social order and the consequences of processes of change in the world of work on social inequality are examined.

Forschung

Projekte

Women in Movement. Migrant Self-Organization and Transnational Mobilization of Migrant Women from Turkey in West Germany (1961-1990)

 Elisabeth Kimmerle

PhD project
Project leader at ZZF: Frank Bösch

Labor migration from Turkey to West Germany in the 1960s created a transnational space through which the countries’ histories became deeply entangled. The Project explores these entanglements, focusing on how migrant women from Turkey as local and transnational actors negotiated and expanded the limited agency they had due to their migration to West Germany.

Screenshot of the website wandel-der-arbeit.de, BArch, Bild-F040741-0020 / Lothar Schaack

Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

 Frank Bösch, Winfried Süß

Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation

Direction: Frank Bösch/ZZF, Winfried Süß/ZZF (speaker), Stefan Berger/ISB Bochum, und Andreas Wirsching/IfZ München-Berlin
Duration: November 2021 - October 2024 (second funding phase of the Kolleg).

Hot on the heels of the world. An international history of the West German shoe industry from 1970 to 2000

 Christina Häberle

Associated PhD project
Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

This project follows the footsteps of the German shoe industry abroad, tells the story of the companies and their employees.

The "Reichtumsuhr", Photo: Bernd Schwabe, Quelle: Wikimedia Commons, Lizenz: CC BY-SA 3.0

Rich and poor. Conflicts over social inequality in the 20th and 21st centuries

 Winfried Süß

Bookproject

The aim of the book project is to provide a history of social inequalities in the 20th and early 21st centuries from the perspective of conflict history, which aims to contribute to the historical contextualization of current debates.

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt speaks at the central rally of the DGB on May 1, 1973 in Munich. Photo: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F039611-0005 / Storz / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Jobs for everyone? The role of the German Trade Union Confederation in the conflicts about unemployment and poverty, 1972-1998

 Katharina Thießen

Associated PhD project

Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Using the example of the umbrella organization DGB union efforts and interests in dealing with the unemployment problem are analyzed. Why the DGB insisted on its demands and only hesitantly adapted to the changed circumstances and living conditions is determined in the project on the basis of four fields of investigation: g social inequalities.

Law, Science and Gender: The Reform of the Abortion Law (§218) during the German Unification Period (1980-2000)

 Juliane Scholz

Bookproject

In the early 1990s the reform of §218 was accelerated by the idea of integrating East and West German criminal codes. And it was vastly influenced by legal experts such as a research group dedicated to abortion law at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law. The study will show how they became an important player in the “legal unification” of Germany.

Gesellschaftsgeschichte des ostdeutschen Handwerks im Systemumbruch zwischen 1980 und 2000

Alexia Pooth (bis 30. April 2024)
Forschungsprojekt
Gefördert von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft

Ausgangspunkt des Projekts ist der Richtungswechsel in der DDR-Handwerkspolitik seit 1976. Im Vergleich verschiedener Gewerke wird erforscht, welchen privaten und genossenschaftlichen Betrieben sich seit den späten 70er Jahren neue Arbeits- und Verdienstmöglichkeiten eröffneten und welche nach wie vor um ihre Existenz kämpfen mussten.

"Flexible" and "precarious". Labour and time relations in temporary work in Germany

 Lukas Doil

Associated PhD project
Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

This doctoral project examines the transformation of work and temporal regimes in temporary employment since the 1970s. It focuses on the micro- and meso-levels of work and the lifeworld, social conflicts and distinctions, and the media and academic observation of this development and its reciprocal effects.

The first Ford Taunus rolls off the assembly line in Cologne, November 23, 1948. Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2005-0722-512 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2005-0722-512, Köln, Erster Ford Taunus läuft vom Fließband., CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Fordism as a Keyword of the Twentieth Century

Rüdiger Hachtmann (Senior Fellow)
Bookproject

The study will focus on Germany, including perspectives on global and international developments (besides the USA, particularly Japan, the USSR, Italy and Sweden [post-Fordist Volvo system]). The study will be divided into six chapters, each consisting of about fifty pages: (1.) Introduction (relevant terms, concepts and more); (2.) Development up to 1933; (3.) Third Reich; (4.) German Democratic Republic; (5.) Federal Republic of Germany; (6.) ‘crisis’ of Fordism/Post-Fordism.

Ansicht eines Einkaufszentrums des volkseigenen Einzelhandels „HO“ im Juni 1990 in Brandenburg. Die Reklame an den Schaufenstern wirbt bereits für westliche Produkte, Juni 1990, vermutlich Falkensee. Urheberin: Viola Kaffke, CC BY-NC-ND, www.wir-waren-so-frei.de

Die sozialen Folgen des Wandels im Einzelhandel in Ostdeutschland in den 1990er Jahren

 Till Goßmann

Associated PhD project
Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Das Projekt untersucht die sozialen Folgen der arbeitsweltlichen Veränderungen im ostdeutschen Einzelhandel im ersten Jahrzehnt nach der deutschen Einheit. Dabei nimmt die Studie das Aufkommen neuer sozialer Ungleichheiten unter dem Fokus auf die Dimensionen von „Geschlecht“ und „Wissen“ in den Blick. Im Sinne einer „Ko-Transformation“ fragt das Vorhaben des Weiteren nach den Rückwirkungen dieser Prozesse auf den westdeutschen Handel.

 

Sign for the probation service at the district court Itzehoe, 2011. Photo: Foto: Nightflyer, Itzehoe Bewährungshilfestelle Hinweisschild am Landgericht IMG 5292, CC BY 3.0

Freedom on Probation. Probation Service in the Federal Republic of Germany between Rehabilitation and Risk (1950-2000)

 Caroline Peters

Associated PhD project

The suspension of a full sentence or part of the sentence on probation is based on the idea of re-socialisation and thereby on the idea that every person could choose a life without criminal offences. But the probation system has had varying priorities concerning help and control since its institutionalisation in the 1950s.

Eine deutsch-deutsche Sozialgeschichte von Eisenbahner*innen im Zeichen von Wiedervereinigung und Privatisierung

 Jessica Hall

Associated PhD project
Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Frage: Welche sozialen Folgen hatten Wiedervereinigung und Privatisierung der deutsch-deutschen Eisenbahnen für die Arbeits- und Lebensverhältnisse von Eisenbahner*innen? Dies im Kontext globaler Veränderungen von Logistikstrukturen durch die zunehmende internationale Arbeitsteilung und den Aufbau „schlanker“ Produktionsketten mit erhöhtem Bedarf an Transportlogistik.

Work, Welfare State, Inequality

The research area Work, Welfare State, Inequality focuses on the public regulation of market-induced and life situation-related inequalities and the associated conflicts. Our research programme understands social security as a core element of political culture and investigates welfare state regimes as central social norming and relational mechanisms of modern societies and arenas of social opportunity distribution. It thus profiles security and inequality as leading categories of contemporary historical social analysis.
Research on the transformation of work plays a central role here. Industrial production regimes are analyzed from a cross-system perspective as models of social order and the consequences of processes of change in the world of work on social inequality are examined.

Forschung

Projekte

Women in Movement. Migrant Self-Organization and Transnational Mobilization of Migrant Women from Turkey in West Germany (1961-1990)

 Elisabeth Kimmerle

PhD project
Project leader at ZZF: Frank Bösch

Labor migration from Turkey to West Germany in the 1960s created a transnational space through which the countries’ histories became deeply entangled. The Project explores these entanglements, focusing on how migrant women from Turkey as local and transnational actors negotiated and expanded the limited agency they had due to their migration to West Germany.

Screenshot of the website wandel-der-arbeit.de, BArch, Bild-F040741-0020 / Lothar Schaack

Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

 Frank Bösch, Winfried Süß

Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation

Direction: Frank Bösch/ZZF, Winfried Süß/ZZF (speaker), Stefan Berger/ISB Bochum, und Andreas Wirsching/IfZ München-Berlin
Duration: November 2021 - October 2024 (second funding phase of the Kolleg).

Hot on the heels of the world. An international history of the West German shoe industry from 1970 to 2000

 Christina Häberle

Associated PhD project
Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

This project follows the footsteps of the German shoe industry abroad, tells the story of the companies and their employees.

The "Reichtumsuhr", Photo: Bernd Schwabe, Quelle: Wikimedia Commons, Lizenz: CC BY-SA 3.0

Rich and poor. Conflicts over social inequality in the 20th and 21st centuries

 Winfried Süß

Bookproject

The aim of the book project is to provide a history of social inequalities in the 20th and early 21st centuries from the perspective of conflict history, which aims to contribute to the historical contextualization of current debates.

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt speaks at the central rally of the DGB on May 1, 1973 in Munich. Photo: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F039611-0005 / Storz / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Jobs for everyone? The role of the German Trade Union Confederation in the conflicts about unemployment and poverty, 1972-1998

 Katharina Thießen

Associated PhD project

Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Using the example of the umbrella organization DGB union efforts and interests in dealing with the unemployment problem are analyzed. Why the DGB insisted on its demands and only hesitantly adapted to the changed circumstances and living conditions is determined in the project on the basis of four fields of investigation: g social inequalities.

Law, Science and Gender: The Reform of the Abortion Law (§218) during the German Unification Period (1980-2000)

 Juliane Scholz

Bookproject

In the early 1990s the reform of §218 was accelerated by the idea of integrating East and West German criminal codes. And it was vastly influenced by legal experts such as a research group dedicated to abortion law at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law. The study will show how they became an important player in the “legal unification” of Germany.

Gesellschaftsgeschichte des ostdeutschen Handwerks im Systemumbruch zwischen 1980 und 2000

Alexia Pooth (bis 30. April 2024)
Forschungsprojekt
Gefördert von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft

Ausgangspunkt des Projekts ist der Richtungswechsel in der DDR-Handwerkspolitik seit 1976. Im Vergleich verschiedener Gewerke wird erforscht, welchen privaten und genossenschaftlichen Betrieben sich seit den späten 70er Jahren neue Arbeits- und Verdienstmöglichkeiten eröffneten und welche nach wie vor um ihre Existenz kämpfen mussten.

"Flexible" and "precarious". Labour and time relations in temporary work in Germany

 Lukas Doil

Associated PhD project
Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

This doctoral project examines the transformation of work and temporal regimes in temporary employment since the 1970s. It focuses on the micro- and meso-levels of work and the lifeworld, social conflicts and distinctions, and the media and academic observation of this development and its reciprocal effects.

The first Ford Taunus rolls off the assembly line in Cologne, November 23, 1948. Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2005-0722-512 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2005-0722-512, Köln, Erster Ford Taunus läuft vom Fließband., CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Fordism as a Keyword of the Twentieth Century

Rüdiger Hachtmann (Senior Fellow)
Bookproject

The study will focus on Germany, including perspectives on global and international developments (besides the USA, particularly Japan, the USSR, Italy and Sweden [post-Fordist Volvo system]). The study will be divided into six chapters, each consisting of about fifty pages: (1.) Introduction (relevant terms, concepts and more); (2.) Development up to 1933; (3.) Third Reich; (4.) German Democratic Republic; (5.) Federal Republic of Germany; (6.) ‘crisis’ of Fordism/Post-Fordism.

Ansicht eines Einkaufszentrums des volkseigenen Einzelhandels „HO“ im Juni 1990 in Brandenburg. Die Reklame an den Schaufenstern wirbt bereits für westliche Produkte, Juni 1990, vermutlich Falkensee. Urheberin: Viola Kaffke, CC BY-NC-ND, www.wir-waren-so-frei.de

Die sozialen Folgen des Wandels im Einzelhandel in Ostdeutschland in den 1990er Jahren

 Till Goßmann

Associated PhD project
Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Das Projekt untersucht die sozialen Folgen der arbeitsweltlichen Veränderungen im ostdeutschen Einzelhandel im ersten Jahrzehnt nach der deutschen Einheit. Dabei nimmt die Studie das Aufkommen neuer sozialer Ungleichheiten unter dem Fokus auf die Dimensionen von „Geschlecht“ und „Wissen“ in den Blick. Im Sinne einer „Ko-Transformation“ fragt das Vorhaben des Weiteren nach den Rückwirkungen dieser Prozesse auf den westdeutschen Handel.

 

Sign for the probation service at the district court Itzehoe, 2011. Photo: Foto: Nightflyer, Itzehoe Bewährungshilfestelle Hinweisschild am Landgericht IMG 5292, CC BY 3.0

Freedom on Probation. Probation Service in the Federal Republic of Germany between Rehabilitation and Risk (1950-2000)

 Caroline Peters

Associated PhD project

The suspension of a full sentence or part of the sentence on probation is based on the idea of re-socialisation and thereby on the idea that every person could choose a life without criminal offences. But the probation system has had varying priorities concerning help and control since its institutionalisation in the 1950s.

Eine deutsch-deutsche Sozialgeschichte von Eisenbahner*innen im Zeichen von Wiedervereinigung und Privatisierung

 Jessica Hall

Associated PhD project
Project of the Postgraduate Research Group of the Hans Böckler Foundation
Social Consequences of the Transformation of the World of Work in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Frage: Welche sozialen Folgen hatten Wiedervereinigung und Privatisierung der deutsch-deutschen Eisenbahnen für die Arbeits- und Lebensverhältnisse von Eisenbahner*innen? Dies im Kontext globaler Veränderungen von Logistikstrukturen durch die zunehmende internationale Arbeitsteilung und den Aufbau „schlanker“ Produktionsketten mit erhöhtem Bedarf an Transportlogistik.