Current Research Projects
DFG-Research Project: Refugees‘ Docking Sites in Society – An Inclusion Theoretical Approach
The research project „Refugees‘ Docking Sites in Society“ asks about the specific conditions under which refugees encounter society and thus about everything that is not being considered in current political narratives: How, where and under what specific conditions do refugees practically encounter society and how does integration actually take place in concrete practice on site.
It it here where the research project „Refugees‘ Docking Sites in Society“ comes in. In discussions with experts from carious docking points, the project takes a detailed look at the processes, problems and questions that arise when refugees „come into contact“ with society. The project is particularly interested in medical care in doctor’s offices, the pedagogical work of teachers in schools, cooperation with refugees in companies and artistic work in theater and dance projects.
Project Management: Prof. Dr. Armin Nassehi, Dr. Irmhild Saake
Scientific Staff: Marlene Müller-Brandeck, MA; Till Ernstsohn, MA; Bjarne von Gaessler, MA
Funded by: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Duration: 3 Years, Start October 2020
DFG Research Project: About 'Good Dying'. Actor Constellations, Normative Patterns, Different Perspectives (Content in German)
Meanwhile, a sophisticated management of dying has become part of a ‘good death’, which includes medical care, pastoral care, nursing, family and friends. Above all, each individual is encouraged to remain master of his/her own death. This claim implies that the quality of life of an individual’s final days – personal well-being, closeness to other people, but also the extent of fears, sadness and depressions – inches more and more into the focus in the everyday practice of end-of-life care. Also, it covers all those involved in this process, i.e. the affected individuals themselves, their family and friends, nursing staff, doctors and volunteers. Nevertheless, these multiple perspectives may generate insecurities in the practical work regarding the interpretation of a normative ideal of ‘good dying’.
Our goals include: (1) Applying qualitative research on the theme of end-of-life care in in-patient hospices and palliative wards in order to gather the different perspectives and actor constellations of patients/guests, professional groups and relatives; furthermore, we want to take into account what is understood as ‘life to the end’ and ‘good dying’ in the individual cases. (2) Explicating the normative concepts related with these different perspectives with regard to their dissimilarities and similarities. (3) Starting from this basis to highlight the varieties to which the modern practice of dying refers in empirical terms, detached from its idealized concepts. Both from the viewpoint of Catholic theology and the sociological perspective it is important to discover signs of contingency of these processes in the practice of dying.
Project Management: Prof. Dr. Armin Nassehi, Prof. Dr. Christof Breitsameter, Dr. Irmhild Saake
Duration: 3 years - start in September 2017
DFG Research Project "Translation Conflicts"(Content in German)
The research project “Translation conflicts”, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), starts from two basic assumptions. On the one hand, it builds on the social-theoretical diagnosis of a functionally differentiated modern society. Different to most recourses to the theorem of functional differentiation, our focus is on the unavoidable conflicts between the radically different functional logics. On the other hand, it is based on the observation that the conflict-ridden nature of public discourses must not simply be searched for in different normative standards or a non-terminable debate about good reasons, but that it is directly related with the structure of functional differentiation itself.
The research project will highlight these assumptions in empirical terms using three case studies referring to organ donation, circumcision and palliative care medicine. The common feature of these three cases is that they arouse tremendous public attention in their debates, but also that representatives of different societal and cultural origins clash in this context. It is assumed that the structure of translation conflicts between different functional logics, professions and forms of knowledge can be observed in these cases. The topos of “translation” wants to attract attention to the fact that the different perspectives cannot be illustrated on a one-to-one basis and not without leaving any remainder. Ultimately, this will create unsolvable conflicts for which empirical solutions have to be found at last. Alongside the analysis of the case studies, the research project also aims at taking the theoretical construct of functional differentiation seriously in empirical terms.
On the one hand, the project wants to meet criticism claiming that differentiation means absence of contact and well-defined division of labor. On the other hand, it wants to show in empirical terms how a society that cannot rely on any centrally controlling body or function deals with its differentiation. Furthermore, it is intended to use the findings to derive conceptual specifications of the theory of functional differentiation as a research program.
Project management: Prof. Dr. Armin Nassehi, Dr. Irmhild Saake
Scientific Staff: Dipl.-Soz. Katharina Mayr, Dipl.-Soz. Niklas Barth
Funded by: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Duration: 2015 - 2018
Project Website (Content in German)