Research
The Chair of Sociology, in particular Social Inequality, focuses on social inequalities over the life course, including those related to health, the labor market, and educational choices. Methodologically, there is a more quantitative orientation with a particular interest in causality issues. With respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, we explore the impact of the pandemic on mental health, social trust, political orientations, and vaccination decisions. Other research topics include social inequality and body weight, stigma, and social inequality between gender.
The chair is currently working on the following projects:
1. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the transition from high school to vocational education or higher education is being investigated with a DFG-funded project. The project addresses the following research questions:
(a) How do the educational expectations and decisions of high school students from different social backgrounds change during the COVID-19 pandemic? (b) Does parental labor market uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affect the educational expectations and decisions of high school students? (c) Can educational support policies mitigate the effects of uncertainty on high school students' educational expectations during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Answering these questions will reveal the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on social inequality, and possible interventions to reduce these costs.
More information is available here: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/470280514?language=en
2. The BerO study is funded by the German Federal Employment Agency and focuses on the impact of student guidance: evaluation of a nationwide school policy, pedagogical decision making, and long-term consequences of educational decisions.
More information is available here: https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4587
Referred journals:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101054;
https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2020.1826556;
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11150-022-09623-9
Transfer publications:
http://doku.iab.de/kurzber/2021/kb2021-19.pdf;
3. Another project is researching youth unemployment and mental health. It focuses on the role of mental health in the transition from school to work.
Study Publications:
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v10i2.5103
4. A new project on the acceptance of alternative medicine in Germany will start soon, in cooperation with the Charité in Berlin and funded by the Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation.
More information on individual research interests and current research projects can be found in the individual profiles.