Research group “Work.Care.Sociology”
The research group is dedicated to the integrative study of work and care. Through their historical, social and political constitution, work and care shape and (re)produce not only class and gender relations, but also the fundamental structure of social life.
However, work, understood as gainful employment, has changed significantly in recent decades. In addition to globalization, digitalization, feminization, precarization, the dissolution of boundaries and the increasing heterogeneity of forms of employment are key trends of change. These changes are taking place within specific institutional arrangements and are subject to an interplay of (inter)national welfare state measures, organizational conditions and lived practices.
Care, understood as activities of caring, e.g. in the context of childcare, elderly care or domestic work, is a necessary condition for human life and society. Like work, care is also characterized by social changes. Ageing societies, heterogeneity and dynamics of family models, as well as economic and social pressure on welfare states influence the way in which care can be organized, provided and received. Here too, different care regimes, understood as a combination of different interacting fields of policy and practice, react to processes of change.
In analyses of the relationship between production and reproduction work, in the demarcation between the system and the living environment or in academic-political contributions on the question of compatibility or the work-life balance, work and care are outlined as mutually dependent, mutually enabling, but nevertheless opposing areas of life. Both areas are closely intertwined: Gainful employment requires care and care is often practiced as gainful employment. Nevertheless, they are often seen as opposites, which stands in the way of a comprehensive analysis of their interactions.
Against this background, the research group pursues three central objectives:
- Theory development: to understand work and care integratively and relationally, to analyze institutional interdependencies and to question common demarcations.
- Empirical research: To investigate in depth the changes brought about by digitalization, feminization and precarization and their effects on work and care arrangements.
- Methodological innovation: Developing new methodological approaches to comparatively research phenomena such as platform work and global differences in work and care.
Further information on current contributions of the research group can be found under News and on the respective personal websites of the members.