Call for Papers for the 2nd Doctoral Workshop of the German EspaNet Section
“Welfare State Transformation(s): Political Regulation and Social Inequality”
Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS)

October 13th/14th, 2011

Since the beginning of the 1990s, welfare state arrangements all around the world have been facing enormous challenges. Mass unemployment, ageing populations, intensified international competition, and increasing public deficits instigated an ever ongoing process of welfare state reforms, which varied from country to country in scope and kind, but implied organisational changes as well as benefit cutbacks in established programs. At the same time, policies against so- called new social risks were introduced or expanded, e.g. to improve the reconciliation of work and family. On the one hand, the effects of these reforms and adjustments can be recognised at the level of political regulation. Conceptions of welfare as investment, the change from provision to activation policies, the introduction of welfare markets, new organisational networks of welfare producers – these are only some aspects of recent shifts in welfare regulation. On the other hand, these shifts are accompanied by changes at the level of individual welfare. In this process, we are facing old and new forms of social inequality, deprivation and exclusion, for example along the lines of class and gender. The doctoral workshop invites dissertation projects focussing on either one of both levels or – ideally – on the interrelations between welfare regulations and social inequality.

This workshop seeks to bring together doctoral students from German Universities and Non- University Research Institutions. We welcome papers from different theoretical and empirical perspectives (qualitative case studies, historical analyses, quantitative micro and macro level studies). As special emphasis will be put on the research design, the presenters should be in a position to present the overall framework, research questions and methodology of their projects, and – if possible – some preliminary/indicative findings. Presentations in English are preferred, but presentations in German are also possible. Short papers should be provided beforehand.

Presentations will be grouped according to subject areas into 3-4 panels with senior staff members as commentators. Senior staff present at the workshop includes:

• Prof. Bernhard Ebbinghaus, Universität Mannheim
• Prof. Annette Henninger, Philipps-Universität Marburg
• Prof. Stephan Lessenich, Universität Jena
• Prof. Steffen Mau, Universität Bremen
• Dr. Sascha Münnich, Max Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln
• Prof. Olaf Groh-Samberg, Universität Bremen/DIW

For application, please send us an abstract of your research project (max. 1000 words in English or German) until May 30th 2011, E-mail address: espanet2011@bigsss.uni-bremen.de. There is limited funding for travelling expenses; your application should also make clear whether you are in need of refunding.

Local organizers are Olaf Groh-Samberg, Philipp Lersch, Steffen Mau and Maike Schulz.