Social Structure and Social Inequality
Research and Teching unit 5
In the Research and Teaching Unit 5 "Social Structure and Social Inequality", we teach and research the persistence and change of social inequality. We look at the entire range of dimensions of social inequality, from material resources such as income and wealth to health, and focus not only on objective indicators but also on the perception and evaluation of inequality. In doing so, we analyse the influence of social structures - at the level of societies, companies or families - on individuals and how individuals in turn shape social structures.
Our research is more than just a snapshot of existing inequality structures, but examines how new technologies, demographic changes and crises (e.g. the coronavirus pandemic) (re)produce old and new inequalities.
In research and teaching, we use representative longitudinal and cross-sectional data that link item-based measurements with other types of data (survey experiments, administrative data, context indicators). In addition to our own data collection projects, we use secondary data from existing survey programmes - such as the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and the European Social Survey (ESS) - and incorporate the research topics of AB5 into these.
- Research projects
Current projects AG Sauer
- EU-CoG FAIRGAP: Wage Negotiations and Gender Pay Gaps: Exploring the Role of Fairness Attitudes in Europe (funded by the EU: 2025-2030)
- ENHANCE: Cognitive Enhancement in Germany: Prevalence, Procurement Strategies, Causes, and Implications (funded by DFG: 2018-2026, project management: Dr Sebastian Sattler)
- PIJE: Perceptions of Inequalities and Justice in Europe (funded by Leibniz Association: 2020-2025)
Current projects AG Diewald
- TwinLife: Genetic and social causes of life success: More precise modelling of educational success and social mobility using molecular genetic data in a longitudinal twin family study (funded by DFG: 2020-2025)
- IMMUNOTWIN: Long-term immunological consequences in twins with discordant experiences of stress and adversity (funded by DFG: since 2021)
- Teaching
Teaching profile
The programme in field 5 Social Structure and Social Inequality pursues the following learning objectives:
- Students should be enabled to apply the basic concepts of sociology and the general as well as the more specialised theoretical approaches to diagnose and analyse social structure and social inequality in the Federal Republic of Germany.
- Students should be able to use the methods of empirical social research both to obtain and analyse as well as to critically assess empirical data on phenomena of social structure.
- Students should acquire content-related knowledge about the social structure of the Federal Republic of Germany in historical and international comparison and be able to critically scrutinise this knowledge theoretically, methodologically and methodologically.
The training in field 5 Social Structure and Social Inequality is based on the understanding that it is part of the task of sociology to adequately describe and causally explain social phenomena. As in other empirical sciences, we rely on theoretical models that have to prove themselves empirically in terms of their informative value and validity. This means that teaching
- is theory-orientated, because only theories provide the conceptual and analytical tools for a scientifically sound description and explanation of social phenomena and
- empirically orientated, because any description and explanation of social phenomena must be based on a methodologically sound and precise observation of the social world.
Courses
Please refer to the electronic course catalogue (ekvv) for events organised by the department.
- Publications
- Team
- Contact
Svenja Klemcke
Administrative Assistant to Prof. Diewald
sekretariat.diewald@uni-bielefeld.de
- Telephone
- +49 521 106-6992
Sylke Voß
Sekretariat für Prof. Dr. Carsten Sauer
sekretariat.sauer@uni-bielefeld.de
- Telephone
- +49 521 106-3847
- Room
- Gebäude X D2-204
