Social Security in Crisis Mode (SoSiKri)
Research Project
Social security in crisis mode
The junior research group “Social Security in Crisis Mode” (“Soziale Sicherung im Krisenmodus”, SoSiKri) analyses ecological crisis scenarios and the social security reform proposals that actors formulate as a response. SoSiKri is funded by the Fördernetzwerk Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung (FIS).
The project marks a shift in perspective within social policy research on the role of crises: from the function of social policy in crises or the objectification of crises as triggers for social policy reforms to the question of whether and how crisis anticipation influences social security systems.
On the one hand, the project contributes to understanding the preconditions and consequences of crisis anticipation for one of the main institutions of the welfare state, which, on the other hand, also contributes to the development of ideas of how to use social policy to deal with increasingly diverse, global, overlapping and simultaneously occurring crises.
Research programme
SoSiKri is divided into four pillars. These subprojects investigate sub-national, national and transnational references to ecological crises in different phases of the policy cycle (agenda setting, problem- and policy formulation), and combine qualitative and quantitative research designs. The sub-projects are carried out by three doctoral students and the junior research group leader.
- Pillar A – Social Security in Germany
Subproject A investigates the impact of ecological crisis anticipation on reform proposals using perspectives from policy analysis, innovatively complemented by the role and function of anticipation.
Research questions:
- How do ideas about the future and crisis anticipation influence reform proposals of social security in Germany?
- Which actors are involved in developing reform proposals, in which relationships to one another and at which levels, and how do successful drafts get onto political agendas?
Methods:
Mixed-methods – quantitative methods of text and network analysis (discourse network analysis) and qualitative methods (qualitative content analysis).
Researcher:
- Pillar B – International comparison of reform proposals
Subproject B reconstructs the global spread of existing reform proposals that are formulated as responses to ecological crises.
Research questions:
- What variants of crisis-induced reform proposals exist?
- Are there regional emphases of crisis-induced reform proposals? Preliminary work of the junior research group leader points to a special laboratory function of the global South, for example in the case of the models of “adaptive social protection” or “shock-responsive social protection”.
- In what temporal phases have reform proposals been adopted?
Methods:
Statistical methods of a quantitative large-n country analysis with the goal to construct a system of indicators and a typology of reform proposals, in addition to explaining the patterns of crisis-induced reforms and reform proposals.
Researcher:
- Pillar C – Agenda setting and problem formulation at global and world-regional level
Subproject C conducts a qualitative, comparative analysis of ideas and discourses of reform proposals at the world-regional and transnational level in order to reconstruct ‘careers’ of the problematisation of eco-social policies over time.
Research questions:
- Since when have social security reform proposals been developed as a response to ecological crises and their anticipation? How have these ideas and discourses changed over time?
- Which actors at the world-regional and transnational level are involved in shaping ecological crisis expectations, in what way and in what relationship to one another, and how do these problematise social security functions and systems?
- In what way do expectations of the future influence (the) idea(s) of social security?
Methods:
Qualitative idea and discourse analysis on the basis of paradigms of Grounded Theory.
Researcher:
- Pillar D – Reflection
Subproject D systematises main concepts of the project, in particular the types of crisis anticipation and their effects, and reconstructs general transformations of social security in the face of crises. It does so on the basis of and in cooperation with the other subprojects.
Research questions:
- How are crisis expectations translated by (national) reform proposals, and which role does crisis anticipation play in comparison with other influences on eco-social reforms?
- How do paradigms of social security change through crisis anticipation?
Methods:
Qualitative content analysis.
Researcher:
Team
Dr. John Berten
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Projekt „Fördernetzwerk Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung - Nachwuchsgruppe 2024 Soziale Sicherung im Krisenmodus - SoSiKri" (Projektleitung: Dr. John Berten)
- Telephone
- +49 521 106-4674
- Room
- Gebäude X C4-232
Olivia Jane Whelan
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Projekt "Fördernetzwerk Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung - Nachwuchsgruppe 2024 soziale Sicherung im Krisenmodus - SoSiKri" (Projektleitung: Dr. John Berten)
olivia.whelan@uni-bielefeld.de
- Telephone
- +49 521 106-67490
- Room
- Gebäude X C4-217
Tiantian Li
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Projekt "Fördernetzwerk Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung - Nachwuchsgruppe 2024 soziale Sicherung im Krisenmodus - SoSiKri" (Projektleitung: Dr. John Berten)
- Telephone
- +49 521 106-4693
- Room
- Gebäude X C4-217
Nicolas Alexander Barden
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Projekt „Fördernetzwerk Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung - Nachwuchsgruppe 2024 Soziale Sicherung im Krisenmodus - SoSiKri" (Projektleitung: Dr. John Berten)
nicolas.barden@uni-bielefeld.de
- Telephone
- +49 521 106-4693
- Room
- Gebäude X C4-217
