PhD Research Projects

abstract

In 2022, around 19.3 million women in Germany (Bundesagentur für Arbeit 2023a) had already had the experience of having to deal with their menstruation as a problem to be managed in the workplace. Women have to situate themselves and their physicality in a working environment historically shaped by androcentric structures (Kurz-Scherf 2013) construing the female body as deviation or anomaly (Beck et al. 2023). Therefore, women often experience disadvantages and discrimination, particularly due to their physical and physiological characteristics associated with the ability of childbearing (Kordsmeyer et al. 2022). Nevertheless, menstruation has so far been examined in German-language research primarily from a medical and cultural-historical perspective as well as in the context of critical menstruation research (Bauer 2022); gender and, above all, labour sociological references are rather rare. In my thesis, I therefore use the example of menstruation to explore the question of how gender-specific health requirements are negotiated with in the workplace. On a general level, I ask 1) to what extent women's reproductive capacity is still seen as a risk for their integration into the world of work and to what extent menstruating women and their bodies are discriminated against in today's world of work. On the micro level of the subject and their experience I ask 2) how the tabooing of menstruation affects female employees, how menstruating women deal with their menstruation in the workplace under these conditions, and which practices and coping strategies are used to establish the ability to work and to make menstruation invisible. On an organisational level, I then ask 3) which mechanisms lead to the (in)visibility of the topic and which tabooing processes can be identified (by whom). Following Gugutzer (2022), Douglas (1985), and Buckley (1988), body-sociological reflexions on menstruation and cultural anthropological considerations of menstruation, especially in connection with shame and/or tabooing, are first considered. This is followed by a subsumption of the above-mentioned questions in gender-sociological health and labour research and women's health research. Methodologically, case studies are conducted in 4-5 organisations, consisting of problem-centred biographical interviews with menstruating women (Witzel 2000), in-house expert interviews with (male) supervisors and workforce representation including narrative elements (Lamnek und Krell 2016) as well as group discussions. The interviews will be analysed using qualitative-interpretative methods (Przyborski 2021; Lamnek und Krell 2016; Kleemann 2013) of social research. The results should contribute to breaking down taboos surrounding menstruation, shaping workplaces in a more gender-equitable way and giving people who menstruate more room for manoeuvre in dealing with their menstruation. The project is also expected to provide information on how the world of work and occupational health and safety can be organised in a gender-sensitive way. The above-mentioned research gaps in gender and labour sociology are also to be closed.

Christine Best works as a Research Associate at the Social Research Centre Dortmund (TU Dortmund University, Faculty of Social Sciences) in the research area "Work, Organisation, Gender".

First supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef, TU Dortmund University

Second supervisor: N.N.

Contact

Christine Best, Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund, Evinger Platz 17, 44339 Dortmund.

Email: christine.besttu-dortmundde

abstract

Sociodemographic change in Germany poses major challenges, especially for the ageing immigration society of the 1960s. Labour migrants from North Africa occupy a special position but are underrepresented in political and academic discourse. Against this background, the PhD project focuses on how this aspect of social inequality shapes the view of age(s) of subsequent generations of labour migrants and how gender becomes relevant in this context. The focus here is specifically on labour migrants who immigrated to Germany from Morocco as part of the recruitment agreements from 1963 and from Tunisia from 1965. In order to trace the specific challenges faced by this group, it is important to examine the second and third generations and to draw comparisons with their parents and grandparents in order to gain insights into the ageing of the first generation of labour migrants.

The aim is to find out how the subsequent generations perceive their own age(s) and to draw comparisons with their parents and grandparents. In addition to a migration- and gender-specific perspective, a set of qualitative-empirical methods will be used to collect subjective interpretations of how the descendants of North African labour migrants themselves imagine ageing and what perspectives they see in this regard. The result is a typology of the ageing migrant society in Germany, which can be derived from a large number of individual biographies and group discussions. Specific life situations and life courses become visible in the field of tension between the different categories of migration, age(s) and gender. At the same time, the interdependence of these dimensions is constantly emphasised in order to reflect on them with a view to an ageing society in Germany.

Sarrah Bock is a scholarship holder in the Hans-Böckler-Foundation's doctoral programme "New Challenges in Aging Societies" (PK 055).

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef and Prof. Dr. Martina Brandt

Contact

Email: sarrah.bocktu-dortmundde

abstract

Social recognition is a key concept in social theories that negotiate the relation between justice and society. For the individual, recognition is elementary in order to build a positive self-relationship, and for groups, recognition is important in order to ensure a minimum level of peacefulness. My research project examines experiences of recognition and the resulting attitudes towards one's own recognition behavior using the example of young female football players in Germany and Poland. They all have in common their choice of team sport and the high time commitment to football, their age and the associated challenges and developmental tasks in adolescence, as well as their gender. However, the orders of recognition in which girls' and women's football is embedded in the two countries differ. Embedded in the research style of grounded theory, qualitative problem-centered guided interviews are used to investigate which recognition experiences shape the players, which forms and sources of recognition are relevant to them, and what influence the experienced recognition, or lack of recognition, has on their actions.

Marij Duhra works for the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Football Association and is responsible for social issues, incidents of violence, as well as their prevention. 

First supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef                                                                     Second supervisor: N.N.

Contact

Social Responsibility LFVMV-V, Kopernikusstraße 17a, 18057 Rostock

Email: marijduhrade

abstract

The social discourse on homosexuality and bisexuality has changed remarkably in Germany over the last 50 years, leading to increasing social acceptance and legal equality. However, it is questionable how much this benefits older homosexual and bisexual people with support needs. They were socialised in a time of pathologisation and legal sanctioning of same-sex desire and the resulting discrimination could potentially affect all areas of life. Since available social and economic resources in old age do highly depend on earlier living conditions, inequality at the expense of older homosexual and bisexual people with support needs can be assumed here.

This is where the doctoral project comes in, in which the life situation of this group of people is analysed and compared with heterosexual people. Methodologically, quantitative approaches are combined with qualitative methods. Firstly, the two groups will be compared in quantitative studies with regard to their available socio-economic and social resources and their association with life satisfaction using data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS). Subsequently, semi-structured narrative interviews will be conducted and interpreted to reconstruct the subjectively relevant aspects of the interviewees' lives with support needs, including in particular the biographical perspective. This mixed-methods approach enables the results to be presented in a broader context. Thus, the results of the secondary data analysis can be additionally enriched by the qualitative interview findings and viewed from a life course perspective.

In addition to gaining knowledge on the topic, a critical examination of the concept of the life course perspective is also a central component of this project. Hence, existing approaches are critically examined for their suitability for older homosexual and bisexual people and suggestions are made for a theoretical modification.

Robert Heidemann works as a research assistant at the Chair of Social Structure and Sociology of Ageing Societies.

Advisors: Prof. Dr. Martina Brandt; Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef

Contact

Email: robert.heidemanntu-dortmundde

abstract

Under the banner of promoting equality and reducing long-term unemployment as well as alleviating the need for skilled workers, German job centers have found themselves increasingly confronted with the task of activating parents, predominantly mothers (over 90 percent), at an early stage of parenting. More specifically, this concerns mothers with young children under the age of three who are receiving basic benefits (SGB II). According to Paragraph 10, Section 1, Sentence 3 of the German Social Code II, it is not obligatory for a parent to take up work during the first three years of a child's life if this would pose risks for the child's upbringing - e.g., if there is no daycare available. However, according to legislation, this exemption period shall be used to identify and utilize existing potentials for labor market integration of the parent. During this period, the job center workers are supposed to activate skilled workers, and people without school or vocational qualifications should use this time to get training. At the same time, activating the parents of young children in benefit recipiency may undermine the social protection of parenting. This can be interpreted as a step of commodification of this phase of life, which has been under protection by the German welfare state, a step which fits into the picture of a market liberal/neoliberal policy (see Lessenich 2009; Dörre et al. 2013). In my dissertation, I will focus on the increased "activation efforts" on mothers of young children in benefit recipiency from a perspective of gender-sociological precarization research (Castel/Dörre 2009; Völker/Amacker 2015; Motakef/Wimbauer 2020). Given this background, I will pursue the question of which practices, attitudes, and positions the prevailing dogma of work in society (specifically, in the Federal Employment Agency) produces among those "involved in activation" (job center clients and job center employees) and, in turn, to what extent these shape "activation practices." With the help of a Grounded Theory methodology (Clarke 2005), which has been extended to include situational analysis, I plan to create an approach to this field as well as an overview of the practice of activation. The qualitative study focuses primarily on interviews and ethnographic field data. There will be a a special focus on the discrepancies and negotiations between the meanings and significance of motherhood and gainful employment in the context of receiving social benefits. The data for the study will be collected under the direction of Prof. Dr. Markus Promberger within the IAB project ‚Frühzeitige Aktivierung in Bedarfsgemeinschaften mit Kindern bis zu drei Jahren‘, running from 2021-2024 under funding by the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Elena Höpfner is a research associate in Research Department Joblessness and Social Inclusion (ET)

First supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef, TU Dortmund

Second supervisor: Prof. Markus Promberger, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)

Contact

Elena Höpfner, IAB Nürnberg, Regensburger Straße 100, 90478 Nürnberg

Email: Elena.hoepfneriabde

abstract

My PhD project examines the relationship between shame, shaming, sexuality and violence from a gender and power critical perspective. For this purpose, I combine discourse theory, sociology of affects, and feminist materialism. In terms of social theory, I ask how discourses on shame structure the un-speakable, i.e. how they regulate and govern the effects of shame which stabilize a system of sexual-sexualized violence. Furthermore, I examine whether the processing of shame, for instance by transforming it into pride, holds emancipatory potential or rather is embedded in dominant discourses of affect control. The affect-sociological approach to shame and the praxeological analysis of shaming practices soften the often-criticized dichotomy between survivors and perpetrators. Instead, it attempts to focus on shame, processing of shame, or shaming practices of all those involved, while accounting for their fundamentally different positions and experiences. My empirical data is based on the legal changes in German sexual criminal law in 1997 (›rape in marriage‹) and 2016 (›no means no‹), and consists largely of visual campaign material against sexualized violence. Following Adele E. Clarke's (2012) Situational Analysis of discourses, other discourse data such as parliamentary debates, media and fictional adaptations are also included in the data corpus. Methodologically, I combine Situational Analysis (mainly Clarke, Friese, Washburn 2018) and Image Analysis (mainly Breckner 2010, 2012, 2018).

Lilian Hümmler works as a research assistant at the Institute for Sociology with a focus on Women's and Gender Studies (Prof.in Sarah Speck) at the Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main.

First supervisor: Prof.in Elisabeth Tuider, University of Kassel

Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef, TU Dortmund University

Contact

Lilian Hümmler, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Institute for Sociology, HPF 55, 60629 Frankfurt am Main

Email: lilian.huemmlersoz.uni-frankfurtde

abstract

This dissertation project examines the formation and negotiation of family in the context of 'elective co-parenting.' Elective co-parenting, characterized by parents deliberately opting out of romantic partnerships and instead forging parenthood within the framework of a defined division of labor or friendship, serves as a focal point for examining evolving social norms and family constructs. This form of co-parenting is understood as an expression of social transformation processes which, while not (yet) particularly significant in quantitative terms, can provide valuable insights into the future of family forms.

The project uses qualitative methods of empirical social research to explore the inner life of these hitherto underexplored constellations of 'doing family'. Through in-depth narrative interviews with co-parents and their children, the project unravels the intricacies of family formation within the context of established norms, legal frameworks, and day-to-day practices. The aim is to understand how co-parenting families perceive themselves, how they address 'transformation', and what needs they articulate to policymakers, particularly regarding housing, urban, family, and educational policies as well as family law in Bavaria. The analysis also includes an examination of intersectional inequalities within the framework of class, gender, and region. In addition, expert interviews are conducted to investigate how co-parenting families are perceived by family-related organizations such as childcare facilities, schools and youth welfare services.

Marlene Resch works as a Research Associate at the Institute of Sociology at Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Department of Sociology & Gender Studies (Prof. Dr. Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky).

First Advisor: Prof. Dr. Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky, LMU Munich

Second Advisor: Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef, TU Dortmund

Contact

Email: m.reschsoziologie.uni-muenchende

abstract

Domestic workers who clean, wash and cook in private households in Germany are predominantly working undeclared. These unprotected employment relationships do not provide them with social security - and therefore no pension insurance entitlements - that recognize their work and protect them in old age. This gap in old-age security is repeatedly emphasized in research on domestic work as a long-term consequence. But no research has yet investigated how domestic workers age in their precarious living arrangements and how they perceive this. In my doctoral project, I therefore ask,

(1) whether and how precarious living situations of domestic workers change with age,

(2) how domestic workers experience and shape their ageing in the context of employment, transition to retirement and/or retirement and

(3) what subjective meaning they attach to exit from employment and retirement.

To achieve this, I combine reflexive transition research (Stauber et al. 2022, Walther et al. 2020) based on life course theory (Elder 1985) with gender-sociological precarization theory (Castel/Dörre 2009, Klenner et al. 2012, Motakef and Wimbauer 2020). To achieve this, I combine reflexive transition research (Stauber et al. 2022, Walther et al. 2020) based on life course theory (Elder 1985) with gender-sociological precarization theory (Castel/Dörre 2009, Klenner et al. 2012, Motakef and Wimbauer 2020). This perspective makes it possible to understand the meaning as well as the social practice of (not) transitioning from employment to retirement in the context of precarious life arrangements. Biographical, photo-elicited (Clark-Ibáñez 2004) interviews with active and former, irregularly employed domestic workers in and around retirement age form the empirical basis of the study. To evaluate the interviews, I follow an interpretative analysis strategy based on the hermeneutical sociology of knowledge (Hitzler et al. 2020; Reichertz 2007).

Supervisors:  Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef, Prof. Dr. Nicole Burzan

Contact

Email: luzia.schmittmanntu-dortmundde

abstract

Motherhood can be described as a mirror of historical processes of change: The question of emancipation, equal rights, the division of care and availability on the labour market continuously influence the shaping of motherhood. Becoming and being a mother is linked to collective knowledge that is constantly changing on an individual, legal and societal level and creates a framework of orientation that applies in each case. For example, motherhood today is often associated with the social expectation of realising an equal division of care within the nuclear family with simultaneous success in paid work. At the same time, ongoing ‘traditionalisation dynamics’ (Flaake 2014), which, despite all (political and legal) efforts, lead to mothers assuming a large or even sole responsibility for the well-being of their children (Speck 2018), suggest a less extensive change than publicly portrayed. In this context, the question arises as to how collective knowledge about motherhood is actually changing.

In the social sciences, the influences on the organisation of motherhood and parenting are primarily examined on a couple-centred level. In their practices, only a few parents manage to break away from the patriarchal image of motherhood, which nevertheless remains the guiding framework for orientation. The results of couple-centred research on motherhood can thus be attributed to the fundamental endeavour of parents to experience recognition in various spheres of interaction and to shape motherhood and fatherhood according to current social norms, especially from a heteronormative perspective. For mothers in particular, there is a search for recognition in the sphere of employment and a simultaneous desire to conform to the norms of the nuclear family. The doctoral project addresses this dichotomy and focuses on the guiding research question of how motherhood changes across generations.

With reference to Adrienne Rich's feminist theory of motherhood (1979), Honneth's theory of recognition (Honneth 1994) is used to develop a concept that captures motherhood in Germany across generations and, through the targeted elaboration of collective spaces of experience (Mannheim 1980), works out possible continuities and/or differentiations between three cohorts of women as well as their legitimisations. The aim is to reveal moments of change and/or obstacles. Methodologically, based on group discussions with women-as-mothers and childfree women of different generations, the conditions of change and continuity of the collective orientation framework are focussed on. The aim is to use the documentary method to work out spheres of interaction (according to Honneth 1994: esteem, right, love) of motherhood, which together represent an orientation framework for each generation and enable a comparison. In the context of the doctorate, (exclusively) female perspectives of both women with and women without children are examined, thereby expanding the state of research and supplementing it from a feminist perspective. By answering the research question of how collective knowledge about motherhood (does not) change, it will be possible to show developments in social expectations of motherhood.

Judith Stursberg is a doctoral candidate at the Chair of Gender Sociology at TU Dortmund University and, as a research assistant, is responsible for coordinating the dual Bachelor's degree programme in Social Work at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences North Rhine-Westphalia in Cologne.

Primary supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef

Secondary supervisor: N.N.

Contact

j.stursbergkatho-nrwde

abstract

My doctoral project examines how age(ing) and bisexuality (re-)produce inequalities in the life course, how they are co-constituted in different contexts, and chances of socially just ageing for bisexual people. In their interaction, age and (bi-)sexuality as categories of difference are often permeated with chrononormative, heteronormative and/or monosexual assumptions which can have an impact on and thus shape life courses. For example, chrononormativity locates age(ing) and age-coded practices in a temporal, mostly heteronormative organizational frame, which often overlooks the lived experiences of LGBTIQ* people and therefore can misjudge inequality-generating moments in their life course. Simultaneously, monosexuality leads to invisibilities of bisexuality as a desire for more than one gender (bi-erasure). As of yet, comparatively little is known about the entanglement of age(ing) and bisexuality and how their intersection is linked to the (re-)production of inequalities. Given this background, I firstly explore the question of how and where age(ing) and bisexuality become (ir-)relevant and secondly how and where they are produced or prevented as categories over the life course of older bisexual people. Following neomaterialist, posthumanist and material gerontological approaches, I focus on how age(ing) and bisexuality as relational configurations (assemblages) are characterised by situated practices of constitution and boundary-making. Human and more-than-human actors (e.g., bodies, spaces, materialities, institutions and related discourses) are thereby brought into focus. Taking into account neomaterialist methodological approaches, two qualitative data analysis methods are combined using semi-structured autobiographical narrative interviews following Schütze (1983) and photo-elicitation interviews (Clark-Ibañez 2004), which I analyse with Clarke's (2013) situational analysis.

Hanna Wilmes is a scholarship holder in the Hans-Böckler-Foundation's doctoral programme "New Challenges in Aging Societies" (PK 055).

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Mona Motakef, Prof. Dr. Angelika Poferl

Contact

Email: hanna.wilmestu-dortmundde