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Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics, and Business Administration

Chair of Sociology, especially Methods of Empirical Social Research

  1.  University of bamberg
  2. Faculties
  3. Social Sciences, Economics and Business Administration
  4. Subjects and Institutes
  5. Institute for Sociology
  6. Chairs and Professorships
  7. Chair of Sociology, especially Methods of Empirical Social Research
  8. Research
  9. Completed research projects

Completed projects

SECCOPA: The socio-economic consequences of temporary employment: A comparative panel data analysis

Duration: 1 April 2018 - 31 March 2023
Funding: This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 758491).
Funding volume: 1.393.561 Euro

Project homepage: seccopa.de
X/Twitter: @seccopa_project

Involved researchers at the University of Bamberg:
Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel (Project Director)
Dr. Jonathan Latner (Post-doctoral Research Associate)
Sophia Fauser (M.A.) (Doctoral Research Associate)
Chen-Hao Hsu (M.A.) (Doctoral Research Associate)
Nicole Saks (Student Assistant)
Sonja Scheuring (M.Sc.) (Doctoral Research Associate)
 
Kurzbeschreibung:
Befristete Besch?ftigung ist in den Industriel?ndern weit verbreitet und es wurden viele Bedenken über diese Entwicklung ge?u?ert. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden wir neue Einblicke in die vielf?ltigen sozio?konomischen Folgen von befristeter Besch?ftigung geben. Theoretisch ist dieses Projekt innovativ, indem es ein mehrstufiges dynamisches Modell entwickelt, das Ideen aus Soziologie, ?konomie, 188bet亚洲体育备用_188体育平台-投注*官网 und Sozialpolitik verbindet. Konkret werden wir ein neuartiges, umfassendes Verst?ndnis dafür gewinnen, wie sich befristete Arbeitsverh?ltnisse auf die Besch?ftigung und den beruflichen Werdegang, die Risiken von Einkommensarmut und materieller Deprivation sowie das subjektive Wohlbefinden auswirken. Ziel dieses Projektes ist es, die kausalen Auswirkungen von befristeten Vertr?gen mit Hilfe von Paneldaten zu sch?tzen und moderne Methoden der Kausalanalyse anzuwenden. Die Erg?nzung des dominanten "Aufw?rts"-Vergleichs von Arbeitnehmern/Innen mit befristeten Arbeitsverh?ltnissen zu solchen mit permanenten Arbeitsvertr?gen mit einem "Abw?rts"-Vergleich von befristeter Besch?ftigung zu Arbeitslosigkeit hat das Potenzial, bahnbrechende Ergebnisse über das integrative Potenzial von befristeten Arbeitsvertr?gen für Arbeitslose zu erzielen. Darüber hinaus werden neue Erkenntnisse über die Heterogenit?t der Auswirkungen von befristeter Besch?ftigung auf der Mikroebene durch detaillierte Subgruppenanalysen gewonnen. Ferner wird dieses Projekt die Forschung vorantreiben, indem es die sozio?konomischen Folgen von befristeten Arbeitsverh?ltnissen in einer dynamischen Prozess- und Lebensverlaufsperspektive herausarbeitet. Die Auswahl, Behandlung und Ergebnisdynamik wird durch die Beobachtung von Leiharbeitnehmern und ihren Lebensumst?nden im Laufe der Zeit untersucht. W?hrend sich die bisherigen Studien nur auf einzelne Arbeitnehmer konzentriert haben, wird auch die wichtige Haushaltsperspektive und ihre moderierende Rolle herausgearbeitet. Die Analyse der west- und osteurop?ischen L?nder sowie der liberalen Wohlfahrtsstaaten Kanada, USA, Südkorea, Japan und Australien und die Anwendung innovativer mehrstufiger Paneldatenmethoden werden zu signifikanten neuen Erkenntnissen führen und Pionierforschung über die moderierende Rolle des strukturellen und institutionellen Makrokontextes darstellen.

ECSR network workshop: "Labor market insecurity and health of family members"

here and here.

EXCEPT: Social Exclusion of Youth in Europe: Cumulative Disadvantage, Coping Strategies, Effective Policies and Transfer

Duration: 1 May 2015 - 30 April 2018

Funding: European Commission - Horizon 2020; focus ?Societal Challenges-Inclusive, innovative & reflective societies- Call YOUNG-1-2014” (Grant Agreement No. 649496)

Funding volume: 2,497,416 Euro (thereof 256,906 Euro for the University of Bamberg)

Homepage:http://www.except-project.eu/home/

Cooperation Partners:

  • Tallinn University, Estonia (Dr. Marge Unt, Principal Investigator)
  • Universit?t of Bamberg, Germany (Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel, Co-Principal Investigator)
  • University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
  • Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
  • University of Turin, Italy
  • Educational Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
  • Ume? University, Sweden
  • University of Kent, Centre for Health Services Studies, United Kingdom
  • Kyiv School of Economics, Kyiv Economics Institute, Ukraine

Involved researchers:

58 researchers from 9 countries.

Involved researchers at the University of Bamberg:

Short description: Against the background of youth’s increasing labour market insecurities during the recent crisis, this interdisciplinary and internationally comparative project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the consequences of youth labour market vulnerability and the subsequent risk of social exclusion in Europe. A multidimensional dynamic perspective on both objective and subjective dimensions of the social exclusion of young people is adopted in order to identify the complex interrelationships and potential risks of cumulative disadvantages and possible compensatory mechanisms. Specifically, implications of labour market insecurities for youth’s risk of poverty and material deprivation, their subjective well-being and health status as well as their ability to reach independence from childhood homes are investigated in a mixed-method approach. First, qualitative interviews are conducted with youths from nine selected European countries, including Ukraine, in order to reach an in-depth understanding of how disadvantaged youths perceive their social situation and their coping strategies within different economic, institutional and cultural environments. Second, quantitative methods are applied using EU-28 and national micro-data in order to identify the causal interrelationships and dynamic processes of youth’s social exclusion in different national contexts. Third, based on expert interviews and policy evaluation analyses, the diffusion and effectiveness of EU and national policies which address various issues of youth’s social exclusion are assessed in EU-28. A central objective of this comparative project is to discover examples of best practices and provide suggestions for reforms and policies which will help improve the social situation of young people facing labour market insecurities while simultaneously involving youths own voices in the process. By including and addressing different stakeholder groups at all stages of the project the dissemination of results will be ensured.

TEW-CCA: Opportunities and Barriers at the Transition from Education to Work. A Comparative Youth Study in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan

tew-cca.de
Twitter: @TEW_CCA

Project director: Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel

Cooperation Partners:

Involved researchers at the University of Bamberg:

Short description: This interdisciplinary project carries out a multi-country study on youths’ labour market integration in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan in times of increasing uncertainty. Based on a micro-macro theoretical model we study the opportunities and constraints young individuals face during their transition from education to work in different cultural, economic and institutional contextual settings. Original data are produced in a mixed-method approach with a focus on conducting three large-scaled quantitative youth surveys (N=2,000 persons per country) and supplementary qualitative in-depth interviews in a comparative design in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan. The explicit focus on studying the dynamic processes of youth transitions in a life course perspective represents the key innovation of the project. A multidimensional perspective on both objective and subjective dimensions of the situation of young people is applied in order to reach a holistic assessment and to understand how objective conditions are translated into subjective youth identities and vice versa. Analyzed at the institutional level is how education and training institutions, labour market institutions as well as related segments, welfare institutions, and family/gender regimes ease or hamper youth chances of successful integration into gainful employment. By performing comparative analyses, examples of best practices and recommendations for institutional reforms and policies will be developed which help not only improve the transition from school-to-work in particular, but also the general socio-economic situation of youths in the South Caucasus and Central Asian region.

Preparatory meeting "Chances and barriers in transition from educational system to labour market: a comparative yotuh study in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan"

Duration: 2014

Funding: VolkswagenStiftung (funding initiative "Between Europe and Orient", call "Institutional change and social practice. Research on the political system, the economy and society in Central Asia and the Caucasus")

Funding volume: 6,900 Euro

Project director: Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel

Short description: The aim of the preparatory workshop, which was held at the University of Bamberg from 29 to 30 October 2014, was to develop a full research proposal on "Opportunities and Barriers at the Transition from Education to Work. A Comparative Youth Study in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Tajikistan". Workshop participants were Tair Faradov (International Centre for Social Research ICSR) and Rajab Sattarov (ICSR and Baku State University) from Azerbaijan, Irina Badurashvili (Georgian Centre of Population Research GCPR) and Giorgi Meladze (I.Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University) from Georgia, as well as Saodat Olimova (SHARQ Research Center) and Subhon Ashurov (Technological University of Tajikistan, Dushanbe) from Tajikistan. This research network unites experts from sociology, psychology, economics, demography and human geography, which is a promising approach given the variety of problems youths face in Central Asia and the Caucasus. The partners of the research network are very grateful to Volkwagen Foundation for financing the preparatory workshop. The research network intensified its cooperation in preparation of, during and after the workshop. It was used as an opportunity to discuss the helpful comments of pre-proposal reviewers and to collaboratively develop the full research proposal.

During the workshop, members of the research network presented preliminary results and thoughts concerning the topic of youth labour market transitions in the Caucasus and Central Asia through an interdisciplinary perspective. Michael Gebel held a presentation on “The Transition from Education to Work in Central Asia and the Caucasus in International Comparative Perspective” and provided a cross-national perspective and summarized main results of previous research projects in neighbouring regions of Eastern Europe (such as the Volkswagen Foundation project “Educational Systems and Labour Markets in Central and Eastern Europe”) and the Middle East. The colleagues from Georgia covered demographic and human geographical aspects of the transition from education to work in Georgia. Irina Badurashvili presented on “Gender aspects of transition to adulthood in Georgia” and Giorgi Meladze presented on “Regional aspects of demographic situation in Georgia”. Tair Faradov and Rajab Sattarov provided important first insights from (social-)psychology. They presented jointly on “Social values and individual attitudes with regard to education, work and family among youths in Azerbaijan”. Their presentation provided important insights into the role of subjective factors and attitudes, which will be addressed in the planned youth surveys, especially the qualitative youth surveys addressing self-concept. Saodat Olimova gave a presentation on “Youth of Tajikistan in the transition from education to work: challenges and individual life strategies Tajikistan” and emphasized the issue of ethnic minorities and religion (Islam) as important ascriptive factors in the transition from education to work in Tajikistan. In his presentation, “The state of the labour market and youth employment in Tajikistan”, Subhon Ashurov summarized the challenges the Tajik education system faces in preparing youth for labour market integration. He also emphasized the important issue of youth labour migration form Tajikistan to Russia, which led the research network to decide to address the issue of migration.

Young Women's Labour Market Chances in Muslim Middle Eastern and Northern African Countries

Duration: 2011 - 2014

Funding: Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Wuerttemberg and the University of Mannheim

Funding volume: 93,933 Euro

Project director: Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel (This research project was located at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research)

Short description: Against the background that young women in Middle Eastern and Northern African (MENA) countries have the worst labour market chances in worldwide comparison, the central research question of this project was to identify determinants of young women’s labour market chances in MENA countries. Instead of focusing simply on labour market aspects, this project adopted a holistic perspective on women’s school-to-work transition process and important related processes of educational attainment and family formation following the conception of “transition to adulthood”. Adopting a life course perspective, a general micro-macro-theoretical framework was developed for understanding the chances and barriers women face in their transition to adulthood.

For the empirical analyses, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, and Syria were selected as country case studies. Macro-data were collected and analysed in order to describe the specific institutional, cultural, and macro-structural context that young women face in the four selected MENA countries. Moreover, the project drew on micro-data from nationally representative, large-scale individual-level data from household panel surveys and retrospective youth surveys from Egypt, Iran, Jordan, and Syria, covering the most recent years prior to the Arab Spring. Based on these data, women were tracked over their early life courses, enabling the capturing of the dynamic processes and micro-level causal mechanisms of the transition to adulthood.

Results of the project were presented at several international conferences and were published in a monograph (Gebel, M. and S. Heyne (2014). Transitions to adulthood in the Middle East and North Africa. Young women’s rising? Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan). The results show that there is no standard pathway to adulthood, rather a great variety of individual early life courses, inducing a high level of social inequality among young women. A set of individual-level, familial, and contextual factors were identified that hinder or pave young women's way in the different life domains. Moreover, results show strong interrelationships between early life course conditions and transitions.


For further information click here.

The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Youth Labour Markets in Europe

Duration: 2013 - 2014

Funding: Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Wuerttemberg

Funding volume: 139,794 Euro (Though funding for the project was granted for a three year period, the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) Baden-Württemberg ended the project after 7 months, when the project leader was appointed as a full professor in another German federal state.)

Project director: Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel (This research project was located at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research)

Short Description: Looking at age-specific unemployment rates reveals that the recent economic crisis particularly hit young people. Subsequently, concerns over the creation of a "lost generation" have been raised as the exclusion from the labour market can have far-reaching negative consequences for young people. With these concerns in the forefront, this research project investigated if the economic crisis deteriorated the already disadvantaged position of young people in the labour market further. Taking a European comparative perspective the aim of the project was to obtain new insights about which institutional arrangements and policy measures can protect youth from the impact of an economic crisis.

The empirical analyses were based on comparative micro data of the European Labour Force Survey (EULFS). The labour market positions of young people were examined in a multidimensional perspective during the economic crisis. Specifically, risks of labour market exclusion were examined both in terms of various forms of non-employment as well as in risks of different types of precarious employment.

First results were presented at international conferences and a first publication appeared as a report on youth transitions in Europe during times of the economic crisis. Though the project had a planned duration of three years, it ended after only 7 months, when the project leader was appointed as a full professor in another German federal state and the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) Baden-Württemberg stopped funding it. 

For further information click here.