B_09 - Intergroup Conflicts and Symbolic Boundary-Drawing Practices in Digital Social Networks

This work package (WP) builds on research on so-called “perceived polarization” and on the implicit assumption that diagnoses of societal division must always be understood as mediated by communication and perception. Unlike survey-based studies and group discussions on perceived…

B_03 - Family Inequalities and the Evaluation of Social Justice

This work package (WP) addresses evaluations of fundamental status and distributional orders—such as the principles of equality, need, merit, and entitlement—and thereby contributes to the first guiding question of Research Area B concerning cohesion among unequal groups, for which the…

B_05 - Experiences of Marginalization and Expectations of Social Cohesion: Sociospatial Perspectives

This work package (WP) examines the cohesion-threatening and cohesion-generating effects of social marginalization, with a particular focus on the tension between political invocations of social cohesion and subjective experiences of economic disadvantage and cultural misrecognition.…

A_07 - Ecological Transformation and Anti-Democratic Crisis Mobilization

06/2024 – 05/2029

In this work package (WP), a comparative analysis is conducted of how the transformation of production systems, the expansion of renewable energy, and the regulation of ways of living and consumption are used for anti-democratic protest mobilization against climate policy and…

C_06 - Distribution and Perception of Environmental Burdens and Natural Resources and Their Significance for Social Cohesion

Situated within Research Focus 3 on social cohesion in socio-ecological transformation, this work package (WP) examines the influence of natural resources and environmental burdens on social cohesion, with particular attention to socio-ecological justice. Central to the analysis are…

A_08 - Democratic Participation in the World of Work Between Compromise and Conflict

06/2024 – 05/2029

The work package (WP), in cooperation with and complementary to A_06 and A_07, examines the contribution of different forms of civil society participation between voice, exit, and loyalty to democratic cohesion. In doing so, it focuses on collective labor relations as a central pillar of…

A_01 - Democratic Cohesion Between Inclusion and Exclusion: Theoretical Foundations, Legal Constitution, and Political Dynamics

06/2024 – 05/2029

A distinctive feature of RISC’s research program is its differentiation between a general, non-normatively defined concept of cohesion and more specific conceptions. This allows for a more precise theoretical and empirical analysis of such conceptions, particularly with regard to their…

D_01 - Culture Wars and Criticism of Moralism: Struggles over Values and Identities

06/2024 – 05/2029

This work package (WP) examines meaning structures and historical developments of conflicts over values, identities, and knowledge regimes in Germany and the transatlantic context, focusing on culture wars surrounding morality and the struggle against discrimination and oppression. It…

C_03 - Cooperative Reconfigurations of Infrastructure as a Societal and Legal Development

06/2024 – 05/2029

Against the backdrop of the infrastructural challenges identified in Research Area C, this work package (WP), situated within Research Focus 2, examines practices of infrastructure self-organization (voice) and investigates citizens’ willingness to participate in the improvement or even…

B_06 - Collective Responses to Socioeconomic Status Threat

This work package (WP) is situated within Research Focus 2 of Research Area B and aims to investigate responses to socioeconomic status threats at the level of social groups. It seeks to develop a deeper understanding of which social groups individuals turn to in response to perceived…

D_09 - Allyship: Solidary Engagement, Identity, and Social Cohesion

06/2024 – 05/2029

Democratic societies are characterized by ongoing processes of negotiation over interpretive authority, normative frameworks, identities, and participation, which require continual reconfigurations of collective action. As a specific practice of such action, this work package (WP) offers…