BRE_F_01 Social Cohesion within and between Social Milieus
Objectives/ Research Questions
The aim of the project is (1) to develop a typology of milieu-specific forms and practices of cohesion within milieus and (2) to analyse social cohesion in terms of the relationships between social milieus. Social milieus are understood as large social groups that are similar in their socioeconomic situations and in terms of cultural values, attitudes, and lifestyles. The concept of milieus combines vertical inequalities with cultural differences and is therefore particularly suitable for investigating the concrete interaction of conflicts of distribution and values.
The project investigates the main hypothesis that there are very different milieu-specific notions of what social cohesion should look like, to which extent and through which means social cohesion is currently under threat and could be strengthened again. It is assumed that this also reflects the milieu-specific irritations in lifestyle caused by changing macro-structural conditions (such as increasing inequalities, economization, migration, digitization, etc.). Here we focus primarily on how different middle-class fractions deal with changed inequality relationships – namely the increased inequalities and the associated economic polarization between the lower and upper middle classes, on the one hand, and losing the legitimacy of ascriptive inequalities (according to gender and ethnicity), on the other hand. An overarching guiding hypothesis is that there is a polarization of winner and loser milieus, which is reflected in hegemonic conflicts over models of social cohesion. The project thus contributes to the empirical-analytical investigation of the sources of and threats to social cohesion under conditions of growing inequality and cultural pluralization. The empirical primary data analyses not only refer to Germany but will also be examined and classified in an international comparison on the basis of suitable secondary data analyses and existing literature.
Thematischer Bezug zu gesellschaftlichem Zusammenhalt
The project models social cohesion as a process on two levels. On the first level, we investigate internal cohesion within social milieus in the sense of social cohesion and expect to identify different concepts of order and practices of cohesion in different milieus. For example, we can distinguish between ideas of social cohesion based on shared cultural values as well as norms, affiliations, ideas, and practices of cohesion, using meritocratic mechanisms of status competition. Since milieu-specific models of social cohesion always generate closures and demarcations from other milieus, we are interested, on a second level, in the relationship between social milieus in the sense of social cohesion across milieu boundaries. For such milieu-specific different forms of social cohesion, different constellations of mutual references between the respective milieus can be thought of. They range from the hegemonic dominance of a particular milieu (or milieu coalition) to the peaceful coexistence based on mutual tolerance (or indolence) and/or material compromises of interests. The project aims to empirically test the main hypothesis that modern upper-middle-class milieus have been able to establish the hegemony of a meritocratic model of social cohesion, which has recently been massively challenged by other milieus, including those of the lower-middle class. In this way, we want to subject the currently widespread thesis – according to which the economic and cultural polarization between the upper- and lower-middle classes represent a significant threat to social cohesion – to a systematic empirical examination using our own primary data for Germany and to classify it in an international comparison using secondary data analyses and literature studies. However, we expect the empirical picture to be more complex, and we are pursuing an open-ended explorative analysis strategy.
