B_02 The Social Integration Paradox: Gender-Specific Forms of Social Integration
Projects
- Sections:
- Bremen, Frankfurt am Main
- Disciplines:
- Sociology
Abstract
Paid work secures livelihoods and creates social contacts. It therefore constitutes the core of social integration in modern societies. Compared to men, women participate less in paid employment. Nevertheless, they report higher levels of social integration. This work package examines how this paradox comes about.
Our analysis of gender differences in social integration sheds light on how cohesion emerges between unequal groups. Within partnerships, tensions may arise between ideals of gender equality and the actual distribution of tasks in everyday family life. We investigate how couples create cohesion despite differences in occupational positions and income. These insights contribute to a broader understanding of how social cohesion among unequal groups functions.
The extent to which men and women feel socially embedded and part of a community differs markedly. Although paid employment is widely regarded as the key to social integration and men still spend more time in paid work, they feel less well integrated than women. Women are more likely to work part time and take on a larger share of unpaid work in households and care. Nevertheless, they tend to have more social contacts and thus experience a higher degree of social integration. How can this paradox be explained?
This work package therefore highlights the influence of gender role norms. We examine differing expectations of women and men across social groups and analyze how individual beliefs about gender-specific responsibilities shape the division of labor within partnerships.
Transfer Activities
Through public lectures and discussion forums, we create opportunities to reflect critically on social cohesion from a gender-specific perspective. Our findings are also integrated into university teaching, with a particular focus on teacher education. In this context, we continue these discussions and jointly develop materials for use in schools.
This work package (WP) addresses core questions of the research focus “Effects of Status and Distributional Orders on Social Cohesion,” namely (1) social cohesion among unequal groups as reproduced by men and women in household and employment contexts, and (2) the tension between normative expectations and lived reality arising from the discrepancy between the normative ideal of gender equality and everyday family practices. Using longitudinal data from the German Social Cohesion Panel, the WP addresses a largely unexplored paradox of social cohesion among unequal groups: Compared to men, women remain less equally integrated into society through paid employment, even though paid work constitutes the central pillar of social integration in contemporary societies. Nevertheless, women frequently report higher levels of social integration than men, particularly with regard to “soft” or “latent” indicators.
This situation is paradoxical because paid employment generates not only manifest integration effects—such as securing livelihoods—but also latent social integration effects, including time structure, social contacts, collective goals, social status, identity, and motivation.
The guiding research questions are as follows:
- What role do internalized societal gender norms among men and women play in the emergence of the social integration paradox?
- What dynamics unfold over time in this regard?
- How can gender ideologies—defined as “widely taken-for-granted cultural beliefs about the essential natures and relative worth of men and women”—and gender arrangements in everyday life be situated within different social groups (for example, migrant groups and social milieus)?
Within the employment system, women tend to occupy positions that offer lower potential for social integration. Over the life course, they are also less frequently and less extensively engaged in paid employment. Nevertheless, women assess their level of social integration as higher than that of men. They report having more social contacts and stronger formal and informal support networks. In addition, women’s social integration appears to be less weakened by disruptive events in the employment context—such as job loss—than men’s, a pattern that seems to be mediated by internalized gender-specific norms. Competing internalized gender ideologies therefore appear to be central to understanding these dynamics within couple relationships. However, these ideologies are currently highly contested in society and vary considerably across social groups, making it unclear why some groups orient themselves differently than others.
