GÖT_F_02 Who is Responsible for Public Goods? On the Theory and Practice of Social Cohesion

Objectives/ Research Questions

The project is scheduled to run for three years and is designed as a junior research group with three doctoral students under the direction of Prof. Dr. Berthold Vogel. Within the RISC framework, the research project makes both a conceptual-theoretical and an empirical-analytical contribution. Public goods create cohesion, open up individual and collective freedom, and create social prosperity. Those who make public goods a topic of discussion move in the socioanalytical field of state, economy, and civil society.

Public goods are subject to distribution and resource conflicts. These conflicts can drive (local) societies apart, but they can also bring them together by creating new binding forces. This raises a number of questions. In which (new) social places are public goods produced and managed? What sociospatial and structural effects do public goods have? And, finally, who bears the responsibility for public goods in the area of conflict between state, economic actors, and civil society? The junior research group systematizes the practice of the interaction of public goods, local economy, and civil society activity and draws attention to innovative forms of social cohesion in the changing sociodemographic and socioeconomic contexts.

The question of responsibility must be illuminated in three directions: In economic terms, which actors contribute to the management of public goods? From a legal perspective, what contribution to public goods do administration and justice make? From a political point of view, what role do civil society actors play in the existence and sustainability of public goods? Anyone researching the state and future of social cohesion cannot avoid systematically making the quantity and quality of public goods the subject of sociological research. Particular attention must be paid to those who are commissioned and involved in the production, maintenance, and administration of public goods. The cohesive quality of plural and differentiated societies depends largely on their performance and willingness to perform.

The empirical work of the junior research group focuses on qualitatively oriented case studies. Further important components are environment analyses, which collect data regarding regional, local, and communal contexts, carry out secondary statistical evaluations, and also provide space for historical research. The junior research group also participates in the standardized regional survey of the Halle section and thus follows a mixed methods approach. Approaches and suggestions from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) projects “Das Soziale-Orte-Konzept. Neue Infrastrukturen für gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt” (The Social Locations Concept: New Infrastructures of Social Cohesion) and “Gesellschaftlich notwendige Dienstleistungen sicherstellen: Ist Arbeit am Gemeinwohl attraktiv?” (Ensuring Socially Necessary Services: How Attractive is Working for the Common Good?) are useful for the junior research group. Finally, RISC must provide space for experimental forms of social research – this especially applies for a junior research group. This includes sociographic methods (e.g. photographic or cinematic site visits, writing observation protocols, conducting door-to-door interviews, etc.) as well as the systematic inclusion of forms of social reportage.

Thematic Reference to Social Cohesion

1. Public goods are infrastructures and normative principles of cohesion. In sociological terms, public goods include not only water and energy supply, telecommunications and transport infrastructure, medical and nursing services, social security, and education and training, but also public administration and jurisdiction. As infrastructures of cohesion, they ensure social resilience and responsiveness in crisis situations.
2. With the issue of public goods, the cohesive and selective power of the welfare state comes into focus. The state guarantees the equal participation of all citizens in public goods, ensures their quality, and secures their financing through taxes, fees, and contributions. This applies regardless of whether the state provides public goods itself or whether private companies produce them. At the same time, the distribution of public goods by the state, the private sector, or civil society regularly provokes conflicts over distribution and use. These conflicts have divisive and unifying effects.
3. Anyone researching the state and future of social cohesion cannot avoid systematically making the quantity and quality of public goods the subject of sociological research. Particular attention must be paid to those who are commissioned and involved in the production, maintenance, and administration of public goods. As teachers and administrative staff, physicians, or technical providers, they contribute to the reality of social cohesion. The cohesive quality of plural and differentiated societies depends largely on their performance and willingness to work.