JEN_F_03 Diversity – Civic Engagement – Cohesion: Experiences of Inclusion and Exclusion among Socially Marginalized Groups (DEZ)

Objectives / Research Questions

This research project investigates the perspectives held by socially marginalized groups and their significance concerning social cohesion. We focus on the perspectives of groups who – though protected by the German Federal Constitution and under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) on account of their long history of persecution and discrimination – continue to experience marginalization, discrimination, and hate crime in Germany. Our aim is to identify their perspectives on social cohesion, to investigate and problematize their experiences of inclusion and exclusion (especially discrimination and hate crimes), and to shed light on the impacts of their participation (especially civic engagement). Based on our results, we critically analyse the concept of social cohesion in terms of its “inclusiveness”. Drawing on the working definition of social cohesion, we investigate how (positive) impressions about the “majority society” are shaped by experiences of inclusion and exclusion and the degree to which these impressions are formed into actions. This includes a closer examination of these groups’ willingness to get involved in future civic engagement and their actual engagement (see Putnam 1995). On the one hand, the project seeks to incorporate the essential perspectives of marginalized groups within a diverse society in order to further develop and apply the idea of social cohesion. On the other hand, we aim to provide an empirical analysis of socially marginalized perspectives by investigating their civic engagement as a key variable for social cohesion. Civic engagement represents an array of practices associated with the idea of a specific community that are inserted into complex institutional interdependencies and processes of cooperation and integration. Moreover, we investigate discrimination and hate crime in relation to their threat to social cohesion.

The overall aim of the project is to gain an empirically grounded and deepened understanding of the consequences arising from processes of inclusion and exclusion in a society characterized by diversity. This will promote the implementation and negotiation of social cohesion understood as “inclusive”. Our project seeks to produce theoretical and scientific findings as well as practical and political recommendations for regional and nationwide settings.

Thematic relation to social cohesion

Drawing on the working definition of social cohesion, we will investigate how (positive) impressions about the “majority society” held by members of socially marginalized groups are shaped by experiences of inclusion and exclusion and the degree to which these impressions are formed into actions. This includes a closer examination of these groups’ willingness to get involved in future civic engagement and their actual engagement (Putnam 1995). Based on this, the project seeks to incorporate the essential perspectives of marginalized groups within a diverse society in order to further develop and apply the idea of social cohesion. Furthermore, the project promises to provide an empirical analysis of these perspectives by investigating civic engagement as a key variable for social cohesion (ibid). Civic engagement represents an array of practices associated with the idea of a specific community that are inserted into complex institutional interdependencies and processes of cooperation and integration. Moreover, we investigate discrimination and hate crime in relation to their threat to social cohesion.

In order to investigate the full picture of social cohesion, it is necessary to also focus on the perspectives held by groups that can be described as marginalized in the context of society. Their belonging to a generally normatively constructed “majority society” is constantly renegotiated in public, political, and academic discourses. To their detriment, debates surrounding social cohesion are often raised. Their understandings of social cohesion, their sense of belonging to society, and their participation are essential elements for cohesion within society. However, these factors are often neglected.

Social psychological research has shown that the perspectives held by different subgroups (such as socially marginalized groups) regarding their “superordinate” group (e.g. the German society) vary (see Mummendey/Wenzel 1999). They show different identification processes and group-related strategies for participation, integration, and exclusion (see acculturation strategies of migrants, Berry 1997) and construct their social relationships and networks accordingly. Furthermore, their perspectives and interests differ from those held by members of the “majority society” in terms of existing social hierarchies and values (see Dovidio et al. 2007). Socially marginalized groups and their members are often confronted with discrimination at the individual, institutional, and structural level (see Geschke/Dieckmann 2017). Beyond merely leading to individual consequences for those affected and for their community, such experiences of exclusion also impact society as a whole and its social cohesion (see Dieckmann et al. 2017). Experiences of hate crime undermine trust in the institutions of democratic states and in democracy itself (ibid). Drawing from the Integrative Social Identity Model of Collective Action (van Zomeren et al. 2008), this project also investigates the influence of identity constructions, perceived discrimination, and hate crime on collective actions (civic engagement). To what degree and for which ends do socially marginalized groups and their members participate in the overall social community? Social narratives and social practices of inclusion and exclusion constitute the causes and contexts for civic engagement (see Simonson et al. 2016). At the same time, civic engagement can itself be either inclusionary or exclusionary. We must investigate the associated ambivalences and interdependencies in a practically oriented and participative manner.

Berry, John W. 1997: Immigration, acculturation, and adaption, in: Applied Psychology 46, 5-34.

Dieckmann, Janine; Geschke, Daniel; Braune, Ina 2017: Diskriminierung und ihre Auswirkung für Betroffene und die Gesellschaft, in: Wissen schafft Demokratie 2, 18-37.

Dovidio, John; Gaertner, Samuel; Saguy, Tamar 2007: Another view of „we”: Majority and minority group perspectives on a common ingroup identity, in: European Review of Social Psychology 18:1, 296-330.

Geschke, Daniel; Dieckmann, Janine 2017: Hasskriminalität: Auswirkungen der Gewalt gegen Minderheiten, in: Wissen schafft Demokratie, Schriftenreihe des Instituts für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft 2, 38-51.

Mummendey, Amelie; Wenzel, Michael 1999: Social discrimination and tolerance in intergroup relations: Reactions to intergroup difference, in: Personality and Social Psychology Review 3, 158-174.

Putnam, Robert D. (1995): Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital, in: Journal of Democracy, 65-78.

Simonson, Julia; Vogel, Claudia; Tesch-Römer, Clemens (Hrsg.) 2016: Freiwilliges Engagement in Deutschland – Der Deutsche Freiwilligensurvey 2014. Empirische Studien zum bürgerschaftlichen Engagement, Wiesbaden.

van Zomeren, Martin; Postmes, Thomas; Spears, Russell (2008): Toward an integrative Social Identity model of Collective Action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives, in: Psychological Bulletin 134, 504-535. Online verfügbar unter doi.org / 10.1037 / 0033-2909.134.4.504, zuletzt geprüft am 10.12.2019.