Who is responsible for Public Goods? On Theory and Practice of Social Cohesion (RISC-Project)
About the project
Research question
The project is scheduled to run for three years and is designed as a junior research group with three doctoral students under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Berthold Vogel. The research project makes both a conceptual-theoretical and an empirical-analytical contribution within the framework of the FGZ. Public goods establish cohesion, open up individual and collective spaces of freedom, and create social prosperity. Anyone who addresses the topic of public goods is operating in the socio-analytical field of the state, the economy, and civil society.
Public goods are the subject of conflicts over distribution and resources. These conflicts can drive (local) societies apart, but they can also bring them together by enabling new forces of cohesion. This raises a number of questions: In which (new) social spaces are public goods produced and managed? What socio-spatial and socio-structural effects do public goods have? Finally, who bears responsibility for public goods in the field of tension between state, economic, and civil society actors? The proposed junior research group systematizes the practice of interaction between the public sector, the local economy, and civil society activity, drawing attention to innovative forms of social cohesion in changing socio-demographic and socio-economic contexts.
The question of responsibility must be examined from three perspectives: From an economic perspective, which actors contribute to the management of public goods? From a legal perspective, what contribution do the administration and the judiciary make to public goods? From a political perspective, what role do civil society actors play in the preservation 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 responsible for and involved in the production, maintenance, and administration of public goods. The cohesive quality of pluralistic and differentiated societies depends to a large extent on their performance and willingness to act.
The empirical work of the junior research group focuses on qualitative case studies. Other important components include environmental analyses that compile data on regional, local, and municipal contexts, perform secondary statistical evaluations, and also allow for historical research. The junior research group also participates in the standardized regional survey conducted by TI Halle, thus following a mixed methods approach. Approaches and ideas from the BMBF projects “The Social Places Concept: New Infrastructures for Social Cohesion” and “Ensuring Socially Necessary Services: How Attractive is Working for the Common Good?” can be utilized by the junior research group. Finally, the FGZ must provide space for experimental forms of social research—this applies in particular to a junior research group. These include sociographic methods (e.g., photographic or film-based site visits, the creation of observation protocols, conducting door-to-door interviews, etc.) as well as the systematic inclusion of forms of social reportage.
Thematic link to social cohesion
1. Public goods are infrastructures and normative principles of cohesion. According to sociological understanding, public goods include water and energy supply, telecommunications and transport infrastructures, medical and nursing services, social security, education and training, as well as public administration and the judiciary. As infrastructures of cohesion, they ensure social resilience and responsiveness in crisis situations.
2. The topic of public goods brings the cohesive and selective power of the welfare state into focus. The state guarantees 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 it provides public goods itself or whether they are produced by private entities. At the same time, the distribution of public goods by the state, private industry, or civil society regularly provokes conflicts over distribution and use. These conflicts have both 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 responsible for and involved in the production, maintenance, and administration of public goods. As teachers and administrative staff, as medical professionals or technical service providers, they contribute to the reality of social cohesion. The cohesive quality of pluralistic and differentiated societies depends to a large extent on their performance and willingness to perform.
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