Social Sciences (R0)

 Will we really soon no longer be sitting behind the wheel of our own car, but will only be taken to our destination by driverless electric taxis? Should cities introduce car sharing? What role will electric scooters, cable cars or man-carrying drones play in the mobility systems of major cities? This book finally explains in a generally understandable way what is really behind buzzwords such as electric mobility, autonomous driving, digitalization and mobility services such as car sharing or ride-hailing, how far advanced these technologies are today, and above all in what relationships and dependencies they are to each other. In addition to the technical aspects, the legislative and social trends are also considered, which are important framework conditions that will have a decisive influence on the mobility of the future.

From the contents

- Mobility needs: Who wants to go where, when and why - and how will this change in the future?

- Technological trends: electromobility, digitalization, autonomous driving - what will the vehicles of the future be capable of?

- Car sharing, ride-hailing, e-scooters or public transport: What alternatives to the private car will there be in the future?

- Mobility in transition: What should we do to prepare for the future?

Trade copy:

Substantial contribution to popular culture research

Interdisciplinary and intermedial treatment of the topic

First volume on the subject

This book offers a completely new approach to the complex social phenomenon of the Mafia: In addition to the origins, organization and actions  of the Mafia, the author Anita Bestler examines above all the close connection between organized crime and politics. In the process, readers [also] gain an interesting insight into the complicated political development of Italy from the founding of the state to the present, as well as an answer as to why Italians have a different political mindset.

Luxembourg has an atypical, efficient migration. The recent Portuguese underclass themselves in the same way as their predecessors of the Salazar regime, despite higher educational attainment, while the citizens of the new member states move to the top of the pyramid. The strong north-south divide between Luxembourg and Portugal is illustrated by a number of indicators. Freedom of movement is reduced and renationalised by ECJ rulings on the initiative of northern member states against southern European crisis 'refugees'. The categories of EU citizens versus third-country nationals develop into economically strong EU and non-EU migrants versus weak EU and non-EU migrants.

The title of the book derives from the theme of the 20th Conference on Applied Social Sciences of the Professional Association of German Sociologists, held in Munich in May 2019.

The question of what concrete contributions social innovations can make to the transition to forms of sustainable coexistence and economic activity is as much the focus of this book as the question of what contribution the social sciences can make. Thus, on the one hand, it is about concrete social innovations that help us to achieve the goal of living and doing business sustainably, but on the other hand, it is also about the way in which the social sciences - not least through appropriate theoretical and methodological training - can be made socially responsible for the success of such socially innovative processes.

This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.

Engineers represent the (industrial) modern age like no other profession. In the German Empire and the Weimar Republic, however, the enormous numerical expansion of the profession was contrasted by comparatively unfavorable working conditions and incomes. This was particularly true of the graduate engineers, whose academization failed to meet industrial requirements. Can the völkisch, right-wing political radicalization of many technical experts on the eve of the 'Third Reich' actually be fully explained by these professional-social frictions?

This study of (historical) professional, inequality, and political sociology is published in its third, fully revised edition.

This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.

The interconnections of economy, society and politics so obviously determine socio-economic and political structures and problem situations, current ways of thinking and acting as well as the collective perception of solution options that their still low attention in university teaching and school education is surprising. Phenomena such as pandemics, climate change, migration or authoritarianism make the close, complex and contradictory connections between economy, society and politics tangible. Against this background, socioeconomic research, teaching and education are urgently needed.

The volume presents analysis of conscription models in six European countries, four of which continuously kept conscription (Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Switzerland), and two re-established conscriptions in recent years (Lithuania and Sweden). The first part of the book provides a description of country-specific aspects related to conscription. The second part is dedicated for an in-depth analysis of the following topics: attitudes towards defence forces; adaptation to conditions during conscription; motivation to do initial military service; unit cohesion during conscription; leadership in the context of conscription; intentions to move from conscription to military professionals. Empirical data was collected in 2021-2022 by 8783 recruits. The book is an outstanding source of knowledge and a practical tool for conscription models suitable for the certain country. The volume is of interest to defence practitioners and policy makers, researchers, teachers and students who focus on military sociology and defence politics.

In the current discourse field ‘clan crime’, the interpretation scheme, the terminology itself and the treatment of the phenomenon by interior departments, law enforcement and other authorities are controversial. There is an intense debate about issues ranging between overestimating and underestimating the phenomenon, between self-inflicted or ‘imported’ criminality and between zero-tolerance reactions by the constitutional state on the one hand and discrimination against entire population groups on the other. Put simply, there is a conflict between the antagonistic ideas of ‘hard’ and negating interpretations of the phenomenon. The anthology is intended to take a scientifically dominated, differentiated or ‘moderate’ path without ignoring the above-mentioned opposites. The aim is to close previous gaps in knowledge and to correct widespread discursive assumptions.

The book is aimed at an interested specialist audience from the criminal and social sciences as well as middle and higher management levels of the police and social work or crime prevention.

The volume addresses current challenges for gender equality policy and the necessary further development of gender equality policy concepts in order to effectively engage with exclusion mechanisms. The contributions discuss this at the interface between research and policy and on the basis of specific examples.

This book is a comprehensive analysis of the various social science approaches to explaining and interpreting war, peace and the military. Its central aim is to trace and reconstruct those basic assumptions constructed and 'thought processes' undertaken by modern social sciences in their research and conceptualization of military violence and the use of force. In addition to such reconstruction, the aim is also to enquire into the preconditions of such thought. This study therefore eschews the development of an explicit 'strategy' (in the sense of a research strategy), but instead is much more concerned with thinking about its subject matter by means of re-thinking and reflecting upon different theoretical approaches and problems. The investigation includes a critical reexamination of the tradition of military-sociological research from the beginning of modern sociology to late-twentieth century theoretical approaches regarding the security-focused and/or war-driven aspects ofmodern society.