Stefanie Kley

Feelings of anomie manifest themselves in perceptions of meaninglessness and disorientation that are expected to arise in response to rapid social change and threatening social conditions. We analyze whether and how concerns about environmental protection and the impacts of climate change (“environmental worries”) contribute to individual feelings of anomie, based on theoretically informed hypotheses about distinct relationships across social class. Fixed-effects panel regression and random intercept cross-lagged models are used, based on data from the German Socioeconomic Panel study (GSOEP; years 2008–2023). We find that environmental worries contribute to feelings of anomie but are trumped by adverse events in individual’s life course. The contribution of environmental worries to feelings of anomie is weak compared to worries about one’s own economic situation and health. Levels of both, feelings of anomie and environmental worries, are relatively stable within individuals across the years, whereas spill-over effects between the two are seldom observed. Exclusively in the social class of lower-grade professionals a positive spill-over effect of anomie on environmental worries is observed, whereas among blue-collar workers a negative connection is found. The findings are discussed regarding their contribution to a theory-driven explanation of how climate change and environmental degradation might promote social disintegration.

We investigated whether individual's affect balance is subject to nature enjoyment in their everyday lives, whether this association is consistent across demographic subgroups, and whether it is mediated by stress and/or compensatory control striving. Longitudinal data of a population survey with oversamples of black persons and residents of urban areas including daily-diary records were used (MIDUS, 2017-19; N>8,700 observations). The findings show that nature enjoyment has a positive within-person effect on affect balance that is not moderated by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age, or sex. It is additive to the experience of positive events, stressors, and health-symptoms severity. Nature enjoyment is found to be particularly beneficial in highly stressed individuals and in those employing compensatory secondary control strategies. These findings offer practical insights to enhance affective wellbeing and suggest a significant role of individual control striving.

Research on the benefits of green living environments in urban settings has gained attention, but comprehensive comparisons across life course phases remain scarce. Furthermore, the importance of green spaces in the context of residential relocations has been underexplored. This study addresses this research gap by testing hypotheses derived from a general theory of well‐being generation and a three‐stage migration model, using data from a two‐wave population survey with 1856 randomly selected respondents in two major German cities. The results show that private, shared, and neighbourhood green spaces are relevant at the very beginning of relocation decision‐making processes, when individuals form their moving intentions. Private gardens deter families from considering and planning relocation, shared green yards have a similar effect across all subgroups, and satisfaction with the availability of green spaces in the neighbourhood decreases the probability of families and older adults considering and planning relocations. Our study highlights the importance of subjective assessments of neighbourhood green spaces, which have a more pronounced impact on forming relocation intentions compared to objective geocoded data. When estimating relocation behaviour in the second study wave, it appears that neither private nor public green spaces seem to have an influence. Recognizing the relevance of green spaces in residential relocations requires considering the longitudinal nature of the decision‐making process.

Zusammenfassung: In diesem Beitrag setzen wir uns mit den Anmerkungen von Franz Erhard und Robert Schäfer zu unserem Artikel „Gütekriterien in der Soziologie“ auseinander. Wir gehen auf vier Aspekte ein: (1) die Frage, ob allgemeine, transdisziplinäre Anforderungen wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens in einen Gütekriterienkatalog gehören und ob der Gegenstandsbereich der Soziologie disziplinspezifische Kriterien erfordert; (2) den Einwand, dass die Kopplung unseres Theorieverständnisses an kausale Erklärungen eine problematische Engführung der Gütekriterien mit sich bringt; (3) die Frage, ob Formen des Generalisierens in der qualitativ-interpretativen Forschung eine Ausdifferenzierung unseres Gütekriteriums zur Generalisierung nötig machen; (4) den Vorschlag, die Rückbindung empirischer Studien an Gesellschaftstheorien zu einem allgemeinen Gütekriterium zu erheben. Wir zeigen, dass sich einige dieser Punkte mit unseren Gütekriterien vereinbaren lassen und dass andere wenig überzeugend sind.

Previous research suggests an under-representation of women among teleworkers before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we know little about whether such a gender gap was substantial, and whether it could be explained by occupational gender segregation. We explore whether a gender gap in regularly teleworking existed in the EU-28 and analyse its possible constituents, drawing on data from the European Working Conditions Survey 2015. To form a group of potential teleworkers, the analytical sample was restricted to employees who made use of information and communication technology (N ≈ 16,000). Country fixed effects regression and multilevel models were applied. The results show that women were under-represented among teleworkers compared to men, also when occupational gender segregation is taken into account; the remaining gender gap in telework is estimated at 10%. For women, working part-time and working in the private sector was associated with lower incidences of telework, but not for men. Country characteristics explain a small but significant share of telework incidence. In countries that rank high on the Gender Equality Index and have a large public sector, telework was widespread, whereas it was less present in countries with higher shares of women in the fields of science and engineering. The findings support the view that the gender gap in teleworking from home is a matter of historically grown gender inequality.

Zusammenfassung: Der Artikel entwickelt einen Katalog von elf wissenschaftlichen Gütekriterien für soziologische Forschungsarbeiten aus einer analytisch-empirischen Perspektive. Der Kriterienkatalog umfasst Qualitätsanforderungen an die Theorieentwicklung und die empirische Sozialforschung. Unterschieden werden zwei Basiskriterien, die den gesamten Forschungsprozess betreffen, neun Kernkriterien, die an einzelnen Etappen dieses Prozesses ansetzen, und eine Reihe von Unterkriterien, die der Spezifikation der Kernkriterien dienen. Die Entwicklung der Kriterien erfolgt entlang eines stilisierten Forschungsprozesses, wie er in der quantitativen Sozialforschung üblich ist. Gleichwohl wird der Versuch unternommen, die Kriterien so zu formulieren, dass diese für die qualitative Sozialforschung anschlussfähig sind. Der Beitrag hat zum Ziel, der soziologischen Forschungsgemeinschaft einen aus analytisch-empirischer Perspektive begründeten Referenzrahmen zur Verfügung zu stellen, der die Erarbeitung hochwertiger Forschung anleitet und die Beurteilung von Forschungsleistungen kriteriengeleitet unterstützt.

Climate change adaptation (CCA) evolved in the global policy framework in the early 1990s. However, it began to flourish about a decade later through a subsequent development of institutions, policies and supporting financial mechanisms. Various adaptation approaches and development practices have been evolving over the last couple of decades through a process of scrutiny, debates, and critiques. One such recent approach is called conflict-sensitive adaptation, which encompasses concepts to understand potential conflict-inflicting elements and peacebuilding aspects of adaptation interventions. This paper examines 35 peer-reviewed research articles that have analysed field data with the notion of conceptualising conflict-sensitive CCA initiatives. Emerging key results were presented and discussed in different academic forums to stimulate peer reflections and debates. We found that the understanding of conflict-sensitive adaptation has its universality in engaging with diverse stakeholders. However, practicalities were different in the cases of the global north and the global south. In the global south, there is a concentration of research in areas of pre-existing conflict in Africa and Asia, where climate change links are often assumed from IPCC reports in order to compensate for the unavailability of field data. However, from the perspective of adaptation politics and governance, there is a concerted urge for the emancipatory participation of local and marginalised populations. We argue for a need to pretest adaptation projects through a conflict lens. Decolonising the adaptation and understanding of local geography is critical in such planning.

Traditionally, dietary choices are formed through socialization, social norms and the social environment, while news media seemed to have little impact on people’s diets. This article explores whether today’s news media consumption and in particular consuming and sharing information about food on social media are associated with following a vegetarian or vegan diet. The data come from a tailor-made survey carried out in Hamburg, Germany, in 2018 (N = 1,214). Making use of probit regression with multiple equations, we analyse the associations between vegetarianism and individual news consumption, having vegetarians in the social environment, and communicating about food, controlling for individual and family characteristics. We find that both regular news consumption via social media and having vegetarian friends or family members is associated with pursuing a vegetarian diet. Moreover, news consumption via social media comes with increased communication about food, suggesting high relevance of social media for pursuing a vegetarian diet.