GWI Graduate College

Welfare states and welfare policy are subject to the need to constantly adapt to changes in their external and internal environments. Social science research assumes that we are entering a new phase of welfare state policy that is far removed from a one-dimensional dismantling or even disappearance of the welfare state (cf. Leibfried/Mau 2008; Pierson 2001, 2011). As the "Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State" (Castles et al. 2010) also reflects, the frictions between "old" and "new" welfare state requirements in particular generate a certain lack of clarity and uncertainty in social policy management (cf. Häusermann 2010; Esping-Andersen 2006, 2009). This constellation of conflicts is primarily driven by labor market and family-oriented developments, but also by demographic change, which exerts strong pressure on established welfare state programs (cf. Schroeder/Kerschbaumer 2005; Lynch 2006). In this context, a change in welfare state power resources can also be observed (cf. Korpi 2006; van Kersbergen/Manow 2009). This is accompanied by changed or even new constellations of actors, which not least means that the mediation and negotiation processes between the private, civil society and state levels are changing.

The Research Training Group aims to investigate actor-related restructuring processes of the welfare state arrangement in Germany and at European level. The focus is on socio-political interest groups and associations. In the context of defined policy fields, we are particularly interested in the changing actor constellations brought about by the transition from industrial to service-oriented social structures, demographic change, changing gender relations and processes of institutional change. The focus is on the two central areas of demographic development: how the welfare state deals with the early phase of citizens' lives and the welfare state's concepts on the ageing of society and the group of older people.

The starting point is the changes that can be observed in intermediary organizations: The interest organizations of the old industrial society are weakening, while no equivalent organizations and institutions for risks beyond the workers' issue are emerging. Nevertheless, this does not mean that there are no interest groups in the zones beyond gainful employment. On the contrary, new associations and influence groups are increasingly being founded, so that a pluralization of interest groups and interest representation can be observed. As a result, new players are emerging and new alliances are opening up in the process of policy generation based on the division of labor.

The central research question of the Research Training Group focuses on what tasks the old, but especially the new interest groups take on as intermediary bodies in these welfare state policy areas. What mediation services can they provide and how is their share in the production of collective and individual welfare changing? How are the established interest organizations changing and what are the conditions and effects when new interest groups form in order to operate within the changed welfare state constellations? Which interpretations and diagnoses of problems are associated with new interests and risks and which interest groups may emerge as a result of changed perceptions of problems?

We proceed fromfollowing hypothesis hypothesis: The old interest groups played a constitutive role in the formation of the welfare state of industrial society. In the welfare state restructuring processes of recent years, neither the old nor the new interest groups and associations have played a similarly formative role. Rather, the plurality and heterogeneity of interest groups in the new welfare state is increasing, without it being guaranteed that interest groups will form in all policy fields. In many cases, the representation of interests is also changing in that it is carried out by advocacy groups or state institutions. In addition, individual legal positions are being granted, so that the significance and enforcement of legal claims in social policy are becoming more important.

• Further information on the objectives and classification
• Go to the main topics and research areas
• Further information on the overarching concept
• More on the individual research project fields
• More about the teaching and study program
• Go to the literature

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schroeder
PD Dr. Rudolf Speth

Prof. Dr. Sabine Ruß-Sattar
Prof. Dr. Felix Welti
Prof. Dr. Frank Nullmeier
(University of Bremen)
Prof. Dr. Christoph Strünck
(University of Siegen)

Dr. Michaela Schulze

• Imke Friedrich
• Ulrike Müller
• Lena Nothacker
• Benedikt Schreiter
• Florian Steinmüller

• 8 doctoral scholarships
• Duration: 3 years
• Ran from Oct. 1, 2013 to Sep. 30, 2016

GWI information sheet
Call for applications 2014

HBS scholarships
HBS information brochure
HBS application form