Main topics and research areas

In the individual thematic and research fields, the central question of the Research Training Group is to work out how the governance performance of organized interests develops when risks change, and to what extent organized interests support or hinder the changes. This also includes the question of how these "new risks" are cognitively perceived and interpreted, i.e. how thinking about the welfare state changes. In addition to the identification of interests, control ultimately requires ideas/concepts and institutions (cf. Fischer/Forester 1993; Nullmeier/Rüb 1993).

The Interest group and association research has made solid progress in recent years with the debate on the relationship between corporatism, pluralism and lobbyism (for an overview, see Streeck 1994; Streeck 2006; Winter 2004; Höpner 2007). This debate has also addressed associations and their functions in the welfare sector (cf. Backhaus-Maul/Olk 1994; von Winter 1990; Schmid 1996; Bandelow 1998). Today, the main issue under discussion is the extent to which the corporatist forms of regulation that dominated the "old" sectors of social policy are losing importance and are being pushed back by a strengthening of competitive elements (cf. Evers/Heinze 2008). The discussion about changing modes of governance in social policy has not simply led to the conclusion that corporatism is being eroded, but rather that it is being transformed. However, the empirical substantiation of these theses is still in need of further development (cf. Trampusch 2005; Noweski 2004; Gerlinger 2009; Schroeder/Paquet 2009).

Although association research has also devoted itself to the area of social policy, there have been hardly any studies to date, particularly in those areas in which new social policy developments and adjustment processes are taking place. Particularly in the tax-financed area of the welfare state, in which social services represent the primary form of welfare production (cf. Evers/Heinze/Olk 2011), interest organizations play a subordinate role. This is partly due to the structure of the new risks and problems that characterize this area. In association research, this constellation is often associated with the concept of weak interests (cf. Schroeder/Hänlein 2010; von Willems/von Winter 2000; Offe 2006;). Research on associations has focused in particular on individual areas such as welfare associations (cf. Schmid/Mansour 2007; Boeßenecker 2005), medical associations (cf. Bandelow 2007) or social associations (cf. Schroeder/Munimus/Rüdt 2010). In view of the increasingly complex and fragmented interests, however, it would also seem sensible to examine how and by whom, for example, the interests of single parents or dementia sufferers and their relatives - both of which are known to be growing groups, but which could be described as "weak" interests compared to the groups mentioned above (cf. Clement et al. 2010) - are represented. In addition to the traditionally strong role of independent welfare organizations, legislators have taken self-help associations into account at several points of welfare production and consultation (e.g. § 20 SGB V; § 29 SGB IX - promotion of self-help; § 92c SGB XI - participation in care support points). These new forms have hardly been systematically researched to date. The arenas of self-administration in the welfare state institutions were particularly important in the corporatist mediation of interests. There is some research on this (Schroeder 2008; Braun/Klenk/Kluth/Nullmeier/Welti 2009; Klenk/Haarmann/Weyrauch/ Nullmeier 2012). However, there are changes in the self-governing bodies that have so far received little academic attention. In addition, there are a number of new interest organizations (consumers, patients, people with disabilities), some of which are making their presence felt inside and some outside the self-governing bodies (cf. Lentz/Schulz/Welti 2010).

In the field of research on the regulation oflabor relations in Germany, the aim is to find out how the interest groups involved in collective bargaining policy take account of demographic change, new life situations and risks in their organizations and take them into consideration when shaping industrial relations. From the perspective of conflict theory, it was the organized labour movement and the parties associated with it that were instrumental in driving the development of the welfare state (cf. Korpi 1983; O'Connor/Olson 1998). It is therefore in particular the formative power of trade unions on the one hand (cf. Schroeder/Weßels 2003) and employers' associations on the other (cf. Schroeder/Weßels 2010), which together shaped the social security state in Germany for decades in collective bargaining policy and the committees of social self-administration (cf. Schroeder 2008).

This field of research is also concerned with investigating the extent to which individual interest organizations such as the trade unions themselves are affected by the ageing of the population and how they deal with this change (Schroeder/Munimus 2011). An important question here concerns the precautions and measures taken to keep older workers in the workforce (BAuA/INQA 2011). Another aspect of the issue relates to the extension of working life as well as possible and necessary forms of qualification and the acquisition and adaptation of new professional qualifications. This concerns demography-oriented collective agreements and the question of the extent to which the parties to collective agreements succeed in incorporating new issues relating to the structuring of the life course and new risks into regulation. In particular, this raises the question of the shaping power of organized interests when influence and organizational power diminish and new actors such as sectoral and professional trade unions (cf. Schroeder/Kalass/Greef 2011) emerge.

In the Research Training Group, a field of research will focus on the beginning of the age spectrum in which the reproductive basis of society and the infrastructural setting required there. This field of research covers the topics of early childhood education, childcare, reconciliation of work and family, education, upbringing, family and demographic development. Falling birth rates, increasing life expectancy, the change in family forms and the associated shift in the age of first parenthood are leading to growing welfare state requirements for action (cf. Esch/Mezger/Stöbe-Blossey 2005; BMFSFJ 2006; Fthenakis 2003). This area is becoming increasingly important for welfare state policies because it concerns the welfare state's handling of new risks and life situations. In particular, it deals with the questions of how the "old" and the "new" welfare state interact and what conflicts arise. In contrast to insurance systems, tax-funded services are predominantly provided in this area, primarily by social services, usually at a local level close to people's homes and in direct contact (see Hartmann 2011). In this field of research, it is also clear that, in contrast to the "old" welfare state, no powerful interest organizations have yet formed, unless one wants to recognize new and old welfare and youth welfare organizations in their dual role as organizers of services and facilities as well as interest groups as such (Diakonie, Caritas, Arbeiterwohlfahrt, Deutscher Kinderschutzbund, Elterninitiativen).

This field of research also includes the topic of educationwhich is increasingly becoming a welfare state policy area in Germany (cf. Busemeyer/Nikolai 2010). The OECD studies on the performance of the education system (cf. PISA 2000, 2003) and the discussions about a welfare state that provides for the future (cf. Schroeder 2009, 2012) make it clear that educational success influences life situations and opportunities. This particularly affects families with a migration background. Migration is thus increasingly becoming a problem area for the welfare state (Mackert/Müller 2007). Here, too, it can be seen that interest groups play a subordinate role and that the interests of parents or migrants only make themselves felt selectively. It is therefore particularly important to investigate how and whether the issues of childcare, early childhood education, the situation of families, the employment of women, communal facilities and services relating to education, upbringing and care are brought to bear in terms of interest politics in these areas of the "new" welfare state. The focus here is not on individual policies, but on the question of which changes in interest policy can be identified in this policy field, how established interest organizations behave and what contribution companies and employers' associations make in the areas of work-life balance, childcare and local social services. This field of research will also examine the steering services provided by political institutions and interest organizations, particularly in the municipal sphere (cf. Bogumil/Holtkamp 2006). The focus will also be on how and whether the municipal umbrella organizations, the established organizations of the welfare state (welfare associations, trade unions, employers' associations, etc.) and newly emerging interest groups take up these new risks (cf. Esping-Andersen 2009) and put them on the political agenda. Another important topic is the interests of migrants and the way in which they are articulated - through advocacy, through self-organizations or through forums and institutions of consultation offered by the state (cf. Mikuszies et al. 2010; Musch 2011).

With the research field Care, support for the elderly and palliative medical care the Research Training Group is dedicated to the other end of the age spectrum. Falling birth rates and longer lifespans are changing the age structure and generational ratio of the population (cf. Kaufmann 2005; Kocka/Kohli/Streeck 2009; Birg 2001, 2005). This has an impact on the welfare state in several respects. It is precisely here that it becomes clear how much the central social risks from the industrial world of work are receding into the background. In the "post-industrial welfare state" (Esping-Andersen 2006), the new risks associated with the life situations to be examined here are becoming more important. This development is putting pressure on the pay-as-you-go social insurance systems and special areas of social services are developing with nursing care, care for the elderly and palliative care (cf. Strünck 2010). The proportion of very old people and people in need of care is increasing and they are gaining in importance, but it is questionable whether they are also in a position to pool their interests and represent them in the political arena. The importance of social services in this area is growing (cf. Schmid 2011) and the forms of provision and financing of these services are shifting between the individual, family, state, intermediary organizations, market and voluntary sector. With the introduction of long-term care insurance, a very dynamic market for inpatient and outpatient care has developed beyond the established corporatist structures. Legal changes such as the 2008 Long-Term Care Development Act, the growing range of private care services and recent developments in the field of palliative care form the basis for the formation of collective interests, particularly on the part of service providers.

The new option of concluding selective contracts between health insurance funds and doctors is also relevant for the mediation of interests. In the run-up to this, the respective players try to impose their own interests as the norm in the form of guidelines. The circumstances under which this succeeds and which opposing interests are articulated can be studied, for example, in palliative care. There are very different concepts in this field - for example, family doctor-centered or geared towards expert teams of palliative care physicians.

This field of research should examine how the landscape of actors with collective interests has changed as a result of legislative activities. In particular, the connection between demographic change and the formation of organizations in the policy field of health should be examined. The focus will also be on how legislative policy and legal reforms have led to shifts in resources between existing organizations and the emergence of new organizations, and what deficits exist in the formation of collective interest organizations. From an organizational and association theory perspective, new insights into the state-association relationship and the role and possibilities of weak interests will be explored.

The field of research generational interests is of overarching interest to the Research Training Group, as the welfare state also structures generational relations (cf. Kohli 2004, Blome/Keck/Alber 2008). Demographic change not only alters the age structure of society, it also means that the interests of certain age cohorts are increasingly making themselves felt in the political arena and in the various policy fields. However, this is not happening uniformly, but is dependent on many factors. One factor is the general expansion of unconventional political participation since the end of the 1960s. Another set of factors refers to the opportunities to have a say and shape the political system and the welfare state arrangement. At the various levels of the political system, opportunities for expressing generational interests are increasingly being institutionalized. Intergenerational interests are institutionalized in the intergenerational contract, which is the basis of the pay-as-you-go pension system and long-term care (cf. Schroeder/Neumann 2009; Kohli 1999).

It is therefore of particular importance in which forms of organization generational interests are newly emerging and how they make themselves felt in the established interest organizations (cf. Schroeder/Munimus/Rüdt 2010; von Winter 2007). This concerns the central institutions of political decision-making at the various political levels and the established organizations of the welfare state that are involved in the corporatistically organized political process. Another question is how generational interests are asserted in the post-industrial welfare state in the context of the new risks. In addition to the overarching patterns of interest mediation by welfare and social associations, there are also senior citizens' or intergenerational advisory boards at both local and state level, many of which are already required by state municipal regulations and youth welfare legislation (§§ 8, 80 SGB VIII), as well as other forms of organization.

Scientific and social relevance of the research project

In academic research on social policy, there is currently talk of a turning point in the European, Western welfare model (DFG Perspectives Commission, report, May 2011). This turning point, which particularly affects the interest groups and the new range of tasks of welfare state policy, requires new scientific efforts, questions and theoretical and methodological concepts in order to gain new insights. The Research Training Group, as a coordinated research project with its sub-projects, can capture the new era of welfare state policy from a social science perspective and thus contribute to new results. This applies in particular to interest groups with their social policy positions and interests that are of particular relevance to welfare state policy but have not yet managed to organize themselves and influence policies. The Research Training Group aims to gain new insights, particularly in the field of interest group research. A central point will therefore be to find answers to the question of which alternatives to corporatist policy control can be observed.

The results of the dissertations from the selected research fields can provide answers to research desiderata on three levels. At the level of association research, the material obtained and the interpretations can be used to attempt to arrive at new theory-based insights into society-state-association relations. With regard to research on social policy, the aim is to make a contribution to the problem-solving and steering capabilities of collective actors. This also involves more precise knowledge of the conditions of interest group formation in connection with welfare state reorganization processes. In this context, the perspective of association research can be pursued further. Thirdly, at the policy level, a more precise picture can be gained of the actor landscape in the selected policy fields. Above all, it is possible to understand how the content of political programs is shaped. For this reason, the classic actor- and organization-centric perspective of association research is expanded to include approaches from cognitive political science. Only in this way will it be possible to assess more precisely what opportunities interests that are difficult to organize have to make themselves felt (Ruß 2005). We expect the entire project to provide new insights, empirically sound studies and well-founded indications as to whether and how collective interest mediation is changing in line with the new risks in the welfare state and what this means for the welfare state, but also for democracy.

In addition to its academic relevance, the Research Training Group also has social and political-practical relevance. The sub-projects deal with current political issues of welfare state policy and promise findings that are of direct relevance to political actors and the political process. The question of the social relevance of the Research Training Group can also be answered with reference to the funding priorities and the socio-political value horizon of the Hans Böckler Foundation. In particular, the aim is to recalibrate the basic idea of the welfare state in the face of serious social changes. The aim is to provide ideas and concepts for the further development of the welfare state strategy in order to do justice to the new situations and risks.