DemoReg

Hessian research network funded by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture (HMWK) in the funding line "Strengthening democracy research in Hesse"

DemoReg analyzes trans- and interdisciplinary democratic regression at eight university locations in Hesse under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ursula Birsl (University of Marburg) and Prof. Dr. Thomas Biebricher (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main) and in over 20 subject areas. Participants are: Philipps University Marburg (network coordination); Goethe University Frankfurt am Main; University of Kassel Technical University Darmstadt; Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences; Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences; Institute for Social Research Frankfurt am Main; Sigmund Freud Institute Frankfurt am Main. Theoretical and empirical research is being conducted in various sub-projects on the following questions: What exactly does the diagnosis of democratic regression mean and how can it be empirically substantiated? What explanations can be given for such a finding? And what strategies can be developed to counteract anti-democratic tendencies in Germany?

The sub-project "Youth in Focus" (JIF ) at the Department of Sociology of Diversity at the University of Kassel, headed by Professor Dr. Elisabeth Tuider and project team member Tom Fixemer, is investigating the civic engagement of young people against the right and for democracy. Together with the Department of School and Youth at Goethe University Frankfurt, represented by Prof. Dr. Merle Hummrich and Dr. Iva Hradská, the project is being realized in a participatory and cooperative research design. JIF is a sub-project in the work package "Democratic Regression and Civil Society - Empirical Manifestations in Hesse" and is in close cooperation with the sub-project "Local Democracy Initiatives as Conflict Actors" by Prof. Dr. Charlotte Dany (Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences) and Prof. Dr. Greta Wagner (Goethe University Frankfurt).

In "JIF", we see young people as actors of civic engagement in the post-migrant society. In doing so, we place civic engagement at the center of the negotiation of democracy and its regressive dynamics. The empirical starting point is the finding that the diversity of post-migrant society is presented and politicized as threatening against the backdrop of multiple global crises such as climate, war and the economy, including in social media. For some, this is accompanied by fears of losing prosperity and social stability. Others are campaigning against anti-democratic tendencies. Young people are actively involved in civil society in order to counter such concerns with political and social engagement and social participation (see Albert et al. 2024; Die Techniker 2025).

Participatory research in "Jugend im Fokus" is based on the approach of talking to young people throughout Hesse in rural and urban areas at various places of engagement such as youth groups, initiatives, demonstrations and other meeting places. What issues do young people stand up for, how do they act against anti-democratic developments and how can young people and researchers support each other in promoting democratic participation against the right?

Methodologically, JIF uses a multi-sited ethnography (cf. Marcus 1995) (follow-the-youth; follow-the-civic-engagement; follow-the-conflict). In line with a participatory research approach (cf. von Unger 2014), we want to analyze and reflect on strategies for action against the right and for democracy with young people.

Using social media postings by right-wing actors, we will use discourse analysis to examine how young people are addressed in right-wing, far-right and other anti-democratic discourses. In conversations with young, committed people, we also ask what effects this addressing has on their political positioning.

In other words, we use subjectivation analysis (cf. Butler 2001; Spies/Tuider 2022) to ask how young people's subjectivation processes are represented between civic engagement and right-wing influence. The aim of "Jugend im Fokus" is therefore to supplement current approaches to political education with the insights gained in the project from interviews with young people and the empirical research results.

Albert, Mathias/Quenzel, Gudrun/Leven, Ingo/de Moll, Frederick/McDonnell, Sophia/Rysina, Anna/Schneekloth, Ulrich/Wolfert, Sabine (2024): Youth 2024: Pragmatic between disenchantment and lived diversity. Shell Germany. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz Juventa.

Butler, Judith (2001): Psyche of power. The subject of subjugation. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp.

Die Techniker (ed.): Stressreport 2025. Hamburg.

Marcus, George E. (1995): Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. In: Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, pp. 95-117.

Spies, Tina/Tuider, Elisabeth (2022): Subjectivation and Othering in the Postmigrant Society. Outline of an intersectional-decolonial subjectivation research. In: Siouti, Irini/Spies, Tina/Tuider, Elisabeth/von Unger, Hella/Yıldız, Erol (eds.): Othering in the post-migrant society. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 57-83.

von Unger, Hella (2014): Participatory research. Introduction to research practice. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.