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Department of Social Sciences
Departmentof Social Sciences

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Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger

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Professor for Sociology of Cultural and Institutional Change (semi-emerited)

Address

University of Hamburg
Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Sozialwissenschaften
Social Sciences
Sociology
Allende-Platz 1
20146 Hamburg, Germany

Key aspects of activity

  • PI of the international, collaborative research project AURELIA of the French ANR
  • Member of the Bord of Directors of the international Centre for Comparative Social Policy Research (CCWR) at the University of California, Berkeley

Profile

Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger held the Chair for Social Structure Analysis and was Scientific Co-Director of the Reserch Centre of Globalisation and Governance (CGG) at Hamburg University 2003-2018, and she was Research Professor (Senior Professor) for Sociology of Cultural Change and Institutional Change from 2018-2023 at the University of Hamburg. From 2016-2018 research professor at the University of Southern Denmark. She was visiting professor at the Universities of Tampere/Finland, Aalborg/Denmark and the Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona/Spain. Currently she is semi-emerited as Professor of Sociology of Cultural and Institutional Change; PI of the international, collaborative research project AURELIA of the French ANR; and member of the Board of Directors of the international Centre for Comparative Social Policy Research (CCWR) at the University of California, Berkeley.

She has published several books and numerous articles in academic journals. Her article in Work, Employment and Society (WES) was distinguished in 2012 as “Favorite WES article of the last 25 years” by the British Sociological Association, the Editors of WES, and SAGE. Articles of her in the Journal of Social Policy and in European Societies are since many years among the most cited articles in the Journals.  

She received several awards for her research. She was appointed by the German Research Council (DFG) as “Outstanding Women Academics and Scientists” for AcademiaNet’ since 2010 and awarded as “Honorary Professor for Comparative Welfare State Research” at the University of Southern Denmark (2011-2014). The President of the University of Hamburg awarded her the senior research professorship for “outstanding performance in research and teaching” (2018-2023). She was also ‘Friedlander Lecturer 2018-2019 on International Social Welfare ‘of the University of California, Berkeley, May 2019.

Her main research interests include theorizing and research about the relationship between cultural change and welfare state change; the role of culture and institutions for the explanation of cross-national differences in gender, care and the work-family relationship; the explanation of the historical development of the ‘male breadwinner family’; the diversity of development paths of the work-family relationship, and the changing relationship between formal and informal work. She received several grants from the German Research Council (DFG) and the EU, and had leading roles in international collaborative research programs like the COST A13 Action, the ESF Research Network GIER and the EU Network of Excellence RECWOWE. She was elected co-editor of Work, Employment and Society (WES), and she is currently co-editor of the Journal of Family Policy (JFR) and the International Journal of Care and Careing (IJCC). She was member of the Board of the European Social Policy Network (ESPAnet) until 2023. Her main research focus is on theorizing and research on

  • Theorising and research about culture and welfare state change
  • Theory of the gender arrangement and gender culture
  • Explanation of historical development paths and cross-national differences in the work-family relationship
  • Comparative analyses of family policies and long-term care policies and the explanation of cross-national differences
  • Change in the relationship between formal and informal work
  • Theorising and research about the cultural and institutional framework of the society-animal relationship

Contact

Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger, (im Semi-Ruhestand)
Sociology
Social Sciences
Allende-Platz 1
20146 Hamburg
Tel: +49 40 42838 3810