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Our area of research under the supervision of Prof. Petra Böhnke deals with the analysis of social change structures in an international comparison. We investigate what holds modern societies together and how structural division tendencies can determined. Our research questions include stability, the change in distribution of resources and the impacts that the unequal distribution of life chances have on social integration. We further attempt to describe und explain these change processes by means of different institutional social welfare state systems and investigate the imprint that institutions and previous life experiences have made in the life course of an individual. We focus on objective life conditions complemented by subjective assessment of life chances. The methological emphasis in our field of research lies in the quantitative analysis of representative population surveys as well as panel and international comparison studies. Furthermore, we attempt to answer certain questions with methods of qualitative social research.

Our main areas of research are the study of social inequality and the analysis of social structures: 

• Poverty and marginalization
• Social capital, social networks, participation
• Life satisfaction, life quality, subjective well-being
• Workforce integration and precarization