TRAWOS research colloquium

The aim and concern of this research colloquium is to present the results of Dr. Thomas Prennig's dissertation "Pfarrerskinder in der DDR - Zwischen Privilegierung und Diskriminierung. Eine habitustheoretische Analyse im Anschluss an Norbert Elias und Pierre Bourdieu"  and the formulation and empirical underpinning of a plea for a method-sensitive re-actualization of social science transformation research.

Societal transformations place specific demands on social science research practice because, on the one hand, the intensity and holistic nature of these processes across the various levels (politics, economy, public sphere and social relations) is unique and the tangible and measurable effects of these transformation processes on society as a whole can be expected to unfold over at least two, if not three generations, i.e. over a period of at least 40-60 years. In this context, overly simplistic methods, such as the often used attitude or election research, fall short and, due to their problematic construction of the object of investigation, tend to obscure the actual effective processes of societal transformation rather than clearly identifying and elaborating them.

Dr. Thomas Prennig would like to use his research case to focus on the mutual conditionality and influence of material contextual factors on the one hand and symbolic processes of interpretation and attribution on the other, and to promote a research practice that takes into account and recognizes the comprehensive and often temporally shifted orientation function of these patterns of perception, evaluation and action against the background of seemingly rapidly changing lifeworlds. In this sense, pastors' children in their ambivalent role as both privileged and disadvantaged outsiders before, during and after 1989 are particularly suitable as an empirical case study in order to discuss the theoretical and methodological considerations on the basis of a concrete case.

Emilia Socha will be the moderator .