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Erste empirische Studien aus den ersten Monaten der Corona-Epidemie im Jahr 2020 zur medialen Repräsentation älterer Menschen deuten auf eine Konjunktur des Stereotyps des verletzlichen, einsamen und abhängigen alten Menschen hin. Die Stereotype rund um Schutz- und Hilflosigkeit sind seit langem feste Bestandteile der medialen Berichterstattung über ältere Menschen. Der vorliegende Beitrag greift diesen Aspekt kritisch auf und sammelt erste Studien zu diesem Thema rund um den Kontext der Corona-Pandemie. Ein aktuelles Forschungsprojekt soll in einem interdisziplinären Rahmen noch mehr zur Erforschung von Altersrepräsentation in einer historischen Ausnahmesituation beitragen.

AbstractThe political landscape of the radical right has long been a major discussion point in the political and social sciences. By considering the variety of radical right organizations (movement parties and non-parliamentary organizations) and the particular national and transnational political and discursive opportunity structures, the paper aims at a comparative analysis of the main discursive frames present in political programs and manifestoes of radical right social movement organizations and movement parties in Poland (Konfederacja Wolność i Niepodległość and Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny) and Germany (Alternative für Deutschland and Identitäre Bewegung Deutschland). Moreover, based on approaches developed by Cas Mudde and Jens Rydgren, this article analyses how the features presumed essential to the radical right (nativism, authoritarianism and populism) are reflected and interconnected in the official discourses of the selected radical right organizations.

From a political and economic perspective, senior entrepreneurship seems to be the response to the demographic consequences of the aging workforce in Europe. Several policies and strategies by the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) promote senior entrepreneurship by creating a favorable environment and frameworks. This article examines the role of senior entrepreneurship as a social innovation understood as a response to unmet needs of population aging in the area of economic activity. In this paper draws on qualitative interviews with 6 experts and 4 senior entrepreneurs (as part of a larger research project) in Poland in addition to the analysis of reports and evaluations of incubator projects. Findings highlight the importance of other factors than financial sustainability of senior entrepreneurship: (1) social connectedness as a means against social isolation, (2) personal self-confidence leading to social and psychological empowerment of the entrepreneurs, and (3) skills, knowledge, and experience that are also strengthening their human capital in the job market. Economic sustainability of the businesses established is not the primary goal in these undertakings. The article suggests that due to the three factors before mentioned that the notion of social innovation in senior entrepreneurship might best be understood as improving the well-being and quality of life of the entrepreneurs themselves. Senior entrepreneurship can be an adequate response to the challenges of the aging population. However, due to the low rates of unemployment, the idea of becoming a senior entrepreneur appears a little tempting.

From a political and economic perspective, senior entrepreneurship seems to be the response to demographic consequences of the ageing workforce in Europe. Several policies and strategies by the EU and the OECD promote senior entrepreneurship by creating favorable environment and frameworks. This article examines the role of senior entrepreneurship as social innovation understood as response to unmet needs of population ageing in the area of economic activity. In this paper, we draw on qualitative interviews with 6 experts and 4 senior entrepreneurs (as part of larger research project) in Poland in addition to the analysis of reports and evaluations of incubator projects. Findings highlight the importance of other factors than financial sustainability of senior entrepreneurship: (1) social connectedness as means against social isolation, (2) personal self-confidence leading to social and psychological empowerment of the entrepreneurs, (3) skills, knowledge, and experience also strengthening their human capital in the job market. Economic sustainability of the businesses established is not the primary goal in these undertakings. The article suggests due to the three factors before mentioned that the notion of social innovation in senior entrepreneurship might best be understood as improving the well-being and quality of life of the entrepreneurs themselves. Senior entrepreneurship can be an adequate response to the challenges of the ageing population. However, due to the low rates of unemployment, the idea of becoming a senior entrepreneur appears little tempting.

With the increasing popularity of the radical right, much research has tried to explain the motives of voters. Less attention has been paid to the motives of people to become radical right activists – specifically young people, a group with a high tendency to join right-wing parties. Within the context of the internationalisation of the radical right, this article draws on 28 narrative interviews conducted between 2019 and 2021 with young radical right activists in Poland and Germany, two countries with considerably different political and discursive opportunity structures. We propose to recognise a new motive for becoming involved in political activism: career-oriented individual self-realisation in Germany, as opposed to fulfilling a duty to the nation in Poland. While we identify two different types of radical activism within the different contexts – the (nationalist) anti-establishment populist career type in Germany and the (nationalist) anti-political intellectualism/elitism type in Poland – they both point to the normalisation of the radical right in the two countries.

Boike Rehbein und sein Forschungsteam legen mit dieser Untersuchung die konstitutiven Mechanismen der sozialen Ungleichheit und die dadurch geschaffenen Trennlinien innerhalb der deutschen Gesellschaft frei. Für diese großangelegte Studie führten sie zwischen 2010 und 2015 über 300 qualitative Interviews zu Lebensläufen und erfassten eine repräsentative Stichprobe. Die Analyse dieser empirischen Daten zeigt, dass die Sozialstruktur Deutschlands durch das Zusammenspiel jahrhundertealter Traditionslinien, der Weitergabe von Habitus und Kapital an die jeweils nächste Generation und die unbewusste symbolische Klassifikation erklärt werden kann. Damit einhergehend wird in diesem Buch die deutsche Sozialstruktur Schritt für Schritt aufgefächert und erläutert, von historischen Klassenstrukturen über Gender, Migration und institutionelle Selektion bis zur Konstitution von Lebensläufen und Lebensstilen. Der Forschungsansatz basiert im Kern auf der Soziologie Pierre Bourdieus, wurde aber im Zusammenhang mit parallelen Untersuchungen in Brasilien, Indien und Südostasien weiter ausgearbeitet und im Hinblick auf internationale Vergleichbarkeit verallgemeinert.