Zwischen Druck und Angemessenheit : Deutungsprozesse in der Auseinandersetzung sozialpolitischer Akteure über Reformen der Alterssicherung in Deutschland und Großbritannien ; Between pressure and appropriateness : Interpretation processes in the dispute of socio-political actors about pension reforms in Germany and the United Kingdom

Abstract

Reforms of old age security systems place high demands on policy makers, mainly because these are generally unpopular in society and affect many (political) interests. This dissertation explores how pension reforms that were implemented since the year 2000 are contested within the pension policy community in Germany and the United Kingdom. For this purpose, a concept of 'practise of reasoning' is developed and applied to the data (expert interviews with representatives of socio-political actors and policy documents). In terms of analysis, a reconstruction of 'interpretative frames' which the actors try to maintain throughout the reform debate is accomplished. On the whole, the empirical results reveal the high degree of conflict among two opposing groups of actors in the German discourse, whereas the discourse in UK is grounded on more consensus. The analysis also shows how the institutional and, with that, cultural differences between Germany and the UK give shape to certain arguments used in the discourse.