Cluster News at a Glance

Contributions by our researchers and PIs, reports on public Cluster activities, and Cluster-related news items

You can sign up for our monthly newsletter here.

Current news

Vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal

Vaccine hesitancy has been around since long before the coronavirus pandemic. A research team from Konstanz and Berlin is now examining how vaccination rates and vaccine hesitancy developed in the time before the pandemic.

Read more

 

 

The political right and the welfare state

In a major Op-Ed, the New York Times discusses the possible evolution of America's welfare state should Donald Trump once again lead the country in 2025 - and interviews Cluster speaker Prof. Dr. Marius R. Busemeyer and his colleague Dr. Philip Rathgeb (University of Konstanz / University of Edinburgh) in detail.

OECD Report: Is the German Middle Class Crumbling? Risks and Opportunities

A new report by the OECD and the Bertelsmann Foundation examines the state of the middle class in Germany, and finds that the middle class is significantly smaller today than it was in the mid-1990s. Valentina Consiglio, co-author of the study and a PhD student here at the Cluster, will present the study to us in more detail on December 22, 2021. More information about it and a brief summary of the findings is available here.

Konstanzer Homeoffice-Studie

Konstanzer Langzeitstudie stellt fest, dass besonders jüngere ArbeitnehmerInnen dem Arbeiten im Homeoffice positiv gegenüberstehen. Ein Sechstel von ihnen würden für garantierte Homeoffice-Tage sogar Gehaltseinbußen in Kauf nehmen.

Wanted Expert: Katrin Schmelz and the readiness to vaccinate

Ever since publishing two pertinent studies, her telephone hasn't stopped ringing: Behavioural economist and psychologist Dr. Katrin Schmelz explains diverse aspects of society's readiness to comply with containment measures and get vaccinated (mandatorily or voluntarily), in the press, radio and on TV.

Here she has some answers for the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen.

Berlin Science Week: How (not) to increase vaccination willingness

Researchers of the Clusters of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" and "Contestations of the Liberal Script – SCRIPTS", as well as Public and Global Health experts from medicinal research and/or governmental institutions such as the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) or international organizations, discuss pressing questions of compliance in an ongoing health crisis. The aim is to foster an interdisciplinary knowledge exchange between theory and practice, between science, society and…

Junger Bundestag, junge Themen?

Cluster-PI Christian Breunig, Professor für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, erklärt im Interview mit detektor.fm, welche Folgen die Zusammensetzung des neuen Bundestags mit sich bringt: Vertreten Junge, Frauen, Migrant*innen auch inhaltlich die Belange "ihrer" Gruppen?

Social Policies for the Digital Age

Political scientists at the University of Konstanz investigate citizens’ expectations of their governments in 24 OECD countries in response to increasing automatization and digitalization of their workplace.

To vaccinate or not? What drives people's decision-making in times of COVID-19

Katrin Schmelz, psychologist and behavioral economist at the Cluster, investigates the factors that influence decision-making: How can the government ensure compliance with measures to stop the virus? Why do vaccination campaigns lose effectiveness? What will the reaction be if – when? – governments must enforce mandatory vaccination?

(German only) Claudia Diehl beantwortet Fragen zur Impfbereitschaft

Steht der gesellschaftliche Zusammenhalt auf der Kippe? Das fragt die heutige Sendung des 'Tagesgesprächs' auf BR24. Cluster-Co-Sprecherin Claudia Diehl geht live auf Publikumsfragen ein.

Immer mehr jüngere Menschen und auch Menschen, die aus medizinischen Gründen nicht geimpft werden können, machen sich Sorgen. Bleibt die Mitmenschlichkeit ein Stück weit auf der Strecke? Was wäre verhandelbar? Wo endet Ihre Solidarität?

Wie können wir also das gegenseitige Verständnis befördern, damit…