35th Congress of the German Sociological Association (DGS)<\/p>\n
Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum \/ TU Dortmund<\/p>\n
1\u20135 October, 2012<\/p>\n
Plenary Session<\/p>\n
Life In-Between: Putting the Integration Paradigm to the Test<\/p>\n
\u201cIntegration\u201d is the topical issue of the hour as far as finding a solution to the social problems of heterogenic societies is concerned. On both a national and an international scale we permanently diagnose deficits in integration, identify refusals to integrate, and develop integration plans. Thus a basic sociological term becomes political, a term that has certainly not been uncontroversial in recent theories of society \u2013 from system-theoretical doubts about the plausibility of \u201cdis-integration\u201d diagnoses to post-structurally inspired criticism of the normalization effect of \u201cintegration\u201d policy. The integration definition first took shape as both an analytical and normative concept in the social-theory concept of the Chicago School of Sociology. Here the metropolis appears as a diversity generator, held together by the opposing forms of interaction between competition and communication, which permits integration precisely in its ambivalence with regard to segregation. Robert E. Park recognizes in the figure of the marginal man the personalization of the dual principle of disembedding and cohesion, differentiation and
\nintegration, all at the same time. As an urban immigrant, living in the border area between two cultures, in which he participates without really belonging to either of them, he embodies perfectly the modern status of a life \u201cin-between\u201d. On the one hand uprooted and disoriented, he simultaneously combines the insight of the initiated with the distanced view of the outsider, thus becoming, for Park, the bearer of civilizational transformation and modern subjectivity.
\n
\nThe plenum shall examine the social-analytical potential of the integration definition and analyze the political-sociological balancing act in which the current renaissance of the integration paradigm is taking place. In particular, we are looking for contributions,
\n\u00b7 in which the productivity and precariousness of current forms of \u201clife in the balance\u201d are examined empirically,
\n\u00b7 that question the contradictions and pitfalls of integration policies at both national and local level,
\n\u00b7 that reflect on the impact of the city \u2013 as a very specific social-spatial form of society \u2013 on diversity and cohesion
\n\u00b7 and finally those that pose the fundamental question(s) as to whether \u201cintegration\u201d is needed at all \u2013 in whatever definition \u2013 as a sociological concept and a social-political normative.<\/p>\n
We look forward to receiving abstracts with a maximum length of 500
\nwords. Please send your suggestions by 31 March 2012 to Martin Kronauer (kronauer@fhw-berlin.de) and Heike Herrmann (Heike.Herrmann@sw.hs-fulda.de).<\/p>\n
Moderation:
\nStephan Lessenich (Jena \u2013 Social Policy Section)
\nSilke Steets (Darmstadt \u2013 Urban and Regional Sociology Section)<\/p>\n
Jurors:
\nMartin Kronauer (Berlin)
\nHeike Herrmann (Fulda)
\nSilke Steets
\nTU Darmstadt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
35th Congress of the German Sociological Association (DGS) Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum \/ TU Dortmund 1\u20135 October, 2012 Plenary Session Life In-Between: Putting the Integration Paradigm to the Test \u201cIntegration\u201d is the topical issue of the hour as far as finding a solution to the social problems of heterogenic societies is concerned. On both a national and … <\/p>\n