19.04.2017 Sociology
Katharina Kunißen
Why should we not do what we often do? Pitfalls in welfare state research
Katharina Kunißen discusses how the way welfare policies are turned into explanatory variables can lead to contradictory results. She shows that not every conclusion in the literature should be taken for granted because results heavily depend on how characteristics of the welfare state are operationalised.
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26.04.2017 Communication Studies
Philipp Müller
How mediated discourse about populism polarises society
Populism is on the rise worldwide as an antielitist political strategy and communication style. Philipp Müller summarises the latest research on how mediated discourse about populism contributes to a polarisation of society in two camps. He outlines how media scepticism and fake news are strategically utilised by populist political actors to serve their purposes.
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03.05.2017 Sociology
Torsten Cress
Materiality and devotion. Artefacts in catholic belief practices
Torsten Cress discusses the role of artefacts and other forms of materiality for the performance of catholic belief practices from a sociological point of view. The talk is based on video and interview data that were collected at pilgrimage sites like Lourdes and Jerusalem.
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10.05. Sports Science
Mathias Schubert
Breaking bad or breaking even? On football, finance and fair play
Fair play is an integral part in the rhetoric of sports competitions. Recent policies in European club football seek to apply the fair play principle also in financial matters. Mathias Schubert critically assesses pros and cons of such initiatives.
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17.05.2017 Psychology
Vanessa Scholz
Why bipolar patients sometimes make bad decisions
Across affective states, patients with bipolar disorder are often characterised by suboptimal decision-making. Vanessa Scholz discusses what factors might be contributing to this behaviour.
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24.05.2017 Communication Studies
Pascal Jürgens
Fake news, conspiracy theories and propaganda: Not all is lost
The unreasonable effectiveness of blatant lies in political communication has thoroughly shocked observers. Taking stock of observational and experimental evidence, Pascal Jürgens disentangles the causes, mechanisms and effect potential of misleading information.
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31.05.2017 Political Science
Jasmin Fitzpatrick
Tweeting louder – becoming bigger? Measuring the agenda-setting potential of CSOs and political parties through twitter
Jasmin Fitzpatrick talks about the impact of social media on political communication of political organisations and presents a new measurement for agenda-setting. The findings presented are relevant to scholarly debate and to practitioners.
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07.06.2017 Sports Science
Elmo Neuberger
Next generation gene doping: Hype and reality
Elmo Neuberger illustrates the recent progress in the field of gene therapy and genetic engineering, to scrutinize if genetic manipulation could push human performance to new extremes. Are genetically modified “super humans” entering the sports scene soon or will athletes have to retain conventional doping strategies?
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14.06.2017 Educational Science
Caroline Schmitt
„Some get ahead, others remain“ – Young refugees’ perspectives on inclusion in Germany
Caroline Schmitt provides an insight on how young refugees experience inclusion in Germany. Based on qualitative interviews, she analyses the opportunities and limitations of participation from the young people’s perspective and discusses the consequences for (social work) practice.
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21.06.2017 Psychology
Johanna Walter and Christopher Giebe
Work, health, and well-being
Working has major implications on mental health and well-being. Johanna Walter and Christopher Giebe consider two important factors of our working life: (1) the pros and cons of changing jobs for a person’s health and (2) the interplay of personal relationships and work on well-being.
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28.06.2017 Sociology
Tobias Boll
Getting intimate with the field. Methodological reflections on participatory research in erotic mediapractices
Producing and posting nude photos of one’s self and body online has become a fairly common erotic practice in contemporary media cultures. For the research project presented in this talk, Tobias Boll got intimate with this novel set of practices involving visual media and bodies. Understanding the practical work of producing an erotic body required performing an ethnographic ‚going naked’ along with the usual ‚going native’. The talk addresses the methodological foundations and implications of this research.
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05.07.2017 Political Science
Carl Berning
Sub-national context and radical right support in Europe
Carl Berning analyses local differences in the fortune of the radical right. He combines data of varying institutional, infrastructural, socio economic, and attitudinal contexts with a standardised survey. The results provide an unparalleled level of detailed understanding of radical right support.
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12.07.2017 Educational Science
Yalız Akbaba
Make migration great again. How minority teachers are called to capitalise foreignness conceived as a threat
Usually, discourses of migrants’ children in school insinuate educational problems, social deviances and cultural incongruities. Interestingly, this stigma is reversed when talking about ethnic minority teachers, who are discursively produced to be a solution to educational inequality in schools. Yalız Akbaba gives insight to current results from a school field research, enlightening the mechanisms of double bindingethnicity and the way teachers indeed turn the paradoxes into capital.
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