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Cohesion, solidarity and a sense of belonging are the cornerstones of human coexistence and a functioning democracy. They are of enormous importance for individual well-being, culture, sport and many other areas. It is therefore crucial to understand how social cohesion can be identified and measured, what promotes solidarity and cooperation, and what helps to counter polarization and exclusion. This project examines social cohesion from the perspective of young people - those who are at the transition from school to working life and will shape the future. How do young adults assess and view social cohesion?

In light of major demographic changes, including population ageing, changing family structures, and women’s raising employment rates, paid domestic support services in private households are becoming more and more important. Services such as childcare, elderly care, and cleaning are increasingly offered via digital platforms, such as Care.com, Helpling, Sitly or kleinanzeigen, where service providers offer their work and households or families seek support. How do seekers select service providers? What strategies do service providers use to secure good job offers? To understand the selection processes in these online markets, the project team draws on sociological and socio-psychological theories.

At a time of significant demographic and technological change, the question of whether and how long people work has increasingly gained economic, political, and social relevance: How have working hours and working hour preferences of different socio-demographic groups evolved over time? How do contextual characteristics—particularly working time regulations—influence social inequalities and the reconciliation of work and private life? And how reliably can we measure working hours in the era of remote work, flexible schedules, and blurring boundaries between work and private life?

As part of the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS), the research group engages in international social science methods training and continuing education for advanced MA students, doctoral candidates and postdocs. SICSS-Berlin focuses on digital texts, including data collection through web scraping, data cleaning, as well as various quantitative text analysis methods and procedures. The teaching program features lectures, group tasks and participant-led group research projects.

Theoretical background and objectives

Theoretical background and objectives