Changing Lives in Changing Socio-Cultural Contexts – (Ph.D.)

To understand changing patterns of societal integration, we have to analyze the complex interplay of social structures, culture, and individuals’ attitudes and behaviors across time. This means to examine the changing dynamics of individual lives against a backdrop of political and social integration. At BIGSSS, this is done by looking at the interplay of individual attitudes, capabilities, and behavior and changing demographics, social structures, cultures, and institutions. This study of macro-micro interrelations requires dynamic individual-level analyses, embedded in multi-level models of social processes. Advanced sociological life-course and psychological lifespan research are powerful approaches to achieve this goal.

Research questions in this thematic field fall into three groups:

* Global societal changes and individuals’ changing self-concepts, attitudes, behaviors, and values — all of which shape interactions between individuals and individuals' life courses.


* Current demographic trends, changing labor markets, and changing social welfare regimes as well as individuals’ educational and work biographies


* The demands and opportunities in changing modern societies and the (re-)organization as well as stability of living arrangements and family relationships, accompanied by changing gender-related attitudes, values, life priorities, and life plans.