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Demography and Social Inequality

The research cluster “Demography and Social Inequality” is aimed at conducting rigorous and relevant research on demographic change and its interrelationship with social inequalities. The latter aspect is of particular importance, because demographic change has been fueled by social change (and vice versa) and the underlying social processes are characterized by a clear social gradient. For example, research has shown that (a) wealth is positively associated with health and longevity, (b) socio-economic status affects both the timing and quantum of fertility, and (c) education is an important factor in determining individuals’ propensity to migrate as well as their chances for a successful integration into the host society.

The causal relationship between demographic behavior and socioeconomic status (social inequalities, respectively), however, is complex and often bi-directional: Wealth is likely to impact individuals’ health, but health is also likely to impact individuals’ capacity to accumulate wealth. High socioeconomic status offers the resources to bear the costs of children, but – at the same time – opportunity costs of childrearing are high for the highest qualified.

Recent years brought about significant improvements in our – theoretical and empirical – understanding of the causal mechanisms underlying demographic outcomes/processes and social inequalities as described above. Another important aspect we still know relatively little about, though, relates to the coping strategies of actors facing the demographic challenges lying just ahead of us. More generally phrased – and following a general model of sociological explanation – we might thus ask:

  • How do actors at different levels of aggregation (macro-, meso-, and micro-level) adapt their behaviors to fundamentally changing (social, economic, demographic) environments, coping with new challenges and opportunities?
  • How might behavioral changes at the micro-level result in structural changes at higher levels of aggregation? And how are such behavioral changes related to social inequalities (both as a determinant and as a consequence)?

These questions relate all three demographic processes – fertility, migration, and mortality – and various dimensions of social inequality – education, income, social participation, etc. – alike. Answering them requires competence in several substantive fields as well as broad methodological expertise and knowledge of a variety of theoretical approaches to human behavior. The research initiative clusters the individual competences of its members, thereby offering the broad expertise necessary to advance our knowledge in the field of “Demography and Social Inequality”.

The research initiative is in the unique position that its members are involved in a number of long-term data collection enterprises (pairfam, CILS4EU, NRW Survey of Oldest-Old) providing the research community with high-quality research infrastructures. This involvement not only allows us to collect ‘tailor-made’ data needed for our own projects, but also poses us in a position as an attractive partner for external collaborations.

Researchers

While the professors at the ISS form the core of the research initiative, the research cluster includes other associated researchers from the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences and other Faculties of the University of Cologne.

Selected publications

Exact and Bayesian approximate measurement invariance

Seddig, D. & Leitgöb, H. (2018). In E. Davidov, P. Schmidt, & J. Billiet, Cross Cultural Analysis: Methods and…

Maternity Leave and Mothers' Long-Term Sickness Absence: Evidence from West-Germany

Guertzgen, Nicole and Karsten Hank (2018). In Demography

Cross-cultural analysis: Methods and applications. Second edition (2018)

Edited by Davidov, E., P. Schmidt, J. Billiet and B. Meuleman.

Taking Lemons for a Trial Run: Does Type of Job Exit Affect the Risk of Entering Fixed-Term Employment in Germany?

Biegert, Thomas and Michael Kühhirt (2018) in European Sociological Review

Quality of life of the very old. Survey on quality of life and subjective well-being of the very old in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW80+)

Wagner, Michael, Christian Rietz, Roman Kaspar, Anna Janhsen, Luise Geithner, Michael Neise, Carolin Kinne-Wall,…

Long-term Health Consequences of Adverse Labor Market Conditions at Time of Leaving Education. Evidence from West German Panel Data

Lersch, Philipp M., Marita Jacob, and Karsten Hank (2018).

In Journal of Health and Social Behavior

Women’s decisions to stay in or leave an abusive relationship: Results from a longitudinal study in Bolivia. Violence Against Women, 1-19.

Heim, E., Ajzen, I., Schmidt, P., & Seddig, D. (2017). doi:10.1177/1077801217741993

Free Will and the Brain Disease Model of Addiction: The Not So Seductive Allure of Neuroscience and Its Modest Impact on the Attribution of Free Will to People with an Addiction

Racine, É., Sattler, S., Escande, A. (2017) In: Frontiers in Psychology 8: 1850

Information and Communication Technology Applications and the Mediatization of Social Inclusion

Ferger, Edwin (2017) In: Postmodernism Problems. Volume 7, Number 3. (Electronic Issue)

Exploration and explanation of self-reported delinquency trajectories in the Crimoc study

Seddig, D. & Reinecke, J. (2017) in the Crimoc study. In A. Blokland, V. van der Geest (Eds.), The Routledge…