Volume 39, Issue 3

In this contribution comparisons are considered to be elementary social forms, and they are analyzed within a communication-theoretical perspective. Across different media of communication, comparisons are expressed linguistically, numerically, or visually, and this differentiation is the focus of the present investigation. The use of numbers, visual representations, and language each affects communication in a particular manner, and quantification is particularly effective in promoting the acceptance of communication. This effectiveness corresponds to what is here termed the “numerical difference”, a difference illustrated by the ubiquitous use of quantitative comparisons drawn from statistics, rankings, or ratings. In the first part of the paper elementary characteristics of comparisons and their communicativeness are discussed. In the second part, the differentiation of linguistic, visual, and numerical media is utilized in order to investigate how the form of messages may influence the likelihood of their acceptance. These observations are related to of issues of globalization in the third part of the paper, where they are discussed with respect to concepts employed by studies of diffusion within the new institutionalism.

A key question in current debates in the sociology of education is to what extent educational inequalities with regard to social origin and gender are being reduced by the expansion of educational systems. We explore this question by using a new set of data with which developments in Switzerland,West Germany, and East Germany can be comparatively analyzed. Using the birth cohorts 1925-1974 we look at cohort-specific differences in educational participation between social strata and between men and women. We focus comparatively on those characteristics of the educational system which influence the educational levels and educational inequalities across society. Our analyses are based on two equivalent samples: the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Results show that the strongest improvement in educational opportunities among working class children has been achieved in Switzerland, whereas East Germany has been most progressive in abolishing gender inequalities, but is seeing an increase in gender inequalities to the disadvantage of males among the youngest cohorts.

According to Boudon’s (1974) well-known micro-theoretical model of educational transitions, inequality in educational opportunity stems from two sources: primary effects - which are all those that are expressed by the association between social origin and academic performance; and secondary effects - which are propensities toward transition differing between families of different social origin - even at the same level of school performance. The evaluation of the relative importance of primary and secondary effects is the aim of a growing body of literature. This article contributes to this line of research first by evaluating the relative importance of these two effects at the transition to upper secondary schools in Germany and second by assessing whether the differences in translation regulations between the various German federal states (Bundesländer) affect the relative importance of these effects. Employing nationwide panel data (years 2002-2005) collected by the German Youth Institute (DJI), primary and secondary effects are decomposed through counterfactual analysis. Results indicate that secondary effects are the main source of educational inequality, accounting for 59% of total inequality. These effects are especially strong for children with medium (as opposed to very high or very low) grades. Furthermore, the relative importance of secondary effects tends to be higher when parents are allowed to choose a secondary school track, and lower when the parents’ freedom of choice is restricted by teachers’ recommendations. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

The present paper investigates the relationship between anti-American and anti-Semitic resentments on a terminological, theoretical, and empirical level.We start by identifying a set of shared structural principles drawn from historical research: personification of modernity,Manichaeism, and the construction of identitary collectives. On this basis established theories of anti-Semitism are applied to anti-Americanism. Following the projection thesis of critical theory and basic assumptions of cognitive psychology, anti-Americanism (together with other resentments) can be seen as a psychofunctional substitute for anti-Semitic attitudes in the process of channeling social discontent (“projection shift”). The communication latency thesis, on the other hand, suggests that anti-Americanism can appear as a vehicle for the communication of anti-Semitic attitudes (“detour communication”). Empirical support for both theoretical relationships is provided by an exemplary study of cross-section data from interviews with 241 pupils from Chemnitz, Dresden, and Leipzig (Germany).

The incorporation of technologies in everyday activities is far from difficult for participants who are, in an ethnomethodological sense, competent members of society. Working “with” technology is a routine engagement. As conversation analysts we are interested in the systematic procedures which participants employ to make technological objects like computers part of an encounter and its social universe. The analysis of 52 (audio-taped) face-to-face consultations in what are termed Job Centers (public employment agencies in Germany) allows us to demonstrate the extent of interactional work that is to be completed if participants (have to) include the computer and work “with” it. Within our data, a variety of orientations toward the computer are evident. Sometimes the computer is moved to the background of the encounter and is given only minimal attention while Job Center official and client are clearly oriented toward each other as people. Conversely, the official may choose to involve the computer by asking it questions. In another variation of computer-aided consultation, the official devotes his or her attention to the computer exclusively while the client is effectively placed “on hold”. We also found cases in which the computer was actively neutralized by participants. Competent members of society not only orient themselves toward objects (e,g, computers) and display this orientation to one another, but also employ a variety of modalities to integrate these objects into the social world of their encounter. This may fundamentally change the character of an encounter.