Working group 4 Effects of property: Institutions, social structure, self- and world-relations

Working group 4 is primarily concerned with the structural change through property. It focuses on property-induced shifts and changes in the basic institutions of the market economy, democracy, consumption and the welfare state, in the distributional structure of contemporary societies and in the self-, social and world-relations established in each case. The thematic emphasis and the membership of this working group change periodically. Each leading subproject will specifically address other issues, while at the same time being open to requests for participation from other subprojects.

There will be a total of six core areas, each of which will run for two years. During the first two years, the effects of property change on the basic institutions of contemporary Western societies will be discussed: the welfare state in the first phase (lead by C04 van Dyk), the market economy in the second phase (lead by B03 Geppert), democracy in the third (lead by B04 Reiser/Vogel), and consumption in the fourth (lead by A06 Esser/Wesche). This is followed by core areas on the social structure and distribution (lead by B05 Dörre) and on self- and world-relations (lead by C06 Rosa/Oberthür). These alternating thematic core areas ensure that the various social effects of the assumed structural change of property are presented to the comparative discussion as comprehensively as possible, but nevertheless focused, in each case.