Events

With its Jour Fixe-Presentations, which include reports on results and progress of research, the SOCIUM offers the wider public a regional discussion forum on issues of social inequality and social policy.

Additionally, every semester scholars and practitioners with professional backgrounds are invited to the SOCIUM in order to analyze questions on health economics and health policies. These lectures of the Colloquium on Health Policy (Gesundheitspolitisches Kolloquium) are also open to the public.

Established to strengthen the University’s high-profile area Social sciences the bridge professorship “Qualitative Methods and Microsociology” offers lectures and international workshops on Mixed Methods, Social Network Analysis and Comparative Methods.

The SOCIUM also organizes a variety of conferences, lectures and workshops to present and discuss recent societal developments regarding inequality and social policy research.

Place:
Unicom
Room: 7.1020
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Time:
2.00 pm - 4.00 pm
Organization:
Lecture Series:
Jour Fixe
Semester:
WiSe 2024/25

To tackle the severe old-age poverty, the Korean government introduced the Basic Pension (BP) in 2007 for the elderly with lower income. Since then, the non-contributory scheme has continued to develop and become one of the main public pension programs along with the earnings-related National Pension Scheme (NPS). The existing literature on the BP has been mainly conducted from the domestic perspective which involves political and socio-economic factors such as electoral competition and high old-age poverty rates. In contrast, this study pays special attention to international aspects (situated Learning) and domestic advocacy coalitions which translates in into the Korean context.

We take into consideration the three pension reforms in 1998, 2007, and 2014, which played a significant role in the development of the BP. Hence, this study aims to identify which attributes were critical to BP expansions. Through the three reforms, the existing BP has developed with a series of modifications and reinterpretations. In the Korean case, the initial reform model was considered with the reference of the World Bank’s conceptual framework. Later, the advocacy coalition for the BP continued to strategically reinterpret the international model in order to fit it in the Korean context. We also show that securing solid institutional positioning in the policy arena plays a crucial role in the introduction of a social policy such as the BP.

Place:
Haus der Wissenschaft
Room: Olbers-Saal
Sandstr. 4/5
28195 Bremen
Time:
10 am - 4 pm
Contact Person:
Cooperation:

The connection between health inequality and social determinants has long been recognised and is also evident in Bremen's population, particularly among children. As segregation is high in Bremen, starting with the 2018/2019 school year, health professionals have been working at primary schools in districts where problems from different areas of life accumulate and are spatially concentrated. The health professionals are tasked with systematically integrating the topic of health into the schools in a needs-orientated manner.
The workshop serves to present the current state of knowledge on the potential of health professionals and to discuss further development potential. In the discourse, we will deal with the questions on which established practices from other European countries the state of Bremen can orientate itself and how politics can do justice to the task of strengthening health competence through health professionals.
The workshop is aimed at scientists in the field and the health professionals themselves as well as colleagues involved in coordination matters, other people from the circles of cooperation partners, and interested citizens.

The project receives financial support from the Dr. Heino Rose-Stiftung.

Program (in German only)

Registration (until November 5, 2024) 
https://eveeno.com/212501532
or

27.11.2024 - 27.11.2024Lecture

Governance and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Malaysia. The Role of Social Policy

Andi Luhur Prianto (Muhammadiyah University of Makassar, Indonesia); Aqmal Reza Amri (Muhammadiyah University of Makassar, Indonesia)
Place:
Unicom
Room: 7.1020
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Time:
2.00 pm - 4.00 pm
Contact Person:
Prof. Dr. Heiko Pleines
Organization:
Lecture Series:
Jour Fixe
Semester:
WiSe 2024/25

The governance and protection of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia involve a complex interplay of legal frameworks, bilateral agreements, and social policies. While both Indonesia and Malaysia have established policies to safeguard migrant workers' rights, the practical implementation often faces significant challenges. Indonesian migrant workers encounter issues such as legal status uncertainties, poor working conditions, and limited access to social services. This presentation examines the roles of both countries' policies, focusing on how bilateral cooperation and regional frameworks influence the protection mechanisms. It seeks to answer critical questions: What are the primary challenges faced by Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia? How effective are the current social policies in addressing these challenges? What improvements can be made to enhance the protection and well-being of these workers? By shedding light on these issues, the presentation aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the governance and protection mechanisms for Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, highlighting the importance of effective social policies and regional cooperation in ensuring their rights and welfare.

Andi Luhur Prianto, PhD is a lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the journal "Otoritas: Jurnal Ilmu Pemerintahan." His research focuses on urban politics, governance, and development issues. With extensive experience, Andi engages in in-depth research and projects aimed at providing solutions to key challenges in these fields. He is also actively involved in organizing workshops and writing scholarly papers to support the development of policies and best practices in his areas of expertise.

Aqmal Reza Amri is a lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar. He is actively managing the "Journal of Contemporary Governance and Public Policy (JCGPP)" and is a researcher at the "Pusat Penelitian Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora Kontemporer (PPISHK)" in Indonesia. His research focuses on civil society studies, migration studies, and indigenous people. Aqmal has conducted various studies on the social policies affecting these areas, and he has been involved in several projects aimed at addressing the challenges faced by marginalized communities.

11.12.2024 - 11.12.2024Lecture

Jour Fixe:tba

Prof. Dorottya Szikra Szikra, PHD (Institute for Sociology, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungary)
Place:
Unicom
Room: 7.1020
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Time:
2.00 pm - 4.00 pm
Contact Person:
Kerem Gabriel Öktem
Organization:
Lecture Series:
Jour Fixe
Semester:
WiSe 2024/25

Dorottya Szikra, PhD is Research Professor and Head of Research Department at the Centre for Social Sciences and Visiting Professor at CEU Vienna. She is the country-lead of the WelfareExperiences ERC project headed by the King's College London, investigating experiences and feelings of benefit claimants in five countries. Szikra also does research on democratic backsliding, populism and the welfare state (See Szikra, D. & K.G. Öktem. An illiberal welfare state emerging? Welfare efforts and trajectories under democratic backsliding in Hungary and Turkey and Bartha, A., Zs. Boda and D. Szikra. When Populist Leaders Govern: Conceptualising Populism in Policy Making. In. Politics and Governance, 2020.8(3).) The outcome of her investigations into welfare state and family policies in Eastern Europe is a comparative monograph with Cristina Rat and Tomasz Inglot, 2022. Mothers, Families or Children? Family Policy in Poland, Hungary, and Romania, 1945-2020. University of Pittsburgh Press. Between 2016 and 2020 she acted as the co-chair of the European Social Policy Analysis Network (ESPAnet). She has acted as a member of the editorial boards of various journals, including the European Journal of Social Security, the Hungarian on-line journal socio.hu and the Journal of European Social Policy. Between 2021 and 2022 she served as a member of the EC commissioned High-Level Group on the future of social protection and of the welfare state in the EU.

29.01.2025 - 29.01.2025Lecture

Cash Transfers and Violent Crime in Indonesia

Prof. Dr. Kristina Kis-Katos (Georg-August-University of Göttingen)
Place:
Unicom
Room: 7.1020
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Time:
2.00 pm - 4.00 pm
Contact Person:
Organization:
Lecture Series:
Jour Fixe
Semester:
WiSe 2024/25

This study investigates the impact of Indonesia’s flagship conditional cash transfer (CCT) program—PKH—on violent crime. Exploiting data from a randomized controlled trial and administrative data from the staggered nationwide program roll-out in combination with different causal identification strategies, we show that communities receiving access to the CCT experienced an increase in violent crime.  Examining possible mechanisms, our analysis reveals that the program resulted in an increase in idleness among non-targeted male youth within beneficiary households, which we believe contributed to the rise in violent crime. In contrast, we show that the surge in violent crime is neither related to PKH increasing the (monetary and non-monetary) rewards for committing crime nor to alternative reductions in the (material, psychic, punishment-related) costs of engaging in crimes.

Krisztina Kis-Katos is Professor for International Economic Policy at the University of Göttingen. She studied Economics in Szeged and Konstanz, attended the Swiss Doctoral Program at the Study Center Gerzensee, and received her doctoral degree in Economics in 2010 at the University of Freiburg in Germany. Her research interests lie in the fields of applied development economics and political economy. Her recent research projects focus on the effects of (de-)globalization and more generally of macro-economic processes or related public policies on a range of social and economic outcomes, including labor market and firm outcomes, land use change and deforestation, or conflict.