Our team and Partners

Project Coordinator - Dr. Marge Unt

As a kid, I never wanted to grow up. To me, the grown-up world was not something to look for. What is this "work" they always claim to have? Why do they refuse to run around in fields and find shapes in clouds? And why do adults assume that they know it all and are still so stressed? Now, I have made this transition and have entered the world of my own family and work. However, I am still deeply interested in how youth experience becoming an adult in different contexts.

 

Project Co-coordinator - Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel

When I grew up, Germany experienced serious mass unemployment and was called the “sick man of Europe”. I saw friends suffering from unemployment and insecure jobs. But there were also success stories of friends coping with such a situation and also escaping from it. Nowadays, after a period of policy reforms, the situation is better in Germany but there are still many problems. These observations raised my interest in understanding how youths avoid getting into trouble and which policies help.

 

 

Get to know all researchers that are engaged in the project. Read the personal story of each researcher by clicking on her/his picture.

Dragomir Draganov

Dragomir Draganov

Position: Assistant, Department “Public Policies and Social Change”

Field of study: Sociology

Research topics: Welfare state regimes, comparative social policies, poverty and power relations, poverty measurement, inequality (origins, dynamics, consequences), intergenerational transmission of inequalities, design and performance of social protection systems, working conditions, inclusive labour markets

I have always been interested in finding the answer of the question: “What is society?” Is it just an artificial concept which people use to explain the unintended results of their individual actions? Or maybe we deliberately choose to live together and adapt our behavior in compliance with some commonly defined norms?

Time has taught me that both questions are not the right questions to ask. Instead, in my view, today the most important question is the question about solidarity as social choice. In other words, what makes people to act together in order to improve the wellbeing of other people? Conversely, what is the reason why people’s collective actions sometimes deliberately neglect the interests of the most vulnerable members of our societies?

Searching for the answers, I found myself in the realm of political sociology – a long-lasting story about power, its use and misuse.

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Advisory board:

Hans-Peter Blossfeld
Caroline Dewilde
Duncan Gallie
Massimiliano Mascherini
Jale Tosun
Gianfranco Bordone
Laura Orestano
Franco Chiaramonte
Luca Chiapella
Vanessa Di Paola
Virginie Mora
Ruth Santos-Brien
Rita Bergstein

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