Work Group Socialization Research: News
09.02.2026Recognition for articles in FRS Special Issue edited by Alexandra König, Jessica Schwittek, and Viorela Ducu
We are pleased to announce that three out of the five Most Read Articles of 2025 in the journal Families, Relationships and Societies were part of the Special Issue edited by Alexandra König, Jessica Schwittek, and Viorela Ducu – one of which was authored by Katarzyna Jendrzey!
Congratulations to:
Adrienne Lee Atterberry for the article “Migration as a social mobility project: the case of return migrant families in India”
Miroslava Hariuc for the article “‘I have to call them’” (part of the Open Space section)
Katarzyna Jendrzey for the article “Representation of migrating mothers in children’s and young adult literature on transnational families”
A fourth article in the Special Issue was award the 2025 David Morgan Prize. Congratulations as well to Anne Carolina Ramos and Andrea Riepl for their article “Children’s well-being in times of war: analysing the importance of family through home, objects and relationships.”
All four articles are available to read with open access.
06.02.2026Equality Day
The equality team at the Faculty of Educational Sciences – of which Jessica Schwittek is a member – is organizing an Equality Day on the topic "Safe Spaces." After an initial phase exclusively for Flinta, everyone is invited to join for lunch and a second phase.
The equality day will take place on March 4, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
05.02.2026Open Call for Papers
Young People's (Self-)Positioning in the World: Subjectivities, Discourses, and Inequalities
As part of the TraNa project, we are pleased to announce our upcoming international conference: “Young People’s (Self-)Positioning in the World: Subjectivities, Discourses, and Inequalities.” The conference will take place from September 8-10, 2026, in Essen, Germany.
The Call for Papers is now out, and we are welcoming proposals until March 15, 2026.
29.01.2026EliA presentation at the working group “Organization and Evaluation” of the DGS Section on Organizational Sociology on December 4, 2025, at the University of Gießen
In a presentation titled “Ages of ‘good parents’ – Organizational assessment practices between external recommendations and organizational practice,” Hannah Kaußen presented initial findings from the EliA project at the “Organization and Assessment” conference at the University of Gießen.
Based on the historical development of recommendations for adoption placement, the presentation shows that the establishment of a recommended maximum age for adoption applicants is variable and has been replaced in the latest edition (2022) by a focus on a “natural age gap” between applicants and adopted children. Findings from interviews with adoption agencies show that the age of adoption applicants is a relevant assessment criterion that must be interpreted in the practice of applicant screening. Not only calendar age, but also a co-constructed social and biological age is taken into account when assessing applicants. This shows that professional assessment practices in adoption agencies are closely intertwined with institutional guidelines and normative expectations.
19.12.2025Alexandra König and Jessica Schwittek at the lecture series "Kleine Form"
On December 17, 2025, Alexandra König and Jessica Schwittek gave a lecture entitled “What are ‘good parents’? A sociological perspective on social role models” as part of the “Kleine Form” series. They elaborated on the topic using the EliA, DoDzi, and TraNa projects as examples.
It was a pleasure for us to contribute to this lecture series at the UDE, which has been running for over 30 years! A recording of the lecture (in German) is available here.