Momentum Quarterly
type: channel
description: Momentum Quarterly (alternatively: Momentum Quarterly - Journal for Societal Progress) is a transdisciplinary scientific journal, aiming to improve the discursive and thematic connection between research and politics. Further information about the journal can be found here.
publisher: innsbruck university press, Universität Innsbuck
language: de
publication name: Momentum Quarterly
issn: 2226-5538
items: "Our tears are not for sale!" Decolonizing the hegemonic order of knowledge on racism
items: The regional groups Fridays for Future Berlin and Budapest – The influence of regime quality on the collective action
items: The economy for the common good as an alternative economic model for a more sustainable and fair future? Ananalysis of the implementation in the Bavarian towns Kirchanschöring and Postbauer-Hengn
items: For the „high performers“ and „us Austrians“: A media discourse analysis of social policy reforms of the ÖVP/FPÖ government 2017-2019 in Austria
items: Fossil Hegemony - About the Relationship betwen Analysis and Strategy in the Climate Movement
items: Editorial
items: Re-Embedding Finance: Democratic Funds as a Lever for a Sustainable and Solidary Economy
items: „Keinen Millimeter nach rechts” – Herbert Grönemeyer and Germany’s Free Democratic Basic Order
items: A racism-critical look at language-related discrimination in access to welfare state benefits and the labor market
items: Pay inequalities regarding nationality and gender using the example of social work and related professions
items: Urban protests. A counter-hegemonic intervention in the neoliberal city?
items: The Role of Blockchain Technologies in Transforming Supply Chains Toward Social and Environmental Sustainability
items: Insolvency trends and the economy before the outbreak of the pandemic
items: Extremism prevention and political ”Bildung” On the increase in extremism-preventive approaches and their effects on political „Bildung”
items: Industrial Policy as an Elite Conflict. Big Tech Versus ‚Industrie 4.0‘?
items: The imperial way of life in school education: an investigation into the design and adaptation of the German state of Hesse curricula in the subject of politics/economics
items: The Ideological Foundations of Universal and Exclusive Solidarity in Austria
items: Sustainable Work in Europe: socio-ecological transformation of work and impacts from the pandemic
items: The gendered division of labour in the Corona-Crisis: a backlash? What is addressed in the discursive coalition between politics and the social sciences, and what remains concealed
items: Intercultural dialogue on societal nature relations: How political ecology from China inspires the search for new practices of transformation
items: Competition policy as countervailing power and monopoly power in global value chains
items: Diversity in career orientation at the polytechnic school: Do textbooks take the diversity of students into account?
items: Competitive Sustainability: A Historical Materialist Analysis of Ideas, Institutions and Power Relations in the European Green Transformation
items: The implication of overtime for well-being and desired working hours among office workers: The role of temporal flexibility
items: From "having a say again" to "back to zero": types of social inclusion in the course of the labour market measure of publicly funded employment
items: Decent work and a good life: postpandemic risks of deprivation for the dominated classes
items: The hidden labor force in Austria – an unused workforce
items: Preferences for work and leisure: Is labor supply a function of what workers prefer?
items: (Re-)Production of Difference at Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences? Educational fields of social work and pedagogy in a critical perspective on difference

"Our tears are not for sale!" Decolonizing the hegemonic order of knowledge on racism
type: item
description: Drawing on a postcolonial critique of historical and contemporary forms of the hegemonic order of knowledge, this article aims to foreground an intersectional oriented decolonial practice in research on racism in Germany. In this context, it brings the concept of intersectionality into dialogue with decolonial perspectives on racism and pleads for creating a cross-community practice of resistance and solidarity between the various discriminated groups in the dominant society. This article argues that research on racism in Germany can benefit from intersectional oriented decolonial knowledge production. An intersectional perspective aims to produce critical, resistant and decolonial knowledge on racism.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Coloniality
  topic: keywords
subject: Othering
  topic: keywords
subject: Intersectionality
  topic: keywords
subject: Decolonization
  topic: keywords
subject: Solidarity
  topic: keywords
creator: Robel Afeworki Abay
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Robel Afeworki Abay https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-06-23
publication date: 2025-06-23
starting page: 193
ending page: 205
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no4.p193-205

The regional groups Fridays for Future Berlin and Budapest – The influence of regime quality on the collective action
type: item
description: As an important social movement in the fight against climate change, Fridays for Future (FFF) is characterised by the methods of collective action, as in addition to traditional mobilisation mechanisms (such as strikes), the movement also resorts to unusual instruments (such as flash mobs), whereby their use differs depending on the regional context. Based on seven theoretically motivated guided interviews with activists from two European regional groups – Berlin and Budapest – the question of which contexts influence the actions of FFF is investigated. Based on the interview data the divergent internal and external actions of the two regional groups can be attributed to the regime quality: FFF-Berlin can act through mechanisms of the political system due to the distinct quality of democracy in Germany. FFF-Budapest on the other hand generates influence primarily on an individual level due to the restrictions in the political system in Hungary in order to bring about ‘bottom-up’ change.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Fridays for Future
  topic: keywords
subject: collective action
  topic: keywords
subject: regime quality
  topic: keywords
subject: comparative analysis
  topic: keywords
creator: Katharina Lebok
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Katharina Lebok https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-06-23
publication date: 2025-06-23
starting page: 157
ending page: 174
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no4.p157-174

The economy for the common good as an alternative economic model for a more sustainable and fair future? Ananalysis of the implementation in the Bavarian towns Kirchanschöring and Postbauer-Hengn
type: item
description: In 2010, the Austrian activist Christian Felber published his concept of an economic order geared towards the common good. In Bavaria, the municipalities of Kirchanschöring and Postbauer-Heng published a common good balance sheet based on Felber’s suggestion. In this research work, the certification process in Kirchanschöring and Postbauer-Heng was examined based on the policy cycle (political science phase modell for the analysis of political processes) regarding their implementation strategies. Furthermore, the success of the respective processes was evaluated. It was found that the processes involved in preparing the balance sheet in Kirchanschöring and Postbauer-Heng are mostly similar. The inclusion of the political level in the respective implementation phases was identified as a central difference. In both communities, obstacles on the way to certification were overcome and follow-up measures were initiated, which is why both projects can be viewed as successes.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Economy for the common good
  topic: keywords
subject: economic concepts
  topic: keywords
subject: local politics
  topic: keywords
subject: sustainable development
  topic: keywords
creator: Maximilian Kroemer
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Maximilian Kroemer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-01-22
publication date: 2025-01-22
starting page: 134
ending page: 156
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no3.p134-156

For the „high performers“ and „us Austrians“: A media discourse analysis of social policy reforms of the ÖVP/FPÖ government 2017-2019 in Austria
type: item
description: When inaugurated in December 2017, the ÖVP/FPÖ coalition in Austria presented far-reaching plans for reforming social policies and the labour market in its government programme. While many of these plans failed due to the early collapse of the coalition in May 2019 others have been adopted. This article will focus on two of these reforms, namely regarding working hours policy and social assistance policy. More precisely, we ask in a comparative perspective on policies which discursive frames or frames of interpretation played a role in media discussions about the reforms mentioned. We examine the media discussions on the basis of three Austrian daily newspapers and with the help of a specific discourse-analytical approach. This suggests that the discursive framing in the two policy fields is characterized by far-reaching differences. We interpret these differences against the background of debates in political science regarding the social and labour market policy profile of so-called Populist Radical Right Parties when entering a coalition with conservative parties.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Populist Radical Right Parties
  topic: keywords
subject: Neoliberalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Social and labour market policy
  topic: keywords
subject: Interpretive Policy Analysis
  topic: keywords
subject: Critical Discourse Analysis
  topic: keywords
creator: Markus Griesser
creator: Karl Beyer
creator: Stephan Pühringer
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Markus Griesser, Karl Beyer, Stephan Pühringer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-05-14
publication date: 2024-05-14
starting page: 33
ending page: 55
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no1.p33-55

Fossil Hegemony - About the Relationship betwen Analysis and Strategy in the Climate Movement
type: item
description: The strategies of many contemporary radical socio-ecological movements bear witness to an incomplete analysis of fossil capitalism. Therefore, in a first part, we argue for a more complex understanding of fossil capitalist hegemony that takes into account the materiality and everyday sense in capitalism. Here, we are especially referring to Nancy Fraser’s theory of cannibalistic capitalism and Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen’s concept of the ‘imperial way of life’. Against this background, in a second step we show the truncated analysis and its reflection in the strategy of two heuristic groups of actors – the left-liberal and anti-capitalist-revolutionary groups of actors. Finally, we draw first conclusions for a more comprehensive radical, climate-political strategy.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: hegemony
  topic: keywords
subject: climate
  topic: keywords
subject: social-ecological movement
  topic: keywords
subject: capitalism
  topic: keywords
creator: Leon Switala
creator: Caesar Anderegg
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Leon Switala, Caesar Anderegg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-09-17
publication date: 2024-09-17
starting page: 74
ending page: 86
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no2.p74-86

Editorial
type: item
description: -
subject: Article
  topic: section
creator: Quirin Dammerer
creator: Leonhard Dobusch
creator: Lukas Lehner
creator: Astrid Mager
creator: Stefanie Wöhl
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Quirin Dammerer, Leonhard Dobusch, Lukas Lehner, Astrid Mager, Stefanie Wöhl https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-05-14
publication date: 2024-05-14
starting page: 1
ending page: 3
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no1.p1-3

Re-Embedding Finance: Democratic Funds as a Lever for a Sustainable and Solidary Economy
type: item
description: Democratic Funds offer an institutional model to integrate non-pecuniary returns—such as ecological sustainability, social cohesion, or cultural value—into investment decisions. They respond to structural market failure and open new paths to democratize capital allocation. Through a token-based system, citizens gain equal rights to influence public investments. This article develops a design combining elements of sovereign wealth funds, crowdfunding, and liquid democracy. Democratic Funds enable value-based and participatory governance of economic resources, fostering social inclusion, macroeconomic stability, and socio-ecological transformation.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Democratic investment
  topic: keywords
subject: Non-pecuniary returns,
  topic: keywords
subject: Capital allocation
  topic: keywords
subject: Socio-ecological transformation
  topic: keywords
subject: Citizen participation
  topic: keywords
creator: Mads Hansen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mads R. Hansen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-06-23
publication date: 2025-06-23
starting page: 175
ending page: 192
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no4.p175-192

„Keinen Millimeter nach rechts” – Herbert Grönemeyer and Germany’s Free Democratic Basic Order
type: item
description: The article analyses the socio-political motifs in the song lyrics of the German popular musician Herbert Grönemeyer from a political science perspective. As a qualitative content analysis of his song lyrics shows, Grönemeyer pictures the fundamental pillars of Germany’s free democratic order – human dignity, the democracy principle and the rule of law – as normative ideals worthy of protection, while he explicitly names opposing actors and tendencies as dangers. The overall picture shows that Herbert Grönemeyer not only expresses this political stance in his song lyrics, but also continuously intervenes in civil society as a public intellectual in the sense of Antonio Gramsci. In this way, he actively participates in the struggle for public opinion and ultimately helps to secure the hegemony of the free democratic basic order.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Cultural Hegemony
  topic: keywords
subject: Free Democratic Basic Order
  topic: keywords
subject: Pluralism
  topic: keywords
subject: Herbert Grönemeyer
  topic: keywords
subject: Popular Music
  topic: keywords
creator: Niklas Ferch
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Niklas Ferch https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-01-22
publication date: 2025-01-22
starting page: 99
ending page: 116
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no3.p99-116

A racism-critical look at language-related discrimination in access to welfare state benefits and the labor market
type: item
description: From a racism-critical perspective, this article addresses the question of how social inequalities are (re)produced through language-related practices. Using results from three empirical research projects, we show how linguistic and racist discrimination are intertwined when it comes to accessing welfare state benefits and the labor market. Our data demonstrates how exclusion processes occur in both fields through linguistic practices. Despite the empirical entanglement of linguicism and racism, we also argue in favor of paying attention to differences between these two types of discrimination in order not to lose sight of linguistic discrimination beyond racism on the one hand and to recognize the masking of racism through linguistic discrimination on the other.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: access to welfare state services
  topic: keywords
subject: labour market discrimination
  topic: keywords
subject: migration research
  topic: keywords
subject: linguicism
  topic: keywords
subject: racism
  topic: keywords
creator: Clara Holzinger
creator: Anna-Katharina Draxl
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Clara Holzinger, Anna-Katharina Draxl https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-05-14
publication date: 2024-05-14
starting page: 16
ending page: 32
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no1.p16-32

Pay inequalities regarding nationality and gender using the example of social work and related professions
type: item
description: The article deals with wage inequality in the so-called care economy in Germany. This includes, among others, the fields of (dental) doctors, social workers and educators as part of the helping professions. The occupational designations are based on the designations from the quantitative material. These traditionally consist of a high proportion of women. Men and non-Germans are underrepresented. The focus is on social work, the other professions are chosen from a contrasting and complementary perspective and are within the spectrum of helping professions as (non-)academic professions. The central research question is the extent to which gender-specific pay inequality is evident here and how this is related to nationality. The data comes from a mix of methods. Categories of social stratification such as gender, class and ethnicity are not used singularly or additively, but are analyzed in their interconnectedness. To this end, the material is supplemented qualitatively, as the quantitative material unfortunately does not allow differentiation according to ethnicity or class. It can be stated that intersectionality is discussed here as a connection between gender and nationality on the basis of the available material.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Pay Inequality
  topic: keywords
subject: Intersectionality
  topic: keywords
subject: Care Economy
  topic: keywords
subject: Social Work
  topic: keywords
subject: Helping Professions
  topic: keywords
creator: Simone Mazari
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Simone Mazari https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-05-14
publication date: 2024-05-14
starting page: 4
ending page: 15
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no1.p4-15

Urban protests. A counter-hegemonic intervention in the neoliberal city?
type: item
description: This article presents the results of the Hamburg 'Right to the City' movement, which was analysed applying he hegemony discourse analysis of the Essex School (1991) against a radical democratic background. With the intention of revealing its programmatic structure and determining discursive identity in the political space, whereby a selected text corpus of the movement from the period 2017–2021 was analysed. This made it possible to determine the identity and its arrangement in the political space. Within the discourse, numerous demands are articulated that aim to deepen democratic rights and give citizens the power to act in the form of collective self-organisation. The objective is to convey the questions of how the Hamburg ‘Right to the City’ movement challenges the current order of neoliberal urban planning and constitutes a counter-design to the established hegemonic order through its programmatic profile. Based on the articulation of various radical democratic and urban political demands, alternative models in the field of urban planning are demonstrated. With the goal to establish a just city and to move closer to the right to the city for all.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: City
  topic: keywords
subject: protests
  topic: keywords
subject: right to the city
  topic: keywords
subject: radical democracy
  topic: keywords
subject: neoliberalism
  topic: keywords
creator: Petra Kolb
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Petra Kolb https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-01-22
publication date: 2025-01-22
starting page: 117
ending page: 133
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no3.p117-133

The Role of Blockchain Technologies in Transforming Supply Chains Toward Social and Environmental Sustainability
type: item
description: Supply chains are complex networks of actors involved in the production and delivery of goods to a final consumer. The complexity of these networks contributes to the obscurity of practices along supply chains, fostering labor and human rights violations, as well as environmentally damaging practices, throughout the entire production process. Academic and business organizations are increasingly showing interest in the use of blockchain technologies to track and trace practices and inputs at all intermediate steps. This paper provides an overview of the potential of blockchain applications in supply chains and analyzes how they can help a transformation toward social and environmental sustainability. To approach the research goal, academic and gray literary sources were synthesized. This paper finds that blockchain technologies can support supply chain networks in their quest to foster sustainable production practices. Yet, there are also limitations to be considered before introducing blockchain to a product’s supply chain.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: blockchain technology
  topic: keywords
subject: supply chains
  topic: keywords
subject: social-environmental sustainability
  topic: keywords
subject: digital transformation
  topic: keywords
creator: Nina Schulze
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Nina Schulze https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-31
publication date: 2023-12-31
starting page: 236
ending page: 247
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no4.p236-247

Insolvency trends and the economy before the outbreak of the pandemic
type: item
description: In the years leading up to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, both in Austria and internationally, a continuous decline in corporate insolvencies could be observed across different economic phases. This empirical development seems to contradict the previous theoretical assumption of an anticyclical response of insolvency figures to cyclical impulses. This raises the question of whether the development of insolvencies had already decoupled from economic growth before the outbreak of the pandemic and whether alternative factors such as the low interest rate policy or the emergence of "zombie companies" have a decisive influence. Using time-series analysis methods, we find no empirical evidence of a decoupling of insolvencies and insolvency contingency development for Austria until the outbreak of the pandemic. Insolvency contingency cases and payments continue to react anticyclically, i.e. they tend to fall during economic upturns and rise during economic downturns.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: insolvency
  topic: keywords
subject: insolvency contingency fund
  topic: keywords
subject: economic growth
  topic: keywords
subject: regression- and correlation analysis
  topic: keywords
subject: Austria
  topic: keywords
creator: Richard Fuchsbichler
creator: Luděk Kouba
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Richard Fuchsbichler, Luděk Kouba https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-09-17
publication date: 2024-09-17
starting page: 87
ending page: 98
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no2.p87-98

Extremism prevention and political ”Bildung” On the increase in extremism-preventive approaches and their effects on political „Bildung”
type: item
description: Since the mid-2010s, there have been increasing efforts in Austria to counter developments that have been identified as radical or extremist by means of extremism prevention. Political „Bildung” seems to be losing importance in this field. The central thesis of this article is that a creeping marginalisation of „Bildung” is taking place due to an increase in preventive approaches. What is the reason for this and what effects does the increase in extremism-preventive approaches have on political „Bildung”? One possible answer is sought in the action logical differences between prevention and (political) „Bildung”.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Prevention of extremism
  topic: keywords
subject: political “Bildung"
  topic: keywords
subject: civic education
  topic: keywords
subject: marginalisation of “Bildung”
  topic: keywords
creator: Martin Haselwanter
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Martin Haselwanter http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-31
publication date: 2023-12-31
starting page: 224
ending page: 235
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no4.p224-235

Industrial Policy as an Elite Conflict. Big Tech Versus ‚Industrie 4.0‘?
type: item
description: This contribution demonstrates that the current renaissance of industrial policy in German political discourse is to be understood against the backdrop of unfolding elite conflicts. These conflicts emerge due to the dynamization of the political economy in digital capitalism, whose proprietary logic diffuses into wider parts of the economy. In this context, established companies form industrial-policy alliances, which are backed by the state. In this article, such collaborative efforts are not understood as purely defensive measures by otherwise helpless German industrial companies. Rather, they are scrutinized for their penetration by power interests. In projects such as 'Industry 4.0', established patterns of corporatist cooperation are called upon to create legitimacy for industrial policy support. However, this is in tension with the orientation of German companies' strategies toward globalized markets, which until a few years ago was predominantly accompanied by the demand for neo-liberal deregulation.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: digital capitalism
  topic: keywords
subject: industrial policy
  topic: keywords
subject: political economy
  topic: keywords
creator: Lion Hubrich
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Lion Hubrich http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-31
publication date: 2023-12-31
starting page: 211
ending page: 223
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no4.p211-223

The imperial way of life in school education: an investigation into the design and adaptation of the German state of Hesse curricula in the subject of politics/economics
type: item
description: School education socialises us from an early age thus shaping our ideas about the world. This paper uses the dualistic conception of different ways of life according to Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen as the basis for an exemplary analysis of existing curricula in the subject of politics/economics in the German state of Hesse. For this purpose, I describe the current „imperial way of life“ according to Brand and Wissen as a definition of the consequences of our current externalisation society and the „solidary way of life“ as the counter-conception necessary for a transformation. Against the background of this description, I examine sections of recent curricula for the subject politics/ economics in exemplary fashion. In doing so, I find that especially in formal education, an imperial way of life tends to be reproduced and consolidated. However, the comparison of the 2002 curriculum with the 2016 core curriculum also shows that aspects of a „solidary way of life“ are now increasingly being addressed. In order to be able to push this even further, I briefly explain in the conclusion the possibility of strengthening this trend through Education for Sustainable Development.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Curriculum analysis, education for sustainable development, imperial way of life, politics/economy, solidary way of life
  topic: keywords
creator: Tom Zimmermann
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Tom Zimmermann http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-13
publication date: 2023-12-13
starting page: 191
ending page: 210
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no3.p191-210

The Ideological Foundations of Universal and Exclusive Solidarity in Austria
type: item
description: Solidarity is a term and concept many appeal to, especially during crises. It also enjoys a long tradition within social sciences but nevertheless remains a rather ambiguous term with many open questions attached. Based on theoretical literature, this article introduces a multidimensional empirical concept of solidarity by combining opinions regarding global, institutional, group-oriented, and supportive dimensions of solidarity, or a lack thereof. This allows for differentiation between two publicly and politically discussed and contested types of solidarity: universal and exclusive solidarity. The article then further addresses what influences the Austrian (survey) population’s preferences regarding these types of solidarities, with a focus on ideologies. This is empirically tested via survey data and multiple linear regression models. This approach allows for closing an existing gap between the theoretical and empirical literature and for more thoroughly examining the relation between solidarity and the perception of groupings and belongings. The latter is necessary to contrast the different types of solidarity.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: solidarity, ideologies, social cohesion, political sociology
  topic: keywords
creator: Andreas Schadauer
creator: Jörg Flecker
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Andreas Schadauer, Jörg Flecker http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-13
publication date: 2023-12-13
starting page: 167
ending page: 190
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no3.p167-190

Sustainable Work in Europe: socio-ecological transformation of work and impacts from the pandemic
type: item
description: In the COVID-19-pandemic, the state and its institutions have demonstrated an enormous capacity to act. Within a few days and with shortened the usual consultation procedures, the consequences of the crisis for the health of citizens and the lockdown for companies, employees and regions were absorbed. In addition to the health care sector, the labour market in particular was marked by upheavals due to temporary plant closures. This was reacted to with the mass use of short-time working allowance. The German Public Employment Service proved to be an agile actor in the crisis by coping with the proverbial explosion of short-time working allowance applications to unprecedented heights and thus contributing to social peace. Against this background, the article asks what lessons can be drawn from this for a (plannable) socio-ecological restructuring. This will be linked to the heterogeneous and partly restrained perspectives on sustainable work in European countries and developed into a proposal for a modified transfer short time working allowance as an instrument of just transition. This proposal is to be embedded in further socio-political reforms to protect the self-employed, for example; the pandemic has also revealed this necessity.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Sustainable work
  topic: keywords
subject: socio-ecological transformation
  topic: keywords
subject: transfer short-time working allowance
  topic: keywords
subject: public employment service
  topic: keywords
subject: universal basic income
  topic: keywords
subject: just transition
  topic: keywords
creator: Sebastian Brandl
creator: Ingo Matuschek
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Sebastian Brandl, Ingo Matuschek http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-13
publication date: 2023-12-13
starting page: 147
ending page: 166
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no3.p147-166

The gendered division of labour in the Corona-Crisis: a backlash? What is addressed in the discursive coalition between politics and the social sciences, and what remains concealed
type: item
description: As a consequence of the lockdown measures to contain the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria, 2020 saw the dawn of a novel public awareness regarding the family as the producer of “system-relevant services”. Social sciences and news media prominently and critically discussed the contradiction between the necessity of “privately” performed, gendered reproductive work and its simultaneous low social valuation and invisibility in broader public life. This paper traces the “career” of the sociological concept of “traditional gender roles” in Austrian public debates during the pandemic. In doing so, it reconstructs the process by which the potential field of conflict, stemming from the measures taken in response to the pandemic on the one side, and the resulting, empirically documented excessive strain for families on the other, was discursively neutralized by adapting and appropriating its critical content to suit coping strategies conducive to individualism and capitalism. Drawing from feminist economics and critique of ideology, this paper reconstructs the mode by which prevailing myths become entrenched under conditions of crises and explores the possible roles of sociological critique in this process.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Corona-measures
  topic: keywords
subject: traditional role models
  topic: keywords
subject: feminism
  topic: keywords
subject: ideology
  topic: keywords
subject: instrumentalisation of critique
  topic: keywords
creator: Brita Krucsay
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Brita Krucsay http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-11-27
publication date: 2023-11-27
starting page: 84
ending page: 99
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no2.p84-99

Intercultural dialogue on societal nature relations: How political ecology from China inspires the search for new practices of transformation
type: item
description: In the German-speaking discourse on socio-ecological transformation, the theory of societal nature relations has gained momentum as a problem diagnosis of multiple socio-ecological crises in the Anthropocene – for scientists as well as for activists. The subsequent question of practical alternatives led to the demand for a democratization of societal nature relations. However, satisfying answers as to what exactly this means for the organization of a transformation, are yet lacking. In response, this paper pursues an intercultural dialogue with Daoist philosophy and discusses to what extent domination-free, or an-archic, nature relations represent a possible practice of socio ecological transformations. The paper concludes that transformations could be organized with action-by-non-action (wu-wei) and explores what this possibly means in theory and practice.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: socio-ecological transformation
  topic: keywords
subject: societal nature relations
  topic: keywords
subject: critical theory
  topic: keywords
subject: Daoism
  topic: keywords
subject: intercultural dialogue
  topic: keywords
creator: Daniel Buschmann
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Daniel Buschmann http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-11-27
publication date: 2023-11-27
starting page: 125
ending page: 146
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no2.p125-146

Competition policy as countervailing power and monopoly power in global value chains
type: item
description: Global value chains (GVC) are a central element of capitalism in the epoch of hyperglobalisation. They are governed by lead firms from global economic centres, and suppliers in the global south produce and deliver goods and services according to their specifications. Benefits are, however, shared very unevenly along the GVC. One important reason for this is the unequal distribution of monopoly power between the different firms. The article discusses the means by which a reduction in these power imbalances could be accomplished. Using markup developments, profit rates and measures of industry concentration, it is demonstrated how lead firms in the global North have been able to expand their power in output markets and input markets at the expense of supplier firms in the global South. I argue that institutional and technological barriers to entry, for instance due to a rising importance of intangible assets, have helped to protect the dominant position of lead firms in GVC. The logical economic response would be the build up of a countervailing power in the global South. A critical evaluation of cartels, cooperatives, regional integration, and competition policy indicates their potential to reduce the exploitation of suppliers in the periphery yet any articulation and realization of an effective countervailing power is complex and unlikely to remain unchallenged by powerful lead firms and the governments of their home countries.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Global value chains
  topic: keywords
subject: monopoly power
  topic: keywords
subject: rent-seeking
  topic: keywords
subject: countervailing power
  topic: keywords
subject: competition policy
  topic: keywords
creator: Christian Reiner
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Christian Reiner http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-11-27
publication date: 2023-11-27
starting page: 100
ending page: 124
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no2.p100-124

Diversity in career orientation at the polytechnic school: Do textbooks take the diversity of students into account?
type: item
description: The polytechnic school (PTS) was established by law in Austria in 1962 in connection with the extension of compulsory schooling to nine years in the education system and started in the school year 1966/67. As a compulsory type of pre-vocational school, it is primarily intended for those students who wish to pursue an apprenticeship, but it is also possible to continue attending a secondary school. The PTS therefore has an important function in terms of vocational and educational orientation. This raises the question of the extent to which stereotypes are reproduced or challenged. As the PTS is characterised by a high degree of cultural diversity in terms of migration background, especially in urban areas, the current question is whether and how this is taken into account. One empirical indicator of this is the representation of young people, their interests and career aspirations in textbooks. In summary, it can be said that the gender debate has been well addressed, while there is still some catching up to do in terms of diversity.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Diversity
  topic: keywords
subject: intersectionality
  topic: keywords
subject: migrant background
  topic: keywords
subject: gender allocation
  topic: keywords
subject: polytechnic school (PTS)
  topic: keywords
creator: Georg Berger
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Georg Berger https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-09-17
publication date: 2024-09-17
starting page: 56
ending page: 73
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol13.no2.p56-73

Competitive Sustainability: A Historical Materialist Analysis of Ideas, Institutions and Power Relations in the European Green Transformation
type: item
description: With the European Green Deal (2019), the green transformation and thus 'competitive sustainability' becomes the focus of the European Union's political-economic strategy. During this, previously established beliefs about the connection between competitiveness and prosperity as well as existing European and global economic structures are being questioned. To enforce particular interests, the power struggles between member states, capital fractions and the EU are consequently focusing on the transformation process. In the context of the green transformation, this article sets out to analyze, firstly, discursive and institutional shifts in relation to competitiveness and, secondly, shifts in power relations in the EU. The analysis comes to two main conclusions: First, at the level of ideas about competitiveness and the institutions in this context, there are continuities with previous European political economic strategies. Second, the transformation process is shaped by a complex interplay of ideas about competitive sustainability and vested interests that ensure selective translation of ideas into EU political-economic strategy.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: European Green Deal
  topic: keywords
subject: competitiveness
  topic: keywords
subject: critical policy analysis
  topic: keywords
subject: organized economic interests
  topic: keywords
creator: Laura Porak
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Laura Porak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-06-02
publication date: 2023-06-02
starting page: 65
ending page: 83
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no1.p65-83

The implication of overtime for well-being and desired working hours among office workers: The role of temporal flexibility
type: item
description: Based on the Job Demands-Resources Model (Demerouti et al. 2001), we argue that overtime work is a job demand that negatively relates to employees’ well-being and increases their desire to reduce their working hours. However, we argue that self-determined temporal flexibility enables individuals to cope with extended working hours. We hypothesized that temporal flexibility weakens the relationships between overtime and the desire to reduce working hours and conducted a survey among 159 Austrian employees who indicated that they did not desire to increase their working hours. In line with prior research, our results show that overtime relates negatively to employees’ reported health, sleep quality, and work-life balance and positively to their desire to reduce actual working hours. Moreover, we found convex relationships between overtime hours and the desired reduction of actual and contractual working hours. Self-determined temporal flexibility was able to buffer the effects of overtime on the desire to reduce contractual working hours, which suggests that self-determined temporal flexibility is a job resource that enables employees to cope with work demands, albeit only when they do not become too intense.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Overtime work
  topic: keywords
subject: workload
  topic: keywords
subject: temporal flexibility
  topic: keywords
subject: reduction of working hours
  topic: keywords
creator: Arabella Mühl
creator: Martina Hartner-Tiefenthaler
creator: Silvia Feuchtl
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Arabella Mühl, Martina Hartner-Tiefenthaler, Silvia Feuchtl https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-06-02
publication date: 2023-06-02
starting page: 43
ending page: 64
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no1.p43-64

From "having a say again" to "back to zero": types of social inclusion in the course of the labour market measure of publicly funded employment
type: item
description: This paper explores the impact of the labor market policy measure of publicly subsidized employment on the social inclusion of the long-term unemployed. Labor market policy in Germany increasingly aims to promote the social inclusion of the unemployed beyond the goals of labor market integration and increasing employability. However, social inclusion is an ambivalent concept that leaves open how and when it can be achieved through labor market policy interventions. On the basis of qualitative interviews with persons in publicly subsidized employment and within the framework of a qualitative longitudinal perspective, three types of social inclusion in the process of a labor market policy measure are elaborated. The article adopts a capability perspective and also asks to what extent the individual's capacity to act have been increased by participation in the employment programme.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Labor market policy
  topic: keywords
subject: long-term unemployment
  topic: keywords
subject: job guarantee
  topic: keywords
subject: social inclusion
  topic: keywords
creator: Philipp Langer
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Philipp Langer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-06-02
publication date: 2023-06-02
starting page: 22
ending page: 42
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no1.p22-42

Decent work and a good life: postpandemic risks of deprivation for the dominated classes
type: item
description: The paper argues that the pandemic-related health and economic crisis exacerbates existing social inequalities resulting in a considerable deprivation of the dominated classes to realize claims to a good life in general and decent work more in particular. Based on the re-analysis of current available research data on the Covid-19 pandemic in Austria, implications for social integration, recognition, as well as work-life-balance are discussed. The paper shows that the dominated classes have been affected disproportionately by the adverse health and economic effects of the crisis which exacerbate already long-standing dynamics of increased vulnerability. However, the multiple experiences of deprivation amongst the dominated class can no longer be adequately addressed in a society characterized by ‘class oblivion’.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: social class
  topic: keywords
subject: covid-19 pandemic
  topic: keywords
subject: decent work
  topic: keywords
subject: recognition - working conditions
  topic: keywords
creator: Carina Altreiter
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Carina Altreiter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-06-02
publication date: 2023-06-02
starting page: 3
ending page: 21
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no1.p3-21

Editorial
type: item
description: -
subject: Article
  topic: section
creator: Quirin Dammerer
creator: Leonhard Dobusch
creator: Lukas Lehner
creator: Astrid Mager
creator: Stefanie Wöhl
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Quirin Dammerer, Leonhard Dobusch, Lukas Lehner, Astrid Mager, Stefanie Wöhl https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-06-02
publication date: 2023-06-02
starting page: 1
ending page: 2
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol12.no1.p1-2

The hidden labor force in Austria – an unused workforce
type: item
description: The hidden labor force receives little attention despite being a relevant group for labor market policy in Austria. The aim of the article is to close this gap by providing empirical knowledge about this group. For this purpose, we apply the definition of Statistics Austria, which means, that hidden labor force contains persons who are not searching for a job, but who are immediately available for a job, and use the Labour Force Survey for the years 2016 to 2020 as a database. According to this definition, 100,000 to 150,000 people belong to the hidden labor force, depending on the economic situation. Their educational qualifications and professional qualifications vary, but reveal a concentration of low educational qualifications and unlearned jobs. A fictitious matching show that a quarter to half of them could be assigned to a vacant position in the labor market. The international unemployment rate would increase by up to 3.2 percentage points if the hidden labor force is included in the calculation. This finding also underlines the relevance of this group for labor market policy.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: labor market
  topic: keywords
subject: hidden labor force
  topic: keywords
subject: Labour Force Survey
  topic: keywords
creator: Johann Bacher
creator: Sandra Broederbauer
creator: Thomas Pilgerstorfer
creator: Dennis Tamesberger
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Johann Bacher, Sandra Broederbauer, Thomas Pilgerstorfer, Dennis Tamesberger https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2022-10-27
publication date: 2022-10-27
starting page: 143
ending page: 163
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol11.no3.p143-163

Preferences for work and leisure: Is labor supply a function of what workers prefer?
type: item
description: The assumption that utility maximization determines individual employment outcomes and labor supply is central to neoclassical labor market theory and inspired a whole culture of leisure literature, which links the supply of labor to individual preferences. In this study, we use data from the World and European Value Surveys to test whether individual preferences for work vs. leisure are related to employment outcomes. We employ a multilevel logit model to test this proposition at the extensive margin, i.e., the odds of a person being in employment, and the intensive margin, i.e., the supply of labor (full-time vs. part-time). We find that there is no relationship between individual preferences and employment odds, neither at the extensive nor at the intensive margin. The effects of average country-level work- leisure preferences are mixed. Overall, therefore, our study suggests that unemployment is an institutional issue, rather than an outcome of individual preferences.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: employment
  topic: keywords
subject: unemployment
  topic: keywords
subject: utility maximization
  topic: keywords
subject: labor market
  topic: keywords
subject: culture
  topic: keywords
creator: Patrick Kaczmarczyk
creator: Andrew Bell
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Patrick Kaczmarczyk, Andrew Bell https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2022-12-31
publication date: 2022-12-31
starting page: 204
ending page: 224
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol11.no4.p204-224

(Re-)Production of Difference at Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences? Educational fields of social work and pedagogy in a critical perspective on difference
type: item
description: This paper focuses on findings from a research project on the «(Re-)production of difference in higher education and practical training practices», which was conducted in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. While the phenomenology and practice of higher education teaching are already well researched, the focus on the perspective of teachers is less common and is still largely lacking regarding the reproduction of relations of difference as well as to the question of a teaching that is reflective of difference. The study aims to find out to what extend university teachers at universities of applied sciences and practical trainers are involved in the (re)production of relations of difference based on migration. Furthermore, the paper arises the question of university teaching and practical training which are not only reflective of difference but also implement decolonization on an institutional level. Postcolonial and critical-difference-inspired perspectives of analysis illuminate the fact that historically developed (colonial) relations of power and domination are hardly questioned in higher educational – e.g. social work and pedagogical – fields of education and action.
subject: Article
  topic: section
subject: Relations of difference
  topic: keywords
subject: migration
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education
  topic: keywords
subject: diversity
  topic: keywords
subject: lecturers
  topic: keywords
subject: practical trainers
  topic: keywords
creator: Maritza Le Breton
creator: Andrea Blaser
creator: Carolina Toletti
creator: Susanne Burren
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Maritza Le Breton, Andrea Blaser, Carolina Toletti, Susanne Burren https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2022-12-31
publication date: 2022-12-31
starting page: 259
ending page: 269
doi: 10.15203/momentumquarterly.vol11.no4.p259-269