12. Jahrgang, September/Oktober 2003, Nr. 5

Gerd Nollmann
Die neue Kultur sozialer Ungleichheit

(Summary: Sociology often defines the concept of culture in contrast to the concept of socail structure. This contrast uses »culture« in a way which deviates from its ordinary usage in the sociology of culture. What transforms mere difference into evaluated, i.e. social inequality thus often gets out of focus although according to Max Weber it should be the paradigmatic object of research adressed to inequality. It is the view point of cultural studies which modifies the notion of social inequality. Analyzing this culture of social inequality shows that modern society doesn’t produce less but more social inequalities as human beings perceive their social relations as depending on processes of decision-making.)

Susan Stanford Friedman
Das Sprechen über Grenzen, Hybridität und Performativität. Kulturtheorie und Identität in den Zwischenräumen der Differenz

(Summary: Such bankrupt metaphors as the melting pot and the mosaic, clearly useless for adequately expressing identities in a multicultural context, are replaced by a different kind of conceptualization where by the very notion of »inbetweeness« comes alive by setting in creative conjunction three current rhetorics of identity pervasively a feature of cultural studies across the disciplines: »border talk«, »hybridity talk«, and »performativity talk.« Where as these different rhetorics seem quite distinct, if not contradictory, actual narratives of and about identity often set in motion all three, establishing a fluid borderland where boundaries are frequently transgressed. As a conclusion, the proposed theoretical framework is put to the test through the work of two American women writers of today: Anna Deavere Smith and Gish Gen.)

Kaspar Maase
Selbstbeschreibung statt Aufbruch. Anmerkungen zur postheroischen Generationsbildung.

(Summary: The essay focuses the fact that for the last years there has been a real boom in publications labelling younger cohorts in Germany as generations. These ascriptions are very heterogeneous, but nevertheless some have been very successful. This is interpreted as a kind of playful use of generational ascriptions without obligations. Three main motives are discussed: Among the middle classes, it serves to structure the social cosmos, to position oneself in the course of historical changes, and to generate pleasant aesthetic experiences. This is read as a farewell to a long lasting tradition of heroic concepts of juvenile generations challenging the established order.)

Götz Aly
Die Deportation der Juden von Rhodos nach Auschwitz. Die deutsche Kriegsplanung im Sommer 1944

In der Literaturbeilage:
Waltraud Meints
Globalisierung und Menschenrechte. Zur Aktualität der Krisendiagnose von Hannah Arendt

Bilder: Fotos von Peter Piller »Schießende Mädchen«

In jeder Ausgabe:
Nachrichten aus dem Institut
Wolfgang Kraushaar: Aus der Protest-Chronik