WZB - Berlin Social Science Center

A new comparative study explores the relationship between computer use and job satisfaction in Germany and the UK.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, civil society assistance reached precisely those people too little who lack a supportive social environment.

In the last decades, the US government has spent billions of dollars on military inventions in many countries. What are the consequences?

Regularly practicing mindfulness meditation not only provides benefits to mental health but in the long run also improves performance. 

A new study by WZB researchers Heike Solga and Alessandra Rusconi together with Nicolai Netz (DZHW) has analyzed whether professors are prone to gender bias and prefer female or male applicants.

Only a few Muslim states are liberal democracies. Where does this come from? Are there aspects of the Islamic tradition that could reconcile Islam and liberalism, a new WZB lecture series asks.

A new comparative study explores the relationship between computer use and job satisfaction in Germany and the UK.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, civil society assistance reached precisely those people too little who lack a supportive social environment.

In the last decades, the US government has spent billions of dollars on military inventions in many countries. What are the consequences?

Regularly practicing mindfulness meditation not only provides benefits to mental health but in the long run also improves performance. 

A new study by WZB researchers Heike Solga and Alessandra Rusconi together with Nicolai Netz (DZHW) has analyzed whether professors are prone to gender bias and prefer female or male applicants.

Only a few Muslim states are liberal democracies. Where does this come from? Are there aspects of the Islamic tradition that could reconcile Islam and liberalism, a new WZB lecture series asks.

The WZB

The WZB Berlin Social Science Center investigates fundamental societal issues. Our focus is on education and work, markets and choice, migration, democracy and autocracy, international politics and law. At the WZB researchers from various disciplines work together – mainly from sociology, political science, economics, law and psychology.

Working at the WZB

The WZB offers a modern working environment, where both equal opportunities and the compatibility of work and family are highly valued. Find out more about it here.

WZB-Mitteilungen

Europe

The Russian attack on Ukraine has also hit Europe to its core. How can freedom and democracy be defended? Of course, this challenge is not new. Within the European community of states, too, autocratic tendencies, distribution struggles, and social divisions have been on the rise for years. And it is at the external borders that the question of what significance the European project has for global crises and interrelationships is decided.


"Europe" is the topic of the March issue of the WZB-Mitteilungen. It brings together analyses of the problems and approaches to overcoming them - in the areas of energy and mobility, the world of work and participation, the economy and the Internet, and science and communication.

More

Who is considered "foreign"

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Migration Kopftuch
FatCamera/ E+/ Getty images

How do political elites talk about immigrants and refugees? Tobias Heidenreich and Olga Eisele examined almost 100,000 press releases from governments in four countries and from the EU itself.

Talking more clearly about Europe

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Buchstaben
carloscastilla/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Controversial public debates put pressure on the European Union to explain itself. According to various recent studies, however, the public messages of European decision-makers mostly fail to offer an adequate response: political communication by and about the EU is difficult to understand for citizens and often tends to obfuscate matters rather than to make them clear.

More Funding for Metropolises

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Douro Fluss Portugal
SimonDannhauer/iStock/Getty Images Plus

The European Cohesion Policy is intended to mitigate the disparities between European regions and to encourage states to invest financial resources in their weak regions. But what happens in times of crisis when funding is scarce and austerity dominates?

Reproduction as a policy field

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Profilbild Hannah Zagel
Anna Kluge

The decision to have children - or not - is a very intimate one. And yet it depends not only on one or two people, but on political and social frameworks. The goal of the project Varieties of Reproduction Regimes, which Hannah Zagel introduces in the interview, is to obtain better data for analysis.

Innovating Democracy?

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Cover Innovating Democracy

In her new book, WZB researcher Thamy Pogrebinschi investigates democratic innovations in 18 countries in Latin America between 1990 and 2020. Thamy Pogrebinschi will present her new publication on June, 1.

New Member of the Academy of Arts & Sciences

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Daniel Ziblatt by Annette Hornischer
Annette Hornischer

Congratulations to Daniel Ziblatt! The WZB Director has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The Academy is both an honorary society and an independent policy organization with initiatives in the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science.

New Workbook on Socio-Legal Research

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Cover Socio-Legal Lab

Siddharth Peter de Souza (University of Tilburg) and WZB researcher Lisa Hahn have put together an interactive workbook on socio-legal research.