Economic Change, Quality of Life and Social Cohesion (EQUALSOC)
The EQUALSOC project is a so-called “Network of Excellence“ (NoE) that will mobilise and develop research expertise across Europe on economic change, quality of life and social cohesion. Besides the WZB 13 other institutes or universities are participating. There are institutes from Sweden (SOFI), the Netherlands (AIAS), France (CNRS), Italy (DSRS, Biocca, University of Turin), Ireland (ESRI), Germany (MZES, WZB), Great Britain (Nuffield), Spain (UPF), Estonia (UT) and Belgium (CSB). The project is funded by the European Union.
The project aims at strenghtening the exchange of knowledge between scientists in Europe and promoting the development of joint projects. For this reason research projects will mainly be funded in which members of the network collaborate. The first step towards collaboration is to find out what the other network participants do. Therefore network conferences, workshops for the subject-oriented working groups and cross-cutting workshops with participants from different working groups have been or will be arranged. Furthermore newsletters will be distributed and an Internet platform has been established.
The key to a deeper collaboration is due to the subject-oriented working groups which consist of scientists working on similar topics. Presently, the following working groups exist:
● Employment and the Labor Market (EMPLOY)
● Income, Distribution, Consumption and Income Mobility (INCDIS)
● Education, Social Mobility and Social Cohesion (EDUC)
● Family and Social Networks (FAMNET)
● Cultural and Social Differentiation (SOCCULT)
● Trust, Associations and Legitimacy (TRALEG)
The focus of our research is most related to the working groups TRALEG and FAMNET.