The Spirit Level Theory developed by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett claims that low-inequality societies are better societies because people are plagued less by status anxiety, and previous research has largely supported this idea. With the aim of broadening the knowledge about status anxiety, this article examines a crucial component of status anxiety – the feeling of not counting much in the eyes of others – within a multilevel framework for 27 European countries, using the European Quality of Life Survey 2011/2012. We first clarify which individual characteristics in particular result in status anxiety: labor market exclusion and low-income position. Second, influenced by the seminal work of Pierre Bourdieu in Distinction, we explore a societal condition of status anxiety that appears to be particularly salient due to its visibility in everyday life: cultural class divisions. Our evidence suggests that the extent of class divisions in cultural consumption fuels status anxiety, over and above the effects of income inequality and national affluence. Thus, we advocate a sociocultural redirection of the Spirit Level framework.

As societies have become increasingly differentiated and discourses have turned increasingly heterogeneous, field theory and critical discourse studies (CDS) have become ever more popular in the social sciences. Responding to this development, we propose a synthesis of Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory and theories of collective learning inspired by Jürgen Habermas. Embedding this exploration within the framework of the discourse-historical approach (DHA) in CDS, we elaborate on how such a synthesis might look like by discussing the two traditions both vis-a-vis each other and vis-a-vis their current reception in the DHA. This synthesis is, finally, illustrated through the analysis of four types of blocked learning, four ways in which actual semiosis might block collective learning processes.

Various studies have examined the relevance of either cultural capital or personality traits for academic achievement. Integrating these two fields of research, this study compares cultural participation in ‘highbrow activities’ and personality and their possible impact on the intergenerational transmission of educational inequalities in primary school. It also examines whether cultural participation in ‘highbrow activities’ and personality substitute for a non-academic background. The differences and similarities of the sociological concept of habitus and the psychological concept of personality are discussed on a conceptual level. Data are drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and the Families in Germany Study (FiD). Results show that the effect of parental education on school grades is partially mediated by three personality facets – Focus, Intellect, and Curiosity – as well as the cultural activity of playing music. Furthermore, the effect of parental education on school grades is multiple-mediated via playing music and Focus, as well as Curiosity to a small extent. Results of a multiple group analysis between children from academic and non-academic households show that participation in cultural activities and personality does not substitute for parental education.

Zusammenfassung Der vorliegende Beitrag präsentiert erstmalig Ergebnisse zum Ausmaß, der Verteilung und den Folgen individuell erlebter Wert-und Geringschätzung in Deutschland anhand von Daten aus der Innovationsstichprobe des Soziooekonomischen Panels (SOEP-IS 2016). Zum einen adressieren wir damit einen grundlegenden Tatbestand des sozialen Lebens-persönliche Erfahrungen der Anerkennung und Abwertung im Alltag. Zum anderen schließen wir an aktuelle Gegenwartsanalysen und öffentliche Diskurse an, die von Abwertungserfahrungen und fehlender Anerkennung als Ursachen sozialer Probleme und Konflikte ausgehen. Dabei stehen drei sozialstrukturelle Differenzierungen im Fokus: (1) sozioökonomische Unterschiede zwischen sozialen Schichten einerseits sowie soziokulturelle Unterschiede zwischen (2) Ost-und Westdeutschen und (3) Menschen mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund andererseits. Empirisch zeigt sich, dass die Menschen in Deutschland insgesamt viel Wertschätzung erfahren, besonders in lebensweltlichen Kontexten wie der Familie. Die Arbeitswelt ist hingegen ein eher ambivalenter Erfahrungskontext, der von Wert-und Geringschätzung geprägt ist. Während wir große Schichtunterschiede (insbesondere nach Einkommen, Bildungsgrad und Erwerbsstatus) finden, lassen sich weder zwischen Ost-und Westdeutschen noch bezüglich eines Migrationshintergrundes wesentliche Unterschiede im Ausmaß berichteter Wert-und Geringschätzung feststellen. Positive wie negative Erfahrungen beeinflussen schließlich die persönliche Lebenszufriedenheit sowie die Zufrieden

Ongoing transnationalization processes have deeply affected contemporary societies. One important aspect of this transformation is that people’s skills and dispositions change, thus the ways they think about, perceive and evaluate the world are altered. In order to capture these changes conceptually, the notion of transnational habitus has emerged, especially within migration and inequality studies. Reviewing this research literature, however, we argue that this notion only partly captures the different ways in which transnationalization impacts individuals. We therefore refer to the criticism of Bourdieu’s habitus concept by Lahire and conceive of habitus as a configuration of dispositions, which may be more or less transnationalized. Combining this conceptual discussion with a biographical case study from a research project on highly-skilled migrants, allows us to theorize how specific dispositions are activated or toned down over time in relation to specific field settings. As a result, we can highlight how different kinds of dispositions may be dissimilarly affected by transnationalization processes and how related habitual transformations may be seen as a gradual development. Rather than generally referring to the more static notion of transnational habitus, conceiving of habitus as a configuration of dispositions and contexts thus facilitates a more detailed and processual understanding of the interplay between dispositions and specific field settings in relation to transnationalization.