A new dataset is now vailable in the Qualiservice catalogue at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.969039.

The dataset consists of seven transcripts of group discussions from the BMBF-funded research project „How are work logics, ideas of social cohesion and political orientations connected?” („Wie hängen Work Logics, Vorstellungen gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalts und politische Orientierungen zusammen?“). The project was conducted by Uwe Schimank and Nils Kumkar at the Bremen site of the Research Institute for Social Cohesion (FGZ; https://fgz-risc.de/) between June 2023 and May 2024.

The project investigates the extent to which there are connections between occupational self-images and backgrounds of experience, certain images of society, ideas of social cohesion and political orientations, which are reflected in party preferences. As an explanatory factor for the development of ideas of cohesion, the study built on the concept of „work logics“ that was introduced into the international research on inequality by Oesch (2006). According to this concept, work experience shapes more encompassing cultural and political orientations as well as attitude patterns. Thus, the concept is appropriate for reconstructing intersubjectively shared patterns of interpretation. The research project focused on the question if and to what extent the „work logics“ of specific occupations shape ideas of social cohesion and political orientations specific to the respective sector.

This topic was analysed based on group discussions with a total of seven different occupational groups (teachers, engineers, administrative employees, service staff, entrepreneurs, hospital clowns, pastors) that were conducted between 2023 and 2024. A total of 42 individuals aged 25-75 participated in the group discussions, with four to six participants per discussion. The focus of the group discussions was on the participants‘ subjective experiences of political developments and societal crises (e.g., pandemic, wars, climate change) during the last few years. The exmanent questions aimed to explore topics such as social cohesion, politics and statehood, personal actions and party and political preferences in order to shed light on their orientation frameworks and the problem-solving strategies of the different occupational groups. The data material was analysed using the documentary method.

The anonymised transcripts of seven group discussions (38 participants) are available for scientific secondary use and academic teaching. The transcript of the group discussion with service staff could not be archived due to reasons related to data protection. Besides the above-mentioned aspects, the dataset has potential for secondary use under other thematic aspects, such as in the sociology of work, political sociology as well as for the analysis of social structure.