C2: Berufliche Deutungsmuster

German researchers have shown that work positions are not identical with socially acknowledged notions and representations of Beruf (a profession as a qualification profile). The structural difference between specific skills required in factories, workshops or offices and qualification profiles that are socially certified by professional associations, chambers of commerce or administrations is in fact a characteristic of modern societies. Thus, the very concept of Beruf as an expert qualification (Harney) that is certified and recognized throughout society can by no means be taken for granted. Moreover, representations of Beruf are highly culture- and context-dependent and embody long traditions of meaning. They encapsulate the collective experiences of socially relevant groups or even entire societies as well as certain interpretation patterns and collective representations that are shaped by these experiences.

The project’s goal lies in an investigation of the functional equivalents of the German Beruf in different geographic and cultural settings. The question is how semantic resources such as interpretation patterns and representations of work, professions or qualification profiles impeded or even prevented the establishment of specific models of vocational training. The project relies on theoretical models that have already proved valuable for the investigation of several Western European cases. These models claim that there are specific problems of order connected with vocational training that result from the fact that vocational training is located at the intersection of the economy (i.e. the sphere of economic rationality) and education (i.e. the sphere of individual advancement). The way societies cope with these problems considerably depends on the specific interpretation patterns and representations of work, professions or qualification profiles available. Thus, the project focuses on the question how semantic resources shape the structures of vocational training in several cultural settings outside Western Europe.

The project concentrates on a comparison of a Hispano-American society (Argentina) and an Asian society (India). This comparative approach enables the researchers not only to trace the establishment of certain interpretation patterns and representations of work, professions or qualification profiles under rather different historic and semantic conditions. It also suggests an analysis of the transformations and hybridisations as well as the displacement of autochthonous traditions resulting from processes of gradual transfer. In India and Argentina, these processes were initially conditioned by colonial dependency, subsequently shaped by the dynamics of the technological and industrial expansion of Europe, and, finally, in the course of the 20th century they were triggered by the force of various political scenarios. Special attention will be paid to the political upheaval in the wake of Argentinean Peronism and the struggle for Indian independence in the period between the 1930s and the 1960s. During this period, irrespective of the diverging developments in both countries and the contrasting interpretation patterns and representations resulting from this, Argentina and India both underwent fundamental changes that had much in common: Both countries headed towards national self-determination and social transformation and, in this framework, implemented far-reaching economic and social reforms including vocational training.

Publications by members of this sub-project

• Johan Grußendorf, Jörg Feuchter, Regina Finsterhölzl, Andrea Fischer-Tahir, Friedhelm Hoffmann, Simone Holzwarth, Maren Klotz, Michi Knecht, Veronica Oelsner, Nurhak Polat, Reet Tamme, Stefan Beck, Christiane Reinecke: Wissen und soziale Ordnung. Eine Kritik der Wissensgesellschaft. Mit einem Kommentar von Stefan Beck. SFB 640, Berlin 2010.  (mehr)
• Jörg Feuchter, Regina Finsterhölzl, Andrea Fischer-Tahir, Friedhelm Hoffmann, Simone Holzwarth, Maren Klotz, Michi Knecht, Veronica Oelsner, Nurhak Polat, Christiane Reinecke, Reet Tamme, Stefan Beck, Johan Grußendorf: Savoir et ordre social. Une critique de la société du savoir. Avec un commentaire de Stefan Beck. Traduit de l’allemand par Anne Joly, en collaboration avec Friedhelm Hoffmann. SFB 640, Berlin 2011. (im Druck).  (mehr)
• Jörg Baberowski, Hartmut Kaelble, Jürgen Schriewer (Hg): Selbstbilder und Fremdbilder. Repräsentationen sozialer Ordnungen im Wandel. Campus, 2008.  (mehr)
• Jürgen Schriewer (Hg): Weltkultur und kulturelle Bedeutungswelten. Zur Globalisierung von Bildungsdiskursen. Campus, 2007.  (mehr)
• Veronica Oelsner, Eugenia Roldán-Vera, Carlos Martínez: Modernisierung und Herrschaftskonstruktion: Die Bildungsmissionen als Begegnung zwischen Regierung und Landgemeinden in postrevolutionären Mexiko (1923-1940) und peronistischen Argentinien (1946-1955). In: Jörg Baberowski, David Feest, Maike Lehmann (Hg): Dem Anderen begegnen. Campus, 2009. (im Druck).  (mehr)
• Veronica Oelsner: Representations of Modernization and Vocational Education in Argentina at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. In: Vincent Houben, Mona Schrempf (Hg): Figurations of Modernity. Campus, 2008.  (mehr)
• Veronica Oelsner: La búsqueda de modelos educativos en el extranjero: Condicionantes de las distintas preferencias a partir del ejemplo del debate entre Pizarro y Sarmiento en Argentina en 1881. In: Historia de la Educación: Anuario, N° 8.  (mehr)
• Veronica Oelsner, Barbara Schulte: Variationen des Anderen: Die Wahrnehmung ausländischer Bildungsmodelle in der argentinischen und chinesischen Modernisierungsdebatte im späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert. In: Barbara Schulte (Hg): Transfer lokalisiert. Leipziger Universitäts-Verlag, 2006.  (mehr)
• Veronica Oelsner: Die europäische Einwanderung in Argentinien (1810-1914). Politikkonzepte, staatliche Förderung und Auswirkungen auf die argentinische Arbeitswelt. In: Themenportal Europäische Geschichte, 2007.  (mehr)
• Veronica Oelsner: ‘Productores en lugar de parásitos’: El debate en torno a la formación profesional en Argentina a principios del siglo XX“.  (mehr)