Doctoral Dissertation Research: Eastern German Women's Organizations and Welfare State Transformation since German Unification

本文通过对东德统一后两个城市的地方妇女组织与各级政府之间的相互构成关系的探讨，将福利国家的宏观和微观视角联系起来。该项目考虑了当地环境如何影响妇女的组织努力，以应对两个城市福利状况的变化，这两个城市的妇女组织受到不同的机会和限制。我将使用比较和叙述的方法来分析采访、观察和档案数据，以了解这两个城市的妇女运动的不同历史是如何被地方、国家和国际背景所塑造的。该项目审查了自1990年德国统一以来这两个城市的妇女组织开展活动的复杂行动领域。通过考虑地方妇女组织如何驾驭国家，反过来，不同层次的国家如何应对妇女组织，本论文还将阐明国家和国际（欧盟）治理的变化如何在不同的地方背景下产生不同的影响。本研究的广泛影响包括：该项目将有助于社会学的多个领域，包括性别和福利国家，社会运动和后社会主义的讨论。本文将提高社会科学对不断变化的性别关系如何与当地环境和身份相互作用的理解，以创造对性别关系，状态以及抵抗和变革策略的新理解。该项目还将为有关社会政策和性别不平等的学术、政策和公共辩论做出重要贡献。

This dissertation connects macro and micro perspectives on the welfare state by exploring the mutually constitutive relationship between local women's organizations and different levels government in two cities in post-unification eastern Germany. The project considers how local environments influence women's organizational efforts in response to changes in the welfare state in two cities where women's organizing has been subject to different opportunities and constraints. I will use comparative and narrative approaches to analyze interview, observational, and archival data to understand how the divergent histories of the women's movement in these two cities have been shaped by the local, national, and international contexts from which they emerged. The project examines the complex fields of action in which women's organizations in these two cities have been operating since German unification in 1990. By considering how local women's organizations navigate the state-and, in turn, how different levels of the state respond to women's organizations-this dissertation also will illuminate how changes in national and international (European Union) governance may have differential effects across localized contexts. The broader impacts of this research include the following: The project will contribute to multiple areas of sociology, including discussions of gender and the welfare state, social movements, and post-socialism. The dissertation will improve social science understanding of how shifting gender relations interact with local environments and identities to create new understandings of gender relations, the state, and strategies for resistance and change. The project will also make important contributions to scholarly, policy, and public debates about social policy and gender inequality.