Multidisciplinary Workshops Abstracts 2019-2020

One Film - Four Lenses

Organizers: Johannes Kniess (MWF SPS), Johann Justus Vasel (MWF LAW)

Abstract

A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words then, are moving pictures worth?
Important social, political, economic, and legal issues captured and promulgated by movies, this seminar series intends to center an open-floor discussion around a movie that deals with a highly relevant topic related to the four disciplines present at the EUI.

Programme

• 11 February 2020, 18:00-20:30 (Emeroteca, Badia)
  "Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to love the Bomb"

Lifecycle of Intergroup Conflict

16-17 April 2020 (9.30-13.00)
via Zoom.us

Organizers: Viola Müller (MWF HEC), Ester Sigilló (MWF LAW), Judith Spirig (MWF SPS), Annabelle Wittels (MWF SPS), Eva Zschirnt (MWF SPS)

Abstract

Subnational intergroup conflict has become ever more salient in Europe and the world over the last decades: from ethnic, religious, gender, class, ideological, generational differences to territorial disputes and anti-immigrant sentiment—there are various groups along the lines of which distributional conflict has formed. In this workshop, we aim at taking a broader, multidisciplinary perspective on the entire lifecycle of in-out-group relations: How does a group become an out-group? How does conflict between groups develop, manifest itself and abate in different contexts? What increases and reduces prejudice toward other groups? In two mornings, nine presentations and a moderated closing discussion, we shed light on these and more questions, hear about Tunisia, Italy, Turkey, the U.S., Germany, and Switzerland, discuss consequences of out-group status for labor market integration, political attitudes and behavior, and learn about ethnic, racial and immigrant/native conflict.

Program (Pdf)

Labour Market Dynamics, Institutions and their Mutual Linkages:
Fostering Interdisciplinary Dialogue

5 May 2020
via Zoom.us

Organizers: Cristina Lafuente (MWF ECO), Marta Lopes (MWF ECO), Arianna Tassinari (MWF SPS)

Abstract

This half-day multi-disciplinary research workshop will open a dialog across disciplines studying the different interactions between institutions and labour market dynamics. The mutual relationship between institutions and labour market dynamics has been for decades a key concern of a broad field of scholarship cutting across political economy, economics, labour sociology and labour history. Despite a large (and increasing) academic literature and a high interest from the political sphere, dialogue across disciplines has been scarce. In this workshop we bring together Max Weber Fellows, researchers and academics from across the EUI and beyond working from different disciplinary angles on topics concerning the interaction between institutions, regulation and labour market dynamics - from theoretical, historical and empirical perspectives. Together we address how labour market institutions at all levels shape (deliberately or involuntarily) labour market outcomes (unemployment, wage inequality, precarity, labour market segmentation) and how these outcomes feed back into the evolution and adaptation of labour market institutions themselves.

Program (pdf)

Inequality and Discrimination

11-12 May 2020
via Zoom.us

Organizers: Balaraju Battu (MWF SPS), Mauricio Bucca (PUC Chile), Nils Grevenbrock (MWF ECO), Fabian Mushövel (MWF SPS), Alessandro Spiganti (MWF ECO), Stylianos Tsiaras (MWF RSCAS), Giulia Tura (MWF ECO), Eva Zschirnt (MWF SPS)

Abstract

The aim of this workshop is to bring together academics from different areas of social science working on inequality and discrimination. With an emphasis on data, theory, and policy, this workshop will tackle these issues by exploring key questions like: What do the data tell us about causes and consequences of inequality and discrimination? What are the theories needed to understand what has been happening? What are policy ideas and controversies associated with these problems? This workshop embodies the multidisciplinary approach promoted by the Max Weber Programme: we hope that participants to the workshop will appreciate the contributions brought by different disciplines on the topic of inequality and discrimination, and see the potential of an interdisciplinary approach.

Program (pdf)

Natural and Field Experiments for the Social Sciences

19-20 May 2020
2-3 June 2020
4-5 June 2020
via Zoom.us and Brightspace Forum

Organizers: Alexis Alvarez Nakagawa (MWF LAW), Annabelle Wittels (MWF SPS), Xiaoren Wang (MWF LAW), Eleanor Woodhouse (MWF ECO)

Abstract

Causal identification has become increasingly important in the social sciences. Natural and field experiments, due to their use of real life data or realistic environments, are at the forefront of methodologies aimed at establishing causal relationships. These methods are continuously advancing; staying informed about the latest developments in this area is paramount to producing relevant and top quality research. Originating from the Max Weber Interdisciplinary Workshops, a group of EUI fellows with the support of faculty has put together a workshop series targeted at bringing leading causal inference scholars to the EUI to offer methods training to EUI researchers, fellows and faculty.

Each session will comprise of a lecture and a lab exercise using R. Students will be guided through problem sets to help them to implement the methodologies introduced in the lectures in their own research.

The workshops will be offered as a half credit course (10 hours) and are open to all EUI researchers, faculty and fellows to attend. 

Program (pdf)

Migration in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

3 June 2020
via Zoom.us

Organizers: Anca Cretu (MWF HEC), Alina Vranceanu (MWF SPS)

Abstract

This one-day multidisciplinary workshop brings together contributions linked broadly to the topic of migration. Since 2015, narratives and imagery of people fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa and taking to boats to cross the Mediterranean or Aegean in order to find refuge in Europe have become recurrent news. In North America, the US-Mexico border has become a space of exclusion through the migrants’ forced encampment. Furthermore, various international humanitarian organizations have signaled the urgency in addressing forced displacement. However, the incidence of migration is nothing new, as waves and related crises of displacement have been recurrent historical events in times of violence, natural disasters or economic insufficiency. Indeed, contemporary forms of migration and the debates that arise from them are often underscored by historical processes related to race, gender, labor, class, and/or the state. This workshop brings together researchers and academics from across the European University Institute and beyond, working from different disciplinary angles on topics concerning local, national and international governance of migration, the socio-economic integration of migrants, and public opinion about immigration.

Program (pdf)

The Protean Consumer: Exploring Competing Visions of Consumption and Consumerism

24 June 2020
via Zoom.us

Organizers: Giacomo Tagiuri (MWF LAW), Viola Müller (MWF HEC), Gasper Jakovac (MWF HEC), Mateusz Grochowski (MWF LAW), Xiaoren Wang (MWF LAW)

Abstract

This workshop draws together scholars from history, law, and the social sciences whose work is linked to the study of consumption from a variety of perspectives. Through theoretical, historical and empirical contributions, the workshop aspires to pluralize consumption, and particularly the consumer, by emphasizing roles and processes that have been relatively marginalized in both academic and popular discourse. The consumer ceases to be understood as either vulnerable or resistant and takes on new roles. The papers in the workshop illuminate the complexity of some of such roles across different historical and geographical contexts, as well as different ideational contexts; from law to economics, from popular culture to the arts. Understanding such roles seems important because different representations of the consumer are mobilized towards different social and political ends. The workshop will be an opportunity for cross-disciplinary training and contamination of perspectives that will enrich individual research agendas as well as point to future opportunities for collaboration. 

Program (pdf)