Project Seminar in MEPYSO

In the past semester, students collected data with an extended version of our vignette study within the context of a project seminar entitled “Only difficult or ill? A project seminar on the medicalization of child behavior?”. The data were collected with 625 students and employees of the university of Siegen. The respondents have similar attitudes as the sample of our representative study from last year. About 60% of the respondents believe that children who do not completely fit the norm receive immediately a diagnosis (representative sample: 54%). Moreover, 90% disapprove with starting with medication therapy in the case of children with behavioral problems.

MEPYSO at the FIS-Forum in Berlin, 08.-09.10.2019

Also this year, the MEPYSO team was represented at the Forum of Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research (FIS) of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Berlin. Current work of FIS-funded scientists was presented there under the motto “Dialogue, Strategy and Networking”. Dr. Nadine Reibling, Mareike Ariaans, Stephan Krayter and Philipp Linden presented current results from the MEPYSO project and gave a lecture on “The role of medicine and psychology in the German welfare state”.

MEPYSO at ESPANET Conference in Stockholm, September 5-7, 2019

From September 5th to 7th 2019 the MEPYSO project participated at the ESPANET conference in Stockholm and presented two current research articles:

Philipp Linden & Nadine Reibling: Medicalization as alternative path through welfare? Determinants of the transition from unemployment to a medical leave status in the German social policy system.

Stephan Krayter & Nadine Reibling: Has poverty been increasingly medicalized? An empirical study of the scientific poverty discourse

MEPYSO at the RC 19 in Mannheim, August 28-30, 2019

The MEPYSO team was represented at the RC19 in Mannheim with the following three contributions:

Philipp Linden & Nadine Reibling: Medicalization as alternative path through welfare? Determinants of the transition from unemployment to a medical leave status in the German social policy system.

Stephan Krayter & Nadine Reibling: An analysis of the scientific poverty discourse. Do health sciences matter?

Mareike Ariaans & Nadine Reibling: Blaming the individual? A longitudinal analysis of the framing of unemployment in German parliamentary debates.

New Publication in Europe Now: Engine or Breaks? European Welfare States and the Medicalization of Social Problems

As part of the special feature Public Health in Europe a paper by Nadine Reibling was published on the question how the welfare state affects, to what extent doctors and medication are used to deal with social problems. The paper shows that social and health policy are crucial for medicalization processes, e.g. pharmaceutical regulation is responsible for the much lower consumption of psychotropic drugs in Europe compared to the liberal US. In contrast, the welfare state can also contribute to medicalization, e.g. through activation policies that foster sick leave and self-perceived disabilities for persons on minimum income benefits.

Reibling, N. (2019): Engine and Brakes: European Welfare States and the Medicalization of Social Problems. Europe Now, https://www.europenowjournal.org/2019/06/10/engine-and-brakes-european-welfare-states-and-the-medicalization-of-social-problems/.

Publication: Rather sick and unemployed than “just” unemployed?

The first project publication is online!

  • What role does stigmatization, triggered by a status of unemployment, play in the lives of affected persons?
  • How widespread and stressful is such a stigmatization?
  • And does the perceived stigmatisation change as a result of medicalisation, e.g. when those affected are exempted from the compulsory job search/recording due to health restrictions?

Answers from a study with quantitative data are now available under:

Linden P., Reibling, N., Krayter, S. (2018): „Lieber krank und arbeitslos als nur arbeitslos?“ Die Auswirkungen der Medikalisierung von arbeitslosen Personen auf Stigmatisierungsprozesse

Announcement: MEPYSO Meeting with the Interdisciplinary Advisory Group at January 18th in Bonn

For the second time the MEPYSO-Team will meet at the 18thof January 2019 with the members of the interdisciplinary Advisory Group. The internal meeting will be held at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Bonn.

MEPYSO at the IAB workshop: “Unemployment and welfare dynamics”

Nadine Reibling and Philipp Linden participated in the workshop “Unemployment and welfare dynamics” in November 2018. The international conference dealt mainly with the following questions:

  • How long do individuals remain unemployed and which paths through welfare can be identified?
  • Which institutional, economic or individual factors influence the length and duration of unemployed episodes?
  • Under what circumstances do the long-term unemployed eave welfare state dependencies and what is the role of atypical or low-paid employment?
  • How does welfare state dependence change over time and under different economic conditions?

The two researchers presented results from a quantitative longitudinal analysis on the topic “Medicalization as alternative path through welfare? Determinants of the transition from unemployment to a medical leave status in the German social policy system” and received positive and constructive feedback.

In a next step, the theoretical foundations and results of the empirical analyses shall lead to a publication in 2019.

Announcement: MEPYSO at the FIS-Forum at October 9th in Berlin

All members of the MEPYSO-Team will participate in the FIS-Forum. At this year’s forum of the Fördernetzwerks Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung all funded projects and endowed professorships are invited by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to present their ongoing research. The MEYPSO-Team will give an update on the project in a poster presentation. Furthermore, Nadine Reibling is going to present new results in her talk entitled “Unemployed and sick?! Perspectives on the medicalization of unemployment in Germany and other advanced, industrialized countries”.

MEPYSO at the ISA World Congress „ Power, Violence and Justice: Reflections, Responses and Responsibilities” from July 15th to 21st in Toronto

At the ISA World Congress, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Mareike Ariaans presented first results on the medicalisation and psychologization of unemployment in German parliamentary debates in the Session „The Medicalisation of Social Problems: The Role of States and Markets“.

The ISA World Congress takes place every four years and connects sociologists of different disciplines and from all over the world, in order to talk about their recent work and exchange views on current sociological developments and topics.