Papers by Christoph Conrad
Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 2020
This essay looks at the Annales through the lens of similar (and sometimes rival) history journal... more This essay looks at the Annales through the lens of similar (and sometimes rival) history journals. In focusing on their editorial choices, in particular on the titles of special and thematic issues, the transversal and transnational circulation of approaches and research subjects is highlighted. About a dozen journals from several countries are analyzed over the last thirty years. They share with the Annales the practice of announcing their conceptual ambitions as well as their thematic choices through keywords and headings. Considered together, these history journals collectively construct a vast, interwoven text that traces the agenda of international historiography. New themes like microhistory or the study of the everyday, religious and ethnic identities, gender relations and social inequality, global history and climate change are circulated through dialogue and competition. In this dynamic landscape, the Annales have pursued and upheld their tradition of innovation.
Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 2020
This essay discusses some of the consequences of the widely observed resurgence of a strong inter... more This essay discusses some of the consequences of the widely observed resurgence of a strong interventionist state during the corona crisis. Its focus is on how health and welfare arrangements impact the elderly, the group primarily affected by COVID-19. Four related perspectives – viewing the crisis as a “natural experiment,” the relationship between experts and politics, biopolitical arguments, and age discrimination – are used to unpack the major inequalities, tensions and deficits in the social and sanitary policies of Western Europe and the US.
Handbuch Sozialpolitik, Herbert Obinger und Manfred G. Schmidt (Hrsg.), 2019
In dem sehr vielfältigen Begriffsfeld lässt sich eine weitere Definition – im Sinne von: history ... more In dem sehr vielfältigen Begriffsfeld lässt sich eine weitere Definition – im Sinne von: history matters – von einer spezifischeren – im Sinne einer sich selbst verstärkenden Pfadabhängigkeit – unterscheiden. Der Artikel erläutert das Spektrum der Begriffsverwendungen und die Debatten um den Einsatz von Politikerbe und Pfadabhängigkeit als theoretische Konzepte. Im Zentrum stehen deren Anwendungen im Bereich der Sozialpolitik sowie in Forschungsarbeiten, die dem internationalen Vergleich und dem Historischen Institutionalismus zuzurechnen sind. Abschließend werden einige Richtungen der Weiterentwicklung des Ansatzes diskutiert, darunter besonders die Aufmerksamkeit für Zeitregime, diskursive Elemente und Politikstile.
Geschichte und Gesellschaft vol 39/4, pp. 555-592, Dec 2013
The recent discussions about the role and the transformation of the state in modern European and ... more The recent discussions about the role and the transformation of the state in modern European and North American societies help to reanalyze the ‘prehistory of the present’ of welfare states. This essay sketches six dimensions of welfare-state functions in the 20th century: the transitions from warfare to welfare, the management of life chances, the construction of work and non-work, redistributions, inclusion and exclusion, and knowledge production. With a series of historical, not normative, observations, the article tries to show that certain welfare-state functions are indispensable even if one allows for a neo-liberal point of view. But, it also argues that such a pragmatic view needs to recognize the darker as well as the brighter sides of 20th-century governmentality in social policy.
H o w t o W r i t e M o d e r n E u r o p e a n H i s t o r y To d a y ? S t a t e m e n t s... more H o w t o W r i t e M o d e r n E u r o p e a n H i s t o r y To d a y ? S t a t e m e n t s t o J ö r n L e o n h a r d ' s JMEH-F o r u m
Beyond welfare state models, 2011
La protection sociale en Europe au XXe siècle, sous la direction d'Axelle Brodiez-Dolino et Bruno Dumons, Rennes : Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2014, p. 75-98, Jun 1, 2014
International Encyclopedia of the Social and …, Jan 1, 2001
Le Mouvement social, Jan 1, 2004
Michael Jeismann (Hrsg.), Das 20. Jahrhundert. Welt der Extreme, München: Beck., 2000
Wirtschaftsgeschichte als Kulturgeschichte. Dimensionen eines Perspektivenwechsels, hrsg. Hartmut Berghoff u. Jakob Vogel, Aug 2004
Mit Hans C. Artmanns (fast) klassischer Frage 1 lässt sich ein Thema spielerisch erschließen, das... more Mit Hans C. Artmanns (fast) klassischer Frage 1 lässt sich ein Thema spielerisch erschließen, das die Grenzen eines Artikels oder die Kompetenz des Autors leicht überschreiten könnte. Denn die Suche nach dem Ort des Ökonomischen in der new cultural history -die Frage nach deren Verhältnis oder Nichtverhältnis -ist durch den Mangel an anerkannten Beispielstudien und gleichzeitig durch die Fülle von diffusen Bezügen und Erwartungen gekennzeichnet. Wenn man für einen Moment die Kategorien »Wirtschaft« und »Kultur« unbefragt und ungeteilt stehen lässt, dann könnte die Ökonomie mit der Frage »How much, schatzi?« gerichtet an die Kulturwissenschaft meinen: Wie hältst du es mit Preisen, Kosten, Produktionsfaktoren, mit der Allokation von knappen Mitteln? Aber sie könnte mit dieser Frage auch meinen: Wie weit bist du (Kultur) dir bewusst, dass hinter vielen deiner Begriffen nicht nur auf der metaphorischen Ebene, sondern im materiellen Sinne ökonomische Vorgänge versteckt sind? Verbergen sich nicht hinter »symbolischem« oder »sozialem« Kapital Humankapital und seine Akkumulation, liegen hinter »kulturellem Transfer« nicht Import-und Exportmärkte? Richtet ›die‹ Kulturgeschichte dieselbe Frage umgekehrt an ›die‹ Wirtschaftswissenschaft, könnte damit gemeint sein: Wieviel Kultur kannst du vertragen? Einen wie großen Raum kann die Ökonomie spannungsreichen Kategorien wie Deutung und Bedeutung, Normen und Praktiken, Hybridität und Subversion zugestehen, ohne ihren Allgemeinheitsanspruch aufzugeben? Die Kulturwissenschaft könnte mit »How much, schatzi?« nebenbei auch meinen: Für welchen Preis verkaufst du dich, Ökonomie? Unter welchen Umständen verwandelt sich akademische Wissensproduktion in instrumentelle und instrumentalisierbare Beratungsexpertise? Aber solche Fragen stellt nicht die Kulturgeschichte, sondern eher eine unorthodoxe Wirtschaftshistorikerin wie Deirdre McCloskey. 2 christoph conrad »how much, schatzi?«
Under the Ancien Regime, then the Revolution, pensions were awarded in France to the military, an... more Under the Ancien Regime, then the Revolution, pensions were awarded in France to the military, and later to civil ser-vants, when age brought them to leave office. This was a form of compensation for the low salaries they had received during their working lives. But such ...
This study analyzes the slow development and the practical organization of retirement systems. It... more This study analyzes the slow development and the practical organization of retirement systems. It consists of three comparisons: (a) between nations (Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States), (b) between socio-occupational groups (civil servants, miners, executives, etc.) and (c) between periods (from approximately 1850 to 1960, in part up to 1985). The comparison of successive programmes, retirement age (legal and actual), pension levels, and activity rates among elderly men, has led to unexpected findings. In particular, a parallel between trends in the four countries has made it possible to put Bismarck's social policies into perspective. Furthermore, it was only after 1945 that social security systems could ensure a work-free old age for the vast majority of the population. Retirement age has always been strongly influenced by the incidence of invalidity and by conditions on the labour market.
Handbook of the Humanities and Aging, Jan 1, 1992
in Hans Günter Hockerts (Hg.), Drei Wege deutscher Sozialstaatlichkeit, München: Oldenbourg 1998, S. 101-116., Sep 1998
a comparative analysis of social security systems for old age and disability in the five differen... more a comparative analysis of social security systems for old age and disability in the five different political regimes of Germany during the 20th century: Empire, Weimar Republic, National Socialism, West and East Germany; discussion of the concepts of path dependency and welfare regime
(text in German)
Old Age from Antiquity to Post-Modernity, edited by Paul Johnson and Pat Thane, London / New York: Routledge, 1998 (Pbck. 2014), pp. 132-145., Oct 1, 1998
This chapter argues that the elderly as a group, and old age as an issue, have moved from the mar... more This chapter argues that the elderly as a group, and old age as an issue, have moved from the margins to the centre of the health care system in industrialised countries in the last 150 years. In the second half of the nineteenth and early in the twentieth century the health needs of the elderly were marginalised, even neglected, gaining recognition and inclusion only slowly to form the very core of today's welfare state. This is a bold statement about structural shifts in the relative position of old age within a period in which a number of other fundamental changes affecting this stage of the life course have taken place.
Population and Development Review, Jun 1, 1996
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Ger-
mans have drastically changed their demo-
graph... more Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Ger-
mans have drastically changed their demo-
graphic behavior. Marriages and births have
dropped to an unprecedentedly low level.
The authors track birth rates of the East Ger-
man population, past, present, and future
and propose a simulation model of future
cohort fertility. Their hypotheses build on
the historical record of reproductive behav-
ior in the German Democratic Republic be-
tween 1960 and 1989 and on an analysis of
the pattern of change between 1990 and
1994. They argue that East German couples
will rapidly westernize their family size by
trying to reach completed fertility levels of
the corresponding West German cohort. This
implies that the resulting adaptation process
includes the postunification crisis as a logi-
cal first step.
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Papers by Christoph Conrad
(text in German)
mans have drastically changed their demo-
graphic behavior. Marriages and births have
dropped to an unprecedentedly low level.
The authors track birth rates of the East Ger-
man population, past, present, and future
and propose a simulation model of future
cohort fertility. Their hypotheses build on
the historical record of reproductive behav-
ior in the German Democratic Republic be-
tween 1960 and 1989 and on an analysis of
the pattern of change between 1990 and
1994. They argue that East German couples
will rapidly westernize their family size by
trying to reach completed fertility levels of
the corresponding West German cohort. This
implies that the resulting adaptation process
includes the postunification crisis as a logi-
cal first step.