From September 22 to 26, 2025 the Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie took place in Duisburg. Jan Schaller and Mara Börjesson represented the TRAWOS Institute with a contribution to the AdHoc-Gruppe „Quo vadis Ostdeutschlandforschung? Perspektiven auf Persistenz und Dynamiken im Umgang mit dem sozialen Wandel Ost".

In their presentation „Strukturen statt Stigma? Eine kritische Perspektive auf die Erforschung der Unterrepräsentation Ostdeutscher in Elitepositionen" they critically examined individualizing explanatory patterns and questioned how effective research into individual social groups is when the causes of underrepresentation can be found in dimensions of social inequality and in structural aspects of elite careers. Instead, they advocated a multifactorial explanatory approach that focuses on structural, geographical and symbolic exclusion mechanisms. The article argued that East German origin should be understood as a concentration of diverse dimensions of inequality—from a lack of economic, social and symbolic capital to regional disparities and discursive marginalization. Taking this view into account, they discussed the extent to which the category “East German” is helpful in this context for research, but also for political debate. 

The panel proved to be a great success and provided an extremely productive exchange on future perspectives for research on eastern Germany. The key insight that emerged was that research on eastern Germany must become less provincial and network more closely with other areas of research. Only by building such bridges can different fields of research enrich each other, benefit from existing knowledge and at the same time become more effective beyond their own subject areas.