With approaching the date on which my thesis will get published as a book, the publisher also started to roll out its public relations concept. As part of these efforts, I was interviewed in German language about the book and its content. The original interview can be accessed here. I thought it might be a nice service to also provide an English translation of this interview on this page:
T: Why a book on this subject?
Arne: Discriminations that happen for a variety of reasons are part of the everyday life of many people. But not all reasons for discriminations are protected under German anti-discrimination law. Some discriminations happen despite these regulations while other people know the according regulations and how to fight against discriminations they were subjected to. Exactly these variations and differences are scrutinized in the empirical part of the study.
T: What relevance does this subject have in the current research debates?
Arne: It is one of the first studies in the German-speaking area that investigates discrimination on the basis of the overlapping or pervasive inequalities of disability, social class and gender. This is done against the background of the current state of research on discrimination and embedded in the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu: a new combination!
T: What new perspectives does your book open up?
Arne: The analysis of discrimination due to vertical inequalities offers an often neglected but not insignificant perspective, because traditional explanations of vertical social inequalities (and thus also legitimations of discrimination!) prove to be inappropriate, especially for the case of disability discrimination. However, a concept that sees disability as a restricted access to capital according to Bourdieu offers new access to the problem.
T: Who would you preferably like to discuss your book with?
Arne: With anyone who asks whether discrimination in this context needs special attention. It is precisely the connection between disability and class that has been known to many, but is still insufficiently addressed, just like the elephant in the room. Of course it would be extremely exciting, but also impossible, to hear Pierre Bourdieu’s opinion on the adaptation of his theory for the Disability Studies.
T: Your book in only one sentence:
Arne: Even a high social class background does not protect against the risk of discrimination, even if the types of discrimination tend to differ according to the social class background.
If you can’t wait to read a first snippet of the book, just browse the site linked above and download a preview of the content and the introduction!
PR is on its way
