Social Sciences (R0)

This book offers a completely new approach to the complex social phenomenon of the Mafia: In addition to the origins, organization and actions  of the Mafia, the author Anita Bestler examines above all the close connection between organized crime and politics. In the process, readers [also] gain an interesting insight into the complicated political development of Italy from the founding of the state to the present, as well as an answer as to why Italians have a different political mindset.

The title of the book derives from the theme of the 20th Conference on Applied Social Sciences of the Professional Association of German Sociologists, held in Munich in May 2019.

The question of what concrete contributions social innovations can make to the transition to forms of sustainable coexistence and economic activity is as much the focus of this book as the question of what contribution the social sciences can make. Thus, on the one hand, it is about concrete social innovations that help us to achieve the goal of living and doing business sustainably, but on the other hand, it is also about the way in which the social sciences - not least through appropriate theoretical and methodological training - can be made socially responsible for the success of such socially innovative processes.

This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.

The interconnections of economy, society and politics so obviously determine socio-economic and political structures and problem situations, current ways of thinking and acting as well as the collective perception of solution options that their still low attention in university teaching and school education is surprising. Phenomena such as pandemics, climate change, migration or authoritarianism make the close, complex and contradictory connections between economy, society and politics tangible. Against this background, socioeconomic research, teaching and education are urgently needed.

In the current discourse field ‘clan crime’, the interpretation scheme, the terminology itself and the treatment of the phenomenon by interior departments, law enforcement and other authorities are controversial. There is an intense debate about issues ranging between overestimating and underestimating the phenomenon, between self-inflicted or ‘imported’ criminality and between zero-tolerance reactions by the constitutional state on the one hand and discrimination against entire population groups on the other. Put simply, there is a conflict between the antagonistic ideas of ‘hard’ and negating interpretations of the phenomenon. The anthology is intended to take a scientifically dominated, differentiated or ‘moderate’ path without ignoring the above-mentioned opposites. The aim is to close previous gaps in knowledge and to correct widespread discursive assumptions.

The book is aimed at an interested specialist audience from the criminal and social sciences as well as middle and higher management levels of the police and social work or crime prevention.