Social Work & Social Economy

The series ‘SI Discourses | Society—Church—Religion’ brings contributions from the area at which theology and the social sciences, that is, the Church, social policy and the public sphere, overlap into academic and public discourse. The contributions stem from conferences organised by the Social Science Institute of the Protestant Church in Germany (SI) and other contexts of SI research. Empirical findings and conceptual considerations from the sociology of religion, theology, ethics and economics are presented and controversially discussed. The series focuses on questions of religious communication and practice in contemporary society, social cohesion and social balance, civic engagement and the digital transformation of the economy and society.

This series publishes works that open up a social pedagogical perspective on democracy education in different fields of social work. With reference to Oskar Negt's (2016) insight that democracy is the only politically constituted social order that needs to be learned, there is a need to reflect on the forms of democracy education and democracy practice. The focus is therefore on theoretical and conceptual reflections on participatory democracy, political democratic education, and participatory research that discusses sustainable social inclusion.