230145 SE Housing is more than housing. The sociology of housing issues. (2024S)

Around 75 years ago, Louis Wirth published an article entitled "Housing as a sociological field of research". In this paper, the famous Chicago School urban sociologist described housing as a social activity characterised by three "significant sociological aspects": societal values (reflecting ideas of what is considered "good housing"), community life (reflecting dependency on the location) and public policy (the way in which housing is regulated and provided). Friedrich Engels, 75 years before Wirth, had already argued that the solution to the housing question should not be left to urban planning, economics or architecture, but rather requirded a sociological, i.e. an analytical and power-critical approach. The tension between everyday experience (everyone can have a say, as housing refers to a basic need, and defined as a source of identity and belonging) and political economy (the housing question as a socially generated social problem) is radical and also forms an ongoing point of reference for our seminar. The reading and discussion of relevant theoretical writings and empirical research opens up references to topics such as inequality and segregation, discrimination, distributive justice or homelessness, but also to normative and ideological aspects of the current housing question (sedentariness, private property, gender roles); at the same time, the seminar offers a space to categorise one's own experiences and practices of housing and to discuss alternative models (historical and current).