Makes a case for not prejudging people smugglers in history or the testimony they left behind in state police records, using the example of Eastern and Central Europe in the interwar period. Background Knowledge: Interrogating Perceptions of Smugglers with Joseph Roth Oct 30, 2019 Allison Schmidt
The author looks at the relationship between two famous early sociological community studies, "Middletown" and "Marienthal." The latter became Paul Lazarsfeld's "ticket out of Europe just as the continent was descending into fascism." Drifting Along: Unemployment and Interwar Social Research, from Marienthal to Muncie Dec 28, 2020 Joseph Malherek
The authors discuss disparagement practices using the "invectivity" approach developed at the TU Dresden. Shaming helps demarcate in-groups from out-groups, feeding communication loops and producing emotions beyond the immediate parties involved. Invective Loops: How Shaming Migrants Shapes Knowledge Orders Aug 24, 2021 Dagmar Ellerbrock and Swen Steinberg
The author examines records from trade union seminars given by IG Metall to Yugoslav workers in West Germany. Initially, the classes reflected the union's needs, but xenophobia in the 1980s led immigrant workers to express their own concerns in these meetings. Trade Union Knowledge and Educational Programs for Yugoslavian Workers in West Germany, 1970s–1980s May 27, 2021 Matthias Thaden