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I am an Assistant Professor (Akademischer Rat) at the Chair of Sociology, with special emphasis on Social Inequalities, at the University of Bamberg. In the winter semester 2024/25 I was a Substitute Professor of Sociology with a focus on Social Stratification and Social Policy at Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute of Sociology.
I am currently a postdoctoral fellow of the Daimler and Benz Foundation, supporting my research on social trust in Germany. I am also affiliated with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) as a senior researcher in an interdisciplinary group of economists and sociologists within the department “Education, Training and Employment over the Life Course.” I received my doctorate in 2019 from Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg.
My research examines how processes of societal transformation shape social cohesion in stratified ways. I primarily adopt a life course perspective to study inequalities in trust, vaccination, health and well-being, as well as educational decision-making and the monetary and non-monetary consequences of educational dropout. More recently, I have focused on how inequalities in health and well-being intersect with educational trajectories.
I have acquired competitive third-party funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Hans Böckler Foundation to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected health determinants, social trust, and educational decision-making.
Results of my work have been published in peer-reviewed national (e.g., Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie or Zeitschrift für Soziologie) and international journals (e.g., Acta Sociologica, The British Journal of Sociology, European Sociological Review, European Societies, Social Science Research or Sociology of Education).
On this website you can find information on my ongoing and past third-party funded projects, publications, teaching experience and my CV.
Current Publications
Current Publications
Wages and institutional trust between 2019 and 2023
Acta Sociologica
(together with: Matthias Collischon)
While research on income inequality and institutional trust mainly focuses on how actual changes in inequality and individuals’ perceptions affect trust, we know little about whether changes in wages relate to institutional trust. This study investigates how institutional trust develops across wage groups over time and whether substantial wage increases are associated with changes in institutional trust. Using data from the Panel Labour Market and Social Security (PASS), we show that wage inequality decreased in Germany between 2019 and 2023. While wage levels are positively associated with trust, decreases in wage inequality do not translate into increases in trust among low-wage workers. To the contrary, whose wages increased by approximately 20% over our observation period, show a decline in institutional trust. Fixed-effects regressions reveal a statistically significant, but only weak, association between wages and institutional trust. Overall, our findings suggest that even substantial wage increases, such as those from minimum wage reforms, may not strengthen institutional trust, highlighting the limits of economic interventions in shaping citizens’ perceptions of government.
Link to study: https://doi.org/10.1177/00016993261442013
Study Programs, Public Rankings, and College Enrollment Intentions: Results from a Survey Experiment on Study Program Content, Flexibility, and Support
Sociology of Education
(together with: Carina Toussaint, Hans Dietrich, Tobias Wolbring)
Current research on college enrollment intentions predominantly focuses on the effects of individual and university characteristics, neglecting how specific study program features affect enrollment intentions. We examine three key elements in a study program: content, flexibility, and support. These elements shape individuals’ beliefs about costs, benefits, and their success probability, thus affecting enrollment intentions. Understanding these influences helps address disparities in access to higher education because an individual’s social background shapes information processing and thus, belief formation. Using data from a factorial survey experiment conducted with German high school students in their final year of school, we apply random-intercept regression models to investigate the causal (socially stratified) effect of study program features on enrollment intentions. Our results reveal significant effects of the investigated dimensions on enrollment intentions, suggesting that adjusting program content, flexibility, and support services enhances those intentions. However, the limited effect variation across social backgrounds implies that these adjustments will not reduce the social origin gap in higher education transitions.
Link to study: https://doi.org/10.1177/00380407251356274
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