Cooling out as transformation of the professional driving force structure

• Applicant: Dr. Hildegard Matthies
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research ; Education Systems and Educational Institutions
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 246087052

This project focuses on social processes that lead to a transformation of the structure of professional driving forces. In sociological research, notably in education, career, organisation and gender studies, observable discontinuations of educational and professional careers have for some time been interpreted as cooling out. Generally speaking, cooling out indicates a more or less intended process within institutions or organizations that causes a subtle process of disengagement on the level of the subject. Unlike the original concept (Goffman 1952), current use of the term does not only describe deliberate processes of external selection, but also gradual processes of self-selection, which can be caused by the subject experiencing itself as not fitting in with objective professional circumstances. Insofar, cooling out can be seen as a selection phenomenon at the interface of self-selection and external selection. Nevertheless, there are still research gaps in terms of the mechanism causing cooling out. For example: What exactly happens in the social process of cooling out? Why are only certain persons susceptible for such processes? Therefore a study of the biographies of cooled out persons as well as of not cooled out persons as contrastive cases is proposed. Methodologically the study is based on the method of case reconstruction. In this project cooling out is conceptualized as a crisis-like process, during which the subject comes to terms with a gap between professional circumstances and individual demands, a process that ends with a transformation of the structure of professional driving forces. As a field of inquiry the professional group of engineers is provided, where, particularly among women, relatively high dropout rates are reported. The aim of the project is to generate a differentiated and empirically saturated image of typical constellations of cooling out. Furthermore, the often stated gendering of cooling out is to be reviewed. The results of the study will contribute to a conceptual clarification of a selection phenomenon referred to as cooling out and will promote a better understanding of the mechanism of its causes. In cooperation with the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS, E8) the typology generated by the project is expected to be utilisable for quantitative research.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants