Prekäre Integration: Die Folgen unsicherer Beschäftigungsverhältnisse

Abstract: Starting out from explaining the research design of a current qualitative research project (work in progress) on changes in the economic life of Switzerland, the question is raised in what way phenomena like precarious employment situationand social integration could be defined by way of sociological terms. This also includes answering the question in how far these two aspects, which must be viewed at in analytically different ways, are inevitably connected to each other. These theoretical thoughts on discussing the area under investigation are supposed to lead into sketching the chosen research perspective which focuses on the specific situation of the Swiss employment market. The change there is particularly expressed by an unemployment rate being constantly high for Switzerland since the early 1990s. Also, an increase of the number of so called "working poor" must be observed. On the other hand, the relation between unlimited and temporary employment has been nearly constant, different from countries with sufficient protection against dismissal, like e.g. France and Italy. Nevertheless, a feeling of insecurity is omnipresent; fear of losing the job is relatively wide spread. The goal of this qualitative research project is to find out which strategies of coping with their precarious employment situation people develop in the face of their problems as connected to this and to which resources of interpretation and to which competences they reach back. By way of acase analysis the reconstruction of such a strategy for action shall be made clear. In this context, also the in this case specifically working risk of being excluded is expressed.;