General – Solziv

Survey on organizations starting in November

The Covid-19 pandemic presents a major challenge to civil society organizations and initiatives, which are in many ways responsible for organizing and reflecting the social and political commitment of individuals. In addition to the transnational individual survey, civil society initiatives and organizations in Germany will also be surveyed from November 2020 onwards about their experiences during the Corona crisis.

The organization survey will be conducted in all German federal states, with focus on the state capital, a major city, a smaller city and a rural community. The experiences of registered associations as well as those of loosely organized initiatives and alliances will be taken into account. The selection was made systematically and the response of each organization or initiative contacted helps us to reflect the realities of civil society during the Corona crisis. The survey includes previous activities, main areas of activity, target groups and cooperations as well as political forms of action from the interviewed actors. On one hand, the limitations and challenges during the course of the Corona crisis are highlighted, while on the other the potential development of new fields of action as well as the relationships with and expectations of a dynamic society are also a focus of the survey. The aim is to draw a comprehensive picture of civil society during the Corona crisis and to map the needs and demands of different actors. First results are documented here as blog posts.

The organization survey is conducted by our BUA project “Potentials of Civil Society,” together with Prof. Dr. Sabrina Zajak (DeZIM-Institute), Prof. Dr. Priska Daphi (University of Bielefeld) and Dr. Simon Teune (TU Berlin). All participants are also members of the Institute for Protest and Movement Research https://protestinstitut.eu/.

Survey start 1st wave

The questionnaire is now out in the field

After weeks of designing a questionnaire, testing, and translation, the population survey has started! People in Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland and Sweden will be interviewed as part of the longitudinal study on the impact of the corona crisis on their civil society engagement.

For many people, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions on everyday social life brought about fundamental changes, including solidarity-based actions. Some who were very committed (to solidarity-based actions?) before the crisis had to pay more attention to their own needs, or found that their “sites” for engagement were no longer safe or viable; others have become politicized during the course of the crisis and consequently are more engaged with others. The study aims to shed light on how the crisis is perceived and what has resulted for each*n individual and social group over time.

The questionnaire consists of five parts:

The first cohort/set/contingent of questions focuses on the social and political commitment of the respondents and their use of support services. The second section deals with the emotional perception of the Corona crisis. This is followed by concerns regarding the personality of the respondents. The fourth section is devoted to attitudes towards society and politics. Finally, socio-demographic factors are recorded.

The interdisciplinary team of political sociologists, emotion sociologists and psychologists at the Free University of Berlin and the Humboldt University of Berlin anticipate the respondents’ answers with much interest. The second survey wave is expected to start at the beginning of next year. In the meantime, first insights into the evaluation will be published here.