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Die mangelnden Fortschritte in der aus ökologischen Gründen notwendigen Verkehrswende sind trotz gewisser technologischer Entwicklungen der Fahrzeugtechnik zum einen auf Lock-in-Effekte (Infrastrukturen, Pfadabhängigkeiten bei politisch-planerischen Entscheidungen) und zum anderen auf ein nach wie vor wenig verändertes Mobilitätsverhalten zurückzuführen (sog. Rebound-Effekte). Warum sich Menschen häufig "irrational", "eigensinnig" und in der Summe wenig nachhaltig verhalten, kann bislang nicht ausreichend gut erklärt werden. Nach der Darstellung der aktuellen Diskussion zu sozialwissenschaftlichen Handlungstheorien im deutschsprachigen Raum werden in diesem Beitrag empirische Ergebnisse der Studie "mobility2know" (m2k) vorgestellt, in der der Ansatz der Sinus-Milieus® angewendet wurde, um unterschiedliches Mobilitätsverhalten beschreiben und erklären zu können. In Bereichen hoher Wahlfreiheit können mit dem Milieu-Modell die Unterschiede innerhalb strukturgleicher Gruppen (also innerhalb von Alters-, Geschlechts-, Haushalts-, Bildungs- und Einkommenskategorien) recht gut erklärt werden - ansonsten überwiegen die bekannten Zwänge aus eingeschränktem Zugang, mangelnder Erreichbarkeit und haushaltssowie personenbezogenen Constraints. Auch wenn es Aspekte gibt, bei denen der Milieu-Ansatz zu besseren Erklärungen unterschiedlichen Mobilitätsverhaltens führt, so muss überlegt werden, ob sich der recht hohe Erhebungsaufwand lohnt.

Reviews the influence of Giddens' structuration theory on information technology and implementation studies, highlighting how the interaction between the technology and the wider social setting have often been neglected. Offers Giddens' conception of plural structural rules and resources as a possible framework for analyzing this interaction. Uses the proposed framework to analyze the introduction of computers into an agro‐industrial organization in a less‐developed country. Shows that different social and organizational conditions influence the process of IT implementation, but at the same time this process reinforces or transforms the structural configurations over time. Thus, highlights the role that IT plays in social setting transformation.

Research on digital divides has been helpful in advancing our understanding of the social structuration of Internet access, motivations to go online, digital skills, and Internet (non-)use, including participatory uses. However, digital divide research has been criticized for oversimplifying the relationship between demographic characteristics and Internet use and for its under-theorization. A social milieu approach, inspired by Pierre Bourdieu's sociological theory, presents an excellent set of concepts to address these criticisms and thus advance digital divide research. This article uses the social milieu approach for an empirical investigation of the participation divides in Germany. Focus groups and online communities with 96 participants from seven distinct Internet milieus serve to differentiate online participation along social lines. The results show that German citizens are strongly segregated into distinct Internet milieus that differ in their intensity, variety, understanding, and attitudes toward online participation. Each milieu displays specific participatory patterns and some of the findings challenge existing research on digital and participation divides. Implications are derived and limitations of the approach carved out.

This paper proposes a model for examining the combination of individual perceptions of politics and intentions to engage in political activities (termedpolitical orientations) under the influence of social processes in organizations. The concept of political orientation is viewed as a fluid strategy for subjective influence which is affected by elements of the organizational context, work-group interactions, and leader/member relations. Research propositions are offered concerning the impact of selected variables on the adaptation of individual political orientations within organizations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

In Mills' sociological analysis, a central notion is the 'social milieu' which encapsulates 'the social setting of a person that is directly open to his personal experience'. For Mills, sociology should entail an investigation of the set of relations and practices that are a feature of human experience. Understanding the significance of Mills' approach, we argue, requires grasping the way the notion of 'milieu' or 'setting' itself draws upon spatial and topological notions – notions that have become prominent in much contemporary sociological thinking. From this perspective, Mills' work turns out to be relevant as a corrective, both to the undue emphasis on empirical particularity that is evident in some contemporary sociology and to what Mills viewed as 'abstract' theorisation. A large part of the relevance of Mills' work for contemporary sociological problems and challenges is thus to be found in the way his emphasis on situation (or 'place'), as given through the idea of 'milieu', allows a more complex and encompassing approach.