Dr. Matthias Ritter at conference on inequality research in Potsdam

From March 4 to 6, 2026, the spring conference of the "Social Inequality and Social Structure Analysis" section of the German Sociological Association took place at the University of Potsdam. The conference brought together researchers in social structure analysis and inequality research and provided space for discussions on current studies on migration, education, the labour market, wealth distribution and the digitalization of social inequality.

As part of the conference, Dr. Matthias Ritter (see photo above), scientific coordinator of the Boysen-TU Dresden- Research Training Group, presented the lecture "Perception, justification and evaluation of social inequality from the perspective of children aged 10-12 years".

The study examines how children perceive social inequality and how they explain and morally evaluate it. The study was conducted together with Christoph Haßler (ETH Zurich) and Savo Beoles (City of Worms). The analysis is based on interviews with children at Dresden University School. The results show that children perceive social inequality primarily through visible indicators, often explain it in terms of performance and at the same time show a pronounced sense of justice.

In addition to the presentation, the conference also offered discussions on theoretical and methodological issues relating to the emergence, consolidation and change of social inequality structures. It also provided a good opportunity for academic exchange and networking within German-speaking inequality research.