(Missing) Intersections of Social Inequality and Population Research. A Call for Further Study - mit Andrés F. Castro

As a central component of social life, family conveys rules and norms, shaping desires, fears, and aspirations. Yet, there is no fixed definition of what constitutes a family. In different times and cultures, family can be understood and lived in vastly different ways.

The interdisciplinary lecture series ‘Family in Relation’ focuses on the complex realities of the nuclear family model, which is particularly prevalent today in Western industrialized societies, and explores global perspectives on alternative models. Esteemed scholars from various disciplines and fields present current research that examines the potential of alternative family and kinship concepts, exploring their creative, ethical, and innovative dimensions.

The lecture series is the prelude to the programme year of the same name at the Humboldt Forum, set to launch in the fall of 2025.

Concept of the series: Prof. Dr. Daniel Tyradellis (Humboldt University of Berlin), Dr. Alia Rayyan (Humboldt University of Berlin), Dr. Laura Goldenbaum (Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss). The lecture series is being held as part of a collaboration between all institutions of the Humboldt Forum. Head Curator for the Programme year 2025-26: Dr. Laura Goldenbaum.

Social inequality and population research have developed as parallel conversations with little intersection. In this talk, I will present descriptive results on the parallel development of these research areas using basic text analysis of published research from 1960 to the present. I will argue that the relative neglect of social inequalities in quantitative population research is related to a Eurocentric bias in the social sciences, and I will quantify this bias using various sources. Additionally, I will provide examples of how population research, particularly family and fertility research, could benefit from a focus on social inequality. Finally, I will offer my view on how social inequality research could be better integrated into the social sciences beyond population studies.

Dr. Andrés F. Castrois a computational social scientist, sociologist, and demographer at the Computational Social Science and Humanities Program of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (CSSH-BSC).I graduated from the UNiversity of Pennsylvania in 2019 and since then I have worked in several research centers in Europe including the Frenc National Institute for Demographic Research (Ined), the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, and the Center for Demographic Studies in Barcelona. My research areas include global inequalities in knowledge production, bibliometric analysis and research assessment, and population studies, primarily focus on fertility and family dynamics in the global south and among immigrant populations.

- Free Admission

- Language: German

- Location: Ground Floor, Hall 3

- Part of: Lecture series “Family Matters”