Elmar Stracke | University Of Bayreuth, Germany (original) (raw)

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University Papers by Elmar Stracke

Master Thesis / Dissertation, 2017

When countries introduce or consider introducing bottle deposit schemes, they do so mainly for en... more When countries introduce or consider introducing bottle deposit schemes, they do so mainly for environmental reasons. Such schemes often have social consequences, too, such as low-income people collecting containers in the streets for a variety of reasons including simply additional income. Increasingly, charitable organisations use deposits as a means to an additional donation income. In particular, they cooperate with stores in which customers who return their deposited containers can donate the deposit money instead of collecting it. This paper aims to analyse to what extent deposit collections and deposit donation opportunities offer potentials for social involvement and redistribution in addition to their contributions to recycling schemes. Based on a thorough sociological discussion of the phenomenon of deposit collectors and an empirical analysis of the donor-beneficiary relationship for exemplary deposit donation schemes in Sweden and Germany, it is argued that both phenomena offer distinctive and supplementary ways of redistribution and social involvement. Deposit collections offer a local, performance-related way of redistribution and potentially social integration for the beneficiaries. Deposit donation schemes allow for an additional low-threshold social involvement that seems to be able to reach donors that are disproportionately younger than in regular donation mechanisms. Possibly, this could be regarded as an instrument to enhance the social involvement of younger generations in general and their direct or indirect impact on the agenda, composition, aims and procedures of the respective charitable organisations in specific.

Sufficientarianism claims that there is a threshold at which an individual has enough. It is good... more Sufficientarianism claims that there is a threshold at which an individual has enough. It is good and socially desirable to live up to this line, but once it is reached moral claims for redistribution cede to exist or become significantly less. Due to its central importance, the plausibility of a sufficientarian theory depends on plausibility of this sufficiency line. Therefore, it needs to fulfill different criteria: it has to be unambiguous and unarbitrary, neither under- nor over-demanding, and has to cover all relevant aspects of life. Measured along these categories, the absolute and relative poverty lines as common indicators do not meet the requirements for such a threshold. Roger Crisp’s compassion approach is a useful theoretical conception but lacks of practical applicability. While ‘basic needs’ are already a sensitive advancement, the capabilities approach performs best and seems to be the most plausible framework for a sufficientarian threshold that convinces both intuitively as well as conceptually. Multiple threshold models allow for the avoidance of under- and over-demandingness, but do not seem to be the magic bullet since they have their own disadvantages. However, although the capabilities approach seems to be the most promising path, it still requires work on its practical applicability in policy making at which it risks to incorporate an increasing level of arbitrariness as well.

Papers by Elmar Stracke

Impulspapier Zentrum für neue Sozialpolitik, 2024

Die Alterssicherung in Deutschland steht vor drei zentralen Herausforderungen: Altersarmut... more Die Alterssicherung in Deutschland steht vor drei zentralen Herausforderungen:

Altersarmut: Aufgrund variierender und unsteter Erwerbsbiografien zahlen Menschen weniger in die Rentenversicherung ein, was ihre monatlichen Auszahlungen im Alter senkt.
Unterschiedliche Lebensdauern: Da das Einkommen mit der Lebenserwartung korreliert, führt das aktuelle Rentensystem zu Subventionen für Gutverdienende und Abzügen für Geringverdienende.
Erweiterung des Leistungsbegriffs: Jenseits der Erwerbsarbeit leisten viele Menschen wertvolle Beiträge zur Gesellschaft (z.B. in Form von Pflege oder Ehrenamt), die im derzeitigen Rentensystem nicht ausreichend anerkannt werden.

Insbesondere für Menschen mit geringem bis mittleren Einkommen sind die Altersaussichten ernüchternd. Sie können weder sicher eine auskömmliche staatliche Rente erwarten, noch haben sie die Ressourcen, um sich ausreichend privat abzusichern. Gleichzeitig sind sie zu wohlhabend, um umfängliche soziale Sicherungsleistungen zu erhalten.

Ein effizientes Nachsteuern wird erschwert durch den Anspruch an die Rentenversicherung, gleichzeitig Armut zu verhindern und Leistung zu belohnen: Es handelt sich um widersprüchliche Ziele, die nur bei sehr hohen Einkommen gleichzeitig erfüllt werden können. Daher sollten sie auf zwei Säulen verteilt werden:

Erste Säule: Um Armut zu bekämpfen, zahlt der Staat eine einheitliche, an den Mindestlohn gekoppelte und somit armutsvermeidende Bundesrente an alle ab Erreichen der Altersschwelle aus. Den Anspruch auf die volle Rentenhöhe erhält, wer 50 Jahre lang im Land lebt und 20 Jahre lang erwerbstätig war.

Zweite Säule: Damit Leistung weiterhin belohnt wird, kann staatlich unterstützt privat oder betrieblich vorgesorgt werden. So wird die Möglichkeit zur Statusdifferenzierung aufrecht erhalten.

Ein solcher grundlegender Paradigmenwechsel in Form dieser Rentenreform sorgt für verlässliche Aussichten auf eine auskömmliche, armutsvermeidende Rente für alle. Die Lebensleistung wird dabei pauschal und wohlwollend anerkannt – egal ob sie etwa in der Familie, im Beruf oder in der Überwindung von Notlagen bestand.

English:

Pension provision in Germany faces three key challenges:

Old-age poverty: Due to varying and unsteady employment biographies, people pay less into the pension scheme, which reduces their monthly payments in old age.
Different lifespans: As income correlates with life expectancy, the current pension system leads to subsidies for high earners and deductions for low earners.
Broadening the concept of benefits: Beyond gainful employment, many people make valuable contributions to society (e.g. in the form of care or voluntary work) that are not sufficiently recognised in the current pension system.

The prospects for old age are particularly sobering for people with low to medium incomes. They can neither expect an adequate state pension nor do they have the resources to take out sufficient private insurance. At the same time, they are too wealthy to receive comprehensive social security benefits.

Efficient readjustment is made more difficult by the need for pension insurance to simultaneously prevent poverty and reward performance: These are contradictory goals that can only be fulfilled simultaneously with very high incomes. They should therefore be spread across two pillars:

First pillar: to combat poverty, the state pays a standardised federal pension, linked to the minimum wage and thus preventing poverty, to everyone once they reach the age threshold. Anyone who has lived in the country for 50 years and worked for 20 years is entitled to the full pension amount.

Second pillar: To ensure that performance continues to be rewarded, state-supported private or company pension provision can be made. In this way, the possibility of status differentiation is maintained.

Such a fundamental paradigm shift ensures reliable prospects of an adequate, poverty-avoiding pension for all. Lifetime achievements are recognised across the board and favourably - regardless of whether they were made in the family, at work or in overcoming hardship.

Die differenzielle Sterblichkeit sorgt für eine systematische Unfairness im deutschen Rentensyste... more Die differenzielle Sterblichkeit sorgt für eine systematische Unfairness im deutschen Rentensystem, welches nur einen unvollständigen Begriff von Beitragsäquivalenz nutzt. Um die Ziele von Leistungsbelohnung und Armutsverhinderung zu erfüllen, müssen sie daher zwei getrennten Mechanismen verfolgt werden.

Neue Zeitschrift für Familienrecht, 2019

Die Idee, dass Menschen ab einem bestimmten Alter für den Arbeitsmarkt unbrauchbar sind, ist ein ... more Die Idee, dass Menschen ab einem bestimmten Alter für den Arbeitsmarkt unbrauchbar sind, ist ein Kind der zunehmend industriell geprägten Gesellschaft an der Wende zum 20. Jahrhundert. Ein prägendes und ebenso symptomatisches Ereignis ist die Fixed-Period-Kontroverse um den kanadischen Mediziner William Osler. Sie beginnt mit Themen der praktischen Philosophie: Alter und Altersdiskriminierung. Sie endet mit einem PR-Desaster.

Kaum eine gesellschaftliche Gruppe erfährt so viel Missbilligung wie die Arbeitslosen. Der häufig... more Kaum eine gesellschaftliche Gruppe erfährt so viel Missbilligung wie die Arbeitslosen. Der häufigste Vorwurf lautet, dass sie auf Kosten der Allgemeinheit leben würden, obwohl sie sich selbst versorgen könnten. Doch mit Bezug auf mangelnde Fairness in der Lastenverteilung allein gelingt es nicht, die Tiefe dieses Ressentiments zu begründen. Die zentrale und identitätsstiftende Stellung der Arbeit in modernen Gesellschaften trägt zwar sicherlich zur Erklärung bei. Doch darüber hinaus weckt der arbeitslose und damit offiziell als tätigkeitslos gestempelte Mensch eine Urangst, die nichts mit Arbeit, dem Arbeitsmarkt, Lastenverteilung oder Solidarsystemen zu tun hat: die Angst vor der Untätigkeit oder dem Stillstand.

The Armenians in the Bavarian Founding Myth, 2018

Since the 11th century and until pretty recently, it has been believed that the Bavarians descend... more Since the 11th century and until pretty recently, it has been believed that the Bavarians descended somehow from the Armenians. The origin of this mythological lineage can be traced back to the publication of the Annolied around 1080AD, an opus praising the archbishop of Cologne, Anno II. The author needed to underline Anno's power by the support of the mightiest Germanic tribes who needed for their legitimacy an impressive and ideally Christian ancient ancestry. Since other ancient people were taken already, he chose the Armenians as the Bavarian ancestors. This sparked many accounts of how and when the Armenians exactly made it to today's Bavaria.

This article is part of the 2018 Bardez/Partez bulletin of the Armenian Institute, London.

Books by Elmar Stracke

Die kalendarische Altersgrenze im Rentensystem: Willkür oder Gleichheit? , 2023

The calendar age is the decisive metric for retirement. However, it says little about an individu... more The calendar age is the decisive metric for retirement. However, it says little about an individual's health, earnings or motivation. Is the age limit fair or arbitrary? Elmar Stracke explores this question in his philosophical investigation.

In the first part, he examines equality as a fundamental basis of moral philosophical theories that shape our welfare state, and questions the peculiarity of the category of "age": What dimensions of age are there? Should age discrimination be treated the same as racism or sexism? And to what extent can individual life situations be inferred from calendar age? The detailed analysis of the German pension system makes clear that different and partly contradictory standards of justice have been applied to the pension system and age limits to this day.

Finally, Elmar Stracke weighs arguments for and against calendar age limits from the perspective of individuals and society under the headings of arbitrariness, efficiency and equality. He states that calendar age limits are inherently arbitrary. However, since this arbitrariness is distributed equally and transparently, they may be the fairest of all available options in social practice.

The volume is a valuable contribution to the practical philosophy of calendar age limits and provides a solid justice-theoretical foundation for discussions on retirement age.