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This article discusses the behavioural and institutional mechanisms that guide the matchmaking process of arranged marriages 1 amongst Muslim migrants in Germany and clarifies how this practice may influence ethnic homogamy. The focus is on general characteristics of arranged marriages rather than differences between diverse ethnic groups. The methodology is qualitative due to the sensitive and complex topic and the current state of research. Typically, the whole family is deeply involved in the process of arrangement, which consists of three stages (pre-engagement, engagement, marriage). Thereby, the extension of parental scope of action by means of institutionalized admission procedures turns out to be vitally important. In consideration of the fact that mate selection takes place at the pre-engagement stage, it is the most crucial. Furthermore, differences to other partner-choosing processes are at their most distinct at this point, being responsible for the identification and labelling of this model as an arranged marriage. Selection criteria are mainly determined by the reputation of the marriage candidate and her ⁄ his family along with cultural features (such as belonging to a particular religious group, ethnicity or nationality). In our study, preferences for a cultural homogenous match were the most dominant ones. This inclination may cause the tendency towards transnational marriages when there are no suitable marriage candidates to be found in Germany.

Digital participation has become an important issue in modern societies, typically focusing on groups prone to marginalization. From this perspective, less attention has yet been paid to imprisoned persons. Many penitentiary systems are formally characterized by the basic requirement of resocialization. Accordingly, life in prison should be largely adapted to conditions outside and to fundamental social changes, which must be considered in designing the framework for prison systems. Still, the digital opening of the prison is debated controversially, not least due to anticipated security issues. Hence, to raise awareness about challenges for digital participation of prisoners, we conducted a knowledge-sociological analysis (SKAD) of the public discourse on the use of ICT by prison inmates in Germany. We thereby seek to advance knowledge and insights from social and organizational practice arising from the use of ICT in context of total institutions and create the basis for action from a socio-informatics perspective.

We present here the “e-Portfolio” concept, which aims to provide access to documented design case studies of design researchers’ practices. Our e-Portfolio has its origins in Grounded Design. We examine here how the e-Portfolio concept grew out of Grounded Design, the way it instantiates values, and how it contributes to our understanding of the ways in which shifting values in practice can have an impact beyond the individual.

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