Human Beings--between the Individual and the Social

Looking for an answer of social science: being able to maintain political independence; without loosing genuine political orientation and responsibility; and at the same time maintaining a sophisticated balance of holistic orientation on the one side and discrimination on the other side is, of course, on the one hand bound to the objective conditions of society; on the other hand -- and even more so -- scientists have to accept their responsibility of (re-)gaining independence in terms of looking for valid answers to assess development and to change them where necessary rather than fulfilling 'expectations of the development' by simply maintaining the status quo. In this regard, the present contributions reach a high level of expertise in their independence of judgements. This is of particular interest, as they cover a huge variety of topics and areas, not least coming from different disciplinary backgrounds and as well looking at different aggregate levels.