Asylanträge verwalten und entscheiden: der soziologische Blick auf Verborgenes: Eine Forschungsnotiz

Abstract

This article focuses on two issues, which have received little attention so far in the German-speaking sociology. On the one hand, the administration of migration, concretely asylum, is investigated by a case study on the former Austrian Federal Asylum Office (in place until the end of 2013). On the other hand, the methodologically often unexploited potential of the analysis of records is discussed, which can produce important findings in this field. The overall focus of the study presented in this paper is on the social practices and processes, which structure and characterize decision-makers’ everyday work. This includes in particular officials’ practices of dealing with challenges in the scope of decision-making within structural fields of tension (section 2) and the importance of artefacts as actants in the process of administering asylum applications.