Asuman Lätzer-Lasar presents a working paper on 'Challenging the Concept of “Landscape Biography” – Theoretical Considerations on Cult Transfers in the Roman Empire by Using the Case Study of the Mater Magna Veneration'

During the Roman Republic and the Imperial period cults or religion(s) were introduced to different places for various reasons. Religion as a constitutive element of especially ancient societies had a high impact on culture, the shaping of the urban space and urban life, as well as their religious beliefs. However, the spatial dimension as well as the urban actors (emperors, aediles, priests, individual adherent) did also influence religious practices, and consequently lead to religious change. By using the example of a case study – the Mater Magna veneration – the paper seeks to evaluate in what regard the concept of a “landscape biography” might be useful for the discussion of concrete archaeological contexts. The paper will focus on the so-called “place-making”: How was the deity and its sanctuaries situated and integrated in the previously existing city-scape? How did the city-scape, urban life and the history of the city transform?

Hirokazu Takizawa is going to present a working paper on ' The Recent Transformations in Economics, Emerging Conception of Humans, and New Social Design/Initiatives '

The present paper attempts to evaluate the transformation of economics since the mid-20^th century in terms of the conception of human and/or society. I argue that the recent developments in economics have been driving and driven by two conceptions of humans/society. One is the renewed naturalistic conception of humans, which is closely tied with behavioral economics and neurosciences. The other is the conception of humans as intrinsically institutional beings, mainly uncovered by one strand in the economics of institution. Considering some current debates, I argue that the former can be dangerous and that further development of the latter view is necessary.

Urs Lindner presents a working paper on 'Class and Caste: What is the Scope of Ascriptive Inequality?'

The paper is a side product of my research project on affirmative action. It is written for a German volume (Marxismus und Soziologie, edited by Tine Haubner and Tilman Reitz). Motivated by the fact that class inequalities are commonly not targeted by affirmative action programs, my paper deals with the question of to what extent class relations can themselves acquire an ascriptive form. In a first step, the distinctiveness between modern class relations and ascriptive inequalities is established with respect to the work of Marx and Weber. Secondly, I discuss how three Marxo-Weberian approaches elaborate on this problem: Charles Tilly’s theory of ‚categorical inequalities’, Nancy Frasers recognition-redistribution approach and Veit Bader’s and Albert Benschop’s ‚protheory of social inequality’. I argue that Bader/Benschop’s approach is the most promising one as it complicates the distinction between class and ascriptive inequalities with that of positional and allocative inequalities. In a third step, I shortly exemplify my considerations by taking into account transformations of the Indian caste system.