Charline Bohm MA
PhD student and research assistant in the research area "Dynamics of Work, Care and Gender"
Department of Sociology, University of Innsbruck
Universitätsstrasse 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Room: w-2.13
E-Mail: charline.bohm@uibk.ac.at
Curriculum Vitae
Charline Bohm has been pursuing her Ph.D. at the Department of Sociology at the University of Innsbruck in the research area "Dynamics of Work, Care and Gender" since the beginning of 2025. In her comparative qualitative dissertation, she examines the relational positioning of family caregivers in live-in-care settings in Austria and Germany.
She was a research associate in the EU Horizon project LeTs-Care from May 2025 to September 2025 and holds a doctoral position in the Research Area "Dynamics of Work, Care and Gender" since September 2025. Her main research interests lie in the areas of qualitative research methods, care work, sociology of migration and gender studies.
Previously, she completed a master’s degree in Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig with a focus on cultural sociology. Her master’s thesis was titled “Emancipation or Exploitation? An Analysis of the Social Science Debate on Female Migrant Care Work.” She completed her bachelor’s degree in English and American Studies and Philosophy at the University of Kassel.
Dissertation project: "Changing care relationships: A comparative sociological study of relationships in live-in care relationships in Austria and Germany"
In Germany and Austria, an increasing number of elderly people are being cared for by migrant carers from Central and Eastern Europe. These predominantly female workers, known as "live-ins", live and work directly in the private household of the person being cared for. This care model is often organised by the family members who are primarily responsible, who remain organisationally and emotionally involved despite the delegation of the care task. This creates a relational structure of relationships between the person in need of care, their relatives and the carer, whereby these relationships are a decisive factor for the success of the care work. The investigation of these relationships is at the centre of the planned dissertation. The work is based on a relational sociological approach that understands social structures as dynamic processes characterised by interdependencies between the actors involved. Methodologically, a qualitative comparative approach is pursued, for which two case studies in Germany and Austria are planned. The aim is to analyse the extent to which the different institutional framework conditions in Austria and Germany influence the relationships and the care setting. The dissertation thus makes a contribution to sociological research on transnational care work, familialist welfare regimes and the debate on the regulation and social organisation of live-in care in Europe.