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Futures of Sustainability
Humanities Centre for
Advanced Studies
Futures of Sustainability

Photo: Macario Lacbawan

Theme Week "Capitalism and Sustainability"

Are capitalism and sustainability compatible? If so, under what conditions do capitalist economies succeed in finding answers to the multiple ecological crises? Is it impossible that "creative destruction" (Schumpeter) as a mode of capitalist dynamics might also “creatively” destroy fossil capitalism and invent new possibilities in the “combination of materials and forces” that actually make capitalism green? Or are there material limits to "green capitalism" that are inherent in the material properties of eco-systems, so that "creative destruction" is only destruction in the end? Must even "dynamic" capitalism ultimately fail because of the ecological question?

In the weeklong event series “Capitalism and Sustainability”, we are going to discuss these questions from different perspectives and in the scope of different events:

Mon. 03 May 2021, 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. (CEST): Keynote

  • Jason W. Moore (Binghamton University): “Sustainability, Spaceships and Slaveships: Climates of Class Politics in the Capitalist World-Ecology, 1492-2030” (on YouTube)
  • Discussion

Wed. 05 May 2021, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (CEST): Workshop

The second event will be carried out as a workshop. Here, the critique of capitalism formulated at the beginning in the keynote will be scrutinised by sociological analyses that do not a priori exclude the very possibility of capitalism being capable of change and adaptation to the ecological crises. The focus is rather on current trends and tendencies within capitalist economies; the workshop elaborates on the open question of what concrete dynamics are unfolded in the processes of greening the economy.

  • 10:00-10:20 a.m. Welcome and introduction

  • 10:20-11:10 a.m. Ulrike Herrmann („die tageszeitung“, Berlin): „Vom Anfang und Ende des Kapitalismus“
  • 11:10-12:00 a.m. Ali Aslan Gümüsay (University of Hamburg): „Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften? Vielfältige Formen des Organisierens und gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen“

  • 12:00-13:00 p.m. BREAK

  • 1:00-1:50 p.m. Lisa Knoll (University of Paderborn): „Die EU Nachhaltigkeitstaxonomie. Zur Soziotechnik des grünen Kapitalismus“
  • 1:50-2:40 p.m. Klaus Dörre (University of Jena): „Nachhaltigkeitsziele – eine normative Grundlage für die sozial-ökologische Transformation?“

  • 2:40-3:00 p.m. Closing discussion

The workshop will be held in German.

Fri. 07 May 2021, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (CEST): Lecture

The week will close with a lecture that overcomes the focus on a European-American perspective and focuses on East Asian strategies of greening the economy.

  • Jin-Wook Shin (Chung-Ang University Seoul): “The Allure of Developmentalism and the Challenge for Sustainability in East Asian Capitalism” (on YouTube)
  • Discussion

Registration is open:

Please register by sending an e-mail to: zukuenfte.der.nachhaltigkeit"AT"uni-hamburg.de

Registered participants will receive the Zoom access details shortly before the Theme Week. Until then, we kindly ask for your patience.

Please note, the Keynote (03 May) and the closing Lecture (07 May) will be held in English, while the Workshop (05 May) will be held in German.


Organizers: Dr. Philipp Degens / Dr. Sarah Lenz / Prof. Dr. Sighard Neckel