Overview

Colloquium of Transformation Research (compulsary)

Socio-ecological transformation research is interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary in design. This is the reason why the courses offered within the Master's degree program "Transformation Studies" are taught by academics from a variety of disciplines. The student body will consist of Bachelor graduates from different academic backgrounds – there are no disciplinary restrictions for admission. Inevitably, different perceptions on social and ecological challenges will be encountered within the program. The participants attending the course will pose their own disciplinary questions and will contribute their own knowledge, insights and methodical approaches to the topics at hand. The colloquium of transformation research offers an environment where the particular challenges, possibilities and also the boundaries of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning, teaching and research are continuously reflected.

Socio-ecological Crises and Conflicts

Ecological crises are ultimately socio-ecological crises, both in their causes and in their consequences. This can be demonstrated particularly with the example of human-made climate change: Climate change displays fundamental social dimensions in its causation as well as in its effects. For this reason, the anthropogenic warming of the earth has increasingly become the object of social scientific considerations during the last few years. The submodule introduces the scientific foundation of the current ecological crisis and focuses on the historical as well as contemporary theories dealing with the interplay of nature and society. This also includes the interactions with global environmental governance. Other thematic areas cover: the socio-structured impact of so-called natural disasters, social causes, consequences and working forms of the current climate crisis such as climate change and economics, "climate discourses in science, politics and the media" and "environmental and climate migration" as well as "climate change and violence".

Global and Regional Damage to the Environment

Water pollution, conflicts about the distribution of drinking water, distress caused by extreme weather conditions, air pollution and the threat to biodiversity are just some of the ecological crises affecting us on a global scale. The submodule provides an overview of such developments and their causes. It further depicts interdependencies and identifies possible alternatives and solutions. In terms of content, this submodule is oriented towards environmental protection products which are, among other things, discussed by the Agenda 21, the CBD, EU directives, the UVPG, the BNatSchG and other international and national regulations on the protection of the environment: water; air, climate; soil; flora and fauna (conservation of biodiversity, animal welfare); human, health; landscape and recreation; cultural and material goods. The subject areas are deliberated from a large scale perspective: from transregional to global, in order to exemplify and debate the interconnectedness and the complexity of the topic, while continuously keeping the overarching aspect of responsibility in mind.

Spatial Transformation Processes

Today’s world is characterized by global processes of change which affect the transformation of the natural environment as well as space-relevant social processes. In addition to global climate change and global resource scarcity, the focus of this course lies on population growth, food security as well as global migration and urbanization processes. These changes are mainly discussed at a global level but their concrete negotiations take place at national, regional and local level. From a geographic perspective, the module covers spatial effects of global transformation processes on different scales. Based on conceptual underpinnings from geography and political ecology, current social-ecological topics and their local spaces of negotiation in different parts of the world are examined.

Subject, Social Practice and Transformation

Socio-ecological crises are linked in many ways to the practices of actors. Society, ecology, and subjects are not opposites but are constituted in and through practices. At the same time, these practices represent both distinct space as well as social limitations for the individual. This is due to the fact that on the one hand, the subjects hold knowledge about ecological and socio-economic crises but on the other hand this knowledge does not necessarily lead to a transformation of action. Actors cannot be thought of without their social and ecological contexts, these, however, would be unimaginable without acting actors. In this submodule the question of the relationship between subject, society and ecology is examined from a theory-based perspective of the subject.

Utopias and dystopias

Literature has always been a critical medium for observing social and natural conditions. Current debates about socio-economic inequality, racism, classism and gender discrimination, as well as man-made climate change, the unbridled exploitation of nature and the extinction of species also shape recent contemporary literature. One of the peculiarities of literary texts is that they interweave critical diagnoses of the present, utopian reflection and representation within the narrated world. Through aesthetic means such as multiperspectivity, dialogicity and diversity of voices in the novel or drama, through irony, ambiguity or intertextuality, the aesthetic texture becomes an imaginarium for thought experiments. The prose creates what the writer Saša Stanišić recently called a "fitting room for life". In the two thematic blocks Power Asymmetries and Multiple Discrimination in Current Autosociobiographies (= focus on 'Society') and Socio-ecological Transformations of Literature in the Anthropocene (= focus on 'Nature'), the seminar explores the contemporary diagnostic and transformative potential of literature.

Political Economy

The aim of the submodule is to enable students to differentiate four core paradigms of the political economy as well as to understand and apply their internal logics. An introduction into neoclassical mainstream, Keynesianism, classical political economy and institutionalism will be provided. Based on the respective central question-perspective of the paradigms, the scientific-theoretical and methodological consequences of basic decisions are reflected as well as their consequences for the understanding of economics, society and the natural environment in general. After completion of this course, students should be able to understand the paradigmatic strategies from within the approach while critically reflecting on them from the outside and from their own individual point of view. On the basis of recent developments it will be exemplified where and to what extent the traditional world of thoughts are changing, mixing or recombining. The module is seminar-oriented: key texts will be discussed and deliberated. By means of group work and presentations several case studies will be analyzed and debated from the different paradigmatic perspectives.

Change of Societal Relations to Nature 

What exactly does the railway, a T-shirt from H&M or a deep-freezer have to do with nature? Nature is often understood as a contrast to society, culture or technology. However, the concept of social natural circumstance is based on the relationships and reciprocal links between nature and society. Here, the material-energetic as well as the cultural-symbolic basis of societies is taken into consideration. The concept of social nature raises the question of how the interrelationships between human beings, society and nature can be understood, researched and shaped, since they are central to the productive and reproductive capacity of societies.
This submodule aims at understanding the concept as well as its scientific evolvement and to apply it to concrete examples chosen by the participants. The goal is to analyze and critically discuss the change in societal nature on the basis of theoretical and empirical research; in order to finally be able to assess whether and in what way a train, a pizza or a T-shirt provide information about the present dominant interactions between nature and society. 

Theories of Social Change

Questions of social change have always been at the center of sociological reflection. These questions include: What are the drivers of social development? What role do actors play in social change? What is the significance of ideas and conflicts? Is social change a social norm or rather an exception? What are the possibilities for people to influence social development? And: What unintended consequences are to be expected? As a first step of this submodule, classical sociological theories (such as Marx, Weber and Elias) are read and debated with regard to their model of social change. Subsequently, contemporary analyses are given attention, such as Hartmut Rosas's acceleration theory or the transition studies´ "Multi Level Perspective". The aim is to provide students with an in-depth insight into sociological theory building in order to be able to assess current processes of change more appropriately.

Social Differentiation and Social Inequality

In modern society, different spheres such as politics, economics, law, but also art, religion and education have become separated into independent, relatively unrelated fields and systems. At the same time, modern society reproduces a high degree of social inequality every day, which manifests itself in different social classes, strata and milieus. In this module, we will discuss how these two types of social differentiation are related by reading and discussing sociological classics as well as recent sociological texts.

Global North / Global South

Global interdependencies are not a recent phenomenon but can often be attributed to evolved historical structures. The module deals with the current links between locations of the Global North and the Global South, in particular with regards to colonial structures that continue to live in current political, social and economic practices. This module, in light of the historical path dependency, takes classical and alternative concepts of development and their measurement into consideration. Additionally, current global interdependent structures such as migration movements, goods and service flows, foreign direct investments or land purchases are illustrated from a postcolonial perspective on the basis of several case studies.

Social change in Architecture, Design and Art

The students will experience and reflect on exemplary historical aspects of art, design and architecture as models of individual life-style on the one hand and as a counter-project to social realities on the other. For example:

• Functionalism and purism as a counter-movement to historicized and antique-like forms of civil practices of living and representation (Bauhaus, etc.)
• Aspects/facets of upper class home decor and their adaptations in workers' apartments
• The industrialization of the beautiful and individual (stucco, Art Nouveau furniture from the catalog of the early 20th century, etc.)
• Art as the projection and idealization of the world ("belling stag") and as a critique and counter-design of social reality (for example Dadaism)

In addition, the students will explore aspects of valuable or reproduced historical elements, respective misalignments in today's global consumption as well as everyday and media culture in manageable settings. In this regard, their historical references under aspects of difference and similarity will be addressed. This includes for example:

• Forms of the presentation and representation of the self in the digital media age in relation to the analog media period
• Historical perspectives on art on walls in different social/cultural settings of the present
• Historical quotations, applications and ornaments in today's everyday cultures
• Historicized everyday forms of home-making and comfort with reference to alleged historical design elements

Normative-evaluative Dimensions of Social Transformation Processes

The shaping of social transformation processes has necessarily normative-evaluative dimensions. In this module, students are familiarized with the normative orientation and evaluation of social transformation processes, which are taught from a philosophical perspective. This will be done in a twofold way: first, students will acquire both methodological competences which allow them to make reasoned or critical assessments, second, students will receive knowledge about ethical theories that can be used to create action and evaluation criteria. In particular, sustainability theories will be utilized as an assessment standard. Furthermore, ethical questions regarding the design of transformation processes is addressed, an aspect that also affects the prospective responsibility towards the environment.

Colloquium Transformation Research (compulsory)

Socio-ecological transformation research is fundamentally interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. This is also the reason why the courses within the Master's Program "Transformation Studies" are offered by academics from a variety of disciplines. The student body will consist of Bachelor graduates of different thematic areas – there are no disciplinary restrictions on admission. As a result, different perceptions on social and ecological challenges we are facing today will meet. The course participants will contribute their own disciplinary questions and insights as well as knowledge and methodical approaches to the study program. The colloquium of transformation research is a course during which the particular challenges, possibilities and also the boundaries of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning, teaching and researching are continuously reflected. 

Post-growth Societies and Alternative Economic Models

Modern capitalist societies are growth societies. This implies that they gain their stability and their ability to reproduce by constantly generating economic growth. However, the realization that unlimited growth is not possible in a limited world is spreading vastly. In addition, the pursuit of increasing growth has had devastating effects from an ecological, political, economic and social point of view. Under the keywords "post-growth", "degrowth", "décriossance" and "reductive modernity" the causes, conditions and consequences of growth orientation and growth logic have been increasingly discussed on a global platform during the recent years. This also implies discussions about alternative economic models and the prerequisites for societal transformation. This submodule exemplifies the central discourses of growth criticism and debates various initiatives and approaches that seek to move away from the growth-imperative.

Legal Transformations

The democratic-parliamentary system of government is oriented toward the production of legislatives as a means of steering the implementation of political visions of the future. On the one hand, legal regulations thus implement transformation projects. On the other hand, legal guidelines form the framework for socio-ecological transformations and limit them, for instance through the legal constitution of a capitalist economic system. Legal regulation is thus inherently ambivalent.

The module 'Legal Transformations' examines the complexity of legal regulation and its political changeability at the international, European, national, and even municipal level on the basis of selected exemplary topics (such as climate protection, anti-discrimination law, or the conditions of socio-ecological forms of housing). The focus is always on the question of the transformative potential of legal regulations and the possibility of their political use.

Ecology and technology

Biological knowledge and processes are used in various technical procedures. Conversely, many organisms and habitats are also affected by technical processes. The cross-section of ecology and technology covers not only all fields of agriculture, forestry, water and waste water treatment but also engineering processes within the field of energy production, food production and the cosmetics industry. All selected topics are concerned with modern technical procedures on the one hand and with life processing of animals, plants or micro-organisms on the other. In this submodule, specific questions from the above-mentioned cross-sectional themes are discussed in cooperation with external speakers at the local and regional level. Emphasis is given to the question of how to organize concrete processes and procedures in the sense of environmental compatibility.

Power and Rule

The fact that society is pervaded by power and rule is an established theme within the wider field of sociology. Based on classical as well as recent literature, this module discusses how phenomena of power and domination appear both as a direct and obvious force and are then brought back to barely visible micro-politics of power or symbolic violence. The main questions are: What legal, cultural or material conditions allow certain forms of power and domination? What are the impacts of power relationships on the body, lifestyle, gender and the possibility of becoming politically active? This is followed by discussions on the legitimacy of power and about possible acts of resilience.

Art and transformation

As an interdisciplinary catalyst, art constantly seeks out boundaries and explores their transgressions by testing visualization and staging possibilities. Discursive findings are both the material and the result. Art is thus in a fruitful relationship of exchange and reflection with numerous disciplines from the natural, cultural and social sciences. The aim of the seminar is to explore the potential of art as and for transformation. Artistic strategies specifically initiate processes in which translation and, above all, transformation itself becomes an artistic principle. The diversity of perspectives and transmedial visions in their dynamics favor an artistic practice of transformation in which unfamiliar perspectives and forms of expression develop. "The task of art is to open doors where no one sees them..." (Peter Weibel)

Collective Formation of Social Change

Social change is a complex process that can only be guided and controlled to a limited extent. Both the idea of ​​social progress that is connected to the Enlightenment, as well as the more recent, biologically and economically oriented principles of evolution and growth develop their own social dynamics both in the positive and in the negative sense. These can be rarely controlled by individual action. In this context, concepts such as the discursive influence of societies, collective action, communicative reason, or collective responsibility are the focus of philosophical considerations, dealing with the possibility of creating social and political spaces. These concepts incorporate very different elements of such formations, including amongst others, rules and norms, emotions and claims, (self-) attributions of duties and rights, etc. The submodule invites the critical reflection on such forms and elements of social organization.

Colloquium Transformation Research (compulsory)

Socio-ecological transformation research is fundamentally interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. This is also the reason why the courses within the Master's Program "Transformation Studies" are offered by academics from a variety of disciplines. The student body will consist of Bachelor graduates of different thematic areas – there are no disciplinary restrictions on admission. As a result, different perceptions on social and ecological challenges we are facing today will meet. The course participants will contribute their own disciplinary questions and insights as well as knowledge and methodical approaches to the study program. The colloquium of transformation research is a course during which the particular challenges, possibilities and also the boundaries of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning, teaching and researching are continuously reflected.