Save the Date: As part of the “Utopia(s) Conversations on a Convivial Society for All & on a Sustainable Planet” organized by our partner GSIS, we would like to invite you to the event: “Critical Bifurcations. A theoretical reflection on the transition to a convivial society” with Frédéric Vandenberghe on June 4th at 5 pm in the GSIS Lab: 4lthangrund – Wolke, ‘Alte WU’, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna (Core C, elevator, 4th floor left).

The Speaker Frédéric Vandenberghe, outlines the topic of his presentation as follows: Depending on language, theory and political inclination, intellectuals, politicians and technocrats invoke socio-ecological transformations, sustainability transitions or systemic collapse to think through the passage to a new mode of development and production beyond carbon, growth or capitalism. In this talk, I will give an overview of some of the most prominent theories of the green, red and brown transitions. I will classify them conceptually in terms of the depth, the intensity and the scope of transformations they deem necessary to transition to a convivial society and rearrange them so as to form a social theory of critical bifurcations.

Vandenberghe is sociologist, Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Universidad Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, currently Max Weber Fellow at the Max Weber Kolleg, Universität Erfurt, Germany, and going to teach at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg in Halle (Saale), Germany, in June. He is Co-President of the ISA Sociological Theory Committee (RC16) and is working on adapting sociology to the planetary conditions.

The event is hosted by GSIS as part of the “GSIS Utopia(s) Conversations on a Convivial Society for All & on a Sustainable Planet” More information can be found here. 

To participate in the event, please register at office@gsis.at