Adaptation: Freedom, Hope and Politics After Modernity

Modernity was characterised by a belief that progress would automatically lead to a better future. Today, that optimism has evaporated. In its place we have global heating, multiple wars, economic austerity and a prevailing sense of malaise. Now the primary concern is to limit the damage and avert the catastrophe. Even if that succeeds, we will still be faced with unprecedented change. We are looking at a future where collective survival will take precedence over individual and collective self-fulfilment. Adaptation will be the guiding principle of society. This is raising momentous questions about our understanding of time, of politics and of ourselves - to which progressive political forces and humanity as a whole are going to have to find answers.

Philipp Staab is professor of sociology of work, political economy and technological change at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and co-director of the Einstein Center Digital Future. In his research, he combines topics of work, social structure analysis, sociology of technology and political economy, working on the transformations of digital capitalism, ecological conflicts in late-modern societies, their changes in the context of war and the political crises that arise from all these contexts. ---