Transformation through community - Processes of collective subjectivation in the context of sustainable development (TransGem)

Prof Dr Thomas Etzemüller¹, Dr Nikolaus Buschmann¹

Prof. Dr Thorsten Raabe¹ (spokesperson), Dr Steffen Hamborg¹

Prof Dr Thomas Alkemeyer¹, Dr Jedrzej Sulmowski¹

Prof Dr Stephanie Birkner¹

Prof. Dr Karsten Müller²

¹ University of Oldenburg, ² University of Osnabrück

In the recent sustainability discourse, communities are seen as key pioneers of a sustainable society. At the same time, sustainability initiatives are increasingly being run by groups of people who explicitly design themselves as communities. So far, research has only insufficiently addressed these developments: Either it unquestioningly assumes that these communities have the capacity to act and are effective, or it problematises them one-sidedly as a negative counter-model to a society of enlightened, responsible subjects. A differentiated, theoretically guided and empirically based examination of the emergence and impact of sustainability-orientated communities is therefore urgently needed.

The joint project "Transformation through Community" (TransGem) is pursuing precisely this goal: on the one hand, it aims to reconstruct the attractiveness of communities for politics, science and practice using the example of current sustainability initiatives. On the other hand, it explores their transformative potential and their socio-political consequences in order to gain knowledge for reflection and orientation for both the (political) handling of and action in communities in dialogue with practice partners. Specifically, the project consortium is focussing on the following questions: How do communities form as collective subjects of sustainable development with the participation of things, artefacts and technologies? What intended and unintended effects do these communities have internally and externally? How should they be evaluated with regard to the sustainability-orientated transformation of society?

The selected empirical cases - Escheroder "gASTWERKe", Dorfgemeinschaft Oberndorf and Solidarische Landwirtschaft Oldendorf e.V. - will be analysed using approaches from discourse analysis, praxeology and psychology. This triangulation makes it possible to focus on the designs and everyday practices of sustainable communities as well as the participants' individual approach to collective demands and expectations. In an extension of current social science research on communities, affects and emotions will also be taken into account together with concrete practices and their meanings as a powerful 'cement' of collective subjectivation. The joint project is thus characterised by a unique theoretical and methodological design: The three cases are each analysed in parallel from five subject-specific perspectives. During the project progression, the research results will be continuously exchanged with each other and with the practice partners. This will not only achieve a transdisciplinary integration of disciplinary knowledge, but also a mutual exchange of information and challenges from different perspectives and types of knowledge.

The joint project promises to shed light on the conditions under which communities become collective subjects, the extent to which they develop transformative power and the social and political consequences associated with this. It thus opens up the possibility of a reflective approach to the processes of collective subjectivation in sustainability-related scientific, social and political practice.

Resilience of socio-technical systems - exemplified at the electricity transport and actor system

Project description: A necessary condition for sustainable development is the ability of technical, ecological, economic and social systems to react to disruptions in such a way that their continued existence and ability to develop are safeguarded. The main objective of this project is to holistically identify the institutional, social and physical properties of resilient socio-technical systems using the example of the energy transport and actor system. The project integrates concepts and methods from physics, economics, engineering and social sciences. In particular, it analyses the determinants of resilience that result from the interplay of complex networks of economic actors, technical systems, institutions and social processes.

Objective: The sub-project at the Chair of Sales and Marketing contributes to developing a deeper understanding of the interactions between technical, natural, economic and social subsystems in the context of system transformations by means of a sociological discourse analysis of the energy transition in Germany.

Duration: 2015-2018

Financing: VW Foundation / Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture

Collaborative partners: Prof. Dr Ulrike Feudel and Prof. Dr Joachim Peinke, Prof. Dr Klaus Eisenack (all C.v.O. University of Oldenburg)

Poster as PDF

Contact person

Sustainable consumption of information and communication technology in the digital society - dialogue and transformation through open innovation (eCoInnovate IT)

Objective:

The significance of the consumption of mobile technologies, such as smartphones, is analysed by means of an ethnography. This user perspective is intended to contribute to a deeper understanding of the interactions between technical, economic and social contexts of our living environment in order to prepare a hermeneutic basis for the transdisciplinary sub-project.

Duration: 2015 - 2018

Financing: This work is part of the project "Sustainable consumption of information and communication technology in the digital society - dialogue and transformation through open innovation". The project is funded by the Ministry of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation with state funds from the Lower Saxony Advance (project number VWZN3037).

Network partners:

• University of Osnabrück, Professorship of Management Accounting and Information Systems
• University of Osnabrück, Professorship of European Politics and Integration
• University of Osnabrück, Professorship of Work and Organisational Psychology with a focus on intercultural business psychology
• University of Oldenburg, Professorship of Sales and Marketing
• University of Oldenburg, Professorship of Business Informatics
• Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Visiting Professor of Management of the Energy Transition
• Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Professorship of Sustainability Management

Project and network partners:

• B.A.U.M. e.V.
• BYEBUY
• Centre for Sustainability Management
• eBusiness Lotse Osnabrück
• ertemis
• ikn 2020

Poster as PDF

Please contact:

• (thorsten.raabe(at)uni-oldenburg.de)
• (frithiof.svenson(at)uni-oldenburg.de)

Link: ecoinnovateit.de

Co-operation with the Cascade Use junior research group

The Cascade Use junior research group wants to make a contribution to reducing CO2 emissions and using fewer resources in the interests of sustainable management. This requires a tool for deciding how materials are integrated into life cycles and when they become available again so that they can either be reused or recycled (closed-loop recycling). The aim is to be able to utilise resources for as long as possible so that no new primary raw materials have to be used.

The Chair of Marketing and Sales has supported Dr Pehlken's Cascade Use junior research group since the application was submitted and cooperates with the research group at various levels. As part of the research, the chair accompanies the (business) economic evaluation of material and goods flows at the end of the product life cycle. This evaluation is incorporated into the aforementioned decision-making process for recycling management. The co-operation is also reflected in the supervision of doctoral candidate Matthias Kalverkamp, who is working towards his doctorate at the School II's Department of Business, Economics and Law.

Further information on the junior research group can be found here.