Thomas Etzemüller
Ein ewigwährender Untergang
The apocalyptic population discourse in the 20th century



215 pp., paperback, numerous illustrations, € 22.80
ISBN: 3-89942-397-6 (Bielefeld: transcript, 2007)

The imminent demographic collapse of Western industrialised societies is being conjured up in all the feature pages. It was no different 100 years ago. The invocation of demography in the form of an impending catastrophe has long been in vogue. But why are we still alive? Why do hysterical demographic forecasts regularly fail? What bio-political functions could a discourse have that successfully survives its permanent failure? In order to be able to think of alternatives to the current mood of doom, a transnational comparative look at history should reveal the specific form of talking about population.

Among others:

Stuttgarter Zeitung, 10.2.2007: "The Germans are far from dying out" (Interview)

SWR2 Forum, 20 February 2007: "End of the world again? The fear of the end times" (radio discussion)

stern.de, 26 February 2007: "This is politics with fear" (Interview)

Die Welt, 23 June 2007 (review)

TAZ, 14 August 2007 (review)

SZ, 17.9.2007 (review)

VDI-Nachrichten, 14/12/2007 (Annotation)

www.single-generation.de (review)

www.webcritics.de (review)

Bonner General-Anzeiger, 22 March 2008 (review)

H-Soz-u-Kult, October 2008 (review)

SWR 2 Forum, 17 April 2008: "No children, no pension, no future? How politics is made with demography" (radio discussion)

SWR International, 21 April 2008: "Germany: Fewer, older, more colourful?" (Review)

NDR Info, 26 April 2008: "Demographic change - spectres without effectiveness" (interview)

KulturRadio rbb / ARD-Themenwoche, 20-26 April 2008: "More time to live. Opportunities of an ageing society"

kultuRRevolution no. 53, 2008 (review)

bwWoche, 2 June 2008 (review)

Journal for Political Science, 2008 (review)

Portal für Politikwissenschaft, 2008 (review)

Handelsblatt, 29 October 2008 (review)

PS [Pro Senectute] Mitteilungen Nov./Dec. 2008 (review)

AfS, June 2009 (review)

Tagesspiegel, 30 Aug. 2010 (interview)

Geographische Revue, 2010, H. 2 (review)

Soziologische Revue, 2011 (review)

Handelsblatt, 21 June 2012

The Parliament, 6 August 2012

SWR 2 Journal, 21 Dec. 2012: "And what will become of the demise of the Germans?" (Interview)

Further interview articles in NDR, SWR, ORF, Ö1 programmes 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012