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On August 15, Hartmut Rosa celebrated his 60th birthday. In a commemorative volume published in honor of his birthday, more than 50 German and international colleagues explore the sociology of global relations.  

https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/resonanz-und-kritik-t-9783518300459External link

Imaginamics. Practices and Dynamics of Social Imagining

The Cluster of Excellence “Imaginamics. Practices and Dynamics of Social Imagining” explores what holds societies together at their core: shared ideas—that is, narratives, worldviews, and visions of the future—which are, so to speak, the social staple of every society. “How we understand society, how we imagine the future, and how we view the past are currently undergoing profound changes,” says Johannes Grave, professor of modern art history and spokesperson for the new Cluster of Excellence. As current crises have shown, social imagination can not only bring people together and foster solidarity but also generate conflicts and divisions. “That is why it is particularly important today to understand how these social imaginations arise and how we deal with them,” Grave continues. “The fact that we can now explore these questions as part of a large research consortium with many outstanding participants is a great privilege and a unique opportunity.”

The cluster’s research will not only focus on the specific content of these imaginations but will primarily examine the process and practices of imagining. Through this approach, the researchers aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of social imagination that combines approaches from the cultural, humanities, and social sciences through foundational theoretical work and well-grounded empirical studies, thereby opening up perspectives that span eras and cultures.

“Imaginamics” is supported by a network of strong regional partners, some of whom contribute unique expertise to the topic. In addition to Friedrich Schiller University, participants include the Bauhaus University Weimar, the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, the Ettersberg Foundation, the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, the Max Weber College in Erfurt, the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society (IDZ), as well as researchers from the universities of Halle and Erfurt. Through publicly visible projects and citizen science, the cluster will also seek dialogue with society and make this dialogue the subject of its research.

BMBF Funds the “Thuringian Water Innovation Cluster” with Six Sociological Subprojects

Since March, nine staff members from the Department of General and Theoretical Sociology have been working on a “Sociology of Water” (https://www.lichtgedanken.uni-jena.de/ausgabe-12-eine-soziologie-des-wassers) through several subprojects.

The subprojects are part of the interdisciplinary “Thuringian Water Innovation Cluster” (https://www.thwic.uni-jena.de/), which advanced to the final round of the Clusters4Future competition and secured funding totaling 45 million euros.

During the first three-year funding phase, various aspects of the social significance of water—primarily with a focus on Thuringia—will be empirically investigated. In addition to a sociological analysis of conflicts over water distribution, such as those currently evident in the Apfelstädt case (https://www.thwic.uni-jena.de/projekte/wave), studies on household water consumption are being conducted (https://www.thwic.uni-jena.de/projekte/have). Furthermore, a network-analytical reconstruction of the socio-technical interconnections of water supply and wastewater management in the city of Jena is being carried out (https://www.thwic.uni-jena.de/projekte/vernetzt). Two projects are dedicated to the quantification of water. One examines the different logics underlying the production of water data in an innovation-supporting companion project of the cluster (https://www.thwic.uni-jena.de/projekte/quawakon). Another project analyzes the techniques of indicator-based water assessment against the backdrop of the low-water strategy adopted in Thuringia (https://www.thwic.uni-jena.de/projekte/watas). The project “Life by the Water” addresses the consequences of disrupted water relationships. The heavily polluted rivers in Buenos Aires serve as an empirical case study (https://www.thwic.uni-jena.de/projekte/lewa).

The findings from the sociological subprojects will initially contribute to basic research on the management and social significance of water. Sociology has so far paid little attention to water. Furthermore, this knowledge is intended to be made available to those stakeholders who are confronted with water management issues and conflicts over water distribution. The goal is to help give greater consideration to the social dimension in water-related decision-making.

Leibniz Prize
Hartmut Rosa Awarded the Leibniz Prize

Hartmut Rosa, professor of general and theoretical sociology in Jena and director of the Max Weber College in Erfurt, has been awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, Germany’s most prestigious research award, for outstanding scholarly achievements. Established in 1985, the Leibniz Program aims to improve the working conditions of outstanding scholars, expand their research opportunities, relieve them of administrative burdens, and make it easier for them to hire highly qualified researchers. The prize is endowed with up to 2.5 million euros.

The Leibniz Prize awarded to Hartmut Rosa honors his pioneering work in the field of normatively grounded critical analysis of modern societies. His contributions to the question of which social dynamics promote or hinder possibilities for a good life are recognized and discussed internationally in both academia and society: In his study *Acceleration: The Transformation of Temporal Structures in Modernity* (2005), Rosa, according to the DFG, provided a comprehensive, philosophically grounded sociological analysis of the dynamics of temporal acceleration that shape modern societies and, at the same time, pose enormous challenges to their individuals. Furthermore, Rosa developed a theory of “world relations” which—not least as a critique of capitalist structures and their psychological and everyday impacts—led, in dialogue with other critical theories, to a further comprehensive theoretical positioning: the book “Resonance: A Sociology of World Relations” (2016). Rosa is regarded far beyond Germany’s borders as one of the most significant social thinkers of our time.

“I am very pleased to receive this award, which also serves as a tribute to the excellent research conditions and collaboration with colleagues from Germany and abroad at the Max Weber College at the University of Erfurt and at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Jena,” said Hartmut Rosa.

Nucleus Subproject: “The Transformative Potential of Sharing”

Since early 2023, the externally funded project “The Transformative Potential of Sharing”—a four-year initiative—has been based at the Department of General and Theoretical Sociology, led by Jörg Oberthür, Hartmut Rosa, and Bettina Hollstein of the Max Weber College in Erfurt. The subproject is part of the joint initiative between the FSU and EAH Nucleus Jena – Transfer.Regional.Sustainable, which is currently in its second funding phase. The goal of Nucleus is to promote innovation processes in Jena and the East Thuringia region through research-based transfer of ideas, knowledge, and technology. The subproject “The Transformative Potential of Sharing” builds on the work of the Collaborative Research Center/Transregio 294 “Structural Change of Ownership” and is committed to the concept of Education for Sustainable Development. Based on the assumption that sharing concepts can make a significant contribution to a sustainability-oriented transformation, current research findings from the SFB subproject “Making Things Available: Property as a Specific Form of Relationship to the World”—which analyzes various fields of the sharing economy—into a practice-oriented teaching and learning format: In the spirit of a mutual transfer of knowledge, student microprojects are carried out with practice partners from the field of “sharing” or participatory concepts. The results will be presented to all university and non-university stakeholders in the relevant fields at a “Thuringia Sharing Symposium” planned for 2024 and will ultimately be documented in a dialogue and results workshop as well as a digital best-practice guide.

Workshop "Acceleration, Resonance, and Social Energy: 
The Critical Theory of Hartmut Rosa

Dr. Alexis Gros (FSU Jena) and Prof. Simon Susen (City, University of London) are organizing a workshop on Hartmut Rosa’s critical theory—with a focus on his new concept of “social energy”—on January 16–17, 2026, at the Max Weber College in Erfurt (see attachment).

Prominent critical theorists and phenomenologists such as Dan Zahavi, Maeve Cooke, Peter Gordon, and Simone Chambers will be in attendance.

Affects Matter. Feelings, Emotions, and Affects in Current Social Crises

Workshop at the Institute of Sociology | University of Jena | June 26, 2025 | 12:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m. | CZS 3, Room 308

“Affects Matter” poster (public)

Organizers: Susanne Martin (Political Sociology) and Charlotte Nell (General and Theoretical Sociology)

Social crises are also crises of feeling. Emotions and affects are relevant in at least three ways. On the one hand, they are triggered or intensified by crises, as demonstrated by anger or grief in connection with climate change and the inadequate political response to it. On the other hand, they themselves drive crisis-like developments, as revealed not least by the oft-cited fear among supporters of right-wing populist parties and movements. Finally, they are an essential component of both social cohesion and social divisions, which is why they play a decisive role in shaping the extent and course of crises. Against this backdrop, the workshop explores the constitutive significance of feelings, emotions, and affects in current crises. We will focus both on specific crisis areas and on overarching phenomena in a society in crisis, examining their emotional and affective foundations, dynamics, and impacts from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Please send an informal registration to: charlotte.nell@uni-jena.de.

Colloquium

In addition, we hold our weekly theory colloquium, to which you are cordially invited.

Schulz, Peter/Lindner, Diana (Hg.): Soziologie des Wassers. Theoretische und empirische Perspektiven auf ein umkämpftes Gut. Bielefeld: transcript. 2026. (Mit Beiträgen aus dem Arbeitsbereich von Stefan Brachat, Sarah Christel, Alexis Gros, Laura Künzel, Diana Lindner, Stephan Lorenz, Magdalena Riedl und Peter Schulz)

Oberthür, Jörg/Hollstein, Bettina (Hg.) (2025): Resonanz und Kritik. Perspektiven auf eine Soziologie der Weltbeziehungen. Berlin: Suhrkamp. (Mit Beiträgen vom Arbeitsbereich von Alexis Gros, Diana Lindner, Stephan Lorenz, Charlotte Nell, Jörg Oberthür und Peter Schulz): https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/resonanz-und-kritik-t-9783518300459External link

Schulz, Peter (2023): Das widersprüchliche Selbst. Eine kritische Theorie kapitalistischer SubjektivationExterner LinkExternal link. Mandelbaum: Wien.

Schulz, Peter (2022): Buch: Kapitalistische Subjektivation. Das Subjekt des kybernetischen Kapitalismus zwischen Digitalisierung, Prekarisierung und Autoritarismus. Transcript: Bielefeld https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-6423-2/kapitalistische-subjektivation/External link