Junior Research Group: Mentalities in flux (flumen)

The project has come to an end; the junior research group ran from 1 March 2019 to 31 July 2025.

The aim of the project was to use empirical social research to gain, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of the social impacts of the transition from linear, fossil-based economies to bio-based circular economies. The focus was on changes in mentalities – that is, worldviews and fundamental attitudes embedded in everyday practice – as well as in social structure in the course of bioeconomic transformations.

The project undertook an integrated social science analysis of bioeconomic transformation, systematically combining qualitative case studies, representative surveys, analyses of employment structures and in-depth historical reconstructions.

Key conceptual innovations included the development of the ‘space of social relationships with nature’ and a relational typology of ten socio-ecological mentalities, which in Germany are grouped into three broader spectra (eco-social, conservative-growth-oriented, defensive-reactive). On this basis, a ‘new socio-ecological class conflict’ was identified, which unfolds around issues of distribution, status, technology and growth, and shapes the social debates surrounding the bioeconomy and the post-fossil transition.

The international case studies (bioenergy villages in Germany, olive cultivation in Spain, the forest bioeconomy in Finland, and subsistence farming in Estonia) show that bioeconomic development pathways are deeply embedded in existing power, ownership and inequality structures and are underpinned by heterogeneous, and at times conflicting, mentalities. Quantitatively, it has also been demonstrated that bioeconomic employment is predominantly concentrated in low-skilled, often precarious sectors, whilst politically emphasised fields of innovation account for only a small proportion. From a historical perspective, the study has highlighted how fossil fuels and materials (particularly concrete) have given rise to specific imaginaries of growth and progress, the overcoming of which is a prerequisite for post-fossil transformations.

The findings were actively fed into and raised for discussion in societal debates on socio-ecological transformation and the bioeconomy through targeted publications, media contributions, public lectures and workshops with stakeholders from politics, public administration, business and civil society.

Further information on the project can also be found in our leafletExternal link.

The project is funded under the ‘Bioeconomy as Social Change’ programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Information on the projects funded under this programme can be found on the website of all junior research groupsExternal link.