Adaptation - X-Texts on Culture and Society by Philipp Staab Paperback

About the Book

How adaptation replaces progress as the guiding principle of society in the anthropocene.

Book Synopsis

In modernity, the prevailing belief was that the world could be shaped and that progress would, more or less automatically, lead to a better tomorrow. Global warming, the growth crisis, and subjective feelings of being overwhelmed have shaken this optimism. Today, the primary concern is to mitigate catastrophe. And even if that succeeds, we will still have to deal with change. Questions of self-preservation will then overshadow those of individual and collective self-fulfillment. Adaptation becomes the guiding principle of society. This results in a crisis of our relationship to ourselves, to time and to politics - to which humanity and progressive political forces must find an answer.

About the Author

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. ---