The political agenda of eco-social policy seeks to create synergies between social justice and ecological goals, such as mitigating climate change. While the concept already has a strong theoretical foundation, and many concrete policy instruments have been proposed, support for eco-social policy is still insufficient to mobilize political action. We assume that one cause of this lack of action are the diverging interests and ideologies of different classes. In this article we apply a class perspective and conduct an empirical study to explore class support for and opposition to eco-social policy. We use data from a representative survey in Germany and identify nine class fractions, based on Bourdieu’s concept of social space. We first compare the carbon footprints of the classes, to determine their varying degrees of responsibility for supporting political efforts to mitigate climate change. We then compare class support for eco-social policy, considering the dimensions of redistribution, regulation and rights. We find that the economic upper class – a fraction equating closely with the ruling class – and the old working class oppose eco-social policy the most. The cultural upper class are the strongest proponents of eco-social policy. The lower-class fractions showed considerable concern about the costs associated with eco-social policy. We conclude that a stronger focus on the social justice element when designing and advocating for eco-social policy could lead to greater support from the lower classes and help to build eco-social welfare states that offer protection in times of increasing social and ecological risks.
Fritz, M., & Eversberg, D. (2023). Support for eco-social policy from a class perspective: Responsibilities, redistribution, regulation and rights. European Journal of Social Security, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231208929
Inspiring collaboration between researchers from Finland and Germany gave birth to a series of Scientific Coffees facilitating academic exchange on human-forest-relationships. After 10 sessions with over 200 participants, an international academic online community celebrates – by looking forward to future sessions.
Image by karlyukav on Freepik
In 2021, we – a group of researchers from Finland and Germany interested in social science as well as humanities approaches regarding human and societal relations to forests – were eager to deepen our fruitful cooperation. As we were confronted with worldwide travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 crisis, we came up with a way to cooperate and exchange online from our home offices in Jena, Berlin, Tampere, Helsinki, and Savonlinna. Our vision was to create an online space for international, scientific, open, and relaxed discussions on human and societal relations to forests.
Growing interest in forest humanities
This autumn, our Scientific Coffee Session series “Human-Forest-Relationships” (HFR) celebrated its second anniversary with its 10th edition. The Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR contribute to increase the visibility of humanities and (qualitative) social science research relating to forests, their use and the forest industries. The umbrella under which all the diverse topics and research perspectives come together, is the interest in human-forest-relationships. The presentations and discussions dig into various aspects of that complex and contested relationship concerning forest use, protection, politics, and policies. Especially the public and political debates about forestry have been the subject of the Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR as well as questions relating to ownership, foresters, and marginalized positions. The HFR concept[1]enables an overlapping theme and perspective that brings together interested researchers from diverse disciplines, institutions, and countries.
The 10th edition focused on the Sámi in Finland, the only indigenous community within the European Union. Anna Ott, a PhD-researcher at SYKE, the Finnish Environment Institute, talked about the conflicts over reindeer herding, logging, and opposing nature relations between the Sámi and the Finnish state-owned enterprise Metsähallitus as well as private forest owners. Different ontologies shape this conflict that emerges around questions of land ownership and land use. Colonial power relations and the hierarchical dualism of humans and nature that is rooted deeply in modern ontology are challenged by the Sámi narratives, lifestyles, and alternative ontology. After Anna Ott’s insightful presentation on this conflict, a controversial and in some parts very political discussion arose. With over 20 people attending the Scientific Coffee Session HFR, many different perspectives were present and the discussion jumped back and forth between logging in Finland, (de-)colonialism, different definitions of a ‘traditional’ life style, and insights on the situation of the Sámi in Sweden and Norway. Exchange and dialogue at its best!
Join the community and the Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR
The high times of Covid-19 lie behind us and the normal academic life with its travels and international conferences is back, but the Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR outlasted the pandemic. They could establish themselves as a solid element of international exchange and discussion between researchers from Germany, Finland, Estonia, and beyond.So far, over 200 people have participated in the sessions. In every session, both familiar and new faces are present.
The second anniversary this autumn marked a milestone in the international cooperation. The Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR are hosted in a joint effort by the project Mentalities in Flux (flumen) and the Human-Forest Relationship Research Club of the Finnish Society of Forest Science. They were initiated and are still run and moderated by Jana Holz (project researcher and PhD candidate in the project flumen, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany), Tuulikki Halla (project researcher and PhD candidate, University of Eastern Finland), PhD Jaana Laine (Faculty Lecturer, Lappeenranta University of Technology) and Reetta Karhunkorva (Senior Forest Culture Specialist, Lusto Forest Museum).
For the coming months, the researchers have planned more Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR as well as various conference presentations.
Will you be the speaker of the first Scientific Coffee Session HFR in 2024?*
If you are interested, come and join our next Scientific Coffee Session HFR: Mónica Hernández Morcillo from Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Germany, will present on the topic “A Regenerative Approach to Forestry: Insights from the Indigenous Culture Kogi” on 23November 2023, 1-3pm CET / 2-4pm EST.**
We will see you there – hopefully with your coffee at hand!
* Please contact jana.holz (ät) uni-jena.de or tuulikki.halla (ät) uef.fi for further information on how to present in the Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR or further questions relating to the collaboration. ** Please contact judith.kiss (ät) uni-jena.de for further information and the Zoom link.
Authors: Jana Holz, Maximilian Clemens, Tuulikki Halla
List of speakers 2021-2023
Anne Matilainen (Project Coordinator, University of Helsinki): “Feelings of psychological ownership towards forests”
M.A. Lukas Fehr (Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Ph.D. candidate (Ludwig-Uhland-Institut für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft, University Tübingen), M.A. applied cultural studies (University Tübingen)): “Narratives and interpretations of forests in the forestry and timber sector between recreation and wood production”
Ph.D. Tuomo Takala (University of Eastern Finland, Ph.D): “Critical discourse analysis as a method and a theory”
M.Sc. Dominik Menton-Enderlin (Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg, FVA): “’Basically this is all my forest’ – qualitative and quantitative research results on psychological ownership among forest visitors in Germany”
Ph.D. Maija Halonen (University of Eastern Finland, Department of Human Geography): “Socio-economic forest relations in northern peripheries”
M.A. Ronja Mikoleit (Doctoral candidate (Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg), M.A. Sociology (University of Potsdam)): “Climate heroes in the forest – Heroic (self-)representations in forestry and their consequences”
M. Sc. Jenni Simkin (Natural Resource Institute Finland, Doctoral candidate (Department of Forest Sciences, Helsinki)): “Should you visit a managed or natural forest for the best of your well-being?”
Ph.D. Peeter Vihma (Estonian University of Life Sciences, Ph.D. Culture and Society (University of Helsinki), M.A. Institute of International and Social Studies (Tallinn University)): “Origins, peace negotiations and failures in Estonian ‘Forest War’”
Ph.D. Maie Kiisel (University of Tartu, Estonia, Ph.D. Faculty of Social Sciences and Education (University of Tartu), M.A. Faculty of Social Sciences and Education (University of Tartu)): “The resonance of macro challenges in forestry debate of Estonia (multi-level perspective approach)”
M.Sc. Anna Ott (SYKE, Finnish Environment Institute, M.Sc. Global Development (University of Copenhagen), Doctoral candidate (University of Lapland)): “Sámi reindeer herders’ fight for preserving and renewing – An analysis of the conflict over forest in the Sámi homeland”
Matthias Schmelzer gives a keynote entitled “Contesting the growthocene: From capitalist realism to ecological reduction” at the opening plenary session of the Radboud Conference on Earth System Governance on 24 October 2023, that is organised by the Radboud University, Netherlands.
In the flumen project we aim to make the group’s research results accessible to a broader public beyond the specialist academic audience. Hence, we pursue transfer activities via various channels and an active involvement into the societal and public debate on the bioeconomic transformation. In addition to presenting the group’s results to the public, we give the actors of the transformation a chance to reflect on our research process and results. This feedback is taken into consideration for further publications and activities. The transfer, knowledge gain, and experience, thus, go both ways. The transfer activities in the qualitative module focus on the regions of the case studies of the project. In May 2023, Jana Holz traveled to Finland – within the framework of her case study on forestry and forest management in Central Finland – with the aim to present preliminary results of her research and to discuss these with local actors, various stakeholders, and scientists from different disciplines.
In the Central Finnish municipality of Äänekoski, which has been the focus area of the qualitative case study in the past three years, Jana Holz organized a public workshop on the future of forests and designed a lesson for high school students. In addition to these two core transfer events, a two-day workshop at the University of Jyväskylä and the moderation of an event during the Sustainability Science Days (SSD) in Helsinki offered the opportunity for an intensive exchange with scientists and practitioners.
This report (1) briefly presents the transfer activities and cooperation partners. In the main part (2), findings of the transfer activities and reflection on their success as well as resulting open questions are presented. Finally, the report ends with a take-away summary for science transfer activities (3) and for decision-makers (4).
Martin Fritz and Dennis Eversberg present the analysis of flumen on the societal situation of the social-ecological transformation at the international conference CARME – Correspondence Analysis and Related Methods on 27 September 2023 in Bonn.
A cartography of the social-ecological transformation in Germany: Exploring the interconnections between classes, mentalities and modes of living
In our paper we apply a Bourdieusian relational methodology to study current societal struggles around a social-ecological transformation in Germany and try to answer the question why there is, despite scientific evidence that points to the urgent need, still not enough climate action. While knowledge and awareness of the causes and solutions are both very high, societies are not succeeding in the necessary change of infrastructures, consumption and production patterns. There is a lack of mobilization, in Latour’s words, which is more than just an attitude-behavior gap on the individual level, it also reflects power structures in society and the hegemony of mentalities oriented at growth and nature domination.
In this context, we ask: What socio-ecological mentalities and modes of living exist among the general population? Do the societal elites, i.e. the economic upper or ruling class, hold mentalities that are opposed to a social-ecological transformation? What other potentially more pro-transformative mentalities exist? And do everyday practices correspond to the socio-ecological mentalities or are there mentality-practice gaps similarly to the attitude-behavior gap?
In our empirical study we try to answer these questions with data from a representative survey we conducted in 2021/22 among the German population. Applying methods such as principal component analysis, multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analyses on a wide range of questions about respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, socio-ecological attitudes and practices we distinguish class fractions, mentalities and modes of living. These three elements represent the analytical layers in Bourdieu’s theory of practice: positions, dispositions and position-takings (or positionings). By locating them in social space we discover their homologies and heterologies and draw a detailed and empirically rich cartography of the state of the social-ecological transformation in Germany. Political and societal conflicts are revealed as well as potential alliances for more ambitious climate action.
We warmly invite you to join our 10th “Scientific Coffee HFR” session if you are interested in the research about Human Forest Relationships or are even active in the field yourself.
If you want to join, please contact: judith.kiss@uni-jena.de and a Zoom link will be sent to you shortly before the session.
What is it about?
10th English “Scientific Coffee Human-Forest-Relationships”
04. October 2023 13-15 CET / 14-16 EEST
Input: Anna Ott (Finnish Environment Institute SYKE)
Title: Sámi reindeer herders’ fight for preserving and renewing – An analysis of the conflict over forest in the Sámi homeland
Abstract:
Old-grown forests in the Sámi homeland are key reindeer pasture areas (Ott, 2019), but Sámi are not the only ones laying claims to these forests. Sámi have therefore found themselves repeatedly and since early 2000s increasingly in conflict over forests (Raitio, 2008; Saarikoski and Raitio, 2013). This presentation summarizes research that explored the newest conflict developments involving Sámi reindeer herders, state-owned enterprise Metsähallitus, and Inari common forest. Data gathered during fieldwork in Aanaar (Inari) and Helsinki, including interviews, news articles, and fieldnotes on exhibitions at Siida Museum and dance performance ‘Matriarkaatti, was analyzed to establish what is at stake for different conflicting parties and how Forest Steward Council (FSC) certification scheme impacts on the conflict. Two narratives were found that perform different conflict realities but highlight similarly that questions regarding land ownership and land use lie at the core of the conflict. Applying a political ontology lens (e.g., Blaser, 2009; de la Cadena, 2010) and drawing on literature discussing alternatives to development (e.g., Kothari et al. 2019), the two narratives were analyzed to show how the conflict over forests is a conflict of clashing ontologies and perceptions of development. The narrative constructed by Sámi reindeer herders is grounded in a relational ontology that highlights the radical interdependence of all entities that make up the world, and it proposes an alternative way of governing, using, and engaging with nature. Sámi have thus been found to challenge the modern ontology and the hierarchical dualisms that underlie the second narrative and that legitimize the continued exploitation of nature and continued existence of colonial power relations. While the FSC certification scheme favors scientific knowledge over other ways of knowing, Sámi have claimed it to their benefit and have applied it as a worldmaking tool. FSC certification scheme was thus found to reveal the pluriverse.
Biography:
Anna Ott has been working as a researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute for 3,5 years. Her research focuses on how to address existing injustices and prevent new injustices from arising when transitioning towards more sustainable societies. She is further a doctoral candidate at the University of Lapland and enrolled in the doctoral program “Arctic in a Changing World”. Her doctoral thesis has the preliminary title “Ontological multiplicity in the Sámi homeland and alternative approaches to environmental crisis” and it explores how in the Sámi homeland, different ontologies are performed into being and with what consequences. It aims to promote onto-epistemological justice to Sámi and to highlight the transformative potential of Sámi ways of knowing, doing, and being. More info on her academic work: https://www.syke.fi/en-US/Experts/Anna_Ott(64689)
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Scientific Coffee Human-Forest-Relationships
Let’s sit and talk in the scientific café! The “Scientific Coffee HFR” sessions give room for open and relaxed discussions on current research subjects related to human and society relations to forests. It warmly welcomes all interested in forest-related research to join online sessions.
Each session lasts approximately two hours. It starts with a 30-minute presentation by a guest speaker. After the presentation, with coffee or tea and cookies at hand, participants have plenty of room for an open discussion and exchange.
The “Scientific Coffee HFR” takes place two to three times per semester on Wednesday afternoons.
Guest speakers wanted! If you are interested in contributing to the “Scientific Coffee HFR”, please contact either judith.kiss@uni-jena.de or tuulikki.halla@uef.fi with info on your subject (title and short abstract) and a preferred Wednesday (13-15 CET / 14-16 EET).
The idea for a scientific coffee HFR came up during a cooperation between Finnish and German researchers in 2021. The Finnish research project Human-Forest Relationships in Societal Change and the German research group Mentalities im Flux (flumen) organized the workshop “Contested Society-Nature-Relations. Forest related Emotions, Practices & Conflicts in Times of Societal Change” in May 2021. The first “Scientific Coffee HFR” session was held in September 2021.
Presentation of the “BioMentalitäten” survey by the BMBF junior research group flumen followed by a panel discussion.
On 21 September 2023 at 6-7:30 p.m. in the Rosensäle (R 101), Fürstengraben 27, Jena
Many people are concerned about nature and our future on this planet. At the same time, most people shy away from the idea of a comprehensive change in lifestyle, which scientists now consider inevitable in order to be able to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crisis and to cope with its consequences. Moreover, not only in politics, but also among the population, groups with opposing ideas and approaches seem to be increasingly irreconcilable. This is evident in recent times in an increasing number of contended issues: Climate protests, energy transition, renaturation of agricultural land, speed limit, phasing out the internal combustion engine. These issues are not only about what social changes are necessary, but also about different ideas of freedom and prosperity, different expectations of justice, social and political participation, in short: the diverse ideas of a good life and the question of whether this is threatened by the measures under discussion. The different perception and evaluation of ecological issues and the positioning in these conflicts is closely related to how people are integrated in society, what they have to gain or lose, but also to the extent to which they feel seen, heard and effective in politics and the public sphere.
Answers to what the conflict about a future worth living is really about and whether it could divide society are provided by the “BioMentalities” survey of the BMBF junior research group “Mentalities in Flux (flumen)” at the Institute of Sociology at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, which will be presented and discussed at a public event in the Kleine Rosensäle (Fürstengraben 27) on 21 September 2023. First, the most important results of the survey will be presented, for which 4,000 people in Germany were interviewed in 2021 and 2022 about their socio-ecological attitudes and habits. The focus is on a “map” of socio-ecological mentalities, which shows how different parts of the population feel about concepts of a comprehensive transformation towards post-fossil production and lifestyles, how this relates to their respective position in society, and which lines of conflict can be identified from this.
Afterwards, Malene Gürgen (taz) will moderate a discussion between Dr. Dennis Eversberg (flumen), Prof. Dr. Daniela Gottschlich (Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung), Teresa Gärtner (ver.di Jena) and Robert Pauli (Klimaentscheid Jena) about pro-ecological and anti-ecological mentalities, social milieus and the social-ecological transformation conflict in society as a whole as well as on the ground in Jena and Thuringia.
Guests at the opening of the Honours Programme (Moritz Harzbecher and Linda von Faber 5th and 4th from right, first row; Photo: Christoph Worsch)
Two student employees of flumen have been accepted into the Honours Programme for research-oriented students at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. This is an initial one-year grant to enable particularly committed students to gain in-depth insights into research processes during their studies, to give them a share in the scientific community and to prepare them for a scientific career. Funding is provided for Linda von Faber with Dr. Martin Fritz as supervisor and the topic “Bioenergy Villages: Paving the Way to a Postfossil Future?”, in which survey data from flumen will be analysed, as well as Moritz Harzbecher with Dr. Matthias Schmelzer and Dr. Jörg Oberthür as mentors and the project “Protest against urban sprawl: A socio-ecological transformation conflict?”, in which interviews are conducted with members of a protest alliance against urban sprawl and analysed against the background of the research perspective developed in flumen.
We invite you to the 9th International Degrowth Conference, which will be held in Zagreb, Croatia from August 29 to September 2, 2023!
Zagreb is a city whose local government is headed by former degrowth conference speakers. By connecting degrowth’s international audience with the realities of a semi-peripheral capital developing new justice and sustainability pathways, the degrowth movement will broaden its scope and affirm its position in the everyday lives of European citizens.
To maximize networking and impact, the Conference will include a city-wide Degrowth Week alongside its research and activist part. The events and activities will take place at the Zagreb Fair, a valuable space and project from the socialist period which will host all the Conference sessions, the Museum of Contemporary Art, where we will have our opening ceremony, and the Youth Culture Centre „Ribnjak“, situated in one of the city’s most beautiful parks, which will house the festival part.
The Zagreb conference will feature prominent keynote speakers – Kohei Saito, Roland Ngam, Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, Paul Stubbs, and Karin Doolan – and a couple of hundred scholars from around the world eager to discuss different aspects of a believable degrowth future.
The day before the Conference opening – on Monday, August 28 – the 4thInternational Assembly of the Degrowth Movement will take place in the Youth Culture Centre “Ribnjak”, with plans to deliberate on the aims and organisation of the degrowth movement (more information here).
The Degrowth Week will include events such as an environmental film festival, a one-day activist-artistic festival, the presentation of the work of a thematic network for low carbon transition cooperation (METAR), and a number of activist/practitioner panels, presentations and workshops.
Since the call for proposals is closed, we invite anyone whose paper/presentation/workshop was accepted to register if they still haven’t (the regular conference fee is available until May 31 – https://odrast.hr/faq/#payment-accepted). If you don’t have a presentation and would still like to attend the conference, we invite you to register as well (https://odrast.hr/faq/#payment-participants) – the number of tickets is limited and will be granted on a first come, first served basis.
The LOC is currently working at full capacity to coordinate the Conference and the Degrowth Week program. After the program has been publish, in June, we will open a call for volunteers. We will be looking for volunteers to work on tasks in preparing the conference (knowledge of Croatian will probably be required), and for volunteers to manage the conference (English will be a must). All volunteers can expect free access to all Conference events.
Please follow our webpage and social media accounts for more information and Conference news:
The article “Rural bioeconomies in Europe: Socio-ecological conflicts, marginalized people and practices” was written by flumen-researchers Jana Holz, Philip Koch, Lilian Pungas and Dennis Eversberg in collaboration with the scientists Jonathan Friedrich and Jana Zscheischler from the ZALF (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research) and published in GAIA. GAIA is a transdisciplinary journal that publishes on ecological perspectives for science and society.
Abstract:
Bioeconomy policies claim to contribute to socio-ecological transformations and decreasing rural-urban inequalities. Based on examples of four bioeconomies in rural Europe, we argue that contrary to these claims, such policies to date have not de-escalated existing social conflicts but instead have often further contributed to polarization tendencies. To live up to those proclaimed goals, bioeconomy research and policy need to deprioritize economic growth and turn to more comprehensive considerations of socio-ecological contexts and the integration of the local population and alternative practices.
