Beyond the Green Transformation

On the Way to a Postliberal Modernity
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-5095-7104-8
Verlag: Polity Press

Buch, Englisch, 234 Seiten

Until very recently, the climate crisis was considered the most serious and urgent challenge facing contemporary societies. There was widespread agreement that a comprehensive green transformation is necessary to address the planetary emergency, secure the survival of humanity and facilitate a good life for all. Yet, suddenly, ecological issues have slipped down the political agenda. Conservatives welcome ‘the end of the green hegemony’, the far-right rallies against eco-emancipatory policies, and an authoritarian turn that once again champions fossil fuels is gaining momentum across the world.

This book examines the causes of this dramatic change of course. It reminds us that in environmental politics, social norms and cultural values are as important as biophysical facts. Even if the scientific evidence on climate change and the collapse of biophysical systems is clear, the supposedly categorical imperatives presented by ecologists ultimately express a particular worldview.

Ingolfur Blühdorn argues that the emancipatory logic itself is a key driver of the current collapse of the green project. He shows how this counter-cultural project was fraught with inherent contradictions. Eco-emancipatory movements themselves contributed to mainstreaming values, lifestyles and notions of self-determination that ultimately blocked the green transformation and propelled a postliberal turn. To many, eco-political ideals today appear more like a threat than a promise. A renaissance of fossil fuels, autocratic leadership, and strict policies of exclusion seem to offer a better future, beyond eco-emancipatory values and the scenarios of ecological collapse.

But the transition to a postliberal modernity will benefit very few and make life brutish, nasty and short for many.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bluhdorn, Ingolfur

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltpolitik, Umweltprotokoll
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Gesellschaftstheorie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltmanagement, Umweltökonomie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Umweltsoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Untenability
Introduction to the English Edition

1 After the End of Humanity 1.1 The eco-emancipatory project 1.2 Guiding questions and lines of continuity 1.3 The unthinkable 1.4 Roadmap

2 On the Brink of Disaster 2.1 The abyss 2.2 Crises as opportunities? 2.3 Transformation entrapped 2.4 Shattered illusions 2.5 Beyond the critical orthodoxies

3 Great Transformations 3.1 Capitalism in crisis? 3.2 Planetary boundaries and the Anthropocene 3.3 The autocratic-authoritarian turn 3.4 Digitalization and artificial intelligence 3.5 China and the new geopolitical conflict 3.6 Interim results: The metamorphosis of modernity

4 Reflexive Modernization 4.1 The return of modernisation theory 4.2 Why Ulrich Beck? 4.3 Second modernity 4.4 Ecologization, democratization, cosmopolitan society 4.5 A providential gift

5 Deconstructing the ‘Legend’ 5.1 No automatism 5.2 Reflexivity and destabilisation? 5.3 The ecological paradox 5.4 Metamorphosis to third modernity 5.5 Interim results II: Three phases of modernity

6 The Emancipatory Catastrophe 6.1 Reflexivity and dialectic 6.2 The dialectic of sustainability 6.3 The dialectic of emancipation 6.4 The dialectic of democracy 6.5 Emancipation from the EEP

7 Interregnum 7.1 Pessimistic, deterministic, reactionary? 7.2 What is the benefit? 7.3 Coping with the trauma 7.4 Beyond dystopia 7.5 Critical sociology, transformative sustainability research and (eco-)political education

Über Autor(innen)

Ingolfur Blühdorn is Professor of Social Sustainability and head of the Institute for Social Change and Sustainability (IGN) at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.