Socio-Ecological Transition Seminars - SETS

SETS is a joint initiative between the Research Group on Collective Action, Change, and Transition at the University of Trento, the Centre for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Consumption at Bournemouth University, and the Environmental Sociology Section at Örebro University . The seminars are open to a diverse audience, including academics, students, practitioners, social movements, and the non-specialist public.

29 May 2024
Magnus Boström, Professor of Sociology at the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Social Science (CESSS) at Örebro University, Sweden. Magnus’ research interests include politics, representation, consumption, action, and transformative learning in relation to various transnational environmental and sustainability issues. Magnus presented his recent book: The Social Life of Unsustainable Mass Consumption (2023, Rowman & Littlefield).
The recording of Magnus Boström is available here.

24 April 2024
Manisha Anantharaman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Center for the Sociology of Organisations, Sciences Po Paris (France). Manisha holds a PhD from University of California Berkeley, and her research focuses on the politics of ecological transition and sustainability. Manisha presented her recent book Recycling Class. The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability (2024, MIT press).
The recording of Manisha Anantharaman is available here.

10 April 2024
Myra J. Hird, Professor in Environmental Studies at Queen’s University (Canada). Myra holds a PhD from Oxford University and is a distinguished interdisciplinary scholar researching the global waste crisis. At the seminar she presented her recent book A Public Sociology of Waste (2022, Bristol University Press).
The recording of Myra J. Hird is available here.

24 May 2023
Alf Hornborg, Professor of Human Ecology at Lund University. Title of the talk: “Unpacking the Black Box of Energy Technology”. Hornborgs presentation tackles the question: what are the cultural assumptions constraining human approaches to economics, technology, and ecology?
The recording of Alf Hornborg is available here.

12 April 2023
Erinch Sahan, Business & Enterprise Lead at Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL). Erinch presented “Doughnut design for business: redesigning businesses through Doughnut Economics”. His presentation tackles the question: how can we rethink and transform the deep design of business – its purpose and networks, how it is governed and owned?
The recording of Erinch Sahan is available here.

22 March 2023
Marlyne Sahakian – Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Geneva. Marlyne presented the co-authored book “Consumption Corridors. Living a Good Life within Sustainable Limits” Her presentation tackles the question: how to enhance peoples’ chances to live a good life in a world of ecological and social limits?
The recording of Marlyne Sahakian is available here.

14 December 2022
Markus Wissen, Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR) presented his recent book “The Imperial Mode of Living. Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism”, co-authored with Ulrich Brand (2021). Markus outlined the concept of Imperial Mode of Living, highlighting that Western mode of production and living is based on asymmetrical social relations along class, gender and race; relies heavily on the unlimited appropriation of resources; and is a main driver of the ecological crisis and economic and political instability.
The recording of Markus Wissen is available here.

9 November 2022
Fátima Portilho, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, presented her work “Politicizing Consumption in Latin America" published in The Oxford Handbook of Political Consumerism. Fatima showed how political consumerism takes a different trajectory in Latin America when compared with the northern hemisphere. She discussed specificities and the limitations and opportunities for the expansion of political consumerism throughout the continent, with a focus on Brazil.
The recording of Fátima Portilho is available here.

12 October 2022
Philip Balsiger, University of Neuchâtel, presented his work “The dynamics of ‘Moralized Markets’: a field perspective, Socio-Economic Review, Volume 19, Issue 1, January 2021” Philip’s key proposition is that morality has increasingly become a way through which value is created in contemporary capitalism, and he discussed the processes through which this happens and their implications. 
The recording of Philip Balsiger is available here.