Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) Research Focus Global Capitalism (LMU) - HD

Since the demise of state socialism in the late 1980s and early 1990s, global capitalism has changed its face and has developed with a dynamic unknown in previous decades. However, confronted with this dynamic of change, it seems that the social sciences have not adapted their analytical toolkit and are mostly operating with much the same categories as they did twenty years ago. The much questioned, but still dominant “methodological nationalism” may be the most prominent example of social sciences sticking to the concepts, categories, and perspectives developed in the course of post-WWII history – however, it is not the only case in point. Bringing together scholars from sociology, political science, economics, history, and literary studies, the conference aims at a critical reflection on and a collaborative revision of the analytical apparatus for the study of global capitalism in the 21st century.

Hat die kapitalistische Existenzweise eine Zukunft? Untergräbt sie ihre eigenen Grundlagen? Welche Möglichkeiten zukünftiger Lebensformen eröffnet, welche verschließt sie? Und was wären Kriterien für ein Leben jenseits des Kapitalismus, das als "gutes Leben" gelten könnte? | Center for Advanced Studies: 28.01.2016 | Referenten: Prof. Dr. Armin Nassehi, Prof. Dr. Hartmut Rosa | Moderation: Prof. Dr. Stephan Lessenich

Capitalism is an expansive system: if it is to remain stable, it must continually incorporate new milieus and spheres of life, new social and natural spaces of economic exploitation. But what happens with this “external” element when it becomes an “internal” one? How does it change? And how does it change capitalism in return? | Center for Advanced Studies LMU: 20.01.2016 | Speakers: Prof. Dr. Manuela Boatcă, Prof. Nivedita Menon, Ph.D. | Moderation: Prof. Dr. Christoph Knill

Der moderne Kapitalismus gilt als Effizienzmaschine, als Inbegriff ökonomischer Rationalität. Aber ist diese Rationalität nicht zutiefst irrational? Warum sind wir immer noch geneigt, an hergebrachte Vorstellungen ökonomischer Vernunft zu glauben? Und welcher Subjekte bedarf der Gegenwartskapitalismus eigentlich, um sich am Leben zu erhalten? | Center for Advanced Studies LMU: 13.01.2016 | Referenten: Prof. Dr. Stephan Lessenich, Prof. Dr. Joseph Vogl | Moderation: Andreas Zielcke (SZ)

The advanced capitalist economies have seen sinking growth rates for decades, while at the same time, the income and wealth gap has been increasing to a remarkable extent. Is it possible to initiate a new growth cycle on this basis? And can this lead to greater equality? | Center for Advanced Studies LMU: 08.12.2015 | Speaker: Prof. Paul Collier, Prof. Éric Pineault | Moderation: Prof. Uwe Sunde

Has the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the following crisis on the financial markets ushered in a new era of capitalist crisis dynamics? Or can the current crisis phenomena as well as the political solution strategies of recent years be seen as part of the crisis history of global capitalism? | Center for Advaned Studies LMU: 24.11.2015 | Speaker: : Dr. Lisa Herzog, Benjamin Kunkel | Moderation: Jens-Christian Rabe (SZ)