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SUMMARY:Call for Contributions: Climate tipped?!
DESCRIPTION:On March 30 and 31, 2026, the spring conference of the Section
  for Environmental and Sustainability Sociology of the German Sociological
  Association (DGS) will take place at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main 
 under the title „Klima gekippt?! Umkämpfte Transformation, Greenlash un
 d (Post-)Apokalypse“.The conference is being organized by Maria Backhous
 e (University of Augsburg), Hauke Dannemann and Dennis Eversberg (Goethe U
 niversity Frankfurt am Main), Matthias Schmelzer (Europa-Universität Flen
 sburg), and Bernd Sommer (TU Dortmund).The call for papers for the confere
 nce is below. The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2025.We look fo
 rward to receiving exciting proposals for contributions!Call for Spring Co
 nference of the DGS Section on Environmental and Sustainability Sociology.
  Farmers' protests, the reversal of climate and environmental policy 
 decisions at national and EU level, a surprisingly rapid decline in enviro
 nmental awareness indicators, a sharp decline in public support for climat
 e policy measures, and an aggressive revival of fossil fuels, not only in 
 the US, against a backdrop of new geopolitical tensions – in view of the
  escalating crisis dynamics at various levels, the climate seems to have s
 hifted not only from an Earth system science perspective, but also sociall
 y in many respects.This is most clearly evident, first, in the fact that t
 he issue of climate change is being pushed off the political and public ag
 enda. It is no longer just marginal actors or organized interest groups, b
 ut the mainstream of politics and public opinion that is currently turning
  its back on globally agreed sustainability goals. Instead, the determinat
 ion to hold on to the existing way of life is coming to the fore. In view 
 of escalating economic, social, and political crises, securing prosperity 
 and “stability” and restoring growth momentum are moving to the top of
  the priority list for politicians, business leaders, and large sections o
 f the population. No longer is there a focus on global coordination and co
 operation in the name of sustainability and ecological transformation, but
  rather on going it alone to protect self-interest in the name of sovereig
 nty, security, and resilience.As a result, secondly, the political and soc
 ial climate is turning against those actors and agendas that continue to a
 dvocate sustainability and climate protection. A societal transformation t
 owards sustainability and climate protection is increasingly less understo
 od as a promise for the future or a necessary response to the crisis, but 
 rather perceived as an imposition or even a threat. A new defensive consen
 sus against sustainability policy is emerging that extends far beyond the 
 authoritarian party and voter spectrum. The climate movement, pro-ecologic
 al political actors, and sustainability and transformation research are in
 creasingly confronted with hostility—not only from opposition movements 
 that aggressively question the legitimacy of a sustainability and transfor
 mation agenda, but also from key actors within democratic institutions who
  see themselves as legitimized by broad social support. In the US, for exa
 mple, the Trump administration is pursuing an “anti-climate policy” an
 d actively combating and sanctioning corresponding measures. This req
 uires further explanation, especially since, thirdly, the consequences of 
 planetary changes such as climate change are becoming increasingly visible
  and noticeable in all regions of the world. The rapid changes in current 
 climate data, which have come as a surprise even to climate researchers, m
 ake it clear that the physical tipping point of key parameters of the Eart
 h system is no longer an abstract future danger, but is already a present 
 reality. The crossing of planetary tipping points, which can hardly be pre
 vented and is in all likelihood already happening, casts the shadow of a c
 omprehensive loss of socio-ecological control. Prominent voices in sociolo
 gy and the climate movement conclude that social-ecological transformation
  projects are over and that, in the spirit of a new modesty (Adler), the f
 ocus should now be on adaptation or resilience (Beckert, Blühdorn) and pr
 epping (Müller).The 2026 spring conference of the DGS Section on Environm
 ental and Sustainability Sociology will address the fundamental and urgent
  questions that we as a subdiscipline face in light of these dynamics.&nbs
 p;We look forward to seeing many participants at the conference and to rec
 eiving both theoretical-conceptual and empirical proposals for contributio
 ns. Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words by December 15, 2025, 
 to:umweltsoziologie@uni-frankfurt.deHosts: Maria Backhouse (University of 
 Augsburg), Hauke Dannemann and Dennis Eversberg (Goethe University Frankfu
 rt am Main), Matthias Schmelzer (Europa-Universität Flensburg) and Bernd 
 Sommer (TU Dortmund).
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