Dinge ent-sorgen. Wie der Kapitalismus das Ende des Privateigentums an Konsumgütern erzwingt

Ownership of consumer goods creates a specific form of relationship to things: if a thing (a watch, a car, a smartphone) is "mine", this means that I can dispose of it almost without restriction. However, this also means that such things "grow on me": precisely because it's my bike, I don't want it to get wet, rusty or damaged. Ownership therefore creates a relationship of availability and care that usually only ends when we dispose of things, i.e. throw them away. However, turbo capitalism cannot wait that long: it relies on us replacing things in ever faster succession. This explains the trend that can be observed in many areas of consumption from owning things (e.g. software and hardware, image and sound products) to "just using" them via user and maintenance contracts.

Hartmut Rosa is Professor of General and Theoretical Sociology at the University of Jena. He is director of the Max-Weber-Kolleg in Erfurt and co-speaker of the Collaborative Research Centre 294 "Structural Change of Property". His publications include "Acceleration. Die Veränderung der Zeitstrukturen in der Moderne" (Suhrkamp-Verlag, 2005), "Resonanz: Eine Soziologie der Weltbeziehung" (Suhrkamp-Verlag, 2016) and "Unverfügbarkeit (Unverruhe bewahren)" (Residenz-Verlag, 2018).

The lecture is part of the project "Agenda Zukunftsorientierte Verbraucherforschung" in cooperation between the University of Kassel and the Max-Weber-Kolleg in Erfurt. Over a period of one and a half years, researchers and practitioners from the field of consumer work will meet at regular intervals to discuss which questions and challenges are important for research into the topic of consumption and consumption. At the end, a recommendation paper will be produced in which the agenda for future-oriented consumer research will be formulated. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection on the basis of a resolution passed by the German Bundestag.