Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies

Three Max Planck scientists discuss COP29’s challenges, from the Loss and Damage Fund to human rights and the health risks of climate change.

It is controversial whether there is or should be a fundamental change from an industrial to a service society in rich Western nations

To overcome the Coronavirus outbreak, sociopolitical and economic visions for the future are needed just as urgently as vaccines or emergency assistance from the state. A contribution by Lisa Suckert

Lisa Suckert of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies argues for a more differentiated perception of the Brexit campaign and the economic identity of Great Britain.

Interview with sociologist Akos Rona-Tas

Relationship status: it’s complicated. For many people, the European Union is a source of both identity and excessive bureaucracy. However, it gives its member states economic opportunities that one country in particular has used to its advantage: Germany. Martin Höpner and Lucio Baccaro at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies explore why Germany has been able to benefit to such an extent and why a course correction is nonetheless advisable.

The impact of CO₂ emissions on climate change has been known for several decades. However, the global community has not yet managed to reduce it. Understanding the reasons behind this and what action must be taken are questions for the social sciences, as economic sociologist Jens Beckert explains. The Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies also outlines directions for a more successful climate policy.

Hannah Pool, Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, became acquainted with Afghan migrants as a student in Iran and assisted refugees during the migration summer of 2015 before she turned the subject of life on refugee routes into her field of research. Crossing borders is both an academic and a personal matter for her.

Everything is getting more expensive. Prices for energy, food, and many other things are rising sharply. The European Central Bank has been trying to counteract this trend since June 2022: it has already increased interest rates four times and has announced further base rate hikes. But is this the right strategy? Political scientist Martin Höpner warns against overzealous monetary policy and recommends keeping an eye on wage trends.

How do individuals orient themselves in a crowd? How does hate spread on the internet? And what does one have to do with the other? At the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Mehdi Moussaid studies people in motion and explains why this sometimes leads to disaster.

Leon Wansleben, a sociologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, takes an analytical look at the state’s economic and financial activities. It appears that, rather than leaving everything to the market, the state has begun playing an active role in economic policy.

Until about 30 years ago, growth in Europe was fueled by rising wages and growing consumption. However, national and international developments started undermining this model in the 1990s. Since then, Germany has strengthened its reliance on exports, while Britain, Sweden and Italy have branched out onto other paths. Lucio Baccaro from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne has been analyzing the various possibilities.

The rise of asset managers is changing the balance of power between the wealthy and the rest of society – employees, companies and the state. Unlike 20 years ago, more power is now concentrated in the hands of a few, mainly US fund and private equity companies. These players are not only influencing company management but increasingly the economic structure as a whole. In the United States, this is becoming a real threat to competition; in Germany, we are seeing similar developments at an early stage. 

Economic growth is fundamental to the stability and legitimacy of capitalist economies and a central concern of public opinion. Yet growth strategies are not generally the subject of political contestation or competition, and in normal times the politics of growth models tend to go unnoticed. As the example of Spain shows, that can change in the aftermath of dramatic events and economic crises. 

Public finances were the key campaign issue in the 2021 German federal election. The coronavirus pandemic brought the favorable financial conditions of the 2010s to an end, and the political parties responded with a range of different tax proposals, spending priorities, and positions on “black zero,” Germany’s longstanding commitment to a balanced budget, on which to fight the election. But politics is not the only area in which public finances are key to negotiating some of the major issues of our time.

In a crisis, the future appears to many people to be intangible and difficult to grasp. For social science research, however, imagined futures are important for understanding how crises progress. Expectations play a central role in the different stages of a crisis. As the examples of the 2007 financial crisis, the Brexit vote, and the current coronavirus pandemic all demonstrate, socio-political and economic concepts for the future are as crucial to overcoming a crisis as vaccines or emergency assistance from the state.

European countries differ not only in terms of their prosperity. Other factors, such as the ways in which their welfare state or industrial relations institutions affect the economy, differ from country to country as well. The MPIfG’s new project area, the Political Economy of Growth Models, explores how growth is generated in European varieties of capitalism. A comparison between Germany, the UK, Sweden, and Italy reveals which strategies are pursued to generate the demand needed for economic growth.