A timely and critical collective essay on 'the state of the state', written by five members of our Editorial Board @will-davies.bsky.social @andrew-barry.bsky.social @iliasalami.bsky.social Linsey McGoey and Samantha Ashenden
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
couldn‘t help thinking that this is so much smaller than the space it occupied in my head. there’s a relief in the objectification of thought: however troubling or obsessive, every idea can take the form of a handy, well-folded paperback.
striking conversation that offers a glimpse into the beautiful world of electric capitalism, where investors profit from the rotation of the Earth and seek 'the perfect arbitrage' between different local climate systems
www.cleaningup.live/the-audaciou...
apparently, east-west interconnectors turn a profit, north-south interconnectors don't. on the electric globe, differences in longitude always trump differences in latitude.
striking conversation that offers a glimpse into the beautiful world of electric capitalism, where investors profit from the rotation of the Earth and seek 'the perfect arbitrage' between different local climate systems
www.cleaningup.live/the-audaciou...
Today in Berlin
Every major oil shock, put on the same timeline. The 1973 embargo was the longest lasting. The 1990 Gulf War was the biggest reversal. The 2026 Hormuz crisis is the steepest climb and drop. But the line isn't finished yet.
PowerPoint-Slide with a quote by Alfred Sohn-Rethel from his short essay „The ideal of the broken-down": "What is conceived as technical is that which really begins where man makes use of his veto against the closed and hostile automatism of machines and plunges himself into their world. And when he does, he proves to be leaps and bounds ahead of technical laws. For he does not take control of the machines by studying the manuals and learning how to use them, but by discovering his own body inside the machine. To begin with, he has destroyed the misanthropic magic of intact mechanical functions, but he then installs himself in the unmasked monster and its artless soul and enjoys this literal incorporation: ownership which gives him limitless power, the power of utopian existential omnipotence. He now shuns the technical presumptuousness of the instruments thus incorporated; with his incorruptible gaze he has seen through the illusion and deception of their mere appearance: he knows a piece of wood or some old rag does the job just as well." This quote is combined with a black-and-white picture of a statue of Jesus at the cross on which someone has installed lightbulbs to form a rough halo.
This quote continues to occupy my thoughts, as I'm trying to develop a concept of how workers engage technology. Kline/Pinch: "users as agents of technological change", but also car manufacturers in the 1930s displaced consumers' ability to tinker (K. Frantz) - (1/3)
🚨Publication and event alert:
Over the past year, @ueberdruss.bsky.social and I have been writing a study on the history of ownership and power struggles in the European energy sector for @communiade.bsky.social (in German)
On 29 April at 7pm, we will be presenting it in Berlin!
👇details below
Am 29. April 2026 um 19:00 Uhr im aquarium am Kottbusser Tor (Skalitzer Str. 6, 10999 Berlin) präsentiert communia die neue Studie zur Geschichte der Energiewirtschaft von Prof. Daniela Russ und Solveig Degen, mit Beiträgen von Jakob Heyer und Ralf Hoffrogge.
communia.de/einladung-ge...
Ist die kategorische Trennung zwischen Stoff und Form, Körper und Geist, Materialismus und Idealismus nicht ihrerseits idealistisch? Welche Zukunft hat der Begriff des Materialismus in seinen unterschiedlichen Spielarten und Programmatiken?
cmb.hu-berlin.de/events/collo...
Venez nombreu.x.ses!
militarization cannot return because it never disappeared. h/t to @floschmidt.bsky.social who pointed me to this excellent chapter
Working Nature by Daniela Russ and other books
new books from @versobooks.bsky.social !
including Working Nature by @ueberdruss.bsky.social (book release in Berlin, July 9, with special guests)
An excerpt from Anders’ 1968 book “Visit Beautiful Vietnam: The ABCs of Aggression Today”
open.substack.com/pub/andersce...
Vom 12. - 13.11.2026 veranstaltet das DHI Rom in Kooperation mit dem AK Historische Soziologie eine transepochale Tagung zum Thema "Asymmetrische Beziehungen – asymmetrische Verhältnisse". Die Frist des CfP läuft am 01.06.2026 aus, wir freuen uns auf spannende Beiträge!
dhi-roma.it/index.php?id...
👇Wir freuen uns sehr auf Beiträge zur nächsten Jahrestagung des AK Historische Soziologie (und gibt es einen verlockenderen Ort im November als Rom?)
🚨#History Job Alert: My Department is hiring an Assistant Professor in the History of Capitalism.
🗃️
Come work with us at Warwick. You'll get both excellent colleagues and great students!
See details below... And do not hesitate to spread the word...
👇👇👇
warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/appcentre...
Panel abstract. "The idea that we need to rethink Soviet economic history has been around for quite a while. In the last decade or so, we have learned about the role of Fordism in the Soviet Union, Soviet contributions to the genesis of (neo-)liberalism, and about money, consumption and trade in the late Soviet period. Unwritten or hidden so far are histories of labor/work, resources and economic geography. This panel brings together case studies, perspectives and research approaches that underscore the immense range of experiences and the spatial diversity of production, consumption and social reproduction under Soviet power."
Just a few days to go until our #BASEES2026 panel on the "Hidden Pillars of the Soviet Economy," featuring Tamar Qeburia on Georgian manganese, @alexoberlaender.bsky.social on the shabashniki & yours truly on good old peat. Comments by @jeremymorris.bsky.social Join us on Friday, 10 April at 4:45
militarization cannot return because it never disappeared. h/t to @floschmidt.bsky.social who pointed me to this excellent chapter
On another note, very excited to meet Clara again to discuss her work.
New article! 🎉
I argue that only labor-power produces economic value, even though, economically, it's just another commodity, and ecologically, it's just another source of energy. What makes it special? Its unique capacity to refuse the transition from ecology to economy.
doi.org/10.1177/0191...
Der Punkt ist doch gerade, dass eine Regel, die im Ausnahmefall galt, nun immer gilt.
I am extremely excited that in the 2026-2027 academic year, I will be a Member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, where I will be writing my next book, "The Climate Hinge: Green Industrial Transitions in the Global South"!
"Technologien der Antizipation"
Wir organisieren eine Ad-hoc Gruppe in Mainz
und freuen uns noch bis zum 30.4. über Beitragsvorschläge!
Vollständiger CfP hier: kongress2026.soziologie.de/fileadmin/us...
🚨Avis aux parisiens, save the date! 🚨
📢 Letzte Chance! Noch bis morgen (1.4.) Abstracts einreichen für die Session "Ästhetiken des Zukünftigen" der Sektion Kultursoziologie beim #DGS2026 in Mainz. Kultursoziologische Perspektiven auf Kunst, Design & Zukunftsimaginationen gesucht. 👉 kongress2026.soziologie.de/fileadmin/us...
No biggie, the most influential newspaper in Finland just casually reported that the defence forces had shot down Russian drones in Finnish airspace. Based on an LLM misrepresentation of a press release. That no one checked before publishing. Oops.