In times of entrenched social upheaval and multiple crises, we need the kind of social theory that is prepared to look at the big picture, analyze the broad developmental features of modern societies, their structural conditions and dynamics, and point to possible ways out of the crises we face. Over the last couple of decades, critical theorists like Rahel Jaeggi, Andreas Reckwitz and Hartmut Rosa have sought to provide wide-ranging social theories of this kind. While their theories are very different, they share the view that the analysis of modernity as a social formation must be kept at the heart of theory building, and that the theory of society should ultimately serve to diagnose the crises of the present. Hartmut Rosa is one of the most outspoken and visible of these theorists and in this workshop, we will zoom in on Rosa's theory of modern society: his analysis of social formation, the critique of modernity, and its resolution in an alternative horizon.

For registration and to receive the text to be discussed, please send an e-mail to: l.h.s.seidler@uva.nl

Hartmut Rosa is Professor of Sociology and Social Theory at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena and Director of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies. Rosa is one of the main proponents of the fourth generation of critical theory. He is well known for his work on acceleration and modernity, and his theory of resonance. In continuation of these topics, Rosa wrote the book The Uncontrollability of the World (in Dutch: Onbeschikbaarheid, 2022). Rosa was recently awarded the prestigious Leibniz Prize for his work and is a member of the Academia Europaea. Rosa’s most recent book When Monsters Roar and Angels Sing (2023) is a (little) sociology of heavy metal.

This event is organized by the University of Amsterdam's Philosophy Department, the Philosophy and Public Affairs group, the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, and the Duitsland Instituut Amsterdam.