Zukunft (in) der Transformation: Praktiken der Synchronisierung und die Verarbeitung von Nichtwissen

43. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie, ‘Zukünfte der Gesellschaft’, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 28 September–02 October 2026

This talk examines how disasters disrupt everyday practices and how reconstruction synchronizes past arrangements, present needs, and desired transformations. It conceptualizes the future as socially produced through practices and infrastructures, rather than merely forthcoming. Focusing on urban mobility after the 2024 Valencia flood, it explores how practices persist, change, or dissolve when their material foundations are damaged. Infrastructure and practices mutually constitute social order, making reconstruction a contested process between restoring existing arrangements and transforming future possibilities. Urban planners and transport professionals exercise agency by negotiating these tensions, particularly through decisions balancing immediate repairs against longer-term goals. The talk argues that disasters reveal the elasticity of practices and their institutional foundations rather than necessarily constituting opportunities for progressive transformation.

More information
https://kongress2026.soziologie.de/programm