with Alyssa Battistoni, Aaron Benanav, Rabea Berfelde, Jacob Blumenfeld, Alex Demirović, Rahel Jaeggi, Elena Hofferberth, Daniel Loick, Samia Mohammed, Cara Röhner, Christian Schmidt, Philipp Staab, Tim Wihl, and Lea Ypi.
TOPIC
In recent years, the campaign Deutsche Wohnen&Co Enteignen (Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen&Co) has initiated a debate on the socialisation of housing assets in Berlin. In the German climate movement, there is also a nascent discussion about the socialisation of energy supply as a possible path towards a socio-ecological transformation. Socialisation is fundamentally about the (re)appropriation — i.e. the dissociation from private ownership structures — of infrastructures, means of production and resources. The aim of socialisation is to build collective and radical democratic decision-making power over economic sub-sectors, such as housing and energy, and to manage them for the common good.
The workshop will elaborate the socio-theoretical understanding that underlies demands for socialisation. It will address the tension between a radical democratisation of ownership structures and (1) an efficient and stable provision of public services, (2) the juridification of participation, (3) the contrast between a dynamic development of needs and an efficient use of planetary resources, and (4) the tension between collective power and individual freedom. The questions will be discussed with Alyssa Battistoni, Aaron Benanav, Rabea Berfelde, Jacob Blumenfeld, Alex Demirović, Rahel Jaeggi, Elena Hofferberth, Daniel Loick, Samia Mohammed, Cara Röhner, Christian Schmidt, Philipp Staab, Tim Wihl, and Lea Ypi.