Welcome…

…to the BMBF junior research group “Mentalities in flux: imaginaries and social structure in modern circular bio-based societies”.

From a sociological and historical perspective, we study how people’s basic mindsets, attitudes, and common imaginations change through the rise of the bioeconomy. Our research explores the social consequences of energy and resource transformations that are moving societies away from the use of fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources and turning them towards a production based on biological materials and renewable forms of energy.

On the following pages we would like to introduce ourselves, provide some insights into our research, and inform you about our current work as well as upcoming events.

If you are interested in the topic or have questions about our research, you are welcome to contact us at flumen@uni-jena.de. You will find some more information about the project in our Flyer.

Latest Publications

flumen active

Working Paper No 8
von Faber, Linda & Fritz, Martin (2023): BioMentalitäten in Deutschland: Bericht über die Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Bevölkerungsumfrage zu Bioökonomie und sozial-ökologischem Wandel

Article
Friedrich, J., Holz, J., Koch, P., Pungas, L., Eversberg, D., Zscheischler,, J. (2023):
“Rural bioeconomies in Europe: Socio-ecological conflicts, marginalized people and practices” GAIA. More

Article
Holz, Jana and Koch, Philip (2023):
“Wie die Bioökonomie versucht nachhaltig zu sein” in the reader “Sustainability Dilemmas”. More

Article
Gebauer, J., von Yorck, G., Pungas, L., (2023):
“Degrowth Enthusiasm and the Transformation Blues of the East“ for the Institute for International Political Economy Berlin. More

Article
Holz, Jena (2023):
“The concept of the human-forest relationship (HFR) – Definition and potentials for forest policy research” in Forest Policy and Economics. More

Working Paper No 7
Büttner, Melissa (2023):
Area of Conflict: Mobility Transition – An Analysis of Socio-Ecological Mobility Mentalities

Article
Pungas, Lilian (2023): “Dachas and food democracy—What makes a (good) food citizen?” in Frontiers in Food Systems. More

Article
Eversberg, D., Koch, P., Lehmann, R. et al. (2023): “The more things change, the more they stay the same: promises of bioeconomy and the economy of promises” in Sustainability Science. More

Article
Eversberg, Dennis (2023): “Anpassung, Verteilung, Externalisierung: Drei Dimensionen des sozial-ökologischen Transformationskonflikts”

Article
Holz, Jana (2023): “Threatened sustainability: extractivist tendencies in the forest-based bioeconomy in Finland.” More

Transfer Report
Pungas, Lilian & Kiss, Judith (2023): “Dachas for Future – the importance of the allotment gardeners in Sillamäe for a fossil-free future”

Article
Pungas, Lilian (2023): “Invisible (bio) economies: a framework to assess the ‘blind spots’ of dominant bioeconomy models.” More

Article
Koch, Philip (2022): “Ecuador: Bioökonomie und Biodiversität.” More

Book Chapter
Eversberg, Dennis (2022): “Kämpfe um die Lebensweise
Praktische Dimensionen des sozial-ökologischen Transformationskonflikts”
More

Article
Eversberg, Dennis/Holz, Jana/Pungas, Lilian (2022): “The bioeconomy and its untenable growth promises: reality checks from research” More

Article
Fritz, Martin et al. (2022): “Ecological ceiling and social floor: public support for eco-social policies in Sweden” More

Book Chapter
Pungas, Lilian et al. (2022): “Same, Same but Different? The ‘Right’ Kind of Gardening and the Negotiation of Neoliberal Urban Governance in the Post-socialist City.”
More

Article
Schmelzer, Matthias (2022): “From Luddites to limits? Towards a systematization of growth critiques in historical perspective”
More

Article
Dennis Eversberg (2022): “The social-ecological transformation conflict and the Socialist Youth in Germany 2022”
More

Article
Dennis Eversberg (2022): „Klimarassismus – Neue Polarisierung oder ,innerimperiale Kämpfe reloaded‘?“ More

Article
Dennis Eversberg, Philip Koch, Jana Holz, Lilian Pungas & Anne Stein (2022): Social relationships with nature: elements of a framework for socio-ecological
structure analysis More

Article
Pungas, Lilian (2022): Who stewards whom? A paradox spectrum of
human–nature relationships of Estonian dacha gardeners. More

Article
Venghaus, Sandra, /Eversberg, Dennis/Fritz, Martin/Pungas, Lilian (2022): Editorial to the Special Issue: Promises of growth and sustainability in the bioeconomy.

Working Paper No 6
Fritz, Martin (2022): Employment and Working Conditions in the Bioeconomy in Finland and Germany

Article
Eversberg, Dennis & Fritz, Martin (2022): Bioeconomy as a societal transformation: Mentalities, conflicts and social practices. More

Article
Fritz, Martin et al. (2021): Habitus and climate change: Exploring support and resistance to sustainable welfare and social–ecological transformations in Sweden. Mehr

Working Paper No 5
Eversberg, D.; Fritz, M.; Holz, J.; Koch, P.; Pungas, L.; Schmelzer, M. (2021): Mentalities Matter. Social-Ecological Mentalities and their significance in post-fossil transformations

Working Paper No 4
Koch, Philip (2021): Back to old virtues? Olive growing in the province of Jaén between tradition and (bio-economic) modernity

Working Paper No 3
Büttner, Melissa und Matthias Schmelzer (2021): Fossile Mentalitäten. Zur Geschichte der fossilen Durchdringung moderner Vorstellungswelten (pdf)

Article
Eversberg, Dennis (2021): “Beliefs and knowledges – Socio-Ecological Mentalities and the Trilemmas of Covid and Climate”, In: The European Sociologist (Issue 46: Pandemic (Im)Possibilities vol. 2)

Article
Pungas, Lilian (2021): Caring dachas – Food self-provisioning in Eastern Europe through the lens of care

Working Paper No 2 Eversberg, Dennis & Jana Holz (2020): Empty Promises of Growth: The Bioeconomy And Its Multiple Reality Checks

working paper No 1 Eversberg, Dennis (2020): Bioeconomy as a stake in polarising social conflicts? The distribution of socio-ecological mentalities within the German population in 2018 and the resulting potentials for support and resistance to bio-based transformations.

Article
Eversberg, Dennis (2020): „The social specificity of societal nature relations in a flexible capitalist society.“ In: Environmental Values (fast-track pdf e-print).

Event
Presentation of the “BioMentalitäten” survey by the BMBF junior research group flumen followed by a panel discussion on 21 September 2023.
More

Junior Scientists
Flumen’s research assistants Linda von Faber and Moritz Harzbecher accepted into Honours Programme for research-oriented students
More

Lecture
Jana Holz, Lilian Pungas and Matthias Schmelzer at the 9th international Degrowth Conference in Zagreb, 29 August – 02 September. More

Lecture
Martin Fritz at the colloquium on the history of science at the Ernst-Haeckel-Haus of the FSU Jena, 22 June 2023
See post

Presentation
Martin Fritz and Linda von Faber at KSG Erfurt on “Inequalities in the context of energy crisis and socio-ecological transformation”, 31 May 2023
See post

Article
Flumen in the MDR Climate Update issue #91 of 02 June. “And where do you like to bubble around?”
To the article

Interview
„Von Yuppies, Ökos, Egos und dem kleinen Mann“ – Interview with Jana Holz and Martin Fritz in the taz |
13 May 2023.
To the article

Save the Date & Call for Participation
Sociological Forest Symposium at FSU Jena, 01 December 2023
More

Workshop
As part of the transfer event in Finland Jana Holz co-organizes the workshop “(Bio)diversity in forests” from 16 to 17 May in Jyväskylä. More

Interview
Dennis Eversberg in “Studio 9” in Deutschlandfunk Kultur | 29 March 2023. More

Matthias Schmelzer and Melissa Büttner in “Zeitfragen.Feature” of Deutschlandfunk Kultur | 29 March 2023. More

Presentation
Jana Holz presents her paper “Paradox relationships with forests in Central Finland: A critical discussion from a qualitative, sociological perspective” at JYU.Wisdom lunch colloquium | 17 May 2022. More

transfer event
Jana Holz presents research results in Finland | 15 -26 May 2023. More

Scientific Coffee “Human-Forest-Relationships”
Next Scientific Coffee with Peeter Vihmar (Estonian University of Life Sciences) on “Origins, peace negotiations and failures in Estonian ‘forest war'” | 15 February 2023, 1-3 p.m. CET. More

Call for Sessions
The University of Helsinki is calling for abstracts and sessions for the 2023 Sustainability Science Days, May 24–26. More

Colloquium

Research colloquium “Sustainability and Social Transformation” in the winter semester 2022/23
More

transfer event
Lilian Pungas discusses first research results in Eastern Estonia | 8 & 11 September 2022

Dennis Eversberg in kulturWelt on Bayern 2 bioenergy villages, regenerative energies and how a change of mentality can succeed

Scientific Coffee Human-Forest-Relationships
Next scientific coffee with Maija Halonen from the University of Eastern Finland: “Socio-economic forest relations in Northern peripheries” on 1 June 2022, 1-3 pm CET. More

Dr. Martin Fritz as a guest at Lund University in Sweden

*keynote online now* **Cara Daggett (Virginia Tech, USA)**: Desiring Energy: Toxic Fantasies of Fuel, Freedom, and Work

Workshop
Mental Infrastructures of Modern Fossil and Bio-based Societies | Workshop | 19 & 20 May 2022. More

Scientific Coffee “Human-Forest-Relationships” with M.Sc. Dominik Menton-Enderlin from Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg (FVA): „Basically this is all my forest“ | 6 April 2022, 1-3 pm CET. More

Presentation
Martin Fritz and Max Koch present their paper “Habitus and Climate Change: Exploring support and resistance to sustainable welfare and social–ecological transformations in Sweden” online at the Lund University on 30 September 2021. More

Discussion
Matthias Schmelzer takes part in a panel discussion on climate policy on 22 April 2021 as part of the Climate & Economics Workshop of the Institut für Sozioökonomie der Universität Duisburg

Presentation
Matthias Schmelzer presents his paper „From Luddites to Malthus: Towards a history of growth critiques“ on 21 April 2021 at the Environmental History Week of the American Society for Environmental History.

Workshop
Contested Society-Nature-Relations. Forest related Emotions, Practices & Conflicts in Times of Societal Change, 27/28 May 2021. More

Presentation
Jana Holz takes part in the workshop “potentials of the concept of circular economy” on March 24, 2021. More

Presentation and 3MT-challenge participation
Jana Holz takes part in the 3rd International Forest Policy Meeting, 17-18 March 2021. More

Presentation
Matthias Schmelzer participates at the workshop „The Ecology of Economic Thought“ at the Weatherhead Center/Harvard University, 03 Feb 2021. More

Presentation
Lilian Pungas speaks about oil shale extraction and dacha-gardening in Estonia, 26 November 2020