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Contested capitalism: some reflections on countermovements, social justice and the task for sociology

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Große Transformation? Zur Zukunft moderner Gesellschaften

Zusammenfassung

In the last five decades, we have been witnessing deep changes of capitalism which appear to amount to its transformation. The article first draws on Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation to analyze the development of contemporary capitalism in terms of a “double movement”, to then point out some overarching tendencies in the contemporary development of capitalism and society. In the second part, the paper reflects on how social justice has become a pressing issue of our time by discussing several examples that can be seen as indicative of the increasing debate about the necessary reform of capitalism, including visions of a post-capitalist society. Finally, the last part is reflected on some of the challenges and tasks for sociology in these times of transformation – with a view less to the long-standing discussion on the epistemological implications of this question than to the idea of a contextual global public sociology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hofstra University, Hempstead, USA

    Margaret Abraham

  2. Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Österreich

    Brigitte Aulenbacher

Authors
  1. Margaret Abraham
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  2. Brigitte Aulenbacher
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Correspondence to Margaret Abraham .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Soziologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany

    Klaus Dörre

  2. Institut für Soziologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany

    Hartmut Rosa

  3. Kolleg Postwachstumsgesellschaften, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany

    Karina Becker

  4. Kolleg Postwachstumsgesellschaften, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany

    Sophie Bose

  5. Institut für Soziologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany

    Benjamin Seyd

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Abraham, M., Aulenbacher, B. (2019). Contested capitalism: some reflections on countermovements, social justice and the task for sociology. In: Dörre, K., Rosa, H., Becker, K., Bose, S., Seyd, B. (eds) Große Transformation? Zur Zukunft moderner Gesellschaften. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25947-1_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25947-1_29

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