Acceleration and Cultural Change: Dialogues from an Overheated World (SpringerBriefs in Anthropology)

This open access book includes socio-anthropological and anthropo-sociological conversations between one of the world’s leading anthropologists, Thomas Hyland Eriksen, and a young scholar, using his groundbreaking "overheating" approach.This book includes socio-anthropological and anthropo-sociological conversations between one of the world’s leading anthropologists, Thomas Hyland Eriksen, and a young scholar, using his groundbreaking "overheating" approach. From the pandemic to the spread of nationalism, from the Anthropocene to the Homogenocene, the authors discuss the most urgent issues of current society: e.g., the loss of biological and cultural diversity owing to the forces of globalisation; and the emergence of new forms of diversity through globalisation and migration; the intersectional dimension of climate change; the incredible rising of anger demonstrations around the world and resentful, overheated identities often linked to right-wing nationalism; the way digital devices have changed the meaning of temporality in people's life-worlds; the regulatory and competitive pressures on universities which are a result of many factors in the intersection of globalisation, massification and marketisation; youth's weakened belief in progress connected to changes in the contemporary world, such as growing inequality, political alienation and environmental destruction; recent pathbreaking research and original theory in sociology and anthropology related to the changes in an overheated world; and what post-Coronavirus social life might become. Highly topical, engaging and written in a conversational style, this book is a must-read for social scientists and discerning lay persons who want a fresh perspective on understanding the critical issues of our time. This is an open access book. Preface 6 How I Met THE 6 Can a Cloud Be Photographed? How We Worked on the Book 9 A Guide for Readers 9 1991: The Overheating Year 12 Acknowledgements 14 Introduction: Tensions of Overheated Globalization 15 Contents 21 Chapter 1: Lessons from the Pandemic: A Window of Opportunity? 23 A Shared Shock 23 Risks of Accelerated Smart Working 24 Managing Contradictions and Hybrid Identities 25 Digital Detox: Towards a Digital Slowing Down? 26 Things to Be Learned from an Overheating Perspective 28 Does This Overheated World Make People Happier? 31 Metaphysics of Absence 32 References 33 Chapter 2: The Double Bind of Climate Change in Contemporary World Society 35 Finding Ourselves at a Crossroads 36 The Role of Governments in Climate Summit Meetings 40 Climate Change and Environmental Destruction as a Double Bind 41 Habitus and Reflexivity 44 References 47 Chapter 3: Threats to Diversity in a Overheated World 49 Will Cultural Differences Continue to Exist? 51 Overheating Effects and the Reduction of Diversity 55 A Solution: Scaling Down in Different Dimensions of Our Lives 58 Interlude: Conversation with a Social Worker About the First Pandemic Wave 60 References 67 Chapter 4: Unstable Identities 68 Accelerated Change Out of Control and Social Identities 68 A Fight Between David and Goliath 70 Cooling Down Processes in the South 74 Destabilized Identities 75 Reference 77 Chapter 5: Slow and Fast Academic Life 78 A Dark Side of Academia 78 Beyond the Ideal Types of Speed and Slowness 79 Being a Production Worker in the Sausage Factory of Academia 83 Slow vs Fast Academia 86 Reference 88 Chapter 6: Rage Days 89 Loosing Control in Our Daily Life 89 Populist Rage 92 Simple Answers to Complex Questions 94 Toxic Masculinity 96 Coming to Trust as a Fundamental Concept 97 Reference 98 Chapter 7: Living in a Digital World 99 Smartphone and Refugees 100 Smartphone and Time 101 Between Synchronization and Desynchronization 103 Between Personal and Social Time 105 Towards Hybrid Time Regimes? 107 References 109 Chapter 8: Public Engagement 111 The anthropologist ́s Audience 112 Role of the Anthropologist 112 Strategies of Communication 116 Beyond Felix Bartholdy ́s Posture: Some Concluding Perspectives 122 Have We Reached the Tipping Point? 124 References 126 References 128 Essential Texts on Overheating 129 Articles and Book Chapters 130