The SFB short film:

About property in transition and the work of the SFB.

This film is the work of Catharina Göldner and Katharina Hamann.

The members of the Collaborative Research Centre in summer 2023

Image: Marlen van den Ecker

Welcome to the website of the Collaborative Research Centre TRR 294 "Structural Change of Property"!

The Collaborative Research Centre pursues the goal of investigating the fundamental structural change of property that could be observed at the latest since 1989. The Collaborative Research Centre contains a total of 23 subprojects at eight locations in Germany: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (Sprecher*innenhochschule), Universität Erfurt, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, Leibniz-Institute for Research on Society and Space, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Technische Universität Darmstadt.

While private property has gained in importance worldwide since 1989 under conditions of increasing concentration and deregulation, the resulting property system has proved to be both crisis-prone and highly controversial in the face of new economic, political and technological challenges. It isn't challenged only by the global financial and economic crises, but also by political conflicts over the appropriation, distribution and containment of private property, as well as by the dynamics of the knowledge and bio-economies, which are linked to alternative concepts of common property, shared use and free access to resources.

News

New blog post online!

In his blog post ‘Im Dickicht der Skripte: Horizontale und vertikale Strukturen des Eigentums’, which has just been published, Veit Braun of the University of Augsburg seeks to clarify the complex forms and regimes of ownership when it comes to the ownership of plants. Amidst the complex intertwining of very different property rights, one thing becomes clear: “Apparently, property is not only the obvious answer to all manner of problems, but also the only conceivable one; even to those problems it itself creates.”

 

To the blog post

New Dossier: China's Property System in Transition

The newly published dossier "China's Property System in Transition: Tradition, Transformation, and the Realignment of Global Power Dynamics" brings together contributions from the SFB that illustrate how property in China is being reorganized amid profound social transformations, global shifts in power, and ecological crises. The dossier approaches the topic from three perspectives: property as a social practice, the transformation of the property order, and the geopolitical reorganization of property. 

 

Read the Dossier

Blood Oil: Fossil Curse and Political Violence

In an article for the Czech magazine kapitál, Petra Gümplová writes about the concept of “blood oil”: countries rich in natural resources are often ruled by autocratic regimes. As a result, local populations are excluded from the wealth generated by these resources. Instead, as the example of Russia shows, this wealth is used to finance wars abroad and authoritarian repression at home.

To the article

Event information

To mark the release of the “Map of Millionaires,” which shows where millionaires lived around 1900 and where wealth was concentrated, a panel discussion will take place on June 22, during which host Isabell Stamm will also deliver opening remarks. The digital map will be made available on June 22 at 6 p.m. 

to the event

New blog post online!

In Germany, money and influence are closely intertwined: who has access to political office and whose interests are represented depends on economic resources that are unevenly distributed. How do members of parliament view this problem? This question is explored in the recently published blog post “Money, Influence, and Political Equality: How Members of Parliament Assess the Role of Economic Resources in Political Competition” from Project B04, “Economic Property and Political (In)Equality: A Sociological Analysis of the Elite.” 

 

Event information

As part of the Monday Lectures series at the Max Weber Centre in Erfurt, Sofia Bianchi Mancini will give a lecture on “Questioning Divine Property and its Limits” on June 8, 2026, at 4:15 p.m. This will be followed by a total of three additional lectures by her on June 15 and 29, grouped under the theme “Property, Appropriation, and the Economy of Religion.” 

To the News archive...

Events

There are no upcoming events at the moment.

To the complete schedule of dates...

An overview of the most important events of the Collaborative Research Center is available here.