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 five locations in Germany: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (Sprecher*innenhochschule), Universität Erfurt, Freie Universität BerlinCarl 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

Event announcement

SFB goes DGS! From September 22-26, 2025, the 42nd Congress of the German Sociological Association (DGS) will take place in Duisburg on the topic of “Transitions.” Many SFB members will be presenting there, for example at our SFB ad hoc event Structural Change in Property Ownership – Transformation, Transition, Diversification, Persistence? (AdH80) on Thursday, September 25 (2:15-5:00 p.m.), which will discuss the effects and dynamics of property based on the existing ”property oblivion”. The complete program is available here (also as a PDF).

Event announcement

In addition, our SFB will be represented at the 42nd DGS Conference as follows: Katrin Leuze, Sylka Scholz, and Isabell Stamm will discuss property inequality on Tuesday, September 23 (2:15–4:00 p.m.) in the special event “Distributing Wealth, Uniting Society?” At the same time (2:15–5:00 p.m.), Lisa Vollmer and Silke van Dyk will discuss the negotiation of commons and infrastructures. Tilman Reitz will speak on September 23 at 2:15 p.m. about freedom of speech in academia, on September 25 at 5:00 p.m. about the challenges of academic publishing, and on September 26 at 9:00 a.m. about permanent employment in sociology.

Event announcement

The next session at the 42nd DGS Conference on Wednesday, September 24, will feature Robin Saalfeld and Isabell Stamm at 2:15 p.m., who will discuss property asymmetries in couple relationships based on inheritance. Lisa Vollmer will give a presentation on the transformational developments of tenant associations in Malmö and Berlin starting at 9:00 a.m., while Felicitas Sommer (associate) will analyze the effectiveness of rent controls on Friday, September 26 (9:00-11:45 a.m.). In keeping with this theme, Silke van Dyk and Luzie Gerstenhöfer will take stock of the new municipalism in Barcelona on September 26 at 9:00 a.m. For more events and the full program, click here (PDF).

New publication!

Petra Gümplová has launched a series on the ethical aspects of climate change in the online magazine Kapitál. Questions of ownership are central to this topic. Click here for the first post in the series. The articles are published once a month.

Job Advertisement for PostDoc Position

A position as a postdoctoral researcher (75%) is available in subproject B10, “Embracing Capital: Normative and Corporate Law Aspects of the Capitalization of Company Ownership,” at the Technical University of Berlin, starting January 1, 2026. 

Click here for the job advertisement

New publication!

Robin Saalfeld observes in his newly published article "Zwischen Investitionsorientierung, finanzieller Sicherheit und Konsumkritik: Eine Typologie von Eigentumsarrangements in Paarbeziehungen" that couples' property arrangements vary widely: from investment-oriented couples who view property as an asset, to security-oriented couples who perceive it as joint or individualized ownership, to couples who question the relevance of private property, engage in critical negotiations over its meaning, or cope with property scarcity.

Read the article here (open access)

New publication!

The ecological and digital transformation of society is currently in full swing—and more controversial than ever before. In the volume “Contested Transformation: Conflicts over Digital and Ecological Change”, edited by Klaus Dörre, Steffen Liebig, and others,  these debates are addressed on the basis of conceptual contributions and empirical case studies, including the results of the expired SFB subproject B05 “Property, Inequality, and Class Formation in Socio-Ecological Transformation Conflicts”.

 

New publication!

What are the ownership structures in Chinese capitalism? Philipp Köncke, Stefan Schmalz and Lucas Erlbacher explore this question in their article "The anatomy of Chinese capitalism: Sectoral variation in party-state permeation and corporate governance" in the journal competition&change. Using a new dataset on China's 500 largest companies, they arrive at important conclusions:  These range from a fundamentally dual ownership structure to inter-sectoral variation. 

Read the full article here

The SFB in the media

An article in the taz newspaper on masculinity research refers to the new book by Sylka Scholz. It deals with the construction of masculinity, including in the context of employment. The article also emphasizes the East German perspective that Sylka Scholz brings to the debate on masculinity.

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Events

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Universität Erfurt; Erfurt

Identitätsbildender Konsum und sozialökologische Transformation

Workshop held by Dirk Schuck and Marco Sonnberger

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Kino am Markt; Jena

Movie series "Property in view"

On October 21 we will show "Hütten sind für alle da" (D 2023) (OV). Afterwards, there will be a discussion with director Birk Poßecker.

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Universität Erfurt; Erfurt

Semester Opening with Eva Nadai and Jens Borchert

The opening of the winter semester will focus on the theme “Research and Comparison.”

Kino am Markt; Jena

Movie series "Property in view"

On November 18, the anime film Princess Mononoke (J 1997) will be shown.

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