Research Program

The SFB/TRR 294 investigates the societally fundamental institution of ownership with a view to its basic adaptability, the changes it is currently undergoing, and the consequences of these dynamics. The initial observation was that private property has gained in global significance on the one hand but is being challenged by a variety of developments and resistance on the other. In the first funding phase, this observation has been empirically and conceptually substantiated through studies on the historical genesis of contemporary property regimes, current conflicts, and alternative options for organizing.

In the second funding phase, the identified processes of change will be systematically researched and compared with each other. Points of comparison include the extensional spread, expansion, or contraction of established patterns of ownership (e.g., intellectual property) and the intensional determination of ownership (which is beginning to change, for example, in relation to the ownership of nature). Further, the duration of transformation processes and the temporality of property itself (from family inheritance to high-frequency trading), as well as the spatial distribution and change of property assets and property regimes (especially in the comparison of different regions of the world). The project areas in which the collaboration is organised are now also oriented towards comparative analysis and structured accordingly.

First, we will investigate problematic objects of property (from data, nature, and water to wind power and universities). Second, we will analyse tensions between subjects of property, from natural persons to legal persons and non-personal entities. Third, we want to shed light on how and where property regimes are aligned with or come into conflict with other societal order principles. This is based on research assumptions that continue the hypotheses of the establishment proposal in a differentiated and more precise form. Instead of assuming a simple contrast between disembedding and re-embedding or questioning ownership, we now assume that the global expansion of ownership partly requires its diversification, partly triggers resistance, and at times is subordinated (temporarily or permanently) to other societal principles. Thereby, no uniform process of change can be assumed, not least because of the continuing heterogeneity of ownership regimes. To compare and contrast the diversity of these topics empirically, to integrate them conceptually, and to interpret them in terms of social theory, cooperation between various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences continues to be essential.

Beyond these structural considerations, the concrete preliminary results of our research are impacting the programme for the second funding phase. (Key findings from the first phase are summarised in Working Paper No. 9, ‘Radikalisierung und Dekomposition von Privateigentum’ [Radicalisation and Decomposition of Private Property].) We have discovered signs of property oblivion not only in the social sciences but also in societal practice. We will continue to investigate how property becomes (or is made) invisible or visible. We also aim to examine the widely discussed trend towards a return of the state based on state ownership shares and regulations at various levels. Finally, we have developed a perspective on inequality that goes beyond the unequal distribution of income and wealth, allowing us to analyse social power differentials associated with the control over property.

Furthermore, our initial findings allow us to examine the complex internal composition of property more precisely: we will investigate the hypothesis that, particularly in cases of high concentration, property becomes increasingly decoupled from possession. In addition, we will analyse how complex chains of ownership link not only different goods but also different rights of disposal and proprietary and non-proprietary elements. In light of these possibilities, we can also specifically ask whether alternative forms of ownership – ranging from commons to sharing arrangements – tend to challenge the capitalist order in a confrontational manner or complement it. In newly established forums on theory and topics, we will examine the results of the first phase closely and link them to debates on changing statehood, the ownership of infrastructure, commodification and assetisation, ownership in the socio-ecological crisis, and the persistence of non-Western property regimes. By focusing on these areas, the SFB can also identify how changing (information) technological, ecological, and global political conditions are putting pressure on the institution of property.

Generally, in the second phase, comparative research allows us to record and classify the plurality of transformation processes that are reshaping property. These changes range from everyday usage practices to legal forms and corporate strategies, from the commercial exploitation of ever larger parts of the world to the political limitation of ownership rights. Cross-project research and discussion will also seek to clarify whether these processes can be traced back to a core set of decisive causes and conditions and whether they combine to form a changed basic structure of the regulated disposal of goods.