What Kind of Great Transformation? The Imperial Mode of Living as a Major Obstacle to Sustainability Politics

The debate over a great transformation has contributed to emphasize the depth of the social-ecological crisis and the urgency of effecting far-reaching societal change. However, it fails to provide a critical analysis of the social causes of the crisis or to properly identify the unsustainable nature of current trends. Here the concept of the imperial mode of living steps in. It sheds light on the mechanisms through which unsustainable social relations are both reproduced and obscured. It outlines the contradictions from which, once politicized, a fundamental social-ecological transformation may emerge. © 2018 U. Brand,M.Wissen; licensee oekom verlag.