International Karl Polanyi Society

Care and housing are among the most pressing social and political issues of our time. While access to affordable housing and comprehensive care is increasingly set under pressure, current crises also raise fundamental questions about the values that should guide their organisation: Should care and housing be treated primarily as commodities, or as essential foundations of democratic life and social well-being?

In this online conversation, Joan C. Tronto, Attila Melegh, Brigitte Aulenbacher, and Andreas Novy will explore the interconnections between capitalism, care and housing from different disciplinary perspectives.

Drawing on the ethics of care and her concept of a caring democracy, Joan C. Tronto will reflect on the democratic and ethical dimensions of care and housing. Attila Melegh will offer a historical-sociological perspective on long waves of the societal organisation of care and housing, examining their economic, political and social provision as well as the role of mixed economies. Brigitte Aulenbacher will address contemporary care crisis, the significance of care for sustainable organisation, and the ways in which the structural carelessness of capitalism endangers decent care. Andreas Novy will contribute insights from socioeconomics and housing research, including approaches inspired by the foundational economy that explore pathways towards a socio- ecological transformation.

Together, the speakers will discuss how care and housing can be reorganised beyond narrow economic imperatives and how they may become central pillars of a more just, sustainable and democratic society.

The conversation will be moderated by Fabienne Décieux and Raphael Deindl.

SPEAKERS:

Brigitte Aulenbacher, Prof. (ret.), Institute of Sociology, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria 

Attila Melegh, Prof., Demographic Research Institute, Central Statistical Office. Budapest, Hungary

Andreas Novy, assoc. Prof., Institute for Spatial and Social-Ecological Transformations, WU Vienna University of Economics, Austria

Joan C. Tronto, Prof. (em), Political Science, University of Minnesota, US

MODERATION:

Fabienne Décieux, Department of Sociology in the research group Dynamics of Work, Care and Gender, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Raphael Deindl, Department of Sociology in the research group Dynamics of Work, Care and Gender, University of Innsbruck, Austria

An online conversation hosted by the International Karl Polanyi Society in cooperation with the Research group Dynamics of Work Care and Gender at the Department of Sociology, University of Innsbruck.