Futures of a ‘halved sustainability’: Critical comments on Frank Adloff and Sighard Neckel’s research program

Abstract

One of the central problems of social-theoretical sustainability studies is their high degree of arbitrariness. To increase the transparency of these studies, this article outlines a frame of reference for a systematic comparison of theoretical sustainability approaches that intends to clarify their thematic focus, theoretical premises, implicit assumptions and blind spots. This frame of reference will then be applied to the research program ‘Futures of Sustainability: Modernization, Transformation, Control’ directed by Frank Adloff and Sighard Neckel at the University of Hamburg.