Property as a World Relationship: Disposal, Care, Use: A Comparative Analysis in Germany and China

Outline

In its second funding phase, this research project conducts a comparative analysis in Germany and China, examining: 1) specific practices of disposal and associated rights bundles emerging in three identified areas (leasing, sharing, cooperatives), 2) related care responsibilities and orientations, and 3) cultural and institutional differences between these two regions. The project directly addresses the overarching SFB thesis of lengthening chains between possession and ownership, exploring cultural drivers and institutional consequences.

This project integrates and further develops the earlier projects C01 (Herrmann-Pillath) and C06 (Rosa, Oberthür). Initial studies on sharing economy practices revealed a broader cultural and institutional shift from practices and relationships of goods ownership to practices of "(mere) usage." Additionally, it emerged that arrangements of use without ownership, particularly regarding land and property, are institutionally widespread and culturally embedded in China (Shenzhen), alongside substantial state support for sharing practices. Both projects indicated that practices of "mere use" disrupt the traditionally property-linked bundles of rights to dispose of and obligations to care for goods, resulting in complex new patterns of usage rights and care responsibilities.

To analytically address these relationships, project C01 developed a theory of "having" and "havings." These bundles vary significantly depending on whether care and usage arrangements are structured through cooperatives, commercial leasing agreements, or sharing economy institutions. If ownership fundamentally defines social functions by allocating rights of disposal and corresponding care obligations, it becomes crucial to explore how disposal and care are regulated and how rights and obligations are allocated when tangible goods (e.g., cars, properties, hardware, software) are no longer owned but only temporarily used.

In its second funding phase, this research project conducts a comparative analysis in Germany and China, examining: 1) specific practices of disposal and associated rights bundles emerging in three identified areas (leasing, sharing, cooperatives), 2) related care responsibilities and orientations, and 3) cultural and institutional differences between these two regions. The project directly addresses the overarching SFB thesis of lengthening chains between possession and ownership, exploring cultural drivers and institutional consequences.

The project's theoretical-conceptual framework adopts a sociological approach of "world relationship," employing phenomenological analyses to examine how shifts in institutional modes of "having" and "havings" reshape object, social, and self-relationships. Methodologically, it continues using the documentary method proven successful in the first research phase, combining theoretical development with focus groups and guided qualitative interviews.

Project Activities

Publications

Scientific publications

  • Katzer, Henrike; Janzing, Malte; Henning, Christoph; Oberthür, Jörg; Rosa, Hartmut (2024): „Wenn alles auf den Tisch kommt – Die Weltbeziehungen der Homesharer werden in der Küche verhandelt“, In: Zeitschrift für Soziologie 53 (3), 264-280, https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2024-2021.

  • Basso, Frédéric; Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten (2024): Embodiment, Political Economy and Human Flourishing: An Embodied Cognition Approach to Economic Life, London: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Cheng, Jing; Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten; Li, Ling; Guo, Man (2024): „Shareholding cooperatives in Shenzhen and the revival of ‘filial piety’ as a core value of Chinese ethical life", In: Carsten Herrmann-Pillath; Qian Zhao (eds.): East Asian Ethical Life and Socio-Economic Transformation in the Twenty-First Century The Ethical Sources of the Entrepreneurial Renewal of Companies and Communities, London: Routledge.

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten (2024): „Imagining Utopia in Eco-Social Transformation. More-Than-Human Property and Gift-Exchange Between People and Nature”, In: Walter Otto Ötsch, Birger P. Priddat, Steffen W. Groß (eds..): Das Imaginative der Politischen Ökonomie, 307-328.

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten; Zhao, Qian (Hrsg.) (2024): East Asian Ethical Life and Socio-Economic Transformation in the Twenty-First Century. The Ethical Sources of the Entrepreneurial Renewal of Companies and Communities, Routledge.

  • Henning, Christoph (2023): „Values of Exchange, Values of Sharing“, In: B. Hollstein, H. Rosa, J. Rüpke (eds.): ‘Weltbeziehung’: The Study of our Relation to the World, Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 235-258.

  • Rosa, Hartmut (2023): „Property as the Modern Form of Weltbeziehung: Reflections on the structural change of possessive forms of relating to the world“, In: B. Hollstein, H. Rosa, J. Rüpke (eds.): "Weltbeziehung". The Study of our Relationship to the World, Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 19- 35.

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten (2023a): „Cultural Foundations of Economic Behaviour in China“, In: Jane Nolan, Zhao Shuming, und Ken Kamoche (eds.): Routledge Handbook of Chinese Business and Management, , 34–55, 1. Aufl. London: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9780429448935-5

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten (2023b): „The universal commons: An economic theory of ecosystem ownership“, In: Ecological Economics 208, DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107822.

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten (2023c): „Sharing planet Earth: Overcoming speciesism in economics", In: real-world economics review 106, December, 113-121.

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten (2023d): „Modi der Appropriation und nicht-menschliches Eigentum am Land. Wege zu einer geoethischen Revolution des Rechts", In: Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik 24 (3), 337–59. https://doi.org/10.5771/1439-880X-2023-3-337.

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten; Man, Guo (2023): The Cultural Governance of Death in Shenzhen, In: The China Quarterly. DOI: 10.1017/S0305741022001898. A summary audiobook of this article can be found here.

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten; Zhao, Qian (2023): „The Cultural Meaning of ‘Market’ in China and the Western tradition: Worlds Apart?“, In: Hollstein, Bettina; Rosa, Hartmut; Rüpke, Jörg (eds.): The Study of our Relationship to the World, Frankfurt am Main and New York: Campus Verlag.

  • Man, Guo; Liqun, Pan; Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten; Ling, Li; Jing, Cheng (2022): „Perceptions of Wealth and Attitudes Towards Redistributive Policies in Urban Villages of Shenzhen, China.“, Working Paper Nr. 3, Sonderforschungsbereich/Transregio 294 »Strukturwandel des Eigentums«.

  • Jing, Cheng; Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten; Ling, Li (2022): „The Three Modes of Appropriation. Lessons of Chinese Practice for Theorizing Property.“, Working Paper Nr. 1, Sonderforschungsbereich/Transregio 294 „Strukturwandel des Eigentums".

  • Henning, Christoph (2022): „Eigentum als Gegen-Natur: Entfremdungs- und Ideologiekritik am Beispiel des Privateigentums“, In: Nachtwey, O.; Thaa, H.; Ivanova, M. (eds.): Kapitalismus und Kapitalismuskritik, Frankurt am Main: Campus, 89-114.

  • Rosa, Hartmut; Bueno, Arthur; Henning, Christoph (eds.) (2021): Critical Theory & New Materialisms, New York/London: Routledge.

  • Reckwitz, Andreas; Rosa, Hartmut (2021): Spätmoderne in der Krise. Was leistet die Gesellschaftstheorie?, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten; Man, Guo; Xingyuan, Feng (2020): Ritual and Economy in Metropolitan China: A Global Social Science Approach, Routledge.
     

Media and podcasts

Lectures

  • Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten: „Chinas Stellung in der Welt. Historische Perspektiven für die Gegenwart", lecture as part of the lecture series "Chinese Worlds" organised by the China Competence Platform for Universities and Research Institutions in Thuringia, Friedrich Schiller University Jena. (16.05.2024)

  • Bönnighausen, Helen: „Ownership, Spacing and Community Spirit: How Energy Sharing is changing Our Relationship to the World“, Lecture as part of the Science Technology and Society Conference Graz 2024, TU Graz. (07.05.2024)

  • Janzig, Malte: „Playlistkuration statt Plattensammlung? Praktiken der Musikanverwandlung beim Musikstreaming“, Lecture as part of the conference of the Sociology and Social History of Music Section 2024 of the Society for Music Research, Anton Bruckner Private University Linz. (05.04.2024)

  • Henning, C.; Bönnighausen, H.: „'Unser Strom', oder Eigentum das man nicht anfassen kann. Warum das Teilen von Energie so schwer fällt“, as part of the workshop "Energiekrise, Eigentum und Daseinsvorsorge - das Energiesystem im Wandel", 29 February 2024, CRC "Structural Change of Property", Universities Jena and Erfurt. (29.02.2024)

  • Katzer, Henrike: „Häuslichkeit: Spätmoderne Praktiken des Wohnraumteilens”, Annual Conference of the Women's and Gender Studies Section of the German Sociological Association, Osnabrück. (17.11.2023)

  • Janzing, Malte: Input presentation at the Nucleus information event and project fair „Das transformative Potenzial des Teilens” (TV 2.9), online. (25.10.2023)

  • Katzer, Henrike: „Paare im Spiegel der Gastfreundlichkeit. Fürsorgeverhältnisse im Homesharing”, Lecture at the research colloquium of the departments Qualitative Methods and Microsociology & Methods of Empirical Social Research and Social Structure Analysis “Paare soziologisch. A qualitative and quantitative liaison”, Friedrich Schiller University Jena. (11.01.2023)

  • Katzer, Henrike: „Sharing is Caring – Ambivalenzen der Sharing Economy”, Opening lecture and participation in the panel discussion as part of the event series “Diskursᶟ - Sharing is Caring: Ist Teilen das neue Haben?” organised by Nucleus Jena. (June 2022)

  • Oberthür, J.; Katzer, H.: „Sharing Spaces – Digitale (Gruppen-)Interviews und qualitative Auswertungsmethoden im Teilprojekt Dinge verfügbar machen”, Lecture as part of the methods workshop „Eigentum erforschen. Forschungsdesigns und erste Felderfahrungen im SFB/Transregio Strukturwandel des Eigentums” at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. (March 2022)

Events

  • Sharing Symposium “Mit Hochschulen auf dem Weg zur sozial-ökologischen Transformation”, Organisation, keynote, contributions and lectures, Jena. (24.-25.11.2024)  

  • Lecture at the Jena Social Theory Colloquium by Thomas Widlok: “Teilen in großem Maßstab. Grenzen und Möglichkeiten”, Jena. (05.07.2023)

  • Workshop with sub-project C07 of the Collaborative Research Centre 1265: “Wohnraumteilen oder -vermarkten: Was verändert sich durch Airbnb und co?”, Jena. (29.06.2023)

  • Lecture on the field of music streaming at the Jena Social Theory Colloquium by Patrick Vonderau: “Die Grenzen digitaler Märkte: Perspektiven der Media Industry Studies”, Jena. (18.01.2023)

  • Workshop on car sharing with Weert Canzler, Jena. (24.11.2022)

  • Conference “East Asian Ethical Life and Economy in the 21st Century”. (24.-25.11.2022)

  • Workshop “Legal pluralism and land ownership in Shenzhen, China” with Peter Ho. (08.04.2022)

Project Staff

A picture of Prof. Dr. Carsten Herrmann-Pillath.

Prof. Dr. Carsten Herrmann-Pillath

Principal Investigator

Erfurt
A picture of Dr. Jörg Oberthür.

Dr. Jörg Oberthür

Principal Investigator

Jena
A picture of Prof. Dr. Hartmut Rosa.

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Rosa

Principal Investigator

Jena
A picture of Juliana Hutai.

Juliana Hutai

Researcher

Erfurt
A picture of Malte Janzing.

Malte Janzing

Researcher

Jena
A picture of Yuxuan Ren.

Yuxuan Ren

Researcher

Erfurt
A picture of Henrike Katzer.

Henrike Katzer

Researcher

Jena
A picture of Prof. Gianfranco Casuso.

Prof. Gianfranco Casuso

Associate Member/ Fellow

Lima, Peru
A picture of Prof. Dr. Christoph Henning.

Prof. Dr. Christoph Henning

Associate Member/ Fellow

Erfurt
A picture of Dr. Robert Jende.

Dr. Robert Jende

Associate Member/ Fellow

Jena
A picture of Prof. Man Guo.

Prof. Man Guo

Associate Member/ Fellow

Erfurt