Renowned sociologist and political philosopher, professor at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena and director of the Max Weber College at the University of Erfurt, Hartmut Rosa will honor us with his presence at ENS de Lyon on December 15, 2025, as part of the ceremony to award him an Honoris Causa Doctorate, followed by a public lecture in English entitled: “Acceleration, Alienation, and Resonance: Forms of Connecting with the World.” Here, we invite you to discover his rich professional and academic career, as well as the various scientific fields to which he has made significant contributions. Photo credit © Jürgen Scheere
Access the live-stream on 15 December 2025
Hartmut Rosa, one of the leading voices in contemporary Critical Theory
Born on August 15, 1965, Hartmut Rosa, a German sociologist and political philosopher, is one of the leading contemporary thinkers in Critical Theory, a school of thought originating from the Frankfurt School, which analyzes the relationships between society, culture, and power.
Today, and since 2005, he has been a professor of general and theoretical sociology at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. He works on topics such as “Diagnosis of the times and analysis of modernity,” “Normative and empirical foundations of social criticism,” “Theories of the subject and identity,” “Sociology of time and the theory of acceleration,” and “Sociology of international relations.”
Hartmut Rosa has also been director of the Max Weber College at the University of Erfurt (Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies) since 2013. He is also deputy director of the International Graduate School (IGS), an international doctoral school whose work focuses on the theme of “Resonant Relations between Self and World.”
An international and multidisciplinary academic background
Previously, Hartmut Rosa was a research assistant at the University of Jena from 1997 to 2004, after obtaining his doctorate in political science in 1997 at Humboldt University in Berlin, where he defended his thesis: “Identity and Cultural Practice: Political Philosophy According to Charles Taylor.”
At the same time, after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the London School of Economics, he taught as a visiting professor from 2001 to 2002 at the New School for Social Research in New York, where he is still an associate professor today. In 2004, he completed his habilitation in sociology and political science at the University of Jena, before holding chairs at the universities of Duisburg-Essen (2004) and Augsburg (2004-2005).
From acceleration to resonance, via alienation
Hartmut Rosa's works, translated into some twenty languages, have had a profound impact on contemporary sociology, particularly through his theory of resonance, which extends his critical reflection on modern acceleration and alienation.
He developed the theory of social acceleration, demonstrating how the race against time structures our institutions, changes our lifestyles, and threatens human equilibrium. In this way, he invites us to rethink our relationship with time and modern life by highlighting the paradoxes of technological progress. In his book Social Acceleration: A New Theory of Modernity, he writes: “We dance faster and faster just to stay in place.” Then: “We can therefore define the acceleration of social change as an increase in the rate of obsolescence of the experiences and expectations that guide action, and as a shortening of the periods that can be defined as belonging to the present, for the various spheres of functions, values, and actions.”
Hartmut Rosa has also worked on the concept of resonance, suggesting that it be used as an analytical tool that positions human relationships as a remedy for acceleration, offering perspectives for rebuilding the connection between individuals, institutions, and the natural world. “Resonance is a form of relationship to the world that combines affection and emotion, self-interest and a sense of personal efficacy, in which the subject and the world touch and transform each other,” he writes in his book Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relation to the World. Resonance is not a relationship of echo, but a relationship of response. Resonant relationships presuppose that the subject and the world are sufficiently ‘closed’, or consistent, to be able to speak with their own voice, and sufficiently open to allow themselves to be affected and reached.”
Furthermore, Hartmut Rosa recommends adopting a transdisciplinary methodology, combining historical analysis, phenomenological approaches, and fieldwork-based research. His work involves bringing together philosophy, sociology, and political science.
Selected publications by Hartmut Rosa
- The Uncontrollability of the World (translated from German), Cambridge, Polity Press, 2020
- Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relation to the World, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2019
- Social Acceleration: A New Theory of Modernity, Columbia University Press, 2013
- Alienation and Acceleration: Towards a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Temporality, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2026
Among his many awards and distinctions:
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2023)
- Pufendorf Prize from the German Sociological Association (2018)
- Hartmut Rosa was named one of “35 thinkers who influence the world” by Le Nouveau Magazine littéraire in December 2018.
- Corresponding member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (2016)
- Erwin Schrödinger Prize for Philosophy (2012)
- Humboldt Advanced Research Fellowship (2008)