04.06.2024
ConTrust

Gil Eyal speaks in the ConTrust Speaker Series about misconceptions in trust research

At the beginning of the 21st century, the diagnoses of a general loss of trust in science, experts and public institutions have increased just as explosively as the scientific field of trust research. This is based on the assumption that we know what trust is and how it can be investigated and measured.

In his lecture “Trusting as a skillful act: a critical reconstruction of the sociological theory of trust”, Gil Eyal (Professor of Sociology at Columbia University) will argue that this assumption is wrong. Through a critical reconstruction of the sociological theories of trust, he will show that trust exists only as a practical act that is highly context-dependent and determined by temporal variables. He will illustrate this using examples from interviews with Long Covid patients.

The public lecture will take place as part of the “ConTrust Speaker Series” on June 17, 2024 at 6 p.m. c.t. in the “Normative Orders” building on the Westend campus of Goethe University. Participation via Zoom is also possible. Please register in advance at office@normativeorders.net

News from the research center

Publication
12.05.2026 | Online article

Disinhibited Informalization: Talk Radio, Bro Podcasts and the Aesthetics of Populism

This essay by Johannes Völz is a revised and updated translation of “Enthemmte Informalisierung: Talk Radio, Bro-Podcasts und die Ästhetik des Populismus,” WestEnd: Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung 22.2 (2025): 3–24. It is published here as part of the b2o Review’s “Stop the Right” dossier.

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Event
20.05.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Von der Selbstermächtigung zum sozialen Widerstand

Lecture

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Axel Honneth (Frankfurt am Main / New York Columbia University) mit anschließender Diskussion im Rahmen des Rechtstheoretischen Mittwochsseminars von Klaus Günther, Dan Wielsch und Benno Zabel.

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Event
19.05.2026 | Frankfurt

Speculative Truth Regimes

Panel Discussion

Event with Adam Kahlil (New Red Order) and Toby Lee (NYU) as part of the Series Visual Truth Regimes, organized by Laliv Melamed (Goethe University Frankfurt, Normative Orders), Felix Trautmann (Institut für Sozialforschung; HBK Braunschweig) and Franziska Wildt (Institut für Sozialforschung).

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Event
25./26.06.2026 | Frankfurt

Shifting Regimes, Changing Orders

Conference

Conference as part of WDC2026 in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Designtheorie und -forschung (DGTF), Kunstgewerbemuseum/Design Campus SKD and Design and Democracy

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Event
28./29.05.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Global Health Justice: Principles and Practice

Conference

Following the research focus of the Global Health Justice Postdoctoral Programme, funded by Höppsche Stiftung, the "Global Health Justice: Principles and Practice" conference places a particular emphasis on themes such as the human right to health, political activism and health justice issues, and problems of structural injustice and vulnerable populations in health care. Keynote lectures by Jonathan Wolff and Kanchana Mahadevan. The Global Health Justice Programme and this conference are supported by the Höppsche Stiftung in Villmar.

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Event
14.07.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Democracy Over Time and the Climate Crisis

Lecture Series

Vortrag von Anja Karnein (Binghamton). Die Vortragsreihe untersucht Fragen der Klimakrise als Herausforderungen für demokratische Gesellschaften und konzentriert sich auf Themen wie politische Legitimität, Widerstand gegen fossile Brennstoffe und die Interessen künftiger Generationen. Sie wird organisiert von Prof. Dr. Darrel Moellendorf und Dr. Lukas Sparenborg.

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Event
10.06.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Capital Investment, Inequality, and State Power in a Time of Climate Emergency

Lecture, Lecture Series

The lecture series examines questions of the climate crisis as challenges for democratic
societies and focuses on issues of political legitimacy, fossil fuel resistance, and the interests
of future generations.

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Event
23.06.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Wehrhafte Demokratie: Chancen und Grenzen des Parteiverbots

Panel Discussion

Im Mittelpunkt des Abends steht die Frage, ob und unter welchen verfassungsrechtlichen, politischen und gesellschaftlichen Voraussetzungen ein Verbot einer demokratisch gewählten, rechtsnational ausgerichteten Partei als legitimes Mittel in Betracht gezogen werden kann oder nicht. Ausgehend von den normativen Grundlagen des Parteienverbots im Grundgesetz, möchten wir die hohen rechtlichen Hürden und demokratietheoretischen Spannungsfelder dieser Maßnahme erörtern – zwischen Pluralismus und Selbstverteidigung, zwischen Meinungsfreiheit und Schutz der freiheitlichen demokratischen Grundordnung.

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