How Capitalism Affirms its Hegemony: The Imperial Mode of Living

The UP Third World Studies Center (TWSC), in collaboration with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Asia, invites the public to a free lecture titled “How Capitalism Affirms its Hegemony: The Imperial Mode of Living” by University of Vienna Professor for International Politics Ulrich Brand.

DATE: September 4, 2025
TIME: 10:00am to 12:00nn
VENUE: Pilar Herrera Hall, Palma Hall, University of the Philippines Diliman

Register Here: https://bit.ly/TWSCBrandLecture2025

Lecture Abstract:

In their book Imperial Mode of Living (translated into eleven languages) and with this concept, Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen want to highlight the fact that capitalism implies uneven development as well as a constant and accelerating universalisation of a Western mode of production and living. The logic of liberal markets since the 19thCentury, and especially since World War II, has been inscribed into everyday practices that are usually unconsciously reproduced. We want to show that they are a main driver of the ecological crisis and economic and political instability. The Imperial Mode of Living implies that people’s everyday practices, including individual and societal orientations, as well as identities, rely heavily on the unlimited appropriation of resources; a disproportionate claim on global and local ecosystems and sinks; and cheap labour from elsewhere. This availability of commodities is largely organised through the world market, backed by military force and/or the asymmetric relations of forces as they have been inscribed in international institutions. Moreover, the Imperial Mode of Living implies asymmetrical social relations along class, gender and race within the respective countries. Here too, it is driven by the capitalist accumulation imperative, growth-oriented state policies and status consumption. The concrete production conditions of commodities are rendered invisible in the places where the commodities are consumed. The imperialist world order is normalized through the mode of production and living.

About the Lecturer:

Ulrich Brand has been teaching and researching as Professor of International Politics at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Vienna since 2007. He has published work on sustainability transformation, degrowth, historical materialist policy analysis, and critical state theory but his research is condensed in the concept of the “imperial mode of living”. He has been a member of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, where he serves as an academic trustee. Among other things, he is also a member of the Board of Austrian Foundation for International Development, the SAB of Austrian Institute of International Politics, the Global Working Group Beyond Development, and the Permanent Working Group “Beyond Development” in Latin America.

Source: UP Twsc Facebook