Skip to main content
Statement banner

Policy Insights

Researchers and collaboration partners of Population Europe as well as eminent experts from leading organisations contribute to the debate on demographic developments that are of public interest by providing insights into pressing policy issues.

Image
Demographic Overheating?
In his recent book Overheating: An Anthro­pology of Accelerated Change, anthropolo­gist T. H. Eriksen astutely applies thermo­dynamic concepts to explain the economic, environmental, and identity challenges endemic to globalization that are endan­gering social reproduction. The point of friction, he argues, is a matter of scale: The challenges are global in scope but manifest at the local level. Eriksen points to overpopulation, climate change, and the accelerated production of residue—both in terms of waste and redundant people—as signs of overheating.