OFFENDED FREEDOM

In co-operation with Karl Renner Institute and Sir Peter Ustinov Institute

ROBERT MISIK IN CONVERSATION WITH OLIVER NACHTWEY

OFFENDED FREEDOM

Corona critics with flower necklaces, artists who question scientific findings, journalists who stage themselves as rebels against alleged speech bans: The libertarian authoritarian has found its way into political discourse. They do not yearn for a glorified past or the strong hand of the state, but argue loudly in favour of individual freedoms. For example, to be free from consideration, from social constraints - and free from social solidarity.
The economist and social scientist Oliver Nachtwey and the literary sociologist Carolin Amlinger have investigated this „libertarian authoritarianism“ in their latest book. They define it as a consequence of the promise of freedom in late modernity: the individual is supposed to be mature, authentic and highly responsible. At the same time, they experience themselves as increasingly powerless and without influence in the face of an increasingly complex world. This is experienced as an affront and manifests itself in resentment and hostility towards democracy.
In the Kreisky Forum, Robert Misik talks to Oliver Nachtwey about a new type of protest in late modernity, whose call for individual sovereignty is a threat to a society of the free and equal: the denial of a shared reality.

Oliver Nachtwey, born in 1975, is Professor of Social Structure Analysis at the University of Basel. He was awarded the Hans Matthöfer Prize in 2016.
Moderation Robert Misik, Author and journalist

Carolin Amlinger, Oliver Nachtwey:
Offended freedom. Aspects of libertarian authoritarianism
Suhrkamp Verlag, October 2022, 28,80 €