Leibniz Lecture “Acceleration, Alienation, Resonance” with Hartmut Rosa | 11 March
Date: 11th March 2026
Time: 5:45 PM
Venue: Seminar Room 1+2+3, IIC main building, Delhi
Collaborators: DFG (German Research Foundation) and German Embassy New Delhi
Title: Leibniz Lecture “Acceleration, Alienation, Resonance”
Speaker: Prof. Hartmut Rosa (Max Weber Kolleg, Erfurt/ Jena University)
Abstract:
In my presentation I will explore the consequences for modern life of the phenomenon of social acceleration. Late modern societies are characterized by a constant increase in the speed of technological innovation, social change, and everyday life, leading to a pervasive sense of time pressure and instability. While acceleration promises growth, efficiency, and progress, it simultaneously produces forms of alienation, as individuals experience the world as mute, unresponsive, and beyond their control. As a counter-concept, I want to introduce “resonance” — a mode of relating to the world characterized by mutual responsiveness, transformation, and meaningful connection – but uncontrollable and unpredictable. The talk outlines the dynamics of acceleration, examines its link to alienation, and discusses resonance as a possible pathway toward a more fulfilling form of modernity.
Bio:
Hartmut Rosa is Professor of Sociology and Social Theory at Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany, and Director of the Max-Weber-Kolleg at the University of Erfurt. He has been an Affiliated Professor at the Department of Sociology, New School for Social Research, New York, 2001-2006. In 1997, he received his PhD in Political Science from Humboldt-University in Berlin. After that, he held teaching positions at the universities of Mannheim, Jena, Augsburg and Essen. His publications focus on Social Acceleration, Resonance and the Temporal Structures of Modernity and have been translated in more than 25 languages.

OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
sukritimanocha (February 26, 2026). Leibniz Lecture “Acceleration, Alienation, Resonance” with Hartmut Rosa | 11 March. ICAS:MP. Retrieved March 9, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/15rn0

