‘Social media’, market power and the health of democracy
With the whistle blown on Facebook, Congress must allocate ownership of personal data to the person—not the platform—to allow competitive providers to emerge.
Society
Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher driven by the core values of freedom, sustainability, and equality. These principles guide our exploration of society’s most pressing challenges. This archive page curates Social Europe articles focused on societal issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.
Making lifelong learning a reality in the EU
There was a time when education and training were for life. But amid today’s social transformations only lifelong learning will do.
Why a new University of Labour?
As workers’ representatives face the challenges of digitalised work and fragmented workforces, a ‘University of Labour’ in Germany offers support.
After the Bundestag elections—a change of climate?
Angela Merkel was labelled the ‘climate chancellor’. But powerful coal and car industries limited her achievements. Will her successor break free?
The myth of green capitalism
Rallying behind market-based measures to address climate change allows the owners of capital yet another way to avoid a reckoning.
Coming second in the game of life
‘We don’t want to decapitate the tall poppies,’ said Boris Johnson in July. Yet for Kate Pickett his ‘levelling up’ ambitions will necessitate flattening the whole social gradient.
Ecosocialism: more than another Third Way
The old left was too slow to see beyond materialist consumption. But an ecosocialism can underpin coalitions with the green parties which filled the gap.
To stop global heating, tax multinationals better
The rapid, radical decarbonisation needed to save the planet will cost a lot. Taxing multinationals and the wealthy properly can help pay for it.
Time is running out for a new agricultural model for the global south
Jayati Ghosh is baffled that at a coming food summit the UN should partner with the World Economic Forum, not its own specialist agencies.
Norway’s oil and money up for grabs in the coming election
Norway’s electorate has an existential choice to face about its Oil Fund, associated with domestic prosperity but looming climate catastrophe.
Rescuing the concept of precarity
The cause of the precariat isn’t helped by fuzzy thinking about who and what it is.
Not seeing the wood for the trees—the EU’s environmental blunder
Supporting a conversion to wood burning has unwittingly incentivised power plants to increase greenhouse gases.
National egoism versus planetary responsibility
Tackling the climate crisis is fundamentally incompatible with our understanding of sovereignty.
Climate change: labour’s neglected role
The Paris Agreement’s goals can not be fulfilled if neoliberalism prevails—which means only labour’s participation can bring success.
Maximising the potential of the European Green Deal
The European Green Deal doesn’t deserve uncritical support—but nor does it need sniping from the sidelines.
Amazon no longer absorbs carbon—has the world reached the point of no return?
The news that the Amazon rainforest is no longer a carbon sink puts a further big question-mark against the EU-Mercosur trade deal.