Figurations of socio-ecological decline: The climate crisis as a process of de- civilisation

Climate change is one of the most important pieces of evidence for what is currently discussed as ‘the Anthropocene’, the age of human domination of the planet. At the same time, it poses a real threat to the survival of human civilisation. This article draws on Norbert Elias’s theory of civilisation to describe this threat as a process of de-civilisation. To this end, the core analytical dimensions of (de)civilisation processes used by Elias – the state’s monopoly on the use of force and control of emotions – will be modified and expanded. Mechanisms and interrelationships of socio-ecological processes will be identified that could bring about the possible collapse of human civilisation in a scenario of severe climate change, combined with a significant decline of social and political adaptive capacities. The emergence of populist narratives and movements is reconstructed in terms of the internal dialectics of the civilisation process that can accelerate this collapse. Finally, the article addresses the question of whether and how re-civilisation could avert collapse and complement the in fact only halved Anthropocene.