Since the 1970s, deindustrialization has fundamentally changed Western industrial societies. In North America and Europe, traditional industrial regions lost thousands of jobs – in particular the textile industry, coal mining, the iron and steel industry and shipbuilding. Even in the production of electronic consumer goods or in the watch and photography industries many millions of jobs were cut or relocated to other regions of the world. In fact, deindustrialization needs to be conceived of as one of the most far-reaching transformation processes in contemporary history, fundamentally changing landscapes, economic structures and socio-cultural environments.

Starting from this observation, the conference will reflect on the impact and wider historical reverberations of deindustrialization in Europe from the 1970s. While deindustrialization was initially addressed mainly by the social sciences, in recent years historians have increasingly come in and pointed out the complexity of the historical phenomenon. In contrast to economic concepts such as "restructuring" or "downsizing", which could not adequately capture societal and social change, a historical approach to deindustrialization allows to cover, first, the economic development of production, turnover and sales, second, the political shaping of the policy field, third, the cultural ramifications and, forth, a perspective from below, which takes into account personal memories of workers, the dissolution of traditional social and cultural communities or changes in social spaces. 

The conference will focus on the European particularities of deindustrialization since the 1970s – in Western and Eastern Europe, in an East-West comparison over the epochal year 1989/90 and in terms of entanglements among European states and beyond. What distinguished Europe from the US and Canada, from the North American experience of deindustrialization? In how far differed the variety of European reactions to deindustrialization from each other? Did the Cold War resonate in deindustrialization policies, in the ensuing political mobilization or in personal experiences? In which way did deindustrialization leave its mark on the co-transformation process after 1989/90 both in the former East and West? Last but not least: is it possible at all to conceive of ‘European’ deindustrialization?  Hence, the conference aims at widening our understanding of deindustrialization and its multidimensional impact on European politics and societies in the period of its most recent history. 

The closing conference of the CONDE research project is a cooperation with the C²DH / University of Luxembourg

► Conference programme

LOCATION
Black Box, Maison des Sciences humaines
11, Porte des Sciences
4366, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

REGISTRATION
Guests are invited to attend the conference at their own expense; they should register in advance with Tessy Dellledera (tessy.delledera[at]uni.lu).