About Futures of Difference
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What Is Futures of Difference?
Futures of Difference is a subscription-free scholarly platform produced by the Max Planck Institute for Political and Social Science (formerly the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity) in Göttingen, Germany. It explores how social categories — race and ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, sexuality, language, and legal status — are being challenged, contested, and transformed at this critical moment in history.
The platform features essays by renowned experts and up-and-coming scholars, a video podcast series with in-depth conversations, expert interview shorts, and an event film documenting the gathering of leading researchers at Schloss Ringberg.
We stand at the collision point of three powerful global trends:
Social complexification driven by digital technologies, fluid identities, and increasing recognition of intersectionality
Dramatic demographic shifts including aging populations, migration and superdiversity, and climate-induced displacement
The rising hegemony of right-wing populism that seeks to simplify and police social categories
These forces are propelling us toward uncertain futures. Will we see a hardening of categorical boundaries and deepening inequalities? The erasure of certain identities from public discourse? Or might we move toward new forms of cosmopolitan belonging and reduced categorical discrimination?
Publisher
Steven Vertovec is Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Political and Social Science (formerly the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity), Honorary Professor of Sociology and Ethnology at the University of Göttingen, and Emeritus Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. Previously he was Professor of Transnational Anthropology at the University of Oxford. His research interests concern modes and patterns of social difference, international migration, transnationalism and cosmopolitanism. His latest book is Superdiversity: Migration and Social Complexity (London: Routledge, 2023), translated as Superdiversität: Migration und soziale Komplexität (Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2024).
Podcast Co-Host
Georg Diez is a journalist and author whose work spans politics, culture, and social change. A trained historian, he co-hosts the Futures of Difference podcast series, bringing a critical media perspective to academic discussions and bridging the gap between research and public discourse.
Editorial Team
Serawit B. Debele (she/her) is a professor of Gender, Sexuality and Religion at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Her research explores the entanglements of sexuality, religion and politics. She is also a member of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence.
Tilmann Heil is Visiting Professor at University of Leuven and Associate Investigator at the Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne. He studies urban inequality in relation to intersectional difference and urban ecologies. His most recent book (co-edited with Ramiro Segura and Bianca Tavolari) is Convivialidades Urbanas. Debates Sociopolíticos a partir da América Latina (2026, Hucitec).
Sabine Mohamed is assistant professor of anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University and currently a member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (2025–2026). She is an urban, political and economic anthropologist whose research explores empire-making in the Global South, and how urban and port life intersects with gendered histories of race, belonging and capital in East Africa, as well as Germany.
Farhan Samanani is Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Social Justice at King’s College London. His work explores how people build forms of understanding, connection and common cause across meaningful differences, in the UK today. He is the author of How to Live With Each Other: An Anthropologist’s Notes on Sharing a Divided World (2022, Profile Books).
Jagat Sohail is a sociocultural anthropologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany. Over the past decade he has conducted research on flight and migration in Germany and India. His forthcoming book, Shadows of the Long Summer, is based on his doctoral research at Princeton University, and explores the afterlives of a particular event in German contemporary history, when a culture of welcome greeted refugees fleeing civil war and catastrophe in West Asia in 2015.
Ye Junjia is Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research interests lie at the intersections of migration, labour studies and the urban development of Southeast Asia. One of her recent works is Ye, J. (Sept 2025), “The Singapore Model for Managing Labour Migration and Diversity” in Current History, 124(863): 229–233.
The Video-Podcast Episodes
Each episode features a conversation between the hosts and a leading scholar:
Social Categorization and Populism — with Michele Lamont (Harvard University)
Migration and Ethnic Diversity — with Dan Hiebert (University of British Columbia)
Colonial Legacies and Cultural Diversity — with Junjia Ye (Nanyang Technological University)
Mixity and How Social Categories Change — with Miri Song (University of Kent / LSE)
Essentialism, Intersectionality, and Social Complexity — with Ann Phoenix (UCL)
Featured Scholars
In addition to the full episodes, Futures of Difference features 34 expert shorts — short clips where scholars from around the world share their perspectives on the future of social categories, diversity, and identity:
Adriana Cruz, Historian — Social Inequality and Women’s Movements
Alan Gamlen, Political Geographer — Imagining the Future of Cultural Diversity
Andreas Pott, Geographer — How Social Categories Become “Natural”
Ann Phoenix, Psychologist — Social Categories and Decolonial Thinking
Bob White, Anthropologist — The Paradox of Human Diversity
Brenda Yeoh, Geographer — How Does Migration Shape Identity?
Dan Hiebert, Geographer — Can We Predict the Future of Diversity?
Farhan Samanani, Anthropologist — What Is Superdiversity? A New Paradigm
Fran Meissner, Migration Scholar — Diversity Between Dystopia and Utopia
Georg Diez, Journalist & Author — What Is the Future of Diversity?
Jan Rath, Sociologist — Why Social Categories Resist Prediction
Jens Schneider, Migration Researcher — What Are Examples of Social Categories?
Jeremy Walton, Anthropologist — How History Shapes Social Categories
Johanna Lukate, Anthropologist — How Social Categorization Distributes Power
John Solomos, Sociologist — The Diversity of Views About Diversity
Junjia Ye, Geographer — Cosmopolitanism in African and Asian Cities
Laavy Kathiravelu, Sociologist — Ethnic Diversity: Demography and Complexity
Loren Landau, Migration Scholar — Is Diversity a Western Concept?
Maria Schiller, Diversity Researcher — Art Against the Anti-Diversity Backlash
Mary Boatemaa Setrana, Migration Scholar — Diversity Representation Beyond the West
Mary Waters, Sociologist — How Climate Migration Reshapes Difference
Michèle Lamont, Sociologist, Harvard University — Moral Boundaries and the Future of Solidarity
Miri Song, Sociologist — When Social Categories Become Silos
Nancy Foner, Sociologist — Right-Wing Populism vs. Social Difference
Nando Sigona, Migration Scholar — Past and Future of Social Categories
Patrick Simon, Demographer — Are Ethnic Boundaries Dissolving or Persisting?
Paul Spoonley, Sociologist — How Technology Shapes Human Diversity
Peter Scholten, Migration Scholar — Can Social Categories Move Us Beyond Polarization?
Phil Kasinitz, Sociologist — What Is Cosmopolitanism? A Utopian Vision
Rainer Bauböck, Political Theorist — Is Right-Wing Populism Threatening Democracy?
Robin Cohen, Social Theorist — Cultural Diversity: Utopia as Method
Sakura Yamamura, Migration Researcher — How Do Social Categories Work Across Scales?
Thomas Faist, Sociologist — What Is Social Impact Across Generations?
Yael Peled, Political Philosopher — Diversity Examples in Everyday Life
Topics We Cover
Social categories · Human diversity · Superdiversity · Ethnic diversity · Migration and identity · Right-wing populism · Cosmopolitanism · Intersectionality · Social inequality · Colonial legacies · Mixed identities · Diversity representation · Social categorization · Essentialism · Social complexity
Where to Find Us
YouTube: Watch all episodes, expert shorts & the event film → https://www.youtube.com/@FuturesOfDifference
Spotify: Listen to the podcast → open.spotify.com/show/2Tn4SnN3wwgz7DswJGXRi6
Apple Podcasts: Listen → podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futures-of-difference
All content is published under a Creative Commons license. The views expressed are those of the respective authors and guests, not of the Max Planck Institute or the Max Planck Society.
What You Get on Substack
Essays by leading scholars on the futures of social categories
Video podcast episodes and expert interview shorts
An event film documenting leading researchers at Schloss Ringberg
Scholarly context and background reading
Discussion threads on each topic
Open Access & Policies
Everything we publish is freely available — no paywall, no subscription fee, no restrictions.
You are free to copy, redistribute, and build upon our content under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. Please attribute the work to “Futures of Difference / Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity” and note any changes you make. For academic citation, refer to the individual author and episode or essay title.
We welcome comments on our posts. Please use your real name — we may remove comments from anonymous or pseudonymous accounts, as well as any abusive or off-topic comments.
At this time, we are not accepting unsolicited pitches or submissions.
The views expressed are those of the respective authors and guests, not of the Max Planck Institute or the Max Planck Society.
