Thomas Hylland Eriksen (Leaving Cert Politics and Society): Revision Notes
Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Who is Thomas Hylland Eriksen?
Thomas Hylland Eriksen is a prominent Norwegian anthropologist born in 1962. He currently serves as Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oslo and is widely recognised as a leading public intellectual in Norway. Eriksen has dedicated his academic career to examining the human impact of globalisation, with particular focus on identity, ethnicity, nationalism, cosmopolitanism, climate change, migration, and human rights.
Eriksen describes his academic mission through three key aims: understanding the present world, understanding what it means to be human, and helping to bring about social and environmental change. This triple focus shapes his approach to studying how rapid global transformations affect people's daily lives and sense of identity.
The concept of overheating
Eriksen's most influential contribution to contemporary social theory is his concept of overheating. This theory suggests that the modern world is experiencing change at such a rapid pace that it creates significant unintended consequences across multiple areas of human life.
According to Eriksen, accelerated change in the contemporary era produces three major interconnected problems:
The Three Problems of Overheating:
- Cultural identity - People struggle to define themselves using traditional methods and frameworks
- Economic sustainability - Communities face challenges maintaining their economic foundations
- Environmental degradation - Rapid change threatens the physical environment and traditional lifestyles
The overheating concept highlights how large-scale global changes create instability and uncertainty at the local level. This leads people to experience feelings of alienation and powerlessness as they struggle to maintain their established institutions and practices in the face of overwhelming external pressures.
Eriksen emphasises that while we live in an interconnected world, it is "not a smoothly and seamlessly integrated one." Instead, he argues there exists a fundamental tension between the universalising forces of global modernity and the desire for local community autonomy.
Globalisation and cultural identity
Eriksen uses historical examples to demonstrate the unprecedented speed of contemporary change. He notes that global population grew from 1 billion to 2 billion between 1800 and 1920, but has since exploded to over 7 billion people. This dramatic demographic shift, combined with revolutionary advances in communication and transportation technology, has brought diverse cultures into closer contact while paradoxically intensifying cultural differences and power disparities.
The anthropologist argues that rapid globalisation often causes groups to emphasise their distinctive identities more assertively rather than leading to cultural homogenisation. When traditional ways of life feel threatened, communities frequently respond by strengthening their cultural boundaries and distinctive practices.
Eriksen applied this analysis to major political events like the 2016 Brexit referendum, viewing it as evidence of what he terms a crisis of legitimacy in the Western world. He suggests that opposition to European integration reflects not just nationalism, but also genuine alienation from distant political and economic elites who seem disconnected from local concerns.
Economic development versus human sustainability
One of Eriksen's key insights concerns the inherent contradictions within 21st-century capitalism. He identifies a persistent tension between environmental protection policies and profit-driven economic policies. While there exists broad scientific consensus that climate change poses a serious threat and that fossil fuel consumption contributes significantly to this problem, economic practices that damage the environment continue to be promoted and pursued.
This creates what Eriksen sees as a paradoxical situation where practices like fossil fuel consumption, overfishing, urban air pollution, and phosphorus depletion threaten the very existence of those who depend on economic growth and profit-making for their survival.
Eriksen advocates for scaling down and slowing down as the most practical approach to avoiding global disaster and cooling down the processes that currently threaten planetary health.
Cultural complexity research (CULCOM)
Between 2004 and 2010, Eriksen led a major research initiative called Cultural Complexity in the New Norway (CULCOM). This project investigated how Norwegian society was adapting to increased immigration and cultural diversity, examining contexts including education, labour markets, and community integration.
The CULCOM research explored how social integration and fragmentation processes occur simultaneously at different levels of society, from family units to the nation-state, and across different social arenas including schools, workplaces, legal systems, and cultural institutions.
Key CULCOM Finding: One of the project's key findings was that identity formation is highly context-dependent. As Eriksen noted, "Being a Turk in Norway is significantly different from being a Turk in Germany." This highlights how cultural identity is shaped by complex interactions between local conditions and global trends, rather than being fixed or predetermined.
Clashing scales and EU governance
Eriksen has developed the concept of clashing scales to explain tensions in modern governance, particularly within the European Union. This concept describes the disconnect between large-scale policy decisions made by powerful institutions and the lived experiences of people affected by these decisions at the local level.
Analogy: The Temperature Problem
Eriksen illustrates this with a vivid analogy: "Your average body temperature may be just fine if your feet are in a freezer while your head is in a hot stove, but you're dead nonetheless." This demonstrates how statistical averages can mask serious problems experienced by particular communities or regions.
Eriksen argues that since the introduction of the single currency, the EU has increasingly disregarded the need to address small-scale concerns at local, regional, and national levels. This has created a significant gap between the European Commission and local communities, leading many people to feel disenfranchised and powerless.
The anthropologist contends that this represents a broader problem with global neo-liberalism, where people at the local level feel they have lost democratic power and meaningful influence over decisions that affect their lives. He advocates for the EU to become more respectful of multiple identities and to ensure citizens have genuine power over their destinies.
Drawing on the work of anthropologist Anthony Wallace, Eriksen suggests that effective governance should focus on the organisation of diversity rather than "the replication of uniformity."
Key Takeaways about Thomas Hylland Eriksen:
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Overheating theory - The world is experiencing dangerously rapid change that creates unintended consequences in cultural identity, economics, and environment
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Local-global tensions - Large-scale globalisation processes create instability and powerlessness at the community level, leading to identity crises
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Economic contradictions - 21st-century capitalism creates impossible choices between environmental sustainability and profit-driven growth
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Cultural complexity - Identity formation depends heavily on local context, with integration and fragmentation happening simultaneously across different social levels
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Clashing scales - Modern governance suffers from dangerous disconnects between elite decision-makers and the communities affected by their policies, particularly visible in EU structures