Collapses Ahead: Foundations for a Sociology of Collapse

Branko Ančić, PhD is the author of the review paper titled “Collapses Ahead: Foundations for a Sociology of Collapse” published in “Socijalna ekologija”, 35 (1).

Abstract: Collapse has long been studied in archaeology, history, and ecology, but sociology has yet to systematically address it as a distinct social process. This article lays the groundwork for a sociology of collapse by synthesising major explanatory traditions—from ecological determinism and civilisational cycles to systemic, risk, and acceleration theories—and reframing collapse as the disintegration of social facts, legitimacy, and collective capacity. Rather than viewing collapse as an abrupt end-state, it is conceptualised as a multidimensional process of systemic transformation involving material breakdown, loss, and reorganisation. The article identifies six interrelated sociological dimensions of collapse: (1) systemic transformation and the reconfiguration of institutions; (2) loss of material, cultural, and affective worlds; (3) erosion of collective capacity to sustain essential functions; (4) relational and multi-scalar interdependence of crises; (5) normative and political inequalities shaping who experiences collapse and who achieves resilience; and (6) the need for a reflexive and public sociology that engages with collapse discourse as both diagnosis and civic practice. By situating collapse within broader debates on resilience, planetary limits, and justice, the paper argues that collapse reveals, in negative form, the fragility of the social facts that constitute collective life. A sociology of collapse thus illuminates how societies interpret and respond to systemic disruption—and how possibilities for renewal, solidarity, and moral reconstruction emerge amid disintegration.

The paper is available here.