ABSTRACT
States, at various levels, have agreed to stabilize the climate and protect the natural environment. Achieving these goals typically requires changes across almost all sectors of the economy and society. Beyond political commitments and the legal implementation of these goals, the required transformation processes are often accompanied by numerous societal conflicts, some of which result in the weakening of environmental policies. This paper summarizes findings from sociological conflict research and uses them to conceptualize recent socioecological transformation conflicts. Arenas and contentious topics in transformation conflicts in early-industrialized European societies are outlined. These conflicts are related to issues of distribution, cultural lifestyles, and externalization effects and involve a wide range of spatial references and varying degrees of spatial realization. This article presents an initial systematization of transformation conflicts that can serve as a starting point for further research.
