Heinz Bude (Wuppertal, Germany – 1954) is the Founding Director of the documenta-Institut and one of today’s most celebrated German sociologists. A specialist in the 1968 generation, Professor Bude has aimed his research at diagnosing the ills of Western society and their possible solutions, focusing on the subject of how economic conditions affect the collective and/or popular psyche. Between 1992 and 2014, he was Head of the Department “The Society of the Federal Republic” at Hamburg Institute of Social Research. And from 2000 to 2023, he was Professor of “Macro-Sociology” at Universität Kassel. In 2016, he received the award “For Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Public Impact” by the German Sociological Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie). His books include Solidarität: Die Zukunft einer großen Idee (Solidarity: The future of a big idea, 2019), The Mood of the World (2018), Kapitalismus und Ungleichheit: Die neuen Verwerfungen (Capitalism and Inequality: The New Distortions, 2016), Society of Fear (2014) and Das Schicksal des Gutmenschen: Ein Vorschlag zur Güte (The Fate of the Do-Gooder: In favor of kindness, 2013). Since October 2020, he acts as Founding Director of the documenta-Institut in Kassel.