Since the 1970s, deindustrialization has formed an international basic process that fundamentally changed Western societies, their industrial-economic base and their sociostructural composition. Beginning in the United States, the decline in industrial production, closure of plants and the loss of industrial jobs mainly affected the classic industrial sectors and regions of the first industrialization, but also the production of electronic consumer goods.

Building on the hitherto dominant research in regional history, the project asks in a contemporary historical perspective about the supra-regional, global, cultural and gender-specific effects and meanings of deindustrialization. For this purpose, the IfZ has established an interdisciplinary cooperation network including, among others, the German Institute for Adult Education - Leibniz Center for Lifelong Learning (DIE) and the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH).