Post by Dr. Max Nagel

A Belgian and a German walk into a bar... and walk out with a paper on capitalist cooptation dynamics in Trappist beer production. 🍻 Sven Van Kerckhoven and I explore in our article for Contemporary Social Science how century-old monastic breweries manage to survive highly competitive markets without selling their souls to corporate business models. Facing existential threats from massive conglomerates like AB InBev, secular abbey beers, and rising costs, the monks institutionalized legal protection through the International International Trappist Association to safeguard their authenticity. By refusing to adapt to modern capitalism, the monks' institutionalized traditionalism became a blueprint for today's booming craft beer industry. https://lnkd.in/eJk5kipU (Contemporary Social Science) https://lnkd.in/eYXwN9sM (open access manuscript) #Trappist Brussels School of Governance (BSoG) Vrije Universiteit Brussel