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XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology
Goeteborg, Sweden, 11-17 July, 2010 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First ISA World Forum of Sociology/ Midterm RC09 Conference Barcelona, Spain, 5-8 September, 2008 We would like to inform you about the First ISA World Forum of Sociology that will be organized in Barcelona (Spain), September 5-8, 2008. RC 09 is organizing its mid-term conference on this occasion and Board members have organized several sessions. The subject chosen for the general program by ISA is "Sociological Research and Public Debate." The theme for RC09 sessions is "Social Transformations and Societies." Our sessions relate to relevant issues in the public debate to which our specific topic has contributed in some way and to more particular research interests of RC 09. The Forum will combine a large number of programs about key issues in contemporary society with a common program devoted to questions relevant to the general relationship between sociological research and public debate. During the next months, Forum registration fees as well as accommodation bookings will be clarified by the ISA. Click here to view the RC09 Barcelona Program Session Topics (descriptions and contact information follow) Session 1: Transformations of Social Inequality and Globalization Session 2: Public Sphere and Capital Cities in Asia: Competing Claims Over Religious and Democratic Space Session 3: The Cultural Wealth of Nations Session 4: Understanding Postsocialist Transformations: The Role of New Actors and New Institutions Session 5: The State and Development Session 6: Migration and Development in the Global South Session 7: Multiple Modernities, Sociology of Development, and Postcolonial Studies (Joint session with TG02 -- Historical and Comparative Research) Session 8: Human Rights Paradigms and Movements: Third World Perspectives and Challenges Session 9: Leisure, Social Transformations and Development (Joint session with RC13 -- Sociology of Leisure) SESSION DESCRIPTIONS AND SESSION ORGANIZER CONTACT INFORMATION Session 1: Transformations of Social Inequality and Globalization Organizer: Ulrike Schuerkens, EHESS, France In development and transformation studies, the classical model of center-periphery is waning, as there are now new forms of global socio-economic inequality between countries of the geographic South and/or Eastern European countries. Some East Asian countries have known in recent decades economic and social developments that are unknown on the African continent. Thus we would like to ask several questions that may be tackled in the abstracts to be submitted for this session. Does economic globalization lead to more socio-economic inequalities and, if so, at which scales? The answer may depend on local socio-cultural situations, especially if viewed from an historical perspective. Are globalization discourses used in order to justify and uphold inequities between different economies and/or is it possible to avoid inequality at the global scale? Do we need a global policy, which readjusts social and economic inequalities? Or should the market be allowed to balance these processes? Why does wide inequality between rich and poor countries, between rich and poor people within countries, and between men and women continue despite strategies, resolutions, and policies? Are we currently confronting inequalities linked to the form taken by capitalism in the global era? Authors may consider that the market society is a competitive society with winners and losers at all levels and unless states take actions to influence market outcomes, the increasingly open trade may change the form of inequalities but may not resolve uneven development. Contact information: Ulrike Schuerkens at uschuerkens@gmail.com. ———————————————— Session 2: Public Sphere and Capital Cities in Asia: Competing Claims Over Religious and Democratic Space Organizers: Emma Porio, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines and Habibul Haque Khondker, Zayed University, UAE This panel will explore the role of selected capital cities in Asia as an arena for competition between religious use and democratic practice. Historical development of cities and the use of city space provide valuable clue to understanding the process of democratization in Asia. Historical understanding of city development and the use of public space also provide a glimpse of the colonial articulation. In the nationalist struggles, cities like Manila and Dhaka played critical roles in developing a public sphere, paving the way for secularism and democratization in the Philippines and Bangladesh respectively. The exploration of the capital city and the public sphere drawing upon the colonial history and its influence on contemporary political developments will add an important and new dimension to the understanding of contemporary debates in Asia with regard to democratization. The papers in this panel will touch on the public sphere in terms of the layout of public space in so far as the political use of space is concerned with competing classes and political parties as well as religious groups. Tensions between representations of regime power versus representations of democratic power over public spaces will also be explored. Various political regimes have used the national capital region as their platform for articulating representations of power before the nation and the world, while the opposition to hegemonic power has contested the same public space. The papers in this panel will concentrate on democracy and nationalism in the post-colonial and post-authoritarian era. Various papers and discussions in the panel will also touch on a comparative understanding of Asian city spaces as centers of influence both culturally and economically. Contact information: Emma Porio at eporio@ateneo.edu and Habibul Haque Khondker at habib.khondker@gmail.com. ——————————————— Session 3: The Cultural Wealth of Nations Organizers: Nina Bandelj, University of California, Irvine, and Frederick Wherry, University of Michigan, USA When one sees national governments expending resources to market the non-tangible attributes of their countries for the sake of national economic development, one bears witness to the creation and maintenance of that nation's cultural wealth. We consider a country’s cultural wealth to include the number and the significance of its world heritage sites, its stock of art and artifacts exhibited in the top international museums of art, and the number of widely recognized international prizes earned by its citizens (among other things). This session incorporates papers that explore the theoretical and empirical implications of the cultural wealth of nations, as a new approach in the sociology of development. The goal is to understand attempts to generate comparative advantage by virtue of the country's intangible (nearly priceless) qualities. The themes addressed include: 1. The Division of Labor: Where are the hotspots for handicrafts, artwork, music, and dance production? How did this division of cultural production come about? 2. The Social Construction of Cultural Circumstances: How do countries frame their national identities when promoting tourism or when attracting foreign investment? How do these different framings give rise to economic inequalities among nation-states? 3. Pricing Cultural Wealth: Are there forms of cultural wealth that were once "priceless," and if those forms of cultural wealth obtained an economic value, what explains their commodification? 4. Analytic Strategies: What are the most robust methods for establishing the relationships among structural and cultural factors to understand how a country’s cultural wealth affects its economic outcomes? Contact information: Nina Bandelj at nbandelj@uci.edu, and Fredrick Wherry at ffwherry@umich.edu ———————————————— Session 4: Understanding Postsocialist Transformations: The Role of New Actors and New Institutions Organizer: Nina Bandelj, University of California, Irvine, USA Since 1989, the Central and East European countries and the former Soviet Union have experienced significant change. Although many social scientists focus on the gradual nature of transformations and strong path-dependency, it is undeniable that the social, political and economic orders in this region are starkly different from the communist times. This session incorporates papers that investigate the role of new economic, social and political actors in facilitating the postsocialist transformations in East/Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. We are interested in understanding how politics, discourses and legacies shape the new institutions and new (or reconstructed) actors, whose activity constitutes the postsocialist order. Contact information: Nina Bandelj at nbandelj@uci.edu. ———————————————— Session 5: The State and Development Organizer: Wade Roberts, Colorado College, USA The role and significance of the state and public institutions in development processes has received considerable and growing attention in the literature over the past two decades. State-building and "good governance" are now primary components of national development projects and the international development paradigm. This session incorporates papers that examine the multi-faceted relationship between the state and development. Among other topics, papers address such issues as the causes and impact of failed and weak states, the institutional design of developmental states, and state-building and good governance as development. Contact information: Wade Roberts at wroberts@coloradocollege.edu ———————————————— Session 6: Migrant Organizations in the Transnational Era Organizer: Eric Popkin, Colorado College, USA Scholarly interest in transnational migration has emerged in the context of the massive population movements that have occurred in the current era of globalization. Immigrants pursue either individual or collective relationships with the country of origin for a variety of reasons including the difficulty in obtaining economic security in either sending and receiving societies, racial and ethnic discrimination in the host society, and/or a desire to assist in the socioeconomic development of communities of origin often neglected by home governments or destroyed by civil conflict. Migrant-led transnationalism includes maintaining kinship and social networks across borders, sending or receiving remittances, and the establishment of hometown associations that engage in collective community projects in the home region among other activities. The elaborate linkages between migrant sending and receiving areas that emerge lead some analysts to conceive of transnational migration as a phenomenon that may go beyond individuals and households, incorporating entire communities (migrant and non-migrant members) into the globalization process. Contact information: Eric Popkin at epopkin@coloradocollege.edu ———————————————— Session 7: Multiple Modernities, Sociology of Development, and Postcolonial Studies (Joint Session with TG02, Historical and Comparative Research) Organizers: Ulrike Schuerkens, EHESS and Willfried Spohn, Catholic University of Eichstätt Sociological approaches to the non-Western world are still moving in separate traditions. The sociology of development is, broadly speaking, based on revised modernization and Marxist approaches, having moved from structural-functional and evolutionist to more agency-oriented forms of neo-modernization and neo-Marxist analysis. Post-colonial studies originated from a postmodernist critique of modernist and Marxist approaches to colonial and post-colonial societies, but having their home more in literary criticism and anthropology than sociology. The multiple modernities perspective has developed as a neo-Weberian alternative to modernist approaches to non Western societies, but more with regard to other world-civilization and world centres rather than peripheral or post-colonial societies. Contact information: Willfried Spohn at Willfried.Spohn@ku-eichstaett.de and Ulrike Schuerkens at uschuerkens@gmail.com. ———————————————— Session 8: Human Rights Paradigms and Movements: Third World Perspectives and Challenges Organizer: Peter Chua, San Jose State University Papers examine problems of discourse on universalism/relativism, basic needs (from overcoming poverty to providing shelter and cultural/legal rights to women, sexual minorities, and indigenous groups), civil liberties, and institutional protection in varying Third World and other transforming societies. Contact information: Peter Chua at pchua@sjsu.edu ———————————————— Session 9: Leisure, Social Transformations and Development (Joint session with RC13 -- Sociology of Leisure) Organizers: Frederick F. Wherry, University of Michigan and Ishwar Modi, India International Institute of Social Science The fast changing socio-economic and political systems in different parts of the world - e.g. Latin America, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Asia - due to factors such as urbanization, economic globalization, privatization, colonial heritage, religion, large scale migrations etc., have caused significant changes and modifications of traditional leisure practices, and have given rise to new forms of leisure. The intertwining and mutual impacts of these transformations of leisure practices linked to high level consumerism require more scholarly analyses in order to focus on the long term changes of these practices and also to understand how and in which directions these transformations are shaping and influencing the contemporary patterns of leisure. The situation we find today is as much a matter of concern for the members of RC 13 as those of RC 09. The way recent political and economic developments in many parts of the world have influenced the wider society is today a matter of scholarly and popular concern. The objective of this joint session is to focus on empirical case studies from different parts of the world: from Southern as well as Northern countries. These case studies also consider recent theoretical discussions on the change in leisure practices. Contact information: Frederick F. Wherry at fwherry@umich.edu and Ishwar Modi at iiiss2005modi@yahoo.co.in
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