https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/forum/rabat-2025/5th-isa-forum-theme
INTEGRATIVE SESSIONS AT THE 5TH ISA FORUM OF SOCIOLOGY
Solidarity and Justice in the Anthropocene: Global and Local Perspectives
Participating research committees and their presidents:
RC 02 Economy and Society, Karen SHIRE
RC 07 Futures Research, Markus SCHULZ
RC 09 Social Transformations and Sociology of Development, Dorina ROSCA
RC 24 Environment and Society: Jo LINDSAY
Session organizers: Ulrike Schuerkens (RC09) and Habibul Khondker (RC09)
How do we know justice in the Anthropocene? Solidarity is not only a feeling of unity between populations all over the world who have common interests and goals and who ask for justice in the Anthropocene but also a normative value. Confronted with a shared threat such as climate change, people will refer to solidarity to address this danger. The Anthropocene requires actions and cooperation between groups to reduce inequities within societies. Inequality within societies functions as a driver of consumption that damages the planet’s resources. Addressing the challenges of the Anthropocene requires solidarity between populations and institutions. Institutions should be accountable and fair. Solidarity among nations is also needed. Climate change is largely linked to activities done in wealthy nations, but more recently, it has been linked to activities in China and India. However, the burden of climate change falls on low- and middle- income countries. Needed funding must be given to poorer nations to undertake adaptation actions. Climate refugees from the global South must be welcome in the global North. By failing to accept these different tasks, we may transfer the negative outcomes of climate change to our children and grandchildren. The Integrated session will thus discuss the current and near-future situations and suggest global social dynamics and collective actions to navigate the Anthropocene safely. Which sort of socio-economic development is needed? How do we respect local cultures and favour sustainable lifestyles and consumption behaviours? How can our professional organizations support these endeavours? How can we create opportunities to attain solidarity in the economy, society, politics, and culture?
Proposed speakers and themes:
1) Unruliness in the Anthropocene: Subjectivities and Political Possibilities for Change, Associate Professor Ms Andrea J. Nightingale, Oslo University, Norway
2) Climate Justice in the Anthropocene: An African Perspective on Equity and Transition, Professor Hassan A. Hamdy, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
3) Bridging the Divide: Tackling Barriers in the Anthropocene for a Healthier, United Feature, Associate Professor Ms. Kerry Ard, Ohio State University
4) Multispecies flourishing in Urban Spaces: More-than-Human Forms of Justice in the Anthropocene, Associate Professor Ms. Jenia Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
5) Mexican Solidarities between Extractivism and Green Transformation: The Scenarios of the New Sexennium, Professor Markus Schulz, FLACSO, Sede Académica de México, Carretera, Mexico
Scientific knowledge and social practice – high expectations, tensions and compromises
Participating research committees and their presidents:
RC02 Economic Sociology, Karen A. Shire
RC09 Social Transformations and Sociology of Development, Dorina Rosca
RC11 Sociology of Aging, Lucie Vidovicova
RC17 Sociology of Organizations, Michael Grothe-Hammer
RC23 Sociology of Science and Technology, Leandro Raizer
RC31 Sociology of Migration, Loretta E. Bass
RC41 Sociology of Population, Walter Bartl
RC46 Clinical Sociology, Tina Uys
RC55 Social Indicators, Joonmo Son
Session organizers: Walter Bartl (RC41); Karen A. Shire (RC02)
Scientific knowledge is usually seen as a crucial contribution to human progress. Frames of grand challenges, such as the metaphor of the Anthropocene, formulate desiderata of prospective research and, ideally, technical or social innovation. Funding programs regularly frame their calls for grant proposals by favoring research that can be expected to contribute to tackling these challenges and even to catalyze social change. This optimism is somehow reminiscent of Talcott Parsons’ modernist assumption that the expansion of higher education would contribute to a professionalization of work and a rationalization of society. Beyond the classic professions, the implied connection between research and social practice was not always part of how academia and societal stakeholders perceived of the purpose of research. Instead, research for the sake of purpose-free knowledge creation was an important topic in establishing the (relative) autonomy of science. Indeed, ample evidence suggests that there is a gap between academic knowledge production and its application, indicating fundamentally different logics of action. Approaches how this gap could be narrowed are manyfold, reaching from transformative research over transdisciplinary research to living labs and field experiments. Research policy tries to narrow this gap by measuring, monitoring and valorizing research impact. For sociology, the expectation of knowledge transfer implies new professional roles and modes of action that go beyond empirical research. This session aims to explore the (historical) constitution of societal expectations toward research-practice relations, as well as the challenges and opportunities that may arise from attempts of narrowing the gap between research and practice.
Proposed speakers and themes:
1) Maitrayee Chaudhuri, Delhi, India: Higher education and the social sciences in a “smart India”
2) Faeeza Ballim, Johannesburg, South Africa: Translating Technology in Africa
3) Renan Leonel, Newark, United States: Designing an agenda for studying the crisis in scientific and technological systems
4) Manfred Stock, Halle (Saale), Germany: Academization and its consequences
The Research Committee 09 - Social Transformations and Sociology of Development 