Europe is facing new and radical challenges that demand extraordinary resilience from EU members, especially those from southern European societies, because of their outlying position and specific social problems in comparison with their EU neighbours. The difficulties of building a united Europe in the wake of the economic, financial and political crisis have exposed divergences in EU governance. In this context, sociology is an important tool to inform public policies and to provide the general public with an understanding of current challenges. The uses of sociology have significant social, political and practical implications in fields that are especially significant for southern European societies, such as welfare, work and employment, education, migration, social cohesion, political participation and other social phenomena. However, the usual tensions in the organization of scientific research are now particularly intense in terms of how the utility of sociological knowledge is understood and communicated. The trend toward internationalization in current research systems forces research communities to compete in a global market of scientific production, where English is the dominant language, and to publish sound results for an academic audience. There is also a pressing need to find sociological knowledge that is relevant and applicable to regional and local problems; to overcome the difficulties of conveying applied research to an international audience; and to legitimate problem-oriented research within science policies and academic organizations. This conference will discuss the challenges and dilemmas of different orientations of sociology in order to complement internationalization and academic research with the uses of sociology aimed at solving social problems in specific territorial contexts. Participants are invited to discuss the relevance of sociological knowledge in recent years as a means to understanding southern European societies, at a local, regional and international level.
The Conference is organized by ESA RN27, the Spanish Sociological Federation and the Institute for Advanced Social Studies (CSIC). A selection of papers subject to peer review will be published in special issues of journals edited by the sociology associations of Spain, southern European countries and international publishers. Other papers will be part of a book agreement with a major international publisher.
For more information regarding the conference, use the links below
You can submit your abstracts directly to the conference organizers: difusion@fes-sociologia.com, on copy to Manuel Fernandez Esquinas (mfernandez@iesa.csic.es) and Luís Baptista (luisv.baptista@fcsh.unl.pt).
- Abstract submission: 20 March
- Notification of acceptance: 31 March
- Registration: 10 April
