Midterm Conference of ESA RN36: In search of new dimensions of social transformations

Institute of sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences cordially invite you to submit paper proposals for the Midterm Conference of ESA RN36: „In search of new dimensions of social transformations”.
Conference will be held on-line and organized by ESA RN36 “Sociology of transformations: East and West”; and Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences.

If you have practical questions please do not hesitate to contact local organizers: esa@soc.cas.cz

March 26–27, 2021, Prague, Czech Republic

Important Dates and Deadlines:

Deadline for submitting paper proposals (max. 400 words): March 1, 2021
Notification of paper acceptance: March, 8, 2021
Registration for participation: March, 8, 2021
Deadline for registration: March 12, 2021

Conference Fees: No fees

Abstract, language, and submission:

The organizers invite theoretically or empirically grounded papers on the above topics. Special consideration will be given to empirically grounded papers, either comparative or country-based. The language of the abstracts, the papers and the conference will be English. Abstracts should be about 400 words long and should be accompanied by the name(s) of the author(s), his/her/their affiliation(s) and e-mail(s).

The processes of abstract submission and acceptance is managed using the online platform. Please submit your paper via Conftool.

Scope and questions of the Conference:

Transformative processes occur worldwide. During recent decades, we could see with our own eyes that transformations might move history in entirely new directions. Transformations can be subject to various interpretations from different theoretical perspectives. Classical sociological approaches to social transformation focusing on ‘old’ dimensions – crises, revolutions, social inequality and stratification, long-term economic and social development, are getting new attention and rethinking. Emerging social issues require constant research monitoring, followed by theorising upon research data and relate to various factors: external, such as increasing competition at the global level and the management of complexity, climate change; internal, such as demographic developments, new generations, migration issues, cultural practices and consumption, secularisation, transformation of labour and the learning environments. Digital revolution is reshaping our societies and the pace of change is set to accelerate even further. Recent challenges come from experiencing the world pandemic.

The transformation of European societies and beyond has globalising, regionalising and localising dynamics. Change deserves to be explored in many areas of social life in CEE countries as well as all over the world. Some specific areas of research may be more a part of the mainstream, while others seem to be at a peripheral point of scientific discourse.

The conference seeks to contribute debates by collecting ideas about new dimensions of social transformations and their studies.

How are social, cultural, economic and political dimensions transforming? How do “new” dimensions intersect with commonly used ‘old’ ones? Which are the more competitive, complex and fragmented areas in social life?
What are new challenges societies have recently experiences including the pandemic? Are generational and technological factors in this respect are decisive? Does political governance lead to new transformations and reforms? What are new divides arising and new types of social groupings and belongings emerging?
What are digital, informational and technological factors? Where are generational shifts and knowledge/education based innovations leading to? What is a role of geographical, historical, ecological and natural resources factors? What could be unanticipated consequences of transformation in these new dimensions?
How to reveal and study these transformations? What is role of sociology here? What are intellectual debates impact on social changes discourse?

Keynote speakers:

Mike Savage (London School of Economics and Political Sciences)
‘Rethinking social class in a time of escalating inequality’
Petra Guasti (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main)
‘On Illiberal turn in Central Europe or Understanding the autocratic roots of technocratic populism’
Marju Lauristin (University of Tartu, Estonia)
‘Looking at Social Transformations Through the Morphogenetic Lense: Could Pandemic Become a Generative Mechanism of Social Morphogenesis?’

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

pdf version

The conference will be held on Zoom platform (how to join a meeting?). The links for Friday and Saturday meetings will be provided to all participants via e-mail. After opening a link, you will be able to join a meeting by using Zoom Client (if installed), or you can simply join from your browser (no installation needed). If you have any practical questions please do not hesitate to contact us on esa@soc.cas.cz, we are ready to answer.

Keynote lecture: 40 min. lecture + 20 min. discussion
Regular session: 15–20 min. each contribution + 25 min. discussion

26 March, Friday

9:00–10:00 Keynote lecture
Marju Lauristin (University of Tartu, Estonia)
Looking at social transformations through the morphogenetic lense: could pandemic become a generative mechanism of social morphogenesis
10:00–11:25
Session 1: New dimensions of political and social transformations
Frane Adam, Maruša Gorišek / Meritocracy between myth, norm and reality
Triin Vihalemm / “Hierarchies of listening” in the social transformations. The media reflection of the “green turn” on Estonian post-Soviet mining area
Izabela Desperak / Counterreaction movement against gender equality and LGBT rights – undervalued dimension of transition in CEE
11.35–13.00
Session 2: Analyzing culture, history and memory
Norkus Zenonas / On the Ultimate and Actual Success of Modern Social Restorations
Igor Bahovec / Pope Francis social thought and action: crisis, integral approach, inclusion, identity and culture of encounter, Europe and the world
Piotr Binder / Re-shaping the Past: Transformations of the 1990s in the Narrations of Historical Park "Russia – My History" and the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center
13:00–14:00 Lunch break
14:00–15:00 Keynote lecture
Mike Savage (London School of Economics and Political Sciences, U.K.)
Rethinking social class in a time of escalating inequality
15:00–16:25
Session 3: Changes in labour and work
Anna Gromada / Getting a Job in the Arts. Transformation of Labour in Precarious and Taste-Based Markets
Oksana Žabko / Typologies of occupational mobility: diversity of classifications and a model proposal based on the Latvian case
Inga Vanaga, Anda Grinfelde, Liga Paula / Social dialogue for flexicurity in the education sector in Latvia during the Covid-19 pandemic
Svitlana Buko, Eithne Knappitsch / Experiential learning in virtual intercultural teams: case of Austrian-Slovenian cross-border COIL laboratory
16:30-18:00
Session 4: Social interaction, activism and social responsibility
Ieva Strode / Being a citizen in the digital world
Tea Golob, Matej Makarovic / Towards the factors of responsible behaviour: Socio-environmental responsibility in the case of Slovenia
Elena Tykanova, Anisya Khokhlova / Unwelcome post-soviet transformations of city territories: grassroots activism and the social construction of the outcomes of local urban conflicts
18.00 ‘Virtual dinner‘ socializing

27 March, Saturday

9:00–10:00 Keynote lecture
Petra Guasti (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
On Illiberal turn in Central Europe or Understanding the autocratic roots of technocratic populism
10:00–11:25
Session 5: Experiencing pandemic and its social consequences
Diana Janusauskiene / Subjective Security in a Time of Pandemic
Urban Vehovar / Slovenia in the Second Wave of COVID-19 – In Search for an Explanation of High Infection Rates
Vladimir Kozlovskiy / Local community’s adaptation of a Russian small town in a pandemic: a potential of civilizational identity
Maja Dolinar / Importance of open social science research data on Covid-19
11:35–13:00
Session 6: Experiencing pandemic and its social consequences
Weronika Felcis, Elgars Felcis / Female response to pandemic and environmental transformations of living in rural Latvia
Katarzyna Andrejuk / Pandemic social transformations in migrant communities: migrant entrepreneurship between new precarity and digitalization
Romāne-Meiere Aiga / Digitalization and resilience in grandparent families
Mihaela Gotea / The Dynamics of Perception on Marital Partner in Different Stages of the Family Life Cycle