Session
Why Societies Collapse ?
XX ISA World Congress of Sociology (June 25-July 1, 2023)
Session
Political Economy and Inequality in Development
IV ISA Forum of Sociology (February 23-28, 2021)
This session tackles development issues related to political economy and inequality. It aims to bring together social science scholars to present and discuss their recent research on economic growth and sources of economic change interweaved with political and social contexts across and within nations. The globalization and worldwide spread of capitalism create a context for a common interpreta...
This session tackles development issues related to political economy and inequality. It aims to bring together social science scholars to present and discuss their recent research on economic growth and sources of economic change interweaved with political and social contexts across and within nations. The globalization and worldwide spread of capitalism create a context for a common interpretative framework for economic and social changes in the world, while studying national contexts is necessary for understanding the significant differences in economic structures, their trajectories and drivers of change that are often grounded in historical development. The session collects papers that allow to look at the phenomenon of development and social inequalities from a global perspective as well as from the perspective of changes taking place in selected places in the world with different historical, political and social experiences. This session welcomes both theoretical and empirical contributions and encourages critical reflections on the methodological links between theory and empirical analysis.
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Session
Whose Voice? How Loud? Who Listens? Political Voice during Social Transformations
IV ISA Forum of Sociology (February 23-28, 2021)
Today political expression is plentiful, electronic, and varied, yet around the world, democracy’s stakeholders are concerned about a decline in democracy’s well-being, the precariousness of the world economy, and the stubborn persistence of inequalities.
Political voice can be defined as the expression of needs and interests within the political system. Expression varies in form and mag...
Today political expression is plentiful, electronic, and varied, yet around the world, democracy’s stakeholders are concerned about a decline in democracy’s well-being, the precariousness of the world economy, and the stubborn persistence of inequalities.
Political voice can be defined as the expression of needs and interests within the political system. Expression varies in form and magnitude, depending on position in the political power structure (e.g. everyday citizen, elite, NGOs, lobbying group), demographics and identity (urban/rural, intersections of gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, and class, among others), and country and time. Voice’s desired audiences are the decision-makers who wield power at particular stations within the regime and everyday citizens who are swayed by political voice.
Social transformations impact the expression of voice; some groups’ voices are silenced during crises, and some previously marginalized groups suddenly emerge as vocal leaders. During change, conventional channels of voicing one’s interests might be ineffective, necessitating new and (re)invented means. Transformations offer new avenues for proximity: the protest outside a decision-maker's window is loud but distant, whereas the voice of the lobbyist who whispers in the ears of decision-makers is publicly quiet but closer to the decision.
We ask social scientists to assess critical questions in political voice today: Whose voice? How loud is that voice? Who is listening? We seek papers bolstered by empirical analysis that address these questions. They can be quantitative or qualitative, comparative or case studies, and about any place in the world. We seek novel approaches and new insights.
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Session
Inequality, Labor, and Economic Development during Social Transformations
XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)
Over the last thirty years, Europe, North America, and Latin America have seen, to varying forms and extents, major changes to their societies. Within this era, economic inequality has steadily grown within the nations of Europe and North America, while it has declined (though it remains high) within many Latin American countries. Social scientists have documented these changes for thirty years...
Over the last thirty years, Europe, North America, and Latin America have seen, to varying forms and extents, major changes to their societies. Within this era, economic inequality has steadily grown within the nations of Europe and North America, while it has declined (though it remains high) within many Latin American countries. Social scientists have documented these changes for thirty years, and in the last decade -- spurred by the Global Economic Crisis of 2008 -- economic inequality has become a hot political issue. How have governments in these regions of the world addressed economic inequality? How has economic inequality influenced political inequality -- defined as structured differences in influence over the decisions made within political processes, and the outcomes of those decisions? What are the consequences of economic and political inequalities for marginalized social and political groups? This session invites papers that explore the nexus of political and economic inequality during periods of intense social transformations over the last thirty years in Europe, North America, and Latin America.
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Session
Political Inequality, Economic Inequality, and Social Transformations Since 1989
XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)
Over the last thirty years, Europe, North America, and Latin America have seen, to varying forms and extents, major changes to their societies. Within this era, economic inequality has steadily grown within the nations of Europe and North America, while it has declined (though it remains high) within many Latin American countries. Social scientists have documented these changes for thirty years...
Over the last thirty years, Europe, North America, and Latin America have seen, to varying forms and extents, major changes to their societies. Within this era, economic inequality has steadily grown within the nations of Europe and North America, while it has declined (though it remains high) within many Latin American countries. Social scientists have documented these changes for thirty years, and in the last decade -- spurred by the Global Economic Crisis of 2008 -- economic inequality has become a hot political issue. How have governments in these regions of the world addressed economic inequality? How has economic inequality influenced political inequality -- defined as structured differences in influence over the decisions made within political processes, and the outcomes of those decisions? What are the consequences of economic and political inequalities for marginalized social and political groups? This session invites papers that explore the nexus of political and economic inequality during periods of intense social transformations over the last thirty years in Europe, North America, and Latin America.
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Session
Changing Development-Scape and Unchanging Development Theories
Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)
The session will be interested in examining how macroscopic political economic changes are impacting the development studies in various regions or countries of the world. By employing a sociology of knowledge approach to review a number of cases of rapidly developing economies in the present world, this session will examine whether these development experiences are affecting the paradigms...
The session will be interested in examining how macroscopic political economic changes are impacting the development studies in various regions or countries of the world. By employing a sociology of knowledge approach to review a number of cases of rapidly developing economies in the present world, this session will examine whether these development experiences are affecting the paradigms and theories of development; whether such impacts are modifying and refurbishing theories of development; and what could be the possible implications of these changes. How useful is it today to talk about the “World Systems Theory”? Or how useful is it to use a blanket category such as “neoliberalism” as the dominant development paradigm? What is broadly understood as neoliberal development “theory” can be at best a meta-theoretic presupposition. Within the ambit of a neoliberal frame multiple and specific development theories and strategies are at work.
This session explores the theoretical and contextual specificities of the interplay of development (or underdevelopment) or stagnation at work and conceptualization and theoretical innovations of sociology of development from the examples drawn from a variety of societies in the Global South.
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Session
Is Political Inequality Rising, Falling or Staying the Same?
Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)
Although political equality is a foundation of modern democracy, we do not know how far from equality we are. If you want to know how much economic inequality there is in your country, and its trends and dynamics over time, you can turn to the terabytes’ worth of publicly available economic data and grind them through the many inequality equations to derive a multitude of statistics...
Although political equality is a foundation of modern democracy, we do not know how far from equality we are. If you want to know how much economic inequality there is in your country, and its trends and dynamics over time, you can turn to the terabytes’ worth of publicly available economic data and grind them through the many inequality equations to derive a multitude of statistics. With decades of innovations in the study of economics and inequality, led by the disciplines of sociology and economics, we can, at least, have a debate over the form, duration and magnitude of economic inequality and its dynamics over time.
Political inequality refers to the unequal influence over decisions made by political bodies and the unequal outcomes of those decisions. It is a subtype of power inequality, visible within the political processes of all kinds of political structures. Unlike economic inequality, with political inequality we are far from setting the terms of the debate.
How much political inequality is there? And is political inequality rising, falling, or staying the same? The answer to these key questions requires us to specify the kind of political inequality – voice, response and their subtypes – and whether we mean equality of political opportunities or of political outcomes.
This session calls for theoretical, methodological and empirical attempts to answer the question: Is political inequality rising, falling or has it remained the same over time? Papers can examine this within nations or in cross-national perspective.
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Session
RC18 Roundtable. Democracy and Inequality Across the World
XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 13-19, 2014)
