Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

101

Socio-Ecological Struggles and Emergent Innovations in the Sociogenesis of Democratic Futures

RC07 Futures Research (host committee)

Language: English and Spanish

This session invites papers focused on the interrelations between social struggles against socio-ecological inequality and injustice (e.g. lack of access to essential goods like clean air and water or the violent displacement of populations caused by large-scale human interventions), and the emergence of social (including socio-technical) innovations aimed at overcoming inequality and injustice and fostering substantive democratization to bring about desirable futures.

We welcome papers that have a comparative-analytical approach, and that address the imagining and construction of futures in a historical-sociological and comparative perspective. The papers can be theoretical and empirical, and may address problems located at different temporal and spatial scales such as the interaction between single events and broader, longer-term processes, as well as innovations developed to foster progressive social transformations at different scales, from local to global. Examples of questions that we would like to have addressed in this session are:

• What conditions, factors and processes facilitate the emergence of social innovations in the context of socio-ecological struggles?
• What are the mechanisms that make these innovations successful in fostering progressive social transformations (e.g. that help to bring about conditions for the development of substantive democratic politics)?
• What are the critical factors to make these innovations sustainable and replicable?
• What are the main obstacles to sustain and replicate these innovations in the construction of democratic futures?

We welcome papers that adopt inter- and transdisciplinary (dialogue with non-academic knowledges) approaches.

Posters: