IV ISA Forum of Sociology (February 23-28, 2021)

446

Phenomenology of Power: New Theoretical Approaches of the 21st Century

Abstract Submissions Closed

RC35 Conceptual and Terminological Analysis (host committee)

Language: English and Spanish

Session Type: Oral

This session concentrates on new theoretical outlines to conceptualize the phenomenon of power with a specific emphasis on current ideas of sociological thought that confront the established paradigms. Parting from and challenging classical social thought and theories of power from Francis Bacon, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Norbert Elias, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, Steven Lukes, Pierre Bourdieu or others, we are discovering new outlines of a phenomenology of power. The established theories of power are under scrutiny with respect to their potential to analyze current developments related to the global challenges – as proposed for this conference – of democracy, environment, inequalities or intersectionality. The question is if the classical conceptions of power are still suitable to theoretically capture the problems of current globalized or network societies? Do we need to implement a new concept of “communication power” (Manuel Castells) to consider power phenomena of the digital age? How can we theoretically capture political implications and questions of power with respect to the collection and control of (big) data in the network society? Are new social inequalities being created in current times of Internet communication and how can we theoretically conceptualize them? The session welcomes new theoretical reflections on the phenomenon of power with a strong reference to the societal challenges of the 21^st Century.