The Compassionate Turn: Embodying a Transformative Sociology for a World in Crisis

In a world haunted by a "polycrisis" (Morin and Kern 1999) - a tangle of ecological, economic, social, political, and existential disruptions - the cultivation of compassion emerges as a vital task for sociology. Amidst deepening inequalities, rising authoritarianism, wars, genocides, and environmental collapse, it may seem as if compassion and love have ceased to exist. I argue that a "compassionate turn" is urgently needed in sociology, one attuned to suffering, committed to justice, and grounded in the embodied experiences of marginalized communities.

Drawing on Buddhist principles, feminist (Collins, 1986; Haraway, 1995) and decolonial epistemologies, I propose compassion as an ethico-political foundation for sociological research and writing. More than an emotion, compassion signifies a radical openness to the other (Lévinas, 2006), a recognition of shared precarity (Butler, 2004, 2012), and a dedication to social justice. It demands reimagining knowledge production, challenging academic discourses on neutrality, and embracing research as an affective, corporeal encounter.

Grounded in my fieldwork with working-class university students in Rio de Janeiro's peripheries, I reflect on the challenges and potentials of enacting compassion in sociological practice. Discussions of reflexivity often remain superficial, failing to grapple with how research transforms us. Cultivating awareness of these embodied, intersubjective dimensions can bridge the researcher-researched gap, fostering a more engaged sociology.

A compassionate approach shapes both the content and form of sociological writing, engendering new aesthetic and narrative experimentations. It interrogates compassion's articulation with core sociological notions like social justice, equality, and human rights. Centering compassion in our work is essential for reimagining sociology and reconstructing a world ravaged by indifference and injustice.

The "compassionate turn" is a call to embody a transformative sociology that embraces affect, vulnerability, and care as vital resources for understanding and changing the world.