5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Resilience has become one of the most discussed concepts in the 21st century. As a 'boundary concept' and a 'travelling concept' it has rhizomatically spread throughout social and natural sciences, touching every aspect of social life. A vibrant debate over how to define and enact a more resilient society has arisen, and many have asked if a sociology of resilience is possible, required, desired or inevitable. This session offers exploratory papers engaging with the theory and practice of resilience in sociology. We especially encourage papers that offer a structured engagement with the ontology and epistemology of resilience theory and research from a sociological perspective. Key questions for discussion include, but are not limited to:

• Is a sociology of resilience possible, desirable, inevitable or to avoided?
• What are the core principles or features of a sociology of resilience?
• Can/should the sociology of resilience have a distinct methodology?

Critics have argued that the resilience concept is too fragmented for resilience to be studied as a discreet sociological specialisation. We also encourage papers that address these tensions, including:

• Are social and ecological epistemes compatible?
• Can the logical and epistemological differences of natural and social scientific ontologies underwriting resilience be resolved?
• Is resilience a sociological theory or an emergent form of action research?

Through engagement with the wide range of possible sociological encounters one may have with resilience we will develop a fuller understanding of what a sociology of resilience could look like in the future.