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

The state’s role in societal violence requires sociological examination irrespective of the form of the state governance in place. States take advantage of the means of power – military, economic, ideological to oppress and repress certain groups who often have no substantive recourse to justice. In many countries, neoliberal and/or right-wing government governments are encouraging and fostering schisms within society by playing on the fears and insecurities of ordinary citizens and targeting ethnic, religious, gender and racial minorities, migrants, and dissidents – effectively constructing “the other” as a target for discrimination, violence and repression. This violence in society is both instigated and sustained by the state.

This series of three sessions will focus on: How do state and institutional and symbolic processes frame, exacerbate or reduce societal violence? How is violence rendered invisible, incited or abetted by state and non-state actors? What are the challenges to lives, communities, and places in local, national, regional and global contexts? How do state borders become a site for violence? How do states use power to uphold or restrict protections of migrant, refugee and marginalized populations? What is the role of states and state power in upholding human rights and in extending/shrinking citizenship? What are the limitations/restrictions on access to support that exacerbate forms and patterns of violence including economic exploitation, deprivation, exclusion and migration-related violence and abuse? What are the forms of resistance and agency in countering state violence for social transformation?

This session will focus on: Coercive Powers of States