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

Sociology was established in national context and even though we find transnational exchange and interaction throughout the history of sociology, sociologists have been closely tied to national institutions, contexts and trajectories. However, in the last decades we have witnessed an expansion of co-authorships across national boundaries, increasing education mobility and more scholars pursuing careers abroad and new institutions arrangement appreciating and funding transnational mobility and collaboration. The question is, how does this happen and how does it shape sociological knowledge production? And not least, what are the implication for sociological knowledge. In this session we take stock on the last three decades of changes in sociological knowledge production by critically analyzing the processes and structures of transnational sociological knowledge production and the institutional, political and intellectual currents that shapes it. Key questions will be: What are the institutions that serves for transnational relation in sociology? How and which concepts, methods and sociologist becomes transnational? What are been the historical and contemporary strategies for sociologist aiming at managing their trajectory in a research environment when ‘internationalization’ and ‘excellence’ are key assets? How does ‘internationalization’ of sociology change hierarchies and practices in different contexts?