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

For a long time the concept of “infrastructure” has been mainly mobilized for the study of information and communication technologies, albeit playing a marginal role in that field as well. In the last twenty years or so, the situation has radically changed: not only has the concept of infrastructure increasingly been referred to understand the historical scope of the changes brought about by digital technologies, but its scope of application has been significantly expanded; it now includes, in addition to STS, media studies, political ecology, the debate on the Anthropocene and the future of capitalism.

Some authors added the infrastructural turn to the already long list of various “turns” that would affect the social sciences. Rather, this Session aims to discuss, through the exploration of some strategic theoretical dimensions, the role of the concept of “infrastructure” within the social sciences tradition. Among the questions the organizers aim to answer:

How can this concept offer novel perspectives on understanding capitalism development and its power relations?

How can it better illuminate the theme of social bonds and social relations?

How does it enable it to fuel an indispensable dialogue among the social sciences themselves?

Accordingly, the Session aims to develop the concept of “infrastructure” in close relation to the more traditional subject areas of the social sciences, such as:

Modernity;

Capitalism;

State;

Ecology;

Cogniton;

Connectivity