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

This session will explore relations between the formation of public opinion within the context of modern societies and alienation from family, community, working life, and society. Changing patterns of social relationships in all spheres of life, together with increased individualization in modern social life, provide a background for updating the sociological perspective on alienation as a dominant feature of late modern society. The issue of public opinion has traditionally been entangled with the question of its impact, particularly on motivations for political action, power in the political process, and political outcomes and change, with alienation being an integral element of discussion. Although political developments in late modern society have cast doubt on the power of public opinion to influence social institutions, alienation in terms of low institutional, interpersonal, and epistemic trust, which generates political indifference and alienates voters, has emerged as a major factor. Furthermore, in the digital age, the collective and individual identity of those who shape public opinion is contingent upon the increased ability of the general public to influence opinions of and about those who represent them. However, the authority of public opinion itself may be disappearing in late modern society, along with public intellectuals themselves, who no longer can play their integrative and critical role in society in the age of fake news, when alienation becomes a prerequisite for influencing public opinion. Papers concerned both with theoretical and empirical issues that address the relation between alienation and the formation of public opinion are welcomed.