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

Welfare states are exposed to an increasing number of crises with transnational dimensions, which frequently overlap in their multidimensional character. Crises of an economic nature affect welfare states as they challenge the financial sustainability of social policy institutions. As the emerging literature on eco-social policy highlights, welfare states are also called upon to provide responses to the crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and chemical pollution that are deeply intertwined with economic and social issues. Existing welfare institutions may have to be reformed to effectively and efficiently respond to these various types of challenges.

This session explores how welfare institutions are able to see and know crisis conditions and effects – or, to refer to Scott (1998), who inspired the title of the session: how they make legible crises. How do welfare institutions perceive interconnected ecological, economic and/or social problems in the Anthropocene? What expertise is drawn upon and what knowledge is developed to provide answers to these problems? Are there particular reforms undertaken in welfare states worldwide to provide knowledge of crisis conditions or effects (such as through anticipation)?

We welcome abstracts that explore one or more of these questions from different theoretical perspectives and with reference to cases from the Global North or the Global South. Even though the session title specifically mentions ‘welfare states’, we are also interested in how other types of actors, including non-state actors or international organizations, deal with the production and provision of knowledge of interconnected ecological, economic and/or social crises.