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

The sea is an almost completely absent topic in classical sociology (with some exceptions such as Tonnies 1897 and Elias 1950). Furthermore, sociologists who deal with maritime phenomena have rarely contributed to the construction of reference paradigms, even if in recent years, there has been a growing interest in the sociological analysis of the sea (Cocco, 2014; 2016; Longo, Clark 2016; Hanningan, 2017; Grassmeir, Kolodzej-Durnas and Sowa, 2022). However, the topic is marginal if compared to other ones, such as urban or inner areas. Nonetheless, it can be a prominent one for sociology, given the numerous related social phenomena: the growth of ecological awareness, the growth of maritime mobility, fishing, the deindustrialization of seaside areas, migrations, digitalization and innovation of maritime jobs, the disappearance of maritime cultural heritage. Tourism and the numerous related aspects, then, require increasingly consistent and systematic reflection on the relation between sea and coast as well as on maritime issues and rest of society.

This session, organized in collaboration with ASTMed (Mediterranean Association for the Sociology of Tourism), aims to stimulate debate on the sea and its sociological declinations on tourism all over the world. Both theoretical and empirical proposals on the aforementioned topics will be considered, but the chairs are available to evaluate other ones on topics which are not mentioned but are considered fitted with the focus of the session.