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

In the contemporary global landscape, acute and persistent crises have foregrounded the imperative for enhanced social justice across multiple dimensions of human experience, including technical, ecological, economic, political, and societal systems. This exigency is reflected in the heightened prominence of social justice in both academic discourse and public debate, prompting an urgent call for moral and political actions to address and deal with social injustices. This session critically examines the role of International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) in fostering social justice and catalyzing social change in the Global South. By welcoming scholars, practitioners, and INGO representatives, the session wants to offer a fresh analysis of the concept of social justice within sociological theory, underscoring its significance in interpreting the conditions and inequalities prevalent in the Global South. The session will scrutinize the responses of various actors—including individuals, groups, organizations, social movements, governments, and supranational bodies—to social injustices, evaluating the efficacy of their interventions in engendering social change. Additionally, the session will probe the function of concepts such as social justice, equity, and related terms within public, media, and political discourses, and their implications for the activities of INGOs in the Global South. This includes a critical examination of the methodological and ethical considerations involved in empirically operationalizing and measuring social justice, particularly concerning marginalized and disadvantaged populations.