XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 13-19, 2014)

July 13 - 19, 2014

185

Well-Being, Participation and Digital Democracy

RC10 Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management (host committee)

Language: English

Theoretical and methodological challenges will be explored within the historical and socio-political context of the social structuration of contradictory strategies in the realization of social relationships. The problem is that the most vulnerable people are not protected by the social contract. The session will explore strong and weak cosmopolitanism, the green versus the sustainability movement and the way in which people and planetary issues continue to be polarised in processes that commodify relationships, labour, nature and sentient beings. Can cosmopolitan politics address the criticism raised by the Left, namely that the pseudo debate between right and left leads to a transformation of the neoliberal market? The area of concern addressed by cosmopolitans is that humanity faces systemically linked social, economic and environmental crises that currently pose a challenge to the sovereignty of states and raise concerns about the ability of regional federations to address the needs of increasingly unequal societies. The session aims to discuss an understanding of the way in which cosmopolitanism is shaped by diverse definitions and applied very differently by theorists and those who engage in transformative praxis. We will explore the extent to which the development of new forms of digital communication could enable broader participation in a wider public space, whilst exploring the role of the state and ‘if then scenarios’ about the role of federations, post national biospheres or within so-called republican federalism and the implications for social and environmental justice.