466
Conceptualizing Global Social Problems

Monday, 16 July 2018: 17:30-19:20
Location: 717A (MTCC SOUTH BUILDING)
RC25 Language and Society (host committee)

Language: English

The existing coverage on global social problems reflects ad hoc and unsophisticated understandings of when a social problem exists and what makes it a global problem. We find mentioned in the literature a transnational, a naturalist, a constructivist, and a critical perspective. These perspectives and, possibly, a phenomenological,  institutional and individual-centered ones, necessarily suffer from a lack of specificity if the subject matter is ill defined. The discourse and language used in the conceptualization of "global social problems" shape the design of possible "solutions" for them, while power relations within and beyond these problematics unfold. In this session we would like to focus on the following questions: Is there a precise criterion or a typology of criteria in use or in need of elaboration which would enable us to identify with accuracy when a global social problem becomes one and evaluate the extent of its severity? Should these criteria be sociological, juridical or ethical in nature or a combination of them? How would these criteria inform the discourse about global social problems? Special attention will be paid to clear formulations regarding the theoretical and disciplinary or interdisciplinary bases of the proposed criteria.
Session Organizer:
Roberta VILLALON, St John's University, USA
Oral Presentations
National Security As Food Self-Sufficiency: Russian Official Discourse and Public Sentiments
Irina TROTSUK, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Russian Federation
Reversed Migration and the Trauma of Dislocation and Injustice to the Child
Oluwasegun OMIDIORA, COVENANT UNIVERSITY, Nigeria; Stephen OGUNPITAN, Lagos State University, Nigeria, Nigeria; Christopher AWONUGA, Covenant University, Nigeria; Emmanuel UBA, Covenant University, Nigeria
Migration in the Era of Globalization: The Potential of Language Integration
Musa YUSUPOV, Chechen State University, Law Faculty, Russian Federation