Sociology in Somber Times: Opening Windows into the Future

The optimistic expectations the world experienced at the end of the twentieth century have given way to uncertainty and fear. Hopes inspired by democratic conquests are fading out in the face of growing inequalities, mounting environmental risks, and polarized power struggles. The long term effects of the 2008 financial crisis, the rise of populist leaders, and xenophobic movements add to the signs of discouragement. More recently, the long pandemic and the war in Ukraine have deepened the pessimism and the feeling of hopelessness about the future of society.

Despite the many setbacks, progress and freedom remain the central values and moral justification for sciences. As the offspring of the Enlightenment, but also of modernity’s colonial dark side, the search for scientific knowledge implicitly bets on progress. In the particular case of sociology, as a historical discipline, be it analysing long-term processes and structures in which actors are embedded or looking at the contingent choices they make, it offers valuable tools for mapping out problems and possible solutions. It is offering maps, not a specific path, that sociology may throw light into the future. These are the arguments that inspire the session to invite papers that look at processes and/or choices as basic resources to grasp possible futures.