Social Relationships In Times of Vulnerability: Biographical Perspectives on Support, Trust, Inclusion and Life Chances

Social Relationships in Times of Vulnerability: Biographical Perspectives on Support, Trust, Inclusion and Life Chances

Contemporary societies are marked by vulnerabilities associated with social inequality, migration, poverty, discrimination, political polarization, family transformations, ageing, disability, and other life challenges. While these processes are often analysed through structural or institutional perspectives, less attention is given to the role of social relationships in how individuals experience and navigate such conditions.

This session assumes social relationships are a fundamental dimension of human life. Family ties, friendships, intimate relationships, kinship networks, communities, and institutional relationships can provide resources, trust, recognition, belonging, and opportunities for participation. Conversely, the absence or fragility of such relationships may intensify vulnerability, exclusion, and insecurity.

Using biographical perspectives, this session explores how social relationships shape trajectories and opportunities to cope with adversity, construct lives, and pursue valued futures. We are particularly interested in how such relationships are created, maintained, negotiated, or lost across social, cultural, and institutional contexts.

The session welcomes theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions on topics such as: family figurations and kinship networks; trust, reciprocity, and social support; migration, displacement, and transnational relationships; social inclusion and exclusion; poverty, vulnerability, and social protection; youth transitions and educational trajectories; ageing and intergenerational relations; disability, care, and participation; identity, belonging, and recognition; social work and intervention practices; social relationships and life chances; biographical, narrative, and life-course methodologies.

The session encourages contributions investigating social relationships as shapers of opportunities, constraints, and possibilities under vulnerability, and their implications for inclusion, participation, well-being, and belonging.