Joint Sessions, JOINT
joint	RC01RC49RC54	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC01RC49RC54	Conceptions of the Body and Health in High-Risk Organizations 	 // RC01RC49RC54 Conceptions of the Body and Health in High-Risk Organizations Joint session of RC01 Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution [host committee] , RC49 Mental Health and Illness and RC54 The Body in the Social Sciences Session Organizer Gerhard KUEMMEL, Bundeswehr Institute of Social Sciences, Germany,   Session in English We assume that high-risk organizations such as the fire brigades, disaster relief organizations, the police and the military may nourish particular conceptions of the body and health. The exposition to risk, thus we hypothesize, triggers conceptions of the body as being invulnerable and strong. Also, such exposition furthers conceptions of health that exclude the unhealthy. We welcome papers dealing with this issue from theoretical and/or empirical angles. 
joint	RC02RC03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC03	Boom and Bust: The Community before, during, and after Economic Prosperity	 // RC02RC03 Boom and Bust: The Community before, during, and after Economic Prosperity Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society and RC03 Community Research [host committee] Session Organizer Sam HILLYARD, Durham University, United Kingdom,   Session in English The session explores the impact of economic prosperity upon communities. Communities can benefit from the prosperity local resources afford them, but the rewards can be highly transitory. The session invites papers bringing new empirical insight into our understanding of the processes of change before, during and after “booms.” Local resource is broadly conceived (mining, tourism, etc.). The notion of community is neither restricted to a physical nor geographic locale, but could be occupationally-defined, urban or activity-based. The notion of prosperity is also relative, and the session welcomes papers exploring small initiatives and examples of entrepreneurialism as well as globally-driven investment by established corporations and elites. Empirically, are there principles of best practices that can inform our approaches and what cumulative lessons might be learned? Theoretically, which models provide best insight across these micro, meso and macro events? All papers engaging with one or more of these themes are welcome. 
joint	RC02RC07	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC07	Challenges and Innovations in Contemporary Counter-Hegemonic Politics	 // RC02RC07 Challenges and Innovations in Contemporary Counter-Hegemonic Politics Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society and RC07 Futures Research [host committee] Session Organizers William K. CARROLL, University of Victoria, Canada,   Markus S. SCHULZ, University of Illinois, USA,   Session in English The crises of neoliberal capitalism pre-date the 2008 financial meltdown, as do the critiques of neoliberal globalization. 2014 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising. How, in the ensuing two decades have transnationally linked civil society actors attempted to move beyond episodic protest, to advocate alternatives (economic, ecological, political and cultural) that open spaces for radical transformation? What are the theoretical and practical challenges in pressing for radical change in a world still dominated in many ways by the institutions and narratives of neoliberal capitalism? What alternative projects do collective actors in the Global South and the Global North articulate, and how effective have their efforts been? How can they overcome the linguistic and cultural barriers, and how do they manage to network across borders and vastly different local contexts? How do they interact with transnational elites, the mass media, and repressive forces? What can we learn by comparing experiences and aspirations? This session welcomes scholars working on any of these aspects from a theoretical, empirical, and/or normative viewpoint. 
joint	RC02RC07RC09	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC07RC09	Futures of Post-Neoliberalism in a Time of Global Crisis	 // RC02RC07RC09 Futures of Post-Neoliberalism in a Time of Global Crisis Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society , RC07 Futures Research and RC09 Social Transformations and Sociology of Development [host committee] Session Organizer Ulrike M. M. SCHUERKENS, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France,   Session in English Neoliberalism has become the focus of much public debate, as global financial crises continue under this economic order. For many observers, neoliberalism has exhausted its capacity as a hegemonic project. Yet alternatives are rather few. One may find them in the Occupy movement. This movement in its many forms all over the world has challenged the current neoliberal order, although its message defies codification. Another alternative that tries to reconstruct the global capitalist order takes the form of “Andean capitalism” in several Latin American countries. Countries, such as those that comprise the ALBA space, attempt to construct an alternative hegemonic discourse and practice. In North Africa, the Arab spring required a democratic change of postcolonial regimes narrowly linked to neoliberal states of the North. In other countries, conflicts have turned around the cost of living and corruption, and not on the structural reform agenda tackled by the Occupy movement. Social protests are here likely to revolve around unmet expectations of populations who do not receive a sufficient socio-economic share from the prevailing political order. Questions to be addressed include: What is post-neoliberalism? Does the global financial crisis herald a new economic era? Which avenues for public policy are opened up by the global financial crisis? Which possibilities are given for democratic participations of populations in the governance of States? This session will provide a forum for the articulation of competing answers to these questions and arguments from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. 
joint	RC02RC09	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC09	The Culture and Currency of Money	 // RC02RC09 The Culture and Currency of Money Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society and RC09 Social Transformations and Sociology of Development [host committee] Session Organizer Frederick F. WHERRY, Columbia University, USA,   Session in English Since Viviana Zelizer`s publication of The Social Meaning of Money (1994), there has been a growing recognition among social scientists that money, budgeting, and the creation of currencies have less to do with technical concerns and mathematical optimizations than with cultural codes and social relationships. Nonprofit organizations and government agencies have increasingly paid attention to how households categorize and prioritize their expenditures. Questions remain about how budget categories emerge and how priorities shift (or not) due to financial education. What exactly is culture and how does it mediate attempts to change budgeting practices? At the macro-level struggles ensue over what currencies should look like, which countries should belong in a currency community and what the cultural characteristics are of those countries deemed most suitable for inclusion versus exclusion. These meaningful struggles at the household level and at the national and regional levels call for a culturally specific and socially situated analysis of money and social transformations. This session invites papers on the dynamics of money, currency, cultural characteristics, and social identities, broadly understood. 
joint	RC02RC19RC44	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC19RC44	The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work	 // RC02RC19RC44 The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society , RC19 Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy [host committee] and RC44 Labor Movements Session Organizers Ito PENG, University of Toronto, Canada,   Jennifer Jihye CHUN, University of Bristish Columbia, Canada,   Heidi GOTTFRIED, Wayne State University, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Care work, a form of unpaid and paid labour performed primarily by women, is a major site of job growth across both the developing and developed world. The increasing demand for care workers in a variety of sectors – from private homes to long-term elder care facilities to public hospitals – has contributed to the global migration of care workers. Transnational flows of women workers, especially from poorer migrant-sending countries to wealthier migrant-receiving countries, raise critical questions about the dynamics of new forms of inequality, subordination and commodification associated with globalized care chains. How do global hierarchies influence the patterns and characteristics of care migration? In what ways do changing demographics, institutional policies and cultural practices affect the supply and provision of care across national borders? What are the social costs and consequences of global care chains for care workers and their families? How are care workers attempting to challenge the precarious dimensions of care work? What are the means and modes of organizing among care workers? 
joint	RC02RC24	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC24	Searching for Sustainable Alternative Economies in the 21st Century: Cases and Prospects	 // RC02RC24 Searching for Sustainable Alternative Economies in the 21st Century: Cases and Prospects Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society [host committee] and RC24 Environment and Society Session Organizer Michelle F. HSIEH, Academia Sinica, Taiwan,   Session in English This is a call for papers that study the kinds of initiatives for sustainable economic activities that attempt to remedy problems resulting from the endless-growth driven capitalist economies (e.g. increasing inequality, environmental degradation, over- concentration of corporate power etc.). Sustainable development is usually associated with envisioning viable post-globalization economic systems that emphasize sustainability and social equity and often involve multiple contestations and pluralist forms of institutional design. Various terms have been applied to these alternative initiatives that differentiate them from profit- driven capitalist economies, such as social economies, social innovations, sustainable development or alternative globalization. Empirically, there have been a growing number of studies on these social experiments and alternative practices, with examples ranging from varieties of green economy initiatives and fair trade to co-operatives and various other socioeconomic practices. A common thrust among these alternatives is that they address collective human needs and are not subject to the endless-growth driven logic of market economies. But what are the trade-offs, possible tensions and contradictions of these alternatives vis-à-vis the current market economy? This session aims to address the working mechanisms, governance structure and organizing principles of these on-going social experiments or initiatives, the social conditions for their success or failure and their limitations. The purpose is to identify mechanisms for change, viabilities for alternative economies, their relationship with the world economy and prospects for transforming global capitalism. It invites empirical works on these alternative economies at the local, regional or national levels that examine how they can be articulated in relation to market economies. It calls for case studies from both developed and developing countries, but special attention will be given to responses from non-core countries, especially cases from East Asia (though not limited to there). 
joint	RC02RC28	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC28	Structural Mechanisms and Historical Contingencies: Global Stratification and its Discontents	 // RC02RC28 Structural Mechanisms and Historical Contingencies: Global Stratification and its Discontents Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society and RC28 Social Stratification [host committee] Session Organizers Hiroko INOUE, University of California Riverside, USA,   Haya STIER, Tel Aviv University, Israel,   Session in English As global sociology faces an unequal world, it seeks to understand the combinations of structural mechanisms and historical contingencies and rational choices that generate, reproduce, and challenge inequities. Global sociology has come to incorporate various sub-fields of traditional sociology at agent, distinct local and international levels and has also developed theoretical perspectives to explain inequality/stratification, integration, and disparity. National stratification structures and processes have been altered by globalization, and global structures of power, prestige, wealth and income are also changing. Some have argued that a single global society with a global class structure is emerging. Such ongoing and novel reconfigurations of inequality/stratification at different levels, time and space have been a central question of global sociology. This joint session seeks papers that are related to all the issues of stratification in the context of globalization as well as global stratification. The session is interested in wide range of topics that are relevant to stratification including income, class, migration, environment, education, family, gender, race, ethnicity, health, and the like. The session is open to various theoretical perspectives in sociology including, but not limited to, political economy and others. 
joint	RC02RC44	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC44	Land and Labor in the Global Political Economy 	 // RC02RC44 Land and Labor in the Global Political Economy Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society and RC44 Labor Movements [host committee] Session Organizer Sarah SWIDER, Wayne State University, USA,   Session in English What is the relation between accumulation by dispossession and the exploitation of labor? How do these two processes intersect to mobilize resistance? When do struggles over land create the most effective contestation of capitalist domination and when is the exploitation of labor a more powerful driver of resistance? Theorists from Marx to Polanyi to David Harvey have wrestled with these questions and they are central to the contemporary study of labor movements, especially in the global south. Land grabs are a central feature of development in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They take a variety of forms. Extractive investments by global corporations threaten rural communities and livelihoods. State sponsored industrial zones, business parks, and real estate development transform urban and peri-urban areas. Land grabs are intertwined with the creation of new forms of exploitation and marginalization of workers. This panel will examine how specific socio-economic, political, and historical arrangements shape the articulation of exploitation and dispossession and how this articulation shapes in turn the form and content of counter movements. 
joint	RC02RC442	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC02RC442	Organizing the Production of Alternative Visions to Support Social and Eco-Justice 	 // RC02RC44/2 Organizing the Production of Alternative Visions to Support Social and Eco-Justice Joint session of RC02 Economy and Society [host committee] and RC44 Labor Movements Session Organizers William CARROLL, University of Victoria, Canada,   Peter EVANS, University of California-Berkeley, USA,   Session in English Since the mid-1970s, but particularly since the 1990s, alternative think tanks, policy groups, popular institutes and other sites of counter-hegemonic knowledge production and mobilization have generated important ideas, both visionary and strategic, for a “globalization from below” in which transnational social movements have often been leading protagonists. Groups such as the Transnational Institute (Amsterdam), Instituto Paulo Freire and Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes (Sao Paulo), Focus on the Global South (Bangkok), Centre for Civil Society (Durban) and Asia Monitor Resource Centre (Hong Kong) have served as “collective intellectuals,” critiquing corporate agendas and promoting democratic alternatives to neoliberal globalization in contestations that often transect national borders. This panel session welcomes papers and presentations that explore the challenges and possibilities in organizing the production of alternative visions, strategies, critiques and modes of analysis to support social and eco-justice. How is counter-hegemonic knowledge produced, mobilized and articulated with on-the ground activism? What alternative projects and methodologies are emerging for strengthening anti-systemic forces? How does counter-hegemonic knowledge production contribute to a new left anti-capitalist politics and to the formation of new subjectivities from below? Papers that take up issues relating to labour movements and/or economy and society are particularly welcome, as are presentations from activist intellectuals directly engaged in the production of alternative visions and strategies. 
joint	RC03RC09	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC03RC09	Development and Inequality in Post-Socialist Countries: Comparative Perspectives	 // RC03RC09 Development and Inequality in Post-Socialist Countries: Comparative Perspectives Joint session of RC03 Community Research [host committee] and RC09 Social Transformations and Sociology of Development Session Organizers Nina BANDELJ, University of California-Irvine, USA,   Cheris Shun-ching CHAN, University of Hong Kong, China,   Session in English This session invites submissions that examine the intersection of globalization, economic development, and social outcomes in post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia and China. Rather than limiting inequalities to economic terms, this session calls for works that study any forms of inequalities, such as unequal access to political power, healthcare, housing, education, cultural capital, and social capital, etc. The former communist countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia were sharply buffeted by the global economic crisis and prolonged difficulties on the European continent. The way forward in this region seems complicated since the massive transformations of the prior two dozen of years had left more or less skeletons in post-socialist closets. It is easily forgotten that the institutionalization of democracy and the market took many decades, at a minimum, in other parts of the world. How has the global economic crisis intervened into these post-socialist developments? In many countries, the crisis has brought a time of recession, high unemployment, and soaring sovereign debt, with governance marred by non-transparency and informality. In some cases, restive publics began to register support for populist and radical parties; in others, they staged protest against current governments. Scholars have even questioned the legitimacy of the economic and political models that East European countries had followed since 1989. Some countries have shown more resistance and have weathered the crisis better than others. China is often cited as a case to illustrate a divergent path, and yet there are tremendous challenges and difficulties that China is experiencing. Social distrust is intensifying and social unrest is mounting under the surface of an ever stronger economy. Does the Chinese society experiencing something in common with the European and Eurasian societies? What are they and why is that so? We welcome papers that explore any of these topics, employing a cross-national framework to interrogate the divergences and similarities across the region, and between the post-socialist countries and the rest of the world. We welcome quantitative cross-national analyses, qualitative case study comparisons, or multi-method designs. 
joint	RC04RC07	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC04RC07	Future of Education: Innovation, Reform, Struggle, and Vision. Futuro de la educación: Innovación, reforma, lucha y visión 	 // RC04RC07 Future of Education: Innovation, Reform, Struggle, and Vision. Futuro de la educación: Innovación, reforma, lucha y visión Joint session of RC04 Sociology of Education and RC07 Futures Research [host committee] Session Organizers Sonsoles SAN ROMAN GAGO, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain,   Gerardo DEL CERRO SANTAMARIA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA,   Hiroyuki TOYOTA, Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka, Japan,   Session in English/Spanish 
joint	RC04RC07RC23	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC04RC07RC23	The Future of Teaching and Research in Universities 	 // RC04RC07RC23 The Future of Teaching and Research in Universities Joint session of RC04 Sociology of Education , RC07 Futures Research and RC23 Sociology of Science and Technology [host committee] Session Organizers Jaime JIMENEZ, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   A. Gary DWORKIN, University of Houston, USA,   Gerardo DEL CERRO SANTAMARIA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA,   Ralph MATTHEWS, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Session in English Teaching and research in research universities have endured critical changes over the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Public universities confront the reduction of budgets and/or the “labeling” of funds. Authorities insist on the “return” of investment of universities, meaning to prepare professionals to meet the needs of service/production entities, and/or increase the university income via more applied science projects sponsored by external sources. The very essence of universities seems to be threatened. To augment knowledge for the sake of increasing human knowledge seems to be diluted. What the future of man will be if the humanities are neglected? Can human kind do without the wisdom delivered by the social sciences and the humanities? 
joint	RC04RC13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC04RC13	Leisure and Education in an Unequal World	 // RC04RC13 Leisure and Education in an Unequal World Joint session of RC04 Sociology of Education and RC13 Sociology of Leisure [host committee] Session Organizers A. Gary DWORKIN, University of Houston, USA,   Karl SPRACKLEN, Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom,   Session in English As education becomes increasingly instrumentalized, so does the everyday practice of leisure – and this instrumentalization shapes, and is shaped by, the inequalities that run through the modern world. However, leisure and education remain sites for human potential, human agency and human creativity. Where leisure and education meet, in innovative pedagogies and practices, there are opportunities for resistance to the instrumentality of the modern world. This joint session will be a site to debate the interconnections between leisure and education, the good practice and the agency, as well as the challenges and threats. Contributions are invited from researchers and theorists interested in leisure studies, education studies, innovative pedagogies and practices; and academics exploring the prevailing hegemony of global capitalism and its impact on human agency in leisure, education, and leisure education. 
joint	RC04RC20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC04RC20	The Comparative Sociology of Examinations	 // RC04RC20 The Comparative Sociology of Examinations Joint session of RC04 Sociology of Education and RC20 Comparative Sociology [host committee] Session Organizers Fumiya ONAKA, Japan Women`s University, Japan,   Shinichi AIZAWA, Chukyo University, Japan,   Session in English Examinations have been functioning as a crucial mechanism for producing, reproducing and legitimizing inequalities. From another viewpoint, however, they have also constituted a tool for social promotion. It is important to analyze carefully the way they work in order to understand inequalities in present-day societies. Obviously enough, modes of examination differ greatly from one society to the next (in Japan we used to talk of “examination hell”). What we would like to encourage is a “Comparative Sociology of examinations.” This, in some way, can equally be seen as a comparative analysis of our discipline because the topic can be treated in a very different way by various schools of thought (e.g. Marxian theories of inequality, Durkheimian theories of socialization, Weberian theories of modernization, and Eliasian theories of civilization). We welcome case studies that would contribute to the international comparison of examinations. 
joint	RC04RC23	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC04RC23	New Topics in Interaction between University and Society	 // RC04RC23 New Topics in Interaction between University and Society Joint session of RC04 Sociology of Education [host committee] and RC23 Sociology of Science and Technology Session Organizers Juha TUUNAINEN, University of Helsinki, Finland,   Kari KANTASALMI, University of Helsinki, Finland,   Session in English/Spanish The 20th century witnessed a radical transformation in the ways of understanding the relationship between university and society. In science studies, the transformation of university research was discussed in terms of changing norms of science and altering contract between science and society. In research policy and higher education research, the societal role of university was redefined in terms of academic capitalism, entrepreneurial university and Mode-two knowledge production. In science communication, risks and ethical problems created by techno-scientific developments sprouted resulting in the transformation of public understanding of science into a more interactive construct of public engagement in science. In this context, the present session will increase our knowledge about the societal impact of universities by addressing the diversity of forms of interaction between university and society. It strives for improving our understanding of the various ways in which epistemic and social motives are being intertwined in university activities, and promotes an in-depth analysis of the mutual influence between science, higher education and society. Finally, it seeks to contribute to the understanding of the democracy of science and education by scrutinizing the ways in which societal stakeholders influence, and are influenced by, university practices in different areas of society. Note: Papers submitted to this session will be considered for publication in a special issue of the journal Science & Technology Studies (http://www.sciencetechnologystudies.org/). A more detailed call for papers concerning the special issue will be circulated later. 
joint	RC05RC32	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC05RC32	Contested Citizenship: Transnationalism, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality	 // RC05RC32 Contested Citizenship: Transnationalism, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Joint session of RC05 Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations and RC32 Women in Society [host committee] Session Organizers Patricia TOMIC, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Canada,   Lloyd L. WONG, University of Calgary, Canada,   Session in English Mobility is one of the most significant features of the present. Not only people, but ideas, discourses, human relations, commodities of every kind, capital, concepts, knowledge, and values, transfer from place to place, sometimes instantly, sometimes with great difficulty and under tremendous stress. However, in the global context, mobility comes together with borders and power. Indeed, while borders have become more flexible for goods, capital, and data, if people are involved, they open easily only for some; for others, borders have become increasingly rigid. Hence, both, mobilities and immobilities characterize contemporary societies. Gender is one of the key elements that decide mobilities and immobilities affecting women in particular and in significant ways. But gender cannot be considered independently from its intersection with class, race, sexuality and ability. This session invites papers that deal with the ways in which societies of flow (Castells, 1996) intersect with gender; in particular, how societies of flow are being impacted by the diversity of women’s agency. Topics may cover (but are not limited) to the following: Societies of flows, feminism and transnational solidarities. South-North women’s migration, critical human rights theory, and contested citizenships. Global inequalities, women, technologies and the transnational. Transnational economies, labour, gender and human rights. Race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and migration. Discourses of family, human rights and transnational economies. Global Capitalism, transnational flows of ideas, communications and women in the global South. Gender, sexuality, the global South and cultural mobility. Methodological and theoretical contributions to study gender, sexuality, ethnicity and citizenship in the context of mobility and global inequalities. 
joint	RC05RC322	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC05RC322	Women, Transnationalism and Diaspora 	 // RC05RC32/2 Women, Transnationalism and Diaspora Joint session of RC05 Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations [host committee] and RC32 Women in Society Session Organizers Ann DENIS, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Ulrike M. VIETEN, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom,   Session in English The focus of this session is women who belong to a racialized or (other) ethnic minority in a diaspora and who are also transnationals. We consider women to be transnationals if they act in multiple spatial-social sites of belonging which cross one or more nation state borders. Though ethnic minorities might be part of diasporic communities, they are not necessarily transnational (but this session focuses on ones where this is the case). We welcome papers from different regions across the world and are open to analyses which examine, theoretically and/or empirically, the intersectional impact of being women and transnationals in conjunction with diasporic residence and ethnicity/“race”. Analyses may focus on negotiating individual identities or on more macro approaches to the context of ethnic/racialized pluralism which exists to a greater or lesser degree in the society and/or its social institutions. Comparative analyses are welcome, as are feminist ones. 
joint	RC05RC38	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC05RC38	Intersectionality and Intellectual Biographies	 // RC05RC38 Intersectionality and Intellectual Biographies Joint session of RC05 Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations [host committee] and RC38 Biography and Society Session Organizers Kathy DAVIS, Vrije University, Netherlands,   Helma LUTZ, Frankfurt University, Germany,   Session in English This joint session explores the ways social location shapes, limits, and enables the development of critical social theory. This will be done by means of intellectual biographies of theorists, social histories of schools of thought and their travels, and transnational ethnographies of theoretical and methodological perspectives challenging racism, sexism, ethnocentrism and nationalism. We invite contributions that focus specifically on the relationships between intersections of gender, class, race/ethnicity and national belonging and the development of critical sociological theory and practice. 
joint	RC05TG03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC05TG03	Temporary and Precarious Migration and the Securitized State. Human Rights, Culture and Belonging in an Age of Economic and Moral Austerity	 // RC05TG03 Temporary and Precarious Migration and the Securitized State. Human Rights, Culture and Belonging in an Age of Economic and Moral Austerity Joint session of RC05 Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations [host committee] and TG03 Human Rights and Global Justice Session Organizers Claudia TAZREITER, University of New South Wales, Australia,   Immanuel NESS, City University of New York, USA,   Session in English Human mobility is a desired aspect of globalization and indeed a particularly desired phenomenon by the neoliberal marketization and financialization of everyday life. Yet growing global inequalities result in some individuals having a greater need to migrate than others while the state is increasingly preoccupied with border control, securitization and criminalization of the most vulnerable migrants. Migrant workers, especially low-skilled workers and those with irregular migration status are vulnerable to various forms of abuse and exploitation in this context. The UN estimates that more than 214 million migrants, including migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers as well as immigrants without residency rights, live and work in a country other than that of their birth or citizenship. Many of these individuals find themselves without adequate protections and subject to forms of exploitation, abuse and discrimination, including racialization. Irregular status often renders migrants “invisible” to the services of the state as non-citizens, yet at the same time these groups are subject to increasingly harsh forms of securitization through state mechanisms of control and violence, both tangible and symbolic. A resurgence of nationalism and xenophobia has in many cases accompanied economic austerity after the “crisis” of markets and money. Irregular and temporary migrants are readily implicated in a politics of exclusion that the state wages in many parts of the world against the same individuals that transnational corporations readily exploit through precarious, casualized and often unregulated work. This session seeks to address growing global inequalities and the effects of austerity, both economic and moral, through focusing on the experiences of temporary migrants. We welcome papers that explore empirically or theoretically aspects of the dilemmas outlined above. We particularly welcome papers that address the global and local transformations that result in “precarious migration” and further entrench inequalities within and between regions of the world. We welcome papers that focus on state responses to the developments outlined as well as papers that focus on strategies of resistance by migrants through local or transnational networks. 
joint	RC05WG02	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC05WG02	Becoming a Racial Subject, Negotiating Power: Comparative Historical Contexts	 // RC05WG02 Becoming a Racial Subject, Negotiating Power: Comparative Historical Contexts Joint session of RC05 Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations [host committee] and WG02 Historical and Comparative Sociology Session Organizers Vilma Bashi TREITLER, City University of New York, USA,   Manuela BOATCA, Free University of Berlin, Germany,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This invited session brings together recent pieces of research on the creation of racial subjects in different historical settings and geopolitical contexts – from imperial and colonial rule in the Americas and Africa to the post-colonial present in Asia and Europe. Strategies employed in order to counteract, subvert and resist to processes of racialization and the resulting structural exclusions are discussed alongside shifts in the patterns and discourses of ethno-racial incorporation. 
joint	RC06RC11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC11	Family and Elder Care	 // RC06RC11 Family and Elder Care Joint session of RC06 Family Research and RC11 Sociology of Aging [host committee] Session Organizers Cynthia M. CREADY, University of North Texas, USA,   Jacobus HOFFMAN, Oxford Institute of Ageing, United Kingdom,   Session in English Empirical and theoretical papers that address any aspect of family and elder care invited for this session. Possible topics include: becoming a caregiver; types and levels of elder care and support from family members; elder perceptions of family-produced care; the effects of caring for an elder family member on the health and well-being, relationships, work, and financial situation of the caregiver; consequences of changing family structure for elder care; racial/ethnic, gender, and/or social class differences in family-produced elder care; transitions from family-produced to non-family-produced elder care, and the impact of social policies on family-produced elder care. 
joint	RC06RC13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC13	Leisure and Family: A Mutually Supportive Relationship	 // RC06RC13 Leisure and Family: A Mutually Supportive Relationship Joint session of RC06 Family Research and RC13 Sociology of Leisure [host committee] Session Organizers Rudolf RICHTER, University of Vienna, Austria,   Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Session in English The most important social unit the family can be both a highly constructive and supportive institution and also the most destructive one. Just as family nurtures its wards so too the family needs to be nurtured. Can leisure have a role in maintaining and supporting the family as a unit? Can it help promote more integrated and supportive family relationships? Families sharing leisure activities may have healthier social attitude as they may have a more egalitarian approach to human relationships. Just as leisure can support better family ties so too, some of the most fulfilling leisure activities may be found within the family set up. 
joint	RC06RC312	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC312	Families’ Resilience in Times of Economic Crisis and Mobility	 // RC06RC31/2 Families’ Resilience in Times of Economic Crisis and Mobility Joint session of RC06 Family Research [host committee] and RC31 Sociology of Migration Session Organizers Loretta BALDASSAR, University of Western Australia, Australia,   Majella KILKEY, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom,   Laura MERLA, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium,   Session in English Little is known about the impact of the current economic crisis on families and on the strategies they adopt to deal with it. This session seeks to address that gap by examining the potential re-activation of transnational family ties and solidarities in times of crisis. Rather than seeing care exchange as a unidirectional, one way drain flow from poor migrants to wealthy elites, the session builds on a conceptualization of care flows as asymmetrical and circular. Potential sources of support and resilience opportunities can accommodate strains and stresses in one country through the resilience and strength of the family network spread across the globe. Specifically, migration is examined both as a strategy to cope with the crisis and as a resource underpinning transnational family and community relations, which is likely to vary across and within migration streams. Of particular importance here is an analysis of inequalities in what has been called `global householding` (Douglass 2006, Kofman 2012) in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, class, employment status and skill. The circular flows of care and resilience strategies within families occur with the poor and also with the middle classes and elites who utilise networks to facilitate mobility, opportunities for economic and career success, and care for dependent family members as parents age and for the very young. We invite contributions that analyse the strategies that “old” and “new” transnational families adopt to cope with the effects of the current economic crisis. We are particularly interested in: Transnational families’ resilience strategies in a comparative perspective; Intergenerational and/or cross generational linkages within transnational families, as well as inequalities within and across transnational families, and the role that diasporas play in creating resilience for migrant families in times of economic crisis. 
joint	RC06RC32	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC32	Women Negotiating Work and Family	 // RC06RC32 Women Negotiating Work and Family Joint session of RC06 Family Research [host committee] and RC32 Women in Society Session Organizers Maitreyee BARDHAN, Basanti Devi College, India,   Anita DASH, Ravenshaw University, India,   Session in English This session looks at the ways in which women juggle multiple roles in being an active citizen through their labour force participation and their roles in the family and household. Women`s roles within families can be diverse including women-headed single parent families, co-parents and women as carer of the elderly. The papers in this session should consider how global trends and societal changes in relation to gender and work politics impact on women’s familial roles in the Asian region. Themes included in this session are: women-headed single parent families and work politics women, elderly care and work politics working women and their dependence on domestic workers 
joint	RC06RC33	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC33	Panel Data Analysis of Families Worldwide 	 // RC06RC33 Panel Data Analysis of Families Worldwide Joint session of RC06 Family Research [host committee] and RC33 Logic and Methodology in Sociology Session Organizers Junya TSUTSUI, Ritsumeikan University, Japan,   Michiko NISHINO, Toyo University, Japan,   Session in English In almost every discipline in social sciences, the power and effectiveness of panel (longitudinal) data has been recognized in the analysis of human behaviour. Panel analyses are able to achieve stricter estimations than ordinary cross-sectional analysis. Panel based family studies can provide a more accurate estimation of effects, such as the effect of family support programs on marriage formation or fertility, or the effect of shorter working hours on husband’s contribution to housework, etc. The U.S. has a long history of panel data accumulation. Now panel data are ready to be analysed by researchers in Japan and other regions. The session welcomes papers analysing family issues using panel data from every region of the world. The session will provide up to 5 presentations, followed by discussions where researchers are expected to exchange methods of analyses or contemporary conditions regarding the accumulation of panel data on family behaviour. In order to facilitate this purpose, session organizer will pursue the maximum diversity in regions represented by presenters. 
joint	RC06RC39	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC39	Disasters and Families	 // RC06RC39 Disasters and Families Joint session of RC06 Family Research and RC39 Sociology of Disasters [host committee] Session Organizers Noriko IWAI, Osaka University of Commerce, Japan,   Alice FOTHERGILL, University of Vermont, USA,   Session in English In the past decade, many nations, such as Japan, Haiti, China, the United States, Indonesia, and others have experienced major disasters. This session will examine the impact of such large-scale events on families. We are especially interested in research on families in all stages of the disaster lifecycle, including: risk perception, preparedness, response to warnings, evacuation behavior, short- and long-term recovery, and reconstruction. We also hope that researchers will further understanding of how social vulnerability, poverty, the relocation of households, the scattering of family members, the loss of stable family income, and other factors influence the ability of families to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disaster. Moreover, we encourage authors to engage questions related to how families, as units, can better prepare for and become more resilient in the face of disaster. 
joint	RC06RC392	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC392	Families Responses to Natural and Human-Made Disasters	 // RC06RC39/2 Families Responses to Natural and Human-Made Disasters Joint session of RC06 Family Research [host committee] and RC39 Sociology of Disasters Session Organizers DeMond S. MILLER, Rowan University, USA,   Mark HUTTER, Rowan University, USA,   Session in English This session will seek papers that focus on how families deal with natural disasters. In recent years, in the United States, two hurricanes – Katrina and Sandy – impacted on people living in southern states and most notably New Orleans, Louisiana and on the Jersey Shore of New Jersey and coastal areas of New York City. Worldwide, natural disasters, such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Indonesia and human-made disasters such as the nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and in Japan affected the people who lived in their respective countries. Papers should be directed at the ways that families have responded to such disasters. Coping patterns and resiliency patterns and the family as well as family disorganization effects as a resultant of disasters should be addressed in such papers. We welcome papers that specifically relate to disasters that occur in a given country. Papers can focus on marital disruption patterns, generational effects, etc. Papers of a more theoretical bent that discusses families in terms of crisis as a result of disasters are also of great interest. 
joint	RC06RC53	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC53	The "24/7 Economy" and Children`s Well-Being	 // RC06RC53 The "24/7 Economy" and Children`s Well-Being Joint session of RC06 Family Research and RC53 Sociology of Childhood [host committee] Session Organizers Wen-Jui HAN, New York University, USA,   Jianghong LI, Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany,   Session in English Many societies around the globe are witnessing a significant labor market transition from industrial and post-industrial economies to service economies, which Presser (2003) calls the "24/7 economy." A 24/7 economy demands services around the clock, and this has underpinned the rise in work schedules during evenings, nights, and weekends (so called “shift work”). Structural factors which have contributed to the emergence of the 24/7 economy include technological change, globalization, and the labor market deregulation. Research to date has documented a high prevalence of shift work in developed economies, particularly among parents, and consequential adverse mental and physical health for shift workers. This labor market trend and consequential adverse impacts on individual wellbeing raise concerns about the potential impact – directly or indirectly – of parental work schedules on their children`s wellbeing. The proposed session aims to contribute to the theme of “Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology” of the XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology 2014, by examining an important dimension of social stratification and its impact on children: the hours when parents work. The objectives of this session are to: disseminate research findings on the impact of shift work on children promote scholarly exchanges on theoretical and methodological issues involved in this field of research stimulate further and more rigorous research in the future We look for both empirical and theoretical, and both quantitative and qualitative papers on the impact of shift work on children (including adolescents). Child and adolescent outcomes may include, but are not limited to, social emotional wellbeing, cognitive development, school engagement, academic achievement, and physical health. 
joint	RC06RC532	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06RC532	Labor Market Trends and Family Well-Being 	 // RC06RC53/2 Labor Market Trends and Family Well-Being Joint session of RC06 Family Research [host committee] and RC53 Sociology of Childhood Session Organizers Jianghong LI, Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany,   Wen-Jui HAN, New York University, USA,   Session in English Many societies around the globe are witnessing a significant labor market transition from industrial and post-industrial economies to service economies, which Presser (2003) calls the "24/7 economy." A 24/7 economy demands services around the clock, and this has underpinned the rise in work schedules in evenings, nights, and weekends (so called “shift work”). Structural factors which have contributed to the emergence of the 24/7 economy are technological change, globalization, and the labor market deregulation. Research to date has documented a high prevalence of shift work in developed economies, particularly among parents, and adverse mental and physical health consequences for shift workers. This labor market trend has raised concerns about its possible impacts on families, particularly for disadvantaged families. Our comprehensive review to date shows that although research in this field is still limited, there is an emerging empirical literature that addresses such concerns. The proposed session aims to contribute to the theme of “Facing Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology of the ISA World Congress of Sociology XVIII 2014, by examining a new dimension of social stratification and its impact on families: e.g., not the type of occupations and jobs parents engage themselves in, but when they work. The objectives of this session are to: 1) disseminate research findings on the impact of shift work on families; 2) promote scholarly exchanges on theoretical and methodological issues involved in this field of research; 3) stimulate further and more rigorous research in the future. We look for both empirical and theoretical, and both quantitative and qualitative papers on the impact of shift work on families. Family outcomes may include, but are not limited to, marital relationship, stress, parenting, parent-child relationship, and home environment. 
joint	RC06TG03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06TG03	Human Rights, Family Roles and Social Justice	 // RC06TG03 Human Rights, Family Roles and Social Justice Joint session of RC06 Family Research [host committee] and TG03 Human Rights and Global Justice Session Organizer Tessa LE ROUX, Lasell College, USA,   Session in English Motivation: Looking at family from a Social Justice and Human Rights perspective could provide a framework for discussion of family within the context of basic human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and as understood in a contemporary world of global and local inequality. This session could solicit papers on issues related to human rights (and human rights abuses) as they pertain to family. Families are vulnerable to social, economic, and political pressures. Human rights principles support the positive right of all people to marry and found a family, while recognizing diversity of marriage and family type. It upholds the ideal of equal and consenting marriage and tries to guard against abuses which undermine these principles. This session, which might count towards the RC06 group, could solicit papers that deal with topics such as equal rights of men and women in the family, domestic violence, trafficking, treatment of widows, sex-selective abortions, maternal health care, issues related to free consent to marriage, right to family planning, rights of children to parental care provision of parental leave, standards for treatment of children who lack parental care, and right to family reunification. 
joint	RC06TG032	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC06TG032	Families, Structural Violence and Human Rights	 // RC06TG03/2 Families, Structural Violence and Human Rights Joint session of RC06 Family Research and TG03 Human Rights and Global Justice [host committee] Session Organizers Tessa LE ROUX, Lasell College, USA,   Ed SIEH, Lasell College, USA,   Session in English Looking at family from a Social Justice and Human Rights perspective could provide a framework for discussion of family within the context of basic human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and as understood in a contemporary world of global and local inequality. This session will solicit papers on issues related to human rights (and human rights abuses) as they pertain to family. Families are vulnerable to social, economic, and political pressures. Human rights principles support the positive right of all people to marry and found a family, while recognizing diversity of marriage and family type. It upholds the ideal of equal and consenting marriage and tries to guard against abuses which undermine these principles. This session will solicit papers that deal with topics such as migration and family reunification, impact of war, violence, displacement, incarceration, and political upheaval on families. 
joint	RC07RC11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC07RC11	Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices	 // RC07RC11 Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices Joint session of RC07 Futures Research [host committee] and RC11 Sociology of Aging Session Organizer Julia ROZANOVA, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Session in English Population aging is considered among the top three challenges of global development by the United Nations. By 2025 one in every seven Americans, one in six Canadians, one in five Japanese and Europeans (in some European regions such as Germany or Italy one in four) will be over the age of 65. This historically unique global transition towards ageing societies will affect almost all countries before the end of the century. But what will this revolutionary change mean for sociology and for society? Will income security and healthcare be sustainable? How will differences in the age structure affect economic competitiveness in a world of competing nation-states? Will fears of gerontocracy exacerbate inter-generational conflicts? What is the future of the family when eldercare rather than childcare becomes a universal responsibility for adults, while the ages of life course transitions are further delayed? In cultural terms, will active aging become the mainstream worldwide lifestyle driven by the anti-aging industries? And what may be the theoretical and the policy implications of these trends and how can sociology address them and advise policy makers, other stakeholders in society as well as the older and the younger generations so that the future looks promising for people of all ages? This session invites papers addressing these and related questions to foster debates with a global and comparative perspective. 
joint	RC07RC13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC07RC13	Revitalizing the Future of Leisure	 // RC07RC13 Revitalizing the Future of Leisure Joint session of RC07 Futures Research and RC13 Sociology of Leisure [host committee] Session Organizers Markus SCHULZ, New York University, USA,   Scott NORTH, Osaka University, Japan,   Session in English Joseph Pieper`s seminal 1948 essay, “Leisure: the Basis of Culture” set out a philosophical rationale in which civilization itself originated in the practices of leisure. For Pieper, leisure was essential for perceiving reality, for contemplating and appreciating the divine in nature and in ourselves. The modern world, however, is restless; what we call leisure most often consists of trivializing distractions and “entertainments,” which, in tandem with the cult of work, have obliterated opportunities to be effortless. Leisure generally exists today either as something done to us or as preparation for still more labor. It is not strange to wonder if human civilization so constituted can long retain its humanity. The revitalization of leisure is an urgent moral need. This panel explores possibilities for a revitalized leisure future. In the spirit of Eric Olin Wright`s Envisioning Real Utopias (2010), we seek papers that contribute data, case studies, or theoretical perspectives to help answer the question of how real leisure can be reclaimed and how the realm of freedom can be expanded. Research analyzing forces that stand in opposition to such a restoration is also welcome, as are submissions from all geographical regions and methodological persuasions. 
joint	RC07RC36	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC07RC36	The Expropriated Future: Comparative Perspectives on Institutions and Individuals in the Age of Crisis	 // RC07RC36 The Expropriated Future: Comparative Perspectives on Institutions and Individuals in the Age of Crisis Joint session of RC07 Futures Research and RC36 Alienation Theory and Research [host committee] Session Organizer Dirk MICHEL-SCHERTGES, Aarhus University, Denmark,   Session in English This joint session aims to address contemporary policies on the macro, mezzo- and micro-levels that are weakening the institutions of welfare-states and expose individuals to new and old risks. For example, educational institutions are being forced to adopt market rationality under the pressure of international rankings and merely quantitative results, while hospitals and social work agencies are increasingly evaluated in terms of economic efficiency rather than prevention and such non-quantitative values as well-being. Continuing down such paths would not only be detrimental to individual opportunity and quality of life, but also create a new order that would expropriate future generations from enlightenment, welfare politics, and the hope for a better future. 
joint	RC07RC48	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC07RC48	Social Movements, Publics, and the Contentious Politics of the Future 	 // RC07RC48 Social Movements, Publics, and the Contentious Politics of the Future Joint session of RC07 Futures Research [host committee] and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Session Organizers Markus SCHULZ, University of Illinois, USA,   Benjamín TEJERINA, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain,   Session in English The ISA Research Committees on Future Research (RC07) and on Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change (RC48) are planning one or more Joint Sessions on contentious politics and on how social movements shape futures. Questions may include (but are not limited to): How do social movements create, articulate, disseminate, debate, and attempt to implement projects and visions of the future? Under what conditions do the horizons of imaginable futures expand or shrink? How do social movements invent new practices? How do social movements relate to old and new media? What factors influence the outcomes of social movement struggles? 
joint	RC07RC482	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC07RC482	Collective Action for the Degrowth	 // RC07RC48/2 Collective Action for the Degrowth Joint session of RC07 Futures Research and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change [host committee] Session Organizers Valerio VERREA, University of Leipzig, Germany,   Helena FLAM, University of Leipzig, Germany,   Session in English/Spanish The diffused economic crisis, together with pressing global environmental problems such as greenhouse effect, global pollution, depletion of natural resources, etc. are showing that the human economic growth is clashing with the limits of the biosphere on which human life is predicated. This supports the correctness of the critique of standard economics by the Ecological Economics: it is impossible to support an endless growth of production and consumption on a planet with limited resources (see Georgescu-Roegen, 1971; Kallis et al., 2012; Daly 1973, 1996, 2010; Jackson 2009; NEF 2009 among others). Today the need for a slow-down in the depletion of natural resources and pollution is urgently called for. Degrowth should not be delayed (NEF, 2009). Nevertheless, “growth economies do not know how to degrow. They collapse” (Kallis et al.2012). This raises serious questions for sociology: How to create a society able to live in prosperity (Jackson 2009) without growth? What social strategies can be developed in degrowth economies in order to support the growing share of population that is dumped and marginalized now? If relationship to governments and international institutions that are not acting in the direction of degrowth (with a few Latin American exceptions), how can the needed change be initiated? This brings the attention to the role of social movements. Apart from protest movements and degrowth lobbying groups, how can creators and diffusers of concrete alternative bottom-up ideas and practices like voluntary simplicity (Alexander, 2011), co-housing projects (Lietaert, 2010), ecological communes (Cattaneo and Gavaldà, 2010) and such like become able to slow down economic growth and instead increase social wellbeing? The panel welcomes contributions involving theory, methodology and research. 
joint	RC07RC483	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC07RC483	Intellectual South-South and North-South Dialogues from Critical Thinking, Theory and Collective Praxis	 // RC07RC48/3 Intellectual South-South and North-South Dialogues from Critical Thinking, Theory and Collective Praxis Joint session of RC07 Futures Research and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change [host committee] Session Organizers Alberto BIALAKOWSKY, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Alicia PALERMO, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Argentina,   Session in English/Spanish Social changes from the perspective of critical, social and sociological thinking contain two essential components: a future project and collective action. While this notion is often appropriated for research and analysis of social movements opposed to neoliberal thinking, is not sufficiently developed in the reflection within the scientific community in a symmetric and associative intercontinentally way. This is how this panel session is started to raise the debate on the challenges that a global sociology faces to social inequality and how to stand with a collective intellect to face the obstacle of the asymmetries of the north-south link and the fragility of south-south and multicentric dialogues. As well, the necessary steps to compose a dialogue and a collective action to overcome methodological and epistemological individualism, according to the progress of critical, public and coproductive thinking. Encompassing the discussion contained, among others, the right to free access to information, the universalization of knowledge, scientific creation and higher education, as well as the social participation on the technological and cultural change. 
joint	RC07WG02	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC07WG02	Socio-Ecological Inequality: Water Futures 	 // RC07WG02 Socio-Ecological Inequality: Water Futures Joint session of RC07 Futures Research [host committee] and WG02 Historical and Comparative Sociology Session Organizer José Esteban CASTRO, Newcastle University, United Kingdom,   Session in English/Spanish A major challenge facing human societies is posed by structural inequalities associated with water-related activities. These include the difficulties facing millions of humans to secure the daily access to a few liters of clean water for essential human consumption and the lack of enough water to cover basic hygienic needs, the displacement of local communities derived from the often authoritarian imposition of massive water infrastructures (i.e. dams, river diversions, etc.), the depletion and poisoning of freshwater sources through poorly (and often un-) regulated large scale agriculture, mining, etc., or the cancellation of social rights to essential basic services through the commodification and mercantilization of water and water-based goods and services, just to mention a few areas of concern worldwide. This session invites papers that focus on empirical cases of water-related inequality and injustice and offer a sociological examination of their implications for the future of democratization processes. We will give priority to proposals that place emphasis on conceptualization, where empirical cases provide the ground for a theoretical discussion about socio-ecological inequality. The proposals should address the topics from a historical or comparative perspective, and should make an effort to cast light on likely future developments. The topics could include such issues as: continuities and ruptures observed in patterns of structural socio-ecological inequality (old and emergent inequalities), related social struggles and movements, the interplay between class, gender, ethnic or other social structures and the production and reproduction of these inequalities, the examination of experiences that seek to overcome such inequalities, etc. 
joint	RC08WG02	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC08WG02	The Emergence of Sociology in an Interdisciplinary Context – Nothing but Success?	 // RC08WG02 The Emergence of Sociology in an Interdisciplinary Context – Nothing but Success? Joint session of RC08 History of Sociology [host committee] and WG02 Historical and Comparative Sociology Session Organizers Wolfgang KNOEBL, University of Göttingen, Germany Yutaka KOYAMA, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan,   Session in English Sociology as a discipline emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century when the so-called founding fathers of sociology such as Max Weber struggled with historical, economic, political and legal problems and in doing so nevertheless tried to establish sociology as an independent discipline. As we know, the institutionalization process of sociology turned out to be successful; sociology was able to emancipate itself from such disciplines as history, political economy, “Staatswissenschaft” or jurisprudence. But this very success most probably had some costs as well which can be seen in the ongoing plea for more interdisciplinary cooperation: Thus, although it would be foolish to deny that historical sociology, economic sociology, political sociology or legal sociology as sociological sub-disciplines are still thriving today, the question should be allowed whether in the process of disciplinary institutionalization something has been lost as well. In order to answer this question the organizers would like to ask members of the panel to look into the historical and national contexts of the emergence of sociology and how the interdisciplinary matrix at that time has shaped the (future) form of sociology. Questions as the following could be asked: Was it really the case that the sociological founding fathers were able to overcome the problems of historicism? Which problems and topics have been lost or have been forgotten when sociology in the end became firmly established within the (national) university system? Were there periods in the 20th century in which viable attempts can be detected to reintegrate the knowledge of neighbouring disciplines into sociology and – if so – who were the decisive actors and what were their motives in doing so? 
joint	RC10WG05	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC10WG05	Climate Change, Famines and Food Crises: Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management 	 // RC10WG05 Climate Change, Famines and Food Crises: Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management Joint session of RC10 Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management and WG05 Famine and Society [host committee] Session Organizers Pradeep DADLANI, India,   Sunny GEORGE, India,   Session in English Participation, organisational democracy and self-management seem to be crucial for addressing issue of growing problems the world is facing today due to climate change, famines and food crises. The earth`s ability to produce food for the world population is limited and climate change seems to be affecting future prospects. Market forces are getting strong and creating hurdles for efficient management of existing resources. The chances of famines seem to be more in the areas facing water scarcity. The session will address the theoretical and methodological challenges by exploring the emerging issues and options in the context of climate change, famines and food crises and how participation, organisational democracy and self management could help to tackle such emerging challenges. 
joint	RC11RC15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC11RC15	Health and Social Care in the Context of Population Aging	 // RC11RC15 Health and Social Care in the Context of Population Aging Joint session of RC11 Sociology of Aging and RC15 Sociology of Health [host committee] Session Organizers Anne MARTIN-MATTHEWS, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Ivy BOURGEAULT, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English As populations age, there is, around the world, there is increasing interest in re-thinking the delivery of health care services. While much of the impetus relates to public expenditure constrainst and projections about doubling of care costs within the coming decades, there is also recognition of the desire of older people to “age in place”, supported by home and community care services. At the same time, health and social care is challenged by issues of supply and demand in response to population aging. On the demand side, there be more elderly people (and more people living longer in old age) with a wide diversity of health issues, from long term disablility to frailty to healthy older people with periodic acute illness, to end of life care. The capacity to provide health and social care (the “supply” side) will be influenced by changing family structures and the availability of fewer care workers – both impacted by home and community care`s typically maginalized role in health care systems. This session invites presentations on issues relevant to the delivery of health and social care in the context of population aging, with a particular interest in home and community care. Papers may address a range of issues, from state governance of home and community care, to the intersection of public and private service provision (including informal care and and “grey” home care labour), to strategies to enhance the labour force, to considerations of quality, equity and equality, for example, of access and quality of services, between younger disabled and older people, between people in different geographic regions, between different diagnostic groups (especially physical disability vs dementia) and in relation to class/socio-economic inequalities. 
joint	RC11RC24	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC11RC24	Environment, Ageing and Vulnerability 	 // RC11RC24 Environment, Ageing and Vulnerability Joint session of RC11 Sociology of Aging and RC24 Environment and Society [host committee] Session Organizers Anne MARTIN-MATTHEWS, University of British Columbia,   Stewart LOCKIE, Australian National University, Australia,   Session in English This session considers the multiple relations between environment, aging and vulnerability. It pays particular attention to: (a) the ways in which the environment impacts aging and older populations; (b) the ways in which population aging impacts the environment; and (c) the interactions between aging and other indicators of vulnerability. Environments differentially impact aging, elderly and other vulnerable populations both in terms of outdoor spaces and the built environment, and in terms of broad environmental impacts of climate change and environment-related disasters. For example, the effects of global warming on an aging population`s health condition have been observed in heat waves that pose risks older adults by environmental exposures. The rapid growth in the number of older people worldwide has many implications for public health, including the need to better understand the risks posed to older adults by environmental exposures. In addition, environmental disasters often disproportionally impact elderly and vulnerable populations, and pose particular challenges of environmental emergency preparedness, response and communication strategies. At the same time, population aging may impact the environment through changes in consumption patterns for both private and public provided goods and services. It is also related to the development of the total population size. While there is some evidence that population aging in itself does not lead to significant environmental changes or pressures, there is evidence that consumption of heat, gas and other fuels per person is higher for elderly people than for the rest of the population. This session invites papers that address this relationship between environment and aging. 
joint	RC11RC41	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC11RC41	Population Aging in East and Southeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities	 // RC11RC41 Population Aging in East and Southeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities Joint session of RC11 Sociology of Aging and RC41 Sociology of Population [host committee] Session Organizers Zachary ZIMMER, University of California San Francisco, USA,   Susan MCDANIEL, University of Lethbridge, Canada,   Session in English Southeast and East Asia are the most rapidly aging regions of the world. In most countries in the region, the percent that are old is not yet as high as in European and North American countries, but the growth in the older population is unprecedented. Such change in population age structure clearly leads to challenges. These include issues such as how to reorganize health care systems and how to ensure that older persons continue to have adequate levels of support. But, there are also opportunities. For instance, older persons have been known to play vital roles within families, and older workers have been know to contribute to economic growth. For this session we invite papers that highlight the challanges and/or opportunities brought about by an aging population. We are particularly interested in those that clearly lie at the crossroads of population and gerontological areas of study and those that have strong policy implications looking forward towards rapidly changing Asia. 
joint	RC11RC412	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC11RC412	Japan’s Experience with Population Aging: Policy Challenges and Innovations	 // RC11RC41/2 Japan’s Experience with Population Aging: Policy Challenges and Innovations Joint session of RC11 Sociology of Aging [host committee] and RC41 Sociology of Population Session Organizers Susan MCDANIEL, University of Lethbridge, Canada,   Zachary ZIMMER, University of California San Francisco, USA,   Session in English Japan has, as most in sociology know, the demographically oldest population in the world. Low fertility societies that are rapidly aging are occurring in many regions of the world. Many policy questions and challenges are raised by population aging – about activation of older people, generational transfers and relations, health care, gender equality, immigration, the list is endless. Yet, from the experience of Japan in addressing policy issues, we find that innovation is possible and indeed desirable. In this session, some leading researchers who have focused on Japan, share their best research on Japan’s aged population situation, to discern policy challenges and innovations from which the rest of the world might learn. 
joint	RC11WG03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC11WG03	The Use of Visual Methods in Ageing Research	 // RC11WG03 The Use of Visual Methods in Ageing Research Joint session of RC11 Sociology of Aging and WG03 Visual Sociology [host committee] Session Organizers Wendy MARTIN, Brunel University, United Kingdom,   Elisabeth-Jane MILNE, University of Stirling, United Kingdom,   Session in English In recent years there have been significant developments in our understandings and explorations about age and ageing, with new theorising, new methodologies and new topics evident. One of these developments has been the use of visual methodologies to elicit insights into age and ageing. Exploring the visual is seen as a means to uncover significant insights into how micro processes of daily life are linked to wider socio-cultural discourses; performative aspects of culture often hidden within the everyday; to make visible the mundane and taken-for-granted; to stimulate debate; and to reveal meanings and understandings in context. Whilst the use of visual methods can be experienced as empowering and participatory by older people, the development of visual research has also presented researchers with new complexities and challenges in relation to ethical, theoretical, analytical and methodological issues. The aim of this panel is to bring together researchers who are using a wide variety of different visual methods to study social aspects of age and ageing. We welcome abstracts that explore and debate different theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches and empirical findings when using visual methods in ageing research. In particular we plan to explore and debate the possibilities and difficulties when developing visual methodologies. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
joint	RC13RC14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC13RC14	Facing the End of “Leisure Culture” in Today`s Unequal World	 // RC13RC14 Facing the End of “Leisure Culture” in Today`s Unequal World Joint session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure and RC14 Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture [host committee] Session Organizers Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Christiana CONSTANTOPOULOU, Panteion University, Greece,   Session in English During the past hundred years, leisure has taken on significance in the western industrial societies and become a mass phenomenon; J. Dumazedier argued that it is part of the contemporary civilization, deeply rooted in the conquests of the machine age, but at the same time opposed to all the physical and moral constraints born of this age. Leisure activities are a privileged zone of accomplishment in the contemporary culture, and the values of leisure (“leisure culture” – or in the words of M. Wolfenstein “fun morality”) are among its most widespread and attractive components (even though social inequalities in front of leisure activities have always existed). Yet, after the “age of wealthiness” (roughly from 1950 to 1990), of the Western societies), new conditions (the economic crisis, the pauperisation of more and more categories of people) make the right to “leisure” less evident; on the other hand the new media give new possibilities (even to the disadvantaged categories), for a virtual access to leisure possibilities (such as movies or serial watching and game playing). Under these circumstances, can we still refer to “leisure” as to the most widespread and attractive component of the contemporary (mass) culture? 
joint	RC13RC15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC13RC15	Leisure and the Pursuit of Health and Happiness in an Unequal World	 // RC13RC15 Leisure and the Pursuit of Health and Happiness in an Unequal World Joint session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure [host committee] and RC15 Sociology of Health Session Organizers Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Ivy BOURGEAULT, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Jonathan GABE, University of London, United Kingdom,   Session in English “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence, also considered by some as one of the most influential sentences in the history of the English language. To what extent are these so called “inalienable rights” of man – in pursuit of happiness – actually realised in life as it is lived today? Which is the domain which would be most conducive to their realisation? It is not only liberty but health too needs to be looked upon as a fundamental right of all human beings wherever or in whatever kind of society they may be living in. Without physical and mental health any talk of happiness would remain an empty slogan. The fundamental question now is as to how, in today’s uneven and unequal world, can we secure health and ensure happiness? To what extent is leisure, another fundamental human requirement, is conducive to realization of good health? What are the forms of leisure that could be made available to people around the world by which they can access those forms without the need to expend too many resources on them? 
joint	RC13RC28	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC13RC28	Leisure and the Reproduction of Inequality	 // RC13RC28 Leisure and the Reproduction of Inequality Joint session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure and RC28 Social Stratification [host committee] Session Organizers Dan KRYMKOWSKI, University of Vermont, USA,   Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Session in English Leisure pursuits are studied much less often in stratification research than “valued rewards” like education, occupational status, and income. However, there is some evidence that leisure plays a role in building portfolios of important assets, such as cultural and social capital. Rather than simply documenting inequality in the consumption of leisure, I shall look for papers that go beyond this and seek to demonstrate leisure`s wider importance in maintaining structures of inequality. 
joint	RC13RC32	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC13RC32	Women, Leisure and Gender Politics in Globalising Times	 // RC13RC32 Women, Leisure and Gender Politics in Globalising Times Joint session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure [host committee] and RC32 Women in Society Session Organizers Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Cynthia JOSEPH, Monash University, Australia,   Session in English This session examines the ways in which women experience inequalities in gaining access to leisure activities in globalising times. Leisure activities amongst family and community members are gender-specific and age-specific realities. In a globalized world, information communication technology including commercial entertainment and electronic devices in domestic space has changed the patterns of leisure amongst women. The papers in this session examine how these new forms of technology are related to gender and cultural politics, and social inequalities in terms of women`s access to leisure activities. 
joint	RC13RC34	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC13RC34	Leisure as an Agency for Collective Mobilization of Youth and the Quest for Equality 	 // RC13RC34 Leisure as an Agency for Collective Mobilization of Youth and the Quest for Equality Joint session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure [host committee] and RC34 Sociology of Youth Session Organizers Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   James COTE, University of Western Ontario, Canada,   Session in English The first decade of 21st century in the globalized world can be characterized by large scale social movements monopolized by younger generation of the respective nation-states. Educated as well as enlightened youth everywhere, after professional roles, is on street with a sense of collective solidarity and addressing publicly those social issues which challenge market fundamentalism. The active use of computer technology for fastest inter-communication, music, street play, literary expressions and innovative styles of display reveal that structural organs of leisure now act as agent for collective mobilization by youth in order to create that future where equality occurs as core value of social life. 
joint	RC13RC50	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC13RC50	Global Environmental Degradation: Leisure and Tourism Perspectives 	 // RC13RC50 Global Environmental Degradation: Leisure and Tourism Perspectives Joint session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure [host committee] and RC50 International Tourism Session Organizers Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Margaret SWAIN, University of California Davis, USA,   Session in English Tourism, an important leisure activity may both nourish and degrade the environment. Sensitive leisure and tourism practices invite participants to savour nature responsibly. The introduction of faith and eco-tourism is helping to make ordinary consumeristically oriented tourists to see nature differently. Today`s globalised environment calls for greater awareness and spreading and enabling of leisure and tourism practices that generate sensitivity to the environment. As such tourism, a leisure activity, may become a positive factor not only in sustaining environment but making future generations more sensitive to it. Social and economic inequalities that affect the environment differently could, perhaps, be reduced if diverse peoples came together through leisure tourism, which may take many forms. 
joint	RC13RC53	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC13RC53	Children and Leisure: Intersectional Inequalities 	 // RC13RC53 Children and Leisure: Intersectional Inequalities Joint session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure [host committee] and RC53 Sociology of Childhood Session Organizers Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Loretta BASS, University of Oklahoma, United States,   Session in English Intersectionality theory grew out of a critique of models of inequality which framed social forces as operating in layered or additive ways and explores how different socio-cultural categories, such as gender, ethnicity, race, class, sexuality, age/generation, nationality etc. … “intra-act”, and mutually transform one other, while interplaying (Yuval-Davis, 2006, Lykke, 2005). But unfortunately, the current literature on leisure and children suffer from a serious lack of critical theoretical and empirical engagement from intersectional point of view. In spite of Beccy Watson`s (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) pioneering works on identities, leisure, changing cities and intersectional approaches in the critical, social analysis of leisure and sport, both Childhood and Leisure Studies have been paying only paltry attention to the intersectional approach while analyzing the interrelationship between children and leisure. In the light of the theme of the Congress Facing an Unequal World ,this particular session will devote to address issues how diversified leisure activities of children can be analyzed from a complex models of inequality by applying intersectional approach at the levels of family, civil society organizations and especially state. The session aims to highlight the viability of the application of intersectional perspective by focusing on multiple inequalities in accessing different forms of leisure by different groups of children from different social, national, ethnic, racial and other locations in a globalised world. 
joint	RC13RC54	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC13RC54	Reinstating the Body: Equal Footing for the Spiritual and the Physical, a Leisure Approach	 // RC13RC54 Reinstating the Body: Equal Footing for the Spiritual and the Physical, a Leisure Approach Joint session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure and RC54 The Body in the Social Sciences [host committee] Session Organizers Bianca Maria PIRANI, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy,   Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Session in English Many religions, in their quest for a spiritual salvation have tended to denigrate the body as not worthy of much attention as it is only matter. The person thus needs to rise “above the body” to be able to have access into the realm of the Divine. The quest on the 21st century is to bring the body and soul together and recognise both as Divine. The quest on the twenty-first Century is to bring the body and soul together and recognise both as Divine. In the process the physical surroundings would also be recognised as a creation of the Divine and thus worthy of veneration and protection. The approach to one`s body would help to define the approach to the environment, thus helping to preserve the planet. Leisure practices and leisure time have a role to play in this understanding. 
joint	RC14RC23	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC14RC23	Surveillance, New Media and Digital Information	 // RC14RC23 Surveillance, New Media and Digital Information Joint session of RC14 Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture [host committee] and RC23 Sociology of Science and Technology Session Organizers David LYON, Queen’s University, Canada,   Torin MONAHAN, University of North Carolina, USA,   Session in English This session explores the new ways that the manipulation of digital information for surveillance depends on new softwares and hardwares, seen for instance in relational databases of social media, smart phones or in the embedded sensors and computer surfaces of "ambient intelligence" or "ubiquitous computing." By using concepts such as Nigel Thrift`s "knowing capitalism" or Dodge and Kitchin`s "logjects" we explore the social consequences of digital information for surveillance. Papers are invited that explore examples of new digital media in this context. 
joint	RC15RC19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC15RC19	Healthcare Systems and Health Inequalities	 // RC15RC19 Healthcare Systems and Health Inequalities Joint session of RC15 Sociology of Health and RC19 Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy [host committee] Session Organizers Claus WENDT, University of Siegen, Germany,   Ellen KUHLMANN, Institute for Economics, Labour and Culture, Germany,   Session in English Healthcare systems have been established worldwide to guarantee those in need with access to healthcare and care and reforms have been introduced to improve the organization and delivery of healthcare services. Despite common interests, researchers on both healthcare systems and health outcomes have rarely communicated directly. Due to the necessity of reorganizing our healthcare systems, which is partly related to the financial crisis and to ever-increasing healthcare costs, there is a great need to improve our knowledge about the link between healthcare and health inequalities. In our joint session, we invite papers on and plan to provide a platform for discussing questions that are of similar importance for developed and developing countries: How is healthcare financed, provided, and regulated, and what are the outcomes of different national care arrangements? How should global challenges and local needs and demand be balanced? What can be learned from local solutions to global pressures? Until now, health policy papers have mainly focused on the institutional structure and not concentrated on outcomes such as health status and health inequalities. However, if we want to learn more about improved practice in healthcare, studies need to delve deeper into potential outcome measures. We therefore invite papers focussing on the interrelation between research areas such as health policy, healthcare provision, access to healthcare, take-up of medical services, and health inequalities. These papers may explore these issues either across nations and regions or within a single country. 
joint	RC15RC22RC31	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC15RC22RC31	Religion, Immigrants, and Health	 // RC15RC22RC31 Religion, Immigrants, and Health Joint session of RC15 Sociology of Health , RC22 Sociology of Religion [host committee] and RC31 Sociology of Migration Session Organizer Ephraim SHAPIRO, Columbia University, USA,   Session in English A growing body of evidence suggests that religiosity is typically associated with better health. The potential impact of religious involvement on health may be especially great for immigrants ; faith institutions often play important integrative roles for them and religion and ethnic identities are often intertwined. Further, opportunities may exist to leverage widespread congregational attendance already taking place by immigrants to reduce inequalities through initiatives. However, while there has been much attention in the popular as well as academic press about religion, immigrants and health individually, there has been a paucity of studies examining the intersection of all three areas: religious involvement, immigrants, and health outcomes. We invite scholars with interest in these areas to submit presentation proposals highlighting any aspect of the relationship between religion, immigrants, and health, each broadly defined. In particular, we welcome proposals that tie in with the conference and section themes of addressing inequality and with ISA’s focus on diverse cultures. Therefore, proposals including implications and importance of the research for social change are encouraged. 
joint	RC15RC521	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC15RC521	Governing the Health Professions: Bringing Equality into Health Human Resources Policy	 // RC15RC52/1 Governing the Health Professions: Bringing Equality into Health Human Resources Policy Joint session of RC15 Sociology of Health and RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups [host committee] Session Organizers Ivy BOURGEAULT, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Ellen KUHLMANN, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany,   Session in English/French Health professional governance has faced a number of new challenges over recent years, and an increasing scarcity of health human resources (HHR) is among the most urgent problems. This session aims to contribute to the debates by building bridges between two important, yet separated fields – professional governance and health human resources policy – and by reviewing the evidence through the lens of equality. This includes wide-ranging topics from governing professional performance and managing skills and tasks to HHR planning and policymaking. It furthermore expands the equality agenda towards integration of gender, age, geopolitical and cultural as well as professions-based dimensions. We invite papers that address these issues in comparative perspective or in a single area. 
joint	RC15RC522	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC15RC522	Globalization and Human Resources for Health in Asian Countries	 // RC15RC52/2 Globalization and Human Resources for Health in Asian Countries Joint session of RC15 Sociology of Health and RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups [host committee] Session Organizers Yuko HIRANO, Nagasaki University, Japan,   Yuka ISHII, Asia Pacific University, Japan,   Session in English Since recently, a new trend of migration of healthcare workers has been observed in Asian countries under bilateral agreements between Japan and Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines and Japan and Vietnam. The inflow of health professionals, including nurses and certified care workers, creates new situations; for instance, it is the first time that Japanese society has had to accept the foreigners in the healthcare sectors. Due to this globalization and the cross-border movement of health professionals, many healthcare systems in Asia and beyond now face new challenges and new forms of managing human resources. This session calls for papers that address these topics, such as cross-cultural concepts related to nursing and care, the professions and inequality of migrant nurses and certified care workers, hospital and long-term care facility management and international relations between the sending and receiving countries of health professionals. 
joint	RC15RC54	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC15RC54	Time on the Context of Health and Illness: The Medical Control of the Body	 // RC15RC54 Time on the Context of Health and Illness: The Medical Control of the Body Joint session of RC15 Sociology of Health [host committee] and RC54 The Body in the Social Sciences Session Organizer Bianca Maria PIRANI, University of Rome, Italy,   Session in English/French Health and disease are concepts that are associated with bodies in common sense as well as in an expert discourse; the literature in this field is enormous and enormously diverse. The suggested JS is designed to focus on the importance of body time in medical treatment. Extensive mapping of the time structure of humans is presently underway as a preliminary step for the detection of the earliest changes associated with health and disease. The importance of this time structure for normal functioning has been established in many branches of human physiology. A classic example is the dependence of a normal reproductive function on the pulsatile secretion of sexual hormones. Another is the rhythmic influence of sensory, motor, autonomic, and hormonal oscillations on normal sleep activity. More recent research has even begun to tell in detail how multiple oscillators work together to regulate blood pressure. In humans, as in less cognitively sophisticated organisms, many biological rhythms follow the frequencies of periodical environmental inputs, whereas others are determined by internal “timekeepers” independent of any known environmental counterparts. External influences are always present, but they are not simply superimposed on the endogenous rhythms generated by our biological “timekeepers.” Instead, these influences are modulated by them. This is essential to the most sophisticated tasks the brain and body perform. 
joint	RC17RC39	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC17RC39	Organizations and Disasters 	 // RC17RC39 Organizations and Disasters Joint session of RC17 Sociology of Organizations and RC39 Sociology of Disasters [host committee] Session Organizers Dean PIERIDES, University of Melbourne, Australia,   Joe DEVILLE, Goldsmiths University of London, United Kingdom,   Avi KIRSCHENBAUM, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel,   Session in English Sociologists of disasters frame the organization and organizing as critical components in disaster management. Organization theorists have found disasters useful in making their case, particularly when disasters shed light on organizational failure or disintegration. Yet studies featuring both “organization” and “disaster” have produced very different kinds of accounts of the relationship between the two – sociologists of disaster and sociologists of organization only rarely confronting opportunities, and indeed tensions, that emerge from bringing these objects of exploration together. We invite papers with an interest in both the sociology of disasters and the sociology of organization. What do these two fields and their objects have to say to each other? What might a more symmetrical understanding of disasters and organizations afford? How could links between studies of disaster and the sociology of organization be strengthened? What insights on organizational continuity, maintenance and basic economic infrastructure of the wider society, does a collaboration between these two research areas afford? Papers can be empirical or theoretical and should focus on issues relevant to both fields (e.g. uncertainty, preparedness, accountability, risk, communication, etc.). 
joint	RC17RC47	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC17RC47	Organizing Change – Changing Organization: Social Movements and the Innovation of Organizational Forms and Cultures. Part I.	 // RC17RC47 Organizing Change – Changing Organization: Social Movements and the Innovation of Organizational Forms and Cultures. Part I. Joint session of RC17 Sociology of Organizations and RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements [host committee] Session Organizer Christoph HAUG, University of Gothenburg, Sweden,   Alan SCOTT, University of New England, Australia,   Kyoko TOMINAGA, University of Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English There is a tension in social movement studies between seeing organization(s) as a mere means for achieving a goal (social change) and seeing certain forms of organization and organizational culture as a goal in itself. This tension among scholars reflects a tension among activists regarding their strategy for making the world a better place for all. While some aim to organize the masses in order to force power holders to yield (some of) their power to them, others engage in prefigurative politics and cultural resistance, aiming to change the very way we organize. In this joint session, we want to explore this tension as it plays itself out both in social movement activism and in academic debates. We are particularly interested in how processes of globalization affect these dynamics; after all, the Weberian/Leninist model of bureaucratic organization that many activists want to change or abandon is a Western invention provoking Western counter models. What happens where the dominant model is a different one? Or where alternative forms have failed? What happens when prefigurative activists aiming to create horizontal forms of organization among equals are faced with vast global inequalities? What do the organizers of the masses do when they find that their opponents have adopted organizational forms that diffuse power, making it difficult to identify the power holder that needs to be replaced? What is the role of indigenous movements in the innovation of organizational forms? Does the multiplication of organizational cultures and languages facilitate or hamper change in established ways of organizing? How do the global communication infrastructures affect organizing? We welcome papers that address these questions as well as any other papers that speak to the overall topic of the session. 
joint	RC17RC472	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC17RC472	Organizing Change – Changing Organization: Social Movements and the Innovation of Organizational Forms and Cultures. Part II.	 // RC17RC47/2 Organizing Change – Changing Organization: Social Movements and the Innovation of Organizational Forms and Cultures. Part II. Joint session of RC17 Sociology of Organizations [host committee] and RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements Session Organizer Session Organizer Christoph HAUG, University of Gothenburg, Sweden,   Alan SCOTT, University of New England, Australia,   Kyoko TOMINAGA, University of Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English 
joint	RC18RC47RC48	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC18RC47RC48	Rethinking Democracies: Social Movements and Democratic Processes	 // RC18RC47RC48 Rethinking Democracies: Social Movements and Democratic Processes Joint session of RC18 Political Sociology , RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements [host committee] and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Session Organizers Paola REBUGHINI, University of Milan, Italy,   Benjamín TEJERINA, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain,   Piero IGNAZI, University of Bologna, Italy,   Session in English/French We have been the witnesses of important movements of democratization against authoritative regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Social movements have highlighted the plural notion of democracy, looking beyond its traditional liberal version. Searching for a new articulation of equality and freedom, social movements are involved in the transformations of democracy and they can contribute to reshape its relationship with the economic system. In this session we would like to compare the analysis of scholars working on different national experiences around the process of democratization directly influenced by social movements. 
joint	RC19RC30	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC19RC30	Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for a Global Sociology	 // RC19RC30 Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for a Global Sociology Joint session of RC19 Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy [host committee] and RC30 Sociology of Work Session Organizers Yumi GARCIA DOS SANTOS, Centre d`Information Femme, Brazil,   Isabel GEORGES, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France,   Session in English If benevolent work and private charity is not new for the women of the upper classes in the USA (Kaplan Daniels, 1988) or elsewhere to find some personal and moral accomplishment, low income care giving occupations have always been the lot of the women of the working classes (Glenn, 2010). These women cross geographical and moral borders to look after vulnerable people (Ehrenreich and Hochschild, 2004; Hirata e Guimarães, 2012). For example, these women are compelled to redefine frontiers between the public and the private sphere, doing emotional work (Hochschild, 1983). More recently, with the “care-crisis” on the one hand related to the demographical transition, and the generalization of neoliberal workfare policies on the other, precarious carework payed or unpayed is expanding worldwide, especially for women. There are new forms of social work coming up, including a wide range from volunteer work to low payed social workers getting more professionalized. To mention some examples, in recent Japan, single mothers are target of labor activation programs, mostly limited to caregiving work. The country has opened its border to receive health workers, brides and entertainers from other Asian countries, who could be considered caregivers. In several Latin-American countries (Brazil, Chile, Argentina, etc.) these forms of mobilization of the self took place in a post-dictatorship period. After the social movements against military dictatorship in the eighties, and neoliberal politics of reduction of “social costs” in the nineties, the last ten years have been characterized by social policies of poverty reduction, for example Brazilian CCT Bolsa Familia and other family oriented welfare programs. Some BRIC countries, like Brazil, are exporting these forms of public policies worldwide. However, what is the social role of women in this context of internationalization of new needs of carework on one hand, and enrolling or even coercing poor women in social work to help other poor on the other? In this context, what is the importance of the dimension of gender in a global perspective? What is their place within the concretization of social politics, as “target”, but also as actors? The purpose of this joint session is to discuss social policies, social and care work and gender inequality as well as gender roles in its diverse forms and significance, worldwide. 
joint	RC19RC302	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC19RC302	Social Policies, Work and Gender: New Forms of Social Work	 // RC19RC30/2 Social Policies, Work and Gender: New Forms of Social Work Joint session of RC19 Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy and RC30 Sociology of Work [host committee] Session Organizers Yumi GARCIA DOS SANTOS, Brazil,   Isabel GEORGES, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France,   Session in English If benevolent work and private charity is not new for the women of the upper classes in the USA (Kaplan Daniels, 1988) or elsewhere to find some personal and moral accomplishment, low income care giving occupations have always been the lot of the women of the working classes (Glenn, 2010). These women cross geographical and moral borders to look after vulnerable people (Ehrenreich and Hochschild, 2004; Hirata e Guimarães, 2012). For example, these women are compelled to redefine frontiers between the public and the private sphere, doing emotional work (Hochschild, 1983). More recently, with the “care-crisis” on the one hand related to the demographical transition, and the generalization of neoliberal workfare policies on the other, precarious carework payed or unpayed is expanding worldwide, especially for women. There are new forms of social work coming up, including a wide range from volunteer work to low payed social workers getting more professionalized. To mention some examples, in recent Japan, single mothers are target of labor activation programs, mostly limited to caregiving work. The country has opened its border to receive health workers, brides and entertainers from other Asian countries, who could be considered caregivers. In several Latin-American countries (Brazil, Chile, Argentina, etc.) these forms of mobilization of the self took place in a post-dictatorship period. After the social movements against military dictatorship in the eighties, and neoliberal politics of reduction of “social costs” in the nineties, the last ten years have been characterized by social policies of poverty reduction, for example Brazilian CCT Bolsa Familia and other family oriented welfare programs. Some BRIC countries, like Brazil, are exporting these forms of public policies worldwide. However, what is the social role of women in this context of internationalization of new needs of carework on one hand, and enrolling or even coercing poor women in social work to help other poor on the other? In this context, what is the importance of the dimension of gender in a global perspective? What is their place within the concretization of social politics, as “target”, but also as actors? The purpose of this joint session is to discuss social policies, social and care work and gender inequality as well as gender roles in its diverse forms and significance, worldwide. 
joint	RC19RC52	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC19RC52	Restructuring Care Policies and (Re-)Making Care Professions. Part I	 // RC19RC52 Restructuring Care Policies and (Re-)Making Care Professions. Part I Joint session of RC19 Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy and RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups [host committee] Session Organizers Hildegard THEOBALD, University of Vechta, Germany,   Ellen KUHLMANN, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany,   Session in English Demographic and social changes have put the issue of care in the focus of social policy development in a wide range of countries around the world, and this includes both long-term care and child care. Local/national care policies have been restructured and shaped by transnational ideas. The new emergent care policies are strongly interrelated with new forms of professional governance and changes in the care workforce, including gender arrangements that, in turn, may have complex and contradictory consequences for professional development. This session aims to contribute to the debates by bridging research into changing national care policies and their international embeddedness with research into professional governance and development in the care sector. We invite papers that address these issues in both long-term care respectively child care. 
joint	RC19RC522	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC19RC522	Restructuring Care Policies and (Re-)Making Care Professions. Part II	 // RC19RC52/2 Restructuring Care Policies and (Re-)Making Care Professions. Part II Joint session of RC19 Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy [host committee] and RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups Session in English 
joint	RC21RC24	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC21RC24	Cities and the Global Environmental Change	 // RC21RC24 Cities and the Global Environmental Change Joint session of RC21 Regional and Urban Development and RC24 Environment and Society [host committee] Session Organizers Louis GUAY, Université Laval, Canada,   Pierre HAMEL, Université de Montréal, Canada,   Session in English Cites and large cities in particular have always had their own environmental problems. For most of the last two centuries, they have faced them squarely and have been relatively successful in many cases. Urban environmental problems of the period were problems of a first modernity, to use Beck’s expression. But new ecological and global problems, such as climate change, biodiversity, water regimes, continuing urban land encroachment on wetlands, have come close to many, if not all, cities of the world. Problems and responses to them are very different depending on the geographical location, the level of development, and local and national political culture and institutions. This session is devoted to ecological challenges of the second modernity. It aims at some (unavoidably selective) representation of large cities’ ecological problems and actions, collective, private or otherwise, and their ways and means to face them and devise socially constructed responses to them. Climate change, biodiversity decline, water regime change are targeted as relevant global ecological problems. Each global problem can be studied on its own, but presentations that analyse joint problems (for instance climate change and water regimes, or biodiversity and climate change) are much welcomed. Participants are asked to present case studies in which relevant actors and institutions are identified, problems are framed, and actions develop in a mesh of interactions and negotiations among a variety of social actors and institutions. Presentations are expected to provide some theoretical context or general lessons from the case(s) studied. 
joint	RC21RC43	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC21RC43	Unequal Cities and the Political Economy of Housing. Part I	 // RC21RC43 Unequal Cities and the Political Economy of Housing. Part I Joint session of RC21 Regional and Urban Development and RC43 Housing and Built Environment [host committee] Session Organizers Manuel B. AALBERS, University of Leuven, Belgium,   Raquel ROLNIK, University of São Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English Inequality in the housing market is not necessarily a result of inequality in other markets, e.g. the labour market, but forms of inequality are often related and have an important territorial expression. Inequality in cities is not only an expression of the socio-spatial patterns of housing markets, but is also, at least in part, a result of it. To understand unequal cities, one needs to understand the political economy of housing. The big question then is: How have state, market and civil society powers at different scales created nationally and locally variegated housing markets and how have the resulting structures contributed to in/equality? We also welcome papers that address the following related questions: How do housing policies, in their relationship with housing markets, contribute to or counter inequality in other markets? How do urban planning regulations and/or urban land management instruments have contributed to counter – or increase – inequality in housing markets? How has the financialization of housing (both owner-occupied and rental) restructured existing patterns of inequality? How is housing embedded in the wider political economy of a city? How do income inequality and housing inequality together re/produce different forms of segregation in the city? How do social movements respond to and contribute to the political economy of housing? How are ‘crisis moments’ used to further both neoliberal and counter-neoliberal agendas in housing? 
joint	RC21RC432	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC21RC432	Unequal Cities and the Political Economy of Housing. Part II	 // RC21RC43/2 Unequal Cities and the Political Economy of Housing. Part II Joint session of RC21 Regional and Urban Development and RC43 Housing and Built Environment [host committee] Session Organizers Manuel B. AALBERS, University of Leuven, Belgium,   Raquel ROLNIK, University of São Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English 
joint	RC21WG03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC21WG03	Too Much and Too Little: Urban Landscapes of Homelessness and Gentrification	 // RC21WG03 Too Much and Too Little: Urban Landscapes of Homelessness and Gentrification Joint session of RC21 Regional and Urban Development and WG03 Visual Sociology [host committee] Session Organizers Lidia K. C. MANZO, University of Trento, Italy,   Jerome KRASE, City University of New York, USA,   Session in English This session visually focuses on the intersections of inequalities in urban worlds where the competition for living space has had perverse visual effects. Sociologists have long described how as a consequence of different life chances, groups are distributed differently in space such as in segregation and gentrification. Inequality and social justice are made visible by spatial processes of change. Whether luxurious or humble, dwellings serve important symbolic and practical functions for residents of all social classes and cultural backgrounds. In this regard Ernest Burgess’s classical urban ecological paradigm of neighborhood invasion and succession has served almost a century (1925). Contemporarily, for Sassen and many others it is contradictions of the globalization of capital that concentrate both the more and less disadvantaged in cities where even the marginalized make claims on "contested terrain" (2001). It is also ironic that the concentrations of mobile capital in global cities have simultaneously enhanced “the potential mobility of some, while detracting from the mobility potential of others” (Sheller 2011). In a way we can say the rich get not only richer but also more mobile as the poor get poorer and relatively less so. This session seeks submissions that critically examine, through the use of innovative visual approaches, urban vernacular panoramas that range from homelessness to gentrification. Immediate contrasts, such as the displaced or the homeless in gentrified or upscale areas, the “slumming” or “poverty tourism” phenomena, and comparative analyses are especially welcome to critically dramatize issues of Social Justice and the City (Harvey 2010). Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
joint	RC23TG03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC23TG03	Right to Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications	 // RC23TG03 Right to Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications Joint session of RC23 Sociology of Science and Technology and TG03 Human Rights and Global Justice [host committee] Session Organizers Jaime JIMENEZ GUZMAN, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   Brian GRAN, Case Western Reserve University, USA,   Session in English The right to enjoy benefits of scientific progress and its applications (REBSPA) is under debate. The efforts of a U.N. Expert, the U.N. CESCR, an AAAS coalition, and scholars have shed light on and raised awareness of this right. Adopted in 1966 as part of the International Bill of Human Rights, Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) calls for the rights to take part in cultural life, to benefit from one’s artistic, scientific, and other kinds of work, and for the focus of this article, to enjoy benefits of scientific progress and scientific applications. While important research has been undertaken on REBSPA, some experts contend its conceptualization is underdeveloped. This session will present conceptualizations of REBSPA, how the notions of progresive realization and minimum core apply to REBSPA, and other questions sociologists of science and technology and human rights can answer as REBSPA receives greater attention. 
joint	RC24RC47	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC24RC47	Alternative Lifestyles and Political Activism towards a New Environmentalism: Climate Summits, “Buen Vivir”, Local Food and Voluntary Simplifiers	 // RC24RC47 Alternative Lifestyles and Political Activism towards a New Environmentalism: Climate Summits, “Buen Vivir”, Local Food and Voluntary Simplifiers Joint session of RC24 Environment and Society and RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements [host committee] Session Organizers Geoffrey PLEYERS, Université de Louvain, Belgium,   Koichi HASEGAWA, Tohoku University, Japan,   Session in English Across the world, social actors are showing growing concern about global warming and environmental damages. Grass-roots actors and activists’ networks are mobilizing support for a global agreement aiming at environmental protection and are developing alternative practices and visions of the world. Activists are developing concept of "a good life" that differs from the one proposed by the consumption society. This panel will gather empirical and analytical contributions that focus on citizens’ initiatives and social movements dealing with environmental issues by implementing alternative lifestyles, developing advocacy or promoting active participation in public debates. 
joint	RC24WG03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC24WG03	Perceiving, Understanding and Envisioning the Environment	 // RC24WG03 Perceiving, Understanding and Envisioning the Environment Joint session of RC24 Environment and Society and WG03 Visual Sociology [host committee] Session Organizer Valentina ANZOISE, European Center for Living Technology, Italy,   Session in English More than twenty years ago, Ulrich Beck wrote: “the latency phase of risk threats is coming to an end. The invisible hazards are becoming visible. Damage to and destruction of nature no longer occur outside our personal experience in the sphere of chemical, physical or biological chains of effects; instead they strike more and more clearly our eyes, ears and noses (…). The end of latency has two sides, the risk itself and public perception of it. It is not clear whether it is the risks that have intensified, or our view of them. Both sides converge (…) and because risks are risks in knowledge, perceptions of risks and risks are not different things, but one and the same” (Risk Society, 1986). This session intends to reflect on the augmented and diffused visibility of the environment and more specifically on how visual information contributes to the social construction of environment and environmental issues (not necessarily just those related to risks), to their perception and understanding and then to their representation and envisioning. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions spreading from the analysis of contemporary global issues and dynamics, such as social and collective action (i.e. from policy making to active citizenship, including that of artists and intellectuals) confronting with the emergence of environmental risks and conflicts or the management of resources, as well as the attitudes towards the environment in different cultural and geographical contexts, or the challenges opened by the introduction of new categories of interpretations and paradigm (such as that of sustainability). Therefore, we encourage submissions that: 1. address the specific function visual methods, techniques and tools can play, at almost any stage of the research process, to tackle, theoretically and methodologically the above issues, and 2. reflect on the kind of audiovisual data and sources (from photography to maps, videos, movies, ICT tools and online applications) which may, on the one hand, foster environmental awareness, knowledge and literacy and, on the other, support policy making as well as citizen engagement and participation. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
joint	RC25RC30	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC25RC30	Language and Work Representations of Psychosocial Health at Work. Langage et Travail Représentations de la Santé Psychosociale au Travail	 // RC25RC30 Language and Work Representations of Psychosocial Health at Work. Langage et Travail Représentations de la Santé Psychosociale au Travail Joint session of RC25 Language and Society [host committee] and RC30 Sociology of Work Session Organizers Stéphanie CASSILDE, Centre d’Études en Habitat Durable, Belgium,   Adeline GILSON, Laboratoire d’Économie et de Sociologie du Travail, France,   Session in English/French Since the end of the 1970s working and employment conditions are worsening because of various constraints: intensification of work, casualized labour of employment, domination of cost-effectiveness criteria, divorce between expected and concrete tasks, conflicts of values, geographical mobility, and mandatory distance between familial and work locations. These elements are even more salient in a context of crisis. At the beginning of the 2000s agents of professional risks prevention labelled the negative effects of these constraints on psychosocial health at work “psycho-social risks” (PSR). To which extent this labelling cover the various representations systems of psychosocial health at work? Which are these various representations systems and which labelling are used in these systems? How this participate to create various classifications of psychosocial health phenomena at work? How these language elements give us information about the various ways of dealing with it? The objective of this session is to give a central place to language in the analysis of representations of psychosocial health at work to advance sociological knowledge concerning language and work. It deals with the analysis of individuals discourses about their experiences (as workers, managers, social partners, etc.) to learn and understand the existing representations systems. It deals also with the various labelling used within these systems, and thus, finally, with classifications of psychosocial health. The aim of this joint session is to broaden the knowledge of performative power of language regarding attitudes and behaviours at work, i.e. how individuals might act/react/not act to ensure/defend their psychosocial health at work. Contributions will shed light on the variability of representations/labelling/ classifications of psychosocial health at work. Notably, contributions will use spatial, time, sectorial, and/or intra-firm agents comparative perspective. Depuis la fin des années 1970, les conditions de travail et d’emploi se dégradent sous l`effet de contraintes multiples : intensification du travail, précarisation de l’emploi, domination des critères de rentabilité, divorce entre travail prescrit et réel, conflits de valeurs, mobilités géographiques, et distance imposée entre habitat familial et de travail. Ces éléments sont encore plus saillants en contexte de crise. Au début des années 2000, les acteurs de la prévention des risques professionnels qualifient les effets négatifs de ces contraintes sur la santé psychosociale au travail de « risques psycho-sociaux » (RPS). Dans quelle mesure cette qualification couvre-t-elle les divers systèmes de représentations de la santé psychosociale au travail ? Quels sont ces différents systèmes de représentations et quelles qualifications sont utilisées dans ces systèmes ? Comment cela participe-t-il à la création de classifications concernant la santé psychosociale au travail ? Comment ces éléments nous éclairent-ils sur les différentes manières d’y faire face ? L`objectif de cette session est de donner une place centrale au langage dans l`analyse des représentations de la santé psychosociale au travail afin de fournir des avancées en termes de connaissance sociologique dans les domaines du langage et du travail. Il s`agit d`analyser les discours des individus sur leurs expériences (en tant que travailleurs, chefs d`équipe, partenaire social, etc.) pour prendre connaissance et comprendre les systèmes de représentations existants. Il s`agit également d`analyser les diverses qualifications utilisées dans ces systèmes, et donc, finalement, de mieux comprendre les classifications de la santé psychosociale au travail. Cette session conjointe vise à approfondir la connaissance du pouvoir performatif du langage eu égard aux attitudes et comportements au travail, autrement dit comment les individus pourraient agir/réagir/ne pas agir afin d`assurer/de défendre leur santé psychosociale au travail. Les contributions chercheront à mettre en lumière la variabilité des représentations, des qualifications, des classifications de la santé psychosociale au travail, notamment dans une optique comparative spatiale, temporelle, sectorielle ou encore entre acteurs d’une même entreprise. 
joint	RC25RC32	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC25RC32	RC32 Roundtable Session I. Women’s Experiences in Labor Markets, Families and Households in Globalized Society: Naming Marriage as Gendered	 // RC25RC32 RC32 Roundtable Session I. Women’s Experiences in Labor Markets, Families and Households in Globalized Society: Naming Marriage as Gendered Joint session of RC25 Language and Society and RC32 Women in Society [host committee] Session Organizers Shobha GURUNG, Southern Utah University, USA,   Melanie HEATH, McMaster University, Canada,   Session in English How does the language of sex and gender matter in the same-gender marriage debate? In the Supreme Court arguments on Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-gender marriage, the lawyer defending the referendum argued that defining marriage as a “genderless institution” could harm the institution and the interests of society. In France, most of the opposition has focused on the purported dangers of same-gender parenting since legalizing marriage would make it considerably easier for lesbian and gay couples to become parents. Feminists have long been concerned with the ways that institutional marriage has supported patriarchal and capitalist systems. This roundtable will examine in broad terms, and from cross-national perspective, the ways that the language in the same-gender marriage debate plays a critical role in reflecting, reinforcing, and/or challenging gender hierarchy within marriage. 
joint	RC28RC41	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC28RC41	The Demographic Reproduction of Social Stratification	 // RC28RC41 The Demographic Reproduction of Social Stratification Joint session of RC28 Social Stratification and RC41 Sociology of Population [host committee] Session Organizers Jeronimo O. MUNIZ, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil,   Carlos Costa RIBEIRO, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Session in English The size and dynamics and social classes – broadly defined by a set of characteristics such as income, wealth, education, occupation, race, gender, culture and prestige – are influenced not only by economic processes, but also by the current patterns of (inter)marriage, specific demographic rates, and sociological (re)classifications into racial, ethnic, religious and gender groups. The goal of this joint session is to discuss the role of demographic processes (fertility, mortality, migration, marriage) in the creation of social stratification in different parts of the world. We encourage the submission of empirical papers with strong theoretical motivations in which the demographic approach is employed to analyze sociological problems, including, but not limited to, processes of social mobility, inequality, and stratification. 
joint	RC30RC31	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC30RC31	Social Inequalities in International Skilled Labor Migration and Mobility in a Globalized World	 // RC30RC31 Social Inequalities in International Skilled Labor Migration and Mobility in a Globalized World Joint session of RC30 Sociology of Work and RC31 Sociology of Migration [host committee] Session Organizers Kyoko SHINOZAKI, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany,   Martina MALETZKY, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany,   Session in English Social inequalities in a globalized world have been one of the major subjects of inquiry within the sociology of migration and work. On the one hand, international migration scholarship has until recently tended to focus on labor mobility into less-skilled sectors of the economy. However, the issue of inequalities is far from being a sole terrain of less-skilled labor migrants. On the other hand, the sociology of work by and large neglects the phenomenon of international mobility: within the organizational context where transnational labor markets have emerged, inequalities are often reproduced around center-periphery relations. Nonetheless, internationally mobile, highly skilled employees such as expatriates have caught little attention in the sociology of work. Taking this lacuna in two strands of scholarship as a point of departure, we argue that social inequalities constitute an integral part of international migratory movements and mobility of the skilled and the highly skilled although this may not be obvious at first sight. Some observers have commented that social inequalities exist along the intersecting axes of ethnicity, gender, life cycle, the type of hiring organizations, etc. It is a high time to more closely and systematically examine social inequalities among and within skilled and highly skilled migrants mainly for two reasons: firstly, it is because skills, particularly those needed in labor shortage sectors, have become the most important admission criteria for major receiving countries. Secondly, it owes to the current nature of labor markets that depend on a constant flow of people as well as goods, capital and services across borders. We aim at gaining a deeper understanding of the ways in which social inequalities permeate international ‘elite’ workers’ flows and how these (highly) skilled migrants and internationally mobile professionals negotiate such inequalities. We welcome conceptual and empirical papers that address topics pertaining to the nexus between skills and inequalities including, but not limited to, the definition of the (highly) skilled anchored in national immigration policies, the experience and patterns of inequality in the context of (highly) skilled labor migration and mobility, the emergence of transnational labor markets, the (re)production of inequality in hiring organizations. 
joint	RC30RC44	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC30RC44	Unionism and the Critique of the Work Organization. Syndicalisme et critique de l’organisation du travail	 // RC30RC44 Unionism and the Critique of the Work Organization. Syndicalisme et critique de l’organisation du travail Joint session of RC30 Sociology of Work [host committee] and RC44 Labor Movements Session Organizer Sophie BEROUD, Université Lyon 2, France,   Session in English/French Much of the recent bibliography on unionism issues concerns the diffusion of the organizing model and the evaluation of the organizing campaigns for precarious workers. At the same side, the sociological literature about the change of work intends to inquiry about different dimensions of vulnerability and degradation of activity labor. The goal of this session is to engage these different approaches by querying the real capacity of unions to intervene in the organization and division of labor in companies deeply transformed by the new management. Several factors are usually put forward to explain the distance of unionism from a concrete knowledge work: the institutionalization process that contributes to professionalise the union representatives and isolate them from other employees; the growing interest of the union’s direction for quantitative demands (protection of employment) and not qualitative. However, the trade union movement in its various components is far from reimaining quiet on these issues. Recent topics on "suffering at work" prompted unions to intervene about these issues and to consider how to transform an expression of unease individual into collective claims. More broadly, by developing a rhetoric about the require of participation of employees in the company, the neo-managerial politics force that unions to take up these issues to remain engaged with the employees. These are the different dimensions that we expect papers that result from an empirical research. Une large part des travaux récents sur le syndicalisme porte sur les enjeux de redéploiement de celui-ci, sur la diffusion du modèle de l’organizing et sur le bilan des campagnes de syndicalisation de secteurs fortement précarisés. En parallèle, la littérature sociologique sur les transformations du travail a permis de réfléchir aux différentes dimensions de la précarité et au processus de dégradation du travail comme activité. L’enjeu de cette session consiste à faire dialoguer ces différentes approches en interrogeant la capacité actuelle des organisations syndicales à intervenir sur l’organisation et la division du travail dans des entreprises profondément transformées par les nouveaux modes de management. Plusieurs facteurs sont habituellement avancés pour expliquer l’éloignement du syndicalisme d’une connaissance concrète du travail : le processus d’institutionnalisation qui contribue à professionnaliser les représentants syndicaux et à les isoler des autres salariés ; un intérêt parfois plus marqué, du côté des directions syndicales, pour des revendications quantitatives (défense des emplois) et non qualitatives. Pourtant, le mouvement syndical, dans ses différentes composantes, est loin d’être silencieux sur ces questions. Les thématiques relativement récentes sur la « souffrance au travail » ont notamment incité les syndicats à se prononcer sur ces enjeux et à réfléchir à la façon de passer d’une expression d’un malaise individuel à des revendications collectives. Plus largement, en développant toute une rhétorique sur la participation des salariés dans l’entreprise, les politiques néo-managériales obligent les syndicats, pour rester en prise avec la réalité que vivent les salariés, à se saisir de ces questions. Ce sont ces différentes dimensions qu’il s’agira de questionner dans cette session, à partir de travaux de recherche fondés sur une démarche empirique. 
joint	RC30RC52	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC30RC52	Professional Labour in a Globalized World: The Cross-Bordering and Internationalization of Knowledge Workers	 // RC30RC52 Professional Labour in a Globalized World: The Cross-Bordering and Internationalization of Knowledge Workers Joint session of RC30 Sociology of Work and RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups [host committee] Session Organizer Javier Pablo HERMO, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Session in English/Spanish The globalization scenario is the framework to understand what is happening with internationalization of professional work as part of a new category raised in the last decades: the “knowledge workers”. Many scientists and experts refer to this period as “knowledge society” or “knowledge economy” to indicate that knowledge is a critical issue of globalization. This session seeks to contribute to the debates both theoretical and by empirically investigating the experiences of “knowledge workers”, such as managers, consultants, advisors, professors and technicians, and the professional competencies required for the global economy in cross-border companies, international organizations, global corporations and universities. Furthermore, ongoing negotiation processes in regional integration frames as NAFTA, MERCOSUR or EU as well as international frames such as GATS will also be considered and issues of leadership and professional will be discussed. 
joint	RC31RC38	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC31RC38	Crossing Experiences: From Biographies of Migrants in and from Northeast Asia 	 // RC31RC38 Crossing Experiences: From Biographies of Migrants in and from Northeast Asia Joint session of RC31 Sociology of Migration and RC38 Biography and Society [host committee] Session Organizers Sara PARK, Kyoto University, Japan,   Lilach LEV-ARI, Oranim College, Israel,   Session in English This session intends to contribute to the progression of migration studies through biographies and family histories in and from the northeast Asian region (Japan, two Koreas and Chinas). Historically, northeast Asian countries have sent and accepted migrants over centuries. Because of drastic transitions in labor markets and demographic compositions, societies in this region now face a new period of migration, both in sending and accepting. On the other hand, histories of migrants in and from this region (i.e. Chinese, Korean and Japanese migrants in Americas, Koreans in Japan, war-displaced Japanese in China, etc.) face difficulties in inheriting their past experiences. Biography and/or family history provide effective means of investigation of reasons and processes of migration. Such “personal” histories enable researchers to understand each phenomenon that deeply influences migration such as state policies, economic situations, and transnational networks, through a historical perspective in keeping with the reality of each migrant. On these academic interests, this session particularly invites contributors who promote migration studies in the northeast Asian region from historical perspectives and empirical researches of migrant’s experiences, as well as locate their findings in the previous discussions in sociology that deals with international migration. 
joint	RC31RC50	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC31RC50	Tourism and Migration	 // RC31RC50 Tourism and Migration Joint session of RC31 Sociology of Migration [host committee] and RC50 International Tourism Session Organizer Ewa MORAWSKA, University of Essex, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session will be dedicated to an exchange of reflections about the shared and distinct concerns, issues, and approaches which inform the study of international migration and that of tourism, and about the implications thereof for possible venues of collaboration between the practitioners of these two fields. Paper proposals should reflect on research and/or theoretical agendas of studies of international migration and/or tourism with specific attention to the spaces/issues open to inter-field collaboration. 
joint	RC32RC34	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC32RC34	Constructing Gender within Youth Activism	 // RC32RC34 Constructing Gender within Youth Activism Joint session of RC32 Women in Society and RC34 Sociology of Youth [host committee] Session Organizers Anna-Britt COE, Umeå University, Sweden,   Darcie VANDEGRIFT, Drake University, USA,   Session in English The papers in this session will address the construction of gender within young people’s activism, including the intersection of gender with other social hierarchies (class, race/ethnicity/nationality, age). Youth civic engagement has occupied the attention of researchers and policymakers globally during recent decades. Today, young people practice and imagine civic engagement differently than in previous generations. They embrace activism through social movements, voluntary services, social media, identity organizations, cultural production, and even militant movements. They find less appeal in institutional or formal politics. Activism appears to be among the key forms of political socialization, the process whereby young people learn political culture and develop ideas about political issues, including gender justice. Yet less attention has been paid to relationships between young people’s activism and gender as a social hierarchy. Potential topics for exploration include how young people contest gender injustice or reproduce existing inequalities as they develop strategies, ideologies, identities, organizations and alliances. Youth activism involves gender performances and engagement with/in gendered social structures. And they will typically carry into adulthood values and ideas adopted during youth activism. Papers that explore the session topic are welcome from a variety of research focuses, theoretical perspectives, conceptual tools and empirical cases. 
joint	RC32RC38	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC32RC38	Representation and Restoration of Women’s Experiences: Navigating between Colonial History and Postcolonial Present in the Asian Context	 // RC32RC38 Representation and Restoration of Women’s Experiences: Navigating between Colonial History and Postcolonial Present in the Asian Context Joint session of RC32 Women in Society and RC38 Biography and Society [host committee] Session Organizers Hee-Young YI, Daegu University, Korea,   Gabriele ROSENTHAL, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany,   Bandana PURKAYASTHA, University of Connecticut, USA,   Session in English This session aims to explore and restore the multilayered aspects of women’s experiences in postcolonial history in the Asian context. Based upon women’s biographies and oral life histories, this session will analyze how women negotiate the boundaries between state, nation, class, and gender, and examine how researchers can historicize them. Not only feminist theoretical approaches to hidden personal life histories, but also critical methods to hear, understand, and speak to the ‘historical other’ will be considered throughout the whole session. Since the 1990s when the testimonies of former comfort women drafted into the Japanese military forces during WWII garnered worldwide interests, there has been a great deal of research emerging in the field of women’s oral life history, especially in the East Asian countries. Since then, biographies of women, social minorities, or ordinary people have enabled many social scientists to rethink the meaning of History, Science, Reality, and/or Truth and have led to a growing interest in the unwritten, silenced experiences of people. Presenters in this session will pay attention to women who have experienced war, poverty, and gender violence; argue that women are not just powerless victims of history but active agents navigating the boundaries between structures and ideologies; and question our normative understanding of history, politics, and society. As such, this session will shed light on the theoretical and methodological implications of women’s oral life history with regard to the representation and restoration of women’s experiences in post-colonial Asia. 
joint	RC32RC44	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC32RC44	Intimate Labor in Asia	 // RC32RC44 Intimate Labor in Asia Joint session of RC32 Women in Society and RC44 Labor Movements [host committee] Session Organizers Hae Yeon CHOO, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada,   Pei-chia LAN, National Taiwan University, Taiwan,   Session in English With the rise of the service industry and consumerism, and the shifting dynamics of global capitalism, multiple forms of intimate labor are emerging across Asia including domestic work, sex work, and carework. This panel explores the labor practice of the workers, institutions that organize intimate labor, new possibilities of labor organizing, intersecting forms of social inequality, and social relations that are formed at the site of the intimate labor. We welcome case studies from Asia and papers that examine variations within Asia or locate Asia from a comparative perspective. 
joint	RC32RC47	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC32RC47	Feminist Movement and (Women’s) Human Rights	 // RC32RC47 Feminist Movement and (Women’s) Human Rights Joint session of RC32 Women in Society [host committee] and RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements Session Organizers Angela MILES, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada,   Dai NOMIYA, Sophia University, Japan,   Session in English In the last few decades globally hegemonic neo-liberal fundamentalism has brought increasing inequality, social devastation and ecological destruction in both the economic north and south (Miles 2001, Harvey 2007). Currently, we are also seeing what has been variously called an evolving ‘regime of international law’ or evolving ‘human rights regime’ (Cmiel 2004, Ignatieff 2000, Iriye et al eds. 2012). In this context, feminists at both local and global levels appear to be adopting ‘women’s human rights’ framing across their broad spectrum of struggles around health, media, environment, energy, food security; democracy, indigenous rights, land rights, migrant and worker rights; poverty, structural adjustment, international debt, and international trade; violence, militarism, and peace. This session will explore the context, substance, significance, challenges, potentials and pitfalls of this major strategic development in feminist movements. Papers with local, national or global focus are invited which throw light on any aspect of this large topic including: case studies of shifts to human rights/women’s human rights framing of particular women’s issues or in particular contexts of women’s movement explorations of the factors influencing the increased movement adoption of human rights/women’s human rights framing reflections on the political, practical, theoretical, philosophical consequences/contributions of feminist engagement with and re-conceptions of human rights/women’s human rights for women’s movement and/or human rights discourse more broadly. 
joint	RC34RC48	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC34RC48	Youth and Social Movements	 // RC34RC48 Youth and Social Movements Joint session of RC34 Sociology of Youth and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change [host committee] Session Organizer Airi-Alina ALLASTE, Tallinn University, Estonia,   Session in English The economic crisis has restricted the younger generation`s opportunities in the labor market and its access to welfare, pushing many to a marginalized position in society. Participation in social movements has become one of the young people`s answers to the crisis; they offer possibilities for identification and belonging, and a prospect for change. As stated by Ulrich Beck more than a decade ago, social movements are taking the initiative in defining social risks and offering solutions to them. Today, technological developments also enable participation in international communities and movements. New (political) worldviews spread quickly to different locations. The aim of the joint session on Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change and Sociology of Youth is to bridge between different strands of research. The session focuses broadly on social movements and young people as crucial agents of social change. Besides formal organizations, there is a growing body of decentralized movements that aim to change cultural codes, engage in lifestyle politics, and promote new forms of collective identity as means of fostering social change. Papers that explore any form of social movement and young people will be considered for the session. 
joint	RC37WG03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC37WG03	Disaster Art: Visualizing Human Culpability from Hiroshima to Fukushima	 // RC37WG03 Disaster Art: Visualizing Human Culpability from Hiroshima to Fukushima Joint session of RC37 Sociology of Arts and WG03 Visual Sociology [host committee] Session Organizers Regev NATHANSOHN, University of Michigan, USA,   Paulo MENEZES, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Hiroshima (1945) and Fukushima (2011). Two nuclear disasters; the former triggered by a uranium bomb. Little Boy, dropped by American pilots on 6 August 1945, the latter caused by the 9.0 earthquake and attendant tsunami on 11 March 2011 that destroyed a nuclear power plant, where inadequate safety features exacerbated the subsequent meltdown. Both events continue to inspire a visual culture of disaster, often, like mine, of a comparative nature. I will explore how artists, broadly interpreted to include both amateurs and professionals, have used a range of old and new media to express, describe, represent, and memorialize these two nuclear disasters. Much attention has already been paid to the documentary role and also therapeutic nature of disaster art, but I am especially interested here in whether and/or how human culpability is signified in works of art dealing with Hiroshima and Fukushima. 
joint	RC37WG032	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC37WG032	Using Visual Material for Knowledge Creation: The Process of Analysis and Interpretation	 // RC37WG03/2 Using Visual Material for Knowledge Creation: The Process of Analysis and Interpretation Joint session of RC37 Sociology of Arts and WG03 Visual Sociology [host committee] Session Organizers Sarah FRANZEN, Emory University, USA,   Paulo MENEZES, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English Visual methods are becoming more common within scholarly research and provide a wide range of creative and innovative forms of data collection. But what happens after the visual material has been collected? This session seeks papers that outline the epistemological and analytical frameworks used to interpret visual material in the process of producing scholarship. Particularly, this session looks for papers that detail the analytical process used to draw knowledge from visual material. This includes consideration of the theories that inform the analytical process, and the actual tools and techniques used to treat visual materials. Papers could address, but need not be limited to, the following questions: Do researchers use coding software, video editing techniques, or interpretive strategies? Are visual materials used to identify discrete behaviors by informants, to record sensory material, or are they considered cultural artifacts? Once researchers have analyzed the material, how do they present their findings? Are visual and textual materials integrated or are they presented separately and independently? This could also include considerations of addressing both academic and non-academic audiences. Ultimately, this session seeks to consider the consequences of using different frameworks for analyzing visual material and how these produce different forms of knowledge. Therefore, this session invites papers from a broad range of approaches towards the analysis and presentation of visual materials in order to encourage discussion among presenters and audiences, and also to deeply explore our understanding of the role of visual material in scholarship. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
joint	RC44RC48	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC44RC48	Labor and Environmental Movements	 // RC44RC48 Labor and Environmental Movements Joint session of RC44 Labor Movements and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change [host committee] Session Organizers Hwa-Jen LIU, National Taiwan University, Taiwan,   Matthew Carl GARRETT, Wesleyan University, USA,   Session in English In the last century, labor and environmental movements provided comprehensive visions on politics and economic life, and profoundly touched upon people`s daily practices. Between these two movements, there existed tension, competition, and cooperation. This panel seeks to explore the delicate love and hate between labor and environmental movements from different parts of the world, under siege of deepened commodification of labor force and Mother Nature in the twenty-first century. 
joint	RC46TG03	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/joint-sessions.php#RC46TG03	Human Rights and Clinical Sociology	 // RC46TG03 Human Rights and Clinical Sociology Joint session of RC46 Clinical Sociology and TG03 Human Rights and Global Justice [host committee] Session Organizers Ed SIEH, Lasell College, USA,   Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Session in English Human rights encompass political, economic, social, group, cultural, democratic and environmental rights. Clinical sociology, involving both analysis and intervention (at all levels from individual through global), is a rights-based, creative and multidisciplinary specialization that seeks to improve life situations for individuals and collectivities. A rights-based approach means that clinical analysis and intervention is expected to promote and maintain at least a minimum standard of well-being to which all people ideally possess a right. This session invites presentations regarding human rights principles and documents in relation to social intervention. Presentations about human rights and social justice may focus on a variety of topics in terms of their history, policies, and/or practices. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Sociology of Local-Global Relations, WG01
WG01	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s1	Globalization from Below: Institutional and Policy Changes in Developing Countries	 // Globalization from Below: Institutional and Policy Changes in Developing Countries Session Organizer Binay K. PATTNAIK, Indian Institute of Technology, India,   Session in English Globalization as an economic process has successfully forged the local with the global. This process of linking the local with the global is usually accomplished through FDI of MNCs in many of the relatively unexplored areas of exploitation in developing countries, such as Food (GM), Agriculture (seeds/fisheries/forests, etc.), mining, infrastructure projects (e.g. Power, energy, airport, etc) and other large scale projects (often through SEZ). These projects have caused displacement of local communities, their loss of livelihood, loss of biodiversity, environmental degradation, etc. And resultant was widespread popular protests and resistance movements. These widespread protests and resistance movements have given scope to anti-development, anti-corporate, anti-state and even anarchist elements in developing countries to fish in the troubled waters. Thus the changes are far reaching, as these have influenced the nature of politics in many developing countries. In response to the widespread protest movements, the developing countries have initiated many institutional and policy changes. Thus the purpose of this session would be the articulation of these protests/ resistance movements, as well as institutional and policy changes brought in by these movements as effects in many developing countries. 
WG01	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s2	Innovative Teaching in the Local-Global Prospective	 // Innovative Teaching in the Local-Global Prospective Session Organizer Olena LEIPNIK, Sam Houston State University, USA,   We are inviting papers related to the changes in the educational practices claimed by the new local-global disposition. The new kinds of experiences brought by the latest technological and economic development across the globalized world at all the levels of locality constitute the framework for this session, with the main focus on the corresponded changes in educational practices. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Geographical, geopolitical, actual, and other forms of locality with regards to managing education. New technological advances and their influence on education practices. Online teaching and shifting meanings of the components of education for the educational community, those people involved in education on both sides as providers and recipients of the educational services. The reconfiguration of the spatial location and identity of the participants of the educational process. New teaching techniques, best practices, and tough experiences in education related to the global dynamics. Meanings of globalization regarding education in those regions with the limited technological encounter and/or in poverty. Grassroots education movements related to the global-local reconfigurations. The Sustainability project with regards to education. Academic community engagement teaching and other forms of academic service to the local communities. 
WG01	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s3	National and Regional Identities: Nations between States	 // National and Regional Identities: Nations between States Session Organizers Arvydas Virgilijus MATULIONIS, Institute for Social Research, Lithuania,   Kusein ISAEV, Kyrgyz-Turkish University, Kyrgyzstan,   Session in English Papers shall focus on the problems of national, European, Asian or other identities, peoples or social groups (especially, national minorities), who are living in the regions near state boarders. It is supposed to analyze the ways, sources, canals of traditional and new forms of identities. Dimensions of local/global could be presented as factors and reasons of forming and safeguarding of local, regional or national identities. 
WG01	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s4	New Forms of Civic Activity in a Globalizing World 	 // New Forms of Civic Activity in a Globalizing World Session Organizers Nataliya VELIKAYA, Russian State University for the Humanities, Russia,   Krzysztof OSTROWSKI, Pultusk School of Humanities, Poland,   Session in English Globalism as a policy includes different elements in the common melting pot of the new order, reproduces inequality and discrimination, provide bureaucratic management on the different levels. On the other hand new social forces appear which can’t accept new order (M. Hardt, A. Negri, Empire). These groups act not only in new developing countries excluded from the world economic system but also in the old capitalists countries, where we can see increasing of movements against reducing social rights. Sustainability of social states mainly depends on the striving of social groups to defend and to keep their rights. As for developing countries social rights there are directly linked with the way to democracy and with the political regimes. One can remember events in post-socialist countries (so called orange revolutions and colored revolutions) or Arab spring. New forms of social-political and civic activities are mainly associated with network society (M. Castells) and new technologies that are able to unite people in a short term and for urgent reasons. We are going to examine different forms of protest movements, their social bases in different social and political systems as well as to estimate activity of so called global civil society, which are becoming the most significant actors of political changes. 
WG01	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s5	Post-Communist Region in the Era of Growing Inequality	 // Post-Communist Region in the Era of Growing Inequality Session Organizer Aigul ZABIROVA, Eurasian University of Astana, Kazakhstan,   Session in English After the break of the USSR all socialist states moved from controlled economy to different forms of market, this fundamental transformation has led to dramatic changes in the social structure of post-socialist societies. The significant shift of the population to poor and low-income groups took place; however, these reforms had general positive effect, namely the appearance of new social class (entrepreneurs) and etc. Furthermore in the twenty first century social inequality has already been globally structured due to the new economic, political and cultural relations; it has been agreed that globalization has exacerbated inequality over the past thirty years. The proposed session will encourage you to critically analyze the social inequality as complex social phenomena that need to be framed in global context; to examine the relationship between ethnicity and socioeconomic status in the context of post-soviet nation-building process; to reflect the obvious rise of rural-urban disparity in post-socialist countries. Finally there will be debate on new forms of inequality, the ways of how new social classes and groups emerge, split and change in post-communist region. 
WG01	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s6	Public Opinion in the Local Context	 // Public Opinion in the Local Context Session Organizer Larissa VDOVICHENKO, Russian State University for the Humanities, Russia,   Session in English The principal goal of this session is the peculiarity of public opinion on the local level. This subject matter will be presented by five main topics: Local communities and public opinion. Impact of public opinion on the social and political situation on the local level. Representation of ethnic and language identities, and cross-cultural relations in public opinion. Public opinion on the local political leaders. Role of affinity groups, economic and political associations in the processes of public opinion`s shaping. 
WG01	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s7	Religious Influence on Local and Global Relations	 // Religious Influence on Local and Global Relations Session Organizer Miroljub JEVTIC, University of Belgrade, Serbia,   Session in English Global relations are, among other factors, set of local interactions. Therefore, every factor which has the influence on local relations is reflected on global level. And one of the most important factors which influence and create global relations is religion. In some world’s regions we have a situation where several different religions coexist together. For example, Middle East. In this region we have the presence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. And if we consider Afghanistan as a part of this region, we will have Buddhism as well, having in mind The Buddhas of Bamiyan. Many scholars argue that local Middle East situation is the consequence of inter – religious relations. Therefore, local relations between Muslims and Jews are reflected on global Islam and Judaism relations. In accordance, it is the same in Christianity and Islam relations, as well as between Christianity and Judaism relations. After all, the holy places of these religions are in Middle East. Hence, this relations are reflected on global inter – religious relations. The goal of this session will be to analyze this phenomenon. 
WG01	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s8	Unequal Genders: Another Challenge for Globalized Societies	 // Unequal Genders: Another Challenge for Globalized Societies Session Organizer Flaminia SACCA, Tuscia University, Italy,   Session in English Since Nobel Prize Amartya Sen has introduced the concept that development is freedom and that there is no development without the enhancement of the levels of women’s freedom, it has become clear that the gender gap is not only a cultural and political matter. It has also economic consequences. To put it more clearly: “The key for the future of any country and any institution is the capability to develop, retain and attract the best talent. Women make up one half of the world’s human capital. Empowering and educating girls and women and leveraging their talent and leadership fully in the global economy, politics and society are thus fundamental elements of succeeding and prospering in an ever more competitive world. In particular, with talent shortages projected to become more severe in much of the developed and developing world, maximizing access to female talent is a strategic imperative for business.” This is how Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum focused the issue in the Preface to the latest Gender Gap Report (2012). But we also have evidence that at the turn of every economic crisis women tend to become the first target of violence, reduced rights and freedom in general. We invite papers that will address the relationship between economy and gender inequalities both from a theoretical or a field research perspective. We also welcome papers which can focalize on success cases of reducing the gender gap both at a socio-political or economic level, but we would also be interested in the analysis of recent cases of a backward process in the condition of womens rights. 
WG01	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s9	Vulnerabilities and "Normal Accidents" in Local-Global Relations	 // Vulnerabilities and "Normal Accidents" in Local-Global Relations Session Organizer Sergei KRAVCHENKO, Moscow State University of International Relations, Moscow, Russia,   Session in English Local-global relations often are described as tense and provoking different types of conflicts at different levels. Some of these conflicts are near to be institutionalised, others are mainly illegal and not controlled. We are going to examine the weak links of local-global relations, the most widespread accidents that can be regulated because of activities of states, organisations, subregional and subnational institutes. On the one hand we would like to analyze the most vulnerable zones and flaws that can create different social fluctuations. 
WG01	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG01#s10	WG01 Business meeting	 // WG01 Business meeting Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Historical and Comparative Sociology, WG02
WG02	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s1	Author Meets Critics. Part I: Said Arjomand (ed.) Social Theory and Regional Studies in the Global Age	 // Author Meets Critics. Part I: Said Arjomand (ed.) Social Theory and Regional Studies in the Global Age Session Organizer Manuela BOATCA, Free University of Berlin, Germany,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The efforts to integrate social theory and regional studies in this volume represent a major departure from the foundational focus of classical sociology on modernity. They seek to decenter modernity heavy in social theory in two directions: by historicizing social evolution and developmental patterns in different civilizations as well as varying regional paths of modernization, and by introducing varieties of modernity lite in the overlapping forms of multiple, colonial, subaltern and peripheral modernities. Unjustly ignored by social scientists for too long, regional studies are at last being theorized and are thus poised to inject new life into stagnant social theory, and to reopen the way for the arrested advancement of comparative sociology in the global age. 
WG02	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s2	Author Meets Critics. Part II: Said Arjomand, Elisa Reis (eds.) Worlds of Difference	 // Author Meets Critics. Part II: Said Arjomand, Elisa Reis (eds.) Worlds of Difference Session Organizer Manuela BOATCA, Free University of Berlin, Germany,   Not open for submission of abstracts . How can differences be understood in social theory through comparisons, and how should social theory relate to regional studies to do so? This question has been prevalent within the sociological field for over a century, but is becoming increasingly important in a globalised age in which cultural borders are constantly challenged and rapidly changing. The book edited by Arjomand and Reis illuminates the importance of exploring spatial, cultural and intellectual differences beyond generalisations, attempting to understand diversity in itself as it takes shape across the world. Scholars from diverse parts of the world explore key sociological themes such as citizen-ship, human rights, inequality and domination. 
WG02	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s3	Childhood and Abuse in Comparative-Historical Perspective	 // Childhood and Abuse in Comparative-Historical Perspective Session Organizer Robert VAN KRIEKEN, University of Sydney, Australia,   Session in English Through phases of development, perceptions and expectation of childhood have changed considerably. Within these changes, the concept of abuse has been formulated and continues to be extended to incorporate previously normative forms of behaviour. In this session, comparative-historical analysis will be applied to broader processes and particular instances in order to interconnect childhood and constructed fears and insecurities with the rise in prominence of the classification of abuse and abuser. 
WG02	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s4	Glocalization Effects of the Migration of Ideas Across the World	 // Glocalization Effects of the Migration of Ideas Across the World Session Organizer Ewa MORAWSKA, University of Essex, United Kingdom,   Session in English Migration of ideas is an ideal field to explore the workings of glocalization understood as the process of simultaneous homogeneization and heterogeneization of economic, cultural, and po-litical forms as they travel around the world and take root in particular time – and place-specific settings (Robertson 1994), yet for some reason this concept – and phenomenon – has attracted less attention among social scientists than Arjun Appadurai’s (1996) “multiscalar scapes” denoting the simultaneity of the multilevel, here, global and local dimensions of human actors’ experience, including their ideas and orientations. Although the premise of the simultaneity of the global (remote) and the local is shared by the notion of multiscalar scapes and that of glocalization, these two concepts are not identical with the former implying coexistence, often side by side, of different realms of experience, and the latter their fusion which generates distinct, new phenomena. The purpose of this session is to elucidate the glocalization effects of the migration of ideas from East to West, West to East, South to North, and North to South of the world. Papers focused on theoretical representations of this process are welcome as are empirical assessments of the transformative impact on the understanding and use in particular past and present settings of concepts and approaches absorbed from different cultural contexts. 
WG02	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s5	Habitus, Pacification and the Monopoly of Violence in the Age of Globalisation	 // Habitus, Pacification and the Monopoly of Violence in the Age of Globalisation Session Organizer Stephen VERTIGANS, Robert Gordon University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Levels of pacification and violence continue to confound sociological expectations. The post-Second-World-War dismissal of the bellicose tradition from sociological insight has meant the interrelationships between pacification and violence are largely neglected within sociology. This session seeks to reposition bellicosity within sociology, drawing upon civilising and decivilising processes to illuminate phases of pacification and forms of violence. Processes will be localised, national and/or global. 
WG02	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s6	How to Continue with the Master Concept of ‘Differentiation’? Historical and Comparative Analyses in Non-Western Settings	 // How to Continue with the Master Concept of ‘Differentiation’? Historical and Comparative Analyses in Non-Western Settings Session Organizers Kathya ARAUJO, Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano, Chile,   Wolfgang KNOEBL, University of Göttingen, Germany,   Session in English It is obvious that the concept of differentiation has played an enormously important role in the history of sociology beginning from the times of Herbert Spencer and Émile Durkheim up to Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems. It was and still is used as a master-concept in order to analyze almost all processes of social change insofar as it is often assumed that phenomena such as individualization, bureaucratization, secularization are somehow related to – or are even the very essence of – functional differentiation. It is not so clear, however, whether this concept of ‘functional differentiation’ originally being developed in a western context can be used fruitfully with respect to other parts of the world. Even if – to use Luhmann’s language – codes such as ‘money’ or ‘truth’ might be used everywhere, does that also mean that functional differentiation will be victorious all over the world? The organizers would like to ask members of the panel to look empirically and/or historically into contexts where functional differentiation is not so much an established fact but more an open question. Problems such as the following could be dealt with: Are there different meanings of – let’s say – ‘individualization’ and ‘secularization’ in different cultures and countries and how – if at all – can that be accommodated to the idea of functional differentiation? What is the relation between differentiation and complexification, which usually are seen as one and the same thing, but can be distinguished? Are there currently processes of individualization, bureaucratization or secularization that are difficult to subsume under the heading of “differentiation”? Were there historical phases with peculiar constellations of actors in which the existence of functional differentiation became more a problem than a solution? Are processes of de-differentiation necessarily to be interpreted as indicators of crises, even of crises of modernity? And more generally: Does the idea of functional differentiation depend on the western idea or reality of a homogenous nation-state and its institutional structure and – if the answer would be positive – how has this insight to be related to the debate on multiple modernities? 
WG02	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s7	Inequality in Rich Societies	 // Inequality in Rich Societies Session Organizer Stephen MENNELL, University College Dublin, Ireland,   Session in English Studies of the global poor quite rightly concentrate upon the needs and experiences of people living in absolute poverty. This focus tends to result in the implications of people living in relative poverty within rich nations being overlooked at a global level. In this session, attention is placed upon the contradictions between wealth and poverty in ‘egalitarian’ societies. Particular focus is placed upon long-term processes that enable the inequalities between socio-economic, religious, ethnic and racial groups to be normalised and for the compliance of the most adversely affected. 
WG02	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s8	Modernities in Theories: Perspectives from the Colonized and the Subaltern Other(s)	 // Modernities in Theories: Perspectives from the Colonized and the Subaltern Other(s) Session Organizers Manuela BOATCA, Free University of Berlin, Germany,   Sujata PATEL, University of Hyderabad, India,   Session in English The session intends to present a critical perspective to the contemporary analysis of modernity and its theories of multiplicity, hybridity, alterity and cosmopolitanism by bringing together critical approaches articulated by various subaltern groups in the Global North and South. In this panel, we wish to initiate a dialogue between the Latin American modernity/coloniality group’s thesis of unfinished decolonization and the expressions of the many subaltern others regarding the relevance (if at all) of conceptualizing modernities and the ways to understand them from the perspective of subjects constructed as others(s). We invite papers dealing with critiques formulated by a variety of “othered” groups: women, racial and ethnic groups, indigenous people/scheduled tribes, dalits, nomadic communities. 
WG02	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s9	Modernizing Moves in the ‘Non-Western’ World: Historical and Comparative Analyses	 // Modernizing Moves in the ‘Non-Western’ World: Historical and Comparative Analyses Session Organizers Jose Mauricio DOMINGUES, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Yutaka KOYAMA, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan,   Session in English In contrast to theoretical debates on globalization or on "world society" that often paint a too homogeneous picture of modernity and/or assume somewhat unilinear processes of global social change, this panel wants to bring in a more historical and thus empirical perspective. The organizers would like to ask members of the panel to analyse closely social change in post-revolutionary and post-colonial periods in the world outside of Europe and North America. How did, for example, actors in Latin America at the beginning of the 19th century, in Japan after the Meiji-Revolution in the 1860s and 1870s or in Africa and Asia in the 1950s and 1960s think about the future shape of ‘their’ countries? How did they conceptualize modernity, what (if at all) were their ‘reference societies’ (R. Bendix)? How was foreign domination (empire, hegemony) related to those pictures of modernity? And which were the conflicts (with respect to the relationship between the state and religion, with respect to free trade versus protectionism, individual and collective rights etc.) emerging in these ‘modernizing moves’? This also means that the organizers want to hear more about how models of modernity were accommodated to indigenous traditions, under which circumstances translations happened, and how in these processes a plurality of modernities took shape. 
WG02	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s10	New Humanitarianism and International State-Building 	 // New Humanitarianism and International State-Building Session Organizer Abu BAH, Northern Illinois University, USA,   Session in English The path to modernization has often been marked by conflicts and wars. Since the end of the Cold War, the efforts to move from authoritarian rule to democracy and/or make major economic reforms have produced mixed results. While many countries have made peaceful democratic transitions and major economic transformation, political and economic reforms in many other countries have resulted in conflicts and civil wars. Such countries include the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d`Ivoire, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. The security, political and economic challenges that face many of the countries undergoing violent conflicts have wider global implications. Moreover, global political, economic, and social factors shape the events in these countries. This global interconnection is best exemplified in the new system of global liberal governance, which merges security and development policies. Under global liberal governance, there is a renewed policy and academic discourse of human security, human rights, sovereignty, human development, humanitarian intervention. All of these are embodied in a new sense of humanitarianism that redefines security, human rights, sovereignty, and economic and social development. Most importantly, efforts to end violent conflicts and address the economic, social and political causes of civil wars are no longer national task, but a challenge for the wider international community. This shift toward new humanitarianism and global liberal governance poses questions about state-building in countries that have experienced civil wars. The security and development role of the major powers, UN, regional organizations (NATO, EU, AU, ECOWAS, etc.) and international NGOs has significantly increased in these countries. This raises questions about the implications of international state-building. What are the boundaries of new humanitarianism? How do domestic and external agents negotiate state-building? What are the comparative lessons in international state-building? These kinds of questions can be addressed in a panel consisting of 4 to 5 papers. Ideally, the papers should inform both the theoretical and methodological issues and provide rich cases studies. Such papers will add a critical angle to the general interest on inequality at the global level. New humanitarianism and international state-building are not only born out of pathological inequalities, but they also breed new dimensions of inequality. 
WG02	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s11	The Global South and Postcolonial Perspectives in International Sociology	 // The Global South and Postcolonial Perspectives in International Sociology Integrative Session // : RC08 History of Sociology, RC35 Conceptual and Terminological Analysis and WG02 Historical and Comparative Sociology. Not open for submission of abstracts 
WG02	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s12	WG02 Business Meeting	 // WG02 Business Meeting 
WG02	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s13	WG02 Roundtable session: Process-oriented Social Research in Historical and Comparative Sociology	 // WG02 Roundtable session: Process-oriented Social Research in Historical and Comparative Sociology Session Organizer Fumiya ONAKA, Japan Women’s University, Japan,   Session in English The WG02/RC33 Joint Session ‘Process-oriented Methodology and Theories in Historical and Comparative Sociology’ held during the 2012 ISA Forum of Sociology at Buenos Aires attracted a large audience. It highlighted the challenges of naive ‘historical’ or ‘comparative’ sociology and the conflicts between subjective and objective standpoints. This session was originally proposed on the basis of the existence of close relationships between the nature of data and theories, and that the use of ‘process-generated data’ is more important for these process-oriented theories than ‘research-elicited data’, which the majority of sociologists rely upon. However, this session encouraged us to reconsider the relationship between `process-generated data` and ‘social research’; some of which were based on ‘historical’ literature and others on ‘social research’ (e.g. ‘time-related action research’, and ‘socio-communicational research’). Such differences are re-lated to the aforementioned standpoints. The main topics of discussion during this session will include the following points: Is it really possible to collect ‘process-produced data’ through ‘social research’ or not? If it is possible, what are the guidelines to be followed by this ‘social research’? What data can be collected through this ‘social research’? What does this ‘social research’ contribute to historical and/or comparative sociology? What is ‘process-produced data’? What exactly is ‘process-oriented’? Such focused discussions will enable us to ascertain the proper methods and importance of social research in process-oriented historical/comparative sociology. This session welcomes papers based on empirical social research focusing upon the concept of ‘process’ whilst attempting to answer the relevant questions. 
WG02	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG02#s14	Why Bother About Inequality?	 // Why Bother About Inequality? Session Organizer José Esteban CASTRO, Newcastle University, United Kingdom,   Session in English/Spanish The concern with social inequality that underpins the organization of ISA’s XVIII World Congress is not an object of consensus among social scientists, including sociologists. In fact, for influential traditions of thought inequality is not something to be “faced”, as indicated in the congress’ title, but rather to be accepted, perhaps even nurtured as an essential mechanism for the structuring of social orders. Although the session is based on the assumption that a large section of the sociological community shares the position that Sociology should accept the challenge and make a contribution to ongoing (intellectual, political, and so on) struggles against old and structural inequalities, it recognizes that for a range of different reasons this position is not universally accepted. This session invites papers that propose to engage with this long-standing debate in the light of current global challenges including the inequalities related to the ongoing global “crises” (ecological, economic-financial, political, etc.). We will give priority to proposals that place emphasis on conceptualization, where empirical cases provide the ground for a theoretical discussion. The proposals should address the topics from a process, historical or comparative perspective. The topics could include such issues as: theoretical debates (e.g. inequality as an obstacle to democratization and progressive social change vs. inequality as a function of dem-ocratic social orders; the interplay between natural and social structures in the production and reproduction of social inequality) continuities and ruptures observed in patterns of structural inequality (i.e. empirical studies of the sociogenesis of social inequalities) new conceptualizations of structural inequality the production and reproduction of structural inequality as a structured social process studies of social struggles and movements centered on facing structural inequality etc. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Visual Sociology, WG03
WG03	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s1	Exploring Visual Sphere of Youth	 // Exploring Visual Sphere of Youth Session Organizer Dennis ZUEV, University Institute of Lisboa, Portugal,   Session in English The panel seeks papers dedicated to the application of visual sociological methods in youth studies. We are inviting papers in two broad lines: the use of visual by youth and the use of visual methodologies for studying youth. We address the following questions related to the use of images by young people: How young people produce and circulate images? How do young people use images online and offline, what are the practices of visual production in the Social Networking Sites? How do they navigate in the visual sphere in different cultural and political contexts. How do images help in the self-transformation and transition to adulthood stages? How do emerging visual worlds radicalize and politicize youth? What is the meaning of visual activism and political performance for youth? What are the iconic images of modern youth? The second line of exploration is the challenges and hidden nuances of visual methods in youth studies. Here we invite papers reflecting on techniques of collecting, producing and analyzing visual data relevant for youth studies. What issues can be best addressed by using the visual methods? What challenges are in using visual methods when researching youth? What added value can visual data give for youth sociologists? What techniques of visual sociology help to capture and elucidate acute youth problems? Do participatory video and photo-documentation techniques help to delve deeper in understanding youth? We especially welcome theoretically rich and empirically-based papers. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
WG03	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s2	Film Making, Photography, and Performative Understandings of Method 	 // Film Making, Photography, and Performative Understandings of Method Session Organizers Andrea DOUCET, Brock University, Canada,   Natasha MAUTHNER, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session reflects on the intra-twining of method, theory, ontology and epistemology in filmmaking and photography within scholarly research projects and/or projects that blend scholarly and activist research. The session is informed by our positioning within ‘new materialism’, and ‘feminist materialism’ and entanglements with several on-going philosophical and practice ‘turns’ that are: material, post-constructionist, post humanist, affective, ontological, and performative. We invite papers that are located in one or more of these ‘turns’ and which reflect on performative understandings of visual methods. We are interested in generating conversation about what it might mean to produce visual sociologies that “generate not only representations of reality, but also the realities those representations depict” (Law, 2009). We are also keen to engage with what it means to move from representationalist to performative approaches to method while reflecting on the ethical and political dimensions of visual research aimed at “making a difference” (Bhavnani, 2008), “becom(ing) answerable for what we learn how to see” (Haraway, 1991), and holding “responsibility for the reconfigurings of which we are part” (Barad, 2007). Papers submitted to this session can include these and other themes: Filmmaking and photography as ethnographic encounters that entangle, for example: subject-object, visual objects and ‘agencies of observation’, material-discursive processes, ‘naturecultures’; The role of ‘affect’ in film-making and film-reception; The overlaps and resonances between film editing/producing and qualitative data analysis (Bhavnani, 2008); The agency of images (Rose, 2012); Onto-epistemological, ethical and political dimensions of filmmaking and photography. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
WG03	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s3	Film Screening. Part I	 // Film Screening. Part I Session Organizer Regev NATHANSOHN, University of Michigan, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . 
WG03	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s4	Film Screening. Part II	 // Film Screening. Part II Session Organizer Regev NATHANSOHN, University of Michigan, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . 
WG03	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s5	Globalization, Mediatization and Urban Development: Visually Exploring the Geographic, Social and Democratic Divide	 // Globalization, Mediatization and Urban Development: Visually Exploring the Geographic, Social and Democratic Divide Session Organizer Luc PAUWELS, University of Antwerp, Belgium,   Paolo FAVERO, University of Antwerp, Belgium,   Session in English Today’s world is characterized by an unprecedented urbanization as well as an ever increasing development and use of digital information and communication technologies. However, the exact ways in which the increasing digitization and mediatization of human activities takes form in the contemporary urban environment are still under-researched, while they are in fact central to our understanding of contemporary processes of social, cultural, political, economic and technological change. Modernist celebrations of the city (lauding its social tolerance, mobility, pace and quality of life, architectural bliss, technological wonders) and subsequently of Information and Communication Technologies gradually have been complemented by more critical accounts and observations of the city and of technology as agents of globalization and sites of competing social, cultural, economic and political forces. Direct urban experiences and ‘mediated’ ones have become intricately connected and together ‘produce’ the city and life within the city in radical but as yet hardly documented new ways. Contributions addressing one or more of the following interconnecting strands of research would be welcomed: The study of directly observable mediated and non–mediated enactments of urban culture in public space (behavior and material culture). This includes visually recording of visual behavior and material culture in urban public and semi-public spaces (streets, squares, buildings, parks, parking lots, shopping malls, train stations…) The study of the complex intersections of digital media technologies and urban life (both in private and public urban environments). This includes the study of social media and on-line worlds in private and public space (tourism websites, institutional web sites, activist websites, personal websites, Web 2.0 websites, geomedia, smartphones). Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
WG03	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s6	In-visible Design – the Surface and Everything Beneath. Researching Design as a Challenge for Visual Sociology	 // In-visible Design – the Surface and Everything Beneath. Researching Design as a Challenge for Visual Sociology Session Organizers Agata NOWOTNY, Warsaw University, Poland,   Monika ROSINSKA, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland,   Session in English “When you see an object, you make so many assumptions on it” – says the narrator of ‘Objectified’ (the documentary film about industrial design). Indeed there is a story embedded in every object. It is true that the first contact is usually the visual one. As sociologists we see and read from object: how was it made, what was it made from, who would buy it, for how much and why? But, what’s more important is that the object speaks to us using other, than visual, language. It’s not only about its color or shape. There are other senses involved but often omitted in our research, like taste, smell or temperature. We not only see an object, we feel it and interact with it. Design has long ceased to be a realm of still objects. Nowadays design is interactive, multisensory and based on process. Therefore we call it invisible design highlighting other than just visual aspects. The invisibility of design has also deeper meaning. It aims to grasp everything beneath the visual surface: technology, process of thinking, prototyping and interaction with users and to expand the meaning of design so it includes also services and models of thinking, not only material products. These are important issues that must be considered if researching design. And as such it is the huge challenge for visual sociology and a good starting point for the discussion about its limitations or possible ways of expanding its field. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
WG03	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s7	Post-Conflict Visual Imaginations	 // Post-Conflict Visual Imaginations Session Organizers Regev NATHANSOHN, University of Michigan, USA,   Ruthie GINSBURG, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Israel,   Session in English Visuals of conflicts and social conditions of inequalities became part of gender, class, ethnic, racial and national relations around the globe. Researchers have widely analyzed how such visuals can intervene in the social relations of conflict as their representations, their reproductions, their reinforcements, or as contributing to their problematization or to their mollifying mechanisms. The emerging focus on social conditions of Post-Conflict now requires our attention to what could be regarded as visuals of post-conflict, and to the conditions, challenges, and opportunities of their appearance and intervention. To critically engage in these questions, we invite presentations of original researches focusing on sociological analysis of empirical data on post-conflict visual imaginations. These could draw on visuals of already existing situations of post-conflict, or of yet to be established post-conflict situations. Papers could focus on production, circulation and/or reception of the visuals, on the relations between visual imaginations and other art forms (or other sensual dimensions), on memory and forgetting, on legal systems and other formal/informal organizations, on policymaking, etc. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). Papers focusing on an analysis of film productions may be able to show footage of maximum 45 minutes (pending on availability of extra time slots). 
WG03	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s8	Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies	 // Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies Session Organizer Carla RICE, University of Guelph, Canada,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Project ReVision is a Canadian Institute for Health Research funded research project that uses arts-based research methods (digital storytelling and drama workshops) to dismantle stereotypical understandings of disability and difference that create barriers to healthcare. We have completed year one of our project and have generated an impressive archive of over 40 digital stories from women living disabilities and differences and healthcare providers. The project emerges from a representational history of disabled people can largely be characterized as one of being put on display or hidden away. People living with disabilities and differences have been, and continue to be, displayed in freak shows, medical journals, charity campaigns, and as evil or pitiable tropes in novels and films. At the same time, disabled bodies have also been hidden in institutions, hospitals, group homes, and generally removed from the public eye. In his essay from which we borrow our title, Eli Clare writes, “Just as the disabled body has been stolen, it has also been reclaimed” (2001). In our proposed session, we screen and analyze a selection of digital stories on visible and invisible differences made through Project ReVision. We examine the ways bodies and experiences of difference are reclaimed in these films, which reveal the complexities—the pride, shame, pains, struggles for rights and wellness, and joys of community—of living with disability and difference. By pairing and sharing stories made by women and health providers on experiences of and encounters with disability and difference, we examine how our project helps to blur boundaries and breakdown barriers between the disabled and non-disabled worlds. The interweaving of these stories encourages reflection on how failure to fit with ablest standards of normal might open up other possibilities and deepen appreciation of the uncertainty and ambiguity that is the basis of life. 
WG03	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s9	The Shapes of Society; Material, Environmental and Situational Constraints of Interpersonal Space (The Cross-Cultural Perspective)	 // The Shapes of Society; Material, Environmental and Situational Constraints of Interpersonal Space (The Cross-Cultural Perspective) Session Organizer Piotr SZTOMPKA, Jagiellonian University, Poland,   Session in English Most of our everyday life is spent among and vis-a-vis other people, within interpersonal space. Apart from all our "higher" human features we are also material, bodily creatures, and therefore the types and qualities of relations we enter with others depend to some extent on the character of material, environmental and situational "containers" within which we act. They provide constraints, limitations as well as opportunities, facilitations for specific actions. The examples would include: landscape, urban or rural design, networks of roads, architecture of houses and apartments, setup of offices and factories, design of malls, restaurants and cafes, lecture halls and auditoriums, stadiums and arenas, parks and gardens, cars and train carriages, shape of furniture, but also the presence of other bodies – density of actors within the limited space, character of collective event taking place, closeness or openness of the situation allowing or preventing exit etc.. These material, environmental, and situational "containers" differ across cultures and civilizations. Perhaps they also differ across occupational communities, age groups, gender etc. We expect photographic projects which will grasp this cross-cultural variety, accompanied by interpretation of the underlying, culturally specific axio-normative rules which underlie the nature of "containers" and through that medium regulate and coordinate human action in interpersonal space. The intention is to follow the inspirations of two classical authors: Erving Goffman`s dramaturgical perspective (e.g. Relations in Public, 1971) and Edward Hall`s proxemics (e.g. The Hidden Dimension, 1966), and by linking them via visual method provide new theoretical insights. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
WG03	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s10	The Visible City? 	 // The Visible City? Session Organizer Shannon WALSH, City University Hong Kong, China,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Cities and neighbourhoods provide multiple forms of visual data in which to understand social issues and inequalities. This panel will explore what the visual revealed in two collaborative feature documentaries: “Jeppe on a Friday” and “St-Henri the 26th of August”. A city can be seen in news reports, crime statistics or the backgrounds of post-apocalyptic Hollywood blockbusters. It can be explored through guided tours, from behind rolled up car windows or through politics and history. In the documentary “Jeppe on a Friday” (87 min) Shannon Walsh and Arya Lalloo bring together a team of South African women directors to explore a different city: the Johannesburg that beats in the men who occupy it. The result is an intimate, quiet portrait of five people from Jeppe, a decayed inner city neighbourhood. As they grapple with the existential and mundane, the city`s specific textures and social contradictions are revealed. “Jeppe on a Friday” draws from a rich tradition of city-centered direct cinema, and offers a record of life in Johannesburg that demystifies the often-maligned male-dominated metropolis. “Jeppe” follows “St-Henri the 26th of August” (2011, 85 min) in which 16 Montreal filmmakers captured a variety of stories and lives in the working-class neighbourhood of Saint-Henri in Montreal. “St-Henri” explores everyday social practices and usage of urban territory in creating community. In this panel, filmmakers and visual anthropologists reflect on their experiences as part of these two film projects exploring everyday practices in the city. 
WG03	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s11	The Visual Culture of Migration: Private and Public Negotiations	 // The Visual Culture of Migration: Private and Public Negotiations Session Organizers Anna SCHOBER, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany,   Jorn AHRENS, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany,   Session in English Migration is triggered by social inequality and at the same time migration produces new inequalities. Visual figurations of migration or of migrants are used – in official and public or individual perspectives – to challenge inequality or to make it a topic of discussion, to constitute communality anew and to position the individual in an everyday life shaped by migration. In doing so, migration is usually staged either as a problem or as a spectacle. In both cases the figure of the migrant, however, acts as a projection figure, in order to explain processes of change (for example as scapegoats), to advertise and guide “integration” and to position one’s own self and replenish it with qualities of the other. Nevertheless, migration is not only a central figuration in the framework of a discourse about the societal, cultural other. It is also subject in discourses by the other, which take account of the perspective of this other. To this effect immigrants use visual culture in order to achieve socialisation and in order to claim public presence – for example in the form of “ethnic” festivals, public parades and manifestations or in the form of more enduring urban inscriptions such as cultural centres. And in the private realm, too, visual culture (Skype, cell-phone videos, Internet blogs) is used in order to cope with a family and communal life that is marked by transformation. In this way new communities are constituted and family is practised over wide spatial and temporal distances in transformed ways. The panel discusses such relations between representations of migration in visual culture and a tactical use of visual media in order to master change in connection with migration. Representation from outside and self-representation are confronted with one another and become perceptible in their differences as well as in their mutual borrowings. Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
WG03	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s12	Visualizing Social Disparities	 // Visualizing Social Disparities Session Organizer Dennis ZUEV, University Institute of Lisboa, Portugal,   Session in English The session seeks to address the challenges and advantages of using visual approach to studying socially constructed disparities or differences, which can be associated with 1. Different levels of underlying social advantage or position in a social hierarchy. 2. Social advantage or position reflected by economic resources, occupation, education, racial/ethnic group, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics associated with greater access to resources, influence, prestige, and social inclusion. We are interested in studies that attempt to visually interrogate the matters of enhancement and reduction of social disparities in various fields of human interaction and in various geographic locations. We invite submissions that can be either methodology-focused, or theoretically informed empirical papers. How can we study social disparities visually and in different sociopolitical contexts? What can visual methods help to reveal about the nature of inequalities and social hierarchies? Presenters will be asked to send a draft of their full papers (of 6000 words, including references) to session organizers by 12 June 2014 (one month prior to the conference). 
WG03	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG03#s13	WG03 Business Meeting and Rachel Tanur Awards 	 // WG03 Business Meeting and Rachel Tanur Awards Session Organizer Regev NATHANSOHN, University of Michigan, USA,   Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Famine and Society, WG05
WG05	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s1	Facing Uncertainties and Crises in a Globalised and Unequal World	 // Facing Uncertainties and Crises in a Globalised and Unequal World Session Organizers Manmohanjit HUNDAL, School of Education Punjab, India,   Pradeep DADLANI, India,   Session in English The recent global trends indicate growing uncertainties and crises in the social, economic and political systems in many countries. The world is becoming more unequal. Globalisation is seen as a major culprit and at the same time unifier of the unequal world. Inequality and marginalization are becoming crucial issues for sociological debates. The session calls papers on the following cross cutting themes: Globalisation, free capital flow, inequality and marginalization Climate change, diminished food grain yields and rise in food prices Migration, challenges for natives and ethnic conflict Climate change, natural disasters, challenges in rehabilitation and post effects Unplanned infrastructural growth, chaos and after effects 
WG05	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s2	Famine and Conflict: Two Faces of the Same Coin in a Globalising World	 // Famine and Conflict: Two Faces of the Same Coin in a Globalising World Session Organizer Oluyemi FAYOMI, Covenant University, Nigeria,   Session in English This session focuses on famine and conflicts as intertwined phenomena that revolve around people’s livelihoods, and the involvement of humanitarian relief systems. Though the 21st century was heralded by great advances in technology and developed economies, famine and conflicts still persist in some parts of the world. The end of the Cold War increased the hope of many people that the world`s political and economic system would be changed for the better, following the narrowing of ideological differences that polarised the world into Communism and Capitalism. It was hoped that humanity would be better off, as everyone benefited from a new era of world peace and economic development, but the international mass media is currently awash with reports of conflicts and drought situations in various parts of the globe. The Session seeks papers from relationship between famine and conflict are essential for analysis and discussion in connection with drought, which is a mainly a natural phenomenon that affects parts of the world. Some areas of the world with strong economies and viable political structures have successfully responded to the advent of drought in their countries by adjusting water storage, allocation, and usage patterns, while other parts of the world have dismally failed to do so. Therefore, drought is a contributing factor to conflict and conflict exacerbates drought, making famine more likely. Therefore, drought, conflict, and famine are inextricably linked, with each of them acting as a catalyst to the other. 
WG05	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s3	Globalization of Slums, Houselessness and Urban Poverty: Emerging Issues and Options	 // Globalization of Slums, Houselessness and Urban Poverty: Emerging Issues and Options Session Organizer Manoj Kumar TEOTIA, Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, India,   Session in English The problem of slums has been experienced at some point of time by almost all the major cities in the developing countries. Slums are a physical and spatial manifestation of urban poverty and intra-city inequality. Slums and urban poverty are not just a manifestation of a population explosion and demographic change, or even of the vast impersonal forces of globalization but a result of a failure of housing policies, laws and delivery systems, as well as national and urban policies (UN-Habitat 2003). Same is true for houselessness in urban areas. There is growing concern about the poor people living in slums, as manifested in the United Nations Millennium Declaration and subsequent identification of development priorities by international community. Housing problem seem to acquire serious dimension in many countries in the wake of rapid urbanization, commodification of land and housing, distortion in land market and weakening of public sector housing provision in post liberalisation period. The onset of liberal regimes in promoting development of real estate markets, beginning of low interest home loans, etc seem to have made land and housing in urban areas commodity for speculation. The inequality between rich and poor and marginalization of poor can be seen in most of the developing countries. At the same time some good examples are emerging for addressing growing concerns of slums, houselessness and poverty. The papers are invited from across the globe highlighting various aspects of the theme under consideration. 
WG05	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s4	Housing the Urban Poor – Issues for Inclusive Housing Policy	 // Housing the Urban Poor – Issues for Inclusive Housing Policy Session Organizer Rajiv SHARMA, Human Settlement Management Institute, India,   Session in English Housing is not only a civil engineering structure but a place to live, to work, to grow, to get protected from nature`s wrath, to make a society, etc. However, the dream of having a house remains distinct for more than one-third urban population. As a result, many of the poor have to house themselves illegally because of the mechanism to access formal housing stock is cumbersome. They remain marginalised in terms of civic services, housing and other socio-economic parameters. The cost of this marginalisation is often very high and many studies have shown that it may be upto 2-5 times of the formal system. By 2030, an estimated 5 billion of the world`s 8.1 billion people will live in cities. About 2 billion of them will live in slums, primarily in Africa and Asia, lacking basic services like water & sanitation, unsecured tenure, congested & unhygienic conditions and surrounded by desperation and crime. This situation calls for preparation of policy which promotes inclusive planning at local, regional and city level. The session is planned with an eye on issues faced in housing the urban poor. It will focus on strategies and best practices on inclusive planning, with housing for urban poor being the central theme for presentations. Papers are invited on the following themes: Planning for the urban poor Strategy for housing the urban poor Land and housing regulations for affordable housing delivery Access to credit for housing the urban poor Slum improvement strategies- Best Practices Community approach to inclusive city planning Participatory planning and delivery of housing to the urban poor 
WG05	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s5	Man, Development and Water: Issues and Challenges 	 // Man, Development and Water: Issues and Challenges Session Organizer Mohinder KUMAR SLARIYA, Government Post-Graduate College, India,   Session in English Water being fulcrum of future pace of growth and development of any economy, it is expected that the proposed session will provoke discussion to understand the issues and challenges of water related development in context of human dimension as well know understand nature based solutions to climate change. In the process of development, man (human dimension) is lacking, there are policy makers and executor, but not involvement of those for whom these developmental activities have been planned. The international interaction and research based intellectual inputs on these issues, the proposer is hopeful that it will help to understand these issues in better way and the outcome of the session would have deeper impact on the policy formation as well as on implementation. Proposed session is an attempt to highlight and discuss the development related issues and challenges which are threatening the conservational perspectives of the policy makers in the world. There are many regions already have been pondered by snatching herbs and other precious natural resources and now it is turn of water which is gift of nature. Through this session we invite papers which try to explore and understand these interrelated and complex issues and the challenges faced by people living in various sensitive regions. 
WG05	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s6	Mexico: Poverty, Inequality and Marginalization in the 21st Century	 // Mexico: Poverty, Inequality and Marginalization in the 21st Century Session Organizer Verónica VILLARESPE REYES, Institute of Economic Research, Mexico,   Session in English/Spanish The session will address the analysis of three key themes: poverty, inequality and marginalization. In underdeveloped economies, such as Mexico, the extent and depth of poverty and inequality tend to grow and they reproduce, most of the time, marginalization. The concept of marginalization emerged in the 1950s and it represented a significant contribution to the development of Latin American theory in order to explain various phenomena related to poverty, uneven development, unemployment and underemployment, and the informal economy, among others. Meanwhile, the cities are experiencing an accelerated pace of urbanization accompanied by low economic and social development, at the same time, industry is not achieving the level of development needed to boost the urban economy or create sufficient sources of employment in line with the growth of the population. Therefore, an important part of the population must resort to filling jobs with little specialization and low productivity, registering high rates of unemployment and underemployment, which eventually translate into low income levels. Thus, large sectors of the population are relegated to living in very precarious conditions, without services, without the food, health care, security, and hygiene necessary for family life, lacking access to education, culture, and decision-making. It is these sectors that populate the poverty belts, which are established in outlying areas, on the outskirts of the cities. Another feature that characterizes these sectors is their disintegration and lack of internal cohesion that makes them appear fragmented and dispersed, affecting all forms of social coexistence. Although the session is focused on the case of Mexico, we welcome the experiences of other countries, because the exchange of ideas will enrich the debate on key concepts and measurements on the subject. It is of utmost importance, the theoretical and methodological discussion of these topics to investigate its causes and effects, and propose alternatives for resolution. 
WG05	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s7	Sociology of Natural Calamities, Man-made Disasters, Food Insecurity and Relief	 // Sociology of Natural Calamities, Man-made Disasters, Food Insecurity and Relief Session Organizer Amrita RANGASAMI, CSAR, India,   Session in English Given the unsustainable nature of development being pursued by many countries, the level of severe natural calamities appears to have accelerated. Similarly, the frenetic pace of industrialisation as well as the high level of carbon emissions and release of industrial pollutants have led to a number of man-made disasters in terms of nuclear emissions, chemical gas leaks and industrial accidents. Despite technological advancements, the number of such accidents is still at an unacceptably high level. These natural calamities and man-made disasters are especially traumatic when they involve members of poor and disadvantaged families for the calamities/disasters trigger-off an alarming increase in marginalisation and food insecurity. This Session will focus on the following sub-themes: Rationale for spurt in the number of severe natural calamities consequent to Climate Change and their impact on impoverished families. Salient aspects of Food Insecurity with special reference to areas particularly prone to severe droughts and floods. The relationship between man-made economic crises, marginalisation and food insecurity. Critical analysis of Relief Systems around the world for developing a theoretical framework. Types of Early Warning Systems and community preparedness. Financing of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction efforts through innovative fiscal instruments. 
WG05	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s8	Sociology of Poverty, Informal Sector and Job-Creation	 // Sociology of Poverty, Informal Sector and Job-Creation Session Organizer Harjit Singh ANAND, Glownet Knowledge Services, India,   Session in English The problem of poverty, management and poor working conditions in the Informal Sector are inextricably woven together. The sociology of this trinity of problems can be traced to low educational background, lower social status, near subsistence level wages and low bargaining power. This circle of deprivation has a fatalistic tendency of renewing itself from generation to generation. In addition, many families belonging to the Informal Sector suffer from recurring episodes of illness and are also characterised by various levels of ‘indebtedness.’ Analysing the salient characteristics of the Informal Sector is also vital for achieving the Millennium Development Goals set by the UN. The debate on this theme will seek to focus the spotlight on various sub-themes with a view to examining how the Informal Sector can be transformed into an engine of growth: Nature of endemic poverty in different parts of the world. Analytical overview of unemployment in developing countries as well as developed countries. Critical features of the informal Sector and its capacity to perpetuate itself at low levels of income. Relationship of the informal Sector and recurring unemployment in certain sections of society. How economic crises lead to acute marginalisation of the informal Sector. What kind of small-micro enterprises’ advisory services can be provided by the Government through a public- private partnership for strengthening the informal Sector? What kind of access to institutional facilities like banking, selling space, common facility workshops and quality- marketing can be provided by the Government to decrease the mortality- rate of micro enterprises? 
WG05	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/wg/wg.php?n=WG05#s9	WG05 Business Meeting	 // WG05 Business Meeting Session Organizer Harjit Singh ANAND, Glownet Knowledge Services, India,   Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Human Rights and Global Justice, TG03
TG03	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s1	Addressing Inequality before, during and after Difficult Times: Research, Intervention and Effective Outcomes	 // Addressing Inequality before, during and after Difficult Times: Research, Intervention and Effective Outcomes Integrative Session // : RC46 Clinical Sociology, South African Sociological Association, Philippine Sociological Society and TG03 Human Rights and Global Justice Not open for submission of abstracts 
TG03	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s2	Competing Human Rights	 // Competing Human Rights Session Organizer Brian GRAN, Case Western Reserve University, USA,   Session in English Human rights of persons with disabilities, children‘s rights, older person‘s rights, rights of migrant workers and their families: this short list of human rights issues from the United Nations indicates wide variety of kinds of human rights that are both conceptualized and debated. This session will present studies of how these rights can potentially compete and even conflict, as well as studies of how these rights do compete and conflict in practice. 
TG03	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s3	Debating the Right to Development	 // Debating the Right to Development Session Organizer Mark FREZZO, University of Mississippi, USA,   Session in English With the founding of the Thematic Group on Human Rights and Global Justice in the International Sociological Association and the Section on Human Rights in the American Sociological Association, the sociological analysis of human rights has been formalized as a distinct field of academic research. In essence, the nascent field explores not only the social conditions under which “rights claims” are made by aggrieved parties, social movement organizations, and NGOs, but also the “rights effects” – changes in state policies and laws – attained by popular mobilizations (and their allies) laying claim to competing interpretations of the human rights canon. Accordingly, the field has moved considerably beyond its origins in the sociology of law by borrowing heavily from political economy (to illuminate the global economic circumstances that foment rights claims), social movement research (to elucidate the worldviews, strategies, and tactics of rights-oriented coalitions), and political sociology (to explain how rights effects are achieved by states). Arguably, the three emerging approaches converge on a pressing question (especially in the Global South): In light of the failures of developmentalism in its previous guises, what does it mean to proclaim the “right to development”? This panel explores various attempts to extricate the kernel of development – the idea of planned social change to improve the material wellbeing of a society – from the pitfalls of positivism and economism, gender insensitivity, Eurocentrism and cultural exclusion, and ecological destruction. In the process, it examines development as a “rights bundle” that cuts across the conventional categories of civil and political rights, economic and social rights, and cultural and environmental rights. 
TG03	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s4	Ethnic Groups in Civil Society: Globalization and Global Justice	 // Ethnic Groups in Civil Society: Globalization and Global Justice Session Organizer Akbar VALADBIGI, Yerevan State University, Armenia,   Session in English Ethnic Groups in Civil Society: Globalization and Global Justice: Ethnicities and nations are nowadays engaged in identity-related issues and their subsequent challenges more than ever. There are various and contradictory insights on globalization, nation, and ethnicity. This session seeks to discuss these subjects while holding a cultural view and go on to suggest solutions like tolerance, opportunity-making, paying attention to the elites, and maintaining plurality. Globalization has functioned as a double-edged sword; at one hand, it has promoted employment and increasing ethnic and identity diversities and movements; at the other hand, however, it has sought to equalize ethnic-identity relations, and create structural development in unsuitable patterns on consumption, conflict-making, cultural genocide, collapse of plurality and so on. This session’s main emphasis is on cultural mechanisms and plural opportunities that can be considered as alternatives to mitigate destructive conflicts. 
TG03	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s5	Global Justice and Women`s Human Rights in an Unequal World	 // Global Justice and Women`s Human Rights in an Unequal World Session Organizer Manisha DESAI, University of Connecticut, USA,   Session in English Recently, there has been an increasing disillusionment among feminists across the world about the promises of the human rights frame for gender justice in particular and global justice in general. This session will examine the history and contemporary experiences of women`s human rights theorizing, practices, and organizing to understand this frustration and to reflect on the possibilities of recuperating the frame work for a global justice politics. 
TG03	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s6	Grassroots Strategies for Enduring Repression	 // Grassroots Strategies for Enduring Repression Session Organizer Louis ESPARZA, California State University, USA,   Session in English/Spanish Grassroots strategies for enduring repression: Most grassroots human rights activism exists in repressive environments. How do activists endure, and even thrive amidst hostility from de facto authorities? How are human rights interpreted, delivered, or asserted by the actors involved? Persistent poverty in the Southern hemisphere and increasing wealth inequality in the North has created a lack of confidence in the nation-state as the traditional guarantor of human rights. How have domestic and international actors met these challenges to renew our recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family? 
TG03	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s7	Human Rights and Sociological Theory	 // Human Rights and Sociological Theory Session Organizer Bruce FRIESEN, University of Tampa, USA,   Session in English Papers for this session should illustrate the unique ways in which sociological theory contributes to understanding the global human rights movement and the institutionalization of such values. Macro, meso, or micro approaches from sociology or any of its subfields are welcome. 
TG03	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s8	Human Rights: How do we Tackle the Problems of Indigenous Youth?	 // Human Rights: How do we Tackle the Problems of Indigenous Youth? Session Organizer Maria de Lourdes BELDI DE ALCANTARA, University of São Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English The ongoing discrimination of indigenous peoples and their members, the dramatic and massive changes to their environment, the systematic violations of their rights and their powerlessness in the face of decisions that affect their development have, in many cases, led to unsustainable situations with traumatic consequences, both individual and collective. By virtue of their greater vulnerability, one of the groups most affected by these problems are children and youths; the disproportionate presence among indigenous children of the worst forms of child labour, forced displacement and migration, begging, academic failure, violence and other constraints all mean that special attention needs to be given to the situation of these indigenous groups. In this session we intend to undertake an interdisiplinary analysis of these issues and try to understand the causes of these situations at the same time propose public policies that can help these people face up to these problems. 
TG03	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s9	Humanism as a Main Instrument for Combating International Terrorism	 // Humanism as a Main Instrument for Combating International Terrorism Session Organizer Viktoria ZHOVNOVATA, National Technical University, Ukraine,   Session in English Humanism as a main instrument of international terrorism combating: An effective way to combat terrorist movement is the transformation of philosophical principles of social groups that are prone to social aggression. Only in this case an effective mechanism for ideological weapon capable of destroying the terrorist tendencies in the bud can be created in the territory where the centres of terrorist movement are located. For this purpose humanism has to become popular both at the level of an individual and a family (which is achieved by propaganda and education), and shall be supported by national policies (execution by the state of the declared set of rights and freedoms). Humanistic traditions could then become an instrument for preventing the proliferation of terrorist ideas, when they become a part of citizens’ life philosophy. This, in its turn, is possible if they do not contradict human values, will be in harmony with the peculiarities of national development, and will be supported by the state policy. 
TG03	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s10	Indigenous Populations, Human Rights, and the Global South	 // Indigenous Populations, Human Rights, and the Global South Session Organizer Aye Chan NAING, Democratic Voice of Burma, Norway,   Session in English This session intends to present papers on various human rights related topics from the perspective of the global south. Throughout the world various regimes located in the global south have restricted and limited the human rights of the indigenous peoples. It is hoped that papers can be presented that bring to light the key issues involving this problem especially in light of the acceptance of neoliberal principles that are affecting governments, markets, and a sense of social insecurity. 
TG03	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s11	Reflections on the Right to Democracy	 // Reflections on the Right to Democracy Session Organizer Mark FREZZO, University of Mississippi, USA,   Session in English To date, the subject of democracy has been explored primarily by philosophers and political scientists. Whereas the former have tended to analyze notable texts on the nature of democracy (particularly in the tradition of the European Enlightenment), the latter have tended to explore processes of democratization in the contemporary world (including the transitions from authoritarian to electoral regimes in Latin America and Eastern Europe). In light of their explorations not only of social movements pushing for greater popular participation and human rights, sociologists have much to contribute to the debate on the meaning of democracy. Accordingly, this panel catalogs the contributions of sociologists to the understanding of democracy as a human right. In addition, the panel explores the impact of the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and a wave of anti-austerity protests across the world to the theory and practice of democracy. Finally, the panel reflects on the question: What does it mean to proclaim the “right to democracy”? Drawing on SSF’s mission of marshaling sociological expertise for the advancement of human rights, this panel convenes scholar-activists to work through the interrelated debates on electoral democracy versus direct democracy, centralization versus decentralization, the role of state power, and non-Western models of democracy. 
TG03	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s12	TG03 Business Meeting	 // TG03 Business Meeting Session Organizers Ed SIEH, Lasell College, USA,   Brian GRAN, Case Western Reserve University, USA,   
TG03	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s13	Transitional Justice in the Eastern Hemisphere	 // Transitional Justice in the Eastern Hemisphere Session Organizer Edward SIEH, Lasell College, USA,   Session in English Since the end of World War II and the ensuing War Crime Trials there has been a discussion of what to do to the perpetrators of heinous crimes against humanity. Eastern hemisphere countries have experienced similar dilemmas. For example Cambodia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines and South Korea have experienced genocide, torture, military rule or systematic violations of human rights. What is the current state of affairs in this vast region relative to transitional justice? It is hoped this session can bring together scholars who have studied the issue from the perspective of the local inhabitants. Key questions have been asked about how countries transition from war to peace and achieve an important measure of reconciliation, understanding, appreciation, and forgiveness so as to rebuild civil society and promote basic justice and human rights. What role do amnesty, truth and accountability have in the current state of affairs? 
TG03	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG03#s14	Transitional Justice in the Western Hemisphere	 // Transitional Justice in the Western Hemisphere Session Organizer Edward SIEH, Lasell College, USA,   Session in English Since the end of World War II and the ensuing War Crime Trials there has been a discussion of what to do to the perpetrators of heinous crimes against humanity? Numerous countries in the West have undergone transitional justice experiences including the famous cases of South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, El Salvador, and even Germany, Norway and Eastern Europe. What is the current state of affairs in this vast region? It is hoped this session can bring together scholars who have studied the issue from the perspective of the local inhabitants. Key questions have been asked about how a country transitions from war and genocide to peace and reconciliation, and yet achieve an important measure of understanding, appreciation, and forgiveness so as to rebuild civil society and promote basic justice and human rights. What role do amnesty, truth and accountability have in the current affairs? Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty, TG04
TG04	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s1	Crime and Risk 	 // Crime and Risk Session Organizer John Martin CHAMBERLAIN, Loughborough University, United Kingdom,   Session in English The study of risk-taking and risk-management strategies in the domain of crime and criminal justice provides an invaluable opportunity to explore trends internationally in crime control and the comparative organization and operation of criminal justice systems. We particularly invite submissions of papers that critically explore Risk and Crime in relation to: media representations and crime human rights violations and state-sponsored crime surveillance technologies and crime prevention developments in offender profiling and management the role of genetics and biotechnologies in crime detection and control how key sociological constructs such as age, class, gender and race and ethnicity interact with definitions of criminality and the contemporary management of crime 
TG04	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s2	Education and the Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty 	 // Education and the Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty Session Organizer William BRADLEY, Ryukoku University, Japan,   Session in English Educational contexts (compulsory through to higher education) have historically been analyzed from sociological perspectives for their contributions to reproduction of class, race, and gender disparities. Additionally, education has been instrumental in the formation of national identities. Given that globalizing neoliberal models of educational value are increasingly ascendant, even convergent, through standardization, testing, ranking, audit practices, and privatization, sociological theories of risk are tools to analyze and critique the new models of education, in a complementary fashion to class and other analyses. Risk is utilized as a resource for driving education at the macro level of policy (A Nation at Risk, 1981) and the micro level of individualization, students compelled to create DIY biographies (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002) and in between. This session invites empirical and conceptual papers that look at risk in educational contexts, how risk is formulated, mobilized, used and evaluated for educational ends. 
TG04	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s3	Emotions, Trust, Hope and Other Approaches to Coping with Vulnerability Amidst Uncertainty 	 // Emotions, Trust, Hope and Other Approaches to Coping with Vulnerability Amidst Uncertainty Session Organizer Patrick BROWN, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands,   Session in English Sociological approaches emphasise that risks do not simply exist, indeed perceptions of ‘risks’ are embedded within various processes of valuing and categorising. In this light risk becomes one way of coping amidst uncertainty but other mechanisms are also applied in everyday life, such as trust and hope. Zinn has developed a spectrum running from the more calculative risk-oriented approaches towards the less calculative, including hope and faith. In-between we find further processes such as trust, emotions and heuristics which combine the rational and non-rational. This session welcomes papers which explore one or more of these different ways in which organisations, groups and individuals attempt to cope with uncertainty. We especially welcome studies which consider various ways in which different processes, risk and hope for example, exist alongside one another; or where, for example, trust and mistrust are experienced concurrently in certain situations. 
TG04	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s4	Expert Decision-Making in the Face of Uncertainty: The Influence of Organisational, Inter-Personal and Professional Factors 	 // Expert Decision-Making in the Face of Uncertainty: The Influence of Organisational, Inter-Personal and Professional Factors Session Organizer Patrick BROWN, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands,   Session in English Health and social care professionals, policy-makers and a range of other ‘expert’ actors are required to make important decisions in the face of multiple unknowns. This session would involve research into how different experts ‘bridge over’ uncertainty when making decisions and moreover the organisational, interpersonal and/or professional factors in which these different tendencies for coping with uncertainty are embedded. Attention may be focused upon various ways in which uncertainty is reflected upon and/or ignored/bracketed away, and how the known-unknowns are approached through various ways of ‘knowing’ – from more encoded forms to more tacit approaches . We especially welcome studies using forms of analysis which are sensitive to interaction processes and their influence, and moreover studies which pay attention towards historical processes and the way these lead to the inculcating of certain professional or expert dispositions. 
TG04	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s5	Health, Illness and Risk 	 // Health, Illness and Risk Session Organizer Alphia POSSAMAI-INESEDY, University of Western Sydney, Australia,   Session in English Risk, as a force of social change, can be seen to actively shape our concept of health, responsibility, trust and our relationship to experts and technology. This occurs in the face of the breakdown of traditional norms, beliefs and expectations which in turn is said to free the individual from these ‘constraints’ and allows more flexibility in the life course. At the same time it burdens and shackles the individual with choices and responsibilities by exchanging the constraints of traditional commitments to those of the labour market and consumerism. The proposed session seeks to examine the impact of this re-embedding by exploring the increased dependence upon fashion, social policy, economic cycles and markets on issues of health and illness. It is these themes which can provide insight into behaviours and attitudes of individuals in relation to health and illness, particularly in contemporary Western societies where health status can be argued to be a central theme of existence. 
TG04	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s6	Indefinite (In)Distinctions? The New Ontology of Matter in a World of Inequalities 	 // Indefinite (In)Distinctions? The New Ontology of Matter in a World of Inequalities Session Organizers Luigi PELLIZZONI, University of Trieste, Italy,   Marja YLONEN, University of Jyväskylä, Finland,   Session in English Risk and uncertainty are increasingly central to society, yet in largely unanticipated ways. Visions, imaginaries, speculations have replaced planning, prevention, calculation. Risk taking is allegedly supplanted by reaction to unpredictable contingencies. Ecological restraint is challenged by a brave new world of ‘geoengineering’ and ‘converging technologies’ – or the plain request to adapt to inevitable socio-environmental changes. Cultural constructionism is superseded by a reconsideration of materiality. Actor-networks, ‘speculative realisms’, feminist post-humanisms, consumption practices, accumulation processes, energy strategies, technoscience advancements: new ontologies emerge everywhere, according to which matter is anything but stable or passive, being infused with agency, liveliness, recalcitrance, even indifference to human affairs. Yet these ontologies advocate diverging programs or claims: ‘improved’ or decentered humanities, emancipatory opportunities or expanded powers of control, downshifted ecological footprints or projects of imperial domination. This ambivalence calls for a thorough exploration, theoretical and empirical, with special reference to the interconnections between ontological positions and political implications in a world of growing inequalities. 
TG04	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s7	Open Session 	 // Open Session Session Organizer Adam BURGESS, University of Kent, United Kingdom,   Session in English The sociology of risk and uncertainty is a growing area of research. With this open session we would like to give papers a chance to be presented which address issues not covered in the other sessions. The only requirement necessary for papers submitted to this session is their clear positioning in the conceptual framework of risk, uncertainty and ignorance. 
TG04	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s8	Researching Risk. Methodologies and Methods	 // Researching Risk. Methodologies and Methods Session Organizer Jens ZINN, University of Melbourne, Australia,   Session in English Risk, uncertainty and ignorance have become key issues in societal debates. A growing amount of research addresses such topics and refers to mainstream approaches such as the risk society, governmentality and a cultural approach to give research a conceptual foundation. However, the underlying methodological implications and how specific methods are used and combined when one is doing risk research has been less addressed. This session invites papers which consider methodological aspects and discuss issues related to the use of specific methods and methodologies when researching risk, uncertainty and ignorance. 
TG04	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s9	Risk and Social Inequality and Social Inclusion/Exclusion	 // Risk and Social Inequality and Social Inclusion/Exclusion Session Organizer Andreas CEBULLA, Flinders University Adelaide of South Australia,   Session in English Beck’s thesis on the risk society stated a change in societal reproduction mode from a society mainly driven by class differences to a society mainly driven by risk. Even though this assumption was continuously criticized there is still a lack of newer studies of the reproduction of social inequalities in the risk society and how risk and inequalities interact, whether they mutually amplify or weaken inequalities. The recent shift from discourses on inequality and poverty towards social exclusion and inclusion indicates a conceptual shift in the societal management of social inequalities. At the same time there is an increasing awareness that social inequalities in the world risk society are increasingly linked to environmental changes; while the global financial crisis has highlighted the connectedness between corporate and household risk behaviours and management, and their socially inequitable effects. This session invites papers which address new forms of social inequality in the world risk society. 
TG04	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s10	Risk and the Media 	 // Risk and the Media Session Organizer Renata MOTTA, Free University Berlin, Germany,   Session in English The media are a key institution in the communication and understanding of risk in present day societies. There are a number of attempts to understand risk discourses and media coverage from the ‘social amplification of risk’ approach to cultural media studies. We welcome papers in either tradition which contribute new empirical insights as well as papers which try to advance theorizing e.g. by cross disciplinary approaches to risk, discourse and the media. 
TG04	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s11	Risk and the Transformation of the Political: Social Movements, Subpolitics, Political Consumers	 // Risk and the Transformation of the Political: Social Movements, Subpolitics, Political Consumers Session Organizer Jens ZINN, University of Melbourne, Australia,   Session in English Risk society theorists such as Beck and Giddens assume a transformation of the political in recent decades. From the ‘coalition of anxiety’ as a new form of social movement to political consumers and subpolitics a number of concepts have been used to describe these changes of the political in late or reflexive modernisation. This session invites theoretical and empirical papers on the transformation of the political. They may refer to one or more of the above mentioned concepts or introduce new concepts which characterise the transformation of the political in societies concerned about risk. 
TG04	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s12	Risk and Uncertainty Relating to Family: Implications on Family Policy in Asia 	 // Risk and Uncertainty Relating to Family: Implications on Family Policy in Asia Session Organizer Raymond CHAN, City University Hong Kong, China,   Session in English This panel will address the various risks and uncertainties encountered in Asian societies relating to family, in order to provide new insights to inform family policy development in various Asian societies. In recent years, social policy in modern industrialized societies has been challenged by new social risks: developments such as increasingly volatile labor markets, the growing participation of women in the labor market, changing gender concepts and relationship, and longer human life-expectancy. While social indicators of Asian countries are improving, there are increasing concerns about various problems (poverty, inequality, insecure employment, etc.) pressuring family while people are expressing a heightened sense of risk and uncertainty. Demands on the government as well as on individuals are there to adopt strategies to tackle the risks and uncertainties. Papers related to family risks, family changes, and family policies concerning Asian societies are welcomed. 
TG04	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s13	Risk Governance and Regulation 	 // Risk Governance and Regulation Session Organizer Jens ZINN, University of Melbourne, Australia,   Session in English The emergence of the risk approach to managing uncertainty and the implications for governance and regulation across public and private sectors and personal life have been extensively analysed. This section invites papers which draw on these themes, and those which consider current developments, including but not limited to: Risk and New Forms of Governance (network, hybrid, etc.) New Public Policies and Risk Risk and knowledge generation 
TG04	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s14	Risk in a Life Course Perspective 	 // Risk in a Life Course Perspective Session Organizer Dan WOODMAN, University of Melbourne, Australia,   Session in English The life course is being reshaped in many parts of the world. People are staying longer in education, marrying and having children later, working to later in life and living longer. They are also more likely to be mobile, have mixed socio-cultural roots or live cross-national lives. The responsibility for managing the new and old risks and uncertainties are arguably being shifted on to individuals and families while social institutions appear to struggle to keep up with changes on a national and global level. In this context, the notion of emerging new biographical risks and how to avoid or manage them is central to current sociological work on identity and the structure of contemporary society. This session will showcase research investigating how new divisions and uncertainties, and a discourse focused on risk and risk management, are reshaping the biography and the life course. Papers are called for that use sociological theories of risk and social change to discuss life course and/or biography. Papers drawing on empirical research are welcome, as are papers making primarily a conceptual or theoretical contribution to sociology and social policy. 
TG04	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s15	TG04 Business Meeting	 // TG04 Business Meeting Session Organizer Jens ZINN, University of Melbourne, Australia,   
TG04	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s16	Theorizing Risk and Uncertainty 	 // Theorizing Risk and Uncertainty Session Organizer Adam BURGESS, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom,   Session in English Risk has become a common issue in everyday life and expert debate while some scholars have already started questioning the usefulness of the concept for describing recent societal developments. This session invites papers which aim to advance conceptual work on risk, uncertainty and related concepts such as social resilience or sustainable decision-making. The session will also discuss recent developments in risk theorizing in more general terms regarding the limits of common approaches and further contributions to advance theorizing. 
TG04	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s17	Transparent Subjects: Risk, Surveillance and the Citizen 	 // Transparent Subjects: Risk, Surveillance and the Citizen Session Organizer Peter ROGERS, Macquarie University, Australia,   Session in English How do the frameworks of risk, uncertainty and surveillance come together? This panel will draw on common themes in the sociology of risk and uncertainty with the growing field of surveillance studies to tease out research links and forge new research agendas. various social effects and impacts resulting from the general suffusion and naturalisation of data capturing technologies into everyday life. Such systems of surveillance routinely expose, illuminate and circulate in every finer detail previously hidden aspects of social relations. These may include: a subject`s daily rituals consumption preferences occupational and leisure activities health condition affective feeling-states ocation and movement genetic code friendship networks sexual conduct behavioural transgressions The processes of information gathering and communication are stimulated and legitimized by organisational demands for an intensified depth and scope of information to better manage services and improve both profitability of diverse economic and industrial endeavours but also the orderly flow of commercial capitalism in everyday life. This runs alongside and is permeated with increased cultural demands for authentic entertainment and pleasurable performance of the everyday by subjects, as both providers and consumers of information. By sharpening the focus of research through a series of case studies that unpack these problematics we are able to offer insight into how these information gathering and communication practices inform, affect and transform everyday life, often creating hidden assemblages of bio-political outcomes rendering visible the links between risk, uncertainty and surveillance. 
TG04	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG04#s18	Voluntary Risk Taking and Edgework 	 // Voluntary Risk Taking and Edgework Session Organizer Jens ZINN, University of Melbourne, Australia,   Session in English Late modern risks and uncertainties are often seen as generating an expanding sense of ontological insecurity and widespread anomic anxiety, consequently dominant theories of risk have devoted little attention to the increasing numbers of people who positively evaluate risk and view voluntary risk taking as a means to achieve creative expression, transcendence, transgression, and self-understanding. Evidence of expanding participation in volitional risk taking in late modern society has given rise to a line of empirical and theoretical study focused on the concept of “edgework,” a research stream that incorporates a wide range of disciplines extending from criminology and sports studies to economics and aesthetics. This session will explore voluntary risk taking, theorized in terms of “edgework” (Lyng), “action” (Goffman), “hyper-rational gaming” (Abolafia), and other conceptual frameworks, to achieve a better understanding of the connection between risk taking and reflexivity in the late modern context. The primary goal of this session will be to expand the empirical and theoretical boundaries of research on volitional risk taking activities by connecting these practices to the social conditions of late modernity. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Institutional Ethnography, TG06
TG06	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s1	Confronting Inequality by Explicating the Ruling Relations of Management	 // Confronting Inequality by Explicating the Ruling Relations of Management Session Organizer Cheryl ZURAWSKI, University of Regina, Canada,   Session in English This session invites submissions from institutional ethnographers whose research explores how conditions of inequality come to be for people whose everyday lives are shaped and determined by the ruling relations of management. People who hold jobs as managers, people whose on-the-job activities are managed and people who are to be the beneficiaries of the work that managers and the managed do are all implicated as participants in these relations of ruling. As the relations of ruling of management are continually revised and extended in contemporary society, the potential for conditions of inequality to be perpetuated is great. This is where critical, politically-oriented and social justice-minded scholars who use institutional ethnography make an important contribution by producing knowledge as a resource for people to confront and work to eliminate conditions of inequality in their everyday lives. Institutional ethnographers whose studies map or trace the way in which the relations of ruling of management are becoming more comprehensive and complex so as to perpetuate the conditions of equality in the everyday lives of the people are among those likely to be attracted to this session. 
TG06	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s2	Educational Accountability Practices in Systems, Educational Institutions and Homes	 // Educational Accountability Practices in Systems, Educational Institutions and Homes Session Organizer Barbara COMBER, Queensland University of Technology, Australia,   Session in English Educational work in systems, educational institutions and homes is changing with the continuing onslaught of new requirements to account for performance. Across the many sites where educational work is done the impacts are being experienced by educational professionals (including policy-makers, teacher educators, academics, educational researchers, educational consultants, school and systems leaders, teachers and tutors). Such practices are being transferred into the very ways in which students experiences their learning lives (in and out of educational institutions) and also into the ways in which family members are expected to offer support and supervision. Accountability regimes redefine what constitutes educational ‘success’ at every level. This session invites papers which report on studies of the actual practices which are regulated, coordinated and organised in the context of educational reform agendas concerned with standardisation and accountability. 
TG06	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s3	Interdisciplinary Applications of Institutional Ethnography	 // Interdisciplinary Applications of Institutional Ethnography Session Organizer Lois ANDRE-BECHELY, California State University, USA,   Session in English This session seeks papers related to Institutional Ethnographic research that emanates from a variety of disciplines. Specifically, papers selected for this session will be based on research that reveals the workings of ruling relations in contemporary society. The session is designed to bridge disciplines related to institutional ethnography by bringing together work that illustrates the ways in which differing disciplines approach the core question, “how does it happen?”, that institutional ethnographers bring to their research. 
TG06	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s4	Issues and Developments in Institutional Ethnography	 // Issues and Developments in Institutional Ethnography Session Organizer Alison GRIFFITH, York University, Canada,   Session in English Institutional Ethnography is the focus of this session. IE claims an ontological ground that appears to have strong similarities with other sociologies (for example, public sociology, social constructionism, ANT, extended case studies, grounded theory, narrative analysis). Papers are invited that examine the social ontology of IE in relation to other sociologies in terms of theoretical development, practical application, and other issues such as research strategies or knowledge dissemination. Papers should take a didactic approach to draw out the ways that IE shares its ontological ground with other explorations of the social world, as well as identifying the points of separation that distinguish IE from similar sociological frames. Papers that use research data to illustrate conceptual similarities and differences as well as those that take a more philosophical approach are welcome. 
TG06	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s5	Locating Institutional Sites of Change: Social Intervention in Times of Crisis and Welfare Restructuring	 // Locating Institutional Sites of Change: Social Intervention in Times of Crisis and Welfare Restructuring Session Organizers Naomi NICHOLS, York University, Canada,   Isabella PAOLETTI, New University of Lisboa, Portugal,   Session in English Availability and access to social care is a relevant aspect in the fight against poverty and social exclusion. In Western Countries welfare systems have been progressively restructured, moving increasingly towards a market economy in the provision of social care. The present economic crisis has implied significant cuts in public provision of social care in many countries, aggravating considerably the material condition of vulnerable people. Institutional Ethnography can effectively inform community development and social change work, showing the specific institutional practices, which systemically disadvantage particular groups of people and what kinds of institutional changes will be effective and how to arrive at them. An investigation that begins with participants’ experiential knowledge lends itself to an emergent, community-driven, social-justice oriented research agenda. This session invites papers that explore IE’ s potential for locating institutional sites of change, as well as the strategic use of IE in community or public service settings. This panel aims to discuss theoretical perspectives on social intervention at the policy level and empirical studies that document and critically discuss social intervention practices. 
TG06	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s6	TG06 Business Meeting	 // TG06 Business Meeting This business meeting is open to all members of Thematic Group 06 as well as ISA members interested in Institutional Ethnography. The Business Meeting will include a discussion of the election process for 2014-18 as well as an information session on IE news and publications. 
TG06	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s7	The Institutional Challenges of the Legal Frameworks in the Contemporary World	 // The Institutional Challenges of the Legal Frameworks in the Contemporary World Session Organizer Laura FERRENO, Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda, Argentina,   Session in English The minorities were historically exiled from the democratic system. The institutions reifies the social gap because it reproduces the socio-economic differences in the territory were located. The daily struggle of the vulnerable groups for survive makes invisible the inequity of opportunities to access education and jobs. This problem becomes an obstruction for the possibility of social improvement, reinforcing and reproducing the social discrimination conditions. In some countries in the 20th century this problem has been reversed with specific policies for these groups. We invite institutional ethnography papers that examine practices that exclude or severely limit people from participation in specific areas of social life. While we are especially interested in institutional ethnography studies of obstacles to higher education, studies dealing with a variety of other issues will be welcome in this session: lack of access to education, limitations in health care provision obstacles to adequate employment and wages, boundaries in the admission at publics jobs, restrictions on expressions of sexuality, insufficient access to food and shelter, among others. The focus should be on the ruling relations (how it is that people are regulated, subordinated, and deprived) and the consequences for people in the everyday world (their daily struggles and suffering). 
TG06	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s8	The Language of Research as Problematic: Réaliser une ethnographie institutionnelle en contexte coordonné par la culture anglo-saxonne / Doing Institutional Ethnography beyond the Ruling of the English-speaking Culture	 // The Language of Research as Problematic: Réaliser une ethnographie institutionnelle en contexte coordonné par la culture anglo-saxonne / Doing Institutional Ethnography beyond the Ruling of the English-speaking Culture Session Organizer Sophie POMERLEAU, Université McGill, Canada,   Session in English/French Le but de cette session bilingue est d’explorer les différents défis (tensions) relatifs à la réalisation d’ethnographies institutionnelles (EI) dans des contextes (langues et cultures) autres que ceux de la culture anglo-saxonne dominante en recherche. Cette session vise à inclure toute présentation qui offre une réflexion portant sur les défis rencontrés par : 1) les personnes d’expression autre qu’anglaise lors de la conduite d’EI; et 2) les personnes d’expression anglaise lors de la réalisation d’EI dans des cultures autres qu’anglo-saxonnes. De plus, les réflexions relatives à la portée universelle de l’EI sont aussi bienvenues. The aim of this bilingual session is to explore tensions associated with the conduct of Institutional Ethnographies (IE) in contexts (language and culture) others than the dominant occidental English-speaking research culture. This session seeks papers that offer insights into tensions encountered by: 1) people speaking other language than English while conducting IE; and 2) people of English language while conducting IE in non-English contexts. Also, reflections regarding the universal application of IE are welcomed. 
TG06	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s9	The Social Organization of Gendered Violence: Contemporary Perspectives, Global Responses	 // The Social Organization of Gendered Violence: Contemporary Perspectives, Global Responses Session Organizer Alison FISHER, York University, Canada,   Session in English This session invites participants to explore ideological and institutional responses to gendered violence. Papers will examine how institutional policies and procedures organize and coordinate responses to violent incidents that are sexist, homophobic and/or trans-phobic. Papers should engage with ideas developed in Dorothy Smith’s (1987; 1990; 2005) work including her exploration of relations and apparatuses of ruling which use particular ideological practices, manifested through textually mediated discourses, to construct objectified knowledges. Papers may also focus on how social actors within institutional settings re-construct, organize and coordinate textually mediated discourses of gender-based violence. Using Smith’s notion of ‘standpoint’ (1987; 2001) as a reference, participants may also wish to investigate how such discourses transform and/or (re)construct subjective experience ‘on the ground’. Papers could explore a range of institutional settings, including but not limited to, schools, health care institutions, non-profit organizations, governments, unions, military and or policing agencies. This session encourages papers that engage institutional responses to gendered violence from a variety of cultural contexts. 
TG06	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG06#s10	When Western IE meets Eastern Culture of Care	 // When Western IE meets Eastern Culture of Care Session Organizer Frank T.Y. WANG, National Chengchi University, Taiwan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Institutional Ethnography, a unique sociological method of inquiry which aims to explore social relations from the experiences of everyday lives, provides an approach to link the micro experiences with the macro institutional arrangements. The inclusion of daily experiences and the linkage of everyday experience and institutional analysis in IE have been a source of inspiration for critical scholars in Taiwan. In this panel, we focus on the social organization of care. Five IE researchers will present their critical analysis to illustrate how care in different domains, such as child care for indigenous peoples, care for disabled students, care for victims of domestic violence, home care by live-in migrant workers, and institutional care, is organized in a way to reinforce relations of inequality. Senior IE researcher, Marjorie DeVault, will be the discussant for the session. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Senses and Society, TG07
TG07	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG07#s1	Deviance and the Senses in the City	 // Deviance and the Senses in the City Session Organizer Alexandre MARCHANT, Université Paris X Nanterre, France,   Session in English Deviance, in the urban environment as anywhere else, is defined by a transgression of a collective norm and identified through a denunciation discourse held by some “moral entrepreneurs” (Becker, 1963) pointing out this so-called deviation. Beyond the objective facts, always arises the question of representations and narratives, being not uniquely related to legal, social or cultural frames, but admitting also a sensorial and/or emotional dimension. Moral critics or condemnations can indeed be expressed through sensorial categories: for instance, Corbin (1986) showed how, in the French 19th century, the bourgeoise fear of popular districts had been crystallized on smells (the stink of the unhygienic poor); or recently one of the aspects of the US criminologist theory of the “broken window” (Kelling, Wilson, 1982) is to pretend that the visual perception of a degraded environment could be seen as an encouragement for more vandalism and contribute to the development of both insecurity and criminality. Besides, perception and denunciation of deviance can also use the register of emotion: latent fear, reject motivated by hate, irrational disgust... Defining deviance, not only as a social object, but as a sensorial and emotional one, the panel will deal with the following issues: how deviance can be perceived by public through the language of emotions and senses ? How the latter can inversely express the transgression from the side of those who commit it (e.g., visual markers, on the urban landscape, of gang territories), or be the basis of a specific identity for a particular district ? How the “moral entrepreneurs” use in their discourses, rationally or irrationally, the vocabulary of emotions to define the so-called “vice”? How these agents inscribe their action in kind of a sensorial battle aiming to ban harsh sensations (the seediness of a landscape) and to produce moderated soundscapes, smellscapes and visual scenes purged of any nuisance ? Finally, what is the role of senses and emotions in the definition and enforcement of urban policies for sanitizing the stigmatized places ? Panel will include papers dealing with these specific types of deviance : drug scenes, legal or illegal “red light districts” (prostitution zones), high-crime areas, but any other suggestion will be taken into account. There is no restriction of periods or geographical frames. Papers should address the field of sociology, history, anthropology or even any interdisciplinary perspective in social sciences. Abstracts of no more than 500 words are invited. 
TG07	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG07#s2	Love as a Sensible Bond: Towards a Global Observation	 // Love as a Sensible Bond: Towards a Global Observation Session Organizer Adriana GARCIA, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico,   Session in English In the last twenty years the number of scientific articles and books on the subject of love has increased exponentially, not only in Sociology but also in other Social Sciences. The expansion has been global, suggesting that this interest reflects not only a scientific shift but also a social-global concern on such matters. The increase on the number of recent studies has called for taking love not only as a scientific object but even more as an interdisciplinary field of study (Jónasdóttir). Even though love is a complex neuro-bio-social phenomenon which requires interdisciplinary intervention, it can be approached from a distinct sociological perspective. That is, sociologists accept the biological foundations of love (of the human being as a species), but their main interest has been to observe it as: a social discourse which constricts and allows people to express their love to others a process produced by interaction and which produces also social bonding – efervescence – a personal experience which can be expressed in words and is embodied (is felt in the body) What these analyses share is that love is culturally and historically diverse in its discourses and experiences, in how it is felt and enacted. Therefore, the session aims to explore the different ways love is experienced/felt, and performed/enacted and its relation to a specific region or regions. The overall objective is to present overarching theoretical elements for a global analysis of love as a social and sensory phenomenon – eg. its implications for social bonding, sexual restrain or liberation, nationalism and hatred. Papers for this session should therefore address one or more of the following questions: What are the differences of love in the diverse geographical regions? That is, what is the impact of the differential economic, technologic and scientific development between regions in the experience and enactment of love? How does the globalization of technology (e.g. internet, chat, skype) has influenced a similar construction of love practices and rituals all around the world? And how these new technologies create a different love-sensibility. Which new forms of love or loving experience have emerged in the recent years, how do they relate to traditional forms of love and how are they practiced and experienced in relation with race, class, gender (e.g. Polyamory, Confluent Love vs romantic love)? How love relates to the senses and how these are socially constructed as dispositions which affect our relation to others. How love and love power could have an impact in egalitarian relations and the construction of a different society? Papers discussing mixed-methods-designs to inquire about love and the senses; and papers presenting specific forms of love rituals, love bonding, relations between marriage and love are both equally welcome. 
TG07	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG07#s3	Making Sense of Place	 // Making Sense of Place Session Organizer Phillip VANNINI, Royal Roads University, Canada,   Session in English Place is a type of situated affect or feeling, a mode of active, sensory engagement,” a way of being in touch with space. Making sense of place is the shaping of how we dwell in space, of how we become socialized to understand and appreciate its sounds, sights, textures, flavors, and scents. Making sense of place is how our orientations to movement, rest, and encounter, allow us to sense the speeds and rhythms of where we are. Thus place is the sum total of the sensations space gives rise to, the cumulative incorporation of those feelings carved into soils, skies, and shores, and the embodiment of its affective spaces on its dwellers. We invite contributions to this session that help us make sense of how we apprehend and build places through all of our senses, in different worldly spaces and at different historical and present times. 
TG07	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG07#s4	Performing Arts and the Senses 	 // Performing Arts and the Senses Session Organizer Florence FIGOLS, Concordia University, Canada,   Session in English Artistic practices are related to specific sensory codes, norms and values shaped by history, nature/culture and the socio-political milieu. They enhance multi-sensorial experiences that promote social bonding as much as differences among social class. How do the performing and visual arts, by sharing sensory experiences, overcome or reinforce social inequalities? What are the sensorial implications and alterations in the division between fine and popular arts, experimental or traditional practices, arts in the city or in rural settings, doing it or looking at it? How does art, through the engagement of the senses and participative practices, blurs social boundaries fostering integration and empowerment? Through which sensorial processes are cultural knowledge and aesthetic experiences transmitted? How are these practices communicated from one generation to the next ? How do aesthetic transgressions disturb the sensorial expectations and, consequently, the social order? Are ‘sensory alterations’ perceived as actions to generate social change or as a violation of the tradition? Migration and technology contribute to the global circulation of traditional, popular and fine arts. Does cultural globalization enhance or hinder sensorial diversity and social equality? Does it contribute to the richness of the sensorial life, cross-feeding art propositions and experiencing other cultures, or does it contribute to the disappearance of the sensorial uniqueness of a traditional art practice? How are perception and “sense-scape” modified or recreated through the reproduction, dissemination and re-localising of artistic forms? Papers on music, dance, drama, visual and interdisciplinary art forms from western, non-western, traditional or popular culture are welcome including intercultural collaboration, art activism, site-specific, installations, rituals, sacred art, eco-art and any other marginalized practices. 
TG07	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG07#s5	TG07 Business Meeting	 // TG07 Business Meeting 
TG07	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/tg/tg.php?n=TG07#s6	Urban Food Cultures	 // Urban Food Cultures Session Organizer Emma FELTON, Queensland University of Technology, Australia,   Session in English Everyday urban experience for many is increasingly virtual and digital, mediated by internet communication technologies across the spheres of work and leisure. In what may be considered one of the counterweights to the digitization of quotidian life, is the hyper-development of food cultures, offering actors sensory, varied and de-territorialized gastronomic experiences with cafes and restaurants playing a central role in the distinction of cities. The intersection of food and the senses allows us to explore the boundaries of inside and outside, private and public, individual and collective. Food is also a key component of ritual, typically understood as stimulating sensory experience and related to social values. The production and consumption of food carries cultural meaning (Levi-Strauss) and has social, economic and gender implications. This session calls for papers that interrogate the role of food and food cultures in the urban context and may encompass themes such as: food as a sensory and social phenomenon, the de-territorialization of food cultures, urban food practices, urban food farms and sustainability, street food in the global south, globalization of food and its implications, the public gourmand, taste distinctions, the ascendency of café culture, food rituals such as food exchange and sharing, national food practices and their gender, economic and social implications. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution, RC01
RC01	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s1	Conflict Resolution in the 21st Century	 // Conflict Resolution in the 21st Century Session Organizer Vladimir RUKAVISHNIKOV, Russia,   Session in English Conflicts and wars are not totally excluded in the 21st century because mankind is changing. There are no visible signs of real concerns of the main actors about the global security despite the “Arab spring”. There is a dominant view that ‘the world today is becoming remarkably secure, and the UN needs a policy that reflects that reality’. Is it a true reflection of the coming global reality? The diminishing number of conflicts and the reduction of violence contradict to the tendency of dipping of available mineral, power and food resources and to permanent growing of the existing human population, especially in Africa; to directions of numerous migration flows, at least in part, and, finally, to the geopolitical and economic reality. Who could imagine a mankind of 9 or 11 billion humans in 2050? Can we predict future conflicts and wars? In many cases the steady economic rise is transforming countries and countries’ environment, and, finally, relations with global actors. However the present behavior of the main actors more looks like it was in the previous century, yet there are numerous rumors about the inevitable growth of competitiveness between old industrialized states (powers) and newly rising global actors like China. Of course, the human mentality is gradually transforming, but it is a very slowly process, - at least as we consider real changes occurred through the first one and a half of decade of the 21st century, - despite climate changes and other so-called ‘global threats and challenges’ of the running century. There are many interpretations of the observed changes. Thus, there are a lot of issues to debate. They include projections of the coming future versus geopolitical fantasies; the roles and missions of the armed forces, which are also changing, but the direction of changes is not clear in too many cases; how will the present-day armed forces fit the demands of the changing own societies, and serve the international missions of conflict resolution as well; the nature of intra-state conflicts and asymmetric wars and visions of the future, etc. 
RC01	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s2	Conflicts, Routinized Violence, Human Rights, Peace	 // Conflicts, Routinized Violence, Human Rights, Peace Session Organizer Bandana PURKAYASTHA, University of Connecticut,   Session in English This session will showcase current knowledge about multiple ways in which peace is built and sustained around the world. Much of contemporary claims for peace are based on corresponding understanding of conditions of life that enable people to build lives of human dignity, free from most conflicts, violence, and the deprivations these generate. The proposed session will feature papers that discuss activism, non governmental organization, or government efforts at building and sustaining peace. Papers can emphasize any aspect of the relationship between conflict, violence and peace, the structure of peace with human rights, or the claims and efforts to build peace. 
RC01	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s3	Cross-Border (De)Securitarization	 // Cross-Border (De)Securitarization Session Organizer Christian LEUPRECHT, Royal Military College, Canada,   Session in English Since 9/11 central governments have shown a trend towards securitarizing their land borders. This has had a deleterious effect on local communities straddling the border that have been economically, culturally, socially and politically co-dependent for decades. Different communities have counteracted these top-down effects of securitarization in different ways, and some have been more effective than others. This session examines cross-border leadership, organizational capacity and economic cost in cross-border communities across North America, Europe and Asia. The discussion is meant to enhance our understanding of how communities react to top-down policy changes and make it possible for social scientists to grasp how the construction of referents in security discourse affects collective efficacy at the local level. 
RC01	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s4	Dealing with the Challenges: Facing the Demands of Military Life on Families in the 21st Century	 // Dealing with the Challenges: Facing the Demands of Military Life on Families in the 21st Century Session Organizer Donabelle C. HESS, USA,   Session in English The impetus of this panel is to discuss and present papers dedicated to the research of military families in the 21st century. Papers can focus on a wide-array of familial themes from distant parenting to children’s psychosocial well-being, from couplehood to parenthood. Topics can also cover issues that are unique to military families, such as effects of deployment – frequency, duration, and locality – on children, at-home caregivers, and/or active-duty members. The goal is to entertain research based on the demands of military life in the 21st century and how military families are coping and dealing with those challenges. This panel welcomes papers from a multi-disciplinary approach, but most importantly through sociological lens. 
RC01	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s5	Death in the Military: Towards a New Paradigm?	 // Death in the Military: Towards a New Paradigm? Session Organizer Irène EULRIET, France,   Session in English Corvisier reckons that death became a central feature of state military strategy in the 18th century. Historians have now largely documented the rituals that were linked to military death, paying a special attention to the mass killings of the two world wars. Sociologists have not shown the same level of interest or scholarship on death in new wars and military sociologists` contributions on the issue have so far remained scattered. This session would like to bring together recent research on death in 21st century military. It would like to map out the discourses and practices that are current in a military context in which giving death is not a key objective anymore of military organizations (in the West at least). Papers are invited on the changing character of public rituals and social representations of death in the military. Examining various social and political contexts, this session aims at identifying emerging tendencies and significant differences across Western public cultures. To lead such an exploration seems particularly important and timely in the year of the First World War centenary commemoration. 
RC01	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s6	Harnessing 21st Century Skills for National Defence and Security	 // Harnessing 21st Century Skills for National Defence and Security Session Organizer Christian LEUPRECHT, Royal Military College, Canada,   Session in English This session will offer an integrative, multi-disciplinary assessment of the characteristics of the current youth (post-Millennial) cohort and, in particular, the impact of the next generation of ‘smart’ open information technologies. With a focus on identifying and defining new 21st century skills and linking these with evolutions in defense missions, this session will provide a multi-disciplinary contextual mapping of the unique competencies, values, identities and worldviews the next youth cohort may bring to the workplace; discuss prototype new assessment measures; and, provide early indicators of potential changes needed in key defense HR functions including attraction, selection, careers, professional development, retention, socialization, leadership, workplace practices and restructuring work or teams. 
RC01	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s7	How Do the Cultural Integrating Mechanisms Cultivate Effectiveness of Collaboration and Negotiation in Peace Operations?	 // How Do the Cultural Integrating Mechanisms Cultivate Effectiveness of Collaboration and Negotiation in Peace Operations? Session Organizers Unsal SIGRI, Turkey,   A. Kadir VAROGLU, Baskent University, Turkey,   Session in English The nature of the organizational work is changing with the help of globalization, technological developments, complexity and today’s sophisticated social and political problems. To remain competitive and to gain an advantage of these developments, some new “Multinational Collaborative Work Arrangements” are being established both in civilian and military multicultural working environments. These working environments are also in place for multicultural military environments such as Peace Operations of today’s military. The militaries of different countries, which are different from each other in language, norm, working style and culture, has been working together as peacekeepers as a result of advancement in world stability. In the changing world, increasing interaction between diversified people has been increasing and actually the richness of people – the cultural diversities – can be seen as an obstacle as well. In fact if the cultural diversities are being managed well, organization can use advantages of this situation. Therefore, cross-cultural diversification issues became a focus of interest and objects of studies. In these multinational military working environments, the importance of interdependent work is much more important. While interdependent work-units are trying to capitalize on the multicultural characteristics of the work, there unfolds some problems stemmed from different cultural identities and diverse cultural orientations just because members of the group behave in accordance with their cultural orientations and influences. In this case, the concepts “collaboration” and “negotiation” have become much more vital to manage the intercultural process effectively and to prevent some misunderstandings. The session invites papers relating to the following questions: How are diverse military groups in a PO united under one umbrella to achieve a common goal with a group identity formation for a better group cohesion. What are the differences in definitions of negotiation and collaboration across different cultures? What are the challenges in POs - multicultural military environments - and how to establish cultural integrating mechanisms/strategies to overcome these challenges to manage conflicts effectively? How to create a “third-hybrid culture” (a common culture of collaboration & negotiation) in POs? What are the impact of leadership and the role of “trust” in creating a third-hybrid culture in POs? 
RC01	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s8	International Humanitarian Intervention and State-Building	 // International Humanitarian Intervention and State-Building Session Organizer Abu Bakarr BAH, Northern Illinois University, USA,   Session in English The post-Cold War era has been plagued by numerous violent conflicts often referred to as new wars. New wars have occurred in countries such as former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. These wars have attracted significant international attention, especially from regional and Western powers. In additional to the global and regional security issues, new wars have raised serious concerns about human security, human rights, democracy, and human development. There is a growing shift that links new wars to human development in what is now called the security-development nexus. The international response to new wars varies from orthodox humanitarian intervention to new humanitarianism. The international response to new wars often include efforts to end the conflicts through peacekeeping and peace mediation to postwar reconstruction programs aimed to address the root causes of new wars and promote democracy and human development. This kind of intervention raises fundamental questions about the role of military and civilian humanitarian efforts to address the social inequalities that lead to civil wars. Global sociology needs to address some of these pressing questions. These questions include: what is the role of militaries in state-building? What is the role of NGOs in war-torn countries? What are the impacts of humanitarian intervention on human development? How can domestic ownership of state-building be maintained? What are the impacts of new humanitarianism? These kinds of questions can be addressed in a panel consisting of 4 to 5 papers. Ideally, the papers should inform both the theoretical and methodological issues in the study of conflict and international development and also provide rich cases studies, especially from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Such papers will add critical angle to the general interest on inequality at the global level. New wars are not only born out of pathological inequalities, but they also breed new dimensions of inequality. 
RC01	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s9	Issues of Ex-Servicemen: Global Concerns	 // Issues of Ex-Servicemen: Global Concerns Session Organizer Leena PARMAR, University of Rajasthan, India,   Session in English We owe a great debt to our soldiers who have spent prime of their lives protecting the boundaries and maintaining peace in the country. They are the most valuable human resources that the country can make use of. This is a particular category and they need special treatment by the army, society and the state. The proposed session will focus on the problems of ex-servicemen with an international perspective. It will be interesting to study and understand the various problems of ex-servicemen from different countries of the world. Their problems relate to stress, alcohol misuse, depression, unemployment, mental illness, family disorientation, adjustment problems and many more. Their problems are very different than other retired persons due to early retirement, special training, disciplined life and a secular outlook. They have necessary skill, dedication, capacity to work hard and commitment to achieve results. The youth who wants to join the army weigh the options keeping in mind the welfare measures Army takes for the retired employees, and stressed on the fact that these ex-servicemen are integral part of the army. It is therefore as a social scientist, our moral responsibility to give top priority to the issues and welfare of this section of the population. At a later stage this session can come out with a book on understanding soldiers from different parts of the world. 
RC01	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s10	Methodological Challenges in the Study of the Military	 // Methodological Challenges in the Study of the Military Session Organizers Helena CARREIRAS, ISCTE, Portugal,   Celso CASTRO Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Brasil Session in English This panel invites papers which reflect on methodological aspects of social scientific research on the military or in military contexts. Its main aim is to discuss a variety of methodological problems related to both the specificity of this particular field of study and commonalties with other fields. The panel should bring together researchers who use distinct methodological strategies and tools, including extensive-quantitative, intensive-qualitative or comparative approaches, to address topics such as research designs, theoretical frames and empirical testing, conceptual stretching, gaining access; ethics of field research; data validity and reliability, case-selection, the researchers’ social characteristics and its effect on the research dynamics, impact of institutional settings on research, dissemination of results, etc. (…). Papers based on concrete research experiences are particularly welcome. 
RC01	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s11	RC01 Business Meeting 	 // RC01 Business Meeting 
RC01	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s12	Recruitment and Retention of Minorities in the Armed Forces	 // Recruitment and Retention of Minorities in the Armed Forces Session Organizer Tibor Szvircsev TRESCH, Switzerland,   Session in English As compulsory military service was abolished in Belgium in 1993 and the Netherlands in 1996 the aspect of voluntary service in Europe was increasingly recognized. Through this European armed forces have faced new challenges in the field of recruitment and retention. Especially the recruitment of minorities is a challenge for the all-volunteer forces. The session focuses on the integration of minority groups in the military. For the session the following questions are important: How successful is the recruitment of military personnel with migration background in the armed forces? Are minorities in the armed forces accepted and are they integrated in the organization? How successful is the retention of military personnel with migration background? The session is open for all interested researchers. 
RC01	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s13	The 3.11 East-Japan Great Earthquake and Fukushima: Lessons Learned from International Disaster Relief Operations	 // The 3.11 East-Japan Great Earthquake and Fukushima: Lessons Learned from International Disaster Relief Operations Session Organizer Hitoshi KAWANO, National Defense Academy, Japan,   Session in English The East-Japan Great Earthquake in March 11, 2011, subsequent waves of tsunami, and the nuclear power plant disaster in Fukushima, resulted in the largest-ever domestic disaster relief operation in the JSDF history, mobilizing more than 100,000 personnel at its peak. The Joint-Task Force involved Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces. In addition, many countries sent their military forces or aid teams to assist the disaster relief operations in Japan. In particular, the United States provided a major support by launching the “Operation TOMODACHI” that involved more than 20,000 troops. It was the first major joint operation by JSDF and the US military. Other foreign militaries include Australia (Air Force, C-17), Korea (Air Force, C-130), Thailand (Air Force, C-130), and Israel (Medical Team). Since it was a major national emergency, and the first large-scale SDF operation in cooperation with other military and civil organizations, there were numerous challenging issues involving errors, misunderstanding, miscommunication or lack of communication, ineffective coordination, and other shortcomings in terms of international cooperation. The session aims to review the social processes of the international disaster relief operations by military organizations, and offer lessons learned from the tragic disaster for future disaster relief operations involving a nuclear plant disaster. The session invites any papers dealing with the issues listed below: The Operation TOMODACHI by the US armed forces, and the lessons learned from the international disaster relief operation. The international disaster relief/rescue/medical aid operations by other countries’ armed forces/military personnel. Cooperation/coordination between Japan Self-Defense Forces and foreign troops. Cooperation/coordination between the military and civil organizations including local governments, police/fire departments and various NGOs. Evacuation operations of the national population living in Japan using military resources. Gender perspective, and gender mainstreaming. Mental health care of the military personnel, and stress management. Family support for the deployed personnel. Leadership in international disaster relief operation. Cultural awareness and cross-cultural cooperation, training of “empathy”. Diversity management. 
RC01	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s14	The Armed Forces and Civil Society in East Asia. Part I	 // The Armed Forces and Civil Society in East Asia. Part I Session Organizer Doo-Seung HONG, Seoul National University, Korea,   Session in English This session invites scholars who are concerned with changing patterns of the relationship between the military and civil society in East Asia in the recent decades. Papers relating to case studies, to comparative studies and to theory are invited. 
RC01	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s15	The Armed Forces and Civil Society in East Asia. Part II	 // The Armed Forces and Civil Society in East Asia. Part II Session Organizer Doo-Seung HONG, Seoul National University, Korea,   Session in English 
RC01	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s16	The Roots of Contemporary African Violent Conflicts	 // The Roots of Contemporary African Violent Conflicts Session Organizer Alemayehu KUMSA, Charles University, Czech Republic,   Session in English Violent conflicts are old in human history and the 20th century was worst when it comes to the number of people died due to war. In African warfare history the second part of the 20th century was the worst of all periods, in numbers of wars, numbers of people died in war, numbers of refugees and in the intensity of economic and social problems emanating from violent conflicts. Many different types of war conflicts occurred in Africa after independence. The post-colonial wars have two forms: Intra-state wars (secessionist wars, irredentist wars, wars of power devolution, wars of regime change, wars of banditry, armed inter-communal insurrections, and wars caused by religious fundamentalist groups). Inter-state wars (bilateral wars, multilateral wars). The aim of organizing this session is to invite sociologists who are specializing on contemporary African violent conflicts, to bring together their research results, to understand the causes of these conflicts, if they have local, regional and international roots, in the contemporary globalizing world. 
RC01	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC01#s17	Towards a Sociology of Information Sharing in Multinational Military Operations	 // Towards a Sociology of Information Sharing in Multinational Military Operations Session Organizer Joseph SOETERS, Netherlands,   Session in English As military operations are nowadays almost always conducted in multinational coalitions, the issue of information sharing becomes increasingly important. Information and the military are an interesting couple. The military relies on information and preferably wants to keep it for itself. Information is often declared “confidential”, because the enemy could profit from it; even partnering organizations are often not deemed reliable enough to know everything. Secrecy, intelligence, information, trust, games, strategic interaction, strangers, coalitions are words that are fully connected in operational affairs. This session welcomes contributions dealing with basic sociological and social-psychological theories on information and secrecy (e.g., Simmel, game theory), with analyses dealing with the operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Mali, and/or modern applications in the field of cyber operations/warfare. Of course the session is also open to related paper proposals. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Economy and Society, RC02
RC02	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s1	Asian Capitalism(s): Origins, Transformations, and Perspectives 	 // Asian Capitalism(s): Origins, Transformations, and Perspectives Session Organizer Patrick ZILTENER, University of Zurich, Switzerland,   Session in English This session invites analyses of the processes that led to the “rise of Asia” out of (semi-)colonial dependency, the trajectories and institutional forms that enabled an increasing number of Asian cities, regions and countries to become centers of globalized Capitalism. Origins and Transformations of Asian Capitalism(s) “State-directed capitalism”, “administrative guidance of the economy”, “developmental state”, “Capitalism from below” – certainly, state regulation has been crucial for the capitalist take off in all Asian countries, but the relevant instruments and mechanisms have not been systematically compared yet. The ability to transform the state`s role during the growth and development process seems to be essential. Without a powerful private economy – family-owned conglomerates, business networks or ethnic trading groups – and the search for market opportunities, the “Asian economic miracle” would not have been possible. However, in spite of all market-inspired reforms, Asian Capitalism(s) did not turn into systems modelled on economic liberalism. Variety of Asian Capitalism The rise of Asia challenges the comparative “Varieties of Capitalism” research, traditionally focussed on OECD-countries. Taking up arguments and analyses given in the Socio-Economic Review (SER) Special Issue - April 2013 “Bringing Asia into the Comparative Capitalism Perspective” would give insights into the puzzling variety of Asian Capitalism: just different stages of one or two basic “models” – or as many cases as countries? Do we observe convergence or divergence processes? Variety of Asian Capitalism – Variety of Modernities? How to deal analytically with the regional character of the “rise of Asia”? Perspectives Will Asian Capitalism(s) deepen the predominantly neo-liberal course of globalization or provide a corrective influence? With the increasing economic and political weight of Asia, do we witness the emergence of new, more equitable and inclusive post-US world order – or rather, as Slavoj Zizek suggests, “a world where the only alternative is either Anglo-Saxon neoliberalism or Chinese-Singaporean capitalism with Asian values”? 
RC02	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s2	Capital and the Environmental Crisis 	 // Capital and the Environmental Crisis Session Organizer Georgina MURRAY, Griffith University, Australia,   Session in English The session will feature investigations of capitalist responses to the global environmental crisis – their social, economic and political underpinnings and implications. Issues that might be addressed include the financialization of nature in carbon-trading schemes; the notions of eco-efficiency forwarded by groups like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development; environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Program Related Investments (PRI); and the possible fractional conflicts within capital over ecological issues. The session welcomes papers that explore the socio-ecological implications of the financial crisis of 2008. Across the entire range of issues, an important question to be addressed is, where is the class support for these initiatives likely to come from? 
RC02	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s3	Complex Inequalities: Gendering Varieties of Capitalism and Varieties of Gender Regimes 	 // Complex Inequalities: Gendering Varieties of Capitalism and Varieties of Gender Regimes Session Organizer Heidi GOTTFRIED, Wayne State University, USA,   Session in English Feminist scholarship has made important strides, improving our understanding of the forces behind gender inequality by either advancing gender-sensitive perspectives on policy-making processes and comparative welfare state developments or offering rich case studies and theoretical contributions to analysis of work transformations. Alternative feminist approaches point to different aspects of policies and institutional arrangements that are consequential for explaining complex inequalities across countries. The session invites papers discussing current debates and new frameworks for analyzing varieties of both class and gender regimes. We welcome papers addressing critical questions about the dynamics of complex inequalities: What do we gain or lose from different methodological and interpretive strategies and from conducting research at different levels of analysis (micro, meso and macro)? What temporal concepts (such as tipping points) or complexity theory are appropriate? How do varieties of gender regimes affect different trajectories of capitalism? Does the social organization of care (structures of social reproduction) matter in explaining differences? What role and impact do gender politics and women’s mobilization have on trajectories of change? 
RC02	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s4	Corporate Networks: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives	 // Corporate Networks: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives Session Organizer Val BURRIS, University of Oregon, USA,   Session in English The social networks that knit together large corporations and that link corporations to other organizations and institutions have long been a fruitful object of sociological inquiry. This session casts a wide net, inviting papers on corporate-corporate networks, as well as corporate-noncorporate and corporate-state networks. Submissions that address changes in these networks across time, comparisons between countries, and/or transnational ties are particularly welcome. 
RC02	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s5	Environment and Development: Empirical Considerations	 // Environment and Development: Empirical Considerations Session Organizer Andrew JORGENSON, University of Utah, USA,   Session in English Relationships between the environment and forms of development are foundational topics for sociologists who work at the intersections of environmental sociology, political economy, economic sociology, and political sociology. This session invites papers that provide new theoretically-engaged empirical insights on environment and development relationships at any level of analysis, and of any methodological orientation. 
RC02	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s6	Ethnography and the Economy	 // Ethnography and the Economy Session Organizer Daniel FRIDMAN, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina,   Session in English In the last few years, there has been a renewed interest in the close-up examination of economic life. Ethnographic methods have been crucial for recent research that sheds light on the workings of trade-floors and the financial world in general, the intersections between economy and culture, the conflictive relations between market and non-market exchanges, the relations between commodities and gifts, the uses of money and credit, the dynamics of informal economies, the world of economic policy-making and expertise, the complexity of currencies, the configuration of markets and economic subjects, and the nature of calculation in the economy, among other topics. This session invites innovative work based on substantial participant observation of economic life, broadly considered. 
RC02	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s7	Gender, Class and the Financial Crisis: Is Neoliberalism Gendered?	 // Gender, Class and the Financial Crisis: Is Neoliberalism Gendered? Session Organizers Sylvia WALBY, University of Lancaster, United Kingdom,   Heidi GOTTFRIED, Wayne State University, USA,   Session in English The 2008 financial crisis has continuing effects with the intensification of neoliberal attempts to restructure economy and society, especially where government budget deficits have developed. But there is a split between macro-level analysis of finance capital and feminist analysis of the experience of recession. Feminist and historical materialist theories need to re-engage after a period of separate development. This session seeks papers on gender, class and the financial crisis that address theoretical and empirical questions such as: Would it have made any difference if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters? How should feminist theory and historical materialism re-engage in the context of the crisis? Is the absence of women in financial decision-making an issue of culture, of democratic deficit, or more systemic? Is the crisis just a normal part of capitalism or a critical turning point in neo-liberalism? How can feminist theories of intersectionality be applied to macro-level questions concerning economic restructuring? Should the feminist gaze return to the economy from the analytical turn to culture? What are the implications of the political configurations emerging in the crisis for theories of gender and class? Is neoliberalism gendered? 
RC02	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s8	Global Perspectives of Financialization	 // Global Perspectives of Financialization Session Organizer Aaron PITLUCK, Central European University and Illinois State University, Hungary/USA,   Session in English There is nothing like a good crisis to concentrate one’s attention, and sociologists are no different in this regard. Since the last World Congress, there has been a flourishing of empirical research in the subfield of sociology of finance, most of it focused on the causes and consequences of the seizure of international financial markets in 2006-7, and the ongoing political economic oscillations in the Euro-zone. Reflecting these twin and interrelated crises (and a northern-bias in our discipline), most of this empirical research has been conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union. This is understandable, but short sighted. Such scholarship tends to neglect ties between north and south within financial markets and organizations, as well as neglect unique processes found in the south. Moreover, research on financialization in the north tends to make unverified covering law statements regarding financialization in the south. This panel seeks to initiate a correction to this state of affairs. This call for papers solicits empirical research engaged with sociological theory that takes place in financial markets, organizations, or institutions outside of the United States and European Union. Research conducted in the global north is also welcome, as long as the paper’s focus is on interlinkages with the global south. Proposals should theorize from empirical work, and therefore should indicate the paper’s methodology, data, and argument. 
RC02	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s9	Historical Formation of Social and Economic Inequalities	 // Historical Formation of Social and Economic Inequalities Session Organizer Hiroko INOUE, University of California-Riverside, USA,   Session in English This session seeks papers that are related to all the issues of stratification and inequality. The session is interested in wide range of topics that are relevant to stratification including income, class, migration, environment, education, family, gender, race, ethnicity, health, mobility, labor market, social networks, and others. The session is open to various theoretical perspectives and methodologies. Papers relevant to the themes such as historical, comparative, and/or world-systems analyses on globalization, health, financial crisis, the impact of changing demographic landscape, natural/environmental disasters, and the like will be particularly welcome, but will not be limited to these themes and approaches. The papers addressing theoretical framework, conceptual and methodological issues on the study of stratification and inequality over long-run history are also welcome. Structures of power, prestige, wealth and income at global level have been changed, and national stratification structures and processes have increasingly influenced by the growing integration of societies. Economic stress has imposed increasing challenges to vulnerable groups across societies. Those classic, ongoing and novel reconfigurations of inequality/stratification at different levels, time and space are the central issues of the session. 
RC02	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s10	Labour, Climate, Economy and Social Struggle: Global Perspectives	 // Labour, Climate, Economy and Social Struggle: Global Perspectives Session Organizer Carla LIPSIG-MUMME, York University, Canada,   Session in English Global warming is a universal concern, perhaps the greatest challenge facing work, workers and the planet in the 21st century. The failure of the 2009 Copenhagen conference ensures that the climate change that is already altering national economies, will continue to accelerate. The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC (2007) estimates that agriculture, forestry, and industry produce 50% of GHGs without including energy or transportation emissions. The ILO`s 2011 Towards a Greener Economy notes that “over 80% of emissions (in the EU) originate from firms` production of goods.” While few countries in the Global North or the Global South ignore the social implications of climate change, labour and environmental movements have yet to effectively address the role of climate change in the world of work. Social policy is puzzlingly underdeveloped, as well. What role can work, workers` organisations and their new and traditional allies play in the struggle to slow global warming? This session brings together global research on responding to climate change: work, unions, politics and policy. Its goals are two-fold: Create a cross-national dialogue on what we know, and what we need to know; Stimulate the development of a global network for environmentalists, researchers and unions, to be housed with the Work in a Warming World research programme in Canada. www.workinawarmingworld.yorku.ca Topics of particular, but not exclusive interest, are: Youth environmental activism and the workplace Public policy and industry strategy Bargaining for environmental responsibility: new ideas Impact of climate change in economic sectors, North and South. What would a greener industrial relations system look like? Climate migration, communities, and work Trade union initiatives: global union movement, national labour organisations, local action Barriers to trade union leadership in slowing global warming 
RC02	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s11	Military, Economy, and Society 	 // Military, Economy, and Society Session Organizers Jeffrey KENTOR, University of Utah, USA,   Andrew JORGENSON, University of Utah, USA,   Session in English The military establishment has a significant impact on economy and society world-wide. However, this impact is largely understudied in the social sciences. This panel invites papers that consider short or long term effects of the military on various dimensions of the social and economic structure, at any level of analysis (individual, national, regional, global). Examples include (among others) the military and health economic development and inequality education environment migration demographic shifts. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be considered. 
RC02	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s12	Network Theory in East Asian Society	 // Network Theory in East Asian Society Session Organizers Dennis MCNAMARA, Georgetown University, USA,   Jeonghan KANG, Yonsei University, Korea,   Session in English Papers in this session draw on theories of networks relevant to East Asian society. We welcome empirical research highlighting the utility of the concept, the need for adaptation, or the fundamental revision of network theories. Extension of the concept to other topics of particular relevance in East Asia such as studies of social capital, of state-society relations, or of network dynamics in organization theory would likewise be relevant. An emerging dialogue on regional integration has spurred studies of cross-border networks, whether among consumers in the expanding Asian urban middle class, or of production networks moving products and technology across the region. Our goal is both a stronger empirical base and clearer theoretical direction. But the enterprise of refinement and refocusing of concepts for the East Asian context depends in part on a dialogue between East and West. Both in papers and discussions we hope to stimulate an exchange on network theory and application that facilitates new streams of research and interaction between theorists and those in empirical research. 
RC02	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s13	Perspectives on the Political Economy of Development	 // Perspectives on the Political Economy of Development Session Organizer Salvatore BABONES, University of Sydney, Australia,   Session in English Scholars who are from or working in low-income countries, indigenous nations, and poor areas within rich countries often have perspectives on economy and society that differ dramatically from those of scholars based at well-resourced universities in rich countries. Scholars from both sides of the South-North divide can learn much from each other. Political economy is an area in which it is particularly important that views from both sides be heard. Though this session is organized by a scholar based at a well-resourced university in a rich country, it is organized with the intent of providing a global platform for the presentation and publication of perspectives originating in all parts of the world. In addition to presentation at the World Congress, papers submitted for this session will also be considered for publication in an online peer-reviewed proceedings volume to be edited by the organizer. Prospective presenters who wish to see their papers published in this volume should submit a working paper of not more than 6,000 words, plus an abstract of not more than 200 words. Submissions of abstracts without papers are also welcome, but these will be considered for presentation only. Submissions are welcome on any topic relating to economy and society, and may include research papers, theoretical essays, review articles, or other kinds of academic work. Submissions from all scholars (including those based at well-resourced universities in rich countries) are welcome and will be considered on an equal basis. 
RC02	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s14	Precarious Work and Employment Risks in East Asia	 // Precarious Work and Employment Risks in East Asia Integrative Session // : RC02 Economy and Society, RC44 Labor Movements and RC30 Sociology of Work. Not open for submission of abstracts . Session in English 
RC02	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s15	RC02 Business Meeting	 // RC02 Business Meeting 
RC02	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s16	Resistance and Revolution in Global Historical Perspective	 // Resistance and Revolution in Global Historical Perspective Session Organizers Christopher CHASE-DUNN, University of California-Riverside, USA,   André C. DRAINVILLE, Université Laval, Canada,   Session in English Sociological thinking about resistance to capitalist world ordering has for the most part remained focused on the present conjuncture, only venturing beyond the neo-liberal world order by borrowing categories from cosmopolitan ideologies, or by thinking in very abstract terms. Thus stuck in false abstractions, it has remained very much a prisoner of the idea of continuity, incapable of looking beyond hegemonies (that of transnational capital in the present moment, and before: Pax Americana, Pax Britannica...), at prospects for revolutionary change. This session gathers scholars from different analytical traditions (world-systems analysis, Gramscian IPE, material geography, anthropology, transnational sociology, radical public sociology), who have in common their ambition to stretch the historical imagination of contemporary thinking about world order and revolution/resistance. Thinking globally, with reference to the broad tradition of historical sociology, organizers hope to triangulate findings, and thus contribute a more substantial understanding of world orders and resistances. 
RC02	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s17	Solidarity Economy Alternatives: Vision, Practice, and Theory	 // Solidarity Economy Alternatives: Vision, Practice, and Theory Session Organizers Vishwas SATGAR, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa,   Michelle WILLIAMS, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa,   Session in English This panel invites papers that look broadly at the solidarity economy. The solidarity economy is an important transformative initiative rooted in myriad experiments around the world that are democratic, values-based, and movement-driven. Various institutional forms such as worker run factories, communal enterprises, community financing mechanisms and cooperatives are all being networked into grassroots solidarity economy processes. Moreover, the solidarity economy has engendered various theoretical approaches, methodologies, movement building strategies, and international solidarities. The World Social Forum has also become an important space to diffuse and share solidarity economy ideas and practices. In the context of the global crisis, the solidarity economy has emerged in various parts of the world with immense potential to disrupt capitalist-centered political economies. Is the emergent political economy of the solidarity economy transforming civil society-state-economy boundaries? Is it redistributing power to grassroots social forces? Is the solidarity economy engendering a new logic to reproduce life, meet human needs and end ecological destruction? We welcome submissions on solidarity economy initiatives from all over world and on all aspects of the solidarity economy. 
RC02	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s18	South-South Relationships and Global (In)equality	 // South-South Relationships and Global (In)equality Session Organizer Astra BONINI, Columbia University, USA,   Session in English Assessments of global inequality have historically focused on systems of unequal exchange and structural imbalances of power between the North and the South. However, South-South flows of trade, immigration, investment and aid are on the rise as emerging economies expand economic activity beyond their borders and seek labor, natural resources and markets in the less developed countries of the South. The increasing significance of these relationships on a global scale raises questions about the implications for global inequality and calls for an increase in analytical attention to South-South interactions. Do these relationships present opportunities for greater equality in exchange, employment and wealth accumulation relative to North-South relationships? Or are South-South relationships setting the stage for greater divergence within the Global South and new systems of unequal exchange and power imbalances similar to those between the North and the South? This session invites papers that examine these and related questions using quantitative or qualitative methods of analysis. Comparative analysis is especially encouraged. 
RC02	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s19	The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work	 // The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work Integrative Session // : RC02 Economy and Society, RC32 Women in Society and RC44 Labour Movements Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC02	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s20	The Sociology of Consumers and Consumption	 // The Sociology of Consumers and Consumption Session Organizers Florian KOHLBACHER, German Institute for Japanese Studies, Japan,   Takeshi MATSUI, Hitotsubashi University, Japan,   Session in English Consumption plays an increasingly important role in social life and social thought. The sociological study of consumers and consumption has therefore become a growing, albeit still under-researched, strand within sociology. Conversely, sociological theories, concepts, methodologies and approaches are widely embraced in consumer research in the area of marketing. This session aims to bring together sociologists interested in consumption-related phenomena and consumer researchers interested in the sociological aspects of consumption behavior to discuss the latest trends, issues, methodological approaches in the study of the sociology of consumers and consumption. Topics covered by the session include, but are not limited to: Consumer Culture Theory, consumer socialization, a life course perspective of consumption, social media and consumption. 
RC02	s21	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC02#s21	Think Tanks as Key Spaces of the Global Structure of Power	 // Think Tanks as Key Spaces of the Global Structure of Power Session Organizer Alejandra SALAS-PORRAS, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   Session in English The purpose of this session is to explore the dynamics of think-tanks networks, the coalitions created to advance the social purpose they implicitly or explicitly endorse and, in particular, the spaces they occupy in the structures and fields of power at the national, regional and global level. Think tanks – broadly defined as organizations specialized in public policy analysis – have become instrumental in re-articulating private, state, media and academic elites to shape public policies affecting populations in most of the world. They have weaved networks at the national, regional and global levels, within which public and private interests are redefined; discussions are organized to delineate public agendas and reach ideological consensus; and compact teams of technocrats are brought together with public officers to push such agendas forward. They often concentrate enormous expertise and organizational resources and function as nurseries for ideas, knowledge and technocrats. However, they are far from being homogeneous as they espouse different ideologies and social purposes, deal with different issues and engender contradictions and divisions within the networks. They can contribute decisively to intensify risks and inequalities with the reforms and policies they recommend and defend; or instead, they can struggle to construct alternative strategies to the most acute problems facing societies, including the distribution of human, social, economic, security and environmental rights. They can push forward a market-led agenda, or an agenda to contain and resist market forces from liberal or even anti-systemic perspectives. But in this regard their actions are frequently jumbled and timid. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Community Research, RC03
RC03	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s1	Communities in Transition	 // Communities in Transition Session Organizer Johan ZAAIMAN, North-West University, South Africa,   Session in English Communities are continuously challenged by a changing world. Within an increasing interdependent and globalized world they are pressed into a process of continuous change. Communities differ in their response strategies. Some restructure themselves, others transform themselves, others resist the changes, and still others find themselves marginalized and unable to cope positively with the changes. This session explores the challenges this transition poses to communities, as well as their impact on communities and the strategies communities utilize to handle them. Papers are welcomed which explore these issues through comparative and/or case studies thereby elucidating the unique and the common factors found in communities in transition. 
RC03	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s2	Community Size and Transnational Immigration	 // Community Size and Transnational Immigration Session Organizer Hans GESER, University of Zurich, Switzerland,   Session in English Due to many factors like increased streams of asylum-seekers, liberalized migration laws and extensive academic exchanges, globalization promotes many forms of transnational migration that affect larger cities as well as more thinly populated areas and smaller municipal units. This session aims to highlight the role of community/city size as an intervening variable conditioning: the social status and cultural background of incoming new residents; the residential patterns resulting from their immigration the chances of informal integration and assimilation: e.g. due to specificities of local social climate and culture; the role of voluntary associations in catalyzing or blocking social integration; the coping strategies chosen by municipal governments in order to deal with various consequences caused by immigration; changes in the relationship of municipalities to supralocal organizations and institutions (e.g. due to an increased impact of NGO`s or national administration). The session should provide a forum for presenting studies that focus on communal-municipal size as a major comparative dimension. 
RC03	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s3	Culture, Arts and Politics	 // Culture, Arts and Politics Session Organizesr Terry N. CLARK, University of Chicago, USA,   Daniel SILVER, University of Toronto,Canada,   Marta KLEKOTKO, Uniwersytet Jagiellonski, Poland,   There has been much debate about “culture wars,” “cultural politics,” and “culture matters.” However, despite significant interest by policy makers and the general public in cultural impacts on economic growth and of democratic institutions, there has been little research by social scientists. This is especially true of possible impacts of arts upon political process. Linking arts to politics might help to explain significant variance in political phenomena, which remains unexplained by “traditional” variables. Scattered evidence suggests that arts may increase political awareness, affect voting and civic participation, and influence social capital and community development. This session asks: how much can we show systematically about how and where the arts matter politically. Can we find specific links between arts and various political phenomena such as voting, civic participation, governance structures, social movements and political empowerment? We invite international scholars to address these problems in various community (rural, urban, neighborhood) contexts around the world. 
RC03	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s4	Embracing Globalization in the Design of Urban Outcomes: Implications for Equity, Spatial Form, and Sustainability	 // Embracing Globalization in the Design of Urban Outcomes: Implications for Equity, Spatial Form, and Sustainability Session Organizer Herman L. BOSCHKEN, San Jose State University, USA,   Session in English Contemporary globalization has fostered substantial and enduring impacts everywhere in the world and at multiple levels of human and ecological systems. But, perhaps the greatest of these impacts can be found in those urban habitats most directly connected to globalization`s economic, cultural and migratory flows. Whether speaking of world economic transformations, growing inequalities ranging from wealth to health, or encroaching urban metabolic footprints on ecological systems, the forces of globalization are putting each of these dimensions on a collision course with the others. From an urban perspective, what roles do public policymakers have in promoting outcomes that avoid such collision? As the crossroads of globalization, do global/world cities act as incubators for innovative policy solutions to any or all of these three dimensions? Are breakthroughs occurring through interurban policy transfers or scaling-up urban innovations to a regional or national level? Can policy fragmentation be made consistent with the realities of systemic interdependencies? This session seeks papers which shed light on how their particular discipline contributes to answering these and related questions, and to a multiple-perspectives integration of this research area. 
RC03	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s5	Global Countrysides and Hinterlands: Rural Communities in an Era of Globalization	 // Global Countrysides and Hinterlands: Rural Communities in an Era of Globalization Session Organizers Matthew SANDERSON, Kansas State University, USA,   Rachel HARVEY, Columbia University, USA,   Session in English Scholarship on the relationship between communities and global social change largely focuses on urban areas. In contrast, rural areas and peoples, are often treated as either entirely detached, or as undergoing gradual processes of disengagement from global circuits and spheres. Many rural communities in the Global North and Global South certainly have experienced long-term processes of de-population and agricultural restructuring, which have decreased their size and influence relative to urban areas. Yet, recent work on “global ruralities” challenges the urban bias of much globalization research by encouraging attention to the myriad ways rural peoples and places are new and (re-)emerging frontier zones for global actors, institutions, and processes. Drawing on this growing body of scholarship, the session invites submissions exploring how, and to what extent, rural communities produce, and are made by, globalization. All methodologies, theoretical orientations, and areas of attention (in the Global North and/or Global South) are welcome. Papers that employ comparative theoretical frameworks and/or methodologies are especially encouraged. 
RC03	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s6	Global Gentrification: Diversity, Inequality, and Spatial Justice	 // Global Gentrification: Diversity, Inequality, and Spatial Justice Session Organizer Yue ZHANG, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA,   Gentrification, a process through which the economically disadvantaged in a community is displaced, is being identified in a broad range of communities throughout the world. Globalization contributes to gentrification as it accelerates the economic and spatial changes of the rural and the urban areas, promotes the flow of domestic and transnational migrants, and creates venues for the government to implement large-scale spatial restructuring projects. In the community areas of both the Global North and the Global South, gentrification has become an increasingly complex and multi-dimensional process that involves a variety of domestic and international actors. This session welcomes papers that either offer a comparative approach or examine single case studies on this topic. Examples of questions that papers might consider include: Are new forms of gentrification emerging in the context of globalization? How do global events affect the social, economic, and cultural makeup of communities? What are the patterns of political and social interactions in gentrified communities? How does the study of gentrification illuminate our understanding of human conditions and spatial governance? And finally, will the process of genuine social mixing occur? 
RC03	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s7	Globalization and the Rise of Cultural Communities	 // Globalization and the Rise of Cultural Communities Session Organizer Peter ACHTERBERG, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands,   Session in English The process of globalization can be held responsible for the rise of cultural communities. No matter in what form, no matter in which social venue, like-minded people gather in online and offline spaces to form cultural communities based on their shared beliefs and ideals. These ideals may be twofold. Some may argue that due to the process of globalization people will develop cultural communities around their shared cosmopolitan ideals. Others may argue that due to the same process, others will erect nationalistic communities in defense of their local, regional or national ideals. Either way, globalization may be linked to the rise of rather coherent and cohesive cultural communities, and perhaps even to the rise of newly emerging conflicts between these two types of cultural communities. This session invites papers around the theme of globalization and cultural communities. The methodological framework is open – both papers using qualitative and quantitative research methods are very welcome to add to the discussion 
RC03	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s8	International Scenes Studies: Theory and Evidence	 // International Scenes Studies: Theory and Evidence Session Organizer Di WU, University of Chinese Academy of Science, China,   Session in English As urban societies around the world have moved into a post-industrial stage of development, analysts recognize the growing salience of amenities and lifestyle, rather than jobs and distance, in explaining modern cities. Scenes, in other words, are now identified as critical elements driving economic development, migration, housing price and the living order. Building on these insights, this session focuses on how Scenes work in cities around world as well as how the emergence of Scenes Theory affects worldwide urban development. The session will demonstrate that whenever Scenes studies are involved, they entail an interface of many different areas, including regional economics; community research; household analysis; housing supply and markets analysis; and regional government analysis. High-quality theoretical, empirical, and practical papers presenting state of the art academic and practitioner research from all related disciplines are welcome. Furthermore, experimental comparisons with other approaches are strongly encouraged. 
RC03	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s9	Local Welfare State in a Context of Austerity: Inequalities, Socio-political Process and Service Provision in Municipalities	 // Local Welfare State in a Context of Austerity: Inequalities, Socio-political Process and Service Provision in Municipalities Session Organizer María Jesús RODRIGUEZ GARCIA, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain,   Session in English This session examines the socio-political dynamics underlying local welfare systems, and in particular, changes occurring in a context of municipalities` budget crises and a general process of welfare state retrenchment. Welfare State restructuring processes affect the contents of policies, and the way services are delivered; i.e. the substantive and the procedural dimensions of local welfare systems. With regard to the first, because policies combine new areas of intervention (i.e. gender equality, dependence, childhood care, etc.) with traditional ones (such as poverty and social exclusion), the current economic crisis has increased the number of people requiring coverage. Changes in the procedural dimension presuppose the development of new configurations of public, private, and associative actors in order to provide municipal welfare services. Thus, some central questions to be explored are: What new policies and services have been developed in local welfare systems? What actor configurations underlie service delivery? How are these processes affected/explained by municipalities` budget crises? Are there differences according national intergovernmental systems? Papers addressing these questions, along with those examining the analytical and methodological challenges involved in studying public policy at the local level, are welcome. 
RC03	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s10	RC03 Business Meeting	 // RC03 Business Meeting 
RC03	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC03#s11	Social Network Resources and Community Inequalities: Global and Multilevel Perspectives	 // Social Network Resources and Community Inequalities: Global and Multilevel Perspectives Session Organizer Mito AKIYOSHI, Senshu University, Japan,   Session in English This session looks into theoretical and empirical issues surrounding the deployment of social network resources by communities in an increasingly globalizing world. Institutions such as governments, NGOs, and corporations have undergone phenomenal changes in the past thirty years generating and responding to global challenges. How do social network processes affect the operation of globalizing institutions? This session invites contributions that advance our understanding of the role of social networks in the transformation of various forms of inequality in the context of globalization. Possible exploratory questions include but are not limited to: What kind of social network resources are communities endowed with to deal with new and old forms of inequality? Do some communities actively cultivate social network resources to enhance their position in the global marketplace? What are the consequences of the growing use of global social network resources to address local concerns? Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Education, RC04
RC04	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s1	Academic Mobility: Possibilities and Barriers 	 // Academic Mobility: Possibilities and Barriers Session Organizer David KONSTANTINOVSKIY, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia,   Session in English This subject is very relevant in a globalizing world. Modern education for changing labor market is impossible without academic mobility. On one side academic mobility is welcomed by officials and it is reflected in formal documents. On the other side lecturers and students in various countries have unequal chances for academic mobility. Barriers are: differentiations of schooling programs; financial difficulties; information vacuum; government orders; public opinion; etc. This is characteristic to all levels of schooling. We invite school teachers, university professors, any educational actors to discuss all aspects of the problems that they and their colleagues are faced in planning and realizing of academic mobility. 
RC04	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s2	Educational Reforms for Reducing Social Inequality in Mandarin-speaking (Chinese) Societies 	 // Educational Reforms for Reducing Social Inequality in Mandarin-speaking (Chinese) Societies Session Organizers Feng-Jihu LEE, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan,   Jason Chienchen CHANG, Chinese Culture University, Taiwan,   Session in English There is a common theme nowadays that perceives education as a vital mechanism to facilitate national development, economic growth and social progress. However, by critically analyzing recent educational reforms in developed countries, it seems that the notion of “raising economic competence”, rather than “reducing social inequality,” is gaining priority. That is to say, the global or international economic competition has emerged as a “New Hegemony” and the national response to the challenges it brought forth has, in turn, become the main reason for educational reform in most countries. The Mandarin-speaking societies are of course no exception. Educational reform should be an important issue and a continuous movement for promoting human liberation and social transformation. Furthermore, social transformations and educational reforms taking place in the world cannot and should not be absent from a debate on inequality. Thus, this session is organized for critical discussion of educational reforms that have been put into action particularly for reducing social inequality and promoting social justice in the Mandarin-speaking (Chinese) societies. 
RC04	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s3	Facing an Unequal World: What Challenges to Education?	 // Facing an Unequal World: What Challenges to Education? Session Organizer Antonio TEODORO, Lusophone University, Portugal,   Session in English/French/Spanish Contemporary societies are going through deep changes at every stage of human life (from private life to the social models) that, as in every other process, generate bifurcation times. Schools, in particular, and education systems, in general, are among those institutions of modernity that are looking for new paths which can respond to such times of uncertainty and inequality. This is a time of profound skepticism about the future on some world regions (Europe, for example). But, in others regions, there are a strong belief about the education role to create fairer and free societies. What challenges to education in this unequal and different world? 
RC04	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s4	Global Educational Expansion of Secondary Schools 	 // Global Educational Expansion of Secondary Schools Session Organizer Shinichi AIZAWA, Chukyo University, Japan,   Session in English Secondary education has expanded around the world in the past 100 years. For each country there is a different historical process for this expansion, but the national system of secondary education varies from country to country which makes it difficult for us to illustrate. The focus of this session is to theorize this wide variety in educational expansion through empirical studies. Some concepts such as “industrialization,” “privatization,” and “prestige of schools” may give us a hint to theorize global expansion. For example, industrialization often affects educational expansion in economically backward developing countries, because their government tends to focus on investing in both industry and education. We would like to collect these empirical facts to theorize the global educational expansion of secondary schools. We welcome papers, preferably providing empirical evidence, concerning the expansion of secondary education all over the world. 
RC04	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s5	Global Movement of Teachers 	 // Global Movement of Teachers Session Organizer Carol REID, University of Western Sydney, Australia,   Session in English This session examines the increasing phenomenon of teacher movements across the globe. Teachers move for a number of reasons including migration to another country, as part of a travelling experience while seeing the world, to gain professional experience in another country, to develop linguistic capacities, to earn more money and so on. Movements from east to west and north to south are accompanied by a range of difficulties for teachers including but not limited to a lack of support regarding the local education system, housing, health and in the global north/west, non-recognition of qualifications for teachers from the global south/east leading to underemployment. Further, the professional knowledge of teachers is ignored, downgraded or challenged relative to where they are (re)located. Data on teacher movements is scarce and limited to national studies and the Commonwealth of Nations for those who are members, while Education International attempts to monitor abuse of human rights, education inequality and teacher rights in some countries. Papers are invited from scholars who have examined the global movement of teachers and/or the global governance of teachers in relation to mobilities. The focus may be on sending countries and/or receiving countries; on immigrant and emigrant teachers; and from English speaking and non-English speaking countries but consideration of the global nature of these movements is central. 
RC04	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s6	Globalization and Neo-Institutionalism in the Sociology of Education: Theoretical and Empirical Advances 	 // Globalization and Neo-Institutionalism in the Sociology of Education: Theoretical and Empirical Advances Session Organizers Lawrence SAHA, Australian National University, Australia,   Joanna SIKORA, Australian National University, Australia,   Session in English The purpose of this section is to examine the two dominant and related paradigms in the sociology of education. Globalization is a contested paradigm which has been used in a wide variety of disciplines to explain the convergence of various social phenomena, including education. Neo-institutionalism is a more specific paradigm which has attempted to explain the global convergence of educational structures and social psychological phenomena among educational administrators, teachers and students in a specific comparative context. This RC04 section provides an arena within which both the theoretical and empirical foundations of both of these paradigms can be examined. Both theoretical and empirical papers are welcome, and the goal is to arrive at a closer understanding of these two perspectives, their interrelationship, and what evidence we have of their empirical support. Finally, it is hoped that directions for the future use of these paradigms in the sociology of education can be identified, debated and articulated. 
RC04	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s7	Globalization, the State, Social Justice, and Education 	 // Globalization, the State, Social Justice, and Education Session Organizers Tien-Hui CHIANG, National University of Tainan, Taiwan,   Jason C. CHANG, Chinese Culture University, Taiwan,   Session in English The world has been stepping into the era of globalized system in which a considerable amount of profit tends to leave most nation-states with no choice but to conform to the rules of globalization. Eventually, neo-liberalism pushes away the legitimate obligation of the state to protect its citizens, so that the idea of welfare and equity is no longer on the political agenda, or at least declines in priority. The new mission of the state is to bestow employability or individual self-sufficiency upon its citizens through education. This phenomenon reveals a new political ideology, with the market logic or individualism as an iron canon in public services, including education. Furthermore, in order to gain a considerable amount of capital profit, embedded in a global market, the crucial mission for education is to cultivate human capital rather than social justice. Consequently, the phenomenon of cultural reproduction would remain firmly. It is a crucial moment to create a session for researchers to explore the impact of globalization on relevant key issues, including the state, its educational policies, practice and results. Certainly, the paper presenters should offer great insights to enrich the vision of the audience. 
RC04	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s8	Growing Inequalities in Education: A Global Perspective for the 21st Century 	 // Growing Inequalities in Education: A Global Perspective for the 21st Century Session Organizer Shaheeda ESSACK, National Department of Higher Education, South Africa,   Session in English In 1848, pioneering American educator, Horace Mann expressed the view that: “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is a great equalizer of the conditions of men – the balance wheel of the social machinery.” Yet, inequalities in income within countries and across nation states especially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan South Africa (SSA) is increasing, gender equality and environmental sustainability continue to face external threats, a lack of progress in combating HIV curtails improvements in both maternal and child mortality. All of the wellresearched variables such as access/expansion, quality/equity, ICT/science and technology have provided useful insights in ways to address the challenges. The focus of this session is to explore the following: The current status of inequality in education across communities in specific regions and across nation states and its impact on development; Theoretical, statistical and qualitative approaches in studying the nature of inequality in education: and How policy, politics and the economy impact on the educational and cultural lives of people? Measures taken by developed and developing countries in addressing inequality through their systems of education and training – success and failures 
RC04	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s9	Higher Education and the Social Forces in the Job Market	 // Higher Education and the Social Forces in the Job Market Session Organizer Maria Ligia BARBOSA, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Session in English/French/Spanish All around the world there is a strong and sustained expansion of higher education, both in enrollment and as of graduates. In each country the percentage of people who go through this level of education is increasing. Besides the expansion of tertiary education it is also observed an important diversification process of the study areas, forms and duration of the courses and the types of diplomas and certificates issued. As part of expansion and diversification processes mentioned above, the field of higher education institutions becomes increasingly hierarchical. Significant opposition is generated among the elite institutions and those that open their doors to social groups of more modest origin. Also new degrees of training can be distinguished, with the proliferation of courses and postgraduate diplomas. The strong relationship between schools and the labor market in modern societies is expressed in higher education that has become the safest way to get middle class jobs. However, as well as expanded educational opportunities at tertiary level the demands of the labor market for those middle class jobs also changed. New and different skills are required, new occupations are institutionalized and codified relatively autonomously in the market. Given these movements this session aims to discuss studies focused on the following issues: What is the social and economic value of different types of diplomas? What are the social processes that link diplomas and professional careers? What are the social rules that associate diplomas with procedures for recruitment and promotion in the job market? What kind of relationship exists between the courses offered in higher education and the places offered in the labor market? In short: what is the place of higher education in the organization of social inequalities in the job market? 
RC04	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s10	Mass Participation to Higher Education and Social Justice	 // Mass Participation to Higher Education and Social Justice Session Organizers Marios VRYONIDES, European University of Cyprus, Cyprus,   Iasonas LAMPRIANOU, University of Cyprus, Cyprus,   Session in English In many countries, official statistics present a picture of relative openness in higher education, in the sense that it shows an increasing number of students (male and female) progressing to higher education. These figures, however, do not shed light into the way young individuals and their families make their choices for their future and the social forms in which these choices are embedded. While more lower class students enter university, inequalities seem to arise from the unequal horizons for choice making. Middle class students and their families for example engage in choice-making at higher education with broader options while lower classes often have restricted horizons. This session invites papers to address macro and micro sociological factors that relate to the structure of available opportunities on offer and its subsequent consequence for social justice. 
RC04	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s11	National Educational Systems: Globalization Challenges 	 // National Educational Systems: Globalization Challenges Session Organizer Svetlana SHARONOVA, St. Tikhon`s Orthodox University, Russia,   Session in English One of the main characteristics of globalization is unification of values, norms, structures, and so on. The Bologna process is one of the best examples of intense globalization of national education systems. The contradiction between the imposition of the unification and preservation of uniqueness of national educational systems is realized and accordingly is accompanied by EU members on at least two scenarios. The first is EU member countries not belonging to the Socialist camp. The first scenario has two strategies of development of the Bologna process. One strategy strives to create a monolithic structure of the EU, something similar to the former USSR, where there are uniform requirements and standards in education, in employment qualifications, working conditions and so on. Another strategy is trying to follow the rules of the game without putting a hard change national educational system. The second – EU member countries in the Socialist camp. These countries are accustomed to years of Socialist development of the ideological subordination of national education systems by the Bologna process as a new version of ideological uniformity and tried to formally match EU standards. This is the principle of standardization which was peculiar to the Socialist community. The paradox is that they try to follow standards that are not in the Bologna process. Despite differences in the strategies of these contradictions economic problems come on the first plan. Europe has been a wave of indignation by striking students and faculty. But financial issues are always associated with the economic condition of society. Whatever was not happy a State financing for education is always dependent on the ideology of the State. The education system is becoming a priority in funding if the State builds a long-term strategy of its development and is striving to overcome the shortcomings of the existing economic and social relations. These priorities depend on the culture of a particular State. It is culture that determined the specific features of the national education system. It is culture that defines and specificity of work ethics, labour skills, a system of labour relations. The proposed terms of matters to the scientific community is as follows: As far as the solution to the economic problems as simply increasing or maintaining funding educational system solves the problem of its qualitative advantages What is the point of convergence is the alignment of values or the uniform rules of the game What are the ideological priorities peculiar to national systems of education at the present stage of the development 
RC04	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s12	New and Persisting Forms of Gender Inequality in Education: Theoretical and Empirical Advances 	 // New and Persisting Forms of Gender Inequality in Education: Theoretical and Empirical Advances Session Organizers Joanna SIKORA, Australian National University, Australia,   Lawrence J. SAHA, Australian National University, Australia,   Session in English While gender equity policies in education have, without doubt, facilitated profound changes in reversing traditional gender inequality in access to education, gender remains one of the strongest determinants of many educational outcomes. Young women nowadays are, in many countries, more likely to expect and achieve university education. Nevertheless men and women continue to concentrate in different fields of study, and enter different occupations. On the one hand, within academia women continue to be underrepresented in the professoriate, in many fields and in prestigious research institutions. On the other hand, much attention has been directed to the recent rise of women within education, women`s educational success and the “boy problem.” This raises important questions about the relationship of the egalitarian ideology and the actual practices in schools and at universities. While direct gender discrimination is arguably a thing of the past, educational environments continue to be segregated by gender on a number of dimensions. The goal of this session is to bring together the most recent research on old and new forms of gender inequality in education ranging from primary school classes to secondary and tertiary education, and gender segregation in the academia. Both theoretical and empirical papers are welcome, and the goal is to arrive at a closer understanding of how and why gender inequities persist and emerge in new forms. 
RC04	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s13	Professional Ethics in University Education: The Contribution of this Field of Research and Teaching to Face Inequality 	 // Professional Ethics in University Education: The Contribution of this Field of Research and Teaching to Face Inequality Session Organizer Anita Cecilia HIRSCH ADLER, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   Session in English/Spanish Professional ethics is a relevant field of research and teaching, based in fundamental principles that were originally created by Biomedical Sciences and that because of their enormous contribution permeated all the other knowledge areas. The principal starting point for this development was at the end of the Second World War, with the Nuremberg Code in 1947, which initiated the regulation of medical research with human beings. The several codes that have being created since then, have achieved a consensus about four principles: Beneficence, Non-maleficence, Autonomy and Justice. The principles provide and important framework to search for different ways to face inequality in education. We will like to debate this possibility and to incorporate other ideas from the session participants to answer the question: How can professional ethics contribute to diminish inequality? 
RC04	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s14	RC04 Business Meeting	 // RC04 Business Meeting Session Organizer Anthony Gary DWORKIN, The University of Houston, USA,   
RC04	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s15	Recovering Knowledge for Sociology: Unequal Knowledges of Unequal Power 	 // Recovering Knowledge for Sociology: Unequal Knowledges of Unequal Power Session Organizer Arturo ESCANDON, Nanzan University, Japan,   Session in English/French/Spanish Knowledge is described as a defining feature of modern societies – we live in ‘knowledge societies’ and work in ‘knowledge economies’, but what that knowledge is, its forms and its effects, are neglected by sociology. Knowledge is treated as having no inner structures with powers and tendencies, as if all forms and their realizations are homogeneous and neutral. Most sociologies of education and knowledge focus on relations to knowledge (of class, race, gender, sexuality and now region), reducing knowledge to reflections of different kinds of social power. This session comprises papers that address the forms of knowledge and pedagogic discourse and their effects for power relations, without succumbing to reductionism or essentialism. It builds on the rapidly growing school of social realist sociology of education, that draws in particular on the code theory of Basil Bernstein. Papers will explore how differences within knowledge and discourse are both shaped by and in turn shape differences in relations of power in education. A particular focus are how the organizing principles of different knowledge practices, affect educational outcomes, through relations with the different dispositions students bring to education and the different forms of curriculum and pedagogy they encounter. 
RC04	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s16	Social Implications of Educational Inequities 	 // Social Implications of Educational Inequities Session Organizer Siddharamesh HIREMATH, Gulbarga University, India,   Session in English Education since long has been viewed as a social trait that determines conditions and quality of as well as equity in social and physical existence of people. Hence, education is accorded priority in planning, viewing it as an investment for better future. However, inequities in access to educational opportunities and attainments continue to persist and inequities in other spheres of social life are viewed as its functional derivatives. Access to educational opportunities tends to be socially conditioned, and marginalization of social groups on the considerations of class, caste, religion, gender and ethnicity manifest themselves in exclusions and differential access to educational opportunities, which in turn are assumed to be having negative implications for equity and social justice in other spheres of social existence. Hence, academic deliberations on the causes, extent, nature and consequences of inequities in access to educational opportunities are viewed as of immense applied and curative significance in as much as they provide empirical insights into and estimates of such inequities for remedial policy measures. It is assumed that Sociologists probing into the complex social structure, functions and dysfunctions of education are aware of these developments in different cultural contexts and are seeking to discover equations and patterns underlying inequities in education and inequities through inequities education. The session invites empirical and conceptual papers that deal contextually with the rationale, reasons, extent, nature and implications of educational inequities in diverse cultures. 
RC04	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s17	Social Justice and Cognitive Justice. The North-South Dialogue and the Role of the Universities 	 // Social Justice and Cognitive Justice. The North-South Dialogue and the Role of the Universities Session Organizer Antonio TEODORO, Lusophone University, Portugal,   Session in English/French/Spanish Education, its practices and specific theories, have relevant characteristics when thinking about building a lasting social justice. The thought of Amaryta Sen concerning social justice is essential to understand the sense of agency or empowerment, of individuals introducing an ethical conscience in the economy and a new concept of human development based on freedom. In this context, it is where a theory of social justice makes sense that takes into account both redistribution and recognition (the inequalities and differences) with an axis in higher education as a privileged arena for attention to both challenges. Among the issues concerning justice and a true recognition cognitive justice at the university, cannot be kept away knowledge that has been construct outside Western Culture. A cognitive act of justice to which the education system can contribute at a high degree of impact and success is to recognize in their universities what Boaventura de Sousa Santos called the ecology of knowledge. 
RC04	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s18	Sociologies of Education: After the Fragmentation of Modernity and its Educational Projects 	 // Sociologies of Education: After the Fragmentation of Modernity and its Educational Projects Session Organizers Terri SEDDON, Monash University, Australia,   Julie MATTHEWS, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia,   Session in English This session mobilises sociological thinking to re-theorise educational spaces, educational work and educational politics that accompany global transitions to neo-liberal states. Our aim is to map the sources and debates that structure sociological work, which explains the re-making of educational projects, practices and politics in the 21st century as a way of re-grounding conversations about sociologies of education in ways that can step outside the discourse of 20th century schooling. The transition to neo-liberal states is reconstituting national educational projects from schooling to skilling. Through the 19th and 20th eurocentric states mobilised schooling as an instrument of governing and staffing. These systems of schooling were designed to induct children and adolescents into nationalist practices of citizenship and to allocate appropriately prepared graduates of schooling to a stratified labour market and. Now, organisations dedicated to educational functions, such as schools, colleges and universities universities, are being re-engineered to service skill supply chains that coordinate globally distributed lifelong learning and its human capital flows. These institutional changes integrate working and learning more intimately than in the modernist educational project and mobilise various forms of “applied learning” to bridge between skilling spaces and workplaces, opening up opportunities for work-related and work-integrated learning. Meanwhile, the cultural work achieved through 20th century schooling is reworked and sometimes sloughed off into emerging educational spaces that are differentiated for learners at the top, middle and bottom of the social order: global centres of learning for elites, private schools for the middle and aspirational working class, and a mix of welfare, learning and policing organised through community settings and the penal system. Understanding these transitions and emergent educational spaces is now central to debates related to global sociology of education. These debates step beyond the national frames and methodological nationalist assumptions that prevailed in 20th century sociology of education and are beginning to develop concepts for understanding education outside discourses of schooling. It is an agenda that is being actively developed through journals such as Globalisation, Societies and Education, and book series, including the Routledge World Yearbook of Education, which since 2005 has been consolidating concepts and transnational debates and empirical research on education and globalisation. The European Sociologies of Education network, which had its inaugural meeting at ECER 2012 in Cadiz, has begun the process of identifying core themes in this emerging trajectory of sociological theorising. 
RC04	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s19	The Challenge of Education during Protracted Conflicts: Israel and Cyprus from a Comparative Perspective 	 // The Challenge of Education during Protracted Conflicts: Israel and Cyprus from a Comparative Perspective Session Organizer Gal LEVY, The Open University of Israel, Israel,   Session in English Education is a seemingly consensual process. It is designed to reach out to the various parts of society, offering children of different background and life circumstances common grounds for personal development and for integration into society. This conception however constitutes a challenge in any society, all the more so in societies living under constant conditions of protracted conflicts. Cyprus and Israel are two such societies where ethno-national conflicts overshadow all aspects of life. Under these circumstances, the question of how do educational policies address and confront the condition of conflict becomes pertinent, and even symptomatic to an understanding of how education systems at large approach the notion of conflict. The proposed session is designed to present and further elaborate on the fruits of a workshop, held under the auspices of The Open University of Israel Research Institute for Policy, Political Economy and Society in 2013, that brought together researchers from Cyprus and Israel, and from both sides of the conflicting societies. In this session, we ask to learn about the teaching of the conflict in each society, and to further investigate the lessons from each case. This, we hope, will help us extend our understanding of the challenges of teaching about conflicts elsewhere. 
RC04	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s20	The Impacts of Globalization and Neo-Liberalism on the Morale, Turnover, and Supply of the Professional Staff in Primary and Secondary Schools 	 // The Impacts of Globalization and Neo-Liberalism on the Morale, Turnover, and Supply of the Professional Staff in Primary and Secondary Schools Session Organizer Anthony Gary DWORKIN, University of Houston, USA,   Session in English/Spanish Globalization pressures for the homogenization of curricula and standards, often based upon models that exist in Core nations. Neo-liberalism demands greater accountability for educational outcomes and often relies on externally-imposed, high-stakes tests and an assessment of schools and educators on the basis of the performances of their students on such tests. While reliance on external, standardized testing as an accountability tool is most often found in developed nations, the globalization of the labor market and the competition among all nations has led to the imposition of similar testing practices in developing nations. The reliance on externalized, high-stakes tests for accountability tends to diminish teacher and administrator morale, heighten staff burnout, and the turnover school professionals. Underlying the relationship between school systems (and perhaps the society as a whole) and educational professionals is a social contract based on mutual trust. Such trust is abrogated when external accountability systems are imposed on schools and education practitioners. When burnout and turnover occurs, schools and school systems are challenged to provide adequate educator staffing. The results can be significant school overcrowding, with compromised student learning outcomes – both of which can challenge schools and school personnel to meet accountability standards. The process can be a vicious cycle. However, given the likelihood of greater globalization and demands for accountability, it is necessary for educational systems to develop and explore variants in assessment standards and practices that do not drive away educators and result in diminished student learning outcomes. Abstracts are solicited that address the effects of globalization and accountability on teacher and administrator morale, burnout, and turnover. Additionally, the session seeks abstracts that examine possible changes in the implementation of accountability systems that will heighten student learning and create support and resiliency among the professional staff. 
RC04	s21	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s21	The Universities in the Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism 	 // The Universities in the Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism Session Organizer Keiko YOKOYAMA, Stockholm University, Sweden,   Session in English Neoliberal capitalism has faced severe criticism both in principle and in practice since 2008 credit crunch, with rising youth unemployment, the growing income polarisation and the contrasting feature of shrinking and growing middle classes between developed and emerging markets. The universities have been the tool of the middle-class families for their children’s future employment in high-skill, high-wage occupations. However, such function and the ideology of meritocracy seem to stop working in many advanced capitalist countries, including Europe, Japan and the US. The purpose of the session is to identify if the latest status of Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism has reshaped the function of the universities. The session is significant because it would offer some interpretations on the effect of the current socio-economic upheaval on the socio-cultural function of the universities. It also suits a conference theme, “Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology,” highlighting the issues around inequality and a problem in wealth distribution. The session will cover relationship between neoliberal capitalism and social stratification and mobility in the updated context. It would welcome various perspectives – not only from advanced capitalist countries but also emerging markets – and the various types of proposals, incorporating theoretical/conceptual, empirical and methodological perspectives. 
RC04	s22	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s22	Transitions from School to Post-Secondary Education and Work	 // Transitions from School to Post-Secondary Education and Work Session Organizer Jeanne BALLANTINE, Wright State University, USA,   Session in English Post-secondary work and educational opportunities raise questions about employment of low-skilled service workers versus high skilled tech jobs in the changing economic marketplace. Different countries and regions of the world have different strategies for developing a trained work force, lowering unemployment, and providing post-secondary options from skills training and apprenticeships to university education. What is being done in different nations to provide university and specialized vocational educational opportunities for the changing labor force is the focus of this session. What are models for dealing with the transitions to meet economic demands? 
RC04	s23	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC04#s23	World Atlas of Adult Education 	 // World Atlas of Adult Education Session Organizer Ari ANTIKAINEN, University of Eastern Finland, Finland,   Session in English Opinions vary as to whether adult education and learning is a universal institution. At any rate, it is a very common institution that has spread all around. The UNESCO Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (2010) classifies the supply of adult education into three categories according to the sophistication of the supply. The empirical criterion is the placement of the country on the Education for All Development Index. In countries of low development adult education has been defined in terms of adult literacy, in countries of medium development in terms of human resources development, and in countries of high development in terms of a lifelong learning framework. The classification also reveals the key issues and the variability of the suppliers of education. Adult education is, however, connected at least with the civil society, the state, and the market. Further, any development or social change could be studied from many perspectives like from a policy perspective (the fastest change), from an institutional perspective, and from a socio-cultural perspective (the slowest change). What is the position and status of adult education in different socio-historical contexts and/or for different social groups? What kind of restructuring processes are going on? How to study the dialectical relationship between global and local/national? What sorts of learning histories, or contextualized life stories of adults, can we find? Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations, RC05
RC05	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s1	Articulations of Ethnicity, Race and Nationhood	 // Articulations of Ethnicity, Race and Nationhood Session Organizer Sirma BILGE, Montreal University, Canada,   Session in English This session welcomes theoretically informed and empirically grounded papers on an array of issues pertaining to the articulations of ethnic and racialised difference across different national and supranational spaces and combining ideally in their analyses representational/discursive and structural/institutional elements. 
RC05	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s2	Challenges of Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Asia Pacific Region 	 // Challenges of Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Asia Pacific Region Session Organizer Christine INGLIS, University of Sydney, Australia,   Session in English Historically the societies of the Asia Pacific region have been characterized by extreme diversity in their patterns of ethnic relations. Decolonization, economic change and international migration have been associated with major changes in these patterns which continue in flux as the societies in the region confront new challenges associated with political conflict and responses to the global economic crisis. Papers in this session will examine the emerging patterns of inter-ethnic relations and ask whether or not they suggest the need for a major reformulation of our understandings of global approaches to diversity. 
RC05	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s3	Challenges of Research on Belonging and Identity: Critical Engagements with Theory and Methods 	 // Challenges of Research on Belonging and Identity: Critical Engagements with Theory and Methods Session Organizers Helma LUTZ, Frankfurt University, Germany,   Karim MURJI, Open University, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session aims to build on the well-received panels on belonging at the Social Forum in 2012. We invite papers that engage critically with the methodological and theoretical challenges of undertaking research on belonging and identity, including but not limited to questions such as the positionality of the researcher, and the challenges of avoiding “othering” and non-orientalist perspectives, as well as of representing the complexity of intersectional identities. 
RC05	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s4	Comparative Xenophobia: State Responses in Different Countries 	 // Comparative Xenophobia: State Responses in Different Countries Session Organizers Kogila MOODLEY, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Heribert ADAM, Simon Fraser University, Canada,   Session in English Xenophobia, racism and nationalism, like misogyny or homophobia, are part of a common syndrome, but are not identical. Directed against different collectivities, with different rationalizations, state responses also vary widely. They range from denial and repatriation (South Africa), exclusion (Europe), opportunistic tolerance (US) to a relative welcoming of immigrants (Canada). Under which social conditions does xenophobia thrive? Are these responses solely determined by economic exigencies? Should mainstream political parties accommodate the problematic sentiment or attempt to marginalize it in fringe right-wing parties? Can Western welfare states sustain their benefits with porous borders? We invite papers that compare xenophobia in at least two societies empirically as well as theoretically. 
RC05	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s5	Contemporary Right-Wing Racist Populism 	 // Contemporary Right-Wing Racist Populism Session Organizers Scott POYNTING, University of Auckland, New Zealand,   Ulrike M. VIETEN, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom,   Session in English Right-wing populist movements are burgeoning globally, exacerbated by the insecurities of the global financial crisis and the associated ideological scapegoating. Neo-conservativism has for several decades fostered attacks on multiculturalism and appealed to the fantasy of assimilation and reinforcement of national culture. To what extent has this been associated with the current rise of popular xenophobia and racist movements? From the 1990s there has been virulent racism against asylum seekers in many countries, with populist campaigning for securing of borders and expulsion of so-called “illegals.” Since 9/11, the “War on Terror” and associated Islamophobia have prompted racist reactions involving international connections, often through the Internet. The global economic crisis and the social and political instability in the Euro-zone/EU engender the rise of neo-fascist and populist movements such as “Golden Dawn” in Greece. Meanwhile, in Western Europe for instance, coalition agreements move to normalise extreme right-wing, parochial and anti-foreigner populism and attendant policies. There are interesting international connections in such movements, facilitated by the Internet sharing of ideologies but with perhaps indicative organisational links. A Florida pastor, infamous for publicly burning the Quran, has exchanged visits with the anti-Muslim and anti-immigration English Defence League, who for their part elicited written admiration from racist mass murderer Anders Breivik in Norway. The Netherlands parliamentarian Geert Wilders had taken his Islamophobic and anti-foreigner roadshow to the U.K. and to Australia at the invitation of populist right-wing Islamophobes. What is the significance of such connections? This session aims to bring together case studies of movements of new right-wing racist populism, and particularly encourages international comparative studies. 
RC05	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s6	Cosmopolitanism versus Post-Nationalism 	 // Cosmopolitanism versus Post-Nationalism Session Organizer Farida FOZDAR, The University of Western Australia, Australia,   Session in English Cosmopolitanism has become something of dirty word, due to criticisms in some quarters that it is too broad and unspecific, too value laden, and limited to those in elite privileged positions. This session asks whether it is time for a new, less invested word – would post-nationalism do the trick? Papers are invited that address the question of how cosmopolitanism and post-nationalism differ; whether, and in what contexts, nations still matter; whether nationalism and post-national (or cosmopolitan) sensibilities can and do co-exist; how post-nationalism at the structural level of transnational companies and political institutions is related to vernacular, everyday instances of cosmopolitanism; whether post-nationalism or cosmopolitanism is the more useful concept for consideration of human rights and issues of social justice; and how apparently growing xenophobia and the multiculturalism backlash are related to post-nationalism and cosmopolitanism. What might post-nationalism look like at a structural and individual level, and how might it differ from cosmopolitanism? 
RC05	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s7	Critical Public Engagements with Race and Racism 	 // Critical Public Engagements with Race and Racism Session Organizer Karim MURJI, Open University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Questions about the purpose and impact of sociological and race related scholarship are of long standing. But what now are the issues and challenges of critical race research in different contexts and changing academic environments? In what ways have and can sociologists of race contest racism in academia but also beyond the university? This session invites proposals of work that engage with these questions. In particular, examples and studies of the use of social media and other forms of public engagement, as well as of working with social movements, are sought with the aim of illustrating and analysing scholarly activism within and beyond the academy. 
RC05	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s8	Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Muslim Minorities	 // Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Muslim Minorities Session Organizer Nahid KABIR, University of South Australia, Australia,   Session in English Many countries, both developed and developing, take pride in their democratic and secular ethos. But the democratic ethos is problematic when Muslim minorities are racially, ethnically and religiously marked as the “other.” Structural inequality can be revealed through political rhetoric, media representation, unequal labour market status, racial profiling, and anti-Muslim and Islamophobic acts. Abstracts are welcome on three themes: Does structural inequality have any impact on the formation of Muslim identity? How are Muslims coping within the framework of integration and social cohesion? What is the position of Muslim women in the dynamics of inequality in contemporary societies? 
RC05	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s9	Japanese Identification: in Japan, in Diasporas, and Transnationally 	 // Japanese Identification: in Japan, in Diasporas, and Transnationally Session Organizer Georgina TSOLIDIS, University of Ballarat, Australia,   Session in English This session concerns Japanese identity issues and how these are framed in Japan, in diaspora(s) and/or transnationally. Diasporic identification is understood here in the sense developed by Hall: a process that reflects an interdependency between at least two cultural formations and, in so doing, both invokes an historical past and evokes new representations of what it is possible to become. Diasporic experience may vary depending on the location of the diaspora. Reflections on how transnationality may affect Japanese identity are also invited. Family, particularly the role of women, is understood as pivotal in diasporic identification. The micro dynamics of the everyday offer an evocative “bottom up” means of understanding the tensions implicit in news ways of becoming. Through this framework it is possible to shed light on lived experiences of racism, dislocation and alienation on the one hand, and, on the other, to consider how the complex power relations within everyday life can mediate a sense of resistance and hope. Papers may also examine the utility of such a framework (or of alternatives) in understanding ways of belonging within Japanese society. The session will bring together papers that offer insights into the lived experience of being Japanese – in Japan or in diaspora(s). Framed in relation to everyday life, these will explore the above questions in terms of family, youth, schooling and/or old age. 
RC05	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s10	Local, National, and International Policies, and the Promotion of Ethnic and Racial Inclusion: Problematizing Systemic and Persistent Social and Economic Inequalities 	 // Local, National, and International Policies, and the Promotion of Ethnic and Racial Inclusion: Problematizing Systemic and Persistent Social and Economic Inequalities Session Organizers Lori WILKINSON, University of Manitoba, Canada,   Evangelia TASTSOGLOU, Saint Mary`s University, Canada,   Session in English Racial, ethnic, religious, and citizenship-based forms of discrimination are all products of social organization throughout the world. Various United Nations Conventions concerning inequality and discrimination are intended to address the inequalities perpetuated by the organization of our societies. Moreover, many local jurisdictions, states and supra-national entities have introduced their own policies and legislation in an attempt to balance the opportunities of those marginalized by virtue of their membership in one or more of these collectivities. An active human rights discourse has questioned, resisted and delegitimized existing hierarchies of belonging and consequent marginalization, but with limited success. Citizens continue to be marginalized by virtue of their membership in a particular social group. Economic, social and political inequalities are inevitable and in more dire conditions, social unrest and civil war result. Various explanations have been offered, including the proliferation of neoliberal agendas and global capitalism. There are, however, grounds for hope, emerging examples of “best practices” that can be shared and analysed to allow us to dismantle political systems that perpetuate these inequalities. How can sociology help us to create more inclusive spaces for belonging? What has sociology contributed to our understanding and implementation of social justice? This session invites papers which examine social inequalities based on race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, or other identification with a particular group, or a combination of these in a national context. Why are social, economic and political inequalities increasing despite the growing and vocal international human rights discourse? Why are cultural, religious, racial, national and ethnic labels increasingly relevant in the 21st century? Why do human rights discourses have little impact on international discourse on inequality? What practices can help societies address the inconsistencies between formal discourses on equality and inclusion and inequalities and marginalization on the ground? What practices can help societies recognize and resolve inequalities related to race, ethnicity, citizenship, belonging and nationality? Papers may be primarily theoretical, individual case studies, or comparative (e.g. cross national) comparisons. 
RC05	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s11	Migration, Racialization, and Autochthonous Far-Right Movements 	 // Migration, Racialization, and Autochthonous Far-Right Movements Session Organizers Umut EREL, Open University, United Kingdom,   Nira YUVAL-DAVIS, University of East London, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session addresses the relationship between migration and racialization and how autochthonous far-right movements are increasingly shaping public debate about this. Increasing mobility, alongside more and more strenuous border controls, the stratification of mobility, residence and social rights of migrants are factors leading to the racialization of the figure of the “migrant” and those who are constructed as “not belonging”. Those migrants who are seen to especially embody undesirable forms of mobility or as threatening those “who belong”: refugees, undocumented migrants and “terrorists” are especially targeted. Economic and legal factors as well as media and cultural representations contribute to the specific forms of racialized subordination of these “undesirable migrants”. Yet, the discourse on uncontrolled, undesirable migration also often revives racist imaginations and mobilizes these against the settled ethnic minority populations, even where these may hold formal citizenship. Migration has a potential of both disrupting and reinforcing existing dynamics of racialization in particular states and societies. These issues are experienced differentially in different parts of the world, where notions of legitimate belonging are justified with recourse to a variety of themes, such as autochthonic belonging, long-term settlement, culture, language, “race”, religion etc. We encourage papers that take account of this diversity of experiences while seeking to articulate wider theoretical insights into the relationship between racialization, migration and the rise of the autochthonous far-right. Papers might address but are not limited to the following questions: How does the arrival of new migrants from the same geography influence the racialization of settled ethnic minorities from the same group? How does the arrival of migrants from other parts of the world, who might be differentially racialized, influence the positioning of settled ethnic minorities? How do transnational circuits of mobility and migration contribute to racialized imaginations and practices both in the “new” countries and in the “homeland”? How are themes and experience of migration racialized to justify exclusionary and racist notions of legitimate belonging, both by mainstream and autochthonous far-right movements? How far do gender, sexuality and other social divisions cross-cut these discourses of legitimate mobility and belonging? For example, is this done through justifying Othering and exclusion on the basis that minorities and migrants supposedly do not respect women`s and gay rights? Or are gender and sexual identities used as bases of solidarity that are opposed to racialized exclusions? 
RC05	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s12	Politics of Excluded Peoples in the Nation-State of the 21st Century. Las políticas de los excluidos en el estado-nación del siglo veintiuno	 // Politics of Excluded Peoples in the Nation-State of the 21st Century. Las políticas de los excluidos en el estado-nación del siglo veintiuno Session Organizer Natividad GUTIERREZ CHONG, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   Session in English/Spanish Worldwide, the nation-state is facing internal dynamics aiming at changing its homogeneous cultural composition. The most visible and challenging internal forces are those of organized political groups, who seek accommodation in the nation-state on their own terms as they demand power, decision making and political representation. This session invites papers that discuss proposals of governability, autonomy and free determination within the nation state. Papers that address political inclusion in the democratic state are particularly welcome, especially ones authored by or from the perspective of excluded groups (as defined by ethnicity, race, gender, class). Por todo el mundo, el estado-nación, enfrenta dinámicas internas que están cambiando su composición culturalmente homogénea. Las fuerzas internas más visibles y desafiantes provienen de organizaciones políticas que buscan acomodarse en el estado-nación bajo sus propios términos en la medida que demandan acceso al poder, poder de decisión y representación política. Esta sesión invita a presentar ponencias que incluyan propuestas de gobernabilidad, autonomía y libre terminación en co-existencia con el estado-nación. Aquellas ponencias que propongan la inclusión política dentro del estado de tendencia democrática son particularmente bienvenidas, especialmente las que provengan desde la perspectiva de grupos excluidos en razón a su diferencia de etnicidad, raza, género o clase. 
RC05	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s13	Politics of Masculinities Racialised as Deviant and Dangerous 	 // Politics of Masculinities Racialised as Deviant and Dangerous Session Organizers Sirma BILGE, Montreal University, Canada,   Scott POYNTING, University of Auckland, New Zealand,   Session in English Many forms of contemporary racism involve the construction of the male immigrant from the Global South as deviant and dangerous, misogynistic and homophobic. Arguably, these types of sexualized and gendered representational practices have been at all times part and parcel of racialising processes. The legacy of slavery has entailed hypersexualisation and animalisation in racist modes of constructing the Black Other, both men and women. Colonialism in general, and Orientalism in particular, has relied on similarly racialised repertoires wherein the perceived gender and sexual inferiority of the non-European “Other” provided the civilizational index legitimating the colonisation. At our historical juncture, public and political debates over immigration and integration tend increasingly to cluster around an array of hot topics, ranging from “ethnic gangs” to “honour crimes”, to “bogus asylum seekers”, to “forced marriages”, all operating through threatening male figures: the oppressive family patriarch, the uneducated juvenile delinquent, the religious fanatic, the terrorist, the criminal refugee claimant, the polygamist, the rapist, the homophobic youth, etc. In the context of post 9/11 globalised Islamophobia, Muslim masculinities are particularly demonised, regularly depicted as degenerate, primitive or backward, uncivilised, unreliable, sexually predatory, hyperpatriarchal, authoritarian and inimical to enlightened western values. This session broadly tackles the increased role that pathologised masculinities from the Global South has come to play in the drawing of symbolic boundaries of the nationhood across the Global North. Topics might range from gang cultures to “honour crimes”, to polygamy, to sexual violence such as gang rape and sexual exploitation such as “grooming” rings, to domestic or family violence, to “radicalisation” implicated in the “war on terrorism”. We especially welcome analyses that attend to the workings of these racialised discursive formations in the cultural circuit, while also addressing the political economy of which they are part and parcel. 
RC05	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s14	RC05 Business Meeting 	 // RC05 Business Meeting Session Organizer Ann DENIS, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English RC05 Business Meeting session will be followed by RC05 reception/party. Provisionally evening of Tuesday, July 15. 
RC05	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s15	Social Structure and Identities: National and/or Transnational Analyses of Racism or Ethnic relations 	 // Social Structure and Identities: National and/or Transnational Analyses of Racism or Ethnic relations Session Organizers Vilma Bashi TREITLER, City University of New York, USA,   Ann DENIS, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English This session invites papers that interrogate the ways social structures impinge on the construction, retention, and ability to transform or entrench identities; and conversely, on the ways identity formation and identity politics reshape, contort, shore up or tear down social structures. Together the papers will offer the potential for discussion in the session about comparative analyses of the relationship(s) between social structures and (ethnic/racial/national) identity groups, in that the individual analyses will be explicitly embedded in national, international, or transnational socioeconomic and political contexts. Papers which themselves present comparative analyses are also welcomed. 
RC05	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s16	Upsurge of Xenophobia in Contemporary Japan: Its Causes and Uniqueness 	 // Upsurge of Xenophobia in Contemporary Japan: Its Causes and Uniqueness Session Organizers Kikuko NAGAYOSHI, Tohoku University, Japan,   Shunsuke TANABE, Waseda University, Japan,   Session in English From the late 1990s, Japanese society has witnessed an upsurge of xenophobia along with the increase of foreign residents. On changing their target from “masochistic” history education to foreign residents, the grassroots right-wing movements have spread and radicalized. This session tries to examine the causes of the upsurge of xenophobia in Japan and its similarities and dissimilarities with the xenophobia in other countries. This session might include following themes: Who participates in radical right movements in Japan, and why do they participate? How do economic, cultural, and geopolitical conditions relate to the upsurge of this xenophobia? Does “race” or ethnicity matter in xenophobia in contemporary Japan? What kinds of roles do the government, political parties, and media play in the upsurge of xenophobia? 
RC05	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC05#s17	Who Lives with Whom: Ethnic Relations, Community and Integration in Japan 	 // Who Lives with Whom: Ethnic Relations, Community and Integration in Japan Session Organizers Milos DEBNAR, Kyoto University, Japan,   Ann DENIS, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English Scholars focusing on increasing, multidimensional diversification of migration and its consequences, such as Steven Vertovec and his “super-diversity” (2007), those questioning presumptions of “natural” inclination to ethnic solidarity and group formation (Wimmer 2004, 2009), or the growing scholarship discussing cosmopolitanism among migrants in various forms all point to the need of scrutinizing the role of ethnic relations and communities in the process of integration. Although much of this work has studied countries with a longer immigration history, Japan has experienced unprecedented growth and diversification of its foreign populations in recent decades. Not only is the national and/or ethnic make-up of this population changing rapidly, growing scholarship on migration to Japan unveils patterns of migration which are also increasingly diversified along such dimensions such as class, region of origin or gender. Yet, the ethnic communities are often conceived, rather uncritically, as the sole units of organization and/or integration of migrants in Japan. The purpose of this session is thus to critically asses how the increasing diversity does (or does not) affect the issue of “who lives with whom” in Japan. We would particularly welcome papers addressing one or more of the following issues: What is the role of ethnic relations and ethnic communities in the integration process in Japan? Changing relations with the majority population in Japan How these issues are/should be reflected in (ethnic) integration policy-making in Japan? Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Family Research, RC06
RC06	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s1	Caretakers of Families` Children and Elders 	 // Caretakers of Families` Children and Elders Session Organizer Mark HUTTER, Rowan University, USA,   Session in English This session will focus on the quite common practice of professional caretakers (often referred to as Nannies) of the elderly and of children and the impact they have on the families that they serve as well as their own families. Papers should reflect the complexity of the domestic emotional labor relationship that can exist between nanny caretakers and their charges – children or the elderly. Nanny caretakers come from many countries throughout the world and serve families in many different countries. Papers can examine how nannies form and create communities in their foreign countries. In addition, papers may focus attention on the transnational social relationships that exist between nannies who maintain emotional, social, economic, and familial ties to their own family members residing back in their home countries. Further, papers can examine the development of relationships among family members who have joined the nannies in their foreign country. The impact of geographical mobility and separation on the processes of identification formation as well as processes of assimilation and acculturation to life in their new country is another topic paper may deal with. Papers that focus on the implications this has for future family relationships for nannies both in their country of origin and in their country of residence are also of interest. 
RC06	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s2	Cultural Capital and Parenting in Global Asia 	 // Cultural Capital and Parenting in Global Asia Session Organizer Yi-Ping Eva SHIH, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts. Invited panel session . In the United States, there is a heated debate about the strengths and weakness of Asian “Tiger Mom” tactics for child rearing. Likewise, many parents in East Asia are anxious about how to prepare the next generation for the future. Thus, many of them push their children to master the English language, to study abroad, and/or to pursue an internationally recognized diploma. This increasingly prevalent phenomenon of “internationalization/globalization of parenting repertoire” has motivated us to organize a panel to discuss new sociological approaches to studying parenting that combine insights from both cultural sociology and family studies. In brief, this panel seeks to discuss how Asian families blend local and global culture in and through their childrearing practices. We will also examine how fathers and mothers deliberate socialization by utilizing a cultural toolkit that comes across national borders. Particularly, one focus of the panel is to explore the formation and practices of cultural capital among (East) Asian families in relation to the importance of social class. To initiate a dialogue among different East Asian societies, this panel plans to include researchers who study Japanese, Taiwanese, and Asian American families. This inquiry will not only elaborate our understanding of the changing contour of East Asian families, but will also further develop theories about culture formation within and outside of East Asian families. 
RC06	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s3	Emerging New Family Forms in Asia and Beyond	 // Emerging New Family Forms in Asia and Beyond Session Organizers Wei-Jun Jean YEUNG, National University of Singapore, Singapore,   Ka-Lok Adam CHEUNG, National University of Singapore, Singapore,   Session in English In 1963, based on his cross-cultural analysis, William J. Goode predicted a convergence of world family to conjugal family as industrialization spreads. Half a century later, rapid economic development has occurred in almost every country in Asia. To what extent does Goode`s prediction match the current development of family structures in the Asian context? While nuclear family has become a more dominant form, new forms of family such as single person household, skipped generation, single-parent household, and childless families have begun to increase. Potential reasons for these trends can include increased geographic mobility, lengthened young adulthood and life expectancy, or change in family values. Asia houses forty per cent of the world population. The diverse and unique cultural, demographic, socioeconomic, and policy contexts across Asian countries shape how the family patterns change across the region. Today`s families in South Asia (such as Indian and Nepal), Southeast Asia (such as Singapore and Thailand) and East Asia (such as China and Korea) face different challenges and opportunities. Comparative research that addresses the similarities and differences on these emerging new family forms among the Asian societies is needed. We propose to organize a session in RC06 that provides a platform for scholars to systematically examine structural changes in contemporary Asian families. In this session, we invite papers to compare the trend of emerging new family structures such as skipped-generation households and single-person households across different countries in Asia. Participants will also be invited to investigate the driving forces behind the changes and the differences. Cross-national and cross-temporal perspectives are especially welcome. 
RC06	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s4	Facing an Unequal World: Social Capital and Families in a Cross-Cultural Perspective	 // Facing an Unequal World: Social Capital and Families in a Cross-Cultural Perspective Session Organizers Fausto AMARO, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal,   Bárbara BARBOSA NEVES, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal Session in English This session explores the role of families in the production, accrual, and reproduction of social capital. Social capital is a multidisciplinary concept with a variety of definitions, but it broadly refers to the resources embedded in our social ties/communities. It has been associated with a variety of positive outcomes, from status attainment to alleviation of poverty. Those with a higher level of social capital seem to have more professional and social opportunities, and to be better off. So, what is the relationship between family life and social capital? How do families contribute to the creation and maintenance of social capital? Do they create specific types of social capital? How does the diversity of contemporary family forms affect social capital? Can families and social capital help us to overcome crises and an unequal world? Or do they reinforce inequalities? Both theoretical and empirical proposals that cover a range of themes in relation to family and social capital in a cross-cultural perspective are welcome, including but not limited to the following topics: Access and mobilization of social capital; Reproduction of social capital; Dimensions of social capital; Bonding social capital; Bridging social capital; Stratification and social capital; Individual and collective-level social capital; Measurement of social capital; Implications of social capital for family life; Violence and social capital; and, Dark side of social capital. 
RC06	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s5	Families in the Developing Countries	 // Families in the Developing Countries Session Organizer Ria SMIT, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Session in English Although families across the world are confronted with life challenges, families in developing countries may experience some of these challenges more acutely. Poverty; globalization; political turmoil; health epidemics and demographic changes are but a few aspects which may have an impact on family life in these countries. Confronted with the challenges of living in societies in transformation, the question arises as to how families are living up to these challenges and how it impacts family dynamics. Papers focusing on family life in the developing world are invited for this session. 
RC06	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s6	Family Studies Based on Quantitative Analyses of Surveys	 // Family Studies Based on Quantitative Analyses of Surveys Session Organizers Rokuro TABUCHI, Sophia University, Japan,   Sigeto TANAKA, Tohoku University, Japan,   Session in English Papers that address family issues using survey data from all over the world are welcome. Preference will be given to national or local data sets especially those from Asia. The mission of session organizers is to facilitate the sharing of national and local data sets and promote future collaboration among participants. Papers that focus on some aspect of balancing family and work demands are especially welcome but other family topics will be considered. Work-family balance needs particular attention especially in societies where people face extremely low fertility rate and underperformance in women in the labor force, as in Eastern Asia. Although family researchers in all regions worldwide are accumulating more and more micro-level quantitative data on family-related behaviors, sharing that data with researchers from other countries or regions is rare. For instance, in Japan a number of quantitative studies using data from reliable, nationally representative surveys such as NFRJ (National Family Research of Japan) are increasing in number. The sharing of survey data between countries and regions will increase the possibility of comparative studies. 
RC06	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s7	Fatherhood in Transition: A Challenge for Global Sociology 	 // Fatherhood in Transition: A Challenge for Global Sociology Session Organizers Isabella CRESPI, University of Macerata, Italy,   Elisabetta RUSPINI, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy,   Session in English This session intends to explore the changing roles of men as related to fatherhood in a global context. It also intends to explore the social issues including tensions associated with changing male and father identities and related existing social agendas. The transition from modernity to contemporary modernity has been demarcated by radical transitions—including: globalization, sectorial de-industrialization and the de-standardization and increasing precariousness of labour, along with rising education levels, and recurrent economic and political crises. This has been accompanied by a restructuring of intergenerational relations and the transformation of gender identities and family models. Within this complex context, the number of men willing to question the stereotyped model of masculinity is growing. Especially younger men are beginning to claim a greater share in bringing up their children. An awareness of the importance of fathers to the development of their children is growing, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The impact of technology on marriage, family life, and family diversity is also significant. Technology is probably the feature that has changed the most dramatically since the modern period. A general lack of attention (and a lack of comparative research) to the complex intersection between “old” and “new” forms of masculinity, fatherhood and children`s well-being exist. These cultural challenges should be better theorized within family and social policy research. Such changes should be of interest for a wide range of policy areas which impact families, women, men, and children. The session will focus on the opportunities and challenges (to social/cultural systems and welfare regimes) posed by: the changing forms of fatherhood lone fatherhood the impact of migration on fatherhood the impact of ICT-Information and Communication Technologies on fatherhood models. Papers should address one (or more) of these issues, using and combining both qualitative and quantitative social research methods. Papers dealing with on-going projects/good practices aimed at preparing the new generations of men to an equal distribution of family tasks; to care functions; to a different, more reflective form of fatherhood, are particularly welcome. 
RC06	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s8	Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Family Life 	 // Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Family Life Session Organizers Bárbara BARBOSA NEVES, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal,   Cláudia CASIMIRO, University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal,   Session in English This session critically explores the intersection between family life and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The contemporary family is progressively a networked family through a variety of digital technologies. A Pew report concluded, in 2008, that American families were using the Internet and mobile phones to coordinate their lives, to be connected throughout the day, and to bond and share moments online. Is this a cross-cultural behavior? What challenges does this connectedness bring in family routines, relationships, norms, work, intimacy, and privacy? This session aims to address two main broad questions: How do ICT affect and shape contemporary families? and, How do families, in turn, shape ICT? We welcome both theoretically informed and empirically grounded papers that cover a range of themes in relation to family life and ICT, including but not limited to the following: Uses and roles of ICT in family life ICT and family time, family norms, family routines/rituals, family relationships, or transnational families Domestication of technology Meanings, identities, and performances Public vs. private/collective vs. individual spheres Social capital Designing technology for families Networked households Work/life balance Intimacy and autonomy Online dating Methodology 
RC06	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s9	Inter-Ethnic Families in Asia	 // Inter-Ethnic Families in Asia Session Organizer Shirley Hsiao-Li SUN, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,   Session in English Advanced industrialized societies in Asia are facing demographic challenges – most notably, low fertility – and governments are increasingly receptive to encourage immigration to address such demographic challenges. What are the issues and challenges that inter-ethnic families face in general, and inter-ethnic families with cross-border marriages face, in particular? What are the linkages between macro-level state policies governing citizenship and micro-level family dynamics for inter-ethnic families? This session invites papers that focus on ethnicity, immigration, family dynamics and changing notions of citizenship in an integral fashion. Both theoretical and empirical papers are welcome. Papers can address themes including, but not limited to, the following: Inter-ethnic marriages and identities Cross-border marriages and citizenship Migration, social integration, and family dynamics Ethnicity, citizenship and family formation Inter-ethnic families in comparative perspective 
RC06	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s10	New Roles of Men and Women and Implications for Society	 // New Roles of Men and Women and Implications for Society Session Organizers Rudolf RICHTER, University of Vienna, Austria,   Livia OLAH, Stockholm University, Sweden Irena E. KOTOWSKA, Warsaw School of Economics, Poland,   Session in English The general objective is to address the complex interplay between the new roles of women and men and the diversity of family life courses as being actively explored in contemporary Europe and in other countries and regions globally. The family cannot be described simply as a set of well-defined roles anymore; it is negotiated on a daily basis, constructed by interactions between partners at the micro-level and influenced by macro structures in the political and economic spheres. Work and family lives increasingly influence each other as both women and men engage in earning as well as caring activities, seldom reinforced by employment instability and precariousness. Gender relations and related values and attitudes have become more fluid, changing dynamically over the life course and across generations in the context of blurring boundaries of family and work life. In this session we also aim to shed more light on the impact of different policy contexts on new constructions of gender in doing family. Papers which address following specific objectives are welcome: To study women`s new role and implications for family dynamics with respect of both women and men To study the gendered transition to parenthood To study new gender roles in doing families To study coping strategies in family and work reconciliation under conditions of uncertainty and precariousness 
RC06	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s11	RC06 Business Meeting	 // RC06 Business Meeting 
RC06	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s12	RC06 Poster Session: Meet Family Scholars	 // RC06 Poster Session: Meet Family Scholars Session Organizer Sampson Lee BLAIR, State University of New York, USA,   Session in English Session will include papers submitted directly to the organizer and surplus quality papers passed on by organizers from other sessions. Scholars will briefly present their findings to small groups of rotating conference participants. Posters will stay on display after the session for the remainder of the conference. A detailed poster display of research and/or program must be prepared. Early career scholars are especially encouraged to submit proposal. Display specifications will be available later. 
RC06	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s13	RC06 Roundtable Session: Global Changes in Families: Implications for Family Processes, Cohesion, and Identity Formation	 // RC06 Roundtable Session: Global Changes in Families: Implications for Family Processes, Cohesion, and Identity Formation Session Organizer Bahira TRASK, University of Delaware, USA,   Session in English As our world becomes increasingly integrated through market forces, communication technologies, and transnational policies, these changes are reflected in families. In many places around the globe we are witnessing a move to dual-earner couples, increased egalitarian decision making, and less traditional life courses. Families where women are sole earners or out-earning men and transnational families are also part of this trend. This session will explore some of these global transformations and the implications of these changes for family processes, cohesion and identity formation. Some of the potential questions to be explored include but are not limited to: What are some of the similarities and differences between families with different economic arrangements? To what extent do families remain important in the lives of individuals in highly mobile environments? How do economic fluctuations influence decision making in families? What is the role of technology with respect to family cohesion? How does exposure to varying cultural influences manifest themselves in family behaviors? How do families create a unique identity when members are spread between locales? The objectives of this session are: To identify some of the major trends in families from a global perspective To discuss the implication of these changes for empirical research and theorizing about families To begin to identify policies that can strengthen families as they cope with their rapidly changing environments. 
RC06	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s14	Transition into Adulthood: Youth and Families	 // Transition into Adulthood: Youth and Families Session Organizer Chin-Chun YI, Academia Sinica, Taiwan,   Session in English Focus on adolescents and young adults in the contemporary family. As social inequality becomes more serious around the globe, how it affects the developmental patterns of youth and how family resources facilitate or impede the growth trajectories of the younger generation are significant research issues. This session welcomes scholarly contribution on the relationship between youth and family. Potential subjects may include the following but not limit to: Transition into adulthood: Educational plan Occupational aspiration Marriage and fertility intentions Leaving home etc. and, Premarital interaction: Mate selection Premarital sex Early marriage experiences Cohabitation etc. 
RC06	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC06#s15	Work and Family in Cross-National Comparative Perspective	 // Work and Family in Cross-National Comparative Perspective Session Organizers Gayle KAUFMAN, Davidson College, USA,   Hiromi TANIGUCHI, University of Louisville, USA,   Session in English Seeking papers that address issues of work and family across multiple countries. Papers may focus on the micro and/or macro level, and qualitative as well as quantitative studies are welcome. Recent research suggests that the work-family experience differs across countries. Many of these differences are due to different work-family models, such that some countries continue to support a breadwinner model while others have shifted to a one-and-a-half earner model and yet others strive for a fully dual-earner model. Even though the division of housework and child care varies by country, there is still a consistent pattern that women do more than men in every country. Important country-level factors include women`s and mothers` employment rates, prevalence of part-time employment, policy and practices related to work hours and paid days off, availability and use of family leave (both maternity and paternity), public expenditure on child care and use of child care, and the gender wage gap. Important individual-level factors include marital status, education, occupation, work hours, and family responsibilities. Potential topics are not limited to, but include: How effective are different work-family policies in helping families achieve a better work-family balance? How do employer policies and workplace characteristics affect families? What are the consequences of family leave, child care, and flexible work arrangements on women’s employment rates, work hours, and career expectations? Does the interface of work and family life differ depending on the nature of family responsibilities (e.g. care to children with disabilities, adult family members with health problems)? What factors encourage men to take on a greater share of caregiving? How do these experiences differ for low-skilled and low-income workers? Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Futures Research, RC07
RC07	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s1	BRICS and Global Futures 	 // BRICS and Global Futures Session Organizer Jan NEDERVEEN PIETERSE, University of California, USA,   Session in English Major concerns about the BRICS and other emerging societies are their quality of growth and whether growth is shared and inclusive, and second, the implications for regional and global transformations, including relations with other developing countries. 
RC07	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s2	Environmental Futures 	 // Environmental Futures Session Organizer Timothy W. LUKE, State University of Virginia, USA,   Session in English This session serves as platform for debating transdisciplinary research on the environment from a forward-oriented perspective. How do climate change, environmental pollution, and resource exhaustion impact global society and relations between regions? How do nation-states, corporations, and publics anticipate environmental change, and how do anticipations impact their actions? How is knowledge about environmental future scenarios being constructed? Does the current debate about a transition from the Holocene to an Anthropocene Age shape how future scenarios are being imagined? How do different social actors and stakeholder shape public debates and policies? How is knowledge about environmental future scenarios being constructed? How do different social actors and stakeholder shape public debates and policies? 
RC07	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s3	Futures of Food 	 // Futures of Food Session Organizer Walden BELLO, University of the Philippines, Philippines,   Session in English This session provides a platform for discussing research on the contested futures of food from global and comparative perspectives. Topics may include, but are not limited to agribusiness; biotechnology and genetically modified organisms; food shortages; food pricing; food sovereignty; sustainable agriculture; peasant and consumer movements and strategies; national and international regulatory regimes. 
RC07	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s4	Global Change, Local Continuities: Focus on the Global South and Environmental Changes	 // Global Change, Local Continuities: Focus on the Global South and Environmental Changes Session Organizer Wilson AKPAN, University of Fort Hare, South Africa,   Session in English If there is one thing the growing body of knowledge on global environmental change makes clear, it is that the future is littered with ominous signs. The literature on climate change, for instance, provides a prognosis of a future in which vulnerabilities and adaptation challenges in the global South seem particularly dire. One interesting consensus that seems to have emerged is that hopes of survival, for both human communities and the natural environment, increasingly depend on the size and quality of the basket of mediating “assets” that households and communities possess – and how deliberately and creatively these “assets” are deployed in times of crises or even before disasters strike. They range from human, physical and social capital, to financial and natural assets. However, sociologists are taking a keen interest in what these assets are in specific locales and what they mean for local inhabitants. The question that is increasingly being asked is: What knowledge and whose knowledge dominate current thinking on global environment change and strategies for sustainably adapting to it – and does it matter? This session will feature presentations from scholars who are currently researching, or who have researched, local discourses and understandings of climate change and how communities utilize local knowledge (or a combination of knowledges from different ideational terrains) to pursue a future in which climate change-related vulnerabilities are sustainably contained. 
RC07	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s5	Inequality and Difference as Challenge for Social Theory 	 // Inequality and Difference as Challenge for Social Theory Session Organizer Emil Albert SOBOTTKA, Pontificy University do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Session in English Inequality has historically had a mobilizing potential for social movements and public policy agents as well as in many academic circles. It has tacitly been assumed that it is undesirable and should be overcome. However, the growing assertion of the right to difference, in recent years, showed that combating inequality can – and has been – highly homogenizing if not oppressive. The purpose of the session is to make a balance of how social theory recently has dealt with the tension between both and how it has managed to give convincing reasons to justify the normativity that is claimed for both. 
RC07	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s6	Inequality and the Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices	 // Inequality and the Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices Integrative Session // : RC07 Futures Research, RC10 Social Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management and RC11 Sociology of Aging Not open for submission of abstracts . Session in English 
RC07	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s7	Media Futures: Designs, Practices, Policies, Visions 	 // Media Futures: Designs, Practices, Policies, Visions Session Organizers Timothy W. LUKE, State University of Virginia, USA,   Martine REVEL, Université de Lille, France,   Session in English One or more sessions are planned on the broadly conceived theme of media futures. Contributers may explore from theoretical, empirical, or normative perspectives critical issues such as the (un)contested shaping of new media technologies, digital inequalities, enclosure of cultural commons, surveillance and control, user appropriations, mobile media, online activism, hacktivism, culture jamming (dis)aggregation of publics Papers may address current trends, alternative future scenarios, policy implications, social consequences, or processes for imagining and shaping media futures. 
RC07	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s8	Mobile Futures: Space, Technology, Inequality 	 // Mobile Futures: Space, Technology, Inequality Session Organizer John URRY, University of Lancaster, United Kingdom,   Session in English Mobilities research addresses not only the movement of people, objects, information, messages, risks and images through intersecting mobility-systems. It also explores the motivations, pleasures, pains and practices of stillness, of coordinating movement, blocking it, holding things in place, creating and maintaining social and material infrastructures. How do different social actors imagine future mobilities? How are mobility systems imposed or negotiated? How do they structure inequalities? Among possible cases to consider are electric bikes, military mobilities, outer space travel, slow travel, tourism, mobile phones, combustion engines, and futures beyond cars. 
RC07	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s9	Open Themes. Temas abiertos. Thèmes ouverts 	 // Open Themes. Temas abiertos. Thèmes ouverts Session Organizers Celi SCALON, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Hiro TOYOTA, Kansai Gaddei University, Japan,   Session in English/French/Spanish One or more sessions are planned on themes not covered by the topics in other sessions in English, French, and/or Spanish. 
RC07	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s10	RC07 Business Meeting 	 // RC07 Business Meeting 
RC07	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s11	Real Utopias 	 // Real Utopias Session Organizer Erik Olin WRIGHT, University of Wisconsin, USA,   Session in English This session provides a platform for discussing social innovations and proposals for social transformation that simultaneously embody utopian aspirations and grapple with the inevitable contradictions of coping with the constraints of the real world. Examples include such things as workers cooperatives, Wikipedia, participatory budgeting, the social and solidarity economy, and transition towns. Papers for the session can be case studies of particular examples of real utopias, comparative studies of success and failures in implementing particular models, and theoretical discussions of real utopian proposals. The papers should include at least some discussion of normative ideals and the dilemmas and challenges in realizing those ideals in practice. 
RC07	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s12	Sociological Images of the Future 	 // Sociological Images of the Future Session Organizer Elisa REIS, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Session in English While in classical sociology the discontinuities between past and present played such a crucial role, trends and broad anticipations of the future were also an important dimension of the sociological imagination. Can we find in today`s sociology equivalent concerns about both discontinuities with the past and anticipations of the future? What future images emerge from approaches to global processes, postmodern society, late modernity, and many other theoretical approaches to contemporary social dynamics? Does the growing differentiation within sociology confine imageries of the future to a particular niche? How does the increasing demand for interdisciplinary research affects the development of social forecasts? How is sociology responding to the environmental concern and the threats facing future generations? To what extent is there an explicit commitment to mold the future when sociologists dedicate themselves to formulate, analyze or criticize social policies? The session intends to provide an opportunity to survey sociological possibilities to tackle the future issue, and at the same time to search for fruitful dialogues across different theoretical approaches to imagining tomorrow society. 
RC07	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s13	Sociology and the Knowledge Society 	 // Sociology and the Knowledge Society Session Organizer Sonia K. GUIMARAES, Federal University do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Session in English Societies are experiencing substantive changes: a number of breakthroughs in social, economic, political and cultural dimensions (globalization; scientific and technological advances, represented by Digitalization, Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Neurosciences; new forms of sociability) are challenging today’s knowledge about the social. The nature of those shifts has profound implications for societies, not only in social, economic and political terms, but also, in terms of altering the conceptions on “the way we are born, we live, we learn, we work, we consume, we dream, we fight or we die.” (Castells, 1997). The revolutionary character of the changes will become stronger, as the digitalization of manufacturing is already a reality (as the new processes such as 3D printing). Economies are going from mass manufacturing towards much more individualized and flexible production, which will tend to empower micro, small and medium-sized firms and individual entrepreneurs. In the same way, neurosciences are transforming the ways we "know ourselves", as human beings. Yet, despite the revolutionary character of the changes, they are still under-described and under-theorized by today`s Sociology. Several questions remain to be raised by future research; among many others: what are the implications for societies of the phenomena mentioned above considering: the organization of schools, methods of teaching and forms of communication the relationship between production of knowledge, technology and innovation and the quality of the workplaces the configuration of the political arena the conception of economic development and of the good society? Who are likely to be the beneficiaries and who are likely to be hurt by the changes? What are the implications of the advances of Neurosciences for the organization of societies? Is there a trend of a new engagement between the social and brain sciences? 
RC07	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s14	Technologies of Inequality 	 // Technologies of Inequality Session Organizers Eliana HERRERA-VEGA, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Radhamany SOORYAMOORTHY, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa,   Session in English This session aims to provide a platform for empirical and theoretical research on the relation between technologies and inequality. How do specific technologies (from global infrastructures to mega-projects to tiniest gadgets and nano devices) pre-figure, shape, exacerbate, mitigate, or overcome social inequities? How are they used to include, exclude, enable, limit, survey, control, reward, or punish? How do specific uses or deployments of technology differ in their impact on inequalities, and to what extent does it depend on national, social, or cultural contexts? What role do different social actors play in shaping technologies of inequality? What kind of theories can foster better understand of these and related issues? 
RC07	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s15	The Aftermath of Violence: The Lingering Memory of Genocide, War, and Political Terror	 // The Aftermath of Violence: The Lingering Memory of Genocide, War, and Political Terror Session Organizer Lynn RAPAPORT, Pomona College, USA,   Session in English Violence is a ubiquitous feature of human society, expressed as a means of domination within face-to-face interactions, intimate relations, social relations, institutions, and between groups and nations. An estimated 1.6 million people worldwide lose their lives to violence annually. Collective violence includes armed conflicts within or between groups or states, and state-perpetuated violence such as genocide and war. The twentieth century was one of the most violent periods in human history. An estimated 191 million people lost their lives directly or indirectly as a result of armed conflict, and over half of them were civilians. Moreover, the twentieth century has also earned the title, “The Century of Genocide,” as more genocide occurred during that century than any prior one in human history. Philosophers, historians, psychologists, theologians, and social scientists have been grappling with understanding the causes and processes of violence. Yet, the aftermath and consequences of violence is also important to study, in order to understand its causes and move toward a more peaceful future. How do groups and societies deal with the aftermath of conflict and cultural trauma? Is reconciliation an option and, if so, how is it most effective? Who determines the memory of the conflict, and whose interests does it serve? How do different ways of grappling with a violent past impact future peace and/or subsequent conflict? This panel presents a sociological exploration of the aftermath of collective violence, paying particular attention to how groups and societies deal with cultural trauma, reconciliation, and memorialization. The panel will showcase sociologists focusing on the aftermath of genocide, war, terrorism, and other forms of collective violence, in order to reach a better understanding of its impact on future relations between the perpetrators and their victims. 
RC07	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s16	The Future of Research on Global Inequalities 	 // The Future of Research on Global Inequalities Session Organizer Sergio COSTA, Free University Berlin, Germany,   Session in English New empirical evidences as well as a variety of innovative perspectives have recently challenged classical research on social inequality, which is mostly focused on present inequalities between individuals and social classes exclusively within national societies. On the one hand, findings coming from transnationalism research have shown how conventional research is insufficient to describe contemporary phenomena such as the emergence of a transnational middle class or new multi-local spaces created by migrants. On the other hand, word system approach has convincingly demonstrated that existing inequalities have been produced and reproduced through modern history across national borders. Therefore, a global and transnational frame is needed in order to explain how, for instance, increasing social inequalities followed by more meat consumption in China lead to higher land-ownership concentration in Latin America; or how social mobility of migrants in Germany impacts life conditions in a Turkish town. We invite to submit papers addressing conceptual aspects as well empirical results related to the present and the future of research on global inequalities. Relevant questions include among others: How do global entanglements shape inequalities – from a historical and/or synchronic perspective? How productive are transnational/global units of analysis such as “global value chains”, “care chains”, “transnational regimes” to investigate inequalities? How to conciliate developments observed in the field of global inequalities with classical research on inequalities? How to integrate national states into research on global inequalities? Since data and methods to investigate inequalities mostly refer to national unities, how to produce quantitative evidences of global inequalities? 
RC07	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s17	The Self as Project: Memory and Future in the Formation of Identity 	 // The Self as Project: Memory and Future in the Formation of Identity Session Organizer Mariolina GRAZIOSI, University of Milan, Italy,   Session in English/French/Spanish The purpose of the session is to explore the interplay of memory and future in the formation of identity in contemporary society. Sociologists, such a Antony Giddens for example, maintain that identity is presently the result of a reflexive process rather than a fixed model imposed by society as in the previous stage of modernity. Before Giddens, French existentialists, such as Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, during the sixties, saw identity as a project, defined as an act toward an end and a decision to be a presence in the world. If in Giddens` view memory plays a central role, in the French existentialists` view future plays a central role. They see identity as the result of an act of free will and as the result of actions directed toward a goal. Individual choice thus plays a central role in spite of the social constrictions into which a person is born. The process of self-realization is then seen as not only concerned with social mobility but as a project that includes the formation of the entire personality. The idea of identity as a project emerges for instance also in the feminist view of authors such as Judith Butler. 
RC07	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s18	Urban Futures 	 // Urban Futures Session Organizers Sultan KHAN, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa,   Gerardo DEL CERRO SANTAMARIA, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, USA,   Session in English With rapid urbanisation and population concentration in the world`s cities, increasing concern is expressed by urban planners and policy makers in both developed and developing countries. This concern is further exacerbated by globalisation, rapid environmental changes, urban decay, and enormous strain on basic infrastructure, escalating urban poverty, natural disasters and social issues. Despite these urban challenges cities are viewed as engines of growth at a national government level. For the impoverished populace of rural areas migration to cities provides a window of hope and aspiration to succeed and improve on their quality of life only to find the harsh reality of being confined to periphery of the city as second grade citizens. In the discourse on urban development and regeneration the buzz word is sustainability. Although the concept urban sustainability carries many ambiguous facets on how to maintain synergies between and amongst competing social forces that affect urban planning and decision making a key question is how sustainable are solutions in a context where levels of predictability are challenged by a wide range of sociological variables that will realise a positive rather than a negative future for urban citizens especially those living on the urban periphery. This session invites papers that provide insights into the potential impacts on present day urban planning and design decisions which challenge the conventional mainstream approach to sustainability by incorporating changing priorities and different ways of thinking on urban spaces with the intention to ensure relevance in the future planning processes. Papers should focus on a wide range of urban issues that has an impact on the present day city and provide suggestions on how these challenges can be surmounted for the future. The field of urban sustainability is intrinsically transdisciplinary. This session is open to urban researchers and scholars aware of the intrinsic limitations of disciplinary epistemes and interested in crossings with other worldviews (architecture, design, ecology, engineering etc) for a richer and innovative understanding of globalized urbanization. 
RC07	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC07#s19	Wither the 2011 Mobilizations: Progressive, Regressive or Irrelevant	 // Wither the 2011 Mobilizations: Progressive, Regressive or Irrelevant Integrative Session // : RC07 Futures Research, RC36 Alienation Theory and Research and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Not open for submission of abstracts . Session in English Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

History of Sociology, RC08
RC08	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s1	Fernanda Beigel (ed.), Politics of Academic Autonomy in Latin America (Ashgate 2013)	 // Author meets their Critics Fernanda Beigel (ed.), Politics of Academic Autonomy in Latin America (Ashgate 2013) Session Organizer João Marcelo Ehlert MAIA, Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts. The book is a collective work that puts together articles from different Latin American researchers on the struggle for academic autonomy in the continent. The idea is to offer an opportunity to present a Southern perspective on a major theme of debate in our field, which is the so-called “public sociology”. 
RC08	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s2	Circulation of Social Science Knowledge – The Influence of Textual and Contextual Elements	 // Circulation of Social Science Knowledge – The Influence of Textual and Contextual Elements Session Organizers Wiebke KEIM, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany,   Veronika WOEHRER, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany,   Ercüment CELIK, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany,   Christian ERSCHE, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany,   Session in English Studies of circulation of knowledge and ideas have increased steadily over the past years – the current state of the literature on the theme is extremely rich, but also disparate. This session intends to focus on historical studies on the circulation of social science knowledge. While there is a tendency in the literature to focus either on contextual factors, pointing to the situatedness of knowledge and the external conditioning of its circulation, or on an exclusively text-based interpretation of circulating ideas beyond their context, we encourage contributions that attempt to link the two perspectives, i.e. text and context, in innovative ways. We particularly welcome contributions that conceptualize particular problems around the international circulation of knowledge between places that enjoy differential status and recognition within the international scholarly communities (i.e., across a “centre-periphery-divide”). Systematic, in-depth and empirically grounded research that allows to critically question critiques of parochialism, provincialism, localism, Eurocentrism or particularism, i.e. critiques often voiced against social science knowledge that internationally circulates, especially across power and status differentials, are particularly welcome. 
RC08	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s3	Cold War Social Science	 // Cold War Social Science Session Organizer Christian DAYE, University of Graz, Austria,   Session in English The recent years have seen an increasing interest in the role social scientists and social scientific knowledge played in shaping political strategies during the Cold War. Especially in the U.S., but also in Western Europe and in other countries, social scientists came in close relation to decision-makers in military and government agencies. This was, at least for some observers, a historically new situation for the social sciences. As C. Wright Mills put it in The Sociological Imagination, social scientists have “[f]or the first time in the history of their disciplines ... come into professional relationship with private and public powers well above the level of the welfare agency and the county agent.” In Mills` view, this resulted in a profound change in the orientation and the societal position of social sciences: “Their positions change – from the academic to the bureacratic; their publics change – from movements of reformers to circles of decision-makers; and their problems change – from those of their own choice to those of their clients.” However tendentious and simplifying Mills` perspective upon the history of social sciences is, it opens up several potential potential lines of inquiry for historians of sociology. Papers in this session can explore the relations between the social sciences and the Cold War in many ways: (1) they can investigate the latter`s influence on the cognitive character of contemporary social science; (2) they can explore institutional and organizational innovations (e.g. think tanks) supposed to mediate between social science and politics; (3) they can deal with the supposed consequences of social scientific theories or empirical findings on foreign policy; (4) they can explore how the relationship of national sociologies was altered by events of the Cold War; or point in any other way to the change brought about to the intellectual trajectory of social sciences by the new situation Mills alluded to. 
RC08	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s4	Failed Sociologists and Dead Ends in the History of Sociology	 // Failed Sociologists and Dead Ends in the History of Sociology Session Organizers Christian FLECK, University of Graz, Austria,   Eric ROYAL LYBECK, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom,   Session in English The idea that the history of any scientific discipline follows the paths of linear progress by accumulating bits and pieces of research has been abandoned in recent decades. Progress is no longer an integrating idea about the emergence of disciplines. If this perspective, or mood, has any advantage for the writing of the history of sociology it should help raise new research questions. One of those new approaches in writing the history could be seen in the assumption that an analysis of cases of “dead ends” in the history of sociology might reveal something about the social and normative structures forming a discipline like sociology. Dead ends are seldom recognized by contemporaries; but how much time has to be elapse until a dead end is identified as such? Is there a consensus about what counts as a dead end or did sociologists quarrel about what should be seen as a dead end and what not? Closely related to the explication of the meaning of dead ends is the question about the relationship between the occurrence of dead ends and those sociologists who acted as advocates of these approaches. Are particular types of sociologists prone to land in dead ends? We welcome any paper which is more than just a description of a particular constellation of dead ends and discusses its case with regard to general patterns or potentials for generalizations. 
RC08	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s5	General Session on the History of Sociology	 // General Session on the History of Sociology Session Organizer Peter BAEHR, Lingnan University, Hong Kong,   Session in English This session welcomes paper proposals on any aspects of the history of sociology which are not covered by the other sessions. 
RC08	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s6	Geopolitical Framing of Social Sciences	 // Geopolitical Framing of Social Sciences Session Organizer Albert TZENG, International Institute for Asian Studies, Netherlands,   Session in English Geopolitics shaped the history of social sciences in various ways. On the one hand, the scholar migration driven either by imperial expansion or by wars played a critical role in the dispersion of social scientific expertise; it also prone to cast an impact on the intellectual trajectories of those displaced scholars. On the other hand, the emerging interests and concerns in the changing geopolitical context are often channelled to the setting of scholarly agenda by either state authorities or private funding bodies. The earlier development of colonial scholarship; the various scholarly impacts brought by World Wars; the Cold War investment by the United States in exporting social sciences abroad and developing “area studies” at home, were just some examples. This panel invites papers that explores, and critically reflects upon, the geopolitical framing of social sciences and its legacies. 
RC08	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s7	History of Empirical Social Research and Statistics	 // History of Empirical Social Research and Statistics Session Organizer Irmela GORGES, Free University of Berlin, GERMANY,   Session in English The session wants to attract papers that deal with the emergence or development of methods of empirical social research and/or statistics in any country. All forms of analyses are welcome, case studies, longitudinal studies etc. The analysis should be, if possible, embedded in the historical context of the respective country. 
RC08	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s8	History of Japanese Sociology	 // History of Japanese Sociology Session Organizer Kiyomitsu YUI, Kobe University, Japan,   Session in English This session welcomes paper proposals on any aspects of the history of sociology in Japan. 
RC08	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s9	Ordinary Sociologists	 // Ordinary Sociologists Session Organizer Jennifer PLATT, University of Sussex, United Kingdom,   Session in English Most biographical work in the history of sociology is on exceptional sociologists. They are very interesting, but can we as sociologists really understand their careers without knowing more about their social contexts? And can we really understand the social production of sociology without knowing how the rank and file used to do it? This session invites papers – about individuals, departments, cohorts, or the discipline in a whole country – who have not been prominent or exceptional. Their “ordinariness” could be defined on the basis of preliminary data (rising only as far as the median academic rank? publishing a number of books or articles around the average, and receiving an average number of citations to them? holding a post at a typical institution?), or could be attributed more impressionistically. Descriptive issues to be addressed could be what were their opportunities (class background, historical period, educational institutions, sponsorship, region, voluntary or forced movement between countries)? What were their family circumstances? What was the academic hierarchy, and what ranks did they rise to at what career stages? What social status did academic sociologists have at the time? What, if anything, have they published? What associations did they belong to? Did they participate in local politics or charitable activity? Was their intellectual energy mainly directed to teaching? 
RC08	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s10	RC08 Business Meeting	 // RC08 Business Meeting 
RC08	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s11	Sociological Trajectories from the Global South and Peripheral Countries	 // Sociological Trajectories from the Global South and Peripheral Countries Session Organizers Fran COLLYER, University of Sydney, Australia,   João Marcelo Ehlert MAIA, Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil Session in English The history of sociology as we know it has been mainly a Northern enterprise. Textbooks and mainstream accounts tend to focus on sociologists and theories from Europe or North America, leaving aside the contributions from other regions of the world. This session will thus include papers from, and about, sociology as it has been, and is currently practiced in countries from the Global South and the world periphery. Papers may interrogate concepts such as post-colonialism, imperialism, modernisation or globalisation, or may be empirical, focusing on the impact of these, or related, social dynamics. We particularly welcome papers which adopt a comparative or transnational perspective, focusing on biographies, intellectual traditions, discourses and institutions. 
RC08	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s12	The Books that Made Sociology	 // The Books that Made Sociology Session Organizer Filipe Carreira DA SILVA, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session welcomes papers on the books that helped make sociology – the so-called “sociological classics”. Sociological classics such as Weber’s The Protestant Ethic or Durkheim’s Division of Labour have performed important functions over the years, which historians of sociology have been carefully documenting especially since the late 1980s debate on the “sociological canon”. Yet sociologists still know relatively little about the history of these books, let alone incorporate that knowledge in their teaching and research. A better understanding of this overlooked aspect of our heritage promises to destabilize entrenched yet deeply problematic understandings regarding the nature and scope of the sociological enterprise. Research questions thus include: to what extent can sociological classics be seen as the mobile and material inscriptions of the different sociological traditions? In what ways can they be understood as active agents which assemble, shape and connect practices, and in doing so enact objects, constitute subjects, and inscribe relations, ontological boundaries and domains? What do we have to learn from tracing the geographies of these books, namely of their translations and re-editions? To what extent is the sociological canon – which books are included at any given point in time – a sort of an inverted utopia, i.e. a projection into the past of our future aspirations? Finally, to what extent does this historical re-examination of the sociological classics bring us a step closer to overcoming the dualism between history of theory and theory building? 
RC08	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s13	The Global South and Postcolonial Perspectives in International Sociology	 // The Global South and Postcolonial Perspectives in International Sociology Integrative Session // : RC08 History of Sociology, RC35 Conceptual and Terminological Analysis and WG02 Historical and Comparative Sociology. Not open for submission of abstracts . Session in English 
RC08	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s14	The History of Ideas of Transformation Processes	 // The History of Ideas of Transformation Processes Session Organizers Sven ELIAESON, Uppsala University, Sweden,   Larissa TITARENKO, Belarus State University, Belarus,   Session in English There are a number of works that stick out. Unthinking Talcott Parsons is difficult; up-dating Parsons a natural theme. There are many stages-theories, only to mention W. W. Rostow and Stein Rokkan. Rokkan might have the Northwest-European experience in focus but his stages have high relevance for any comparison. Four-stages-theories from Scottish Enlightenment are early examples of transformation theorizing, and same goes for Karl Marx and Max Weber. Samuel Pufendorf as an early bird and forerunner for later studies on civil society could also be mentioned, and Karl Polanyi’s “Great transformation” could also be listed as examples; same for Francis Fukuyama, Norbert Elias, Gunnar Myrdal and Joseph Schumpeter, etc. Transformations East of the Elbe after “die Wende” are naturally important fields of application, addressing such issues as why development to rule of law and democratic civic culture fails in Russia, succeeds in Estonia, and sort of in between in Poland. The different roads to Modernity are path-dependent. 
RC08	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s15	The Origins of Modern and Contemporary Sociology – Panel Session 	 // The Origins of Modern and Contemporary Sociology – Panel Session Session Organizer Shoji ISHITUKA, Tokyo University of Information Sciences, Japan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts. This panel session deals with the origins of modern and contemporary sociology. The panel consists of eight invited speakers from six countries: Marcel Fournier from Canada will talk about Durkheim and Mauss; Shoji Ishitsuka from Japan about Simmel, Weber, and Lukács; Jeffrey C. Alexander from USA about the origins of cultural sociology in classical, modern, and contemporary sociology; Michel Wieviorka from France about Alain Touraine and social movements; Roberto Cipriani from Italy about precursors of the sociology of religion; Eliezer Ben-Rafael from Israel about S.N. Eisenstadt; Piotr Sztompka from Poland about Malinowski and Znaniecki; Federico D’Agostino from Italy about Pareto and Parsons. In concluding this session we will set up a new space of investigation open to the sociological world as a thematization of the Origins of Modern and Contemporary Sociology giving to it a temporary synthesis from an open discussion. 
RC08	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s16	The Role of Sociology in Relation to other Social Sciences	 // The Role of Sociology in Relation to other Social Sciences Session Organizer Hedvig EKERWALD, Uppsala University, Sweden,   Session in English What is the genealogy of the social sciences? Is there empirical support for a thesis of sociology within the social sciences being the subject most likely to correspond to physics within the natural sciences, a sort of mother discipline from which many of the other disciplines emanate? What counterarguments are there to such a thesis? What is the time order of the appearance of the disciplines on the social science field? What interdisciplinary relations form which mechanisms in the growth and expansion of the social sciences since the mid-19th century? The questions are big and the answer consists of many small answers. Both theoretical, even speculative, and empirical contributions are welcome to this explorative session. 
RC08	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s17	Translations	 // Translations Session Organizer Andreas HESS, University College Dublin, Ireland,   Session in English Almost anywhere around the world a closer look into any sociology course outline or any sociology bibliography will reveal the many book titles that have been translated from another language. The history of sociology would almost be unthinkable without translation. However, translation is not just a mechanical exercise about the compatibility and appropriateness of words and sentences but also about meaning and context. This session will address the complications that usually arise when meaning and context of the original text differ from the context in which the text is read. This session will include case studies of sociological translation(s) and perception(s) outside the original context(s); it will also look into the issue of cultural peculiarities, neglect or ignorance, non-translation, misperceptions and cultural misunderstandings. 
RC08	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC08#s18	Transnational Organisations in the History of the Social Sciences	 // Transnational Organisations in the History of the Social Sciences Session Organizers Per WISSELGREN, Umeå University, Sweden,   Jennifer PLATT, University of Sussex, United Kingdom,   Session in English Studies on the history of sociology have often used the nation-state as a taken for granted framework. There are many good reasons for this. But most social research is at the same time, as Heilbron, Guilhot and Jeanpierre (2008) have argued, embedded also in transnational relations of various kinds. This session pays special attention to transnational organisations in the history of sociology and related social science disciplines. Today a few studies are available on e.g. the International Sociological Association and the International Social Science Council (Platt 1998, 2002). But there are several other organisations that have either been transnational in character or had explicitly international aims. These include the Institut International de Sociologie (IIS), UNESCO and its branches, the Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología (ALAS), the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), the Asia Pacific Sociological Association (APSA), the European Sociological Association (ESA), the European Union, and many more. Paper proposals dealing with any of such organisations, or related transnational and organisational questions in the history of social sciences are welcome. The possibility of a publication based on the session will be explored. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Social Transformations and Sociology of Development, RC09
RC09	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s1	1989 and 2011: Years of Revolution	 // 1989 and 2011: Years of Revolution Session Organizers Saïd ARJOMAND, Stony Brook University, USA,   Edward TIRYAKIAN, Duke University, USA,   Session in English Following a very successful and well attended RC09 session on the Arab revolution of 2011 at the ISA Forum in Buenos Aires that has resulted in a book in press, the panel proposes to develop systematically the parallels with the post-1989 collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe. By July 2014, we will have almost enough of hindsight on 2011 to compare with the revolutionary change set in motion in 1989. The revolutionary transformation of the post-communist world has typically been considered as cases of transition to both democracy and a market economy. The revolutionary cycle in January and February 2011 in Arab North Africa shows many similarities and differences to the post-1989 revolutions and is thus indicative of a new pattern of revolution in world history. The Arab revolution of 2011 invites immediate comparison not only with that of Eastern Europe: The failed revolutions of Tiananmen Square in China – also in 1989 – and the Green movement in Iran in 2009 can also be brought into comparative perspective. 
RC09	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s2	Development and the Transformation of Women`s Capabilities	 // Development and the Transformation of Women`s Capabilities Session Organizers Ulrike M. M. SCHUERKENS, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), France,   Tamara HERAN, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), France,   Session in English Restarting with the concept of “capabilities” of Amartya Sen, which in general terms refers to the capacity and the freedom of human actors to choose different ways of life through effective opportunities, this session asks provocative yet fundamental questions: Which new opportunities and which capabilities have opened up for women in the context of important social and economic transformations linked to development and globalization? Which real changes have been realized by strategies of gender equality and politics for women in recent decades? Which elements may impede a true empowerment and liberation of women? Aware of the significant and persistent breach in gender equality around the world related to violence against women, poor female health promotions, different incomes of men and women, low political leadership participation of women, low participation in decision-making at the work-place, or the importance of household chores, this session will focus on the analysis of empirical cases of change in the opportunities and capabilities of women. We want you to identify elements of success and failure that face this challenge in order to better understand continuing gender inequality. We invite the submission of original papers from diverse regions using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods. We especially encourage the submission of comparative case studies. 
RC09	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s3	Globalization, Culture, and Management	 // Globalization, Culture, and Management Session Organizer Ulrike M. M. SCHUERKENS, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France,   Session in English Globalization is here conceived as a process that unfolds through activities influenced by identifiable actors as opposed to a vision that emphasizes systemic forces and inevitable market actions. The modern economy is currently moving towards globalization. Companies are forced to follow this trend if they want to remain competitive. It is pertinent to ask how long culture will adapt or resist the pressure of the neoliberal economy. What is the future of culture in economic globalization? How may culture be necessary to the world of global business and wage labor? Are cultural particularities forced to disappear with the global expansion of neoliberalism? In fact, companies must develop new skills if they want to relocate where two different economic cultures meet. Global management must accept and implement foreign aspects according to the categories of local cultures. Global managers must therefore study foreign cultures in order to adapt their branch offices to the economic project of their headquarters. Yet, in the South and the East, management practices of big business along with local forms of social interactions are still very hesitant. Often, American management methods are imported. The aim of this session is thus to reunite case studies of cultural confrontations that managers can and should become aware of. This will allow a better approach of intercultural management as it takes place or should take place. Some central questions of this session are: Do groups around the world seek to accumulate private property and maximize profits? Are “economic rationality” and the pursuit of profit identical in each individual culture? How can this economic rationality be changed by socio-economic globalization and post-colonialism? Does everyone think in the same way on debt, corruption, and games? What are the long-term economic changes that may occur in cultures that did not know individual property before the advent of European colonialism? Do human beings develop without exception from the public to the private sector, from gifts to sale and credit? Or is this picture more complex? Who wins and who loses in the socio-economic globalization of the twenty-first century? This session will therefore discuss and analyze management practices, social communications, leadership, and decision making in various socio-economic contexts where different economic cultures confront each other. Theoretical approaches used may come from economic sociology and socio-economic anthropology and may be influenced by certain aspects of management studies in order to help understand the increasingly complex picture of global economy and post-neoliberalism that affects more and more economic practices of people around the world. 
RC09	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s4	Globalization, Labor Flexibility, and Inequalities	 // Globalization, Labor Flexibility, and Inequalities Session Organizer Tamara HERAN, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France,   Session in English In the context of increasing global economic, social, and cultural integration and interconnection, large transnational corporate and financial conglomerates have become important in various sectors of national economies, a consequence that has limited the power of the State. While labor flexibility strategies are promoted, there is also a growing precariousness of work and growing inequality. In both the South and the North, instruments to promote high staff turn-over with fixed-term contracts and variable work-days, variable labor remuneration for activities paid by piecework, bonuses, and commissions, and changes to labor management due to workforce subcontractors, has meant the establishment of precarious working conditions, characterized by partial and unstable jobs, salaries often below the minimum wage, limited access to social welfare, and informal jobs. This precariousness can be shown by unequal access to social welfare such as pensions and sickness allowance, high levels of income inequality, and gender inequality that marginalizes women in flexible, unstable jobs. These labor characteristics not only affect the primary and the secondary sector such as agribusiness and manufacturing, but also the service (such as retail, financial services, education) and the public sectors. This session addresses this problematic and focuses in particular on the relationships between globalization, labor flexibility, and growing inequality. We invite papers that ask: What forms of inequality arising from this problematic can be identified? What are the links between globalization and labor flexibility in the creation of inequalities? Does labor flexibility in a context of development and globalization contribute to the production of inequalities at the higher and lower end of the social hierarchy? Does development under global conditions mean labor precariousness and social inequality? What are the similarities and differences in Northern and Southern societies in the form, duration, and magnitude of these inequalities? How can societies confront or prevent these inequalities? Papers based on empirical case studies oriented by an analytical framework using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods are welcome. Comparative analyses are particularly encouraged. 
RC09	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s5	Long-Term Causation versus Disjuncture in Development	 // Long-Term Causation versus Disjuncture in Development Session Organizer Samuel COHN, Texas A&M University, USA,   Session in English Recent work in the Sociology of Development has argued for the dominance of long-term causation and the relative absence of important conjunctural forces in the determination of levels of development. In their recent work, Salvatore Babones and James Mahoney have argued that the current structure of the division of the world into core and periphery has been enduring and has not experienced significant fundamental changes. Mahoney goes so far as to argue that the seventeenth century patterns of colonialism essentially determined the international differences in Western Hemisphere national incomes that we see today. Such arguments taken to their logical extension suggests that 95 percent of the work done in the Sociology of Development is irrelevant – since the causal forces that determine development were set in place long ago. Is this really true? This panel is open to either papers that show that current configurations of development have a deep historic base or to papers that show recent and important changes in trajectories of development. Papers are welcome on either continuities or discontinuities in development. Model topics can include: In which way were East Asian Developmentalist States shaped by earlier patterns of colonial administration? Can resource booms change historical patterns of development? Does popular mobilization have the capacity to change the influence of historical legacies of development? How can we account for changes in the stature of individual nations such as the fall of Argentina in the mid-twentieth century? Can contemporary feminism challenge long-term structures of female discrimination supported by global patriarchy in the North and in the South?   
RC09	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s6	Memorial Session: Willfried Spohn 	 // Memorial Session: Willfried Spohn Session Organizer Michal BODEMANN, University of Toronto, CANADA,   Session in English 
RC09	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s7	Middle Class as Driver of (Democratic) Change?	 // Middle Class as Driver of (Democratic) Change? Session Organizer Dieter NEUBERT, University of Bayreuth, Germany,   Session in English In the last years, we have observed a rising interest in the middle class of developing (and transitional) countries. One focus is on the role of the middle class as consumers with reference to the emerging middle classes in large countries like China, India, Brazil, or Russia. Whereas the focus on the middle class as consumers points at their economic role, the debate in sociology and political science is more interested in their political role. The middle class is seen as a carrier of civil society and as an important driver of political change, especially in processes of democratization. According to this view, the third wave of democratization in the late 1980s and 1990s in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa was driven by the middle class. And in the so-called “Arab Spring,” the middle classes have been identified as important actors in the social protest movements. Is this thesis, “middle class as driver for democratic change,” true? At least in some cases this formula fails. In Thailand, the middle class tries to protect a conservative monarchist regime against an electoral majority and the Arab revolution shows that in the middle class different political opinions can be found, e.g. aside from liberal democrats, there are also radical Islamists and supporters of the old regime. These examples show that the middle class is not homogenous but may be composed of different groups with different social and political visions. Papers should focus on some of the following questions: Are processes of fundamental sociopolitical change linked to the emergence of a middle class? Is the middle class an important driver of democratic change or does the middle class try to block change? How homogenous is the middle class? What are the visions of the future promoted by the middle class? 
RC09	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s8	Multiple State - Society Perspectives on Labor Migration in Asia 	 // Multiple State - Society Perspectives on Labor Migration in Asia Session Organizers Habibul H. KHONDKER, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates,   Emma PORIO, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines,   Session in English Depending on the context and the perspective of the stakeholders, labor migration has become a contested idea and a debatable proposition, a panacea for some labor-sending countries for solving their economic problems and a curse for others. An important question is: How sustainable is the strategy of exporting labor overseas to deal with local unemployment problems by syphoning off surplus labor? Due to shortages of labor in the receiving countries, foreign labor is needed, yet the “foreign workers” are not always welcome. It seems as if foreigners originating from Asian countries are needed for a limited period of time and when their work is no longer required, they are unceremoniously discarded in several regions. They are the “golden boys” of foreign currency earners in some countries, yet they face sufferings and live a precarious life overseas with their families exposed to vulnerability in others. They are disposable labor. Hence, migration is both a panacea and a curse. A careful and critical analysis of a comprehensive understanding of the process of labor migration is of utmost importance. This session will explore the precariousness as well as the benefits of migration. We will explore the perspectives of the labor-sending countries as well as labor-receiving countries on the issues of economic benefits of the state, the welfare of society, and the wellbeing of the family and the migrants. It is important to examine all aspects of the migration process: the economic, social, political, and cultural aspects around the themes of vulnerability and wellbeing. It may be useful to deconstruct some of the myths of the economic benefits of migration to the countries of origin and expose the vulnerability and risks involved in migration for the workers. This session will approach labor migration in Asia with all its complexities and contradictions. 
RC09	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s9	Political Inequality and Social Change	 // Political Inequality and Social Change Session Organizer Joshua Kjerulf DUBROW, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland,   Session in English Political inequality can be defined as structured differences in influence over government decisions. It is a multidimensional concept – comprised of voice and response – that occurs in all types of governance structures, from social movement organizations, to local and national governments, and global governance. Voice refers to how constituencies express their interests to decision-makers, either directly or through representatives. Response refers to how decision-makers act and react to their constituencies, and take the forms of symbols and policy. Political inequality is a standard feature of modern political systems. Though we often think of political inequality as static, the form, duration, and magnitude of particular political inequalities change as societies change. Local, national, and regional transformations are associated with transformations of political inequality. This session asks three major research questions: What are the relationships between political power, political inequality, and social transformations? How does social and political change impact political inequality? What are the consequences of political inequality on peoples, societies, and social structures? This session looks for empirical (qualitative and quantitative) papers on the topic of political inequality that feature processes of social and political transformation. Comparative studies are strongly encouraged.   
RC09	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s10	RC09 Business Meeting	 // RC09 Business Meeting Session Organizers Ulrike M. M. SCHUERKENS, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France,   Habibul H. KHONDKER, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates,   The purpose of the RC09 Business Meeting is to discuss current organizational matters and activities of the Committee. Among the topics to be discussed at this meeting, we highlight an activity report for the ending period, the preparation of the election of the board for the 2014-2018 period, RC09 participation in the next ISA Forum and Congress, and other future activities. 
RC09	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s11	The New Demography of Development	 // The New Demography of Development Session Organizers Brendan MULLAN, Michigan State University, USA,   Matthew SANDERSON, Kansas State University, USA,   Session in English Development is a complex and contested concept that has most often been correlated with notions of progress and improvement, and is conditioned by class, culture, geography, history, power relations, and demography. Population composition and change are central to development processes. Yet the means and ends of development are in flux as never before. Earlier development models of economic nationalism gave way to neoliberalism and export-oriented industrialization models, which are now being displaced by a development paradigm emphasizing the promotion and expansion of capabilities and the building of agency. This session will explore the role of demography in a changing and increasingly global context of development. We welcome papers that investigate new, multiple, and variegated interactions between development, population change, mortality, fertility, and migration. Papers may address any of the following questions, including among others: How is the second demographic transition in the developed world linked to economic development? What are the impacts of aging societies in the North with their increasing need for care on economic and social developments in the South? What challenges may China`s one child policy pose for development outcomes? Does the North-South linkage shape aspects of fertility and mortality in developing countries? What are the consequences of new migratory flows, such as those from Africa to China, on “South-South” patterns? Papers using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods are welcome. Papers that employ a comparative or multi-sited framework are especially encouraged. 
RC09	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC09#s12	Transnational Entrepreneurship: Economic Sociology Meets the Sociology of Development 	 // Transnational Entrepreneurship: Economic Sociology Meets the Sociology of Development Session Organizer Alexander EBNER, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany,   Session in English The phenomenon of transnational entrepreneurship refers to the transnational operations of the start-up enterprises of migrant entrepreneurs. It may be viewed as a complement to the networking dynamics of large transnational companies, thus resembling a “globalization from below” (Portes). Transnational entrepreneurs mobilize resources in their countries of origin and destination, enhanced by resources in third countries. The factors of labor, capital, and knowledge are framed by network relationships that combine local and transnational components in terms of a “multiple embeddedness” (Kloostermann and Rath). Against this background, the question arises in what sense transnational entrepreneurship exhibits strategic qualities regarding the use of socio-cultural resources and identities. This would imply that transnational entrepreneurship gains an institutional logic of its own. In exploring this phenomenon, sociologists form various branches of the discipline are providing theoretical and empirical work. This applies in particular to the domains of economic sociology and the sociology of development, which are taking on the matter of transnationalisation as a facet of complex social transformations across society and the world economy. Accordingly, the proposed session calls for papers that are both theoretical and/or empirical in their analytical orientation. Topics to be highlighted in the exploration of transnational entrepreneurship may involve issues such as the transition from ethnic to transnational entrepreneurship, national, regional, ethnic and gender varieties of transnational entrepreneurship, institutional dynamics of multiple embeddedness, and the framing role of political, civic, and business associations. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management, RC10
RC10	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s1	Childhood and Participation	 // Childhood and Participation Session Organizer Demosthenis DASKALAKIS, Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece,   Session in English The comparative and intercultural analysis has revealed a variety of childhoods, rather than a childhood as a unique and universal phenomenon. The changes to the experience of childhood depend on the country, social class, gender, and nationality, in fact that means that childhood is a variable of social analysis, which cannot be separated from the other variables. Childhood does not refer to a specific person or child but focus on the general condition of being a child. It is a social and cultural concept, idea and category and relates to a difficultly and arbitrarily defined period of human life, as that definition is made subjectively from the adults. In every case, childhood is not a static object and universal fact of human nature with naturalistic background, without that to cancel the basic meaning of biological relationships. It is a relative and varying framework of ideas, which define the experience of being a child, consisting a varying in space and time sociological category that cannot be studied isolated from the rest of society, as the latter constructs it. The differentiation in living conditions and in the level of welfare between children of upper, middle and lower social classes that characterizes childhood creates “many childhoods”. What happens with the social dangers, which threaten childhood today? Burst of domestic violence, of school violence, sexual abuse and neglect of children, paedophilia on the Internet, growth of child delinquency? Furthermore, although children considered valuable for the society, still remain a category with high poverty rate. 
RC10	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s2	Cooperation and Participation 	 // Cooperation and Participation Session Organizers Akihiro ISHIKAWA, Chuo University Fuda, Japan,   Pawel STAROSTA, University of Lodz, Poland,   Session in English In the recent global economic and financial crisis the issue the neglect of participation of citizens and employees has come to the fore. Economic democracy needs a strengthening of the competences and involvement of all those concerned. In so far stronger cooperation of stakeholders is a central concern for sustainability. 
RC10	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s3	Democratic Decentralisation and Women`s Participation	 // Democratic Decentralisation and Women`s Participation Session Organizer P.P. BALAN, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, India,   Session in English Decentralized governance enlarges the space for people`s representation in matters of governance and moving decision closer to people. Decentralization is supposed to increase women’s participation in governance, the opportunity for leadership and participation in public forums. Amartya Sen urges to look at women as agents of change (Sen, 1999). Agency is the ability to define and articulate needs and priorities and to act upon them. Female agency in political forums such a local governments would give entitlements and basic services provision. Gendered identities and practices have often acted as forces for the exclusion of women from leadership positions; by limiting their capacities to articulate and act upon their claims and concerns. The grassroots women collectives and functionaries, therefore, need to be strong with access to resources and opportunities, through education, information, skills and freedom of choice and action. The goals of Gender Equality and Women`s Empowerment in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be seen as opportunities for mainstreaming women’s concerns and perspectives in development. In this context there is need to enlarge women’s participation. 
RC10	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s4	Education, Participation and Inequality	 // Education, Participation and Inequality Session Organizers Eleni NINA PAZARZI, University of Piraeus, Greece,   Iasonas LAMPRIANOU, University of Cyprus, Cyprus,   Session in English Education has been acknowledged to be a major driving force for upward social mobility, social participation and social justice. The role of education becomes even more important in the era of financial crisis and austerity. In the last years, more and more countries – in Europe and in other continents – sunk in a spiral trajectory of reductions in investments in Education. During such harsh times, a session on participation and inequality becomes even more timely. 
RC10	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s5	Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology and Participation	 // Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology and Participation Session Organizers Isabel DA COSTA, CNRS IDHE-ENS de Cachan, France,   Gyoergy SZELL, University of Osnabrueck, Germany,   Session in English Participation, Organisational Democracy and self-management are at the core of overcoming an unequal and unjust world. Decent work and social justice have to be promoted on the different levels of social actions: i.e. micro, meso and macro. Mainstream sociology has unfortunately neglected in the past couple of years this trend, after neo-liberalism transformed most societies, especially after the breakdown of the socialist system, into market societies. Insofar a Second Enlightenment – as the late Neil Postman phrased it – and Phronesis, i.e. the search for a Good Society, have to be put on the agenda again. 
RC10	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s6	Industrial Democracy in East Asian Society Social Economy	 // Industrial Democracy in East Asian Society Social Economy Session Organizers Eun-Jin LEE, Kyungnam University, Korea,   Yamada SHUJI, Bunkyo University, Japan,   Session in English The panel extrapolates the present situation and the alternative option of the industrial relations from the sustainable development`s perspective, with a specific regional focus on East Asia labor markets. The East Asia area has been the most dynamically transforming their respective labor market coordinates. Conventionally, each country in East Asia have simulated and adopted other model of labor market policies by each government and by private actors as well. The panel focuses on the impact of industrial relations on the society at large. What is the present situation of the industrial relations in East Asia? To fulfil sustainable development, how should it be changed in the future? For a long time Japanese industrial relations have been regarded as the role model for other Asian countries. How have the industrial relations been changing in the Japan? What is the commonness and diversity among East Asia industries? Each presenter deals with his situation within a specific industry or within more general situation in a country. However, they will clearly indicate the implications, which their papers have for the whole East Asian community of labor and industry. 
RC10	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s7	Inequality and the Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices	 // Inequality and the Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices Integrative Session // : RC07 Futures Research, RC10 Social Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management and RC11 Sociology of Aging Not open for submission of abstracts . Session in English 
RC10	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s8	Modern Responsible Participation Forms in Financing and Banking	 // Modern Responsible Participation Forms in Financing and Banking Session Organizers Maria FREGIDOU-MALAMA, University of Gävle, Sweden,   Volkmar KREISSIG, Taita Taveta University, Kenya,   Session in English/Spanish How do alternative banks work to sustain their organisations and what are the advantages of these alternative financial forms? Do they question the traditional financial system and can be considered as financial alternatives to commercial financial and banking forms? Alternative financial systems attract new members by: stressing democratic management and members` sovereignty, educating members, supporting ecological projects, involving and supporting young people and women, networking with people and organisations locally and globally and using relationships and mouth to mouth marketing. Can they be an entrepreneurial model for a modern responsible financial and banking system helping people to innovative entrepreneurial activities? The structure of the global financial system and its contribution to development is an emerging and challenging issue, can local cooperatives, microfinance and other kind of alternative banks be considered as a viable local financial initiative? 
RC10	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s9	New Forms of Participation	 // New Forms of Participation Session Organizers Martine LEGRIS REVEL, Université Lille 2, France,   Vera VRATUSA, Belgrade University, Serbia,   Session in English We suggest developing further a “post-dialogical” approach that is more focused on social, professional and scientific mediation and cooperation. This leads us to emphasize the models and devices of mediation and cooperation theoretical background that enable to come out of the current dead ends in democratic participation and sustainable development. The stake of the session is basically to investigate the conditions and modalities of cooperative democracy and democratic cooperation namely within political public sphere of environmental issues, firms and states, at the workplace and in the territory spaces. It is an opportunity to identify in the processes of change and governance the conditions for theoretical conception and practical translation of the social pattern of contradictory collective and individual interests. Long term multi-levels and multi-actors environmental and societal transition will be discussed. We propose to study the spectrum of the conditions and modalities of mediation and cooperation with respect to power, activity and research. We wish to focus in particular upon the factors of change, whether they relate to stances, conducts, capacities or identities of the actors. The analysis of activities involving professional and social dialogue, or some alternative work organisation that would possibly replace the Scientific Management of Work, especially those referring to the model of the cooperatives and self-management of firms. The field studies in the public spaces could address the territory-based policies, the new urban and rural experiments, their impact in terms of way of life, and the political significances that the actors assign them. 
RC10	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s10	RC10 Business Meeting	 // RC10 Business Meeting Session Organizer Isabel DA COSTA, CNRS-IDHE, France,   Agenda: Opening of the session, minutes Report on activities Finances Assessment of the 2014 World Congress of Sociology in Yokohama Election of a new board Further activities Publications A.O.B. 
RC10	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s11	Sustainability and Participation	 // Sustainability and Participation Session Organizers Anup DASH, Utkal University, India,   Debi SAINI, Management Development Institute, India,   Session in English The concept of “sustainability” is at the center of the intersectionality of the dynamic interaction between two complex systems – the natural world and the social world. A new discourse and practice is rising in the form of a sustainability Science as the humanity is faced with five mega challenges for the 21st century, namely, i. the green challenge, ii. the inclusion challenge, iii. the wellbeing challenge, iv. the moral challenge, and v. the governance challenge. But these debates have also expanded and deepened our understanding of the complexities and the multidimensionality of the problem, that the deeper issues are linked not only to questions of equity, rights, justice, security and governance but also of life styles, world views, peace, culture and knowledge systems. The image of climate change has become ever more associated with the poor small farmers without crops, migrants without homes, communities without (adaptive) capacities, increasing poverty (= vulnerability to climate change) in the global south. Environmental issues calls for reframing the narratives, questioning the GDP-centric and anthropocentric model of development and walking the talk of ecological democracy and deep ecology. Constructing of a shared vision and creating “the future we want” involves democratic solutions and consensus building though participatory and emancipatory processes of stakeholder dialogues. This session is designed to stimulate debates about alternative development paths, participatory and inclusive governance structures, and a more sophisticated understanding of the issues toward social and political transformation founded on better sustainability practice. 
RC10	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s12	The Communal Idea and Participation	 // The Communal Idea and Participation Session Organizer Michal PALGI, University of Haifa, Israel,   Session in English It is no secret that communal, cooperative, and democratic structures have been put to real tests during their existence and have chosen different paths for maintaining and developing themselves. New challenges, tensions and unexpected claims often result in resistance or negation of the democratic communal ideal. Theories of the transformation of such organizations and communities often portray them as becoming less communal, cooperative, and/or democratic, the older, larger, and/or more prosperous they become. Theories of organizational inertia, in contrast, identify age, size, and resources as factors that insulate organizations against change, rather than making them more susceptible to it. Other theories look at the social dilemmas and motivations of the actors in the different echelons of these organizations and communities. This session will attempt to analyze the relevance of these theories to the spread of changes among democratic organization and communities. 
RC10	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s13	The World Social Forum as a Planetarian Project of Self-Management and Social Justice	 // The World Social Forum as a Planetarian Project of Self-Management and Social Justice Session Organizers Azril BACAL, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Peru,   Erik LINDHULT, Mälardalen University, Sweden,   Session in English/French/Spanish There are two alternative projects of globalization that are outlined and contrasted in the session. The Neoliberal project, associated with the tenets of classical economic theory, particularly as formulated by Milton Friedman at the Chicago School, fundamentally based in the mind set of competition and the gale of creative destruction through profit driven entrepreneurship, expanding market forces leading to short-termism, privatization, consumerism. It`s global reach is annually discussed at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The World Social Forum (WSF) emerged since 2001 in Porto Alegre, RGS, Brasil, as an alternative to the WEF. The WSF constitutes an insurgent project of alter-globalization process of social inclusion, currently under construction at the local, national, regional and planetarian levels, with a clear emphasis on political, negotiated (plus/plus), non-violent ways of conflict resolution and a culture of peace. It is a open space facilitating social innovation and cultural diversity, in line with the utopian and self-management traditions in the social sciences, applied to the domains of social economy, human solidarity and sharing, local development, participatory democracy and the reclaiming of the commons and social welfare. How may this project become viable and sustainable at the planetarian level? Self-Management is becoming the preferred road to approach the realms of economic production and distribution of goods and services, with an ecology-friendly approach to nature and agriculture (agro-ecology), also including financial services, fair trade, social management and accountability, social equality, quality education, health and all rights for all, including the use of science and technology for the common good. 
RC10	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s14	Trade Unions and Participation	 // Trade Unions and Participation Session Organizers Volker TELLJOHANN, IRES Emilia-Romagna, Italy,   Philippe POCHET, European Trade Union Institute, Belgium,   Session in English This session will explore the impact of the crisis on trade unions and recent developments in the field of worker participation. Contributions analysing the theme at local, national, European and global level are welcome. With regard to the local and national level of analysis we are particularly interested by the impacts of austerity policies and their tendency to undermine trade union and employee rights. In particular, we invite the contributors to address the following questions: How and to what extent does the crisis impact on the scope of worker participation? Is institutionalised worker participation undergoing deregulation processes? Does the crisis contribute to greater divergences between countries with regard to the exercise of participation rights? Furthermore, the session intends to analyse the possibilities of trade unions and worker participation to address the processes of trans-nationalisation of economic activities and in particular restructuring processes at transnational level. As the most developed supranational rights of information and consultation are enabled by EU directives, the session should address their effectiveness vis-à-vis restructuring processes in times of crisis. In this context, we would also like to look what types of transnational strategies trade unions pursue in order to address the consequences of the crisis. Finally, the session also intends to look at new experiences of trade union and employee involvement at global level. Thus, in this session we welcome contributions dealing with the role and the concrete impact of transnational company agreements on industrial relations and worker participation at local level. 
RC10	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC10#s15	Well-Being, Participation and Digital Democracy	 // Well-Being, Participation and Digital Democracy Session Organizers Janet MCINTYRE, Flinders University, Australia,   Luciana Cristina de SOUZA, Milton Campos Law School, Brazil,   Session in 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. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Aging, RC11
RC11	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s1	Age Inequalities, Ageism and Age Discrimination: Still on the Rise?	 // Age Inequalities, Ageism and Age Discrimination: Still on the Rise? Session Organizer Lucie VIDOVICOVA, Masaryk University, Czech Republic,   Session in English It is 45 years since the term “ageism” was coined by Robert Buttler pointing at the disparities and unequal treatment of people on the basis of their chronological age. Since then the topic was picked up by many academics, philosophers, policy makers and researchers. The agenda was set, as a media analysts teach us. Not only has the interest in the phenomena risen, but also its recognition among lay actors. Supported by increasing awareness of populational ageing, the records and areas of recognised unfair treatment on the basis of age are raising, especially in (Eastern) Europe and North America. The typical result of a question “Could you tell me whether, in your opinion, age discrimination is very widespread, fairly widespread, fairly rare or very rare?” is however indecisive: latest Eurobarometr (393/2012) counts 45% for total “widespread” and 46% for “rare” (9% “don`t know” and “non existent” spontaneous answers), but huge differences between the European countries remain. For this session we invite papers discussing the evolution of the phenomena of age discrimination both on empirical and theoretical grounds. Papers dealing with international and/or topic areas comparison are encouraged. 
RC11	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s2	Aging and the Body in Everyday Life	 // Aging and the Body in Everyday Life Session Organizer Laura HURD CLARKE, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Session in English Our bodies are the most immediate way by which we experience the social and physical realities of growing older and the gendered, societal norms and ideals which delimit and shape our everyday lives. This session will showcase papers which examine the “doing of gender” (West and Zimmerman, 1987) in everyday later life. In particular the papers will explore how idealized norms of femininity and masculinity are performed, transmuted, and/or resisted through the aging body. Papers will consider such topics as appearance work, body image, disability, health and illness, sexuality, and relationships (amongst other related issues). Papers may further investigate how these embodied experiences vary by one’s socio-cultural position. As such, the papers will explore how the experience of the body in later life varies by age, gender, ethnicity/culture, sexual orientation, and social class as well as the impact of factors such as ableism, ageism, healthism, racism, sexism and other discourses of exclusion. 
RC11	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s3	Aging, Globalization and Inequality. Presidential session 	 // Aging, Globalization and Inequality. Presidential session Session Organizer Anne MARTIN-MATTHEWS, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This RC11 Presidential Symposium will address the ways in which growing old is being transformed through processes associated with globalization. It will consider the impact of globalization and of multinational organizations and agencies on the lives of older people; factors contributing to the “social construction” of later life in varied global contexts; and issues associated with diversity and inequality in old age, arising through the effects of cumulative advantage and disadvantage over the life course. These different themes are analyzed using a variety of theoretical perspectives drawn from sociology, social policy, political science, and social anthropology. Each of the three presenters in this session have an international reputation for research on issues of aging, globalization and inequality. Chris Phillipson is a co-author on the ground-breaking book, Ageing, Globalisation and Inequality: The New Critical Gerontology (2006). Susan McDaniel holds a Canada Research Chair in Global Population & Life Course and has conducted comparative international research with colleagues around the globe, including in Japan. Akiko Hashimoto is a comparative sociologist at the University of Pittsburgh and has recently written about Japan in the context of cultures and globalization. 
RC11	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s4	Authors Meet Critics Session. New Approaches of Conceptualizing Intergenerational Relations	 // Authors Meet Critics Session. New Approaches of Conceptualizing Intergenerational Relations Session Organizer Andreas HOFF, Zittau-Görlitz University, Germany,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Proposed authors Kurt LÜSCHER, University of Konstanz, Germany: Intergenerational Ambivalence – Widening the Horizon Simon BIGGS, University of Melbourne, Australia Ariela LOWENSTEIN, Haifa University, Israel: Intergenerational Intelligence Population ageing has left its mark on intergenerational relations in family, community and society, which have been undergoing significant changes in recent years. Traditional ways of intergenerational interaction cannot longer being taken for granted. Whereas increasing longevity is allowing for an extended life time of intergenerational interaction, declining fertility and increasing geographical distances between the generations are threatening the very same. At the same time, new technologies are opening new avenues of intergenerational interaction. Growing individualism in our contemporary postmodern societies increases the need for continuous identity reconstruction, which includes multiple generational roles. Do traditional theories on intergenerational relations still reflect these realities? This session proposes the need for new approaches of conceptualizing intergenerational relations in the light of these groundbreaking changes. The turn of the millennium witnessed the emergence of the ‘intergenerational ambivalence’ concept as an attempt to conceptualize the complexities of multiple and often contradictory intergenerational roles and relations. In 2011, the concept of ‘generational intelligence’ proposed a proactive method for discovering generational identities and for raising intergenerational awareness, both preconditions for a new quality of intergenerational interaction in postmodern society. This session aims bringing together some of the main proponents of this new discourse with the aim of kick-starting a public debate on future intergenerational interaction and how to conceptualize it. 
RC11	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s5	Grandparenting	 // Grandparenting Session Organizers Virpi TIMONEN, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland,   Sara ARBER, University of Surrey, United Kingdom,   Session in English Grandparenting is a dynamic family practice that varies over time and between societies. Grandparenting is shaped by material and structural realities such as social class and the welfare state context. Within any society there are patterned diversities in the practices of grandparenting, associated with material circumstances, ethnicity, geographical propinquity and family structure. Gender norms also exert a strong influence on grandparenting practices that are negotiated across the dyadic grandparent-grandchild relationship and the triad of grandparent–adult child–grandchild. Norms and expectations associated with grandparenting may be in conflict, and grandparents use agency to negotiate the balance between the norms of “being there” (to assist), “not interfering”, and drawing boundaries around their involvement in the lives of the younger family generations. We welcome quantitative and qualitative papers, based on cross-national or single-context research. We particularly encourage papers on under-researched or poorly understood aspects of grandparenting. These include, but are not limited to, grandfathering, transnational (or long-distance) grandparenting, great-grandparenting, lesbian/gay grandparents, three-generational studies, grandparenting in the broader extended family context, step-grandparenting, and grandchildren`s perspectives. Much more research is needed on how grandparenting practices vary by gender, lineage, class, and ethnicity, and we invite abstract submissions that address these intersections. 
RC11	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s6	How Do Telecare and Assistive Technologies Impact on Care-Giving?	 // How Do Telecare and Assistive Technologies Impact on Care-Giving? Session Organizer Andreas HOFF, Zittau-Görlitz University, Germany,   Session in English Scientific knowledge has been multiplying at exponential rates, with its translation into practical applications also happening at an ever increasing speed. So-called “smart home” technologies, health monitoring techniques and assistive technologies counterbalancing the impact of physical, cognitive, vision, and hearing impairment are beginning to revolutionise formal and informal care provision. These technologies have the potential to improve care recipients` well-being substantially. “Telecare” technologies can also help family carers monitoring the person in their care using various sensors placed around the care recipient`s home, taking immediate action if needed, without being physically there. However, gains in physical ability and greater independence may come at a high price: a less intimate caring relationship, in which the care recipient becomes monitored from a distance and “remote-controlled”. This session aims to explore how the use of modern technologies changes the caring relationship between care giver and care recipient in informal care. It will consider the benefits arising from using such technologies, as well as the possible emergence of new risks. 
RC11	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s7	Inequality and the Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices	 // Inequality and the Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices Integrative Session // : RC07 Futures Research, RC10 Social Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management, and RC11 Sociology of Aging. Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC11	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s8	Innovation and Public Policies, New Answers for New Challenges	 // Innovation and Public Policies, New Answers for New Challenges Session Organizer Adriana FASSIO, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Session in English The increasing of life expectancy and the tendency of population aging reinforce the need of debate about the limits of public policies and the participation of the own elderly like active actors in the development and in their own welfare. The main issue of this session is to discuss and compare researches and experiences since the perspective of elderly rights in different countries. To inquire about the public, profit and non profit organizations which execute public policies like social innovation places where they try to afford new challenges in humanity history like increasing of the older population. The questions we would answer in the session are related on the paradigms of public policies and the methodological approaches put in practice, and also, over the point of view of the multiple actors in planning, executing, monitoring and evaluating the policies: elderly, their families, caregivers, professionals and the public and private organizations involved. 
RC11	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s9	Intergenerational Dependencies	 // Intergenerational Dependencies Session Organizer Michael FINE, Macquarie University, Australia,   Session in English Research and theory that examines ageing from the perspective of intergenerational dependencies is concerned with the way that ageing affects not just those who are old, but all age groups. It is concerned with the forms of solidarity, exchange, dependencies and conflicts between and within generations and genders, at the level of individuals, families and social networks, as well as across larger social aggregates such as communities, regions, nations and international contexts. The objective of this session is to promote sociological discussion of critical theoretical analyses as well as promote comparative empirical research. 
RC11	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s10	Life Course Influences on Inequalities in Later Life: Comparative Perspectives 	 // Life Course Influences on Inequalities in Later Life: Comparative Perspectives Session Organizers Hal KENDIG, Australian National University, Australia,   James NAZROO, Manchester University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . There is increasing recognition that the quality of later life is influenced by social advantages and disadvantages over the life course. This symposium examines variations in the pattern of life course trajectories (across countries, gender, class and ethnicity) and the influence of these trajectories on later life outcomes in terms of psychological well-being, health and social inclusion. Key influences under consideration include early life circumstances, education, work experiences, family circumstances, and social class attainment. We examine ways in which life opportunities and constraints vary systematically among social groups in terms of gender, ethnicity, and spatial location. We do this by drawing on comparable and detailed life history data collected in the UK, mainland Europe and Australia, and also draw on data available from the US. The societal context of our investigations – from Australia, England, mainland European countries and the US – will highlight the influence of variable social structures and policies. Our primary focus is on the baby boom cohort making transitions during times of economic and policy turmoil and societal ageing. Variation between countries will shed light on public and private responsibilities for intergenerational equity and welfare during times of social change. 
RC11	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s11	Life-Course Influences on Old Age	 // Life-Course Influences on Old Age Session Organizer Kathrin KOMP, Umeå University, Sweden,   Session in English Populations around the globe age. This demographic shift draws attention to the situation of older people, and it makes old age the focus of many ongoing debates. Individuals want to plan for old age, the media discusses it, researchers study it, and policy-makers try to influence it. Grasping the situation of older people, however, requires a life-course perspective. This perspective purports that events can have time-delayed effects on people’s lives. Thus, the situation in old age partly depends on events during youth and middle-age. This session explores such life-course influences on old age. It studies which events are particularly important for the situation in old age, and when influences on old age start. In doing so, it looks at the effects of historical events at the societal level and at personal events within the lives of individuals. Examples for such influential historical events are the current economic crisis and the earthquake that hit Japan in 2011. Examples for influential personal events are poverty during childhood and youth unemployment. Moreover, this session discusses the implications of adopting a life-course perspective on old age for, e.g., healthy and active ageing, policy-making, and workforce participation. 
RC11	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s12	Old-Age Security in the 21st Century	 // Old-Age Security in the 21st Century Session Organizer Esteban CALVO, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile,   Session in English By 2025, one quarter of the world`s population aged 60 and over will be living in China. Therefore, the success or failure of China to reform its old-age pension system will affect a major proportion of the world’s population. This session aims to focus on old-age pension reforms worldwide. Numerous now-developed countries first experienced a cultural rationalization, then economic modernization, and after that faced the challenges of population aging. Distinctive characteristics will shape the consequences of the reforms being implemented in these countries. One of the most predictable challenges will be the financing problem. How to finance the pension system is a major question almost everywhere, but low-income nations face additional difficulties. Low coverage and compliance rates aggravate the financing problem and constitute a second major challenge, particularly in rural areas. Non-rationalized cultures, typically concentrated in rural areas, tend to be resistant to long term financial planning. The main objective of an old-age pension system is to provide financial security for elderly people. Where a substantial fraction of the elderly are at risk of poverty, substantial income redistribution is generally needed. Current reforms may have positive benefits for the overall economy (e.g. developing equity markets, achieving fiscal stability, increasing national savings, and boosting the economic growth), but we must ask at what price for vulnerable segments of the population such as women, low-wage workers, recent migrants from rural areas, and those who remain in rural areas. 
RC11	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s13	Older Migrants and Migrant Care Workers	 // Older Migrants and Migrant Care Workers Session Organizer Jacobus HOFFMAN, University of Oxford, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session aims to focus on the broad theme of migration and aging. Thereby, two very different aspects can be differentiated: (1) older people migrating to other countries (in order to join their family or in search of better health care provision) and (2) younger and middle-aged people migrating to become care-givers for older people (migrant care workers). One widely recognised difficulty in this context is the organisation and the provision of care for the elderly in ageing societies in combination with a decline of traditional family structures. Research on how migration in later life shapes the welfare needs, preferences and expectations of older people is in its infancy. This session aims to explore older migrants` experiences of accessing welfare and the barriers they encounter in negotiating inclusion into mainstream services. Language and citizenship can become main obstacles. Community organizations may play a major role in empowering older migrants, as well as migrants providing care to older people. 
RC11	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s14	Older Workers and Ageing Workforces 	 // Older Workers and Ageing Workforces Session Organizer Esteban CALVO, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile,   Session in English Workforce aging is an issue across the world. EU member states have enacted anti-discrimination legislation in respect of older people. Such legislation has been shown to reduce age-related inequalities, however, previous experiences of anti-discrimination legislation, for instance in respect of gender, race and disability, have demonstrated that changing attitudes is a longer-term task, and that employment discrimination is frequently embedded within taken for granted practices and norms. This session aims to discuss challenges of aging workforces both for national economies and for older workers themselves. Furthermore, it aims to compare to what extent these challenges are alike or different in countries across the globe. The sociological analysis should also consider perspectives and experiences of various societal stakeholders, including employers, trade unions and policy makers. The session will look at the challenges which organizations face in responding flexibly to legislative changes, explore the ways in which managers conceptualize aging issues in the workplace, and identify lessons that can be learned. 
RC11	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s15	Population Ageing, Work and Caregiving Responsibilities in Four Liberal Democracies 	 // Population Ageing, Work and Caregiving Responsibilities in Four Liberal Democracies Session Organizer Kate O’LOUGHLIN, University of Sydney, Australia,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Workforce participation and caregiving are each central to global capacities to respond constructively to rapid population ageing, yet the relationships between them are inadequately researched and understood. The baby boomer cohort, now approaching late middle age, faces unprecedented pressures to manage paid work alongside caring longer and more intensively for family members and friends. This symposium will explore the nexus between paid work and caregiving with a particular focus on the gendered nature of caregiving and the baby boomer cohort using data from national data sets and social surveys in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Data from each country will be presented to show national trends as well as provide a basis for comparative analyses on the interrelations between caregiving, paid work, and health status for older individuals. The findings will be discussed in terms of their significance for employers, social security systems, and in the context of policy initiatives within and across the four countries. 
RC11	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s16	Poverty at Times of Affluence	 // Poverty at Times of Affluence Session Organizer Lucie VIDOVICOVA, Masaryk University, Czech Republic,   Session in English In the international comparison the European countries belong among the wealthiest countries in the World. Older people are at the lowest risk of the poverty and of social exclusion in most of them. This leads some of the theorist to talk about the need of new generational contract and about new types of age discrimination against the children and young people. However, the multiple jeopardises and cumulative disadvantages experienced by some of the subgroups of heterogeneous population of older people in deed give a strong legitimacy to the issue of poverty in higher age. The rising expenses on housing, drugs, services – not included in income based measures of social exclusion – substantially increase the risk of poverty of the groups dependent on social system. In this session we invite papers to discuss the various aspects related to social exclusion of older people, its subjective and objective meanings, determinants and outcomes, including both income measures and spending (e.g. consumer behaviour). 
RC11	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s17	Preparing for a Career in the Sociology of Aging	 // Preparing for a Career in the Sociology of Aging Session Organizer Sara ARBER, University of Surrey, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session is targeted to trainees and early career researchers in the sociology of aging. Two – three RC11 members with experience as journal editors and associate editors, and as research centre directors, will make very brief presentations on key issues in successful publication and grantscraft in the fields of sociology of aging and in social gerontology. Issues of disciplinary strength and multidisciplinary collaboration will be discussed. An open discussion session with opportunities for input by all participants will then follow. Participants will be encouraged to register in advance for this session, and to submit questions to the lead RC11 members prior to the session as well. 
RC11	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s18	RC11 Business Meeting 	 // RC11 Business Meeting Session Organizer Anne MARTIN-MATTHEWS, University of British Columbia, Canada,   
RC11	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s19	Social Class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle 	 // Social Class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle Session Organizer Ian REES JONES, Cardiff University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This symposium will be based on a collection of research papers edited by Marvin Formosa and Paul Higgs entitled “Social Class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle” published by Policy Press (forthcoming). The symposia will be based around key presentations addressing aspects of class and later life. First, Formosa will present a brief overview setting out key theoretical underpinnings of social class and highlighting issues arising from the different approaches to social class in later life. Second, Victor will present on the relationship between social class and patterns of care and caring. Third, Jones will address the literature on health inequalities in later life and evidence for the continuing salience of social class. Fourth, Hyde will present findings from analysis of cross-national data on class and age identity in later life. Fifth, Phillipson will discuss interactions of ageing and class in a globalized world. Finally, Higgs will act as discussant for the symposia. This symposium addresses global inequality and the diversities of Ageing within an Unequal World through the prism of social class. Contributors will address different social and cultural understandings of class and class relations in later life in a global context. Findings based on international comparative analysis of World and European data sets will be presented as well as examples of specific aspects of later life experiences such as care and caring. In this sense the symposium will encourage discussion of sociological understandings of class inequalities in later life at global, national, regional, local, and interpersonal levels. 
RC11	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC11#s20	The Challenge of Cultural Gerontology 	 // The Challenge of Cultural Gerontology Session Organizers Julia TWIGG, University of Kent, United Kingdom,   Wendy MARTIN, Brunel University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Over the last decade, Cultural Gerontology has emerged as one of the most significant and vibrant parts of writing about age. Reflecting the wider Cultural Turn, it has expanded the field of gerontology beyond all recognition. No longer confined to frailty, or by the dominance of medical and social welfare perspectives, gerontology now addresses the nature and experience of later years in the widest sense. Drawing on diverse areas of study that encompass the arts and humanities – novels, painting, music – that extend into new areas of life – clothing, hair, travel, consumption, gardening – and that draw on new methodologies – visual, narrative, material – these developments have located the study of later years within a larger and richer context. This symposium illustrates key themes from the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology, edited by Julia Twigg and Wendy Martin, to be published in 2014. The series of presentations include:“The Emergence of Cultural Gerontology” (Twigg and Martin); ‘Distinction and Identity in Later Life” (Gilleard and Higgs); “Outlining and Applying an Intersectional Framework” (Calasanti); “Communities and Connectivities” (Jones); and “Travel and Tourism in Later Life” (Hyde). This symposium therefore introduces key debates within cultural gerontology and provides a critical analysis of their development. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Law, RC12
RC12	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s1	Comparative Studies on Disputing Behavior	 // Comparative Studies on Disputing Behavior Session Organizer Masayuki MURAYAMA, Meiji University, Japan,   Session in English There have been nationwide surveys in common law countries as well as civil law countries. Qualitative studies on legal aid and access to justice have also been done in various countries. We will make international comparison on disputing behavior, drawing upon findings of these quantitative and qualitative studies. 
RC12	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s2	Gatekeeping for Justice in the Courtroom: Universal and Cultural Dimensions 	 // Gatekeeping for Justice in the Courtroom: Universal and Cultural Dimensions Session Organizer Marina KURKCHIYAN, University of Oxford, England,   Session in English In any legal system and in any social context, a courtroom is expected to be a place in which justice is protected and if necessary restored. It is supposed to be a forum within which everyone is treated equally before the law. However, the repertoire of roles available to the actors within the legal process and the structure of their relationships, are both determined by specific legal traditions, local procedural rules and distinctive cultural practices. Consequently a typical courtroom is in practice more like a power straggle in which various forces compete, so that the outcome becomes unpredictable. There are many political and social factors external to the courtroom that can interfere in the legal process, such as various forms of pressure that can restrict the independence of the judiciary or prejudice, resulted from the social and ethnic background of the judge and the litigants. Those issues have been extensively discussed by socio-legal scholars. In contrast, the impact of the differing amounts of power available to the actors within the courtroom itself has attracted less attention and awaits a closer scrutiny. Presenters in this panel are invited to draw on ethnographic and sociological research to report on courtroom dynamics that are visible in specific social and cultural contexts. It is hoped that this material will stimulate discussion on issues such as whether an imbalance between the powers ascribed to the different roles (e.g. judges, lawyers, and litigants) can impact on the outcome of an individual case. Is there a pattern that is universal regardless of the variations between cultures? How do the inequalities of status in the courtroom reveal themselves in different contexts? How do they affect lay people in the courtroom? What are the implications of the repertoire of the role performance by legal professionals for the litigation rate and the perception of law in different legal cultures? 
RC12	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s3	Gender and the Legal Professions	 // Gender and the Legal Professions Session Organizers Haesook KIM, Long Island University, USA,   Kay-Wah CHAN, Macquarie University, Australia,   Session in English Since the end of World War II many countries around the world have seen an increase in the number and proportion of women in the legal professions. In Asia this is a trend that is just becoming apparent as Japan and Korea have recently changed their legal educational systems to more closely align with that of the United States and consequently more women than ever before have been passing the bar. What contributes to this phenomenon? Is it driven by the progress of gender equality in the societies in these countries or is this a mere by-product of other changes in the societies, such as an expansion of general or legal education for women? Is there a cumulative effect of complex societal changes that have taken place? What are the driving forces behind these changes? With the increase in the number and proportion of women, in what forms does gender disparity still exist in the legal professions in Asia? Do women encounter a “glass ceiling” in prestigious law firms, the judiciary, prosecutors`offices, in-house legal departments of large corporations, law schools, and other institutions? Is there a feminization of the legal profession in Asia resulting in lower salaries and status as more women take their places in the field of law? If such is the case, what are the factors in the society that are hindering the attainment of gender equality in the legal professions? For countries around the world with relative gender equality in the legal professions, how was this achieved? Are there still any challenges or difficulties faced by women legal professionals as compared with men in the same profession? If such is the case, what are the reasons? What are the challenges and difficulties? Have there been any influential women in the legal professions despite the existence of gender inequality? What have they achieved? How did they overcome the hurdles they faced? This session intends to provide an opportunity for scholars and researchers around the world to meet and share their research findings in relation to the issue of gender equality in the legal professions. It aims to broaden and deepen our understanding of this issue in the Asian context. 
RC12	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s4	Law, Migration and Unequal World	 // Law, Migration and Unequal World Session Organizers Arvind AGRAWAL, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, India,   Susana NOVICK, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Session in English/Spanish Focusing on international migration which is being a legal, socio-economic and demographic, the concern of the session is on the forms of inequality through the legal construction of the wage structures between natives and migrants in the destined society and also of the natives and emigrants from the society of origin, labor market opportunities as a livelihood strategy, race, citizenship and naturalization, gender and family access to join the immigrants, residential segregation, access to education besides the politics of governance of immigrants. Necessary theoretical frameworks of economic, political and social and their interface with critical legal theory highlighting the need for a policy on addressing the forms of inequality arising out of International Migration management are of concern of the session. 
RC12	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s5	Legal Professions in Comparative Perspective. Part I	 // Legal Professions in Comparative Perspective. Part I Session Organizer Ole HAMMERSLEV, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark,   Session in English The globalization of markets and legal issues has put new demands on the legal professions, created new professional patterns and opened new chances. At one level, legal expertise and legal services become global, at another level transnational legal institutions develop and require new forms of legal expertise, and at a national level populations still need legal services. How does this affect legal professions in terms of gender issues and stratification, and how do legal professions and legal education produce expertise and legal products for the new transnational and international markets? The session will deal with these emerging questions. 
RC12	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s6	Legal Professions in Comparative Perspective. Part II	 // Legal Professions in Comparative Perspective. Part II Session Organizer Ole HAMMERSLEV, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark,   Session in English 
RC12	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s7	Present State of Public Participation in Justice	 // Present State of Public Participation in Justice Session Organizer Takayuki II, Hirosaki University, Japan,   Session in English Jury or lay assessor system has been introduced all over the world after the French Revolution. In recent years, Korea and Japan have implemented a unique consultative jury system and a semi-jury (saiban-in) system respectively. Taiwan`s judicial branch is reported to embark on pilot projects partly influenced by Korean jury. Revival and survival of jury system are hot issues in Russia. China is also trying to reform its mixed tribunals of one judge and two lay assessors, which is a part of the socialist judicial system. In Japan, the Inquests of Prosecution, the members of which are selected from the voters by lot, has got legally binding effects to prosecute and caused sensational indictments. Why are there discussions and actions on public participation in justice in East Asian and other developing and transition countries even now? This session invites papers which deal with the present state of public participation in justice in various countries and considers this question. 
RC12	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s8	Prisoners beyond Law and Welfare System	 // Prisoners beyond Law and Welfare System Session Organizer Yoko HOSOI, Toyo University, Japan,   Session in English This session deals with actualities of prisoner. For example, according to the statistics, the number of older prisoners in Japan and New Zealand is increasing. One of the reasons of the increase is the acceleration for the ageing process among prisoners. It is generally identified an apparent 10 year differential between the overall health of prisoners and that of the general population. It should be clear their life styles and life consciousness prior to entering prison. Socio-legal papers on prisoner and crime in different countries is highly welcomed to illuminate other aspects beyond existing policies in terms of law and welfare. 
RC12	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s9	Prostitution (CSW) and Law	 // Prostitution (CSW) and Law Session Organizer Rikiya KUBOYAMA, Nagoya University, Japan,   Session in English Prostitution (being included so called as “CSW”: commercial sex worker) is well-known as a social problem all over the world. But most of them are from the view of human rights nowadays. What is the legal issue in this field? How is the world situation in these days? Should the law control it still now? What is the “living law” in Prostitution? In this session, we try to describe this issue from the socio-legal perspective. We hope practical, empirical and comparative research of prostitution in different countries and regions will lead to exciting discussions. 
RC12	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s10	RC12 Business Meeting	 // RC12 Business Meeting Session Organizer Germano SCHWARTZ, University of Lasalle, Brazil,   
RC12	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s11	Social Systems and Legal Systems. Part I	 // Social Systems and Legal Systems. Part I Session Organizer Germano SCHWARTZ, University of Lasalle, Brazil,   Session in English/French/Spanish The increase in complexity that the digital society has brought to Law transformed, definitely, its modern bases. The idea of a Nation-State, common in the modern reality of law, is challenged in such a way that legal and social systems now communicate in speeds completely different than before. Categories such as complexity and risk bring to Law a new way of production and application, based on horizontality, circularity and global constitutionalization. The Law imposed (the State) loses, constantly, its legitimacy. The Law negotiated is even more important. The top down logic is challenged, in the name of an idea of law from the bottom up. With all this in mind, the present article attempts to materialize these discussions, especially working with the idea that legal systems multiply, recreate and maintain themselves mutually in the global social system. 
RC12	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s12	Social Systems and Legal Systems. Part II	 // Social Systems and Legal Systems. Part II Session Organizer Germano SCHWARTZ, University of Lasalle, Brazil,   Session in English/French/Spanish 
RC12	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s13	The Role of Law and Legal Services in Disaster Response	 // The Role of Law and Legal Services in Disaster Response Session Organizer Takayuki II, Hirosaki University, Japan,   Session in English A disaster can be seen as an aftermath of natural hazard as compounded by social vulnerability (aging, depopulation as well as shortage of law and lawyers). Disaster response may be partly hindered by an inadequacy in laws and legal services. For example, after the East Japan Great Earthquake and Tsunami 2011 (EJGET), the restoration process seems to have been hindered by deficiencies in the systems of land registration and estate distribution in succession, and the small number of legal professionals to deal with various issues such as loan problems and compensation for damages caused by the nuclear power plant accident. There must be a room for law and legal services to promote recovery from disasters. This session considers the role of law and legal services in disaster response all over the world, including those in relation to the EJGET. 
RC12	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC12#s14	The Value of Classic Japanese Theories of Sociology in the Age of Global Legalization	 // The Value of Classic Japanese Theories of Sociology in the Age of Global Legalization Session Organizer Kota FUKUI, Osaka University, Japan,   Session in English The current structure of law is becoming complex and hybrid on the global level. As a result of this, the trend of Japanese theories of sociology of law is changing from the discussions on modernizing the Japanese law to the theories on transnational law and society. Japanese theories of sociology of law in fact have a long history of discussing the harmonization of laws on the global level. An example was Takeyoshi Kawashima`s theory of sociology of law, which made effort to modernize the law in Japan. He took a serious view of the issues on the harmonization between traditional Japanese/Asian laws and modernized Western laws. Also the Japanese theories of sociology of law relativize the views on the legal culture between Asian and Western society. An example is Masaji Chiba`s socio-anthropological legal theory. They have a lot of suggestive viewpoints on the current globalized law and society. Of course, the discussions on the polarization between traditional Japanese/Asian and modernized Western law, often shown in the traditional socio-legal theories in Japan, are outdated. But there still are important issues regarding the essence of Japanese theories of sociology of law that should be discussed. There is a need to revive their visions in the age of globalization. We therefore form this panel to discuss the values of classic Japanese theories of sociology of law from the point of view of global legalization. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Sociology of Leisure, RC13
RC13	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s1	Leisure and Healthy Ageing 	 // Leisure and Healthy Ageing Session Organizer Francis LOBO, Edith Cowan University, Australia,   Session in English Ageing and health are common ground in an unequal world. Research informs us that leisure offer benefits towards healthy ageing in terms of physical, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of human well-being. Participation in physical activity contributes to overall health, despite constraints to active lifestyles. Happiness, cognitive functioning and vitality are the psychological benefits of leisure. Social wellbeing is known to accrue from leisure activity and is particularly beneficial in therapeutic recreation. The role of leisure in spiritual activity has coping modalities in various cultural traditions. Theorists and practitioners are invited to contribute new knowledge or confirm findings on the role of leisure in promoting healthy ageing by submitting papers for the Yokohama Congress in 2014. 
RC13	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s2	Leisure and Quality of Life	 // Leisure and Quality of Life Session Organizer Ma HUIDI, Chinese National Academy of Arts, China,   Session in English Leisure is not only one of the basic living conditions, but also the core factor of quality of life. According to Aristotle science, philosophy, art and religion are factors that impact the quality of life. They are also elements that are fundamental to the experience of the highest form of leisure. But the human being today is undergoing restlessness being occupied with too many things and has no time for reflection – an element that is necessary for the growth and experience of science, philosophy, art and religion. The overindulgence in sensual pleasures and materialistic preoccupations takes a person away from a leisured experience which is essential for enhancing the quality of life. The paradox today is to use the free time available in a judicious way so as to improve the quality of life and not be given only to physical and material pleasures. The aim of this session is to evoke a discussion on the relationship between leisure and the quality of life. 
RC13	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s3	Leisure in an Unequal World: Global Reflections. Part I	 // Leisure in an Unequal World: Global Reflections. Part I Session Organizer Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Session in English Invited Presidential Sessions Not open for submission of abstracts Inequality and domination present the deepest barriers to tackling the daunting challenges of our times. It is the presumption of this Congress that “instability and uncertainty that characterize the world today have their origin in the fact that an immense and vertiginous accumulation of wealth by a few has precipitated the dispossession, impoverishment and exclusion of millions of human beings in all latitudes of our planet. Even though it is true that not a single society has been free of this historical condition, we must accept that throughout the 20th century, particularly in its last three decades, social polarization has been aggravated by a tragic combination of institutional intolerance, war, socio/natural disasters and the neglect, relegation or even dismantling of models of social organization centered on the value and defense of common and public services and institutions.” None of the present day social institutions and social phenomena can claim not to have been impacted by global inequality. Leisure as a social phenomenon of utmost importance in human life has also been impacted by inequality to the utmost. While the centrality of leisure, which is one of the most cherished goal in life, and not a tool like money and power to achieve the desired quality of life and leisure, can hardly be overemphasized. It is equally true that leisure and our leisure dreams are deeply related and intertwined with such other social categories and phenomena as education, children, youth, ageing, family, women, work, volunteering, migration, community cohesion and ethnic relations, urbanization, environment, science and technology, health and happiness, quality of life, body, media and communication, social transformation, sports, tourism, culture, and the arts. This session will reflect upon the patterns and the practices of leisure as are existing and operative in today`s unequal world in global perspective. 
RC13	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s4	Leisure in an Unequal World: Global Reflections. Part II	 // Leisure in an Unequal World: Global Reflections. Part II Session Organizer Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Session in English Invited Presidential Sessions Not open for submission of abstracts 
RC13	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s5	Leisure, Culture and the Arts in Times of Turmoil 	 // Leisure, Culture and the Arts in Times of Turmoil Session Organizers Lynne CIOCHETTO, Massey University, New Zealand,   Mokong Simon MAPADIMENG, North-West University, South Africa,   Session in English The defining issues of the 21st century – environmental issues and climate change – will impact on every facet of contemporary life. It can be argued that the same global forces that brought on the economic crisis of 2008 – the unregulated expansion of contemporary capitalism – brought about the acceleration in climate change in recent decades. Responding to climate change requires a major cultural shift in values, behavior and the economy. Every sector will need to change. One of the most significant changes to contemporary leisure will be the curtailing of travel, by air and land. Issues of waste and the over consumption of scarce resources will bring a halt to consumerism and shopping as a leisure activity. People are going to have to live within their ecological footprint. These changes will also impact on arts and culture. The decline of travel will affect the tourism and the automobile sectors. Leisure and holidays will be spent nearer home. Localization of leisure could stimulate local culture and the arts, as well as prompting more “virtual” experiences and time spent using new technology. The arts will also play a key role in leading the critique of contemporary society and stimulating change. Digital technologies can help in “imagining” this new future as contemporary societies adjust to a massive cultural shift in values that is as significant as the advent of capitalism in the nineteenth century. 
RC13	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s6	Leisure, Market Capitalism and the State in East Asia 	 // Leisure, Market Capitalism and the State in East Asia Session Organizers Robert STEBBINS, University of Calgary, Canada,   Scott NORTH, Osaka University, Japan,   Session in English This panel seeks papers that address questions related to the theme of leisure and the state in the context of rapidly developing, highly industrialized market capitalism in the hard working societies of East Asia (Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea). The aim of the panel is to stimulate a geographically balanced dialogue and comparison of the trajectories of leisure in East Asia. Submissions may be about any aspect of leisure, markets and states in East Asia. Suggestions include, the influence of “developmental state” industrial fetishism and top-down social planning on leisure pursuits, reflections on the condition of indigenous, grassroots, and pre-industrial leisure activities in the face of market pressures and commercialization of leisure, the disappearance of native leisure under industrial and post-industrial cultural and legal regimes, and the importation of “modern” notions and forms of leisure. Papers for this panel may also consider the role of East Asia`s comparatively long work hours and other socio-economic and cultural constraints on leisure. 
RC13	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s7	RC13 Business Meeting 	 // RC13 Business Meeting Session Organizers Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Veena SHARMA, Prajna Foundation, India,   
RC13	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s8	Roundtables on Multi-Dimensionality of Leisure	 // Roundtables on Multi-Dimensionality of Leisure Session Organizers Alan LAW, Trent University, Canada,   Veena SHARMA, Prajna Foundation, India,   Session in English With increasing possibilities of huge numbers of peoples moving from one part of the globe to another as a result of globalisation and opening up of frontiers that otherwise had remained closed or only partially open, the world is becoming more and more multicultural in form. Leisure, as a fundamental component of human life has not remained untouched by this phenomenon. Multifarious forms of leisure that are hybrid in nature have emerged as a result of interactions of peoples that earlier may not even have heard about each other. Other than this, there is the policy of opening up to erstwhile marginalised cultures that are now beginning to make an appearance in metropolises and other areas. Multidimensional leisure is allowing varied peoples to mingle and create spaces where reconciliation and harmony can take place. Papers in this session will focus on the integration of erstwhile neglected cultures so as to broaden the domain of leisure and explore its potential for bringing varied peoples together. 
RC13	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s9	The Legitimation of Emotion in Leisure Practices across Genders and Generations	 // The Legitimation of Emotion in Leisure Practices across Genders and Generations Session Organizers Fabio LO VERDE, University of Palermo, Italy,   Gianna CAPPELLO, University of Palermo, Italy,   Session in English Generations, in different countries, have often had specific, generation-bound ways of engaging in leisure practices. Accordingly, the emotions associated to them have been differently legitimated throughout the years. Some of them were legitimate and socially shared in certain historical moments, some others were instead condemned. What are the orientations of contemporary generations with regards to the emotions which are considered legitimate and experienced in their leisure time? What are the differences within generations and genders in different countries? To reflect on these forms and practices of leisure implies to think about either the importance of leisure in postmodernity or the importance of emotions in leisure decisions. 
RC13	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s10	The Place of Leisure in Contemporary Japanese Culture and Family Life 	 // The Place of Leisure in Contemporary Japanese Culture and Family Life Session Organizers Scott NORTH, Osaka University, Japan,   Ishwar MODI, India International Institute of Social Sciences, India,   Session in English Leisure has been seen as insignificant or inappropriate for serious study, with foreign scholars even warned away from the topic by their Japanese hosts. Consequently the place of leisure in Japanese life is under-researched. For this panel, we seek papers that will begin to address this gap in our knowledge of the changing forms and importance of leisure in Japan. Across its long history, gender, caste, and class-based differences in leisure, as well as age-graded differences in Japanese leisure pursuits are evident. How this past informs contemporary leisure is one area of interest. In addition, now that Japan has become a mature economy, leisure appears to play a significant role in contemporary Japanese family life, but exactly what people are doing in their leisure time, and how these leisure practices influence cultural and lifestyle ideals in Japan is unclear. We encourage the submission of papers that shed light on the role of play and leisure in shaping the lives of Japanese children and young people, retirees, and families. We also welcome papers addressing the recent decline of the workplace as a site for leisure. 
RC13	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC13#s11	Theories and Methods in Leisure Research: New Challenges in an Era of Increased Global Flows and Inter-Dependence alongside Wider Inequalities	 // Theories and Methods in Leisure Research: New Challenges in an Era of Increased Global Flows and Inter-Dependence alongside Wider Inequalities Session Organizer Kenneth ROBERTS, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom,   Session in English The number of countries represented in RC13 increases from conference to conference. This is just one aspect of globalisation. There are also increasing international flows in and for leisure of tourists, sounds, images and other kinds of text. This may lead to global convergences in leisure and its uses, but it may also accentuate differences, especially in an era of widening inequalities between and within countries. Ulrich Beck has claimed that methodological nationalism is outdated in our present age. Papers are invited which consider whether and how research methods and theories of leisure need to adapt. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture, RC14
RC14	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s1	Comunicación, Contenidos Digitales, y Redes Sociales 	 // Comunicación, Contenidos Digitales, y Redes Sociales Session Organizers Elias SAID HUNG, Universidad del Norte, Colombia,   Cesar BOLANO, Federal University of Sergipe, Brasil   Jose A.RUIZ SAN ROMAN, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain,   Silvia LAGO, Universidad de Buenos Aires,Argentina,   Pierre-Olivier SIRE, Universidad de Guadalajara, México,   Ana RIVOIR, Universidad Nacional de la Republica de Uruguay, Uruguay,   Session in Spanish Con base a los avances de las TIC, a favor de la generación de nuevos escenarios de comunicación, contenidos, y mecanismos de movilización social y participación ciudadana, conviene debatir en torno a los retos que hoy debemos asumir ante el nuevo espectro de oportunidades y retos que tenemos en frente. Por tal motivo, esta sección se orientará al tratamiento de diferentes interrogantes, que no serán las únicas posibles a ser planteadas aquí: ¿Cuáles son los retos que hoy tienen los profesionales de las comunicaciones ante la Sociedad de la Información Actual? ¿Qué retos tenemos que considerar y superar para sacar máximo provecho a los contenidos digitales que hoy son posibles desarrollarse? ¿Cuáles son los rasgos en que se están llevando a cabo los mecanismos de participación y movilización ciudadana desde internet? 
RC14	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s2	Discours de crise: Inégalités et médias 	 // Discours de crise: Inégalités et médias Session Organizer Christiana CONSTANTOPOULOU, Panteion University, Greece,   Session in French In collaboration with AISLF GT 12 & 21. Il s’agit de repérer et analyser des récits qui « racontent » la « crise » contemporaine (appelée crise économique) ; les récits peuvent être de tout ordre (politiques et idéologiques, administratifs, médicaux, artistiques et filmiques, religieux et mythiques mais aussi contes, racontars et rumeurs) tels que véhiculés par les médias, constituant «une narration de la quotidienneté contemporaine » ; ce repérage est très important pour comprendre les rapports de pouvoir existant dans la société contemporaine étant donné que toute société est reflétée et interprétée par ses mythes. 
RC14	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s3	Globalization, New Communication Technology and Socio-Cultural Change in Today’s Unequal World 	 // Globalization, New Communication Technology and Socio-Cultural Change in Today’s Unequal World Session Organizers V.P. SINGH, University of Allahabad, India,   Roopa RANI T. S., Assam University Silchar, India,   Session in English Globalization (along with privatization and liberalization) affects not only the economy of a given society but also has important implications for other social institutions of both the developed and developing countries. As a structural process, it also creates social inequalities at different levels by making simultaneously, inclusion/exclusion of the persons, social groups and categories. However, New Communication Technologies are at the heart of globalization which not only facilitate it but also help in maintaining integration in the social system. These new communication technologies have penetrated through portable devices like, laptop, mobile phones, tablets, i-pod etc., even the remotest corners of the developing world and transforming social and cultural fabrics of these societies. But in what ways these changes are taking place and what theoretical and epistemological tools have been applied to study these rapid changes in different societies? In what ways, these communication technologies can be used as educational/development initiative in remote rural areas? 
RC14	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s4	Handicap et utopie 	 // Handicap et utopie Session Organizer Olivier CHANTRAINE, Université de Lille 3, France,   Session in French On interrogera la reconfiguration contemporaine des situations dite de « handicap », qui s’accompagne par la mise en place volontariste de dispositifs sociopolitiques, urbanistiques, architecturaux, institutionnels, pédagogiques et citoyens innovants. Des acteurs du soin ou de la prise en charge formulent et promeuvent des projets d’envergure : il s’agit de dépasser la notion de « handicap », qui est en fait le vestige d’une définition dépassée de la norme de l’humain, de prétendus constats d’inégalité qui en sont en fait plutôt une source, des normes technocratiques qui créent les situations qui, en retour les légitimeront ainsi que leurs cortèges de pratiques institutionnelles. Les interventions attendues pourront être des présentations d’expérience, des analyses et des évaluations, des mises en perspectives socio-historiques, des discussions théoriques. Elles devront contribuer à la meilleure connaissance et compréhension d’un nouveau champ d’expérience et de théorisation, en s’appuyant sur des matériaux empiriques témoins de ces émergences. 
RC14	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s5	Japanese Culture and the Contemporary World 	 // Japanese Culture and the Contemporary World Session Organizers Ryoichi HORIGUCHI, Kinki University, Japan,   Alexis TRUONG, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English This session intends to focus on Japanese society and Japanese culture. Taking Japan as a case, we hope to delve deeper and highlight some of the key similarities and differences emerging out of theoretical and empirical research done on Japan and in other cultural contexts. In so doing, we aim to open new questions and revitalize a variety of discussions of importance for the sociology of communication, knowledge and culture. To better explore the different facets of Japanese culture, we welcome papers touching on a wide variety of questions, including but not limited to ones concerning traditional and popular culture, the articulation of Japanese culture with media and technology, its institutions, its economy, its politics. Furthermore, papers may contribute to any or all dimensions or the research process, whether theoretical, empirical or methodological. 
RC14	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s6	Les représentations des inégalités sociales dans les littératures de l’imaginaire	 // Les représentations des inégalités sociales dans les littératures de l’imaginaire Session Organizers Bernard CONVERT, Université de Lille 1, France,   Lise DEMAILLY, Université de Lille 1, France,   Session in French Nous invitons les sociologues de la culture et aussi les spécialistes de "Science Fiction Studies" à présenter des travaux sur les mises en scène des inégalités sociales dans les littératures de l`imaginaire (voire, pour la SF sous d’autres formes éditoriales : cinéma, bandes dessinées, comics et mangas, séries TV, jeux vidéo, etc.) . L’intérêt de la sociologie pour la science fiction tient, selon nous, au fait que les codes narratifs spécifiques du genre lui permettent d’épouser le mouvement du monde social présent et de lui donner les outils textuels et imagés propres à sa dynamisation. Les inégalités sociales, les processus de domination et les entreprises de libération, tiennent une place importante dans les sociétés qu’elle imagine, ailleurs ou demain, selon des modalités diverses et des causalités historiques différentes. Les communications proposées pourront travailler un objet ou une œuvre particulière, un auteur ou un corpus. 
RC14	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s7	Movimientos sociales y participación ciudadana digital	 // Movimientos sociales y participación ciudadana digital Session Organizers Elias SAID HUNG, Universidad del Norte, Colombia,   Cesar BOLANO, Federal University of Sergipe, Brasil   José A. RUIZ SAN ROMAN, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain,   Silvia LAGO, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Pierre-Olivier SIRE, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico,   Ana RIVOIR, Universidad Nacional de la República de Uruguay, Uruguay,   Session in Spanish El escenario actual contemporáneo, hace obligatorio repensar el papel que están teniendo los avances TIC en torno a los procesos de transformación social y de veheduría ejercido por los ciudadanos, así como el nivel de impacto real que están teniendo los escenarios digitales actuales a favor de la promoción de movimientos sociales y una participación ciudadana de una masa de ciudadanos inconformes con el modelo social existente en sus países y/o regiones, quienes, a través de el uso anónimo de las redes sociales se han venido sumando al activismo (ciber) promotor de esta creciente ola de cambios y acontecimientos que han trascendido las fronteras de sus comunidades hasta hacerlas globales. Es en el marco de lo aquí expuesto que esta sesión aspira a centrar el debate de lo aquí planteado, así como conocer experiencias y reflexiones que nos permitan comprender mejor el rol que están teniendo las redes sociales y los avances TIC al respecto. 
RC14	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s8	New Media Facing Today`s Unequal World 	 // New Media Facing Today`s Unequal World Session Organizer Oksana LYCHKOVSKA, I.I. Mechnikov National University, Ukraine,   Session in English New media have significantly changed and continue to change our society. The features which have enabled this are not just their technical implementation in everyday life, but how they transformed the frameworks of ‘participation’ and ‘sharing’ which deeply expand and diversify our world. By producing new ideas of participation in social, political and institutional life, media in the era of democratization have thus opened new possibilities in regards to addressing social discrepancies and inequalities while reflecting on the expansion of personal freedoms in contemporary society. In so doing, many new questions are generated, which have yet to be answered. What is at stake in the world of multimedia? Why and how do such communicative possibilities in new digital media engender various forms of social inequality, digital inequality or “digital divide”? How does a wide cultural differentiation transform itself into social exclusion? And what are the social situations or conditions that reveal individual/group isolation and social polarization? Finally, can we find in new media some answers or hints when facing the challenges of contemporary inequalities in a still unequal world? 
RC14	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s9	Pratiques digitales et inégalités contemporaines 	 // Pratiques digitales et inégalités contemporaines Session Organizer Fiorenza GAMBA, University of Sassari, Italy,   Session in French In collaboration with AISLF GT 21. Les technologies de la communication sont devenues dans notre société contemporaine des éléments de changement qui ont marqué et modifié l`environnement physique et social de l`homme en transformant à jamais le concept d`expérience. L’expression de pratiques digitales indique non seulement une extension des activités humaines mais aussi une contamination parmi les différents niveaux d`expérience en mesure de définir un nouveau champ d`inégalités massivement diffuses et partagées dans la vie quotidienne. Ainsi les pratiques digitales atteignent : La sphère de la connaissance, en particulier la production de la science à travers des réseaux collaboratifs, mais aussi l’imaginaire (œuvres d’art, de science-fiction, des mythes, des récits, de la magie et des religions); La sphère du politique, en ce qui concerne l`expression de la volonté des groupes sociaux dans les formes digitales de participation; La sphère des émotions qui même dans les moments plus privés, comme par exemple celui de la mort, trouve dans ces pratiques digitales des modalités partagées et personnalisées d`expression et de ritualisation. 
RC14	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s10	RC14 Business Meeting	 // RC14 Business Meeting 
RC14	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s11	Story Telling the Crisis: The Social Narration of the Contemporary Inequalities 	 // Story Telling the Crisis: The Social Narration of the Contemporary Inequalities Session Organizer Christiana CONSTANTOPOULOU, Panteion University, Greece,   Session in English Narrations have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and to install moral values. History, personal narrative and political commentaries, are parts of the contemporary storytelling. A society is reflected and interpreted by its myths: thus, the narratives of the contemporary “crisis” seem to be an excellent field for the better understanding of the contemporary inequalities. 
RC14	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s12	Surveillance, Social Sorting and the Reproduction of Inequality 	 // Surveillance, Social Sorting and the Reproduction of Inequality Session Organizer David LYON, Queen’s University, Canada,   Session in English Surveillance, seen as systematic attention to personal details for management purposes, reinforces social divisions through both government and commercial practices. While government uses risk management knowledge to seek security, corporations use opportunity management knowledge to create consumers. In each case, social and other inequalities tend to be reproduced. Papers are welcomed on surveillance in relation to the congress theme in RC14: "Culture and communication in an unequal world." 
RC14	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s13	Technologies de communication et inégalités. Part I	 // Technologies de communication et inégalités. Part I Session Organizers Christiana CONSTANTOPOULOU, Panteion University, Greece,   Francis JAUREGUIBERRY, Université de Pau, France,   Session in French In collaboration with AISLF CR33. Le développement des technologies de communication, ces vingt dernières années, a été très rapide mais aussi inégalitaire. La notion de fracture numérique, telle qu’elle est exposée dans les années 1990, désigne cette inégalité et renvoie avant tout à un problème d’accessibilité technique, les info-riches étant ceux qui bénéficient de l’accès matériel aux réseaux et terminaux les plus perfectionnés, les info-pauvres étant ceux qui en sont privés. À cette catégorisation globale à partir d’une problématique de l’accès, pensée comme une fracture à résorber va s’ajouter, dès le début des années 2000, une catégorisation beaucoup plus fine et segmentée en terme d’inégalités d’usages et d’appropriation. En étudiant la pluralité des situations de non-usage et en montrant l’hétérogénéité de la catégorie même des non-usages, elle permet de poser le problème de la fracture numérique au second degré (en terme de disparités d’usages liés à des inégalités sociales) et celui des non-usages volontaires (comme forme de résistance aux effets pervers d’une connexion généralisée). L’idée transversale est que la capacité des individus à s’approprier pleinement les technologies de communication est très inégalement répartie et dépend grandement non seulement de leur capital économique, mais aussi de leur capital culturel et cognitif. De nombreuses études actuellement menées montrent comment de nouvelles inégalités dans la capacité à maîtriser les flux informationnels, tant montants que descendants, sont en train de se mettre en place. Les communications proposées dans ces sessions pourront rendre compte d’études empiriques, de réflexions théoriques ou d’approches méthodologiques visant à mieux cerner ce que sont les inégalités dans la mise en place, les représentations et les pratiques des technologies de communication. 
RC14	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s14	Technologies de communication et inégalités. Part II	 // Technologies de communication et inégalités. Part II Session Organizers Christiana CONSTANTOPOULOU, Panteion University, Greece,   Francis JAUREGUIBERRY, Université de Pau, France,   Session in French In collaboration with AISLF CR33. 
RC14	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s15	The New Capitalism of the Spirit: A Critique of Culture in an Unequal World 	 // The New Capitalism of the Spirit: A Critique of Culture in an Unequal World Session Organizer Isleide FONTENELLE, Fundação Getulio Vargas-São Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English The word “culture” may mean a particular way of life of a people, a period, a group or of mankind, in general. By “particular way of life” we understand a shared and institutionally sustained set of ideas, values, beliefs and behaviours. The contemporary culture, which has become impregnated by commodity form, may be considered to be a “culture of money”, which has become global and hegemonic, and has a strong influence on the intellectual and artistic activity of our day. We propose as a critique of culture to analyze the inequality that exists in the social, political, symbolic and subjective faces of the contemporary world, based on themes like: relation of work and consumption, the incorporation of notions like ethics and sustainability by the market, the discursive transformation of consumption into a vector of upward social mobility (new middle class and emerging countries) and the fusion between public and private spheres. 
RC14	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC14#s16	Uso de la tecnología para la promoción de la enseñanza y la investigación	 // Uso de la tecnología para la promoción de la enseñanza y la investigación Session Organizers Elias SAID HUNG, Universidad del Norte, Colombia,   Cesar BOLANO, Federal University of Sergipe, Brasil   José A. RUIZ SAN ROMAN, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain,   Silvia LAGO, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Pierre-Olivier SIRE, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico,   Ana RIVOIR, Universidad Nacional de la República de Uruguay, Uruguay,   Session in Spanish Mucho se ha debatido de las posibilidades que traen consigo las TIC en el mejoramiento y desarrollo de nuevos escenarios formativos, de enseñanza y de colabocación entre docentes, estudiantes e investigadores. Desde disciplinas como la física, ingeniería y educación; se han venido adelantando nuevos escenarios de debate y aprobvechamiento de las TIC en torno a la educación e investigación. Es en el marco de este contexto, donde conviene plantearse ¿Cuáles son los retos que hoy existen para poder llegar a un aumento del e-learning y la e-investigación en nuestros países y comunidades de enseñanza e investigación? ¿Cuáles son los nuevos escenarios de aprovechamiento de las TIC en materia educativa e investigación en la actualidad? ¿Qué tipo de experiencias se están aplicando en el campo del e-learning y la e-investigación en América Latina y Europa? ¿Cuánto impacto generan las TIC en el aumento del rendimiento y la calidad de la educación de nuestros estudiantes? ¿Cómo están siendo asumidas las TIC por parte de los docentes e investigadores? Estas son algunas interrogantes, no todas, que esperamos abordar en el marco de esta sesión, pautada para la VI edición del Simposio Las Sociedades ante el Reto Digital. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Health, RC15
RC15	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s1	Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Sociological Imagination: New Conceptual Tools	 // Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Sociological Imagination: New Conceptual Tools Session Organizers Ming-Cheng Miriam LO, University of California-Davis, USA,   Chia-Ling WU, National Taiwan University, Taiwan,   Session in English In the last three decades, the proliferation of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) has also given birth to renewed research interest in the intersections of the social and the technological. While this new literature has displayed rich sociological imagination, some empirical gaps and theoretical inadequacy exist. This panel calls for papers to address how sociology can offer effective conceptual tools for addressing potential pitfalls in the current literature and thereby shape the future research trajectories of social studies of ARTs. This may include: how cultural and economic sociologies offer well-developed conceptual tools, in particular the literatures on the embeddedness of the market and the interaction between cultural and economic capitals, for analyzing the mutual constitution of the cultural and the material; how sociologies of organizations and professions can provide useful theoretical perspectives that explain how global and local organizational contexts and policy environments shape the cultural norms and regulatory mechanisms in potentially controversial medical practices; how the current literature on globalization and neoliberalism can further develop more rigorous theoretical perspectives about the globalization of ARTs; how the regulatory regimes and biotechnology industry regarding ARTs are becoming a transnational network. Theoretically informed empirical studies are especially encouraged. 
RC15	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s2	Collaborative Governance for Healthy Public Policies	 // Collaborative Governance for Healthy Public Policies Session Organizers Louise BOUCHARD, Université d`Ottawa, Canada,   Joanne DE MONTIGNY, Université d`Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English/French Collaboration among multiple stakeholder sectors, crossing various policy sectors, holds much promise and continues to garner wide-spread support, especially in the field of public and population health. The objective of this session is to explore theories and practices of intersectoral collaboration towards the development of healthy public policies. Based on the definition proposed by Emerson and colleagues (2012), collaborative governance is the processes and structures of public policy decision making and management that engage people constructively across the boundaries of public agencies, levels of government, and/or the public, private and civic spheres in order to carry out a public purpose that could not otherwise be accomplished. The collaborative-governance approach has major implications for the health of the population. Not only is the sustainability of the health system in jeopardy, with health care expenditures increasing exponentially, but also its role in improving and maintaining health is being seriously questioned. Social inequities in health are worsening: the rise of noncommunicable diseases and the continuing burden of infectious diseases and undernutrition among disadvantaged people, in addition to the global challenges arising from climate change and unequal trade policies. Response to this complex situation requires a paradigm shift regarding the governance of health systems, calling for attention on the concepts of integration, interdependence and collaboration. This session aims to discuss ways to develop healthy public policies for a more sustainable and healthier future: What are the experiences of successful collaboration? What theories and models are at work? What are the conditions for collaborative governance? 
RC15	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s3	Combining Public and Private Health Care Services – Better Health Care, More Choice, or the Entrenchment of Inequality? 	 // Combining Public and Private Health Care Services – Better Health Care, More Choice, or the Entrenchment of Inequality? Session Organizer Karen WILLIS, Sydney University, Australia,   Session Co- Organizers Fran COLLYER, Sydney University, Australia,   Kirsten HARLEY, Sydney University, Australia,   Marika FRANKLIN, Sydney University, Australia,   Session in English Many health care systems around the world combine elements of public and private provision and funding, and hence seem to offer a range of choices for patients and health care professionals. But the notion of choice within public and private health care systems is contested; the capacity to choose is unequally distributed and influenced by information asymmetry, the public/private mix within a health care system, and the influence of key players such as professional and industry organisations. Challenges to existing asymmetries of choice include consumer movements and new technologies providing ready access to alternative sources of information. We invite papers that present sociological research on the development, organisation, construction and experience of public/private health care systems. 
RC15	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s4	Cross-National Comparisons of Health Experiences	 // Cross-National Comparisons of Health Experiences Session Organizers Sue ZIEBLAND, University of Oxford, United Kingdom,   Rika Sakuma SATO, DIPEx, Japan,   Gabriele LUCIUS, University of Freiburg, Germany,   Susan LAW, St. Mary`s Hospital Center, Canada,   Sara RYAN, University of Oxford, United Kingdom,   Session in English Cross-national comparative research is increasingly recognised as important in health research as reflected by various funding streams, such as the European Commission Framework, and assessments of research excellence. The Research Excellence Framework in the UK, for example, rewards international partnerships. Cross-national comparative research enables the identification of similarities and differences across two or more countries, the development of new perspectives and offers ‘fresh’ insights not necessarily gained in single country studies. In this session we invite papers that use a cross-national comparative approach to understanding social and health inequalities. Contributors that use a qualitative approach are particularly welcome as qualitative research is less commonly used in this context. You might have used data from qualitative interviews, ethnographic observations, media discourse analysis or any other, social science informed, method. If you have studied more than one country and have observations to offer about inequalities in health experiences, or the delivery or uptake of services, we encourage you to submit an abstract. We also welcome papers with a methodological focus, reflecting on the challenges, contributions or future directions of cross-natural comparative research. 
RC15	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s5	Health Care Disparities and Inequalities	 // Health Care Disparities and Inequalities Session Organizer Jennie Jacobs KRONENFELD, Arizona State University, USA,   Session in English Disparities in health care and health outcomes are important concerns for researchers, providers, and policymakers. In the United States, the Institute of Medicine defines health care disparities as differences in treatment or access between population groups that cannot be justified by different preferences for services or differences in health. As researchers, we care most about health care disparities as they result in health disparities or inequalities, meaning differences in health outcomes across population groups. While in the United States, there has been focus on differences in access and quality across racial and ethnic groups, across the world there are multiple other social characteristics that also are of great importance, such as education, income, geographical location, gender and sexuality. 
RC15	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s6	Health Inequalities in the Global South: Challenges and Possibilities 	 // Health Inequalities in the Global South: Challenges and Possibilities Session Organizers Alex E. ASAKITIKPI, Monash University, Australia,   Miwako HOSODA, Seisa University, Japan,   Session in English Since its annual health statistics were published in 1976 the WHO records have consistently displayed the sharp contrast in health indices between nations in the global south and those in the north, generally referred to in the literature as low income countries and rich income countries respectively. While there has been a significant progress in health care provision among low income countries (LICs) in the last five decades, the disparity is still huge giving rise to concerns for health care provision and how best to address it, especially within the context of global economic crisis and the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has ravaged most LICs, with the highest burden being in sub-Sahara African countries. The focus of this session is concerned with the question of national and global social change, its interpretation and effects on health outcomes. Of specific interests are the historical forces that have influenced and shaped health policies among LICs as well as the various forms and dynamics of convergence between neoliberal reforms and health disparities in the global south. A general concern is how governments may mobilize, for example, social and cultural artifacts in designing appropriate health policies and providing health services for universal coverage and sustenance. We seek papers that will address these issues, either empirically and/or theoretically. 
RC15	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s7	Health, Risk and Govermentalization in a OneHealth Concept Agenda	 // Health, Risk and Govermentalization in a OneHealth Concept Agenda Session Organizers Vitoria MOURAO, Instituto Superior de Ciencias Sociales y Políticas, Portugal,   Manuela VILHENA, University of Évora, Portugal,   Jorge TORGAL, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina,   Session in English The financial crisis has put uncertainty and risk over the limits of public expenditure on health mainly in Europe. This political agenda sets limits on citizens’ rights, the health professionals power and the economic pressure groups that influence health politics. The health policy process produces tensions between the actors and amplifies changes in public understandings of health, which opens a values debate on disthanasia and racionalization. This session would like to address different viewpoints forms over the world on changes on health politics, citizens’ rights and, health economics. Papers may cover the following teaser suggestions: Health Politics tensions on a social economic constraint Unemployment and other social determinants of Health in a One Health Concept North and South divide on Social inequities Empowerment of citizens and communities on Health Dimensions Social Intervention Projects and Methodologies to reduce Vulnerability and Health Crisis, social mobility and Health 
RC15	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s8	Medicalization and Globalization	 // Medicalization and Globalization Session Organizer Peter CONRAD, Brandeis University, USA,   Session in English Sociologists and others have been examining the increasing medicalization of human problems and conditions for four decades. The research suggests that the overwhelming amount of medicalization has occurred in North America, Western Europe and a few other countries. But in the past decade there has been increasing reports of medicalization of more conditions in a larger and more disparate array of countries worldwide. This session will examine the globalization of medicalization. Papers should address issues such as the migration of medicalized categories, the emergence and/or application of medicalized categories (e.g. diagnoses) where they previously did not exist, support or resistance to global or local medicalization, conflicts or disputes over medicalized categories or conditions, the role of advocacy groups in globalizing medicalized definitions and treatments or how particular medical systems facilitate or limit medicalization. Other topics of interest are what is the role of Western medicine (including psychiatry), the pharmaceutical industry, migration and international training of medical professionals, the access of the Internet, international aid, indigenous advocates or health workers, and other such vehicles in the global increase of medicalization. Are there examples of demedicalization in the global context? What are the social and medical consequences of medicalization? Are there cases with claims of overmedicalization or undermedicalization? Are the engines of medicalization different or similar in this global context? What is the future of globalized medicalization? Papers that cover any of these or related issues are welcome. 
RC15	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s9	Narrative Medicine or Narratives in Medicine? 	 // Narrative Medicine or Narratives in Medicine? Session Organizer Guido GIARELLI, University Magna Grecia, Italy,   Session in English In recent years, there has been a remarkable growth of interest in illness narratives, and the number of published studies and research findings of patients, carers and professionals’ accounts of illness, disability and discomfort has grown rapidly. Since the narrative turn has become an extremely fashionable area of inquiry for various disciplines, we have also witnessed the rise of the so-called ‘narrative based medicine’, in which attention to illness narratives is advocated as a core interest of medical practice itself, and narrative work is placed at the heart of medical professional competence, as a form of humanistic medical practice. However, beyond a mere celebration of illness narratives as the means to gain direct access to personal experience and to the subjective aspects of illness, there is still a need to draw on empirical narrative accounts in order to construct more comprehensive and systematic frameworks, integrating formal discourse analysis with sociological perspectives on social action and interaction. This session welcomes both theoretical studies and research-based contributions aimed at focusing thoroughly on various dimensions and theoretical and methodological issues involved in the analysis of illness narratives and in the utilization of narratives in medicine: the kind of perspective adopted (symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, hermeneutic, etc.) and its strengths and weaknesses; the identification of the number of possible genres or types among illness narratives according to different social and cultural contexts; the kind of specific tropes (metaphors, similes, hyperboles, alliterations, puns, etc.) used in various accounts of ill-health, suffering, and embodiment; the identification of multiple social functions of illness narratives (biographical reconstitution, identity-work, political resistance, etc.); and analyses of the different ways personal experience and narrative accounts are related and used in medical practice. 
RC15	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s10	Patient Participation and the Transformation of Professionals in Healthcare	 // Patient Participation and the Transformation of Professionals in Healthcare Session Organizers Miwako HOSODA, Seisa University, Japan,   Stephanie SHORT, University of Sydney, Australia,   Session in English By exchanging information among international sociological scholars, this Session aims to explore changes in the relationship between patients and professionals by analysing patients’ interaction with the professionals in the healthcare field. This goal is associated with the main theme of this conference, facing an unequal world. It has been traditionally thought that there was an unbalanced relationship between patients and professionals; however, patient participation has been changing this hierarchical status. We welcome papers from studies conducted at local, national and international levels that contribute to conceptualisation and/or methodological and empirical developments in this field. Examples include: the women`s health movement, workers` health, disability rights activism, and structural initiatives in particular health systems. This session addresses issues of agency, structure, identity, and power. 
RC15	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s11	Patients` Rights in a Comparative Perspective: Emergence, Appropriation, New Claims-Making	 // Patients` Rights in a Comparative Perspective: Emergence, Appropriation, New Claims-Making Session Organizers Philippe BATAILLE, Centre d`Analyse et d`Intervention Sociologiques, France,   Sandrine BRETONNIERE, Centre d`Analyse et d`Intervention Sociologiques, France,   Session in English/French Patients` rights have been fostered by different phenomena in heterogeneous cultural contexts: biomedical research and the need to protect human subjects gave rise to patient-centered bioethics in the US in the 1970s (Shepherd, Hall, 2010); the AIDS epidemic served as a powerful catalyst in the constitution of patients as social actors in the French political arena in the 1980s (Barbot, 2002; Dodier, 2003). The mobilization of cancer patients in the 1990s, also in France, led the state to promote a patients` rights bill of law in 2002. In this panel, we propose to examine the impact patients` rights have had within the medical realm and the public sphere at large, in an international perspective: Where they emerged, how do these patients` rights transform medical professions? For instance, how do they change medical professions` moral representations of their work and purpose? How do they modify doctor-patient relationships? Do they transform the ethics of medical practice? Does autonomy serve to isolate the patient in her decision-making (Frank, 2010), or does it promote a common deliberation process between patients and physicians? How have patients – either as individual or collective social actors – been appropriating those rights? Are new patients` rights being claimed? Where are these rights situated? It will be of great interest to examine claims for rights which cannot be realized in the social/political sphere, without having recourse to medicine, such as equal access to Assisted Reproductive Technology (access to parenthood) for all, or the right to die with dignity This panel will also seek to debate methodological issues, from an interdisciplinary standpoint: how can these phenomena be studied? How are they being apprehended by social scientists? 
RC15	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s12	Pharmaceuticalization and Social Inequalities: A Chance to Re-Connect Sociology With Social Justice? Special session on conference theme	 // Pharmaceuticalization and Social Inequalities: A Chance to Re-Connect Sociology With Social Justice? Special session on conference theme Session Organizers Antonio MATURO, University of Bologna, Italy,   Johanne COLLIN, University of Montreal, Canada,   Session in English Today, not only doctors are promoting the medicalization of society. There are other “engines of medicalization”: consumers, managed care, technology. Moreover, new diagnostic criteria enlarge the pathological sphere and shrink what can be considered normal. Medicine is not anymore only concerned with healing, but also with human enhancement: the enhancement of cognition, emotions and even of human species (through genetic screening and intervention). To study these new phenomena new concepts like pharmaceuticalization, biomedicalization and genetization are proposed. Even if sociology has proposed deep analysis on these new trends it has not said much about their consequences in terms of social justice and social inequalities. For instance, what is the sociological meaning of much higher rates of antidepressant prescriptions among the poor’s or unhealthy groups in Western societies? What is the relation between increasing inequality of wealth and psychotropic drug consumption? Starting from the assumption that medicalization and pharmaceuticalization leads to the individualization of social problems, which new field of analysis and investigation could sociology undertake in order to broaden the discussion on medicalization/pharmaceuticalization and social inequailites? 
RC15	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s13	RC15 Business Meeting	 // RC15 Business Meeting 
RC15	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s14	Religion, Body and Health	 // Religion, Body and Health Session Organizer Amurabi OLIVEIRA, Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil,   Session in English/Spanish The relationship between religion and health is complex and has challenged researchers in several areas. When agents employ their healing processes they not only resort to official medicine, but also draw on various symbolic systems, building therapeutic itineraries that far from being a contradictory mosaic show up as a web of meanings that agents attribute to their practices. In this context the body presents itself as an instrument par excellence for mediation, since there is no social experience that is not experienced by dimensions of the body. In this session we invite papers that develop this interface between religion and health, and more specifically between religion, body and health, considering the various therapeutic itineraries of subjects; the relationship between official medicine and religious practices; health and disease from the viewpoint of different beliefs; the corporeal dimension of the experience of health and disease; how various religions have positioned themselves with regard to various diseases like AIDS etc., among other possible issues that may arise within this theme, exploring the various contexts in which religion and health meet. 
RC15	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s15	Sex, Health and Technology 	 // Sex, Health and Technology Session Organizers Mark DAVIS, Monash University, Australia,   Mary Lou RASMUSSEN, Monash University, Australia,   Session in English Sexual health is increasingly subject to the promise of technology. Diagnostic and treatment technologies are used to manage sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Pfizer’s viagra.com helps couples diagnose erectile dysfunction and seek treatment. HIV self-testing – which operates with a similar logic to pregnancy self-testing – is now advocated. Chlamydia home-testing is available. Social media are used in contact-tracing: where contacts of someone with an STI are approached for testing and treatment. Education, counselling and psychotherapy are applied to such matters as safer sex, gender relations, sexual dysfunction and sexual violence. However, the technologisation of sexual health does not straightforwardly improve outcomes and there are knowledge gaps: 1) the prevalence of STIs in affluent countries has increased over the last decade and HIV transmission has begun to escalate, 2) it is not clear if technologies exercise narrow, ‘absence of disease’ or ‘rights-based’ models of sexual health, 3) the articulations of technologies with difference and inequality are under-explored, and 4) we lack knowledge of how diagnostic, pharmaceutical, social media, counselling and educational technologies inform and transform each other. This session, therefore, will focus on examples of sexual health technologies from around the world and ask: What form do these technologies take? How do they impact on sexual health care and education in personal experience? How do these technologies exercise different definitions of sexual health and with what effects? How do such technologies inform, transform or displace each other? Why is the promise implied in technology compromised or failing to be realised? 
RC15	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s16	Sleep, Health and Society	 // Sleep, Health and Society Session Organizers Jonathan GABE, University of London, United Kingdom,   Simon WILLIAMS, University of Warwick, United Kingdom,   Session in English Sociologists have only relatively recently started to pay attention to the relationship between sleep and health, partly in recognition of the growth of diagnosed sleep disorders and partly because of public debate about the demands of modern life, in today’s non-stop, 24/7, "wired" culture. Poor sleep is said to impair health and quality of life, endanger safety at work and on the road and affect family relations. This session invites papers on these issues. How is sleep socially patterned and organised in terms of, for example, age and gender? To what extent has sleep been medicalised and pharmaceuticalised? What role do commercial and professional interests play in the management of sleep? What are the social consequences of disturbed sleep in the workplace and at home? And to what extent has sleep been customised to optimise bodily productivity? 
RC15	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s17	Sociology of Complementary and Alternative Medicine 	 // Sociology of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Session Organizer Nelson BARROS, University of Campinas, Brazil,   Session in English/Spanish Despite remarkable advances achieved by the biomedical model of health, there has been an exponential growth in the use and in the interest in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). The increasing popularity of CAM over the last five decades has been followed by a proliferation of sociological research on different dimensions of this phenomenon. In this context, CAM has attracted social researchers to establish the field of Sociology of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The aim of the present session is to debate Sociology of CAM through diverse analytical and empirical research on CAM dynamics. The intended session attempts to deepen sociological debate on the re-emergence of heterodox practices of medical care and on the impact of that on contemporary Western society. 
RC15	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s18	Sociology of Diagnosis Session	 // Sociology of Diagnosis Session Session Organizer Annemarie JUTEL, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand,   Session in English While diagnosis is important in identifying and curing disease, it also has a strong social impact. Diagnosis can be a source of anxiety or of relief, of hope or of despair. It structures the experience of health and illness, deciding what counts as normal, defining who is responsible for what disorders, providing frameworks for communication and structuring relationships. It presents a point around which tensions may develop, and interests collide. This session will focus on the sociology of diagnosis. It will adumbrate diagnosis as both category and process and will discuss the variable consequences of diagnoses on the experiences of health and illness. This session will explore the classificatory process of diagnosis, focusing on how diagnosis plays a role in distinguishing lay from professional, sick from bad, health from illness. It will also reflect on diagnosis as a source of power, resources, and subversion. And finally, papers in this session will analyse the impact of diagnosis on health outcomes and social outcomes. Preference will be given to papers which engage with diagnosis at meta analytic level, that is to say, which, even while focusing on a specific diagnosis, or a specific aspect of the diagnostic process, relate to the structural function of diagnosis at a more general level. 
RC15	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s19	Understanding ‘Stigma’ and HIV/AIDS: A Social Scientist’s Challenge	 // Understanding ‘Stigma’ and HIV/AIDS: A Social Scientist’s Challenge Session Organizer Leah GILBERT, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa,   Session in English ‘Stigma’ and its relationship to health and disease is not a new phenomenon. It has been studied and examined in relation to various conditions like epilepsy, mental health and others. However, it has not been a major feature in the public discourse until the emergence of HIV/AIDS and the range of negative sentiments and responses associated with it that placed ‘stigma’ on the public agenda and drew attention to its complexity as a phenomenon and concept worthy of further investigation by the academic community. As early as 1987, Jonathan Mann the former head of the World Health Organization`s global AIDS programme, highlighted what he termed the ‘third epidemic’ which he described as “the social, cultural, economic and political reaction to AIDS [which] is as central to the global challenge as AIDS itself”. Some thirteen years later, ‘stigma’ was again placed at the top of the list of ‘the five most pressing items on [the] agenda for the world community’, by Peter Piot, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, at the 10th meeting of the agency’s Programme Coordinating Board in 2000. The focus on ‘stigma’ has steadily increased throughout the course of the epidemic, even becoming the focus of the World AIDS Campaign for the years 2002– 2003. Yet despite its now prominent place in the public discourse as well as in scholarly literature, HIV/AIDS-related stigma remains intact and continues to be a serious public health concern as well as a challenge to social scientists. This session will include papers that address this challenge of understanding ‘stigma’ in relation to HIV/AIDS. 
RC15	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC15#s20	Women, Health and Health Care	 // Women, Health and Health Care Session Organizer Jennie Jacobs KRONENFELD, Arizona State University, USA,   Session in English Health and health care utilization vary by many social characteristics, of which gender is one. This session will focus on a variety of issues linked to gender differences in health and health care, with a greater focus on women overall. Papers could examine health outcome differences, differences in reaction to health and illness, health care issues unique to women such as issues linked to pregnancy and reproductive health issues and issues linked to health care delivery, such as issues in access to care and quality of care. The focus is on gender linked to health and health care, not to issues about women as health care providers. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociological Theory, RC16
RC16	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s1	Asian Values or East Asianism Revisited	 // Asian Values or East Asianism Revisited Session Organizer Seung-Kuk KIM, Pusan National University, Korea,   Session in English This session starts from the critical reflection that the Asian values debate in 1990s is not finished but an ongoing civilizational question raised already in the late 19th and early 20th century in East Asia when the “modern” West (& Japan as an early adapter) and the “un-modern” East clashed. With the rise of East Asia in post-modern context, East Asian values do matter again. The session invites papers that consider the following issues: The historical legacy of East Asianism as a reaction to the imperialist Westernization/modernization in the past and also currently as a (post-modern) global trend of Easternization; The identity project of East Asia in transformation which may contribute to the diffusion of new global value orientations in line with Takeuchi Yoshimi in particular; The contested vision for East Asian Community through which alternative social formations are imagined and built (in contrast to European Union). 
RC16	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s2	Civil Societies in Comparative Perspective	 // Civil Societies in Comparative Perspective Session Organizer Jason MAST, University of Warwick, United Kingdom,   Session in English Much recent theorizing and empirical research has placed civil society back into the center of social scientific discourse. Civil societies increasingly address issues global in scale, such as climate change, economic crises, and intra- and international armed conflicts and humanitarian efforts. This session is particularly focused on how public opinion formations within civil societies either shape or fail to shape state actions on international issues, and on how differences between civil societies direct international relations toward conflict or cooperation. The session is also open to research that examines differences between civil societies, either across nations or over time, in terms of their varying cultural and discursive structures, their institutional logics, their paths to formation, or their modes of inclusion and exclusion. 
RC16	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s3	Contested Modernities in Theory and Practice 	 // Contested Modernities in Theory and Practice Session Organizer Isaac REED, University of Colorado, USA,   Session in English “Modernity” is both a central organizing concept in abstract social theory and an inflamed point of disputation. The “multiple modernities” rendering of the concept has been both hailed as a new paradigm for our age and criticized as a retread of modernization theory. Sociological theories of globalization often contain within them a notion of spreading or diffusing modernity or postmodernity, while other accounts of the contemporary globe argue that diffusionist models are insufficient to understand the history, power politics, and violence of “modernity.” Simultaneous to all of these theorizing, discourses of modernity are a central feature of the postcolonial era, mobilized by all sorts of individual and corporate actors for various political, economic, and cultural purposes. This session will explore how careful theorizing about modernity can enable better analysis of its uses and abuses. 
RC16	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s4	Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism and Political Space	 // Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism and Political Space Session Organizer Gilles VERPRAET, CNRS, France,   Session in English The notions of cosmopolitanism exceed the nationalist positioning (Beck, Delanty), so to recognize the different cultures (Jullien), and to promote a reciprocity of perspectives (Schutz). The first step intends to question the conditions of intersubjectivity inside the transnational spaces when exist some cosmopolitan stages (Saito). It invites to develop the pragmatic studies of cosmopolitan relations (N Anderson). In a second stance, the sociological elaboration on the reciprocity of perspectives may enlighten the conditions of reciprocity inside international relations. At this level, can be considered the Asian debates between monologic universalism and dialogic universalism (Shijun). How to elaborate a culture-focused universalism? The session is concerned with thick descriptions of the cosmopolitan encounters considering their symbolic performances (Alexander, 2006) It questions the new styles of action that are developed in the micro/ macro links (Giesen), the political subjects who are connecting the global and the local issues. In this framework can be specified the new conditions for transnational solidarities, the connections of public spheres between Polis, nation and cosmopolitanism, the new relations between center and periphery, the north/south solidarities. 
RC16	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s5	Cultural Pragmatics and Social Theory: The Implications of Performance Theory for the Study of Society	 // Cultural Pragmatics and Social Theory: The Implications of Performance Theory for the Study of Society Session Organizer Jeffrey ALEXANDER, Yale University, USA,   Session in English Over the last decade, macro-sociological theory has made significant strides in conceptualizing groups, individuals, and institutions in terms of social performance. Earlier, the concept of performance related principally to the microsociological, Goffmanian tradition. The new development, by contrast, links classical and modern traditions of social theory with aesthetic theories of theatre, drama, and film. Contributors to this session are asked either to reflect on this recent performative turn in cultural sociology, providing new interpretations, or to advance this turn, demonstrating how cultural pragmatics, or other performative theories, can bring new perspectives to bear on social problems and/or on particular sociological fields. 
RC16	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s6	Discovering and Locating the Legacies of Japanese Sociological Theories 	 // Discovering and Locating the Legacies of Japanese Sociological Theories Session Organizer Takashi OKUMURA, Rikkyo University, Japan,   Session in English Sociological theories in Japan have been developing under vast and profound influences of Western sociology. We can count, however, some very productive and original sociologists, whose theories would have had possibilities to give strong impacts to the rest of the world if their works had been translated into English on publication. For example, works of Munesuke Mita (1937- ) about social consciousness (including “The Hell of Others’ Eyes” (1973) and Comparative Sociology of Time (1981)), those of Keiichi Sakuta (1922- ) on the deep structure of society (The Destiny of Individualism (1981) and Towards the Sociology of Becoming (1993)), and system theory of Tamito Yoshida (1931-2009) about information and possession (Theory of Information and Self-organization (1990) and Theory of Possession and Subjectivity (1991)) would be among them. Supposing Japanese sociologists now represent their (or some other important theorists’) original ideas properly after a few decades (in English, of course!), how will sociologists from the world react to them and locate them into their theoretical frameworks? This session is welcoming papers dealing with these legacies of Japanese sociology by members from Japan mainly (but not exclusively), with a hope to have stimulating discussions with participants from the world at the venue. 
RC16	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s7	Entertainment, Leisure, Sport, and Civil Society	 // Entertainment, Leisure, Sport, and Civil Society Session Organizer Ronald JACOBS, University at Albany, USA,   Session in English Theories of civil society generally take as their object political discourse, social crisis, cultural trauma, and other events that typically get covered in the front pages of the newspaper. For many individuals, groups, and communities, however, their most significant civic investments are directed toward sports, leisure activities, and other forms of entertainment. This session invites papers that consider the roles that these kinds of entertainment practices play in organizing civic life and public sphere communications. 
RC16	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s8	Framing Suffering: On Critically Theorizing and Reading Images	 // Framing Suffering: On Critically Theorizing and Reading Images Session Organizers Vikki BELL, Goldsmiths University, United Kingdom,   Fuyuki KURASAWA, York University, Canada,   Session in English In recent years, the intersection of visual analysis and the topic of social suffering has been particularly fertile terrain for scholarly work across the human sciences. Two broad tendencies can be distinguished, namely, empirically-based documentation or descriptions of the ways in which certain situations or modes of suffering have been represented, and normatively-derived critiques of these forms of representation. While both developments are significant, the session is interested in papers that push sociological theory in the direction of new conceptual frameworks for critical engagement with images of suffering, in order to understand how the condition of suffering, and subjects who suffer, are framed, constituted, and presented to audiences and, in turn, how such representations themselves frame popular understandings of what constitutes suffering. 
RC16	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s9	Intellectuals and Politics	 // Intellectuals and Politics Session Organizer Patrick BAERT, Cambridge University, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session explores the various sociological approaches to the study of intellectuals. We hope to include theoretically informed empirical contributions as well as theoretical reflections on the sociology of intellectuals. We also welcome studies of the phenomenon of public intellectuals, including papers that engage with new forms of public engagement. 
RC16	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s10	Issues, Problems, and Potential in the Study of Symbolic Violence	 // Issues, Problems, and Potential in the Study of Symbolic Violence Session Organizers Mustafa EMIRBAYER, University of Wisconsin, USA,   Erik SCHNEIDERHAN, University of Toronto, Canada,   Session in English Weber observed that domination cannot sustain itself indefinitely through sheer force alone, while Bourdieu spoke extensively of “symbolic violence,” the perpetuation of domination through the active complicity of the dominated. This panel examines closely the processes and mechanisms of symbolic violence – and also reflects critically on the concept itself, its strengths and weaknesses, and its place in the tradition of sociological theorizing. Papers of both theoretical and substantive nature are welcomed. 
RC16	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s11	Japanese Contemporary Social Theory Seen from the Inside and Outside 	 // Japanese Contemporary Social Theory Seen from the Inside and Outside Session Organizers Anthony ELLIOTT, University of South Australia, Australia,   Atsushi SAWAI, Keio University, Japan,   Masataka KATAGIRI, Chiba University, Japan Session in English Organizers have published Routledge Companion to Contemporary Japanese Social Theory in 2012. The book introduces, contextualizes and critiques social theories in the broader context of Japanese society, culture and politics with particular emphasis upon Japanese engagements and revision of major traditions of social thoughts. Divided into two parts, the book survey traditions of social thoughts in Japanese social science and presents the major social issues facing contemporary Japan. On the bases of the book, organizers collect presenters including contributors of the book and hold session to examine the possibilities and difficulties of the development of Japanese contemporary social thought seen from inside and outside. 
RC16	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s12	Jeffrey Alexander in East Asia 	 // Jeffrey Alexander in East Asia Session Organizers Seung-Kuk KIM, Pusan National University, Korea,   Kiyomitsu YUI, Kobe University, Japan,   Session in English East Asianizing (e.g. Japanizing, Chinizing, Taiwanizing or Koreanizing) the Western sociological theories and developing theories of East Asian style has been an urgent task for East Asian sociological theorists. We invite papers that critically consider, in the context of East Asian theory building, the sociological theories of Jeffery Alexander such as neo-functionalism, civil society, cultural sociology, etc. The theoretical quest for “provincializing Alexander” or “from Alexander to East Asian way of theorizing” is of particular interest. Papers dealing with the ways in which Alexander is specifically employed or modified in theory construction are also welcomed. (In our session, any individual country in East Asia may represent East Asia as a symbolic whole. East Asia is both an invention and a method.) 
RC16	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s13	Modernity and Critique	 // Modernity and Critique Session Organizer Craig BROWNE, University of Sydney, Australia,   Session in English This session considers whether there have been significant changes in the relationship between modernity and critique. It could be argued that critique is a core dimension of modernity, since it differentiated modernist perspectives from traditional justifications and critique could be related to the modern normative ideals of autonomy and progress. At the same time, modernity has been viewed as the precondition for the actualization of critique and it has been suggested that critique must be consistent with the rationality that is a basic stipulate of modernity. Of course, these visions of an interconnection between modernity and critique have been subjected to a multitude of challenges, like those from feminist perspectives, postmodernist approaches, and postcolonial positions. There have been various redefinitions of each of the categories of modernity and critique in recent sociological theory, particularly in response to historically significant social changes and uncertainties concerning the trajectories of modernized and modernizing societies. These theoretical innovations have included arguments about the premodern sources of critique in the antinomian strands of world religions and popular culture, the elaboration of the contrast between critical sociology and the sociology of critique, and the debates within Critical Social Theory over the normative and political bases of critique in recognition and redistribution. Similarly, different emphases have been given in recent sociological theory to the notion of modernity, with the accentuation of the institution of social imaginaries and distinctive cultural understandings of the world, the global character of modern institutions and the idea of variations within a common civilization that produces multiple modernities, and the highlighting of the crises and paradoxes that have ensued from preceding critiques and the transformation of capitalism in light of the social struggles attendant on critique. Papers are invited that address the conjunction between modifications in the conception of modernity and redefinitions of critique. 
RC16	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s14	National Futures	 // National Futures Session Organizer Brad WEST, University of South Australia, Australia,   Session in English This session invites papers that examine the future of the nation and the establishment of interconnections between the global and national. Where once there was a general consensus that the nation is an outdated source of identity with little role to play in a ‘global’ future, an emerging literature is considering the possibilities of national re-enchantment, the significance of national entities in addressing global problems and broadly the different ways national traditions interact with postmodern forces. This works fills an important gap in the literature on global transformations. Despite most globalization scholars no longer assuming that cultural influences across state boundaries result in a mono-culture, the nation is frequently lost within the local/global binary. The theme also addresses key failings within sociological theory that while long acknowledging the adaptive powers of capitalism, has conceived of the nation in terms of its inherent qualities that either endure or disintegrate in the face of contemporary socio-political change. This session thus invites papers that seek to consider the ways in which the nation might have a viable future. Possible themes for papers are how national traditions withstand or incorporate global influences; the role of ritual in national collective memory being reimagined in culturally relevant ways and the constructive role the nation can play in addressing global issues such as climate change, humanitarian aid and terrorism. 
RC16	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s15	Pollution, Defilement and Disgust	 // Pollution, Defilement and Disgust Session Organizer Philip SMITH, Yale University, USA,   Session in English It is a commonplace in cultural theory to suggest that arbitrary meanings establish boundaries. What is less often noticed is that some boundaries are stronger than others. Not merely cognitive, these evoke responses far more powerful than the raised eyebrows and rolled eyes that accompany, to note two recent examples, "poor" music choices or "profligate" lunch spending. The most powerful boundaries mark out visceral reservoirs of hatred horror and abjection. They also provide unique performative opportunities for ritual defilement and pleasurable transgression. Over the years theorists such as Douglas, Durkheim, Kristeva, Elias, Freud and Bataille have provided amazing insight into the world of the forbidden and revolting. The session is interested in work informed by their legacy, and in particular in studies that surpass and augment rather than merely deploy such familiar resources. 
RC16	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s16	RC16 Business Meeting	 // RC16 Business Meeting 
RC16	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s17	Second-Modern Transformation in East and West	 // Second-Modern Transformation in East and West Session Organizer Sang-Jin HAN, Seoul National University, Korea,   Session in English Central for the session is a self-conscious examination of the non-Western developmental experiences to open up a space in which the possibility of constructing an alternative social theory of second modernity can be jointly explored while constructively pursuing dialogue with the dominant Western social theories today. Particular attention will be paid to East Asia where a catch-up modernization has taken place successfully at the cost of the unanticipated consequences of complex risks, thereby producing enormous public demands for a new development. Against this background attempts will be made to examine why and how such themes as risk governance, individualization, family solidarity, cosmopolitan urban development, new media and citizens’ participation, tradition and identity, human rights, and so on, have evolved in multiple historical trajectories while converging into an overall direction of second modernity. 
RC16	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s18	Sociological Inquiry into the Theory of Modernization in Japan	 // Sociological Inquiry into the Theory of Modernization in Japan Session Organizers Josuke AMADA, Ritsumeikan University, Japan,   Kiyomitsu YUI, Kobe University, Japan,   Session in English How the theory of modernization has been developed and shaped as a social theory in a certain society is a question to be discussed sociologically. In particular, various developed countries experienced significant changes in norms and social systems after the 1960s, and sociologists in the latter half of the 20th century have struggled with how to theorize these changes. “Reflexive modernization” and “risk societies” have been discussed as examples of such theorizations, and within these theories modern society has been positioned as “late modernity.” Looking back at history, however, reveals that modernization of this kind, especially the reflexive dynamism which is spoken of as a characteristic of late modernity, is not that simple. The theory of modernization is especially complicated in the case of Japan, a country which began modernization later than its Western counterparts. The approach based on “overcoming modernity," for example, which emerged out of the “Kyoto school” of philosophers prior to the Second World War, held that Japan enjoyed a privileged position from which to respond to Western modernization because it is an Asian country and was a latecomer to modernization. There was also an attempt to construct a social theory based on the “self-application of modernization” which would “reflect on” the modernization that had arisen as “reflection on tradition” during a period of turmoil in the 1930s and 1940s, but at the same time the irony of the fact that this easy “self-application of modernization” was itself intertwined with tradition was also discussed. In this way theories of modernization in East Asia were in a sense developed in the form of piled-up "excessive refraction." This resulted in a unique posture of “distance” or “refraction” regarding socialism and “the social.” This session examines how social theory in modern Japan, in particular the theory of modernization, has been discussed within the context of historical dynamism, and how this discourse has been developed in relation to "the social." This discussion should clarify the distinctiveness of the theories of modernization that were developed in Japan and East Asia, and this XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology held in Yokohama presents an especially suitable opportunity to examine this topic. 
RC16	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s19	Theories of Materiality and Material Culture	 // Theories of Materiality and Material Culture Session Organizer Dominick BARTMANSKI, Masaryk University, Czech Republic,   Session in English One of the key challenges of meaning-centered cultural sociology is to face the findings of material culture studies and to come to terms with the implications of the iconic turn. The structuralist assumption of arbitrariness of cultural sign is of limited service in explaining the power of complex representational economies and its variability. There is ample evidence that most social signifiers are not just “the garb of meaning,“ to use the insightful phrase of the American anthropologist Webb Keane. Rather, the actual significatory structures and their material/aesthetic properties co-constitute meanings. Therefore more integrative and multidimensional models of culture in action are nowadays both needed and made possible by emergence of the systematic research agendas organized around such master categories as performativity, iconicity and materiality. This session is devoted to new explorations in these overlapping cutting-edge domains. The goal is to discuss their sociological promise and challenges, and ascertain how they transform cultural scholarship today. 
RC16	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s20	Theorizing Circulation: Revisiting the Metaphors for the Travel of Culture, Ideas, And Symbols 	 // Theorizing Circulation: Revisiting the Metaphors for the Travel of Culture, Ideas, And Symbols Session Organizer Gianpaolo BAIOCCHI, Brown University, USA,   Session in English There has been renewed attention across the social sciences and humanities to the issue of the circulation of culture, broadly conceived. This has come under many guises and has animated many a debate across disciplines – from the "diffusion of policy ideas" in political science, to the translation of scientific standards in STS, to the travel of culture in anthropology, among many others. At heart of each is a metaphor for the movement of ideas from place to place. This session invites papers that critically consider the theoretical problem of understanding that movement from a variety of perspectives. 
RC16	s21	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s21	Theorizing Legacy: Does the Past Have Power over Political Events	 // Theorizing Legacy: Does the Past Have Power over Political Events Session Organizer Mabel BEREZIN, Cornell University, USA,   Session in English Analysts sometimes speak of legacies as if they were simple repetitions of the past in the present. In contrast to this static position, this panel argues that legacies represent the intersection of history and culture. Legacies are dynamic and ever re-combining. Legacies are sometimes dormant; they sometimes re-emerge in unexpected ways. This panel seeks papers that take this dynamic view of legacies to examine how the past may or may not influence the shape and trajectory of political events. 
RC16	s22	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s22	Theorizing Online/Offline Identity, Performativity and Expertise	 // Theorizing Online/Offline Identity, Performativity and Expertise Session Organizer Matthias REVERS, University at Albany, USA,   Session in English We have witnessed an increasing digitization of public communication and expansion of online spheres of action for the last two decades. In scholarly time, this is still fairly recent and, despite tremendous research efforts in this area, there is still a high demand for theories and analytical tools beyond science and technology studies approaches to characterize associated transformations and processes: Does the multiplicity of possible venues for self-expression facilitate or complicate the formation of identities? Are performances of coherent selves still possible in this increasingly complex augmented reality? What does knowledge and expertise mean in an environment where “crowd intelligence” diffuses horizontally? These are just some of the questions that could be addressed in this session, which invites purely theoretical/conceptual as well as theoretically-minded empirical papers. 
RC16	s23	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s23	Theorizing Sexuality	 // Theorizing Sexuality Session Organizers Giuseppe SCIORTINO, University of Trento, Italy,   Martina CVAJNER, Yale University, USA,   Session in English Sexuality is a hot topic in the social sciences. There is an expanding body of empirical research as well as a skyrocketing production of textbooks, handbooks and journals devoted to the analysis of the social studies of sexuality. There is an increasingly large body of ethnographic observations, large scale surveys and social histories available. The sociology of sexuality is a quickly maturing field, often potentially producing strategic research materials for a variety of classical sociological problems. Theoretical developments, however, are lagging far behind. Most of what is considered theoretical debate is supported by political or ideological assumptions rather than by arguments rooted in analytic problems. It is possible to develop a sociological theory of sexuality able to understand adequately sexual behaviors and sexual meanings? The session is interested in works willing to explore conceptual frameworks and generalized arguments on the sociology of human sexuality. 
RC16	s24	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s24	Urban Space and Global Cities	 // Urban Space and Global Cities Session Organizer Agnes KU, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China,   Session in English Cities can be seen as nodes within a global economy. The question of how the global and the local intersect in local economic development has received increasing attention in recent years from academics and policy thinkers alike. This panel welcomes submissions that address issues related to the changing urban forms in the context of globalization, including but not confining to the following: how the cities seek to position, project or refashion their cultures in the global space through a project of urban entrepreneurialism; how the socio-economic, political and cultural processes take place whereby the “global city” project is shaped and contested in particular local contexts; how civil society creates spaces for cultural participation from below in the process of cultural globalization and urban development. 
RC16	s25	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s25	Visual Turn and Popular Culture: Anime, Manga and Comics in Japan, Korea and China	 // Visual Turn and Popular Culture: Anime, Manga and Comics in Japan, Korea and China Session Organizer Kiyomitso YUI, Kobe University, Japan,   Session in English In approaching to the phenomenon of visual popular cultures such as animation, manga and comics, in terms of theoretical framework of visual turn in sociology and W.J.T. Mitchell’s conception of ‘What pictures want?,’ the session will be organized. While the presence of those popular cultures of ‘Anime and Manga’ in the world especially that of pivoting around the phenomenon of costume play called ‘cosplay’ is gaining more worldwide popularity, the scholarly investigation into the phenomenon has been limited to a shallow, journalistic and impressionistic scope. The session will invite those studies in deepening the theoretical insights into the phenomenon basically from the viewpoint of the visual turn of sociology. Especially welcome will be papers that compare the phenomena in Asian countries with that of the USA and Europe. 
RC16	s26	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC16#s26	What’s a Collective? The Ontology of Groups, Crowds and Crews 	 // What’s a Collective? The Ontology of Groups, Crowds and Crews Session Organizers Frederic VANDENBERGHE, University State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Margaret ARCHER, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland,   Session in English Half a century ago, we talked about the Proletariat, but without examining too closely the ontological status of collectives as distinct from collectivities: Does a collective exist? Is it just a name? Can it think as a group? Can it act, and if so, how? These questions remain and have re-surfaced in analytical philosophy and social theory. However, their conceptions are diverse and often represent incompatible ontologies of collectives and collective phenomena. Recent theoretical developments in systems theory, network analysis, actor-network theory, critical realism, pragmatism, phenomenology and analytic philosophy allow for a reconsideration of the question of collective agency and re-conceptualisation of collective intentionality, collective subjectivity, collective reflexivity, plural subjects, intentional communities, coordination of action, etc. There is an upswing in ‘Relational Sociology’ but as it not always clear whether it is persons, groups, things or even relations that are related, this term covers the same spectrum of ontological differences. There are some ‘relationists’ who want to keep their ontology flat and others who endorse a stratified ontology of relationships and their emergent properties and powers. Papers are sought that address these central issues thematically. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Sociology of Organization, RC17
RC17	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s1	Celebrity and Organizations 	 // Celebrity and Organizations Session Organizer Robert VAN KRIEKEN, University of Sydney, Australia,   Session in English Celebrity plays a central role in the structure and dynamics of contemporary social, political, economic and organizational life. Various forms of violence are generally organized around highly visible, charismatic individuals, and political as well as organizational order is increasingly structured in relation to the construction of the celebrity of celebrated leaders. This session follows from the very successful session at the 2010 World Congress, and similarly aims to add to the theorization of celebrity within the sociology of culture and consumption, seeing it as central to the sociology of state formation, organizations, power and recognition. It will look beyond celebrities as unique individuals to examine the circuits of power which produce celebrity as a social, political, economic and organizational phenomenon, as well as the logic underpinning its production, a certain kind of `celebrity function` or role, independently from the specific individuals who become celebrities at any particular time and place. It will examine the social positions that celebrities occupy how they are constituted as a group, and what underpins celebrity as a central aspect of everyday life. The analysis drawn upon in the session will be coupled to concepts such as visibility, attention, status, recognition, but also power, symbolic capital, the constitution of the self, social networks, and it will approach celebrity as a central aspect of a range of features of modern social life, such as democracy, individualism, state-formation, long-distance intimacy, imagined community, the public sphere, and of course the changing technologies of the mass media. The session will be open, but not restricted to current research on the following topics: the logic of celebrity across differing celebrity sectors – entertainment, sport, music, science, politics, commerce, non-government organisations comparative and historical sociology – celebrity in differing social, cultural and historical contexts, and the roots of celebrity society in court society, celebrities as democratic aristocrats the economics of attention – celebrity as `interest` on original accumulation celebrity and sociological theories of `recognition`: celebrity as `excess` recognition imagined community and long-distance intimacy, the sociology of para-social interaction celebrity and status, celebrities and elite theory power in the `viewer society`, celebrity as self-surveillance political celebrity – competing logics of attracting attention in democracies, the use of celebrity in social movements and non-government organisations theorizing celebrity: the ways in which celebrity can be understood from a variety of theoretical perspectives, including Simmel, Elias, Adorno and Horkheimer, Mills, Foucault, and Bourdieu. 
RC17	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s2	Normal Accidents Revisited: Organizations and the Reliable Embedding of Complex Technologies	 // Normal Accidents Revisited: Organizations and the Reliable Embedding of Complex Technologies Session Organizers Cristina BESIO, Technical University of Berlin, Germany,   Uli MEYER, Technical University of Berlin, Germany,   Robert J. SCHMIDT, Technical University of Berlin, Germany,   Session in English In his prominent work Charles Perrow (1989) describes the interrelation of three factors – individuals, complex technologies and organizations – as the cause of what he calls “normal accidents”. In a more recent work on the Fukushima disaster, he points out that especially private companies struggle when it comes to the handling of the disastrous potential of technologies. In this respect, he concludes that “there are vastly more cases of creative coping from citizens than from organizations” (Perrow 2011: 49). This does not change the fact that modern organizations in manifold contexts do have to deal with complex and/or tightly coupled technologies. Therefore, in this session, we want to discuss which strategies organizations actually employ to be able to manage complex technologies. Instead of disruptive accidents, we want to use the day-to-day activities in which organizations handle this task as a point of departure for analyzing the relation between technology and organization. In such a perspective we can focus on the demanding processes of organizational coping with technological complexity and uncertainty. We invite the submission of papers from diverse empirical and theoretical backgrounds. Papers should not just retain Perrow’s systemic perspective on organizations, which are highly interwoven with techniques and human activities. In addition, they should analyze the capabilities of organizations to deal with these challenges, and not only address the problems resulting from that. 
RC17	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s3	On the Practical Life of Organizational Theory	 // On the Practical Life of Organizational Theory Session Organizers Paul DU GAY, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark,   Singe VIKKELSO, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark,   Karen BOLL, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark,   Session in English Through teaching, publishing and consultancy organization theory is transported from the business school to the practical realm of the organization. The sub-theme investigates what happens when such transportation takes place across time and organizational settings: What are the effects on organizations of using different organization theories and devices? How do different organization theories practically shape organizations and make ‘the organizational’ an object of intervention? The sub-theme focuses upon the proliferation and employment of organization theories and devices in organizational life – both currently and historically. It seeks to explore how the configurations and usefulness of organization theories have changed over time (du Gay and Vikkelso 2012a, 2012b). Looking at present day organizations and their relations to organization theory there is a paradoxical situation. There is a proliferation of organization concepts and devices: LEAN initiatives, risk analyses, performance contracts and much more. Devices which may or may not be coupled to ideas in organization thought, but which attempt to organize activities and relationships. At the same time, however, organization theory also occupies a rather inferior place in organizational life and public debate. Organizational work seems to be assembled around mundane activities adhering to the accomplishment of certain tasks. In this work the legacy of organization theories seem to play a minor and often barely remembered role (du Gay and Vikkelso 2012a). We are therefore presented with a situation in which we can delineate both an excess and absence of organization theory. We invite papers that explore the ability of organizational theory to influence organizations: what happens as theories and organizational devices take on a life in organizations? Also, we invite papers that examine why organization theory seems so absent from much daily work in organizations. Has organization theory lost some of its former ability to specify and intervene into organizational life? As the stream emphasizes the practical life of organizational theory we welcome contributions deploying a range of descriptive-approaches, such as those drawing on the anthropology of market organization and techniques; science and technology studies exploring ‘organization devices’ Callon et al. 2007; Latour 2010; MacKenzie 2006; and detailed historical accounts of how classic organization theory Barnard 1968; Follett and Graham 1995; Lawrence and Lorsch 1967; Perrow 1986; Roethlisberger and Dickson 1934 has changed itself and its relation to its field. Questions and themes that may be addressed, but are not limited to: Tracing the elements which make up organization theory and investigating how specific organization devices have influenced organizational realities. Exploring how specific domains in organizations have been exposed to excess or absence of organizational theories and devices, and what consequences this has Exploring whether something has been lost in organization theory: if some elements of organizational theory can be rediscovered to reinvigorated organization theory as a useful devices to solve organizational challenges. References Barnard, Chester 1968. The functions of the executive. Harvard University Press. Callon, Michel, Yuval Millo and Fabian Muniesa 2007. Market devices Vol. 55. Blackwell Publishing. du Gay, Paul and Signe Vikkelso 2012a. Exploration, exploitation and exaltation: a metaphysical return to "one best way of organizing" in organization studies in What makes organization? WMO Working Paper Series, 3, Copenhagen Business School. du Gay, Paul and Signe Vikkelso 2012b. ’Reflections: on the lost specification of ‘change’. Journal of Change Management 12/ 2: 121-143. Follett, Mary Parker and Pauline Graham 1995. Mary Parker Follett. Prophet of management: a celebration of writings from the 1920s. Harvard Business School Press. Latour, Bruno 2010. The making of law: an ethnography of the Conseil d’Etat. Polity Press. Lawrence, Paul and Jay W. Lorsch 1967. Organization and environment; managing differentiation and integration. Harvard University. MacKenzie, Donald 2006. An engine, not a camera: how financial models shape markets. MIT Press. Perrow, Charles 1986. Complex organizations: a critical essay. McGraw-Hill. Roethlisberger, Fritz Jules and William J. Dickson 1934. Management and the worker. Boston, Mass.: Harvard university, Graduate school of business administration. 
RC17	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s4	Organization and Materiality: Exploring the Multiple Relations between Things, Bodies and Meso-Level-Orders	 // Organization and Materiality: Exploring the Multiple Relations between Things, Bodies and Meso-Level-Orders Session Organizers Valentin JANDA, Technical University of Berlin, Germany,   Robert J. SCHMIDT, Technical University of Berlin, Germany,   Session in English Physical entities of all kinds are constitutive elements of everyday life. By consequence organizations are also made of things and bodies. Theoretical debates about the role of materiality are deeply rooted in philosophical discourses reaching from Aristotle to Heidegger and, and more recently to Ihde. In sociology, concepts of authors from a science and technology studies background like Knorr-Cetina, Pickering and Latour are productively irritating the old topic of materiality. Among the new theoretical tools having emerged, the call for a symmetric anthropology as put forward by Actor-Network-Theory is a provocative and divisive starting point. Being informed and inspired by these debates on materiality, organization-studies have added vital contributions, including the work by Leonardi, Barley and Orlikowski. These and others authors have drawn the outlines of how organizations and materiality relate to each other. This session aims at taking up the emerging work exploring diverse relations between materiality and meso-level-orders especially organizations, but we are also interested in projects, networks and organizational fields. We invite papers from empirical and theoretical backgrounds that resume recent debates of the diverse roles materiality plays in meso-level-contexts. Contributions could deal with, but are not limited to one of the following questions: Which are the concrete ways materiality is organized by and at the same time organizes meso-level-orders? Materiality is often conceptualized either as structural force or as an outcome of social practice. Which conceptual tools offer perspectives beyond one-eyed views of material interventions? How can we address organizational change or stability in our research without taking one of these roads? How is materiality addressed by meso-level-orders? Are there specific types of organizational or other meso-level-settings that reflect well on materiality? 
RC17	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s5	Organizational Heterogeneity: A Source of Innovation and Conflict or Simply the Status Quo?	 // Organizational Heterogeneity: A Source of Innovation and Conflict or Simply the Status Quo? Session Organizers Cristina BESIO, Technical University of Berlin, Germany,   Uli MEYER, Technical University of Berlin, Germany,   Kathia SERRANO-VELARDE, Heidelberg University, Germany,   Session in English Over the last decade, the notion of heterogeneity has gained ground in organization science. Whereas traditionally organization studies focus on typologies of organizations operating in different sectors (e.g. enterprises, political parties, NPOs), recently the focus has shifted towards the question of how organizations deal with different logics. Theoretically framed concepts such as “glocalization”, “organizational hybridity” or “competing logics” highlight the possibility that multiple logics or rationales may very well coexist in a given setting at a given moment in time. Nevertheless, organization studies scholars have developed different interpretations when it comes to specific details: Is this arrangement of sustainable nature? And to what extent does this type of coexistence lead to innovation and conflict? Or is heterogeneity simply the status quo for many organizations? This call for papers understands heterogeneity as the coexistence of different rationales (be they normative or structural) in a given organization or organizational population. We are especially interested in the operationalization and implications of organizational heterogeneity. We call for empirically founded and theoretically reflected papers that have the potential to advance the debate. We therefore welcome contributions from a wide range of theoretical and thematic fields. The papers should address one or more of the following research questions: Where does heterogeneity in organizational settings come from? Which strategies do organizations develop to deal with heterogeneity? What are the implications of heterogeneity for organizations? Does heterogeneity promote change? And what kind of change does it promote? What are the macro sociological implications of heterogeneity at organizational level? 
RC17	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s6	Organizing Charisma: On the Role of Sentimental Relations in Formal Organizations	 // Organizing Charisma: On the Role of Sentimental Relations in Formal Organizations Session Organizers Elizabeth MCFALL, Open University, United Kingdom,   Joe DEVILLE, Goldsmiths University of London, United Kingdom,   Session in English In radical contrast to bureaucratic organization, charisma knows no formal and regulated appointment and dismissal, no career, advancement or salary, no supervisory or appeals body, no local or purely technical jurisdiction, and no permanent institutions in the manner of bureaucratic agencies which are independent of the incumbents and their personal charisma (Weber, 1978, p.1112). This session invites papers that explore the various ways that charisma, despite Weber’s typological distinction, does find its place within bureaucratic structures. The role played by charisma in organisations varies from personal, informal and ad hoc to impersonal, formal and orchestrated. Some organisations including those based around direct selling or in those consumer finance organisations where personal selling is particularly significant may make the organisation, recruitment, development and promotion of charisma a core task (Biggart, 1989; McFall, 2011; Vargha, 2011). In other cases, whether by accident or design the charismatic CEO becomes pivotal to the organisation’s corporate identity, its strategy and in some cases its stock market value. There are also instances, for example in electoral campaigning, fan clubs and networks where the organisation exists to orchestrate charisma to attract followers. New forms of networked politics and electoral campaigning of the type seen in the Barack Obama’s electoral campaigning and in a different way in the Occupy movement have produced a series of innovations in the organization, tools, and practice necessary to promote charismatic followings (Kreiss, 2012). At the same time, global organisations like Google, Apple and Amazon have flourished by developing new techniques of digitally replicating personal relationships through stored transactions. These techniques all rely upon the incorporation and strategic management of relations, sentiments and arts within formal organisations. This includes shaping charismatic relationships through tools and devices from branding, to website optimisation, to customer relational management software etc. Questions include: What role does charisma play in formal organisations? How is charisma socially and materially managed, distributed and deployed within organisations? What might an analysis of sentimental forms of relation bring to Organisation Theory? Are the distinctions between charismatic, bureaucratic and traditional organisations still meaningful? How are the tools and devices associated with social media, ‘big’ and transactional data, web 2.0 technologies, etc., used to organise charisma? In what ways can branding and design organise corporate charisma? 
RC17	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s7	RC17 Business Meeting	 // RC17 Business Meeting 
RC17	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s8	Social Capital, Trust and Organizations	 // Social Capital, Trust and Organizations Session Organizer Frederik THUESEN, Danish National Centre for Social Research, Denmark,   Session in English The concepts of social capital and trust have received much scholarly attention within current sociology. Qualitative and quantitative studies have focused on the forms of and/ or volume of trust and social capital among members of civil society, inhabitants of various neighborhoods or the citizens of particular nation states. Less attention has been paid to the formation and transformation of trust and social capital in organizations such as work places, professional associations, public institutions etc. Nevertheless, such organizational frameworks are most likely to affect the social capital and trust of their members. By way of illustration, based on their interaction with colleagues at work, people may build up trust to individuals from other social groups than the ones they belong to themselves – such as other ethnic groups, other professions, other (older or younger) generations, etc. However, there may also be dark sides to the concepts of trust and social capital – in general, and within organizations. Trust and social capital formation among particular subgroups of members of an organization may lead to the formation of cliques seeking to monopolize access to the organization and exclude its other members. Thus the discussion of social capital and trust within organizations may be linked to general sociological questions about social inequality, inclusion and exclusion. Therefore this session seeks to draw our attention to the importance of organizations when we are interested in studying social capital and trust. Issues to be discussed during the session could be the organizational mechanisms of trust and social capital formation or dissolution – or the consequences of social capital formation within organizations such as spill-over effects from one organizational setting to another or to society at large. However, the session invites a broad range of presentations and papers touching upon the themes sketched above. 
RC17	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC17#s9	The Organization of a Global Financial Class 	 // The Organization of a Global Financial Class Session Organizers Robert VAN KRIEKEN, University of Sydney, Australia,   Stewart CLEGG, University of Technology Sydney, Australia,   Lukas HOFSTAETTER, Goethe University, Germany,   Session in English The financial crisis has renewed debates about globalization and inequality. "The 1%" has become an omnipresent political catchphrase. It expresses a widespread opinion that there is a new dynamic to the distribution of wealth and political influence and a "new global upper‐class" emerging. In the popular political imagery the "one‐percenter" is often represented by the self‐proclaimed "master of the universe", the cliché of the greedy Wall Street banker, expressing the supposed link between a global upper class and the financial market. Regarding the concept of the market, we follow the arguments developed within the perspective of the "new economic sociology" (Swedberg & Granovetter 2011), which was mainly formulated as a critique against neoclassical economics. Economics describes markets as anonymous interactions of exchange, through which actors maximize their utility. The economic portrait of the market is based on the highly stylized premises of rational, non‐social actors. Sociology in contrast focuses on the social dimension of economic exchange. "The anonymous market of neoclassical models is virtually nonexistent in economic life" (Granovetter 1985: 495). In reality economic transactions are rife with social connections. In order to function properly, agents on markets produce a relatively stable set of relations among actors, embedding the market in a network structure. This structure produces the necessary trust among market participants to engage in economic exchange. Markets therefore can be described as social structures or fields. To function as such, markets are dependent on shared collective understandings in the form of a common culture, which proscribes or limits market exchange and sustains a shared rationality that also anchors itself in the cognitive structure of the market actors (cf. Zukin & DiMaggio 1990). This plays an especially important role on financial markets. Pricing on financial markets is thus highly dependent on shared understandings of social processes, as for instance Hiss & Rona‐Tas (2011) demonstrate for the market of credit ratings. The same can be shown for such seemingly objective actions as accounting (Montagna 1990) or price-finding in stock trading (Zaloom 2007): They rely on established "calculative practices" as an expression of a collective rationality. In addition to the structural, cultural and cognitive forms of embeddedness, markets are shaped by struggles of power "that involve[s] economic actors and nonmarket institutions, particularly the state and social classes" (Zukin & DiMaggio 1990:20), which seek to alter and influence such shared cognitive structures and cultural norms, while simultaneously creating new ones. This situates the necessary framework for studying our markets on a broader scale than simply atomistic actors and their interactions. Instead of a purely individualistic perspective, it is necessary to reflect the formation and efficacy of social structures within the set of employed theoretical terms, while staying accessible to the economic language of the market. In the case of financial markets an important aspect is their global dimension. Since free capital flows are a precondition for economic integration, financial markets always were on the forefront of the process of globalization. Additionally, processes of portfolio diversification and risk management make financial markets inherently global. With this the question arises, whether financial markets produce a global social formation. We need to investigate whether there is a new class of financial professionals emerging that shape financial markets and thereby transform the entire configuration of the modern economy; thus, this session addresses the reciprocal relations between the (global financial) market and those actors that populate, produce and reproduce it: to what extent do they form a (global financial) class interconnected in a network organization of capital, culture and everyday life? The session will be open, but not restricted to current research on the following topics: How is the globality of financial markets reflected by the professionals participating in it? Does the professional activity on global markets involve the creation of a globally orientated life-world? How are everyday practices, both in the economic and private sphere, informed by experience in global financial markets? How relevant is international experience for a career in financial markets or as a goal in itself? Does international work-experience create a common identity? Is this identity used in positional struggles vis-a-vis other social actors? What meaning is ascribed to transnational attitudes of oneself/of others? To what extent do financial professionals have globally common attitudes and knowledge resources? What pools of knowledge are considered "universal", how does this relate to "locally embedded" knowledge, e.g. in business practices? How do financial professionals relate to the organizations they are working for? How are organizations shaped by constraints and opportunities arising from financial markets? How do financial market professionals participate in discourses concerning financial regulation? How do they engage in political conflicts over regulatory issues? To what extent are financial market professionals a class not only in themselves but for themselves, on a global scale? Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Political Sociology, RC18
RC18	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s1	Anthropological Research and Political Geography	 // Anthropological Research and Political Geography Session Organizer Silvia Teresa GOMEZ TAGLE LEMAISTRE, El Colegio de México, Mexico,   Session in English 
RC18	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s2	Citizenship	 // Citizenship Session Organizer Jurate IMBRASAITE, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania,   Session in English Citizenship has become a fashionable concept during recent decades. There is a great deal of public debate about the meaning of the citizenship, the relationship between citizens and government, effectiveness of democracy, policy measures aimed at promoting citizenship and future prospects in the globalized world. Citizenship can be conceived in statist terms as legal, political and social entitlements, which define the privileges of citizens (Marshall, 1964), but equally it can be defined as a set of institutionally embedded practices (Somers, 1993; Turner, 1993; Schudson, 1998).In common usage, citizenship is a very broad concept, which can encompass questions of identity, etnicy, participation, values and attitudes. Citizenship can be something to which virtue can be attached as there are different ways to be a good citizen. The distinction among liberal, communitarian and republican forms of citizenship reflects divisions among approaches stressing the rights and responsibilities and resonates with the contemporary political life. There are increasing concerns about changes in society which undermine the effectiveness of democracy and weaken traditional conceptions of citizenship. Pessimistic authors (Putnam, 1993, 2000; Putnam & Gross, 2002) argue that widespread decline of feeling of solidarity, growing political cynism among public, disaffection with political institutions weakens representative democracies. Proponents of postmodern citizenship (Inglehart 1997; Inglehart & Welzer, 2005; Norris, 1999) are more optimistic regarding the decline of trust in government and citizen participation. They indicate that it may be explained as the shift from traditional forms of citizenship to the new ones. There are increasing concerns about the role of the state in promoting effective policy-making and the effects of a strong civic tradition on the performance of the political system as a whole. Most scholars agree that the nation state is in decline and there is a need to do some hard thinking about what these changes mean for being citizen. What does it mean to be a citizen at the beginning of the twenty-first century? What does it mean to be a “good” citizen? What are the consequences of citizenship for the effectiveness of the political system? What is a sense of political membership in a globalized world? 
RC18	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s3	Colonial Injustice of the Twenty-First Century: The Latin American Case	 // Colonial Injustice of the Twenty-First Century: The Latin American Case Session Organizer Elena PAVLOVA, University of Saint Petersburg, Russia,   Session in English The appearance of the politicians like Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales provoked a special attention to the new discursive practices in Latin America today. Western criticism of ALBA’s ideology is at the centre of inter-paradigm debates. The principal idea of this ideology is the creation of a more equitable, more just world. At the same time it would not be entirely correct to say that the idea of justice is focused exclusively on the opposition between Latin America and the West. The idea of justice and the struggle for it establishes equivalence between the colonialism of the sixteenth century and a similar oppression of the native people brought by the neocolonialism of the globalizing world. This new discourse is not structured in direct opposition to Western hegemony. Its origins are rooted in the conflicts dating back to the time of the Great Discoveries, while the idea of eliminating injustice continues to be the cornerstone of nationhood in Latin America. The justice vs. injustice discourse does not follow in the wake of the Enlightenment debates about freedom and equality, but emerges as part of the postcolonial legacy projected at the current situation. As a result, this discourse is in a way locked inside society and is addressed within, making it impossible to criticize from outside. 
RC18	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s4	Democracy and Inequality across the World	 // Democracy and Inequality across the World Session Organizer Joshua DUBROW, Polish Academy of Sciences,   Poland Session in English In every democracy resides social, economic and political inequality. This session asks two main questions: “How do inequalities impact democracy?” and “How does democracy impact inequalities?” This session draws inspiration from the American Political Science Association Task Force report (2004) on “American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality.” While a landmark project, the APSA Task Force is limited to the U.S. and did not integrate several critical issues in detail, such as digital divide and internet democracy, globalization, mass media impact, militarization and armed conflict, immigration, and intersectional approaches to understanding how democracy and inequality co-exist. In addition, gender, ethnicity and class were underemphasized; across nations, women’s representation in parliament, ethnic political parties, and the salience of class in political participation are key features of the nexus of democracy and inequality. This session seeks empirical (quantitative and qualitative) papers that examine the relationship between democracy and inequality, especially in places outside of the United States and in comparative perspective. 
RC18	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s5	Far Right Intellectuals in Post-War Europe	 // Far Right Intellectuals in Post-War Europe Session Organizer Fabian VIRCHOW, University of Applied Sciences Duesseldorf, Germany,   Session in English Although some far right movements and political parties have had an outstandingly anti-intellectual streak, intellectuals have played an important role for the far right political current in many cases. Focusing on the post-war period in Europe, this panel seeks to understand the role far right intellectuals have played as part of the far right political spectrum, e.g. through political analysis and writing; through political intervention via organizations and parties, etc. Papers to this panel might address issues like: The place of intellectuals and their activities in far right world view The worldview and political concepts/programs articulated by a particular far right intellectual The relationship of a particular far right intellectual towards a party or social movement The perception of the political concepts and analysis of far right intellectuals by far right political protagonists The perception of the ideas of a particular far right intellectual by mainstream academia and scholarship How did far right intellectuals influence political and/or societal discourse? Networks and associations of far right intellectuals (national; transnational) 
RC18	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s6	Inclusive and Exclusive Identities? How Religious and National Identities Influence Political Institutions and Social Cohesion 	 // Inclusive and Exclusive Identities? How Religious and National Identities Influence Political Institutions and Social Cohesion Session Organizer Annette SCHNABEL, University of Wuppertal, Germany,   Session in English Welfare state research and research on social capital have repeatedly implied that social identities play an important role for the willingness to actively contribute to society and for accepting redistributive measures. They seem to be important for the legitimacy and maintenance of political institutions. Religious and national identities are strong candidates for such identity formations. Both are known for their inclusive and exclusive impact. They provide schemata of affiliation, belonging and membership with committing effects to support the in-group. At the same time, they mark those who do not belong. Group threat theory, for example, argues that out-groups are excluded and discriminated against if they are perceived as a threat for the welfare of the majority. This kind of exclusion tends to lower social cohesion and to reduce the legitimacy of democratic and welfare state institutions. Qualitative case studies indicate that religious and national identities are closely related and that the normative systems they provide on the macro-level tend to be inscribed into a country’s constitution and/or its political institutions. The classical studies by Rokkan, for example, argue that protestant countries have developed different forms of national identity and political systems than their catholic counterparts. However, quantitative analyses on this relationship are rare and the impact on political institutions is widely under-researched. The panel therefore invites quantitative and comparative papers on the triangular relationship between religious and national identities and political institutions. It, thereby, will shed light on the complex but important mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion of societies and on the mechanisms that support or hinder the development and maintenance of institutions of democratic regulation and redistribution. 
RC18	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s7	New Challenges for Member-Driven Political Organisations: Addressing Demand, Supply, and the Digital Context	 // New Challenges for Member-Driven Political Organisations: Addressing Demand, Supply, and the Digital Context Session Organizers Ariadne VROMEN, Sydney University, Australia,   Anika GAUJA, Sydney University, Australia,   Session in English Ostensibly established political organisations in advanced democracies are facing a period of change. Challenges to their sustainability come from three main directions: changing demand for active membership; the supply-side and high threshold for participation within organisations; and the reduced complexity of organisation in the context of the growth of digital politics. This panel will address the implications of these challenges for both political organisations themselves, and representative democracy more broadly. The first starting point for this panel is the increasing evidence that citizens in advanced democracies are disillusioned with traditional forms of democratic participation and representation. The ‘demand-side’ literature identifies many reasons why it is that citizens seem to eschew modes of participation or organisational membership that imply time-intensive face-to-face engagement. Second, we will examine the way political organisations have redesigned and configured themselves in ways that seem to require less (or sometimes no) direct engagement from members or supporters. The research on political parties especially notes a drift away from mass-membership models towards cartel style parties that require little by way of a permanent member base. Third, the advent of the internet and social media platforms is reshaping political organisations and the advocacy landscape. New kinds of campaigning organisations have emerged that demonstrate political organising can be quicker, more nimble and provide multi-issue political responses in a way traditional political organisations cannot. We will explore how organisations are adapting to the digital political context, and whether they engage with new online campaigning organisations in a cooperative or competitive manner. For this panel we welcome papers that focus on these three challenges to member driven political organisations, particularly those with a comparative dimension. 
RC18	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s8	Party Membership and Activism in Comparative Perspective	 // Party Membership and Activism in Comparative Perspective Session Organizer Karina KOSIARA-PEDERSEN, University of Copenhagen, Denmark,   Session in English The number of party members is a common indicator of party participation and the extent to which parties are able to form a channel of participation within representative democracy. And these party membership figures are in general in decline. However, party members vary in their participation both within parties and across parties, countries and time. Party membership has a ‘polymorphic nature’ and varies both in degree, type and intensity. The aim of the panel is to reach a better understanding of how party members participate within the context of changing parties. In particular, we encourage analyses of how the application of new information and communication technologies, the professionalization of election campaigning and the blurring of the distinction between party members and supporters have affected the character of party member participation. 
RC18	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s9	Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy in Comparative Perspective	 // Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy in Comparative Perspective Session Organizers Émilie VAN HAUTE, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium,   Giulia SANDRI, Université Catholique de Lille, France,   Session in English Political parties in established democracies have faced three significant trends that have altered their relationships with the grassroots: declining voter loyalty, declining party membership, and the declining importance of cleavage politics. Parties have elaborated two main organizational responses to cope with such challenges: the introduction of functional alternatives to party membership, and the expansion of intra-party democracy. On the one hand, parties have been prompted to develop new strategies to broaden their boundaries and reach out to non-member supporters, which could erode even further their membership basis. On the other hand, parties have adopted a wide range of internal organizational reforms that, at least formally, give members more say over outcomes. Direct democracy is now used in a wide range of intra-party decision-making procedures such as candidate selection, leadership selection and policy positions formulation. These responses trigger significant changes in the role and power of the party on the ground, and can potentially generate conflicts between the various party strata. This panel will interrogate to what extent the recent trends in party organizational change have affected the balance of power within parties, and how this has modified the power and role of the party on the ground. A number of connected themes will be explored, such as the emergence of conflict between various party strata, the attitudes of the party on the ground towards organizational change, as well as how these changes are part of general transnational trends that overcome cultural and political differences between established democracies. Empirical and comparative papers are encouraged, but theoretical and qualitative papers are also welcome. 
RC18	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s10	Politics, Bureaucracy and Political Appointments	 // Politics, Bureaucracy and Political Appointments Session Organizer Felix LOPEZ, Institute of Applied Economic Research, Brazil,   Session in English The interaction between politics and bureaucracy are central to understand different political systems. One aspect, in particular, deserves more research: political appointments to various levels of bureaucracy. This session seeks empirical - quantitative and qualitative - papers that examine political appointments within differing regimes and contexts and how these appointments relate to the distinct characteristics of the political systems in which they operate. Among the possible issues for debate are: the criteria that appointments are based on (politicians, career bureaucrats/public servants, party members and members of the personal or factional network, among others), the observed differences in national and transnational contexts and among branches of government, the differing ways in which parties fill bureaucratic government positions; the relationship between political appointments and the process of designing and implementing public policy. 
RC18	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s11	RC18 Business Meeting	 // RC18 Business Meeting 
RC18	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s12	Regional Powers and their Partners: Bilateralism, Regionalism, Cooperation and Hegemony	 // Regional Powers and their Partners: Bilateralism, Regionalism, Cooperation and Hegemony Session Organizer Mikhail A. MOLCHANOV, St. Thomas University, Canada,   Session in English This panel will explore international and transnational structures of inequality, as they exist in regional communities of nations, such as the European Union, ASEAN, ECOWAS, Mercosur or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It will examine both bilateral relations between the region’s most powerful state or states and their neighbours and the transnational social movements and hierarchies that arise as a result of structural inequality in the region. We will seek to assess the impact of various types of relations between more and less powerful states in the region on the construction of a respective regional society. The analysis of a state-society nexus in a regional context will help shed a new light on genesis and reproduction of inequality within and between geographically adjacent nations. By looking at a dialectic interplay between international, domestic and transnational social factors in foreign policies of individual member states of a regional community, the panel will seek to reach comparative conclusions on similarities and differences that determine regional hierarchies and power structures. Its objective is to explain, how, in some cases, inequality within a region becomes entrenched by means of trade, politics and diplomacy, while in other cases proactive foreign policies and multilateral cooperation generate broader regional solutions and check hegemonic impulses of regionally dominant powers. 
RC18	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s13	Rituals and Rhetoric: Attending to the Performative Dimension of Politics	 // Rituals and Rhetoric: Attending to the Performative Dimension of Politics Session Organizers Florence FAUCHER, Institut d`Études Politiques de Paris, France,   Colin HAY, Sheffield University, United Kingdom,   Session in English The panel builds from the premise that the performative dimension of political practice remains largely unexplored by contemporary political sociologists. It explores this through a series of linked papers, which consider the performance of political ritual and the performative use of rhetoric in contemporary political practices. “Voting rituals in France and Britain” “A rhetorical political analysis of British political speeches” “The rituals of naturalisation as an instrument of public policy” “Gendered ceremony and ritual in parliament” “Partisan dramaturgy in Brazil” 
RC18	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s14	The Social Bases of Far-Right Political Parties and Movements in Modern Europe	 // The Social Bases of Far-Right Political Parties and Movements in Modern Europe Session Organizer Igor BARYGIN, Saint Petersburg State University, Russia,   Session in English 
RC18	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s15	Transnational Flows, Humanitarian Technologies	 // Transnational Flows, Humanitarian Technologies Session Organizer Monika KRAUSE, University of London, United Kingdom,   Session in English In the past decade, the recognition of the political implications of transnational flows and non-state actors has opened up new empirical questions and theoretical concerns in political sociology. The papers in this panel examine the role of different non-state actors in different transnational contexts, taking their claim to provide socially desirable goods seriously but examining mediating practices, insititutional contexts and contradictory outcomes with an open mind. 
RC18	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s16	Varieties of Contemporary Populism	 // Varieties of Contemporary Populism Session Organizer Marco MARAFFI, University of Milan, Italy,   Session in English The panel seeks to explore the different forms, characteristics, origins, and operations of present-day populism in a comparative perspective. Populism – a distinctive type of mass politics and political regime – is a widespread phenomenon, in Europe (both Western and Eastern), United States, and Latin America. Briefly put, the rise of contemporary populism - as opposed to "traditional" populism of 1920s and 1930s - is rooted in the upheaval in social, political and economic relations and structures brought about by globalization. The collapse of traditional social and political institutions has facilitated and called for a political response based on the direct appeal by political leaders, of different political persuasions and ideological stances, to the "people", bypassing traditional channels of political intermediation such as parties and sometimes (and somewhat) diminishing the role of representative bodies. The panel aims at charting and explaining this contemporary political phenomenon in a comparative fashion, drawing on different national experiences and case studies. 
RC18	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s17	What is Party Membership? Part I. Perspectives in the ‘European Tradition’	 // What is Party Membership? Part I. Perspectives in the ‘European Tradition’ Session Organizers Émilie VAN HAUTE, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium,   Anika GAUJA, Sydney University, Australia,   Session in English This panel will interrogate contemporary understandings of the concept of party membership and its application to changing patterns of political participation and organization. Against a backdrop of declining party membership figures, we ask paper givers to re-consider what membership means in the ‘European tradition’ of party scholarship (conceptualizing membership as formal affiliation) and how this applies not only to the democracies of Europe, but beyond to countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A number of broad themes will be explored, including the impact of technology and changing patterns of political participation, other forms of affiliation and engagement as functional alternatives (for example, supportership) as well as the ongoing relevance and function of formal membership and how these understandings are shaped by cultural, political, legal and historical circumstances. 
RC18	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC18#s18	What is Party Membership? Part II. Perspectives from Asia	 // What is Party Membership? Part II. Perspectives from Asia Session Organizers Émilie VAN HAUTE, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium,   Anika GAUJA, Sydney University, Australia,   Session in English This panel will interrogate contemporary understandings of the concept of party membership and its application to changing patterns of political participation and organization. We ask paper givers to consider what membership means beyond the ‘European tradition’ of party scholarship – to explore how citizens join, interact with or express their support for political parties in countries and regions throughout Asia. A number of broad themes will be explored, including the impact of technology and changing patterns of political participation, other forms of affiliation and engagement as functional alternatives (for example, supportership) as well as the ongoing relevance and function of formal membership and how these understandings are shaped by cultural, political, legal and historical circumstances. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy, RC19
RC19	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s1	Children: Inequality and Rights	 // Children: Inequality and Rights Session Organizers Joan E. DURRANT, University of Manitoba, Canada,   Gregg M. OLSEN, University of Manitoba, Canada,   Session in English The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations in 1989. Since then, all nations of the world but two have ratified it, committing themselves to implementing its standards universally and without discrimination. Yet, globally an average of 25,000 children under 5 die each day from poverty-related causes; 67 million children of primary school age are still denied the right to education; and 150 million children are engaged in child labour (UNICEF, 2009). Wide disparities exist across regions in the implementation of children’s rights to survival and development. But marked disparities in the fulfillment of children’s rights also exist within nations, linked to geographical location, ethnicity, gender, disability, and access to essential services such as health care, nutrition and education. What can be done to raise the level of implementation of child rights standards around the world? This session will focus on rights-based approaches to reducing inequalities among children. Papers from all regions of the world are welcome, and may focus on child rights indicators, child-rights-based methodologies, and policy measures that reduce disparities in children’s health and well-being. 
RC19	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s2	Gender and Welfare State Redesign: Work, Care and Social Citizenship	 // Gender and Welfare State Redesign: Work, Care and Social Citizenship Session Organizer Mi Young AN, Kookmin University, Korea,   Session in English Normative ideals and pragmatic responses have changed in recent welfare reforms in Europe and East Asia, albeit to a different extent. The reforms have recast work/care paradigm which have permitted repositioning of concepts such as rights, responsibilities and redistributions. While there have been widely developed discussions on the subject matter for European welfare states, scholarly endevours have been weakly developed for East Asia. Indeed, comparisons between European and East Asian societies have remained preliminary analytical thoughts. Thus, this session develops a line of discussions, by inviting papers on how recent welfare reforms in Europe and East Asia have reshaped work/care regime and its implications on social citizenships. 
RC19	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s3	Global Social Policy and the International Development Agenda	 // Global Social Policy and the International Development Agenda Session Organizers Alexandra KAASCH, University of Bremen, Germany,   Rianne MAHON, Carleton University, Canada,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Global social policy, particularly in its dimension of global social redistribution, has long been concerned with the links between social policy and development policies. Currently, debates on the nature a post-MDG agenda are in full swing, as the Millennium Development Goals are due to end in 2015. This panel invites papers that critically assess the current development agenda in this light of it potential to realise a more egalitarian world. 
RC19	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s4	Intergenerational Relations	 // Intergenerational Relations Session Organizer Joakim PALME, Institute for Future Studies, Sweden,   Session in English Demographic changes is now a universal issue for all societies. What are the implications of demographic changes on intergenerational relations and social and economic policies. This session invites papers that would examine the issue of intergeneration relations from wide range of perspectives. 
RC19	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s5	Marketization in Welfare State Policies and New Social Cleavages	 // Marketization in Welfare State Policies and New Social Cleavages Session Organizers Patricia FRERICKS, University of Hamburg, Germany,   Birgit PFAU-EFFINGER, University of Hamburg, Germany,   Session in English In the 1990s, a shift in welfare state policies took place which emphasized market principles and reduced other steering principles. This development is called marketization of welfare state policies: markets have been established in welfare state institutions and policies in which market principles such as competition, contractual relations and exchange had not played a major role before. The marketization in welfare states encompasses the construction of elements of social security and social services as goods which can be sold and purchased on markets. Welfare states thereby have established welfare-, quasi- or social-markets, they have introduced competition of suppliers and strengthened the role of for-profit suppliers. Concurrently, the socio-political concept of the social citizen (T.H. Marshall 1950) started to be modified towards the concept of an “active” social citizen whose rights to social security and social services strongly depend on so-called self-responsibility. This development, however, is far from being linear; it is characterized by contradictions, diversity and opposing tendencies. This political reorientation suggested solutions to reduce costs and to increase efficiency of welfare state policies. However, it has also let to various unintended consequences among which are the increased social inequality which is partly not transparent and the emergence or intensification of new conflicts. 
RC19	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s6	New Inequality and Social Exclusion	 // New Inequality and Social Exclusion Session Organizer Ito PENG, University of Toronto, Canada,   Session in English There has been a noticeable increase in social and economic inequalities since the beginning of the 2000s. This has led to greater and new forms of social exclusion. This session welcomes papers that will examine new inequality and social exclusion in both developed and developing countries, and what that means in terms of policies. 
RC19	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s7	Old and New Politics of Global Social Policy	 // Old and New Politics of Global Social Policy Session Organizers Alexandra KAASCH, University of Bremen, Germany,   Rianne MAHON, Carleton University, Canada,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . There has been a significant increase of global social policy actors and fora, that the global economic and financial crisis only served to intensify. This has resulted in an ever more complex system of overlapping agencies and institutions, and the proliferation of alternative solutions (Deacon 2007). This panel brings together papers that illuminate the role of diverse social policy actors, operating at different scales and explore their changing positions in global social policy debates. 
RC19	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s8	Open Session 	 // Open Session Session Organizer Ito PENG, University of Toronto, Canada,   Session in English This session is open for all kinds of papers from members of RC19. 
RC19	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s9	Poverty, Social Welfare, and Outcomes of Children	 // Poverty, Social Welfare, and Outcomes of Children Session Organizer Chien-Chung HUANG, Rutgers University, USA,   Session in English This session welcome empirical papers examine effects of poverty on outcomes of children and investigate the extent of social welfare policy and programs on alleviating the effects of poverty and outcomes of children. The session especially encourages comparative studies, examining effects of poverty and social welfare on children in different cities, regions, and/or countries. 
RC19	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s10	RC19 Business Meeting	 // RC19 Business Meeting 
RC19	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s11	Social Investment in East Asia	 // Social Investment in East Asia Session Organizer Bruno PALIER, Sciences Po, France,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Japan, Taiwan, South Korea more or less share a tradition of a strong involvement of the State within economic development; Recently, these countries have expanded their social intervention, but not really in the European traditional welfare state manner, and more endorsing a productive welfare orientation. Social investment ideas have been development in different ways in all three countries. This panel will present and compare the various ways social investment polices have developed in this region of the globe. 
RC19	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s12	Social Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean	 // Social Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean Session Organizers Bruno PALIER, Sciences Po, France,   Evelyne HUBER, University of North Carolina, USA,   Session in English The American Continent has been a place of great social innovation under the recent left wing turn. Borsa Familia is the most well-known measure typically investing in childhood education, but others initiative can be associated with the social investment perspective. This session would compare and analyze these developments in Central and Latin America. 
RC19	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s13	Social Policy and the Crisis	 // Social Policy and the Crisis Session Organizer Joakim PALME, Institute for Future Studies, Sweden,   Session in English How has the 2008 financial crisis affect social policies? This session welcomes papers that examine the impacts, implications, and outcomes of crisis on social policy, and the relationship between social policy and the crisis. 
RC19	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s14	Social Welfare, Policy and Outcomes: The Ethnic Minority Experience in a Global and Comparative Perspective	 // Social Welfare, Policy and Outcomes: The Ethnic Minority Experience in a Global and Comparative Perspective Session Organizer Reza HASMATH, University of Oxford, United Kingdom,   Session in English This panel assesses social welfare policies and/or the realized outcomes of such policies through the prism of the life course experiences of the ethnic minority cohort. Papers that address salient themes such as education, labour market, health, social security, and poverty (broadly construed) are welcomed. Moreover, papers that specifically examine the ethnic minority experiences in a comparative perspective are encouraged. 
RC19	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s15	The Changing Politics of Social Policy	 // The Changing Politics of Social Policy Session Organizer Daniel BELAND, Canada Research in Public Policy, Canada,   Session in English This session explores how politics of social policy has changed and is changing across the world. 
RC19	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s16	The Politics and Policies of Social Investment in Europe	 // The Politics and Policies of Social Investment in Europe Session Organizers Bruno PALIER, Sciences Po, France,   John D. STEPHENS, University of North Carolina, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Since the late 1990s, and ideas and policies aiming at transforming the welfare state architecture have been developed. From the rediscovery of the workline in Nordic countries, the focus on ECEC in most countries to the third way approach, new ideas and policies have developed. What is the content and driver of such social and labour market policies transformations? Can one find the traditional welfare regime distinction between the various ways ncountries have implemented social investment ideas? What are the politics of such social policy reforms? This(these) panel(s) aims at understanding the undergoing changes in welfare states in Europe, through the lens of the social investment paradigm. 
RC19	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s17	The Reorientation of Social Policy: Putting New Redistributive Strategies to the Test	 // The Reorientation of Social Policy: Putting New Redistributive Strategies to the Test Session Organizers Ive MARX, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, Belgium,   Wim VAN LANCKER, University of Antwerp, Belgium,   Session in English The aim of this session is to empirically explore the consequences and impact of new redistributive strategies on social inclusion outcomes. This stream welcomes papers that put to scrutiny policies that are currently being advocated as new and effective strategies against inequality and poverty. We particularly welcome comparative papers that are empirically grounded, and encourage contributions on non-European countries. 
RC19	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC19#s18	Transforming Familialism: Care Regimes in the 21st Century Asia	 // Transforming Familialism: Care Regimes in the 21st Century Asia Session Organizer Emiko OCHIAI, Kyoto University, Japan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This panel is based on aninternational joint research project on care in Asia conducted by Asian scholarswith a special focus on recent changes in the 2000s.Our research questionis whether familialism in Asia is changing.To answer this question, we employ quantitative methods, particularly time use analyses, trying to overcome the shortcomings of data in the Asian region, at the same time as reviewing institutional changes in each country.The major findings are the increasing importance of care migration both across national borders and within country as well as the emphasis onthe role of communityin various forms, in spite of growing state intervention. We also compare policychanges in transitional socialist countries in Asia with post-socialist countries in Europe. The panel consists of 5 papers as follows. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Comparative Sociology, RC20
RC20	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s1	Changing Global Values 	 // Changing Global Values Session Organizers Marita CARBALLO, Universidad Católica Argentina, Argentina,   Frederick C. TURNER, University of Connecticut, USA,   Session in English Papers should be based on survey data on values, either in one nation or among several nations. The emphasis should be on how values have changed over the past decade and what the implications of these changes in values may be. 
RC20	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s2	Civilising and Decivilising Processes in the Financial Crisis	 // Civilising and Decivilising Processes in the Financial Crisis Session Organizers Robert VAN KRIEKEN, University of Sydney, Australia,   Stephen VERTIGANS, Robert Gordon University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Although periods of recession tend to be mostly associated with economic downturns, their legacies extend way beyond financial impacts. Deep and global recessions contribute to long term shifts in civilising and decivilising processes as access to resources narrows, parameters of the established and outsiders shift, tensions that financial upturns help to contain become reignited and forms of cultural and political expression become more imaginative and challenging. Therefore this session will explore some of the changing processes which the financial crisis has instigated and will identify local, national and global consequences. 
RC20	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s3	Comparative Sociology: Present Status and Future Directions 	 // Comparative Sociology: Present Status and Future Directions Session Organizer Masamichi SASAKI, Chuo University, Japan,   Session in English Sociology`s founding fathers were all comparative researchers, firmly committed to the comparative method, whether studying roles, institutions, societies, nations, cultures, groups, or organizations. As the major aim of comparative sociology is to identify similarities and differences between social entities, this session seeks to compare and contrast nations, cultures, societies, and institutions, as well as develop concepts and generalizations based upon identified similarities and differences among the social entities being compared, especially in their characteristic ways of thinking and acting, in their characteristic attitudes, values and ideologies, and in the intrinsic elements of their social structures, which in turn all serve as a means to enhance understanding and awareness of other social entities. While the purposes of comparative sociology are many, one key task is to support and contribute to theory formation. While theoretical frameworks drive the construction of comparative research endeavors, the results of such research often drive theory re-formation. Another key task is to support policymaking, and yet another is to ascertain whether the same dimension of a given concept (e.g., religious commitment) can be used as a common social indicator. Does a given concept generalize to all nations (or other social entities)? As the world becomes ever more globalized, the need for such understanding should be clear: national policies need to consider the needs of all global partners. Why are nations different on some characteristic parameters, while they are the same on others? The same question can be asked of other sets of socio-cultural groupings, both across regional boundaries and within national or ethnic boundaries. 
RC20	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s4	Culture and the Media in a Long-Term Perspective	 // Culture and the Media in a Long-Term Perspective Session Organizers Robert VAN KRIEKEN, University of Sydney, Australia,   Stephen VERTIGANS, Robert Gordon University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Cultural forms of behaviour, glorification of celebrity and standards of media reporting are increasingly of cause for political and civil concern. Conversely apologists for the freedom of the press are often the most fervent opponents to shifting forms of cultural and sexual expression. In this session emergent facets of cultural norms and values and the evolution or regression of media reporting are explored through historical developments. Part of the session will be allocated to analysis of the apparent contradictions between demands for personal freedom and attempts to restrain the cultural opportunities of others. 
RC20	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s5	Current Research in Comparative Sociology. Part I	 // Current Research in Comparative Sociology. Part I Session Organizer Hanno SCHOLTZ, University of Fribourg, Switzerland,   Session in English This session welcomes original papers in the field of Comparative Sociology. 
RC20	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s6	Current Research in Comparative Sociology. Part II	 // Current Research in Comparative Sociology. Part II Session Organizer Frederick C. TURNER, University of Connecticut, USA,   Session in English This session welcomes original papers in the field of Comparative Sociology. 
RC20	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s7	Environmental and Energy Shifts in Time and Place	 // Environmental and Energy Shifts in Time and Place Session Organizers Robert VAN KRIEKEN, University of Sydney, Australia,   Stephen VERTIGANS, Robert Gordon University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Session will explore how perceptions of the environment and energy have shifted and the concomitant impact on ways of thinking and behaving across different societies. Papers on a range of issues are invited, including global warming, ‘peak oil’, carbon footprints, risk and desertification that discuss state, NGO, TNCs, civilian and international agency actions and reactions. Contributors could examine what the fundamental arguments mean in terms of de-civilising and civilising processes and the consequences for longer-term forms of human interrelationships. 
RC20	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s8	Expatriates: Comparative Perspectives	 // Expatriates: Comparative Perspectives Session Organizer Jean-Pascal DALOZ, Université de Strasbourg, France,   Session in English There are many social scientists to convey a deductive vision in terms of supranational elites exceeding parochial solidarities whereas the bulk of the people is understood as being lured by local identifications. Despite the picture, readily conjured up in the literature on ‘expatriates’, of transnational groups endowed with a cosmopolitan culture overriding all parochial differences, and ostensibly at ease everywhere, the question arises to what extent ‘expatriates’ with various national background differ in terms of attitudes. This session aims at gathering sociologists with expertise on such populations with a view to generate discussions of a comparative nature. 
RC20	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s9	RC20 Business Meeting	 // RC20 Business Meeting 
RC20	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s10	RC20 Roundtable: Rethinking Social Distinction?	 // RC20 Roundtable: Rethinking Social Distinction? Session Organizer Jean-Pascal DALOZ, Université de Strasbourg, France,   Session in English The analysis of social distinction cannot indefinitely remain confined to logics of reasoning that are markedly ethnocentric. To understand 21st-century Dubai, China, Russia, or settings of the past, we need to do more than just apply the consecrated schemes of Veblen or Bourdieu. Further to the publication of The Sociology of Elite Distinction (2010) and Rethinking Social Distinction (2013) which aim to provide new foundations for the comparative study of this important subject, Jean-Pascal Daloz would like to invite commentators willing to discuss his challenging theoretical, epistemological and methodological views. 
RC20	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s11	Rethinking Comparison in a Global Age: Methodological Issues	 // Rethinking Comparison in a Global Age: Methodological Issues Session Organizers Vincenzo CICCHELLI, Université Paris Descartes, France,   Sylvie OCTOBRE, Ministère de la Culture, France,   Session in English Comparative research is as old as the discipline of sociology itself. We still witness works that seem to assume that social phenomena are nationally determined, culturally homogenous and relatively stable in the countries being compared. We know that the current process of globalisation definitely challenges such a vision. For we social scientists, however, the question also arises to what extent our comparative methods should be revised accordingly. This session looks for papers dealing with methodological issues raised by the challenge of globalisation. Approaches may be theoretical (e.g. on the limits of grand theories with universalistic ambitions) as well as empirical (e.g. case studies emphasising the complexities of interactions between societies and how this questions the validity of consecrated methods). 
RC20	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s12	Sociological Schools of Thought and Comparative Analysis	 // Sociological Schools of Thought and Comparative Analysis Session Organizer Jean-Pascal DALOZ, Université de Strasbourg, France,   Session in English The aim of this session is to discuss comparative analysis in relation to the positions taken by different schools of thought. We know that each social theoretician must have a starting point from somewhere and, in this respect, an awareness of the field experiences that have most influenced their scholarly work is always instructive. Quite often, however, there is clearly a tendency to rely on the material from the monographic publications which have given these sociologists prominence. In reaction to this, the task of the comparativist is to caution against dogmatic one-sidedness and the risk of undue extrapolation. Papers synthesising the point of view of a particular (classical or more recent) theoretical tradition or, on the contrary, insist on the limits of certain traditions from a comparative perspective would be most welcome. 
RC20	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s13	The Rise of Top Incomes: Comparative Perspectives	 // The Rise of Top Incomes: Comparative Perspectives Session Organizer David WEAKLIEM, University of Connecticut, USA,   Session in English In the past few decades, income inequality – specifically, the concentration of income at the top – has grown in many, although not all, advanced capitalist nations. The proposed session would include papers about the causes and consequences of this development. Both empirical and theoretical papers would be welcome. 
RC20	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s14	Trust: Comparative Perspectives. Part I	 // Trust: Comparative Perspectives. Part I Session Organizer Masamichi SASAKI, Chuo University, Japan,   Session in English No one denies the importance of trust in social relationships. Many scholars view trust as extraordinarily important because of its influence on interpersonal and group relationships. Our economic system is in many ways entirely dependent upon trust because if there were no trust there would be no economic transactions. Thus trust has profound implications for interpersonal and social cooperation. Without trust, societies really could not exist. As we all know, social systems are becoming increasingly complex and confounded, meaning that trust plays an ever-increasingly important role. Trust in interpersonal and social cooperation implies commitment, which is intimately tied to obligation, which brings into play basic norms and values at individual and group levels. Norms and values speak to expectations. Expectations are implicit in trust because past and present individual and social behaviors dictate how future actions will unfold. Trust becomes a coping mechanism for societal complexity as it helps to overcome the accompanying uncertainty characteristic of a mushrooming globalized social system. This session will focus on cross-national perspectives of social trust from micro to macro levels of analysis. 
RC20	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC20#s15	Trust: Comparative Perspectives. Part II	 // Trust: Comparative Perspectives. Part II Session Organizer Masamichi SASAKI, Chuo University, Japan,   Session in English Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Regional and Urban Development, RC21
RC21	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s1	Players and Arenas: Strategic Dynamics of Politics and Protest	 // Players and Arenas: Strategic Dynamics of Politics and Protest Integrative Session // : RC21 Regional and Urban Development, RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC21	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s2	RC21 Business Meeting	 // RC21 Business Meeting Session Organizer 
RC21	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s3	Theme I.1 Beyond Dichotomization: Informality and the Challenges of Governance in Cities of the Global North and South	 // Theme I.1 Beyond Dichotomization: Informality and the Challenges of Governance in Cities of the Global North and South Session Organizers Diane DAVIS, Harvard University, USA,   Julie-Anne BOUDROU, INRS, Canada,   Session in English In the context of a global economic recession affecting employment, public services, and livelihood in cities of the global north, itself built upon a decade or more of global economic restructuring characterised by a shift from manufacturing to services, questions are emerging about the extent of convergence in economic activities in cities of both the global north and south. Among such trends, the expansion of informal work as a means of coping with declining formal sector employment and the downsizing of the welfare state have generated considerable attention, primarily because such responses to scarcity have long been associated with the poorer economies of the global south. Such developments not only allow a questioning of the concept of modernisation and the assumed locations and forms in which it manifests; they also suggest a new empirical agenda focused on processes of informalization and their implications for labor organization, market regulation, the expansion of illicit economies, and local state capacities to establish social, spatial, political, and economic order. This panel seeks papers that examine these developments and their impact on the city as a privileged site from which larger societal orders emanate and through which new modernising processes and conflicts over them now manifest. In this panel we are particularly interested in determining whether cities with more spatially, economically, and politically vibrant residues of informality – or “non-modern,” more “traditional” orders – (i.e. cities of the so-called developing world) are managing the transitional moment brought by intensifying urbanisation differently than those where a more modern, formal, and institutionalised political, economic, and spatial order has more fully absorbed city life (i.e. cities in Europe and North America). Our objective is to reflect on such dichotomous framing in novels ways. Yet in addition to our comparative aims, we also seek papers that examine the nature, degrees, and extent of informalization in individual cities, both north and south, as well as their implications for the production of social, spatial, and economic order or disorder. Will the rise of informality undermine the role of formal labor in state and society? Will the form and function of cities facing an expansion of informality match up with the existent actors and institutions produced by prior periods of modernisation? Will urban citizens continue to internalise the regulatory and formalising ethos imposed by its dominant actors and institutions, or will they disengage or even resist through informal mechanisms and practices? Will the embrace of informality co-exist or compete with formality, in what ways and around which social, spatial, and economic domains? And finally, will shifting patterns of formalisation and informalisation produce new forms of politics, including the production of alternative identities or logics for mobilization and claim-making? 
RC21	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s4	Theme I.2 Tackling Inequality in Shrinking Cities: The Role of Governance and Civic Society	 // Theme I.2 Tackling Inequality in Shrinking Cities: The Role of Governance and Civic Society Session Organizers Dieter RINK, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany,   Annegret HAASE, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany,   Session in English Global change has come along with increasing inter-urban inequalities all over the world, due first and foremost to uneven economic development. Whereas prospering cities often represent growing cities, disinvestment is linked in most cases with shrinkage. Shrinking cities are, subsequently, often poor or impoverishing cities and have to cope with structural change, deindustrialisation, high unemployment rates and decreasing or weak social cohesion. At the same time, they are less attractive for new investment. In addition, shrinking cities frequently struggle with stressed budgets due to a dwindling tax base. That’s why they have problems to cover the costs for maintenance of infrastructure and services, welfare measures and to maintain the quality of life for their residents. Shrinkage sets a major challenge for urban policymaking and governance. Decision-making has to follow new rules and to find appropriate arrangements. Despite many problems, there is also evidence of different successful ways of coping from many shrinking cities across the globe. Shrinkage also means a challenge for the affected urban societies. Civic actors are forced to become more active, i.e. to overtake municipal tasks or to get more involved in decision-making and planning. Set against this background, the session asks how policymaking, governance and civil actors can appropriately cope with the impacts and challenges of shrinkage, how society can contribute to make cities more resilient and socially cohesive despite population loss and, not least, how shrinkage can be used to make cities more liveable. The proposed session deliberately wants to link the challenge of poverty and decline in shrinking cities with the perspective on resources, capacities and successful coping of urban actors to tackle shrinkage as a dimension of inter-urban inequality. We invite papers from all over the world that look at shrinking cities from this perspective and provide either a conceptual or an empirical – if possible, comparative – contribution to answer the questions of the session. 
RC21	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s5	Theme I.3 Public/Social Rental Housing and Urban Renewal: New Inequalities and Insecurities?	 // Theme I.3 Public/Social Rental Housing and Urban Renewal: New Inequalities and Insecurities? Session Organizers Paul WATT, University of London, United Kingdom,   Peer SMETS, Free University Amsterdam, Netherlands,   Session in English Contemporary neo-liberal renewal programmes typically involve demolishing those public/social rental housing estates that were built during the previous Keynesian Welfare State round of urban renewal. The dominant aim is to prevent ‘neighbourhood effects’ through social mixing and tenure diversification via the insertion of new private housing for sale or rent; new homeowners are said to act as ‘role models’ for existing social tenants. Many academic studies of social mixing/tenure diversification schemes have critiqued the claims being made, and have instead highlighted processes of state-led gentrification and the displacement of the urban poor to city peripheries and beyond thereby exacerbating inequality and insecurity. This session welcomes papers that either offer a comparative approach or examine single-city case studies on this topic. Examples of questions that papers might consider include: What are the political and economic forces bringing about the renewal/destruction of public/social housing estates? How do city’s differential positions in the global economy impact on the type of new private housing developments occurring in renewed estates? What is the impact of urban renewal on public/social housing residents? What are the bureaucratic processes involved in moving these residents out of their homes (and sometimes back)? Do they ‘choose’ to leave – or are they ‘forced’ to go, i.e. displaced? Where do they go and how are their lives changed by their movements? How are renewed public/social housing estates’ place images being rebranded? How are the new private properties being marketed and to whom? What are the patterns of social interaction that occur in the renewed neighbourhoods? Are social housing residents stigmatized by the new incomers, or do processes of genuine social mixing occur? And if they do, what organizational mechanisms might bring such mixing about? What forms of governance and security operate in the renewed neighbourhoods and with what effects? 
RC21	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s6	Theme I.4 Understanding Social and Physical Disorder in the Urban Metropolis 	 // Theme I.4 Understanding Social and Physical Disorder in the Urban Metropolis Session Organizers Rebecca WICKES, University of Queensland, Australia,   Lynda CHESHIRE, University of Queensland, Australia,   Session in English Physical and social signs of disorder, such as the deterioration of the physical landscape and the display of anti-social behaviour, have long been seen as an urban affliction. ‘Crack-downs’ to combat disorder usually involve targeted interventions at specific neighbourhoods such as run-down housing estates; populations such as the homeless; or problems such as solicitation for prostitution. Yet recent scholarship suggests that disorder is not reducible to objective measurements of crime or social problems. While the presence of disorder can signal that an area is vulnerable, triggering the exodus of residents and businesses, in other neighbourhoods disorder can represent diversity and a cultural edginess. Thus ‘seeing’ disorder is bound up with biases and stereotypes associated with particular groups of people and particular types of places. As a result, the ‘problem’ of disorder and associated interventions are unequally patterned, spatially and socially, and associated with low-income, ethnically diverse or disadvantaged areas where residents have limited resources to manage disorder or to resist attempts to discipline them through techniques of surveillance and control. For affluent groups, on the other hand, places of disorder are easily places to avoid, but also places to visit for the cosmopolitan encounters they offer. In this session, we invite papers relating to disorder in the city. Broadly, papers will address the following question: what are the spatial and social dimensions and consequences of urban disorder and its effects and interventions? More specifically, papers may address any of the following issues: Attempts to combat crime in the city through new forms of policing and surveillance The stigmatising effects of labelling problem populations and places The governance of disorder through technologies of discipline and regulation Theoretical concepts of the stranger, incivility and cosmopolitan encounters that help understand differential responses to urban disorder Formal and informal processes of social control Comparisons across neighbourhoods of the incidence and management of disorder Different forms of disorder from minor disputes to criminal activity 
RC21	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s7	Theme II.1 Cities and the Global Environment	 // Theme II.1 Cities and the Global Environment Session Organizers Louis GUAY, Université Laval, Canada,   Pierre HAMEL, Université de Montréal, Canada,   Session in English Cities and large cities in particular have always had their own environmental problems. For most of the last two centuries, they have faced them squarely and have been relatively successful in many cases. Urban environmental problems of the period were problems of a first modernity, to use Beck’s expression. But new ecological and global problems, such as climate change, biodiversity, water regimes, continuing urban land encroachment on wetlands, have come close to many, if not all, cities of the world. Problems and responses to them are very different depending on the geographical location, the level of development, and local and national political culture and institutions. This session is devoted to ecological challenges of the second modernity. It aims at some (unavoidably selective) representation of large cities’ ecological problems and actions, collective, private or otherwise, and their ways and means to face them and devise socially constructed responses to them. Climate change, biodiversity decline, water regime change are targeted as relevant global ecological problems. Each global problem can be studied on its own, but presentations that analyse joint problems (for instance climate change and water regimes, or biodiversity and climate change) are much welcomed. Participants are asked to present case studies in which relevant actors and institutions are identified, problems are framed, and actions develop in a mesh of interactions and negotiations among a variety of social actors and institutions. Presentations are expected to provide some theoretical context or general lessons from the case(s) studied. 
RC21	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s8	Theme II.2 Sustainable Cities and Social Justice	 // Theme II.2 Sustainable Cities and Social Justice Session Organizers Michael JONAS, Institute for Advanced Studies, Austria,   Andrea GLAUSER, HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration, Switzerland,   Session in English In recent years, catchwords such as “sustainable cities” and “sustainable urban development” have gained increasing attention in urban policy debates. As several empirical studies have demonstrated, this is not only the case in so-called industrial societies of the North but also in cities of the Southern hemisphere. Following David Harvey’s statement that the debates about sustainable development should primarily be understood as processes preserving an existing social order rather than as attempts to preserve nature per se (Harvey 1996), this session critically explores how this globally diffused idea of the “sustainable city” is related to social justice and the (re)production of inequalities. Papers are invited which investigate conceptions of social justice involved in the semantics and policies of sustainability and which discuss whether and how the concept of sustainability is linked to neoliberal principles (Banerjee 2003). We are particularly interested in papers that address the following questions: How are the concepts of sustainable development and sustainable cities shaped in current urban policies and debates? Which ideas of social and environmental justice are they based on? Which individual and collective actors are primarily involved in sustainable urban policies and which are excluded? Which practices and processes are dominant in the implementation of sustainable city policies? How are they linked to market principles? In which ways can we map the consequences and effects of urban sustainable policies on social justice and (in)equalities? How do we conceptualize justice and sustainability? How should we reflect upon and deal with the normativity of these concepts? What can we learn from comparing empirical cases dealing with these processes in various cities and different regions of the world? 
RC21	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s9	Theme II.3 Social Changes and Urbanization in China	 // Theme II.3 Social Changes and Urbanization in China Session Organizers Zhu DI, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China,   Chen GUANGJIN, Chinese Academy of Social Science, China,   Chen LIXING, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan,   Session in English The session focuses on the social changes of China brought by the economic system reforms and the global economic recession/downturn, as well as the mechanisms and the impact of the rapid proceeding urbanization. The reforms and especially urbanization have brought about economic booms in the past decades. However, social inequalities and social segregations, in particular between urban and rural regions and between different socio-economic groups, have become more significant and even begun to hinder the country from sustainable development. This session, set against this background, is concerned with issues like: How is ‘social inequality’, in the dimensions of income, education, status, etc., evaluated in the post-reform China and has the evaluation changed in the past three decades? What are the mechanisms that create and reproduce the social inequalities and social segregations (the roles of the state, the capital and the individuals and the relationships between them are emphasized)? What are the consequences of the rapid urbanization and where should it go? The session provides a good opportunity to understand and rethink the tremendous social changes in transitional societies like China and also to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms of social inequality with a comparative and generational perspective. This session is jointly organized by two outstanding sociologists in the research field of social development and social changes in China. By virtue of their network in China and Japan, this session intends to bring together sociologists from the two countries (researchers from other countries are also welcome) who work in this field and to enhance further communication and cooperation between them. Papers can be empirical or theoretical and may come from a broad range of social/urban development and social change studies, including (but not limited to) social inequalities, social segregations, urbanization, migrants, consumption patterns and social identity in the process of industrialization, marketization and urbanization. Both established and early career researchers are welcome. 
RC21	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s10	Theme II.4 Tokyo and Japanese Cities	 // Theme II.4 Tokyo and Japanese Cities Session Organizer Asato SAITO, Yokohama National University, Japan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The session will address various aspects of urban and regional policies in Japan that developed after the world financial/fiscal crisis in 2008. These include but are not limited to such issues as state rescaling, re-concentration of a few metropolitan regions, and new forms of uneven development and social exclusion. The session will discuss them in relation to the political economy framework of developmental/post-developmental state, and examine them in geo-historical context of East Asia. 
RC21	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s11	Theme III.1 Homelessness amid the Global Economic Crisis: Interrogating Structural Inequality in Contemporary Cities from the Ground Up	 // Theme III.1 Homelessness amid the Global Economic Crisis: Interrogating Structural Inequality in Contemporary Cities from the Ground Up Session Organizers Keiko YAMAGUCHI, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan,   Matthew D. MARR, Florida International University, USA,   Session in English As economic globalization and neoliberalism have spread since the 1970s, mass homelessness has become entrenched in major cities across the world. More recently, amid economic stagnation since the global fiscal crisis began in 2008, poverty has surged in these cities and new policy responses to homelessness have emerged. This session aims to explore how these recent trends have impacted various aspects of homelessness, from survival strategies amid homelessness to how homelessness reflects the structure of contemporary cities. Ultimately, people having to endure homelessness in cities that contain considerable wealth is the result of an interaction of employment, welfare, and housing policies; systems of relief organizations; and management of urban space. Here, the nature of a city’s politics, economy, lifestyle, and sympathy are reflected. How do people survive amid homelessness in contemporary cities? How do they overcome homelessness? How are their experiences shaped in similar and different ways by varying urban regimes across cities? How has homelessness been transformed in major cities in diverse contexts, especially in the developing world? How are policies that punish people experiencing homelessness and clear them from public spaces being impacted by economic stagnation? How are new approaches that focus on prevention and housing rather than shelter affecting experiences of homelessness? How has the mix of discipline and compassion in homelessness amelioration efforts changed how people experience homelessness? How have changing spatial dynamics of poverty and homelessness impacted individual and collective experiences? The purpose of this session is to combine micro approaches that look at the lives of people experiencing homelessness with critical interrogations of the nature of contemporary cities. We welcome papers that use in-depth fieldwork on homelessness in cities in diverse contexts to explore the issues outlined above. 
RC21	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s12	Theme III.2 Migrant Communities and the Host Practices 	 // Theme III.2 Migrant Communities and the Host Practices Session Organizer K.C. HO, National University of Singapore, Singapore,   Session in English Under the progress of globalisation, international migration has assumed greater significance than ever before and thus residents’ backgrounds in every major metropolitan area have become more and more diverse. Contemporary international migration is complex with various residential statuses. Examples of different international human movements include immigrants as permanent settlers, long and short-term residents from foreign lands; such as those who immigrate into another country or stay for an extended period of overseas assignments, tourists and the like. Large cities attract foreign residents due to the development of the services industries, business networks, existence of ethnic communities, and even advanced educational institutions. However, other types of cities (“ordinary cities”, smaller cities, port cities, etc) may have migratory flows and settlements which create unique problems and/or interesting insights. This panel examines migrant livelihoods in the light of regulatory policies that shape their work and residence. The different regulatory practices by state and non-state actors towards different types of migrants and their adaptive responses define their insertions into the built environment. We encourage submissions which explore the following themes: Ethnic, religious and cultural differences between migrants and host communities which hinder or facilitate integration and segregation; Place making practices of migrant communities, adaptation and defended practices Support systems (role of NGOs, public initiatives, etc); Regulatory practices relating to work and settlement and the consequences of such practices. 
RC21	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s13	Theme III.3 Disasters, Risks and Civil Society: A Comparative View of Urban Resilience Strategies	 // Theme III.3 Disasters, Risks and Civil Society: A Comparative View of Urban Resilience Strategies Session Organizers Kaoru ENDO, Gakushuin University, Japan,   Hideo NAKAZAWA, Chuo University, Japan,   Session in English Our globe is witnessing unprecedented natural disasters (floods,hurricanes, tsunamis), pandemics, and other human-made disasters in the age of reflexive modernity. Apparently various risks became normally embedded in our daily life, as Ulrich Beck predicted in 1986. Risk prevention/precaution or disaster management is an urgent issue for policy makers, organizational managers, and for citizens and communities. This session deals with the way disasters and risks are addressed in urban areas disentangling the role different regulatory levels play (local, national, supranational,..). In particular, it considers social resilience strategies in cities, referring to civil society activities, to the role of science and media and to the different policy orientations. Reference to recent disasters (e.g. Great East Japan Earthquake, Katrina, Sandy, …) is envisaged. This session aims at comparing and integrating knowledge, logics,skills/techniques to handle these disasters/risks in urban areas. It also aims at discussing and theorizing the social/political structure behind the disaster, and the relief actions by civil society and communities, and the implication they might have. More specifically we shall try to theorize how disasters challenge social/communal resilience. How can we find the best mix of technology and culture for disaster prevention? In a global risk society what would be lessons to be shared and how will be the solidarity and resilience against risks forged? The potential topics papers might address in this session include: various aspects of risk society, infrastructure, disrupted cities, (global/local) civic cooperation aftermath/to prevent disasters, (global/local) solidarity against risks/disasters, policies for resilience building. 
RC21	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s14	Theme IV.1 Identity, Justice and Resistances in the Neoliberal City	 // Theme IV.1 Identity, Justice and Resistances in the Neoliberal City Session Organizers Gulcin Erdi LELANDAIS, Université de Tours, France,   Yildirim SENTURK, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Turkey,   Session in English Researchers like Lefebvre (1974), Harvey (2009) and Soja (2010) focused on the link between space and neoliberalism and consider the current urban policies as the spatialisation of neoliberalism and the reproduction of social and spatial injustice. We define neoliberalism as policies seeking to entrench market forms of relations in everyday practices. Neoliberal policies lead to the predominance of competition as a way of managing urban and rural spaces and/or in contrast to principles of redistribution which were upheld in earlier eras, and to the transfer of many authorities, that were typically in the hands of the state, to accountable non-state and quasi-state bodies such as corporations and non-governmental organizations (Fawaz, 2009). In this sense, the neoliberal restructuring of the urban space raises some questions about the meaning, the production and the appropriation of the space by those who structure it and those who lived in it. Lefebvre argued that the production of space not only manifests various forms of injustice but also produces and reproduces them, thereby maintaining established relations of domination and oppression (Lefebvre, 1974). However, even in an age of neoliberal dominance, cities remain crucially important arenas of struggles in the name of social justice, radical democracy, popular empowerment, and the politics of difference (Brenner, Theodore 2002). The demand for an urban life based upon grassroots democratic participation and the satisfaction of social needs rather than the imperatives of private profit continue to percolate in many cities despite the neoliberal assaults of the last few decades. Our objective by this session is to show the way in which different forms of neoliberal practices reflect themselves in cities spatially and highlight the possible forms of resistance developing against them, ranging from social movements to everyday practices of ordinary people including living-wage campaigns, anti-workfare activism, new forms of community-labor organizations, gender practices and survival strategies of evicted people after regeneration projects. As the neoliberal practices aim to produce their own spatiality, they inevitably lead to new forms of resistance. An adequate account of current urbanization needs to analyse these processes together. We are expecting to have a discussion on different forms of individual or group expressions – not limited to social movements or public mobilisations – which could be considered as a resistance aiming to propose alternative ways of life and/or organization against the neoliberal development of the city. 
RC21	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s15	Theme IV.2 New Urban Protest Cultures in the Era of Digital Social Networks	 // Theme IV.2 New Urban Protest Cultures in the Era of Digital Social Networks Session Organizers Martina LOW, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany,   Peter NOLLER, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany,   Session in English The past few years have seen an increase in many novel forms of urban protest cultures worldwide making use of new digital communication technologies. Prominent examples are the protests in the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ cities and also the Occupy [Wall Street] and Right to the City movements, which had been organised on a global scale through the Internet and through social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook and other digital media. The use and adoption of mobile communication technologies entails the production of new space: along with the occupation of places, this production includes also mass gatherings and the temporary assembly of crowds in public city spaces that are, for the most part, (self-)organised by mobile phone users via text messaging, chat rooms and forums. Around the world and particularly in big cities, protests against Unequal Urban Worlds are taking the form of flash mobs (as happenings), smart mobs (setting political objectives) or carrot mobs (addressing environmental problems and consumer interests). The sudden stir and attention thus generated in a public location transforms the city into a stage for political campaigns and creative happenings of various kinds, allowing the appropriation of local public spaces. Events organised via telecommunications and social media help to raise awareness of local or global Unequal Urban Worlds issues on the spot through the “power of the mobile many” (Howard Rheingold). At the same time, new forms of collaboration and cooperation are emerging, producing new urban practices and social networks. The session comprises the presentation of papers which, methodologically or content-wise, relate to the development of new urban cultures of protest, to their global or local forms of networking as well as to processes of communitisation as a function of specific forms of ‘staging’ space and technology. How are the Unequal Urban Worlds dealt with and presented in these public performances regarding space and urban specifics? Who is involved/taking part in the movements? Which kinds of global or local networks and digital platforms are evolving? How do these protest cultures differ across cities in social, spatial and information technological terms? How are the public performances staged and represented in the public sphere and on the internet (in forums, blogs, on video and pictures), …? 
RC21	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s16	Theme IV.3 Creative Activism in Times of Urban Renaissance and Social Exclusion – Space Sensitive Approaches to the Study of Collective Action and Belonging	 // Theme IV.3 Creative Activism in Times of Urban Renaissance and Social Exclusion – Space Sensitive Approaches to the Study of Collective Action and Belonging Session Organizer Eva YOUKHANA, University of Bonn, Germany,   Session in English Creative activism is increasingly used as an instrument to collectively re-appropriate the urban space and thus articulate urban belonging and citizenship from below. Metropolises worldwide, seen as spatiotemporal configurations, experience politics of place that stimulate capitalist appropriation, private investment and public control that emerge from the different urban forms. In return, individuals and groups of different origin use the public space as a laboratory for resistance, creative acts, and as a medium for communication. As such, creative activism is a strategy for those who are widely excluded from social, political, cultural and economic participation. Collectives are built through joint actions and experiences that are translated into the production of situated forms of urban belonging. By integrating the concept of space and a materialist perspective to the analysis of collective action and belonging, the session invites social and cultural scientist, geographers and urban planners to explore different expressions of creative resistance, in order to discuss at the example of different cities how cultural practices of the subaltern either balance unequal power and tenure relations and may transform into inclusive urban governance or is again tempered in the context of dominant revanchist and market oriented urban politics. Abstracts should touch upon the following questions: What are the preconditions (political culture, locations of transition, permeability of institutions, porosity of urban forms) for collective action and the production of urban belonging that go beyond notions of social containers or imposed collective identities? Under which circumstances does creative activism transform into an instrument for advertisement, consumption and gentrification and thus the authentication of inequalities and what conclusions can we draw regarding class identities and motivations of the actors themselves? Which role do things, technologies and media play for relationship formation, and at which point in time do these objects carry their own agency? 
RC21	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s17	Theme V.1 Informality and Spatial Confinement across the Global Order: Everyday and Policy Perspectives	 // Theme V.1 Informality and Spatial Confinement across the Global Order: Everyday and Policy Perspectives Session Organizers Silvia PASQUETTI, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom,   Giovanni PICKER, Higher School of Economics, Russia,   Session in English At the turn of the twenty-first century, informality and confinement are perhaps the most striking features of the everyday lives of the urban poor across the globe. On the one hand, scholars such as Asef Bayat and Abdul Maliq Simone have argued that, under conditions of global neoliberalism, informality has become “a way of life” for the urban poor especially but not only in the Global South. On the other hand, however, the state infrastructural power over dispossessed populations has not disappeared and state and international bureaucracies increasingly relied on devices of spatial confinement to manage dispossessed people within or at the outskirts of cities in both the Global North and the Global South. This stream/session proposal aims to explore the interplay between informality and confinement at both the macrolevel of neoliberal processes, modern bureaucracies, and forms of control and the microlevel of everyday emotions, moralities, and practices. We seek papers that will help us bring informality and confinement within the same analytic framework thus allowing a better understanding of how these two features of life at the urban margins – in their spatial logics and effects – interact with one another in the policy arena as well as on the ground. Specifically, we seek papers that study dwelling and employment practices among urban populations who experience spatial confinement, as well as papers that explore the ways through which state and international bureaucracies manage – allow, contain, or suppress – these practices. Our goal is to generate scholarly debates on the interactions between informality and confinement in everyday life and in the policy arena: How and to what extent informal practices belong to ruling agencies and to the experience of people inhabiting spaces of confinement such as refugee camps, camps or villages for “Roma”/Travellers, centers for undocumented migrants, squatter settlements, and ghettos? Under what conditions and through which ways do state and other ruling agencies accept, reward, suppress, and punish informal practices from below? 
RC21	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s18	Theme V.2 Navigating and Understanding Vernacular Landscapes in Global Cities: Everyday Practices, Commodification and Contestation 	 // Theme V.2 Navigating and Understanding Vernacular Landscapes in Global Cities: Everyday Practices, Commodification and Contestation Session Organizer Heide IMAI, Hosei University Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English In most cities, public bodies are concerned with social, economic, cultural and political integration of marginal urban areas. One of the main strategies to achieve this purpose is to consider culture as one of the main engines of great urban transformations to support the realization of different scale urban renewal projects. As these occur in form of new urban entertainment, economic and cultural clusters in both central and marginal urban areas, a re-evaluation of cities cultural heritage and vernacular landscape is necessary. One of the reason is that in the context of radical urban transformation, new urban inequalities emerge which have to be approached and studied making use of methodological innovation. This session will focus on the urbanity and everyday practices of in/exclusion of vernacular urban places that are especially the subject of effects of globalization and rising inequalities. The session invites papers which are interested in better understanding the following three issues from an empirical viewpoint and making use of innovative methodologies. As a first issue, this session is aiming to understand everyday practices of in/exclusion and the changing role of the everyday dwellers. Secondly, the panel aims to reflect critically on the commodification of the vernacular urban places to understand how the branding of cultural heritage is affecting everyday practices, existing inequalities and the urban identity of each dweller. Finally, different forms of contestations are discussed, as different people consider different vernacular urban places to be worthy of a meaningful place in the fast transforming city. Similar issues or a combination of the suggested themes are welcome. 
RC21	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s19	Theme V.3 Ambiguous Spaces: Moving beyond Dichotomies of Public Space	 // Theme V.3 Ambiguous Spaces: Moving beyond Dichotomies of Public Space Session Organizers Anna STEIGEMANN, Center for Metropolitan Studies Berlin, Germany,   Christian HAID, Center for Metropolitan Studies Berlin, Germany,   Annika LEVELS, Center for Metropolitan Studies Berlin, Germany,   Session in English “[W]hatever the deadening weight of heightened representations and control over public space, spontaneous and organized political response always carries within it the capability of remaking and retaking public space and the public sphere.” (Low & Smith 2006) In recent decades, public space – the heart of urbanity – has undergone tremendous transformations in cities worldwide. Especially after 9/11, public places have experienced massive restructuring processes through rising regulation, surveillance, control and other exclusionary practices not only in Northern American cities. Simultaneously, increased privatization has undermined accessibility, diversity of use, multifunctionality and freedom of choice in many places and has thereby contributed to a general de-democratization of public space. Many scholars have thus painted a dark picture regarding the state of public space. Authors such as Mike Davis, Richard Sennett, and Michael Sorkin formulated the now-classic proclamation of the decline, erosion, end or death of public space. At the same time, both scholars and municipal actors speak of the “re-vitalization” or the “re-appropriation” of public space, thereby directly challenging the prevalent discussion. Moreover, different urban actors undertake a multitude of alternative strategies to remake, to reclaim and even to hijack public space, therewith trying to develop extraordinary but also everyday practices of inclusion. Temporary use planning (Zwischennutzungen), squatting, urban gardening, guerilla strategies, ad hoc events, and critical mass events – such practices exemplify some of the many new ways of negotiating and appropriating public space. In this panel we would like to stress the ambiguity of public space both within the urban studies literature as well as concerning the recent transformations in urban public spaces. Fixed binary characterizations, such as tightness/looseness, chaos/order, exclusion/inclusion, public/private, rise/decline, democratic/non-democratic, urban/suburban, Western/Non-Western are still prevailing within various conceptualizations of public space. However, we welcome contributions that go beyond these either/or avenues. Hence, we are looking forward to papers that develop interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives that incorporate the interwoven dynamics between these binaries and, thus, address the fluid and contingent characteristics of public space and its role for negotiating social inequality. 
RC21	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s20	Theme V.4 The Street and the Urban Public Sphere: Diversity, Difference, Inequality	 // Theme V.4 The Street and the Urban Public Sphere: Diversity, Difference, Inequality Session Organizers Sharon ZUKIN, Brooklyn College, USA,   Xiangming CHEN, Trinity College, USA,   Session in English In the light of intense rural-urban and transnational migration, urban researchers are beginning to look at micro-publics that form in everyday public spaces of the city in order to evaluate processes of social integration that vary from violent hostility to co-presence, tolerance, and citizenship. As a basic microcosm of the built environment as well as a social and cultural construction, "the street" is a suggestive space of both representation and action for individuals as well as groups. But different kinds of streets may be used in different ways by the same groups, or they may be monopolized by groups that create clusters that govern who "belongs" in that space and who does not. The street is a mechanism of social reproduction, yet it may foster –and even instigate – very different kinds of behaviour, public policy, and images of urban life. We are looking for papers that examine the social production of the urban public sphere on specific streets in a comparative framework. Papers should offer empirical research on such issues as citizenship, migration, and displacement on specific streets, especially if the research sites are in two or more cities in different national societies or in different regions of the world. 
RC21	s21	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s21	Theme VI.1 Actor-Network-Theory and Urban Studies	 // Theme VI.1 Actor-Network-Theory and Urban Studies Session Organizers Dominique BOULLIER, Sciences Po, France,   Bart WISSINK, City University of Hong Kong, China,   Session in English Over the last decade, Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) has emerged as a new perspective within urban studies. This has resulted in case studies that employ ANT in specific cities, pieces of general urban theory and methodology that trace the implications of ANT for urban research, and a first edited volume. Some studies stay close to the field of science and technology studies – the home ground of ANT – but others engage in a more general analysis of urban controversies and urban development. While ANT encapsulates political and philosophical backgrounds on modernism that challenge usual assumptions about urban planning and public participation, these consequences are not yet clearly drawn out. Against the background of this diverse and growing field, this session aims to bring together urban researchers that engage with ANT, and stimulate a discussion on the potential contribution of ANT to urban studies. It especially focuses on the following questions: Which questions does ANT help to answer? How should we conduct ANT analyses in the urban studies context? How do analyses that employ ANT in urban studies differ from alternative perspectives? Which promise does ANT hold for the future of urban studies? What are the limitations of ANT? We are inviting papers that engage with these questions, on the basis of stories, cases studies, and personal experiences with ANT research, as we believe that ANT must be discussed as research in the making, grounded in active fieldwork. Possible themes include: Specific controversies; Challenges to the modern vision of urban planning and urban studies; Qualitative and quantitative methods (from ethnography to social graphs); Non-humans as a key resource for urban studies; Mediations (or ‘agency’) in urban projects; Networks vs institutions. Papers that link up to the conference topic – inequality and spatial justice – will receive special attention. 
RC21	s22	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s22	Theme VI.2 Urban Studies and the Challenge of Travelling Concepts and Comparative Methods 	 // Theme VI.2 Urban Studies and the Challenge of Travelling Concepts and Comparative Methods Session Organizers Yuri KAZEPOV, University of Urbino, Italy,   Asato SAITO, Yokohama National University,   Takashi MACHIMURA, Hitotsubashi University, Japan,   Session in English Most urban theories originate in the efforts to understand a specific urban locale. The experiences of English cities during the industrial revolution, of German cities at the start of the twentieth century, or Chicago a little later, or Los Angeles more recently, become the basis of "theories" that are then applied elsewhere, and which are sometimes accorded a quasi-universal status. Theories travel uneasily, however: whilst theories sometimes illuminate and reveal, they sometimes distract and obscure. This has become more striking at the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first, as cities across the global South have grown not only at extraordinary speed but also in ways and directions that differ in many respects from their antecedents in the global North. Whilst urban sociologists collectively now use a wider range of methods than ever before, not all methods are used equally in all parts of the world. Quantitative data is much more readily available in cities across the global North than in the cities of the global South. But are all methods equally valuable in different urban settings? Are some cities more usefully studied with one or other method than others? We welcome contributions that critically examine how theories travel around the world, how methods can be applied in diverse settings, and how the experiences and characters of diverse cities across the world can be harnessed in comparative or even global analyses. 
RC21	s23	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC21#s23	Theme VI.3 International Journal of Urban and Regional Research Lecture: The Rent Question, Anne HAILA, Helsinki University, Finland	 // Theme VI.3 International Journal of Urban and Regional Research Lecture: The Rent Question, Anne HAILA, Helsinki University, Finland Session Organizer Yuri KAZEPOV, University of Urbino, Italy,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . At the time when everything from knowledge to body parts is for sale, claims upon future land rent are affecting the destinies of cities. Securitization of municipal land assets is ruining European cities, collective landownership is traded for urban citizenship in China, and the cunning use of government land has enabled Singapore to solve the housing question and made it the world wealth management center. In my lecture, I will use the theory of land rent to unravel contemporary questions involving urban land. The cases of municipal landownership and the question of the value of public land, collective landownership and the question of compensations for land acquisitions, and state landownership and the question of redevelopment will be explored using the traditional concepts of differential, absolute and monopoly rent, supplemented with new concepts of fiscal, global and derivative rent more appropriate to competing, global and financial phase of capitalism. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Religion, RC22
RC22	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s1	Civil Rights and Religious Freedoms in a Secular World 	 // Civil Rights and Religious Freedoms in a Secular World Session Organizer Roberto BLANCARTE, Colegio de México, Mexico,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC22	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s2	Haifa`s Answer 	 // Haifa`s Answer Session Organizers Roberto CIPRIANI, University of Rome, Italy,   Emanuela DEL RE, Unicusano Rome, Italy,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The session offers a new way of interpreting visual sociology. The new developments refer to the fact that in recent years Visual Sociology has become an approach used also by those who were traditionally considered the “object” of sociological research. They have therefore become the “active subject”, through a process of development of the need for self-portraying that is to be considered a formidable value added and a natural evolution of the accessibility of the technical tools used in Visual Sociology. Moreover, individuals make use of the visual as a natural expansion of their ability to communicate, transforming the technological instruments and the new social media in part of their own personal language. The authors analyze all this through their own experience of researchers who make use of visual sociology as a form of communication of their research results, making reference to a recent film-documentary they have filmed in Israel: “Haifa’s answer” The complex relation between the researchers, the people who are the “object” of the research and the context is explored under a number of perspectives, from which a multifaceted and fascinating alternation of roles with objects and subjects mutually engaging in intellectual and emotional challenges emerges. 
RC22	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s3	Locating Religion in Civilizational Analysis	 // Locating Religion in Civilizational Analysis Session Organizers Edward TIRYAKIAN, Duke University, USA,   Said ARJOMAND, State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC22	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s4	Multiculturalism and Religion: Contemporary Challenges and Future Opportunities	 // Multiculturalism and Religion: Contemporary Challenges and Future Opportunities Session Organizer Joshua M. ROOSE, University of Western Sydney,   Session in English In a context defined by the globalization of information and ideas, increasing availability of new technologies, vast movements of people across national borders and the increased presence of religion in the public and political sphere, societies with official multicultural policies have hit a critical juncture. In the old world Western nations of Europe, multiculturalism has been increasingly portrayed as undermining national identity and security, a perspective largely based on the notion that religious (primarily Muslim) communities refuse to integrate and hold values incompatible with Western democratic traditions. New world Western settler societies including Canada and Australia have largely reinforced a commitment to multiculturalism while emphatically rejecting ‘exceptionalism’ for religious minorities. The experiences of non-Western nations with flourishing pragmatic and everyday forms of legal pluralism and multiculturalism have been largely overlooked in contemporary scholarship. This panel seeks to open a space for vigorous and informed sociological dialogue about current and potential future developments in the relationship between state forms of multiculturalism, legal accommodation and religion. In particular the panel invites contributions related to the following questions: How are Western states with official policies of multiculturalism dealing with the increased assertiveness of religion in a previously secular space? What social cleavages is this creating and where are fault-lines located? What strategies (if any) are multicultural states deploying to accommodate the emergence of different religious practices and to promote mutual respect and recognition? Where do multicultural states accommodate different legal systems associated with religious traditions and how are these accommodated within the secular legal system? What are the potential socio-political consequences of accommodation of different religious legal practices? What can Western multicultural nations learn from the non-Western developing world’s experiences of multiculturalism and accommodation of religious and legal pluralism? 
RC22	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s5	Non-Religion in Question: Ethics, Equality, and Justice	 // Non-Religion in Question: Ethics, Equality, and Justice Session Organizers Susanne SCHENK, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany,   Cora SCHUH,   Session in English Recent research shows how in different parts of the world expressive nonreligiosity goes hand in hand with aims for social reform. Competing visions of ontology and normative orders are played out in societal battles over education, sexual rights, gender equality and social justice. For a number of outspokenly nonreli-gious groups in Europe, the United States, but also the Philippines, India and other regions, demonstrating the secular nature of our world is a key strategy in socio-political activism. Concurrently, the normative and ontological base of secularism has been criticized as a culturally specific yet powerful form of moderating legitimacy. Secularism has thus been discussed in relation to the legal and moral reshaping of colonial states. In a similar take political liberalism has been the subject of considerable debate regarding its potential to grant equal access to the public sphere to both secular and religious citizens. More research about how (non)religious ways of ‘being in the world’ and social activism are linked is needed. The panel therefore provides space to discuss the multiple entanglements of (non)religion with questions of justice, equality, and ethics. Conceptual contributions, as well as empirical research from different regions are welcome. 
RC22	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s6	RC22 Business Meeting	 // RC22 Business Meeting 
RC22	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s7	RC22 Roundtable I. Religious Organizations	 // RC22 Roundtable I. Religious Organizations Session Organizers James V. SPICKARD, University of Redlands, USA,   Esmeralda SANCHEZ, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines,   Session in English 
RC22	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s8	RC22 Roundtable IA. The Impact of Neoliberal Policies, Practices and Ideas on Religious Organizations	 // RC22 Roundtable IA. The Impact of Neoliberal Policies, Practices and Ideas on Religious Organizations Session Organizer Tuomas MARTIKAINEN, University of Helsinki, Finland,   Session in English The session focuses on impacts of neoliberal policies, practices and ideas on religious organizations. The session departs from an understanding that the global implementation of neoliberal policies in order to promote free market ideology has also led to (spillover) effects on religious organizations. Neoliberalism-inspired changes on religious organizations include, among others, new forms of management techniques and faith-based service provision, strategic planning, consumer orientation and novel types of co-operation, such as networks, projects and private-public partnerships. Many of such activities have been adopted from the private sector, and have been mediated via public administration as well as consulting and marketing agencies. Neoliberalism is also evident in the adoption of business-like forms of organizations among newer forms of religion and spirituality. Ideologically, neoliberalism has also influenced theological thought. On the one hand, the growth of prosperity theology and mega-churches can be seen as expression of lived neoliberalism. On the other hand, neoliberalism has created opposition to its core values, whereby its focus on consumerism and a highly-individualized anthropology have been critiqued on religious grounds. Empirical submissions are preferred, but also theoretical pieces can be suggested. The session welcomes submissions dealing with any religion and from all geographical areas. 
RC22	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s9	RC22 Roundtable IB. Facing Inequality from the Perspective of Islamic Organizations	 // RC22 Roundtable IB. Facing Inequality from the Perspective of Islamic Organizations Session Organizers Kerstin ROSENOW-WILLIAMS, Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Germany,   Mattias KORTMANN, Potsdam University, Germany,   Session in English The purpose of this session is to comparatively discuss how organized Muslims perceive the changing public discourse on Islam, how they respond in their organizational developments, and which challenges they have been confronted with during the turbulent last decade. Muslims living in countries where Islam is not the majority religion have received increasing public and media attention after the 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA and subsequent attacks worldwide. Although Muslim communities (their organization, their integration or discrimination against them) were already subject to scholarly studies in previous decades, this research area has gained prominence since the turn of the 21st century. In contrast to existing studies, which often stress differing institutional systems in a top-down perspective (focusing on integration policies and state-church relations), this session underscores the benefits of a bottom-up perspective focusing on Islamic organizations. Scholars from various schools of sociology applying different theoretical, empirical, and comparative approaches are invited to discuss their research on Islamic organizations in different parts of the world. With regard to the conference topic of facing inequality we seek studies that address Islamic organizations as advocates of societal change and equal recognition as well as studies that analyze Islamic organizations’ adaptation to changing environments and societal inequalities. We especially welcome paper proposals from sociologists from different countries who analyze Islamic organizations from a bottom-up-perspective. Comparative papers are also especially welcomed. 
RC22	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s10	RC22 Roundtable IC. New Forms of Religious Organization	 // RC22 Roundtable IC. New Forms of Religious Organization Session Organizers Thomas KERN, Heidelberg University, Germany,   Insa PRUISKEN, Heidelberg University, Germany,   Session in English Over the past decades, the issue of religious organizations and organized religion worldwide has been predominantly studied and analyzed in terms of the “religious economy approach”. The market has become a central concept of the sociology of religion. Religious change is modeled as an outcome of (rational) choice and production. Under competitive conditions, the success of a religious "firm" depends on the attractiveness of its offer (Finke/Stark/Iannaconne 1997: 351). We argue that the "religious economies approach" neglects the social embeddedness of markets (White 1981: 1; Granovetter 1985). It does not take into ac-count, for example, that organizational structures as well as membership in organizations are impacted by changing institutional logics anchored at the societal level (Friedland/Alford 1991, Thornton et al. 2012), cultural frames at the field level (Lounsbury et al. 2003) and identity codes residing within an organization’s audience (Hannan/Hsu 2005). From this point of view, recent changes in the global religious landscape – for instance the rise of mega churches in the US and other world regions, the formation of Islamic organizations in Western Europe, the formal organization of Buddhist or Taoist spirituality in East Asia – are considerably affected by the emergence of new organizational structures and the transformation of organizational environments. We invite papers which address religion from an organizational science perspective as well as papers which deal with new forms of organized religion. How do different degrees and forms of organization affect religious practices? How do institutional contexts influence the degree or form of religious organization? How are religious organizations affected by managerialism and the market as an institutional logic? To what extent do new organizational forms spread worldwide and influence local religious communi-ties? How can change processes at the field level as well as on the organizational level be described? What is the role of change agents, framing and legitimation within these processes? 
RC22	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s11	RC22 Roundtable II. Organized Conversations on Religious Research	 // RC22 Roundtable II. Organized Conversations on Religious Research Session Organizers James V. SPICKARD, University of Redlands, USA,   Esmeralda SANCHEZ, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines,   Session in English 
RC22	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s12	RC22 Roundtable IIA. Lessons for Studying Religion in the African Diaspora: Charles H. Long and Ruth Simms Hamilton	 // RC22 Roundtable IIA. Lessons for Studying Religion in the African Diaspora: Charles H. Long and Ruth Simms Hamilton Session Organizer Jualynn DODSON, Michigan State University, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . A panel presentation organized by the African Atlantic Research Team of Michigan State University focusing on the research and scholarly work of two seminal authorities for guidance they provide in studying the African Diaspora. The thematic of the panel is religion and each paper will engage a religious tradition in a location of the African Diaspora of the Americas. 
RC22	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s13	RC22 Roundtable IIB. Sociology of Orthodoxy: the Study of the Church Life in the Contemporary Russia	 // RC22 Roundtable IIB. Sociology of Orthodoxy: the Study of the Church Life in the Contemporary Russia Session Organizers Igor RYAZANTZEV and Maria PODLESNAYA, St.Tikhon’s Orthodox University, Russia,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . At the present time in Russia there is a process of institutionalization of Orthodox religiosity which is expressed in quite different ways including folk rituals and the observation of the Church Charter. This process involves quite different social segments of the population and is acquiring various forms. It is evident that from the point of view of sociology it is possible to determine the process of institutionalization: by studying the revival of old and formation of new Church institutions by analyzing the religious actions and the behavior of subjects as well as by analyzing those meanings which they put into it This Session gives the opportunity to present and dis-cuss the phenomenon of forming and institutionaliza-tion of the Church life which is new for new Postcom-munist Russia as well as to understand the role and the place of the Russian Orthodox Church in conditions of the democratic transformations of the country. 
RC22	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s14	Religion and Countering Gender Inequality	 // Religion and Countering Gender Inequality Session Organizers Anna HALAFOFF, Deakin University, Australia,   Emma TOMALIN, University of Leeds, United Kingdom,   Caroline STARKEY, University of Leeds, United Kingdom,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The intersections between religion, culture, gender and inequality are current, potent and highly charged. We need only to reflect on the Delhi gang rape and its aftermath, the rejection of women Bishops in the Church of England and Malala, student and women’s educational campaigner shot by the Taliban in order to spark emotive, and often polarized, debate. Re-sponding to high-profile events such as these, this panel will bring together cutting-edge research into the diverse ways that religion intersects with gender inequality. Our interest is in presenting scholarship from wide-ranging locations, but focusing particularly on contemporary religious traditions and contexts that may not have received adequate academic attention. Our panel will invite papers that are able to dissect the complex meaning of ‘gender inequality’ in relation to religious traditions, and that speak to two primary themes; Gender inequality and religious leadership The role of transnational religious movements in countering gender inequality Finally, we will consider what role, if any, current socio-logical scholarship has in countering gender inequality in relation to religion. 
RC22	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s15	Religion and the Transition to Adulthood	 // Religion and the Transition to Adulthood Session Organizer Kati NIEMELA, Church Research Institute, Finland,   Session in English The period between childhood and adulthood – often called as emerging adulthood, is a period of great changes overall, often also in relation to religion. The young generation stands out as a challenging group for churches and religious organizations. They cast doubt on traditional beliefs and values and do not blindly follow what they have learned in childhood. Numerous studies indicate that young people today are less religious than earlier age cohorts. Young people are at the forefront of religious change and they are the ones showing future direction of religiosity. This session welcomes research on young people and their relation to religion. We welcome papers on young people‘s beliefs, practices and faith and their engagement with institutional religion. Papers on religious change in the transition adulthood are of special interest. 
RC22	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s16	Religion as a Factor in the Composition and Decomposition of Ethnic Identities	 // Religion as a Factor in the Composition and Decomposition of Ethnic Identities Session Organizer Miroljub JEVTIK, University of Belgrade, Serbia,   Session in English Composition of ethnical identities has been influenced by many different factors. One of them is religious belonging. If we take a look into world’s ethnical map we will see that religion has composed many ethnical identities. As an example take India and Pakistan, or Balkan where ethnical identities were made by religious belonging. Situation is similar with other coun-tries. If we take Georgia for example, where majority of population are Orthodox Christians, we will see that ethnical community of Adjaras was made only because they were, in general, Muslims even though they speak Georgian. In this subfield, most important fact is the influence of Islam on ethno – genesis in Africa. Under the influence of Islam, many indigenous African ethnical groups are transformed into Arabs and accepted Arabic as a language of communication with other Muslims, but in their own homes as well. Consequently, today we have Arabs who belongs to totally different races. 
RC22	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s17	Religion in the Era of Climate Entropy	 // Religion in the Era of Climate Entropy Session Organizer Ver RIVAS, Philippine Association for the Sociology of Religion, Philippines,   Session in English Climate entropy has become an undeniable geological phenomenon that is increasingly pushing humans to admit that the anthropocentric paradigms that they have relied on for more than two millennia in terms of negotiating with Life, World, Planet and Society will no longer work in a continuing entropic transition that the earth undergoes. Seen from an apocalyptic standpoint, this entropic process is making science deeply aware of its limitations as an epistemic paradigm that cannot save the world, or simply put, cannot offer humanity a therapeutic value with which to negotiate the future of human existence. Science, in fact, is increasingly exposing the vulnerability of human life vis-à-vis this ongoing process through its power of discovering how Nature works. So far, the indication is that science has reached the limit of its descriptive power in terms of discovering what can finally be discovered of the dynamics of natural processes. It does not matter where entropy will lead human life in this planet. What matters is how we are to negotiate the future of human life, world, and society in terms of the evolution of geological time. Seemingly, this apocalyptic tone is not new in human history. Historians of religion like Thomas Altizer, Jacob Taubes and to a certain degree Carl Schmitt have em-braced the idea of an apocalyptic retreat from history, noting that history itself is an extension of natural pro-cesses whose dynamics are not exempted from entropic duration. The retreat from history thus offers a therapeutic yet tragic awareness that to relieve the tension of entropism humanity must learn to survive in a post-historical, post-secular, post-modern condition of existence. Incidentally, this has been the perennial motif of religious apocalyptic pronouncements of end times ever since the ancients. It would seem then that religious consciousness does not vary much from a strictly scientific awareness of entropic duration. We welcome papers that tackle this problematic of apocalyptic pronouncements vis-à-vis the ongoing process of climate entropy using any available sociological tools of analysis. 
RC22	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s18	Religion, Nationalism and Transnationalism	 // Religion, Nationalism and Transnationalism Session Organizers Patrick MICHEL, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France,   Adam POSSAMAI, University of Western Sydney, Australia,   Brian TURNER, City University of New York, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . With the permeability of borders and the greatly increased speed and volume of international communication and transportation, we are now in a new regime of transnationalism. In this post-Westphalian world, religions are now taking part in a network society that cuts across borders. If world reli-gions have dominated the global sphere for centuries, we are now faced with a plethora of new religious re-compositions that strive across frontiers. This session will explore the impact of globalisation on the relation-ship between religion and nation, religion and national-ism, and the changes that transnationalism has brought on religious groups (and vice versa). 
RC22	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s19	Religious Diversity and Social Change in Contemporary East Asia	 // Religious Diversity and Social Change in Contemporary East Asia Session Organizer Michiaki OKUYAMA, Nanzan University, Japan,   Session in English Following the prolonged economic growth of the past few decades, some East Asian countries have experienced financial crises, stagnating economies, and the worsening of social and economic inequality. With folk and popular religious cultures as their basis, and prior to the Western impact of Christianity in the modern period, the Confucian tradition from China and the Buddhist tradition from India prevailed to varying degrees in different areas of East Asia. Against this backdrop of religious diversity composed of folk religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity, a number of new religious movements also appeared in the modern period. Thus the religious diversity of East Asia exhibits a variety of characteristics within countries that have developed their own distinctive political and economic systems. This session will discuss the kind of relevance this religious diversity in East Asia has had regarding contemporary social changes in the region, and how it has reacted to social changes in general, in particular social inequality. 
RC22	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s20	Sociology of Religion in Africa: Challenges and Prospects	 // Sociology of Religion in Africa: Challenges and Prospects Session Organizer Afe ADOGAME, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom,   Session in English The social-scientific study of religion in Africa has witnessed remarkable shifts, growing from narrow concerns to a wide variety of paradigms. In what way(s) is the African experience of modernity unique and relevant for wider social theory, and sensitive to the discursive nature of sociological interest of what makes religion socially (ir) relevant? The sociology of religion has been criticised as imposing itself on the study of religion in Africa. The view contends that there is no such thing as sociology of religion in Africa, it is more appropriate to write about the study rather than the sociology of religion in Africa. How far have scholars engaged sociological concepts, theories and methodologies in responding to the particular circumstances of the African continent, especially its trajectory in the production of knowledge? Are scholars formulating adequate social analysis models to respond to the challenges inspired by the expressive performance of religious forms in African socio-political domains? Religious forms in Africa either reinforce or transcend sociopolitical, ethnic, regional, class, age and gender identities and boundaries. How do we interrogate challenges of disorder, conflict/violence; the social relevance of religion in civil societies; and the negotiation of boundaries and identities under the impact of globalization? 
RC22	s21	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s21	Spiritual and Religious Capital	 // Spiritual and Religious Capital Session Organizers Christo LOMBAARD, University of South Africa, South Africa,   Maria HAMMERLI, Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland,   Session in English Scholars exploring the function of religion and spirituality do not seem to reach agreement regarding the issue of inequality: some researchers identify religion and/or spirituality as factor/s in reproducing existing patterns of inequality, whereas other authors argue the opposite, that religion/spirituality contribute to overcoming social inequality. A third position is pos-sible in this debate, expressed by a minority of authors who argue that religion/spirituality go beyond the issue of inequality because they point to something other than social order. This panel will focus on the understanding of reli-gion/spirituality as forms of “capital” and will therefore investigate religious/spiritual capital in relation to ine-quality. We invite papers which approach these issues both theoretically and empirically. Furthermore, we would like to draw attention to the fact that an increasing body of literature distinguishes between religion and spirituality as two opposing in-stances. Within journalism a kind of tradition has been developed in which "spirituality" is most often used with positive connotations when "religion" is used with negative implications. This reflects the developing wider societal reflex to regard religion as restrictive, whilst spirituality offers more open engagement with existential questions (e.g. with a popular slogan that one`s orientation could be "spiritual but not religious"). In theology "religion" most often still describes traditional dogmatological and institutional concerns, whereas "spirituality" refers to the wider and deeper, that is more experiential and more intuitive, aspects of religiosity. Recent developments in religious studies have shown that “religion” is in decline, whereas “spirituality” is on the rise. Surprisingly, this differentiation is not entirely clear when it comes to identifying specific capital-type re-sources religion/spirituality give rise to. Much of the literature about religious/spiritual capital uses these terms interchangeably and fails adequately to explain the content underpinning the concepts. We encourage papers which can contribute to addressing specificities of religious and spiritual capital and relate them to the issue of inequality. 
RC22	s22	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s22	The Best of All Gods: Sites and Politics of Religious Diversity in Southern Europe	 // The Best of All Gods: Sites and Politics of Religious Diversity in Southern Europe Session Organizer Jose MAPRIL, New University of Lisbon, Portugal,   Session in English After decades of relative obscurity, the research about religion in Europe has re-surfaced and forced new academic debates regarding new religious landscapes, secularism and post-secularism. In truth, the social sciences of religion never ceased to question the place of the religious and the secular in society within the historical framework of modernity and post-modernity. This has been extensively described in sev-eral contexts such as the UK, France, Germany, among several others, but in the Southern European case, despite the existence of compelling research, a systematic, comparative debate seems to be missing. The objective of this panel is to explore, both empirically and theoretically, the sites and politics of religion and secularism in Southern European countries. We would like to invite authors to address the complex relations between the multiple religiouscapes and the sites and politics of the religious in Southern European countries. By ‘sites’ we are referring to: spatial settings such as mosques and other religious edifices and grounds; spaces and itineraries of religious mobilities – from pilgrimage paths to networks and circulations of ideas and objects; but also arenas - political and apparently secularized – where policies, ideologies and discourses are produced in the context of claims made by religious groups to “good” citizenship (see for instance, Pentecostal and Islamic social services in the current period of economic crises and austerity policies) Our goal, therefore, is to focus on the existing debates about the place of religion and the secular in Southern European public spheres. 
RC22	s23	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s23	The Role of Religion in the Public Sphere	 // The Role of Religion in the Public Sphere Session Organizer Inger FURSETH, University of Oslo, Norway,   Session in English A major trend in many countries during the past twenty years is that religion has become more visible, and perhaps more significant, in various public sphere(s). Different factors affect the seemingly new visibility of religion, such as religious diversity due to immigration, minority claims for equal opportunities to practice religion, the mobilization of religious move-ments with political aims, upheavals, and efforts to contest or protect the traditional roles that certain forms of religion have had or have not had in the public. These factors have implications for the relations between religion and the state, the political debates on religion, the role of religion in the media, and what religious leaders do to position themselves in changing religious landscapes. This session discusses the role of religion in relation to the state, in politics, the media, and civil society. It also deals with more theoretical claims of the return of religion to the public sphere(s). Comparative, cross-national and cross-cultural papers are especially welcome. 
RC22	s24	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s24	Uses of the Past: The Politics of Religion and Collective Memories	 // Uses of the Past: The Politics of Religion and Collective Memories Session Organizers Marian BURCHARDT, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany,   Mattias KOENIG, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany,   Session in English The recent rise of public religion has been closely connected to the reconstruction of collective memories of religious as well as secular pasts. Collective and cultural memories are (re-)activated whenever reference to the past is brought to bear for different purposes such as the definition of collective identities and the drawing of symbolic boundaries; or for addressing past injustices and claiming rights. In some places, collective memories contain hegemonic accounts of history which give a distinctive place to certain religious communities or even grant supremacy to particular religious traditions, thus limiting the scope and legitimacy of religious pluralism. In other places, increasing religious diversity and secularization have forged a context in which some, often rapidly growing, social groups mobilize secularist memories and posture as proponents of modern rationality or liberal democracy and conceptualize such notions as “culture”. Many such memories respond to experiences of collective trauma while their forms of expression range from ritual to media spectacle and legal discourse. Across the globe, such collective memories have furthermore become subject to international standardization and transnational diffusion processes. This panel aims to discuss the politics of cultural memo-ries of religion and secularism and its variegated uses. Adopting a decidedly global comparative approach, it welcomes theoretical, macro-sociological case studies as well detailed ethnographies from any part of the world. 
RC22	s25	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22#s25	Welfare and Civil Society: The Role of Religion	 // Welfare and Civil Society: The Role of Religion Session Organizer Per PETTERSSON, Karlstad University, Sweden,   Session in English In addressing issues of social inequality politicians and policy makers across the world are increasingly talking about religion, not least in the sense of calling on faith based organizations to play an active role as welfare providers as part of civil society. At the same time religious groups and organizations struggle with the impact which the increased cooperation with public authorities this requires can have on identity, theology and potential to act as critic of the system. This session invites papers which address these perti-nent issues. Contributions may address evidence from empirical research and/or theoretical reflection on issues of faith based organizations as welfare providers or challengers of value systems in welfare, individual religiosity in the encounter with welfare services, faith-based organizations as actors in civil society in the wel-fare arena or other related issues. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Science and Technology, RC23
RC23	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s1	Assessing Technologies: Global Patterns of Trust and Distrust	 // Assessing Technologies: Global Patterns of Trust and Distrust Session Organizer Antonio BRANDAO MONIZ, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis, Germany,   Christina GOETZ, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany,   Constanze SCHERZ, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany,   Nuno BOAVIDA, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal,   Session in English In modern societies technologies are the basis for economic welfare. They shape the everyday life of human beings. In most cases, technologies are invented, implemented and applied in an unquestioned way. However, the experience of severe technical accidents, environmental catastrophes, and failed projects has led to a loss of the general confidence in the function and services of technological systems. What we observe today is a paradox attitude regarding technology. On the one hand, technology has become a vital part of societal infrastructures and is very much embedded and accepted into the individual practices of our everyday life. On the other hand, public resistance arises against technological developments in general or against large technical infrastructure projects in particular. The lack of confidence is related to the governance of technological systems, be it the invention, the implementation, the usage, or the regulation. It seems to be that a general distrust in institutions and in the respective processes of decision making has become a powerful global pattern in all parts of the world, which leads to a variety of strategies in coping with the paradox experience with technology: from attempts to avoid technologies via evolving ways of participation to open conflicts in the form of protest. 
RC23	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s2	Contested Science and Technology: Empirical and Conceptual Analysis about the Social Role of Technology and Science 	 // Contested Science and Technology: Empirical and Conceptual Analysis about the Social Role of Technology and Science Session Organizer Ralph MATTHEWS, The University of British Columbia, Canada,   Session in English Throughout the world, science and technology are being applied in situations that cause controversy and arouse oppositions. This is particularly the case when technological knowledge from the developed world engages in projects and development that has the potential of altering the culture, organization structures, and institutional processes of less developed societies. In such instances, scientific knowledge can be seen as a disembedded system (Giddens) than is engaged in a series of translations (Callon) with local societies. As such, science enters the social worlds of power, governance and regulation, and the evaluation of risks and benefits. It also is subject to assessments by local knowledge and understandings. In doing so, differing conceptions of the role of science, technology, knowledge and ignorance are presented and debated. This session seeks empirical and conceptual works that explore the contested nature of science and technology in its application and, in doing so, contribute to an understanding of the contests surrounding the science and technology in broader social contexts 
RC23	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s3	Fostering Trans-Disciplinarity amongst the Social and Natural Sciences, Engineering, Arts and Design	 // Fostering Trans-Disciplinarity amongst the Social and Natural Sciences, Engineering, Arts and Design Session Organizers Benjamín TEJERINA MONTANA, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain,   Cristina MIRANDA DE ALMEIDA, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The Network for Science, Engineering, Arts and Design, (SEAD), a U.S. National Science Foundation supported group, has launched an initiative to raise awareness of the impacts, values, opportunities and challenges of cross-disciplinary research and creative work. Following on a vision initiative first developed in 2010, an International White Papers Working Group was formed to issue an open call for White Papers. The objective of this proposed session is twofold. First, we will present the results of the Open Call for White Papers collected from over 50 papers received from 24 countries. We will summarize the meta-view of needs, opportunities and recommendations concerning trans-disciplinary collaboration in the confluence of the Sciences, Engineering, Arts and Design. Second, we will invite inquiry from other researchers. Therefore, in addition to presenting a first set of pre-selected papers that focus on different models and case-studies for trans-disciplinarity in research and in creative practice (see list of authors below), the session welcomes new papers and will be organised around the following research questions: what are some impacts resulting from trans-disciplinary collaboration between sciences, engineering, arts and design in relation to current research practices? What are some opportunities and roadblocks related to trans-disciplinary collaboration for individuals and organizations, including government, industry, civic and academic institutions (for example, blended forms of informal and formal learning, and rethinking the distinction between Art, Science and Technology departments in educational institutions)? How can trans-disciplinary collaboration practices and actions better support research around complex problems? How can SEAD include Humanities in general and Sociology in particular? We are seeking to survey concerns, roadblocks and opportunities, and solicit recommendations for enhancing collaboration engaging the sciences and engineering with arts and design. 
RC23	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s4	Gender and Science in the South: A Comparative Assessment of Gender Equality in the Knowledge Society	 // Gender and Science in the South: A Comparative Assessment of Gender Equality in the Knowledge Society Session Organizer Alice ABREU, Brazil,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The Symposium will present the results of five National Assessments on Gender and STI that took place during 2012 with funding of the Elsevier Foundation: Brazil, India, Indonesia, The Republic of Korea and South Africa. The assessments were based on the Gender Equality-Knowledge Sociey (GE&KS) indicator framework, which was developed to address the fact that worldwide women’s capacity to participate in science, technology and innovation is grossly under-developed and under-utilized. It brings together gender-sensitive data on key areas in the knowledge society (ICT, science, technology and innovation) with gender indicators of health, economic and social status to assess the barriers and opportunities for women. The major finding of the assessments is that the knowledge gender divide continues to exist in all countries, even those which have a highly-developed knowledge society. Countries in the South are failing to include women to an equal extent. They are not different, however, from the leading knowledge-based economies in the world, such as the USA and the European Union, which were also part of the study. Discussants from these regions will allow to highlight the similarities between developed and developing societies in this area. 
RC23	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s5	ICTs and Social Inequalities	 // ICTs and Social Inequalities Session Organizer Binay Kumar PATTNAIK, Indian Institute of Technology, India,   Session in English Globalization as a comprehensive process of economic and social change is of course inclusive of the effects of ICT revolution. The first phase of the said revolution (in Asian countries in particular) known as ‘IT revolution’ took place in the 1980s and its second phase known as the ‘ICT revolution’ followed in the next decade, i.e.in mid 1990s. Enough empirical studies have already pointed out that this ICT revolution has serious implications for social inequality in general and social stratification in particular that perpetuates itself through the use of new technologies of ICT in developing countries. The emergence of these new technologies have brought changes of social structural relevance (in many Asian countries) as it has given rise to a class of new entrepreneurs /capitalists, and a new set of occupations with corresponding class of new workforce that has come to be known as ICT workers. Lastly, the changes unleashed by the ICT revolution (digital divide of 2nd order) has given rise to E-litism as well as a Mall Culture (which is based on the extensive use of ICT) that has brought forth the social class divide in consumption too. Description of the session: Hence the proposed session has scope for articulating ICT induced changes with implications for social inequality (of structural nature): Rise of the new class of entrepreneurs/ capitalist earlier unknown, Rise of a new class of workforce called the knowledge workers (working in the Call Centres, BPOs, KPOs, etc) and their vulnerabilities. Feminisation of the ICT sector and their low remunerations, Digital divide (of the 2nd order) creating E-litism. ICT and the surveillance, monitoring daily lives by the government/ employers, banks, Malls, airlines, etc (and by collecting personal data) making common citizens vulnerable objects, the Mall culture (being based on extensive use of digital/ICT) which is the middle class haven promotes social exclusivism in consumption and keeps the unorganized market and lower class consumers at bay. Digital world as the cultural-reproduction of social inequalities. 
RC23	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s6	Public Science, Corporate Science and Technology in Times of Crisis	 // Public Science, Corporate Science and Technology in Times of Crisis Session Organizers Katarina PRPIC, Croatia,   Nadia ASHEULOVA, Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russia,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This session will build on the body of work presented in the ESA SSTNET Program at its meeting in Torino, August 2013. It will continue a focus developed in Torino dealing with the ambivalence involved in transnational scientific activity. Also, as in Torino, it will explore the implications of the traditional dichotomy between non-profit (public) and for-profit (corporate) science and their different impacts on social and economic development and the eleviation of inequalities. While it is anticipated that the session will include some of the presenters from the ESA conference, the session will also seek presenters from other world regions, notably Asian, Africa, South America and North America. 
RC23	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s7	RC23 Business Meeting	 // RC23 Business Meeting 
RC23	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s8	Science, Technology and (New) Forms of Social Inequalities	 // Science, Technology and (New) Forms of Social Inequalities Session Organizer S. L. HIREMATH, Gulbarga University, India,   Session in English Science and technology are viewed as harbingers of inclusive growth and have been called upon to ward-off the manifest and latent inequities in diverse spheres of social and physical existence of masses, by increasing access to opportunities and amenities through such avenues that are free from traditional constraints and barriers more so in case of once colonial, traditional and developing societies, wherein the legacies and structures of by gone ages continued to determine the privileges and life chances till recent times. In many a societies, this function of science may have produced perceptible intended results but at the same the latent functions of science and technology appear to have had unintended implications, manifested in the emergence of new forms and structures of inequities, deprivations and exclusions. The policies regulating science and technologies are assumed to have been ill conceived to favor the affluent by increasing their access to opportunities. The privileged, owing to their pre existing affordability and network are assumed to have taken advantage of every successive scientific and technological breakthrough. Further, the recent advances in production technology and ICT have accentuated income inequalities among the technical haves and have nots, to an unprecedented level, recreating the social milieu which is against the ethos of egalitarian society. Income differentials, prestige grading of occupations, professional recognition and privileges and social inclusions and exclusions are viewed as technology driven. The so called skill bias appears to have given rise to new inequities in the world of work and society at large. The session invites papers that probe empirically and conceptually into the social implications of science and technology for social equity, inequity and exclusions. 
RC23	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s9	Scientific Development, New Technologies and State: Challenges and Opportunities of Nanotechnology	 // Scientific Development, New Technologies and State: Challenges and Opportunities of Nanotechnology Session Organizer Tania Elias MAGNO DA SILVA, Brazil,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The panel discusses the close relationship between production of technological knowledge, market interests and social impacts arising from technoscientific advances. The central point is the relationship between technological innovation, the new socio-technical systems, knowledge democratization and governance. In the case of nanotechnology this thread is more than necessary because it’s a technology that works at the level of the invisible, once it turns possible to operate and manipulate even atoms. The big challenge is that unaware menaces could be lying under this scientific discovery. The aforementioned manipulation could bring a set of risks for humans and environment; risks that are not clear because scientific investigations in nanotoxicity are still very incipient. This way, it’s necessary to reflect on the implications of these innovations in multiple instances of public life, because, as Edgar Morin warns us, "Science has become very dangerous to be left in the hands of statesmen. (…) science became (…) a problem of the citizens". It competes to social sciences the role to investigate these issues, and yet demystify false promises, propose public policies that actually meet the interests of the majority of the population, especially the poorest, demanding regulatory frameworks based on the precautionary principle. 
RC23	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s10	Technological Innovation and (Un)Sustainable Consumption in South/Southeast Asia	 // Technological Innovation and (Un)Sustainable Consumption in South/Southeast Asia Session Organizers Czarina SALOMA-AKPEDONU, Philippines,   Marlyne SAHAKIAN, Switzerland,   Session in English This panel features interdisciplinary research on the consumption of technologies and the paradox that such consumption creates. Technological innovations have resulted in energy efficiency yet there is an increase in overall use of energy due to the increased consumption of these technologies. The panel focuses on the consumption of technologies by households in Asia cities and relate it to “sustainable consumption” policies and practices. It welcomes papers that cover any or all of the above: current landscape of innovations in household technologies contexts and dynamics of consumption patterns and practices that characterize the use these technologies meanings attached to the consumption of such technologies. 
RC23	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s11	Technological Transfer in Latin American Countries and the Caribbean: Challenges of Scientific and Technological Cooperation	 // Technological Transfer in Latin American Countries and the Caribbean: Challenges of Scientific and Technological Cooperation Session Organizer Rafael PALACIOS BUSTAMANTE, University of Tübingen, Germany,   Session in Spanish Technological Transfer is seen as a component of socio-economical and industrial development, and also as a central aspect of technological sovereignty. For years, in developing countries, technological transfer has become one of the most demanding agenda in state policies. Scientific and technological cooperation between countries from Latin America and Caribbean already presented major challenges to allow these countries to increase their capabilities for social, industrial and economical development. This agenda not only has broadened itself, but it also has become more complex and demanding, due to new relations with Asia and Europe. These challenges raise actions in the Latino American and Caribbean regions to generate a knowledge domain platform that make possible to seize cooperation with other countries. However, this problem would not be solved, if science and technology are not included as aspects of political culture. If the scientific and technological variables are not part of the social and productive organization, it would not be possible to sustain the development of these countries and of the decision makers involved in the knowledge production activity. 
RC23	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s12	The Digital Divide – Contributing to an ‘Unequal World’	 // The Digital Divide – Contributing to an ‘Unequal World’ Session Organizer José Manuel ROBLES, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain,   Session in English The increasing penetration rate of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in general and of the Internet in particular, has led to a profound academic debate regarding the social function of this type of technology. Within the field of Internet usage-associated risks, specialists have paid special attention to the problem of the Digital Divide. Originally, studies on the Digital Divide focused on the inequalities arising as a result of the differences in access to and use of the Internet. In this regard, their interest focused on the geographic and social inequalities between citizens who use and citizens who do not use the Internet. The current debate takes these studies as reference in order to inquire into the consequences of certain uses of the Internet. Given that the Internet penetration rate is unequal, what consequences might this have in terms of equality and social justice? Digital inequality focuses on the inequalities arising as a result of the advantages provided by certain uses of the Internet. The aim of this session is to discuss from an empirical, theoretical and methodological perspective the in-egalitarian effect of the use of the services and tools offered by Information and Communication Technologies. We particularly seek papers that focus on the following issues: The extent to which Information and Communication Technologies imply a problem for social inequality? To what extent do they pose a new challenge for social justice? Internet. Languages accepted for the session: Proposals in any of the official languages of the International Sociological Association shall be accepted. However, participants shall be asked to either deliver the oral presentation in English or to provide the support material for the presentation (power point, handouts, etc) in English. 
RC23	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s13	The Future of Public Research Universities: Confronting the Demands of Increasing Economic Self-Sufficiency	 // The Future of Public Research Universities: Confronting the Demands of Increasing Economic Self-Sufficiency Session Organizer Jaime JIMENEZ, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   Session in English Public universities all over the world have experienced pressures to increase the sources of self-financing, be it as research sponsored by external entities or services provided to the community. Apparently the State wishes universities to become economically independent. Is this trend distorting the objectives of research universities as producers of knowledge by its own sake? How this trend affects the development of Third World universities compared to First World? Do really First World universities have changed their aims and now produce less knowledge than 10-20 years ago? What is the future of public universities in the world? 
RC23	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s14	The Social Psychology of Science and Technology	 // The Social Psychology of Science and Technology Session Organizers Carl Martin ALLWOOD, Sweden,   Sven HEMLIN, Sweden,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Social Psychology of Science and Technology is a field that is relatively new adding scientific knowledge to the more established history, philosophy and sociology of science. The field has an academic home in the International Society for the Psychology of Science and Technology (ISPST). It “refers to thought and behavior of any person or people (present or past) of any age (from infants to the elderly) engaged in theory construction, learning scientific or mathematical concepts, model building, hypothesis testing, scientific reasoning, problem finding or solving, or creating or working on technology” (ISPST website, 2013). In this symposium new research on the social psychology of science will be presented by scholars from Europe and the USA. We have gathered scholars of psychology and sociology that conduct empirical research on individual scientists, research groups as well as on their institutional and cultural settings. The contributions all start from the assumption that creative research performance is both novel and of good quality that needs to be recognized by different actors. The symposium will bring new results on how creativity in research is fostered on the micro as well as on the macro levels of organizing, how indigenous psychologies develop and how industrial research and development may lead to innovations. 
RC23	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s15	The Sociology of Disaster from Technoscience: Science, Technology and Sustainability beyond Fukushima	 // The Sociology of Disaster from Technoscience: Science, Technology and Sustainability beyond Fukushima Session Organizer Miwao MATSUMOTO, University of Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The Fukushima accident and its simultaneous disaster have revealed the place of non-modern “nuclear village” amidst of public sphere. The US Congress Survey Report characterizes the “village” as embodying the conflict of interests while other narratives tend to appeal to a kind of cultural essentialism in a broad sense. This symposium regards the formation and working mechanism of the nuclear regime in Japan and elsewhere as much more deep-routed and persistent, and in these senses, universal than expected by either narrative. By focusing on the huge and unexplored interface between the sociology of disaster and that of science and technology, the symposium attempts to shed a fresh light on the embedded origin of the regime that has changed risk into disaster. This symposium attempts to explore the in-depth social implications of extreme events such as the Fukushima accident. Behind serious and urgent questions over resilience from the accident, there are many sociological stories that have not been told and are difficult to be revealed without devising a due narrative different from ordinary ones in the sociology of science and technology. To that end the symposium intends to utilize a unique combination of participants. 
RC23	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s16	Toward a World of Low Carbon: Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts	 // Toward a World of Low Carbon: Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts Session Organizer Leandro RAIZER, Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Session in English This session debates the development of alternative energy and its social, economic and environmental impacts. Although the number of studies on these impacts are reduced, its possible to propose a model of "types and Impacts" of the changes generated in the economy, the environment and lives of people, including changes in the habits of citizens, business, civil Governments and civil society. Several indicators of the industry and energy policies of countries indicate the development of an "energy transition", and the trend appears to be increasing deployment with hybridization of plants based on renewable and alternative energy - that is, the gradual energy transition toward a "world of low carbon ". In this sense, this work session proposes to bring together researchers from different regions of the world to discuss the transformation process in the energy matrix, with emphasis on socio-technical dimension of this phenomenon. 
RC23	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC23#s17	Young Researchers´ Forum: New Research Directions in the Study of Science and Technology and Their Impacts	 // Young Researchers´ Forum: New Research Directions in the Study of Science and Technology and Their Impacts Session Organizers Ralph MATTHEWS, Canada,   Czarina SALOMA-AKPEDONU, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines,   Session in English The President and Vice-President of RC23 invite ´early´ scholars in the field of Sociology and Science and Technology to submit abstracts for possible presentation in this session. The section is directed specifically to those more junior scholars. This includes Ph.D. students, post-doctoral fellows, and those in the first five years post Ph.D. and at the beginning of their careers in this field. The primary aim of the session is to give those new to the field of the Sociology of Science and Technology an opportunity to present their research proposals, their preliminary research finding, and their new ideas to an audience with experience in the field and an interest in their work. We anticipate that, in the interest of giving as many people as possible an opportunity to present in this manner, the presentations will be somewhat shorter than those in other sessions. We hope to have this session to be followed by a ´networking lunch´ so that presenters have an opportunity to meet with other presenters and with those more senior colleagues working in their area of research. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Environment and Society, RC24
RC24	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s1	Anti-Nuclear Movements Post-Fukushima	 // Anti-Nuclear Movements Post-Fukushima Session Organizers Koichi HASEGAWA, Tohoku University, Japan,   Sun-Jin YUN, Seoul National University, Korea,   Session in English The Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011 had serious political implications for politicians, regulatory agencies, operators and others involved in the nuclear power sector in Japan and internationally. While the accident provided new impetus to anti-nuclear movements and activities, a number of questions remain concerning its short and long-term implications both for anti-nuclear politics and for environmental social movements more broadly. This session welcomes papers addressing questions such as: How have anti-nuclear movements changed in the wake of Fukushima? Who are the new participants and major actors? What styles, strategies and tactics have emerged? To what extent have anti-nuclear movements been able to influence energy policy and practice? What differences can we find and what has caused those differences among countries? What prospects exist for a new wave of anti-nuclear activities across Asia and worldwide? 
RC24	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s2	Climate Change Responses in East Asia	 // Climate Change Responses in East Asia Session Organizer Keiko HIRAO, Sophia University, Japan,   Session in English Climate change issues for human society are socially constructed. This session focuses on political decision making processes and media coverage of climate change issues in East Asia. In East Asia, rapid economic growth is bringing rapid energy demand and high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. This session will work towards international comparative studies of this issue. Submissions are welcome on topics such as: How do governments and industry collaborate in policy formation? How do these relationships affect wider debate over policies such as emissions trading, carbon taxes, and direct regulation under environmental laws? What differences and similarities can be found and what has caused these differences across East Asia? 
RC24	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s3	Emerging Research in Environmental Sociology. Part I: Focus on East and South East Asia	 // Emerging Research in Environmental Sociology. Part I: Focus on East and South East Asia Session Organizer David A. SONNENFELD, State University of New York, United States,   Session in English This session will look into recent developments in environmental sociology, both theoretically and empirically, with a particular focus on East and South East Asia. 
RC24	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s4	Emerging Research in Environmental Sociology. Part II	 // Emerging Research in Environmental Sociology. Part II Session Organizer Stewart LOCKIE, Australian National University, Australia,   Session in English This session will look into recent developments in environmental sociology, both theoretically and empirically. 
RC24	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s5	Environment, Governance and Risk	 // Environment, Governance and Risk Session Organizers Pedro Roberto JACOBI, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil,   Luisa SCHMIDT, University of Lisbon, Portugal,   João GUERRA, University of Lisbon, Portugal,   Session in English Sustainable development and international policies and regimes for promoting it, resulted from the contemporary environmental problems and risks that simultaneously are: i) hierarchical because firstly affect the weakest and most vulnerable, and ii) democratic because it is difficult to delimit its effects and consequences. This ubiquity has contributed to an obvious dispersion of state functions, across a wide, growing and diverse range of political actors, as well as the migration of political authority to local and transnational governance. Consequently, sustainable development and public participation are inextricably linked. The practical feasibility of the first often requiring the prior implementation of the second. Assuming that policies of proximity between governors and the governed generate greater efficiency in identifying and solving problems, the notion of governance for sustainability relies on the concept of social power that mediates the relationship between State and Civil Society as a space for cooperation, alliances, conflicts and resistance. Stemming from, and with, global implications, sustainability depends on the socioeconomic characteristics and the power plays that daily occur in different communities, and thus it is important to explore the improvement conditions of participatory sustainability initiatives. The objective of the proposed session is to explore the conditions of participatory sustainability initiatives at various issues of environmental governance, considering issues as competition, conflicts and cooperation between different stakeholders due to growing scarcity of resources, ineffective institutional arrangements, a continuous process of environmental degradation, and the persistence of environmental inequities. 
RC24	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s6	Environmental Attitudes, Behaviours and Practices	 // Environmental Attitudes, Behaviours and Practices Session Organizers Ritsuko OZAKI, Imperial College London, United Kingdom,   Riley DUNLAP, Oklahoma State University, USA,   Session in English Our society is facing serious environmental sustainability problems, such as energy security, resource scarcity, human-induced climate change, and increasing waste. To tackle these issues we have to change the ways in which we live our everyday lives: for example, recycling more, consuming less water, using more ecologically friendly forms of transportation, and adopting measures to make homes and offices more energy efficient. Sociologists have an important to role to play in facilitating environmentally friendly changes in peoples’ personal, household and public behaviours and making such behaviours part of their everyday routines. The session welcomes papers that address questions such as: How are pro-environmental attitudes translated into pro-environmental behaviours? How are pro-environmental behaviours incorporated into people’s everyday lives? And how can these personal behavioural changes stimulate cultural shifts toward more sustainable lifestyles? Given the fact that behavioural changes are required at every level of our daily activities the session’s focus on the shift from attitudes to behaviours and practices is timely, and understanding the personal and structural barriers that inhibit shifting to sustainable behaviours and practices is vital. Given the Congress theme of “Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology,” analyses sensitive to the differences between the ecologically relevant behaviours and lifestyles prevalent in wealthy nations and those in developing nations are especially appropriate. 
RC24	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s7	Environmental Governance and Global Commodities	 // Environmental Governance and Global Commodities Session Organizers Peter OOSTERVEER, Wageningen University, Netherlands,   Julia S. GUIVANT, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil,   Session in English While commodities such as food, fish and forestry products are more and more traded and integrated in global supply networks, the challenges when addressing their sustainability impacts are only increasing. Sustainability impacts may be local or global and occur during production, processing, trade and/or consumption stages. In recent years various initiatives have been taken to combat the environmental impact of global commodities, such as labelling and certification schemes, CSR-agendas, alternative supply chains, etc. In many of these initiatives, unfamiliar actors engage in establishing environmental governance arrangements and in developing alternatives to harmful practices. This session welcomes papers that develop conceptual tools to analyse these dynamics, that analyse concrete cases within this theme, or that evaluate the effectiveness of different innovations in comparison with conventional government-based environmental governance arrangements. 
RC24	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s8	Environmental Social Movements in the 21st Century	 // Environmental Social Movements in the 21st Century Session Organizer Dana R. FISHER, University of Maryland, USA,   Session in English This session will consider the changing roles that environmental movements, organizations and civil society actors play in environmental politics and management, both individually and/or in collaboration, at all scales of governance. Submissions are welcome that address any aspect of social movement and civil society mobilization including: citizen motivations to participate; the internal dynamics of movements and organizations; relationships between environmental/civil society organizations, the state and capital; the impact of mobilization on environmental behaviours, policy and/or programs; and so on. 
RC24	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s9	Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Environmental Sociology	 // Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Environmental Sociology Session Organizer Stewart LOCKIE, Australian National University, Australia,   Session in English This session will set the scene for RC24’s involvement in the 2014 ISA World Congress of Sociology by focusing on the contribution of environmental sociology to the Congress’s central theme of inequality and global sociology. This is a regular session and the invitation to propose papers is open to all. Papers are invited that address the relationships between inequality and environment and, in particular, the emergence of new inequalities as a cause and consequence of global environmental change. 
RC24	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s10	Nano(in)equalities? Social Promises and Perils of Nanotechnologies	 // Nano(in)equalities? Social Promises and Perils of Nanotechnologies Session Organizers Paulo Roberto MARTINS, Brazilian Research Network in Nanotechnology, Society and Environment, Brazil,   Luigi PELLIZZONI, University of Trieste, Italy,   Marja YLONEN, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland,   Session in English Widespread narratives depict nanotechnologies as a core promise for a more equitable and sustainable world. Among new and emerging technosciences nanotechnologies enjoy a pivotal position, being involved in any sort of prospective or actual transformations in the conditions of life. All aspects of ‘nature’ and ‘society’ are affected. Nanotechnologies do or can find application in agriculture and food processing, in environmental protection (detecting, cleaning-up and reducing contaminants), in drug manufacturing and medical diagnostics, in human-machine interactions, in performance improvements related to all sorts of materials and fields of application. Nanotechnologies have also catalyzed a range of fundamental issues, which involve technoscience-induced change at large: from the contours of the post-human condition to the acknowledgment of irredeemable cognitive uncertainties, to the emergence of the agential power of matter. A wide, potentially unrestricted range of applications makes nanotechnologies also especially tricky to regulate in a robust, consistent way. The main corporate and governmental concern seems actually to avoid the ‘mistakes’ that led to a strong public opposition to gene technologies, by enacting forms of anticipatory governance. Yet their multifarious role makes nanotechnologies a potential source of inequalities of all sorts and at all scales: at work and at home; in attending to basic needs and to leisure; in individual and group access to opportunities and exposure to risks; in market choice and participatory engagements; in health and environment preventive and reparative actions; within and between nation states or areas of the world. The session seeks to collect papers on any aspect and field of application of nanotechnologies, with a focus on their impact on current and prospective inequalities and (un)sustainabilities. 
RC24	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s11	New Enclosures: Resource Grabs and Environmental Challenges in the Global South	 // New Enclosures: Resource Grabs and Environmental Challenges in the Global South Session Organizers Lotsmart FONJONG, University of Buea, Cameroon,   William T. MARKHAM, University of North Carolina, USA,   Session in English In the Global South, land and other natural resources previously used by communities is increasingly being taken over by investors from Europe, America, China, the Gulf States, and other non-western countries like India, South Africa, etc. Many hectares of land have been taken over by foreign agro-business for mining and plantation agriculture particularly in Africa and South America. The practice of plantation agriculture, almost invariably monocultures, focuses on growing oil palm, corn, sugarcane, vegetables, and some 20 other agricultural products and food ingredients for western markets. Agriculture is also used for fuel production or the production of alternative clean energy for the global north. Large scale land acquisition deals involve a number of environmental issues: They ignore the rights of local communities and Indigenous peoples on the land; transfer the ownership rights and control of water resources to foreign investors; put adjacent communities into conflict with plantation owners over water pollution and irrigation, and displace many local communities by mining. In other words, local communities are losing their land, water, soil and mineral resources. This session invites papers that examine the environmental impact and challenges of poor countries in the wake of this resource rush in the Global South. Papers should focus on issues such as: Resource grabbing and natural resource justice Effects of land grabs on community rights to water Corporate social responsibility versus social cost Efforts of environmental movements in protecting the rights of local communities against foreign investors Effects of foreign investors in agro business on clean energy Effects on climate change 
RC24	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s12	New Frontiers in Environment and Social Theory	 // New Frontiers in Environment and Social Theory Session Organizer Stewart LOCKIE, Australian National University, Australia,   Session in English Environmental sociologists are concerned not just to apply the tools of sociological theory and method to environmental issues and problems but to re-think sociological theory in ways that do more justice to the dynamic and varied contributions of non-humans to the social world. The emphasis of this session will be on papers that stretch the boundaries of environmental sociology, theoretically and/or empirically; that challenge us to think in new ways about the objects of environmental sociological inquiry and the conceptual tools we bring to that inquiry; and which alert us to new subjects and partners in our sociological endeavor. 
RC24	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s13	Nuclear Energy Post-Fukushima: Impacts, Lessons and Policy Responses	 // Nuclear Energy Post-Fukushima: Impacts, Lessons and Policy Responses Session Organizers Harutoshi FUNABASHI, Hosei University, Japan,   Arthur MOL, Wageningen University, Netherlands,   Session in English The Fukushima nuclear disaster produced immense damage and suffering in Fukushima Prefecture and neighboring districts, raising many questions for sociologists. In this session, we will reflect on the following topics. Faced with such unprecedented disaster, the first mission of sociologists is to grasp the reality of victims and their communities. Akihiko SATO (Japan) will describe and analyze the damage and suffering experienced by residents who had lived around the nuclear plant. The outbreak of the Fukushima disaster implies that Japanese society has failed to learn lessons from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and has lacked effective regulatory measures on nuclear technologies. Koichi HASEGAWA (Japan) will analyze defects in policy making in Japanese society that contributed to this disaster and highlight Japanese energy policy disputes after the disaster. Lessons from the Fukushima disaster must be learned not only by Japanese society but also by all other countries which have used or will use nuclear energy. Seejae LEE (Korea) will analyze the impact and lessons of the Fukushima disaster on developing countries. He will discuss the important role of citizens` movements in changing nuclear energy policy. In spite of the enormous damage caused by the Fukushima disaster, the nuclear industry and government in some advanced countries such as the USA and France insist on the merits and necessity of nuclear energy. However, sociologists should analyze such reasoning from the viewpoint of political sociology. Looking from inside the USA, Jeffrey BROADBENT will analyze the political structure of a society where the nuclear complex plays an important role and diffuses dominant discourse. In opposition to the USA`s pro-nuclear policy, several European countries such as Germany and Switzerland have decisively chosen a path toward a nuclear free society. Ecological modernization theory is a powerful support for this direction. Arthur MOL (Netherlands), who is a leading proponent of this theory, will analyze the meaning of the Fukushima disaster from the viewpoint of environmental sociology and will propose a better way of changing energy policy as well as decision making in contemporary society. Additional proposals for participation in this session are welcome. 
RC24	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s14	RC24 Business Meeting	 // RC24 Business Meeting 
RC24	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s15	Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development	 // Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development Session Organizers Yasushi MARUYAMA, Nagoya University, Japan,   Rajendra PATIL, Shivaji University, India,   Shin-Ock CHANG, Jeju National University, Korea,   Session in English Climate change, peak oil and accidents such as Fukushima have all contributed to growing interest in renewable energy. Moreover, renewable energy has attracted the attention of communities and organisations whose interests lie in the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of renewable energy for rural development, poverty alleviation, public health, environmental justice etc. The aim of this session is to examine relationships between renewable energy and sustainable development. While there will be a particular focus on exploring the implications and possibilities for renewable energy in communities that are economically and/or politically marginalized, papers on any aspect of the sociology of renewable energy are welcome. Potential topics include: NIMBYism and other social barriers to renewable energy development Social changes stimulated by renewable energy development Best practice in renewable energy diffusion and implementation Energy, equity and environmental justice Renewable energy and poverty alleviation Renewable energy policy, programs and regulatory frameworks Community renewable energy projects, modification of attitudes and behaviour for sustainable energy Competing constructions of ‘energy security’ 
RC24	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s16	Resource Consumption and Sustainability in the Global South	 // Resource Consumption and Sustainability in the Global South Session Organizer Hellmuth LANGE, University of Bremen, Germany,   Session in English The relationships between resource consumption and the environment raise difficult questions about reconciling poverty alleviation and social justice with the impact of exploding consumption rates among the prospering middle classes of emerging economies as well as increasing purchasing power among the poor. The cross cutting issue is ‘how to turn these consumers green’? (Ariely/McKinsey 2012). Scholarly debate of these issues is still in its infancy. As a consequence, there is an urgent need: first, for screening, systematising and assessing prevalent assumptions about the impact of rising resource consumption on meeting the requirements of more sustainable development; and second, to develop theoretical frameworks that consider the specific mix of ‘same, same – but different’, distinguishing the social, cultural and political reality of consumption in catching-up countries from the more wealthy societies of the Global Northwest. Papers are invited on all aspects of the relationship between resource consumption and sustainability in the Global South. Potential topics include: Consumption vs. consumerism: how significant is the dividing line in developing countries: does the line follow the same characteristics that are more or less accepted in the Global North? Who are the new consumers in sociological respect: about socio-economic, social, and cultural diversities and what about pilot groups and entry topics of environmental concern? Trans-cultural norm diffusion and hybridisation: what do we really know about globalisation of environmental concern regarding contents and temporal gradients? Conducive policies aiming at encouraging more sustainable patterns of consumption in developing countries? 
RC24	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s17	Social Inequalities within Protected Natural Areas	 // Social Inequalities within Protected Natural Areas Session Organizers Cecilia CLAEYS, Aix-Marseille Université, France,   Valérie DELDREVE, IRSTEA, France,   Session in English Over the last decade, the increasing number of protected natural areas in both the Northern and Southern hemisphere has raised the issue of environmental justice. Indeed, the creation of protected natural areas has led to their regulation (from restriction to prohibition) regarding extraction of resources, land occupation and access to amenities. Such regulation can affect in different ways both local and outside use of protected areas, including its form, for example, whether traditional or contemporary. Rules can also affect the type of user, at times privileging wealthy users over those with fewer resources. This session proposes developing critical analyses of the social and historical construction of protected natural areas, and at the same time, of different forms of inequalities (social, economic, ethnic, spatial...) characterising area access and its use. Based on local, national or international cases studies, paper proposals submitted should address the following questions in particular: How far (and why) have processes leading to the creation of protected natural areas (contemporary or historical ones) resulted in inequalities regarding their access and use? Do international environmental policies promoting Rio Declaration objectives of “public awareness and participation” contribute to reducing unequal access to natural amenities? What principles of justice govern the arguments mobilised by the different stakeholders involved in consultation/negotiation/conflicts over the creation/management/use of protected natural areas? How does this government of natural areas in turn interact with other international and national environmental policies (for example, to protect water or air quality) and with related international programs (such as REDD+)? Abstracts should set out the problematic to be addressed, including hypotheses, theoretical framework, type and size of the data base used where appropriate, analytical concepts and expected results. 
RC24	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s18	Sustainable Consumption: Governance, Practices and Politics	 // Sustainable Consumption: Governance, Practices and Politics Session Organizer Magnus BOSTROM, Sodertorn University, Sweden,   Session in English The sphere of consumption is increasingly identified as a target of environmental governance. State agencies, retailers/producers and social movements attempt to mobilize people as consumers of the ‘right’ products and as environmental citizens or activists. Consumer ‘demand’ has become a problem in a world facing resource constraints at the same time that it has become a force for change in the production and transport of commodities. While supply chains become more and more complex, ethically minded citizens as well as CSR-sensitive public and private buyers are increasingly eager to learn about the social and environmental conditions behind the products they purchase. How can ‘citizen consumers’ learn about social and environmental risks in different parts of the supply chain and develop pro-active approaches to deal with these risks? To what extent is consumption driven by habitualized social practices and embedded socio-technical systems? Ought state and corporate actors direct and edit the choices available to people as consumers? This session welcomes papers that engage empirically and/or theoretically with these difficult and intriguing questions. 
RC24	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s19	The End of the Environmental Nation-State?	 // The End of the Environmental Nation-State? Session Organizers Arthur MOL, Wageningen University, The Netherlands,   David A. SONNENFELD, State University of New York, USA,   Session in English While in the economic domain the nation-state seems to strengthen its role in regulating global financial flows, in the realm of environmental policy and governance it is under assault from above and below, `inside` and `out`. Supranational environmental institutions continue to evolve and strengthen in the European Union and elsewhere; (transnational networks of) ever-smaller sub-national units advance the devolution of environmental governance and control from below; from `outside` the state, private sector and non-governmental actors increasingly establish `privatized` forms and arrangements of environmental governance. In this multiplexed environmental governance world, is the nation-state becoming increasingly irrelevant; and with what variation between countries in different parts of the globe? As the environmental nation-state `hollows out` and recedes, can the new networks of devolved and non-state authorities, such as those of decentralized local environmental authorities; standardization, labelling and certification schemes; businesses and non-governmental organizations, step up to take its place, domestically and globally? What are the challenges of environmental effectiveness and equity for such new non-state and hybrid networks? To whom and how are they accountable? In short: is this the end of the environmental nation-state as it has been known for the last half-century? 
RC24	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC24#s20	Waste in Today’s World: Waste not Want not?	 // Waste in Today’s World: Waste not Want not? Session Organizer Lynne CIOCHETTO, Massey University, New Zealand,   Session in English In contemporary industrialized consumer societies the production of waste is accelerating exponentially. Issues of waste – with sewage and human waste associations – tends to be repellent and remote from everyday life. Waste problems are easy to overlook and they are overshadowed in the media by the global issues of climate and environmental changes. However, waste is an important multidimensional problem that is perilous to ignore. Waste touches on all four pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, social and cultural. Issues of waste cover a wide spectrum: from the use of resources, to the by-products of industrialization and agribusiness, the way products are produced, consumed and discarded. In a time when global food is under pressure much of the food produced is wasted by producers, retailers or consumers. In an increasingly technical world electronic waste is becoming a major problem. The expanding demand for energy is creating many waste problems from carbon emissions to nuclear waste. As urbanization accelerates in the developing world cities are becoming overwhelmed by inadequate infrastructure to process waste. Our seas are becoming polluted with chemicals and plastics.This panel invites submissions that cover the spectrum of waste from micro-level to macro-level, from case studies to policy. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Language and Society, RC25
RC25	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s1	Activism, Media and Justice	 // Activism, Media and Justice Session Organizers Roberta VILLALON, St. John’s University, USA,   Natalie BYFIELD, St. John’s University, USA,   Session in English Texts – cultural representations that are signifiers of social interactions, practices, institutions, structures – inevitably reflect and often challenge power and power relations. The varied components, forms, and uses of language and the structures of discourse result from and contribute to multiple constructions, deconstructions and reconstructions of intersecting relations of inequality. In this panel, we seek to explore the relationships between the languages of collective struggles for equality, and the ways in which they converge and/or diverge with media and systems of justice across the world. The realms of activism, media, and justice have all different paces, dynamics and structures. The three, however, are interrelated. For example, activists make use of media to communicate their demands and raise their claims for justice, while media re-interpret those messages as they disseminate news about collective struggles’ losses and gains, as the justice system absorbs and/or rejects such collective demands in various degrees. The languages spoken in each realm as well as the possible conversations and understandings between them are rich sites of sociological investigation: they function as magnifying lenses for embedded inequalities and the unfolding of struggles to alter power relations. Intersecting gender, sexual, class, racial, and ethnic social inequalities filter and feed languages, discourses, and conversations of and between activists, media, and justice systems, while all these struggle to keep or dismantle the very same inequalities. Researchers across the world are welcome to share particular analyses of such relationships while contributing to theoretical debates on the links between language, inequalities, and power broadly defined. 
RC25	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s2	Identity and Institutional Categorization 	 // Identity and Institutional Categorization Session Organizer Frida PETERSSON, University of Gothenburg, Sweden,   Session in English This session is concerned with language and interaction, with an emphasis on the way language functions and is used within institutional settings and through institutional dialogues. Institutional categories such as “homeless”, “unemployed”, or “alcoholics” with accompanying subcategories, are used to make sense of the circumstances, lives and personal concerns of the help-seeking individuals, as well as to facilitate and legitimize decisions. While such categories may be crucial for professional work, these discursive environments also produce more or less stigmatized institutional identities. However, those who are attributed troubled identities do not simply accept them but talk back or develop counter discourses. In this session we will from a micro-sociological perspective explore how institutional discourses exercise power, create, reproduce and express inequality. This links to the overall conference theme on facing inequality, in that it mirrors the broader global debate relating to the rhetoric and discretionary power of human service organizations working with groups “at the margins” of society. In this session the aim is to explore situated talk and interaction in a variety of institutional practices, representing many different voices, including the ones of clients/users, from different perspectives. Participants are encouraged to use and expand new theoretical and analytical approaches and ideas on this subject matter. Papers based on theoretically informed empirical studies are especially welcome. 
RC25	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s3	Markets, Power and Language	 // Markets, Power and Language Session Organizer Laura GARCIA LANDA, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   Session in English Globalization has intensified both the internationalization of workplaces and increasing demands for information. The increasing importance of information and information technologies has meant that language has a central role in economy, while increasing internationalization makes the management of linguistic diversity a top priority. All of this takes place within the context of dramatic changes in immigration policies and labor organization. An increasing number of agents, such US multinational companies and transnational political elites (i.e. European Commission), are contributing to new language policies aimed at language hegemonies within specific markets or specific social contexts. The widespread use of English in specific markets (science, business, technologies) can be understood as a part of this new hegemony, which serves the particular interests of dominant groups on global scale. The presence of new actors and their language policies require that we revisit Bourdieu’s assumptions regarding the presence of a State-based unified marketplace for language. At the same time, this new context also directs us consider Bourdieu`s approach to the ways that people who are ‘legitimate language’ agents can exercise their social competence, their social power, and can impose their authority. Depending on the market and the relations of power, the same discourse may produce different effects (profit/price) depending on the degree of legitimacy that the speaker has on the market. From the perspective of linguistic diversity, in a context of extended diglossia, language learning and language choice becomes crucial to have success in a context of competence for resources. In this session we seek papers that explore the relationships among language diversity and workplace practices in both public and private organizations. 
RC25	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s4	Migrations and Conditions of Belonging	 // Migrations and Conditions of Belonging Session Organizer Erzsebet BARAT, University of Szeged, Hungary,   Session in English This session seeks talks that explore the relationship between linguistic and cultural dimensions of (collective) identity formation. We expect papers that situate their research within multilingual/multicultural context and examine the complex interpersonal negotiations of diverse ideologies of belonging. We are interested in papers that problematize the commonsense assumption and its ideological effects that adoption of languages (dialects) should automatically and inherently entail adoption of life style. This assumption can result in apparently oppositional dominant language ideologies that “speaking the local language” should be a ‘natural’ cause for either a concern (in hostile dispositions towards “invasion”) or automatic satisfaction (interested in unproblematic ‘integration’), yet equally producing relations of inequality. The papers should therefore ideally explore the tensions effected by the fact that the various languages/dialects do not hold out the same cultural capital. They would focus on how various language competencies contribute to the distinction between desirable and non-desirable flows of people in the global processes of inclusion-integration. At the same time we are also interested in papers that address migrants’ and relevant institutions’ decisions about language learning or planning and interrogate their conceptualizations of ‘speaking a language” and the ideological work the particular meanings perform in the struggles over the conditions of exclusion/inclusion. 
RC25	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s5	Old and New Conditions of Language Endangerment	 // Old and New Conditions of Language Endangerment Session Organizer Olga KAZAKEVICH, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia,   Session in English The value of cultural and linguistic diversity is now widely acknowledged, as is the fact that in the modern world this diversity is seriously endangered. Linguistic inequality can be currently observed in the overwhelming majority of multilingual communities all over the world. Linguistic inequality is among the most significant factors leading to language shift and thus contributing to language endangerment. The objective of the session is to examine various components, manifestations, and consequences of linguistic inequality, as well as the particular social, geographical, and historical contexts in which language shifts develop. We would like to consider to what extent language ideologies are shaped by political economies and their institutions. We invite papers that explore the conditions under which families choose not to pass their native languages on to their children analyzing particular situations of language endangerment all over the world from an historical perspective. 
RC25	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s6	Online Interaction: The Changing Meanings of Social Context	 // Online Interaction: The Changing Meanings of Social Context Session Organizer Anders PERSSON, Lund University, Sweden,   Session in English Our understanding of communication and social interaction is to a great degree founded on physical proximity – indeed the sociological meaning of situations where people meet assumes face-to-face interaction. One example is the system requirements that Goffman formulated regarding talk as a communication system in his article “Replies and Responses” (1976). Not surprisingly physical proximity is more or less taken for granted in this article. A lot of today’s communication and interaction are however conducted in absence of physical proximity. Of course this holds for older media such as the telephone, but it is an increasingly pervasive condition given the rise of “new media” (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), as well as in electronic environments such as e-learning, e-working, e-gaming, e-dating and comes with social consequences that include e-bullying and e-hatred. In these contexts individuals communicate and interact in total and/or partial absence of physical proximity. This session seeks papers that take up a broad range of debates on this topic including but not limited to the following questions. Are there corresponding theoretical developments in fields of communication and social interaction that can take into consideration the absence of physical proximity? Similarly what are the corresponding methodological developments that are needed to study communication and social interaction in absence of physical proximity? How can we understand this phenomenon as part of a special kind of “linguistic turn”? Does it hold specific consequences for traditional axes of inequality such as age, gender, ethnicity and class? And which substitutes for physical proximity can be observed and how do they influence our understanding of social interaction? This session is open to all theoretical, analytical and methodological approaches as far as they focus on communication and social interaction in absence of physical proximity. 
RC25	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s7	Popular and Sociological Discourses on Inequality 	 // Popular and Sociological Discourses on Inequality Session Organizer Frédéric MOULENE, Université de Strasbourg, France,   Session in English Scholars are not immune from the commonsense knowledge that popular discourses construct. For example, many researchers endorsed the simplistic vision of an irreversible movement toward a society where class differences no longer mattered. Consider U.S. President George Bush`s assertion that "class was for Europeans" and added "We Americans are not going to let ourselves be divided by class" or French President Sarkozy`s vision of a classless society; even Socialist President Hollande rarely speaks of class. Classless does indeed appear to be a popular media discourse—the word "class" is seldom even used. At the same time, and paradoxically, the opposite has occurred, notably in the United States and Britain, where the neoliberal discourse sometimes took inequalities as acceptable realities because dynamic on an economical aspect. Pierre Bourdieu argued that sociology, as scientific approach, has to make an epistemological break with “common sense.” Although the entire sociological community widely agrees with this general principle, we are not immune to accepting convenient simplifications that we accept as evidence. Scholars as distinctive as Giddens seems to have embraced the notion of societies undivided by class. This session seeks papers that will examine relationships between sociological discourses and the commonsense discourses in media and popular views about the presence and meaning of "class". We invite papers that explore both gaps and resonances between popular and sociological discourses. 
RC25	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s8	Privilege and Stigma	 // Privilege and Stigma Session Organizer Thomas HOREJES, Gallaudet University, USA,   Session in English Language is a driving mechanism in the development and maintenance of one’s cultural boundaries. In this sense, language is not only a marker of belonging to a specific culture but of one’s humanity. Within and across cultures, favoring one language as a form of privilege often becomes as a socially constructed tool for measuring normalcy, stigma, and constructing what it means to be human. This session welcomes paper submissions that focus how the production of language inequalities continue shape representations of marginalized or minority groups. Papers may also include the maintenance and/or enforcement of language use in social institutions (e.g. schools and workplaces) and the grave implications of stigmatizing practices that determine what is most “natural” and “privileged.” By examining a wide variety of inequalities in a range of societies and countries, this session aims to identify and reveal the intersecting forms of language inequalities for these marginalized or minority groups. It is through this approach that such an examination would provide resources and multiple pathways for rethinking the relationship between the center and the margins of power between themselves and society. 
RC25	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s9	Producing Counter-Hegemonic Knowledge	 // Producing Counter-Hegemonic Knowledge Session Organizer Nadezhda GEORGIEVA-STANKOVA, Trakia University, Bulgaria,   Session in English Facing a world of rising social inequality, sociology needs to further elaborate strategies for studying the mechanisms through which hegemonic knowledge is created, sustained and resisted. Understanding the production and circulation of counter-hegemonic knowledge is increasingly important. Studies of language offer us powerful tools both for developing insight into how dominant forces manufacture consent and for understanding active resistance to relations of domination. The session aims to explore power contestation and resistance through language and discourse. More particularly, papers included in this session will analyze how people actively create and resist articulations of dominant power in their particular social settings (Hall, 1996). Also of interest are papers that examine the nature of power residing in various inter-discursive forms of ideology in producing consent (Gramsci, 1992; 1996), which help to “hegemonize” the “national popular” existing in everyday discourse, practices and interactions (Hall, 1985). Particular attention will be paid to social access to the production of discourse, speaking out particular visions of social justice, and to the control, circulation and regulation of discourses. Therefore, we are interested in some key questions: Which forms of truth are promoted or subjugated in the knowledge production process? What are the means and strategies for resisting and subverting such hegemonic discourses producing dominance and equality? Who are the social agents holding the potential for such counter-hegemonic transformation? We welcome papers that may be related to some or other of the following problems: Counter-hegemonic discourses regarding social groups on the basis of nationality, ethnicity / “race”, gender, sexuality, social class or disability; The rise of nationalism, populism and of the extreme right; The plight of minority or migrant groups, such as the Roma, in the contemporary context of rising discrimination, racism and xenophobia; The role of old and new media in maintaining or resisting dominant consensus 
RC25	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s10	RC25 Business Meeting	 // RC25 Business Meeting 
RC25	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s11	RC25 Roundtable session I: Current debates in Japanese Scholarship on Language and Society	 // RC25 Roundtable session I: Current debates in Japanese Scholarship on Language and Society Session Organizers Amado ALARCON, Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Spain,   Keiji FUJIYOSHI, Koyasan University, Japan,   Session in English This session will consider a wide range of current debates regarding sociological studies of language carried out in Japan. We invite papers that contribute to the following questions: How do Japanese scholars conceptualize sociological studies of language? What methods and theories are commonly used? In what ways are various methods and theories contested? What is the place of sociological studies of language within the broader discipline of sociology? What are the main points of debate about the relationships between language and society among Japanese scholars? What are the primary sociological concepts and theories about language developed in Japan? To what extent are western concepts and theories about language limited/useful for Japanese social reality? How might distinctively Japanese theories and concepts can benefit international scholars working on language in other countries? Some research topics about language in Japanese society are of special interest for this session since they can empirically address previous questions. For example, but not limited to, some topics than can foster the debate could be old and new language hegemonies within Japan and its international context or particular relations in Japan among language, nationality, ethnicity and culture. This session is open to all scholars who are doing sociological research, theoretical or empirical, in Japan on language and society. 
RC25	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s12	RC25 Roundtable session II: Sociological Analyses of Language	 // RC25 Roundtable session II: Sociological Analyses of Language Session Organizer Celine-Marie PASCALE, American University, USA,   Session in English Language is an integral part of all social relations. This session will explore the unique capacities that sociological studies of language provide for understanding social and economic inequalities. We seek papers that disciplinary questions regarding the efficacy of various styles of sociological studies of language, as well as a broad range of topical issues. Themes for paper submissions may include but are not limited to: a) Recent developments, approaches and trends in studies of language; b) Controversies and debates regarding sociological studies of language; c) Innovative studies of language; d) Methodological or theoretical problems; e) critiques and inequalities in which sociologists of language are embedded; f) studies of language in relation to discourses of social science. 
RC25	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC25#s13	The Language of Borders: Exclusion and Resistance	 // The Language of Borders: Exclusion and Resistance Session Organizer Trinidad VALLE, Fordham University, USA,   Session in English Discourses of difference are constantly shaping and reshaping borders of all kinds. The social construction of ‘borders’ is a key area in the struggle for power in any social group: the power of naming the frontier between “us” and “them” is a central asset. In the context of a globalized, post-colonial society, borders are supposedly fluid, malleable and flexible. Yet at the same time they are reified in discourses of exclusion as solids, permanent and stable. This reified notion of stability is at the roots of current struggles over borders, in terms of nationality, ethnicity, religion, or sexuality. Scholars have explored the process of border formation and border crossing in terms of national, race and ethnic borders. Language has been defined as a key area in the construction of borders, for example in terms of narratives on nationality and ethnicity (Bhabha, 1990; Said 1978). The concept of border has also been applied to the study of the social construction of gender and sexuality; since the pioneer discussion of Lakoff (1975) on language and gender many authors have studied the role of language in defining and legitimizing gender and sexual borders (Butler, 1990; Anzaldua, 1987). Furthermore, the concept of border is also relevant for new areas of research: the discussion of the post-human (Haraway, 1991; Latour, 2005), involves at its core a redefinition of the borders of the human body and mind. The panel session will discuss issues related to the construction of social borders through language, emphasizing processes of exclusion and resistance. Authors are invited to explore the multiple aspects of the discourse on borders, in different social settings. In this manner the panel looks to have an open debate relating, but not exclusive to, issues such as: discursive violence associated to border formation and border maintenance; the language of border crossing and its challenges; the relevance of an intersectional perspective to study overlapping borders; the discourse on borders and the crisis of the Nation-State; the language of migratory fluxes and bodies; and the redefinition of borders through resistance discourses. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociotechnics, Sociological Practice, RC26
RC26	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s1	Archaic and Neo-Archaic Trends in a Community Life	 // Archaic and Neo-Archaic Trends in a Community Life Session Organizers Uliana NIKOLAEVA, Academy of Sciences, Russia Georgeos TSOBANOGLOU, University of the Aegean, Greece,   Session in English Historic and modern reflections of archaic forms of behavior in a community life of today: corruption, exchange of gifts and gifting, forced economic pressure, etc. 
RC26	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s2	Climate Democracy	 // Climate Democracy Session Organizer Nico STEHR, Zeppelin University, Germany,   Session in English The dispute about climate change, its repercussions for the world, alternative conceptions of (historical and moral) responsibility and effective ways of responding is of course a profound and highly controversial socio-political issue, not in all but especially in some countries. The political controversies linked to the nature and the responses of climate change are of course deeply embedded in contradictory political world views, for example, the clash between conservative and liberal positions that advocate the withdrawal of the state from many of the affairs of society or those who see the solution to the thorny issues of climate change as responses that must come with more and deeper interventions of the state into the market and social behavior generally. Our session aims to discuss the ways of governing climate change, especially in light of growing sentiments not only among climate scientist that democracies are systemically unable to respond effectively to the varied consequences of climate change. Is democracy really an inconvenient form of governance in the face of climate change? 
RC26	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s3	Corporeal Dimension of Sociotechnics	 // Corporeal Dimension of Sociotechnics Session Organizer Akira KURASHIMA, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan,   Session in English The human body is an essential resource in any sociotechnical system. However, it is often the weakest link in the system, affected by diverse unpredictable factors spanning from sociological to biological, subjective to objective. The modern subject is supposed to have taken under control such unpredictability, but how valid is this assumption in practice, especially in times of change and social crisis? This session focuses on various aspects of the corporeal dimension of sociotechnics, through ethnographic/historical/theoretical investigation. Suggested topics include: Exploration of the corporeal dimension of social relations, especially those emerging in the margins of society and in social crisis. For example, self-help groups and disaster communities are often characterized by physical proximity of bodies; we can imagine that this facilitates reciprocal relations unmediated by the monetary system, but how exactly does physical proximity translate to social relations? Study of social movements and activities that incorporate specific body images and/or techniques. For example, fitness training is often done in pursuit of the ideal physique; on a larger scale, the formation of nation states is frequently accompanied with the image of ideal bodies. How is the ideal formed, and how is it altered in the course of practice? Is the alteration a compromise with reality, or is it a creation of something anew? Empirical/theoretical research on embodied technical practice in general, preferably with attention to how bodily unpredictability is coped with. 
RC26	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s4	Eco-Social Work as Resilience / Sustainability for Communities in Crisis	 // Eco-Social Work as Resilience / Sustainability for Communities in Crisis Session Organizer Georgeos TSOBANOGLOU, University of the Aegean, Greece,   Session in English Various aspects of communal crises and the role of participative action will be presented here. Methods of social economy communal action which promote resilience and cohesion in local community employment as applied in various environmental settings will be invited for presentation. We will bring out the role of social economy, of micro-enterprises and the non-profit sector in general as it safeguards community resilience and shapes local partnership schemes. Policies for eradicating child poverty, long-term unemployment, establishing cooperation and local partnerships will be further explored. Structural impediments to such policy developments within states or regions will be elaborated. The role of social innovation and the challenges it poses to political power will be the key issue to be explored here. 
RC26	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s5	Macro- and Micro-Level of Social Analysis: Theory and Practice of "Cellular Globalization"	 // Macro- and Micro-Level of Social Analysis: Theory and Practice of "Cellular Globalization" Session Organizer Nikita POKROVSKY, Higher School of Economics, Russia,   Session in English The process of interaction of diverse levels of social structure in the context of globalization. Mutual penetration of cellular micro-processes and `big` trajectories of international relations. Community life as a reflection of a globalization model. 
RC26	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s6	Measuring Social Impact of Innovative Entrepreneurship and Public Policies. Standardizing the Valuation of Socioeconomic Return on Investment	 // Measuring Social Impact of Innovative Entrepreneurship and Public Policies. Standardizing the Valuation of Socioeconomic Return on Investment Session Organizer Ioannis NASIOULAS, University of the Aegean, Greece,   Session in English The European Commission has recently launched its flagship Social Business Initiative in light of promoting local employment development, social cohesion and innovation through the development of social economy and social entrepreneurship. In conjunction with its EUROPE 2020 strategies, inclusive growth should be backed by data-led policies. Documentation of the actual social and economic impact of social economy, socially sensitive entrepreneurship and public policies is in the focus of an intense, well structured analysis in the dedicated Group of Experts on Social Entrepreneurship (GECES) and the Sub Group on Social Impact Measurement. It is envisaged that soon the European Commission will be able to present an integrated methodological basis for the valuation of socioeconomic return on public and private investment along with an integrated, inter-operational framework on identifying the social impact of social economy, social entrepreneurship and social innovation. This session could inquire on the existing stock of experience and approaches on social monitoring, auditing and evaluation; it could expand to emerging EU-wide and international approaches on identification and measurement of outcomes; finally, it could act as an analytical bridge for the connection of RC 26 to the ongoing work being done at the European Commission’s level. 
RC26	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s7	On Social Institutions: The Quest for New Social Institutions Stopping the Decay of the West (The Importance of Social Institutions: Rebuilding the West)	 // On Social Institutions: The Quest for New Social Institutions Stopping the Decay of the West (The Importance of Social Institutions: Rebuilding the West) Session Organizer Joachim K.H.W. SCHMIDT, SoReGa EV, Germany,   Session in English Cultures and societies organize around social institutions, so-called going concerns. The kind of institutions on which societal members agree, or by which society are governed, is decisive for the success of a society. We presently experience the downfall of Western culture and their societies in a drastic way, an eroding process which started already more than 100 years ago due to a dissolving of its >soul The importance of institutional renewal for the survival of our Western way of life is meanwhile recognized by more and more scholars, prominent authors create public awareness. The session intends to collect contributions of concerned colleagues whose work focuses on the development of alternative social institutions to be suited as remedy for the decaying West. It is obvious that wars launched by USA and their assisting European powers cannot stop Western decay, in the opposite: it will accelerate it by exhausting their economical resources. 
RC26	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s8	Place-Based yet Transnationalized Political Emergent Forms in the Occident, Orient and South	 // Place-Based yet Transnationalized Political Emergent Forms in the Occident, Orient and South Session Organizer Maria Inácia D´AVILA NETO, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Marie Louise CONILH DE BEYSSAC, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Session in English The purpose of the session is to discuss social movements from politics of place perspective. This is an emerging form of politics and a new political imaginary which affirms the logic of differences and its statement in terms of daily life singularities, even in face of a multiplicity of actors and actions. For Escobar, Quijano, Mignolo among other authors who work the question of "Coloniality of Power", places or “emplacements” are sites of live cultures, economies and environments before they are nodes of a global capitalist homogenizing system. Thus, politics of place, approached in a broad sense, configure a local response, both from the left and the right, which is embraced by women, environmentalists, among other social movements. Politics of place face the “totality”, the resulting rationality and operation of global markets, which devalue all forms of localized action, reducing them to accommodation and/or reformism. Thus, politics of place are also a kind of frontier movement, in which local movements are linked to continental or global movements, composing transnational networks movements (meshworks). These networks are constituted horizontally and interconnected, but nevertheless able to maintain their plural characteristics, thus networks where uniformity is not imposed. Many and ephemeral are the examples in this sense, based on computer networks or not, ranging from the movement of Chiapas, the Occupy movement and the Arab Spring, among a myriad of social movements that occur everyday around the world. This table aims to discuss these social movements their diversities and singularities, welcoming papers that deal with the prospect of policies of place from around the world, The West, East and South. 
RC26	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s9	Political Cultures in a Globalized World	 // Political Cultures in a Globalized World Session Organizer Flaminia SACCA, Tuscia University, Italy,   Session in English We would like to explore how national, local or transnational political cultures are changing given the globalization of markets, communication and even socialization. National political culture is given, according to Almond and Verba by socialization and education. Today, we can say that socialization – in general and political as well – is increasingly provided by communication exposure (mass communication, electronic communication, no longer just face to face communication). Meyrowitz pointed out back in 1985 and again twenty years later, that every experience is eminently local. Nonetheless, new information technologies change our perception of time and space. Traditionally, the forming of political identities and cultures passed through local practices and face to face debates. More generally, the perception of the world we live in, whether we look at it at a global or at a local level, is today made less by face to face relationship and first hand experiences then it used to be. But with the development of the mass media, ICT and Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), every local experience or indeed, political issue, can be shared at a local, national and transnational level. As information technology allows us to be informed in real time of the killings in Syria, a flood in Russia or of a nuclear disaster in Japan, they become part of “our” reality too. We know about it, we feel about it, we evaluate it. Not rarely we acquire conscience that these facts, even if they have happened at the other end of the world, may bring consequences of some kind to our lives. Political instability in the Middle East for example, has different kinds of effects on Western political situation, decisions, budgets, economies. This is not really a new phenomenon, but it has grown through the decades and it is more transparent now. As “reality” becomes less individually based and enlarges its boundaries, it immediately becomes more complex. As Bauman sharply pointed out, in global and liquid society, this brings – paradoxically we may say - to the enhancement of the perception of individualization. Citizens are “bombed” by highly specialized information and it isn’t possible in one single life to acquire all the competences needed in order to face, understand, interpret and deal with the complexity the whole human kind has reached in centuries of evolution. As the complexity of society increases, also due to the fact that the boundaries of what we call “society” have dramatically enlarged since the original hordes to today’s globalism, the organization of the information delivered to us increases with it. And our perceptions can become more fragmented. We may decide to keep up just with certain types of information (the economy, the women’s condition, the political situation in the Middle East, human rights, global warming and so on) but it would be virtually impossible to maintain the thorough information about “life in the village” when the “village” has become the entire world. So fatally a part of it remains obscure to us. We don’t know it nor do we understand it. Worse of all, we acquire the uncomfortable awareness that there is little that we can do to govern it’s processes. Should we conclude then, updating Almond and Verba’s approach to today’s global reality that the globalization of markets, politics, ideologies and power is producing globalized parochial, if not subject political cultures? Or, on the contrary, that the possibility to be informed and to participate outside the traditional political nation-based organizations is contributing to the acquisition of broader political competences and of more competent citizens, whether at a local, national or transnational level? We welcome papers dealing with theoretical or empirical data concerning how local, national or transnational political cultures are changing in a globalized world. 
RC26	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s10	RC26 Business Meeting	 // RC26 Business Meeting Session Organizer Georgeos TSOBANOGLOU, University of the Aegean, Greece,   
RC26	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s11	Sustainable Communities: Common Goods, Public Spaces and New Forms of Participation	 // Sustainable Communities: Common Goods, Public Spaces and New Forms of Participation Session Organizer Arianna MONTANARI, University of Rome, Italy,   Gloria PIRZIO, University of Rome, Italy,   Session in English Globalization and the recent economic crises have changed the way social relationship are conceived in daily life. A new sense of belonging to a community arises and it meets the need of sharing experiences togheter at local level and to take care of commons goods. Community gardening, co-housing, co-working, sustainable mobilities (car sharing, bike sharing) make up the sense of “Us” and a new way to intend the public spaces. New media has a crucial role in these changes. New forms of participation – both offline and online – open the way to a greater involvment of all the citizens in social and political issues and redefine the traditional notion of political participation. The session focuses on empirical-analytical contributions to the analisys of these topics, with special refer to: New public spaces Common goods New forms of political participation (both online and offline) 
RC26	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC26#s12	Theological Methodology the Sociotechnics – The Soil for a Manipulation Religious Consciousness	 // Theological Methodology the Sociotechnics – The Soil for a Manipulation Religious Consciousness Session Organizer Svetlana SHARONOVA, St. Tikhon´s Orthodox University, Russia,   Session in English Relevance of this perspective is defined by social religions tension which increases in the world. Therefore it would be desirable to discuss some blocks of questions: The theological principles and modern opportunities of sociotechnics. Initially sociotechnics were formed in a subsoil of social institute of church: belief in proclaimed values; trust to priests; psychological influence by means of architecture, theatrical action, painting, music; sermon and confession influence, etc. later they were borrowed by authorities and politicians. In the modern society these technologies were widely adopted, they are used and in economy in the form of network marketing, and in information networks of the Internet, and in advertizing. But the last decades they began to operate religion generally forming aggressive and aggressive flock. As tools act: distortion of texts of the sacred writing at the expense of transfer of accents, interpretations in the sermon, reductions of texts, etc.; creation of a chain of social acts of discontent in infringement of the rights of believers, a religion insult, etc., using collected discontent among believing people. The ascension to Dudaev`s power and his mutation from the Soviet official in the ardent Islamist and the head of terrorist groups in Chechnya is such example in Russia. Fight against Muslim priests who defend purity of the Scriptuses and belief became a consequence of this militant belief. Guard those retail attempts of kindling of militant Orthodoxy which it is possible to see today. The studying of theological basis of modern political strategies "to unmask" the hidden interests of certain groups. Empirical researches of practice which allow to learn the true purposes and to build counterstrategy to save from destruction not only belief institute, but also national cultures. The studying of tools of the social technologies to form "the spoiled patient". Sociological researches in the practice field of methodology and methods development of the sociotechnics allow to distinguish manipulations and not to follow the tastes them. Aggressively adjusted militant "religions" now cause not only concern from Church or society, but it already is the fact of formation of a new zone of social tension in the countries of the Old World. These are those processes which go in the house of dwelling of the person (for example, in Denmark, England, the South of France). As practice in Russia showed consequences of these technologies very heavy and difficult eradicated as they mention the most deep values of people which lie at mental and psychological level. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Sociology of Sport, RC27
RC27	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s1	Children, Youth and Sport 	 // Children, Youth and Sport Session Organizer Elizabeth PIKE, University of Chichester, United Kingdom,   Session in English 
RC27	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s2	Contemporary Issues in the Sociology of Sport. Part I 	 // Contemporary Issues in the Sociology of Sport. Part I Session Organizer Cora BURNETT-LOUW, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Session in English 
RC27	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s3	Contemporary Issues in the Sociology of Sport. Part II	 // Contemporary Issues in the Sociology of Sport. Part II Session Organizer Cora BURNETT-LOUW, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Session in English 
RC27	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s4	Globalization and Sport 	 // Globalization and Sport Session Organizer Steven JACKSON, University of Otago, New Zealand,   Session in English 
RC27	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s5	Inclusion/Exclusion in Sport 	 // Inclusion/Exclusion in Sport Session Organizer Christine DALLAIRE, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English 
RC27	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s6	Media and Sport. Part I	 // Media and Sport. Part I Session Organizer Steven JACKSON, University of Otago, New Zealand,   Session in English 
RC27	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s7	Media and Sport. Part II 	 // Media and Sport. Part II Session Organizer Steven JACKSON, University of Otago, New Zealand,   Session in English 
RC27	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s8	RC27 Business Meeting	 // RC27 Business Meeting 
RC27	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s9	Sociology of Sport in an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology of Sport – Special session on the Congress theme	 // Sociology of Sport in an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology of Sport – Special session on the Congress theme Session Organizer Elizabeth PIKE, University of Chichester, United Kingdom,   Session in English 
RC27	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s10	Sport and Development 	 // Sport and Development Session Organizer Cora BURNETT-LOUW, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Session in English 
RC27	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s11	Sport and National Identity. Part I 	 // Sport and National Identity. Part I Session Organizer Christine DALLAIRE, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English 
RC27	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s12	Sport and National Identity. Part II 	 // Sport and National Identity. Part II Session Organizer Christine DALLAIRE, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English 
RC27	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s13	Sport in Asia 	 // Sport in Asia Session Organizer Lee THOMPSON, Waseda University, Japan,   Session in English 
RC27	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s14	Sport, Bodies and Identity Politics 	 // Sport, Bodies and Identity Politics Session Organizer Wolfram MANZENREITER, University of Viena, Austria,   Session in English 
RC27	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s15	Sport, Health and Risk 	 // Sport, Health and Risk Session Organizer Elizabeth PIKE, University of Chichester, United Kingdom,   Session in English 
RC27	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s16	Sport, Politics and Policy. Part I 	 // Sport, Politics and Policy. Part I Session Organizer Kimberly SCHIMMEL, Kent State University, USA,   Session in English 
RC27	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s17	Sport, Politics and Policy. Part II 	 // Sport, Politics and Policy. Part II Session Organizer Kimberly SCHIMMEL, Kent State University, USA,   Session in English 
RC27	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC27#s18	Sport, Spectacle and Mega Events	 // Sport, Spectacle and Mega Events Session Organizer Kimberly SCHIMMEL, Kent State University, USA,   Session in English Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Social Stratification, RC28
RC28	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s1	A Comparative Look at Gender Segregation in Vocational Education	 // A Comparative Look at Gender Segregation in Vocational Education Session Organizers Liza REISEL, Institute for Social Research, Norway,   Gunn Elisabeth BIRKELUND, University of Oslo, Norway,   Session in English Vocational education still constitutes a significant part of the secondary education systems across the globe. The gender segregated nature of vocational secondary education has received little attention in the stratification literature, despite its consequences for gender differences in labour market outcomes, such as job placement, income, occupational status and access to full-time employment. In this session we would like to discuss the extent to which vocational education is characterized by gender segregation in different countries. 
RC28	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s2	Beyond Race: Theoretical, Methodological, and Empirical Contributions to the Study of Discrimination	 // Beyond Race: Theoretical, Methodological, and Empirical Contributions to the Study of Discrimination Session Organizer Sam LUCAS, University of California-Berkeley, USA,   Session in English Whenever one says the word "discrimination" many presume one is talking about race or ethnicity. Yet, discrimination is a social phenomenon that can target any member of oppressed groups (e.g., women, Jews, Roma, gays and lesbians, and more). This session invites papers that contribute to the wider literature on the causes and/or effects of discrimination, either via empirical (statistical or non-statistical) study, theoretical analysis, or methodological development. Please note: given late 20th century methodological and theoretical developments, documenting "inequality" is insufficient to identify the cause or effect of discrimination. 
RC28	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s3	Comparison of Social Stratification and Mobility in East Asia	 // Comparison of Social Stratification and Mobility in East Asia Session Organizers Zhang YI, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China,   Yoshimichi SATO, Tohoku University, Japan,   Shin KWANG-YEONG, Chung-Ang University, Korea,   Session in English Although they have similar cultural backgrounds, East Asian countries are at different stages of economic development and have different types of class structure and models of social mobility. This session will provide a platform for scholars to communicate their research on rising inequality in East Asia. 
RC28	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s4	Convergence and Divergence: Social Inequality in the US and China 	 // Convergence and Divergence: Social Inequality in the US and China Session Organizers Peng LU, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China,   Li CHUNLING, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China,   David GRUSKY, Stanford University, USA,   Yu XIE, University of Michigan, USA,   Session in English This session is intended to bring together sociologists who study inequality and poverty in China and the US to share and discuss their findings. Although the sociopolitical institutions of China and the US differ in important ways, they provide intriguing contrasts on such topics as the sources of the economic downturn and the rise of social and economic disparities. Both comparative and domestic studies are welcomed, and papers from junior researchers are encouraged. 
RC28	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s5	Drop out from Tertiary Education – Life Courses and Returns to Human Capital	 // Drop out from Tertiary Education – Life Courses and Returns to Human Capital Session Organizer Nicole TIEBEN, MZES/Mannheim University, Germany,   Session in English Drop out from tertiary education is often perceived as “failure” but most drop outs have gone through a demanding educational pathway and should be able to be well-integrated into the labour market. Stratification research has focused on the reasons for drop out rather than the subsequent life courses, so it is not clear which career perspectives the drop outs have in the long run, especially compared to those who have graduated from tertiary education, or compared to skilled employees who have not entered tertiary education but went through vocational training. 
RC28	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s6	Family Processes and Gender Inequality	 // Family Processes and Gender Inequality Session Organizer Haya STIER, Tel Aviv University, Israel,   Session in English This session focuses on the interplay between family process and gender inequities. The session is open to studies on issues such as marriage, parenthood and divorce and their relationship to stratification, and to the connection between the organization of households and labor market outcomes. 
RC28	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s7	Immigrant Inequalities and Ethnic Stratification	 // Immigrant Inequalities and Ethnic Stratification Session Organizer Lucinda PLATT, University of London, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session invites papers that explore inequalities and processes of stratification that affect immigrants and the second and subsequent generations of minorities, and which develop theoretical insights into accounting for these inqualities. The session will address economic inequalities and how they persist or dissipate over time and across generations, as well as disparities in other aspects of immigrant experience such as geographical concentration or segregation, health and wellbeing. Papers that utilise cross-national comparative approaches are particularly welcomed, as are those that treat inequalities at the intersection of gender and ethnicity. 
RC28	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s8	Immigrants in the Labor Market	 // Immigrants in the Labor Market Session Organizer Moshe SEMYONOV, Tel Aviv University, Israel,   Session in English Immigrants and labor migrants often experience hardships in finding suitable and rewarding employment in the host society. This session is devoted to research on economic discrimination against migrants and modes of labor force incorporation, occupational mobility, economic assimilation and patterns of economic strategies adopted by immigrants and labor migrants. 
RC28	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s9	Inequality in the Great Recession	 // Inequality in the Great Recession Session Organizer Michelle JACKSON, Stanford University, USA,   Session in English This session invites contributions that focus on inequality in the Great Recession. Contributions that consider the consequences of the Great Recession for economic, educational and social inequalities are particularly encouraged. Both comparative and single-country studies are welcomed. 
RC28	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s10	Life Courses and Household Inequality	 // Life Courses and Household Inequality Session Organizers Marita JACOB, University of Cologne, Germany,   Michael KUEHHIRT, University of Cologne, Germany,   Felix WEISS, University of Cologne, Germany,   Session in English The session invites contributions that analyse household inequality from a life course perspective. We welcome research both on the impact of household formation (e.g. assortative mating and its consequences) on inequality between households, and the interrelationship of individual life courses of members of the same household (couple’s decisions and actions, and inequality within households). In particular, we are interested in labor market outcomes and work careers. The aim is to integrate research on changing individual life courses and research on accumulating (dis)advantages in households. 
RC28	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s11	Past, Present and Future of Social Stratification Research	 // Past, Present and Future of Social Stratification Research Session Organizer Hiroshi ISHIDA, University of Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English This session aims to evaluate the accomplishments of social stratification research in general and the accumulated knowledge of the RC28 research community in particular. The session welcomes a review of the development and future directions of social stratification research and the examples of empirical research which expands the horizon of social stratification research and represents the future directions. 
RC28	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s12	Psychological Functioning and Social Inequality	 // Psychological Functioning and Social Inequality Session Organizers Kazimierz M. SLOMCZYNSKI, Ohio State University, USA,   Irina TOMESCU-DUBROW, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland,   Session in English This session focuses on the impact of psychological functioning (motivation for achievement, valuing self-direction, emotional well-being, etc.) on stratification outcomes (formal education, occupational rank, job earnings, or other dimensions of peoples’ location in the social structure). Priority will be given to papers that explicitly consider the dynamics of the relationship between psychological functioning and some aspects of structured inequality. 
RC28	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s13	RC28 Business Meeting	 // RC28 Business Meeting 
RC28	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s14	School-to-Work Transitions in Times of Economic Crises	 // School-to-Work Transitions in Times of Economic Crises Session Organizers Corinna KLEINERT, Institute for Employment Research Nuremberg and Berlin, Germany,   Holger SEIBERT, Institute for Employment Research Nuremberg and Berlin, Germany,   Session in English This session will focus on school-to-work transitions throughout economic and financial crises. Special attention should be given on how different systems of vocational and higher education are able to smooth the paths from school to work in years with difficult structural conditions. Do firm-based VET systems have advantages compared to systems that rely on school-based education or are college-based systems more flexible? Of further interest is how social inequality and stratification are transmitted throughout school-to-work transitions under different economic circumstances. 
RC28	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s15	Social Inequality and Family Change	 // Social Inequality and Family Change Session Organizer Sawako SHIRAHASE, University of Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English This session solicits papers which examine the relationship between family change and social inequality. Possible topics include intergenerational transfer within and between families, fertility changes and social inequality, and the increase in co-habitation and single parent households and its implications for social inequality. 
RC28	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC28#s16	Stratification of Social Participation	 // Stratification of Social Participation Session Organizers Bram LANCEE, Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany,   Jonas RADL, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain,   Session in English We welcome papers on both formal (volunteering, civic engagement, membership in associations) and informal social participation (social networks, contact with family and friends, intergenerational ties). Of special interest are studies that examine how the inequality of social connectedness has evolved over time and over the life course, and studies that address the relative importance of different realms of stratification (e.g., to what extent are patterns of social participation stratified across class, ethnicity, or education?). We particularly encourage proposals that make use of longitudinal data and studies that address self-selection into social participation. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Deviance and Social Control, RC29
RC29	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s1	Crime and Deviance in Japan 	 // Crime and Deviance in Japan Session Organizer Minoru YOKOYAMA, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English Crime and Justice from a Japanese perspective. 
RC29	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s2	Criminal Justice Systems and Access to Justice	 // Criminal Justice Systems and Access to Justice Session Organizers Minoru YOKOYAMA, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Japan,   José Vicente TAVARES DOS SANTOS, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Robert Nash PARKER, University of California, USA,   Session in English Comparative and national issues in access to criminal justice systems; how does inequality influence access? 
RC29	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s3	Green Criminology 	 // Green Criminology Session Organizer Noriyoshi TAKEMURA, Yokohama Toi University, Japan,   Session in English What is green criminology? How does it differ from standard models of criminology? What characteristics make it “Green”? What are the implications of green criminology for the criminal justice system? for society? 
RC29	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s4	Impact of Inequality and Discrimination on Justice Systems and Practices	 // Impact of Inequality and Discrimination on Justice Systems and Practices Session Organizers Minoru YOKOYAMA, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Japan,   José Vicente TAVARES DOS SANTOS, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Robert Nash PARKER, University of California, USA,   Session in English How does inequality limit justice? How does discrimination operate in criminal justice systems? What bases exist for discrimination? How does long-term inequality perpetuate injustice? 
RC29	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s5	Japan and the Different Conceptions of Crime	 // Japan and the Different Conceptions of Crime Session Organizer Minoru YOKOYAMA, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English Transnational crime and policing from a Japanese perspective. 
RC29	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s6	Open Session	 // Open Session Session Organizers Minoru YOKOYAMA, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Japan,   José Vicente TAVARES DOS SANTOS, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Robert Nash PARKER, University of California, USA,   Session in English 
RC29	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s7	Policing in Japan and Asian Countries 	 // Policing in Japan and Asian Countries Session Organizer Minoru YOKOYAMA, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English What are the distinctive aspects of Policing in Japan and Asian countries? How have western models of policing penetrated Japanese and Asian thinking and implementation? Are there unique forms and structures of policing in Japan and Asian countries that could serve as models for the rest of the world? 
RC29	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s8	Policing in the Modern World 	 // Policing in the Modern World Session Organizer Dilip DAS, Western Illinois University, USA,   Session in English Research on recent developments in the study of policing across the world. Form of Session: Paper Panel; Description: Contemporary organization of policing and other State Coercive Forces; How are policing forces organized and managed? What innovations have occurred, and what impact have these innovations had on policing? How do non police State Coercive forces differ from policing organizations, and how common are they? What impact have state coercive forces had on societies? 
RC29	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s9	RC29 Business Meeting	 // RC29 Business Meeting Session Organizer 
RC29	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s10	Restorative Justice	 // Restorative Justice Session Organizers Minoru YOKOYAMA, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Japan,   José Vicente TAVARES DOS SANTOS, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Robert Nash PARKER, University of California, USA,   Session in English How does restorative justice differ comparatively? Are there distinctive regional or national models, or can a general model of restorative justice function effectively in different cultures and nation states? What are the current issues in restorative justice research? 
RC29	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s11	Social Control of Gender and Deviance	 // Social Control of Gender and Deviance Session Organizer Tomoko KAWABATA, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan,   Session in English This session is going to discuss the relationship between justice and inequality in the heterosexual society. Recently, justification of the same sex marriage has been discussed in many parts of the world. In this change in the social climate, the objective of this session is to give opportunity to describe how inequality in heterosexual society is justified for many years through talking about various social phenomenon such as violence and harassment at marriage, love and work. 
RC29	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC29#s12	State of the Art on Sociology of Crime and Deviance 	 // State of the Art on Sociology of Crime and Deviance Session Organizer José Vicente TAVARES DOS SANTOS, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . What are the major issues in the study of Crime and Deviance today? What are the cross currents of theory and research in the comparative framework? How do Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern approaches to the study of and understanding about Crime and Deviance differ? How are they similar? Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Sociology of Work, RC30
RC30	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s1	Contemporary Dynamics of Paternalism. Actualités du paternalisme. Actualidad del paternalismo	 // Contemporary Dynamics of Paternalism. Actualités du paternalisme. Actualidad del paternalismo Session Organizers Annie LAMANTHE, Aix Marseille Université, France,   Lylia PALACIOS HERNANDEZ, Universidad de Nuevo León, Mexico,   Stéphanie BARRAL, France,   Session in English/French/Spanish In European countries, paternalistic forms of labor management were developed during the industrialization period, when labor relation rose. They allowed setting to work population unused to industrial patterns and to control potentially dangerous social classes; the supply of discretionary and personalized protections brought a partial answer to these social issues. Progressively, the production of labor legislation, the rise of mutual State-guaranteed social protections as well as social debates and claiming related to paternalism led to an important decrease in its implementation. However, paternalism kept on being carried out in particular sectors and firms. This form of labor relation can also be observed in other regions of the world, bearing other patterns related to the way it takes root in national and/or local societies. The aim of this session is to question the contemporary forms of paternalism at a worldwide scale: Regarding the remaining forms of paternalism in industrialized countries, how did they adapt and transform in a more general trend of capitalism and labor relation evolution? In recently industrialized countries, do new forms of paternalistic management emerge? Do they resemble the ones observed during the first steps of industrialization in Europe? Do they effectively provide social protections in a lack of labor legislation and of residual Welfare state? Do the rise of new management practices such as Corporate Social Responsibility and, more generally speaking, do the growing influence of “soft law” within labor relations reveal the reactivation of paternalism under renewed patterns? Are there societal differences regarding paternalistic labor relations? Do paternalistic practices and ideologies refer to broader social and political regulation means on a peculiar national or regional point of view? This session can be linked to the “Decent work and sustainability” session of RC30, understanding paternalism as a way to provide social protections in a context where they are lacking, including particular compensations in return. More generally, it could lead to the establishment of comparative approaches on paternalism. Dans les pays européens, les modes de gestion paternalistes de la main-d’œuvre ont trouvé leur plein développement dans le double contexte de l’industrialisation et de l’émergence du salariat. Ils assuraient alors tout à la fois la mise au travail de populations peu habituées à l’ordre industriel, le contrôle de classes potentiellement dangereuses et la fourniture de protections discrétionnaires et personnalisées apportant par là, pour partie, une réponse à la « question sociale ». Avec le temps, le développement d’une législation spécifique du travail, la montée des protections sociales à visée universelle garanties par l’Etat et les contestations sociales dont il a été l’objet ont considérablement réduit l’ampleur du paternalisme. Pour autant, il a pu conserver une certaine actualité dans certains secteurs et dans certains types d’entreprises. Le paternalisme s’observe aussi dans l’histoire de la relation salariale d’autres régions du monde, sous des formes différenciées qui tiennent à ses modalités d’ancrage dans les sociétés nationales et/ou locales. L’objectif de cette session est de s’interroger sur l’actualité, ou les actualités du paternalisme dans le monde aujourd’hui en abordant différentes questions : Comment les îlots dans lequel le paternalisme a pu se maintenir dans les pays industrialisés s’adaptent et/ou se transforment dans le contexte actuel des dynamiques du capitalisme et de la relation salariale ? Dans les pays nouvellement industrialisés, voit-on apparaître des formes de gestion paternalistes faisant écho aux pratiques des premiers temps de l’industrialisation en Europe, et susceptibles de fournir les protections sociales là où la législation du travail et l’Etat font défaut de ce point de vue ? Le développement de nouvelles pratiques telles que la Responsabilité sociale d’entreprise, et plus généralement l’ampleur croissante que prend la « soft law » dans les relations de travail révèlent-elles la réactivation des principes du paternalisme sous des formes renouvelées ? Observe-t-on des différences sociétales dans les manifestations du paternalisme ? Comment les pratiques du paternalisme et les idéologies qui les sous-tendant renvoient-elles à des mécanismes plus larges de régulation sociale ou politique spécifique d’un pays ou d’une aire géographique ? Cette session pourrait faire écho à la thématique « Decent work and sustainability » du RC30, si on entend le paternalisme sous l’angle des protections sociales qu’il est à même de procurer, notamment dans les contextes où toute autre source fait défaut, et des contreparties qu’il exige en retour. Au final, elle pourrait conduire à l’engagement d’une perspective de « paternalisme comparé » dans le temps et dans différents espaces du monde. En los países europeos, los modos de gestión laboral paternalistas encontraron su plena extensión en el doble contexto de la industrialización y del desarrollo del trabajo asalariado. Aseguraron a la vez la preparación para el trabajo de poblaciones no acostumbradas a la disciplina industrial, el control de clases potencialmente peligrosas y la protección que proporcionaron de manera discrecional e individualizada, y en parte como respuesta a la "cuestión social". Con el tiempo, el desarrollo de una legislación laboral específica y de una protección social universal garantizada por el Estado, así como la oposición social que ha enfrentado, redujeron considerablemente la importancia del paternalismo. Sin embargo, tuvo la capacidad de mantenerse en algunos sectores y en variados tipos de empresas. El paternalismo se observa también en la historia de otras regiones del mundo, en variados modos que reflejan su inserción en las sociedades nacionales y / o locales. El objetivo de esta mesa será reflexionar sobre la actualidad, o las actualidades, del paternalismo en el mundo hoy, tratando las siguientes interrogantes: ¿Cómo se adaptan y / o evolucionan en el marco actual de las dinámicas del capitalismo y de la relación laboral los islotes en los cuales el paternalismo se ha mantenido en los países industrializados? ¿En los países de reciente industrialización, se observan prácticas paternalistas de gestión como en los primeros tiempos de la industrialización en Europa ? Favorecen o proporcionan protección social en países que carecen de legislación laboral y donde el Estado no juega un papel social? ¿El desarrollo de nuevas prácticas, como la Responsabilidad Social de la Empresa, por ejemplo, y más generalmente el crecimiento de dispositivos de "soft law" en las relaciones laborales, tienen relación con una reactivación de los principios del paternalismo? ¿Se observan diferencias societales en las manifestaciones del paternalismo? En que medida las prácticas y ideologías paternalistas se refieren a mecanismos más amplios de regulación social o política de los países y zona geográfica específica ? Esta mesa puede hacer eco del tema "El trabajo decente y la sostenibilidad" del RC30, si entendemos el paternalismo desde el punto de vista de la protección social que puede proporcionar, sobre todo en contextos en los que se carece de otras fuentes, y de las contrapartidas que exige a cambio. Al final, esta mesa podría dar lugar a una perspectiva de "paternalismo comparado" en el tiempo y en distintas áreas del mundo. 
RC30	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s2	Facing an Unequal World in the 21st Century: New Approaches to Internationalism. Enfrentar la desigualdad social en el siglo XXI: Nuevos acercamientos para el internacionalismo	 // Facing an Unequal World in the 21st Century: New Approaches to Internationalism. Enfrentar la desigualdad social en el siglo XXI: Nuevos acercamientos para el internacionalismo Session Organizer Tania GARCIA-RAMOS, Puerto Rico,   Session in English/Spanish In this session, we propose a deep and critical understanding of social inequality in the 21st century and the challenges it poses for the new approaches to internationalism. In the globalized world internationalism includes a new approach to movements and communications between social actors, actresses and sectors within and beyond nation states. We address inequality recognizing social and cultural differences regarding our rights and demands. We distinguish this meaning from conventional approaches to social equality. Although historically some countries and regions have been linked to confront and mitigate common economic inequalities, in the 21st century we should examine critically these efforts to identify their limitations and the necessary political concertations to address the pressing problems of this era. Weakening of social formations, whether liberal, neoliberal, conservative or socialist, is the starting point to think and build new approaches to internationalism. The systemic economic, political and social crisis, that includes labour flexibilization and precarization and the weakening of the nation states, raised the urgency of rethinking the strategies and scenarios of the broadest and heterogeneous sectors; including the local and international social movements. This implies that no country or nation-state has the capacity to solve its problems by itself. In the context of late capitalism political initiatives and social movements have emerged to face the challenges of the crisis of work and labour. These initiatives and movements may provide clues for new assertive forms of agency, mobilizations and proposals. Given this situation, what questions, analysis and opportunities can be addressed for dignified life and work in society? Some of the guiding questions of this session are: What new principles, international relations and rearticulations can be created between work, life, leisure and society? What agencies or social movements could articulate new demands to confront local and international inequality recognizing cultural and political differences? What kind of relationships and new agendas can be forged between countries or regions of the world? What research can account for new approaches to internationalism that address inequality and work and labour crisis? Mediante esta sesión, proponemos producir una comprensión profunda y crítica de la desigualdad social en el siglo XXI y de los retos que nos plantea para el nuevo internacionalismo. En el mundo globalizado planteamos el nuevo internacionalismo como aquel que estudia los movimientos y comunicaciones entre los actores, actrices y sectores sociales dentro y fuera de los estados-naciones. Abordamos la desigualdad contemporánea reconociendo las diferencias sociales y culturales de nuestros derechos y reclamos. Esta acepción se distingue de los acercamientos convencionales de la igualdad social. Aún cuando históricamente países y regiones se han vinculado para enfrentar y mitigar problemas comunes de desigualdad económica, los problemas apremiantes del siglo XXI plantean una reflexión crítica de dichos esfuerzos en aras de reconocer sus limitaciones e identificar las concertaciones políticas necesarias. El debilitamiento de las formaciones sociales, en la modalidad liberal, neoliberal, conservadora o socialista, es el punto de partida para pensar y gestar nuevos acercamientos para el internacionalismo. El carácter sistémico de la crisis económica, social y política contemporánea, que incluye la flexibilización y precarización laboral y el debilitamiento de los estados-nación, plantea la urgencia de repensar las estrategias y escenarios de los más amplios y heterogéneos sectores; que incluyen los movimientos sociales locales e internacionales. Lo anterior implica que ningún país o estado-nación tiene la capacidad de resolver sus problemas por sí solo. En el contexto del capitalismo tardío han emergido iniciativas políticas y movimientos sociales para atender los retos de la desigualdad social y la crisis del trabajo y el empleo, que pueden darnos pistas hacia nuevas formas asertivas de agencia, movilización y propuestas. Ante este panorama, ¿qué interrogantes, análisis y posibilidades podemos acoger para forjar una vida y trabajo dignos en sociedad? Algunas de las preguntas guías de esta sesión son: ¿Qué nuevos principios, relaciones y rearticulaciones internacionales podemos crear entre el trabajo, la vida, el ocio y la sociedad? ¿Qué nuevas demandas y agencias articularían los movimientos sociales locales e internacionales para enfrentar la desigualdad reconociendo las diferencias culturales y políticas? ¿Qué tipo de relaciones y nuevas agendas podemos forjar entre países o regiones del planeta? ¿Cuáles investigaciones pueden dar cuenta de los nuevos acercamientos del internacionalismo para enfrentar la desigualdad social y la crisis del trabajo y empleo? 
RC30	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s3	Facing an Unequal World, the Manufacturing of Migrations and Knowledge Related	 // Facing an Unequal World, the Manufacturing of Migrations and Knowledge Related Session Organizer Delphine MERCIER, Centro de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos, Mexico,   Session in English The manufacturing migrations analyses the mechanisms of production of migratory knowledge, as they are the results of the mobilities and the activities of transmigrant and trans-border populations in the world. It aims at studying the international migration social dynamics, according to its space, economic and time dimensions. It leads then to question knowledge society understatements which are commonly used by international organisms discourses. If migrations are easily related to the first two dimensions, partly because of the transnationalization of spaces and economic forces, the time-related dimension of migrations is not so obvious. After decades of repeated migratory circulations in the world, we cannot miss the first elements that give this reality a consequent time depth, from all over the migratory generation chain. The research is no more bound to establish a social fact, but it has to question a type of sociality that is produced in the societies we choose to investigate. Are international migrations the bases of a liquid social order (Bauman), that gives no supports for individuals (Castel), a social order that is de-institutionalized (Dubet), or are they pointing another type of sociality, neither liquid nor solid, which has to be defined but could be nonetheless, as a first approximation, the result of an art, a social technique of bricolage, specifically grounded? From this epistemic point of view, we can broadly characterize the sociologic stands in two poles. On the one hand, there are those who underline the situated and local character of action, the actor’s agency and the unceasing reconfiguration of the social ties. Social relations are then considered as always dependant of local bargaining and power struggles, they seem contingent and historically variable. On the other hand, are approaches which focus on the question of permanence and on the reproduction of social structures which appears to exert restriction on what is possible. This tension between two epistemologies (but also the politics that underlie them) is going through all social sciences creating sometimes insurmountable barriers between theoretical worlds that conceive themselves highly incompatible. Our session would be to establish a link between those worlds, between Latour and Bourdieu for example, for the benefit of the migration issue. It would then be our stake to attempt to define the degrees of malleability of the social migratory world, by observing how are configured knowledge in the three thematic lines selected, space, economy and time. Consequently we have chosen to articulate three analytic approaches of migration: the first one focus on spatial dynamics bound to the international mobilities of populations whether they are transnational or transborder; the second one, from working sites, consists in analyzing the strategies of mobility and migration that structure labor markets; the third one deals with the temporal dimensions of migration, in its family and social components. 
RC30	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s4	Guestwork around the World	 // Guestwork around the World Session Organizer Kristin SURAK, Duisburg-Essen University, Germany,   Session in English Temporary foreign worker programs (TFWPs) are booming. Canada has rolled out a new scheme; Singapore, Taiwan, and the US are debating whether to expand their TFW numbers; European countries are experimenting with “micro” guestworker programs; and several Gulf States continue to rely on the import of temporary labor for almost the entirety of private sector employment. If TFWPs are defined as state-organized schemes that bring in foreigners on a temporary basis for the purpose of work, and grant them limited or no option for changing this status, then around a fifth of all international labor migrants fall under this rubric. Though a global phenomenon, guestworker programs have been the subject of little cross-regional comparative analysis. The purpose of this panel would be to bring together papers on TFWPs in different parts of the globe to begin a dialogue on inter-regional trends and intra-regional specificities, with an emphasis on the political economy of guestworker programs. What roles do temporary migrant workers in the overall economy, and has this shifted over time? In what ways do governments partner with private agencies – whether brokers, employment agencies, or security services – to implement TFWPs? How have states handled emergent problems and to what degree are policy gaps desirable for the various actors involved? To what degree and in what ways are guestworkers becoming permanent? What are the costs and benefits for the workers themselves? In comparing across cases, can broader regional or global trends be discerned? 
RC30	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s5	Health Professions and Organizations: Issues of International Comparison	 // Health Professions and Organizations: Issues of International Comparison Session Organizers Philippe MOSSE, Aix Marseille Université, France,   Tetsu HARAYAMA, Toyo University, Japan,   Session in English Health systems and their protagonists are faced with similar challenges (demographic, financial, economic, social) that health professionals are supposed to solve. Faced with these challenges is a great temptation to develop answers "universal" illustrated the deployment of "New Public Management". The session will aim to confront comparative approaches that allow to highlight the tension between the apparent convergence and persistence of country-specific logic. 
RC30	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s6	Lean Production as the New Division of Labor?	 // Lean Production as the New Division of Labor? Session Organizers Thomas JANOSKI, University of Kentucky, USA,   Darina LEPADATU, Kennesaw State University, USA,   Session in English Lean production took the world of work by storm in the 1980s and 1990s as many manufacturers adopted many of the 14 aspects of lean production described by Jeffrey Liker in his various books on the topic. Different countries and different industries often made selections from the 14 aspects of lean production, and some made various modifications based on their own institutions and environments. Some like Osono and colleagues speak of the hard side (cutting workers, just-in-time inventory and supply chain management) and others emphasize the soft side (team work and long-term philosophy). Lean production as a term is the result of MIT researchers in the late 1980s and as a result, it emphasizes the hard or efficiency aspect of the process rather than the soft or cooperative side. The term lean is somewhat unfortunate in that it emphasizes reducing the size of the workforce, which is a misinterpretation of the concept though efficiency in many ways is a goal. In any event, the term seems to have stuck. Lean production started in the automobile factories (some say JIT started in the grocery stores), and has spread to service facilities, especially hospitals and medical clinics. This session is intended to explore the spread and implications of the concept of lean production in the following ways: how has it adapted to various international contexts? how has it adapted to globalization? does it constitute a new division of labor essentially replacing Taylorism and Fordism (scientific management)? and is it compatible or contradictory to global value or commodity chains in the world systems theory literature? 
RC30	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s7	New Forms of Rural Development and Experiences of Alternatives Food Chain: The Contribution of Sociology of Work	 // New Forms of Rural Development and Experiences of Alternatives Food Chain: The Contribution of Sociology of Work Session Organizer Émilie LANCIANO, Université Jean Monnet, France,   Session in English In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of new forms of dynamism in rural development and in agricultural commodity markets. These are to be situated within the context of a more general transition in rural economies, characterised by some as the shift from a productivist to a `postproductivist` food regime (Ilbery and Bowler, 1998; Schucksmith, 1993). These experiences constitute real attempts of reappropriation by consumers of the conditions of production of the food and the quality standards, the support for the agricultural communities in difficulties, and for producers of living conditions and work. Specially, alternative food supply chains may give the possibility for producers to be less dependent of agro-food business, and to build a new relation with the consumer, but also to reactivate old work practices. The development of organic label may be viewed as recognition of some practices of some farmers. However, the nature and the objective of these experiences, their “alternativity” differs according to countries and societies. Their potential capacity of transformation of agricultural and rural development is very different according institutional, professional and economical context. The purpose of the session is to discuss the diversity of these experiences with the special focus of the sociology of work. The specific topic on alternative food systems may contribute to consider crucial issues for sociology of work: alternative food system constitutes real alternative and experiences of transformation of work relation and economic relation. How these experiments contribute to transform work activities, power relationship between farmers? How does it allow to develop collective action capacity of farmers? How do the consumer participate to the work relation? How these experiments are embedded in social local structure and economic context? What is the real potential of transformation of work and economic relations (on workers, farmers, consumers). 
RC30	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s8	Panel Session. Japanese Employment Practice in Transition: Flexibility and Job Security in Global Context	 // Panel Session. Japanese Employment Practice in Transition: Flexibility and Job Security in Global Context Session Organizers Shinichi OGAWA, Yokohama National University, Japan,   Koji TAKAHASHI, Japan Institute for Labour, Japan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The aim of this panel session is to share with the audience the outline of changing Japanese employment practice. Japanese employment system has been classified as one of the “organization-oriented,” and it implies that it ensures long-term employment within the same firm. Japanese industrial relations system, the main feature of which is the enterprise union, appears to have reinforced the employment security. Japanese practice of transition from school to work has been regarded as enabling even graduates to immediately begin their occupational lives as regular employees. As with the employment systems of other countries, Japanese employment practice is confronted with the pressure from globalization, and it is becoming difficult for it to maintain as high a level and as wide a range of job security as it used to be. In this panel session, we will focus on three topics with regard to the changing employment practice and the insecurity resulting from it, to say, increasing atypical employment, prevailing insecure job market especially in younger generations, and shrinking union membership and its bargaining power across the country. To draw the outline of these trends, and foresee the future of Japanese employment practice, we will invite three leading sociologists of work and industry in Japan. 
RC30	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s9	Precarious Work and Employment Risks in East Asia	 // Precarious Work and Employment Risks in East Asia Integrative Session // : RC02 Economy and Society, RC44 Labor Movements and RC30 Sociology of Work. Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC30	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s10	RC30 Business Meeting	 // RC30 Business Meeting 
RC30	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s11	Repensar la desigualdad social del siglo XXI: Singularidades y retos inedulibles. Rethinking Social Inequality in the 21st Century: Uniqueness and Ineludible Challenges	 // Repensar la desigualdad social del siglo XXI: Singularidades y retos inedulibles. Rethinking Social Inequality in the 21st Century: Uniqueness and Ineludible Challenges Session Organizer Laura L. ORTIZ-NEGRON, Puerto Rico,   Session in English/Spanish A través de esta sesión, perseguimos producir una comprensión profunda de la desigualdad social global con el fin de caracterizar su naturaleza singular y considerar los retos que nos plantea. Abordamos la desigualdad contemporánea desde el mundo de las diferencias, en sus aspiraciones variadas, y abandonando así el esquema tradicional de la igualdad social. Aún cuando el fenómeno de la desigualdad en el presente se ha vinculado a la tendencia de despojo y exclusión creciente de diversos sectores poblacionales, entendemos que este no está predicado solamente por tendencias en la distribución y retribución de renta. Factores sociales y culturales pudieran incidir en los procesos de desigualdad. Argumentamos que la naturaleza singular y las manifestaciones de la desigualdad social en estas primeras décadas del siglo XXI responden a nuevas tendencias del régimen asalariado, ya sea en su ordenamiento liberal, neoliberal, de capitalismo de Estado o socialismo real. Aún cuando la desigualdad social ha sido una manifestación sociohistórica y cultural desde la Antigüedad – esclavitud, monarquías, clases, grupos, castas, elites, oligarquías – con los paradigmas correspondientes, la que vivimos en el presente es novel y radical en tanto produce un despojo irreversible en un escenario de poderes concertados más allá de los estados-nación. La crisis económica y laboral contemporánea es una donde lo que históricamente había generado los excedentes y la acumulación del capital, el trabajo asalariado, ahora se aniquila por el propio capital, sin ciclos de rearticulación ante su dispensabilidad. La mayoría de las sociedades del mundo global están atravesadas por la crisis socioeconómica donde se observa una polarización social, trastocando así los arreglos de estratificación previos. Unido a este proceso, reconocemos las ideologías, discursos y políticas de exclusión y marginación de sectores que proclaman otras formas de vida y subjetividad (sexualidad, género, identidad, familia, raza, etnia y otros referentes). A su vez, muchos de los Estados modernos y en medio de su insolvencia fiscal, se convierten en estados de bienestar para el capital financiero mediante políticas de estímulos y rescates. Si el trabajo asalariado moderno se figura como una quimera y el Estado ya no pretende asumir el interés público y lo civil, ¿qué tendríamos que reconocer?, ¿qué interrogantes, análisis y posibilidades debemos acoger para forjar un futuro de vida digna en sociedad? Algunas de las coordenadas temáticas para esta sesión son: Frente a la singularidad de la crisis y la desigualdad social del siglo XXI, ¿qué tipo de metamorfosis tendría el concepto de estratificación social vis a vis las tendencias de polarización social y precariedad laboral en un mundo de diferencias? ¿Cuáles investigaciones dan cuenta de las tendencias en la desigualdad social en el presente? Asimismo, ¿qué nuevos registros y sentidos tendrían los conceptos de Estado, trabajo, ocio e intercambios sociales? In the course of this session, we shall seek to produce a deeper understanding of global social inequality in order to characterize its unique nature and consider the challenges it poses. We address contemporary inequality from the perspective of the multiple discourses of difference, in their various aspirations, abandoning the traditional schema of social equality. Although the phenomenon of inequality has been linked to the trend of increasing dispossession and exclusion of sectors of the population, we understand that this is not solely predicated upon trends in income distribution and retribution. Social and cultural factors may influence the processes of inequality. We argue that the unique nature and manifestations of social inequality in the first decades of the 21st century constitute a response to new trends in the wage regime, be it in its liberal, neoliberal state capitalist or ‘really existent’ socialist forms. Although social inequality has been a sociohistorical and cultural manifestation since Antiquity – slavery, monarchies, classes, groups, castes, elites, oligarchies – with corresponding paradigms, what we are witness to in the present is novel and radical insofar as an irreversible plundering is being systematically effected by powers beyond those of the nation-state. The contemporary economic and labor crisis is unlike those historical cycles of generated surpluses and the accumulation of capital; wage labor is now annihilated by capital without cycles of re-articulation rendering wage labor as dispensable. Most contemporary societies are ridden by socioeconomic crisis where there is an intensification of social polarization transforming previous social arrangements and stratifications. Linked to this process, we recognize the ideologies, discourses and policies of exclusion and marginalization of sectors that claim other forms of subjectivity and social life (sexuality, gender, identity, family, race, ethnicity, and other referents). At the same time, many modern states, in the midst of fiscal insolvency, have become welfare states for finance capital via policies of economic stimulus and bailouts. If modern wage labor appears as a chimera and the State no longer pretends to assume the public interest and the civic, what do we need to recognize?, what questions, analysis and possibilities should we take up in order to forge a decent social life for the future? Some of the key themes for this session are: Faced with the uniqueness of the crisis and social inequality in the 21st century, what kind of metamorphosis would the concept of social stratification undergo vis a vis social polarization trends and job insecurity in a world of differences? What research demonstrates trends in social inequality in the present? Also, in what ways have new accounts and meanings alter the concepts of state, work, leisure and social exchanges? 
RC30	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s12	Work-Life Interference in a Time of Austerity. L’interférence travail-vie privée en période d’austérité. Interferencia entre trabajo y vida en tiempos de austeridad	 // Work-Life Interference in a Time of Austerity. L’interférence travail-vie privée en période d’austérité. Interferencia entre trabajo y vida en tiempos de austeridad Session Organizers Bernard FUSULIER, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium,   Hideki NAKAZATO, Konan University, Japan,   Diane Gabrielle TREMBLAY, Université Téluq, Canada,   Session in English/French/Spanish Work-life interference is a real challenge and has become a prominent issue in many countries, national and workplace levels, while for numerous workers ‘juggling’ with competing professional and family needs/care responsibilities in particular is a relentless and often stressful part of everyday life. The growing prominence of ‘work-life‘ strain as a policy issue is connected to contemporary socio-economic transformations: flexible working hours, feminisation of the labour market, intensification of work practices, mobility of the labour force, changing family composition and structure, ageing populations and the general challenge of demographic renewal. The recent global economic down-turn, resulting in insecure and precarious labour markets, is likely to intensify these societal transformations. Specific policies and measures have been developed to face these new societal challenges. Nevertheless, in some places, the economic crisis of 2008 and austerity politics that have followed in its wake are leading to an erosion of work/family regime changes and work/life balance initiatives at work. The session will address the effects of austerity, on the first hand, on national work-life policies and uses and, on the other one, on policies and practices of workplaces and occupations. Aujourd’hui, nombre de personnes ont à jongler avec des impératifs professionnels et familiaux contradictoires, se voient handicapées sur le marché du travail ou fragilisées quant à leur possibilité de s’engager dans une vie conjugale et parentale, ou encore souffrent de ne pouvoir combiner de manière satisfaisante leurs diverses activités. Au carrefour de plusieurs évolutions et transformations contemporaines (flexibilité et intensification du travail, précarité de l’emploi, féminisation du marché du travail, mobilités géographiques, recomposition familiales, vieillissement de la population…), l’interférence entre la vie professionnelle et la vie privée (et familiale en particulier) n’est pas qu’une affaire privée mais devient un enjeu de société qui concerne directement le monde du travail. Des politiques spécifiques sont implémentées pour rencontrer cet enjeu. Néanmoins, avec la crise économique actuelle et l’austérité budgétaire, les possibilités de transformation du régime d’articulation du système productif et du système reproductif, en même temps que des initiatives prises par les entreprises pour favoriser une meilleure conciliation des milieux de vie semblent fragilisées. Cette session interroge par conséquent l’impact de l’austérité ambiante sur, d’une part, les politiques nationales d’articulation travail/famille et leurs usages par les travailleurs et, d’autres part, les politiques et pratiques au niveau des lieux de travail et des milieux professionnels. El fenómeno de la interferencia entre trabajo y vida es un desafío real que se ha vuelto una cuestión prominente en un gran número de países a niveles nacional e institucional. Al mismo tiempo, para muchos trabajadores, los “malabarismos” necesarios para articular responsabilidades profesionales y familiares en particular constituyen una parte estresante y difícil de la vida diaria. La creciente importancia de la tensión entre trabajo y vida como asunto de normativa/de política está ligada a transformaciones socioeconómicas contemporáneas: horas de trabajo flexibles, feminización del mercado de trabajo, intensificación de prácticas laborales, movilidad de la fuerza de trabajo, cambios en la composición y en la estructura de la familia, poblaciones que envejecen y el desafió general del renovamiento demográfico. Parece ser que, el reciente deterioro económico global que resulta en mercados de trabajo inseguros y precarios, intensifica dichas transformaciones societales. Medidas políticas específicas han sido desarrolladas para enfrentar estos nuevos desafíos societales. Sin embargo, en algunos lugares, la crisis económica del 2008 así como las políticas de austeridad que se han dado en este despertar están llevando a la erosión de cambios en el régimen trabajo/familia y en las iniciativas de equilibrio trabajo/vida en el campo laboral. Nuestra sesión abordará los efectos de dicha austeridad, la primera, en asuntos de normativa/de política y sus usos a nivel nacional y por otra parte, en asuntos de normativa/de política y en prácticas en lugares de trabajo y en ocupaciones diversas. 
RC30	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC30#s13	Workplace Innovation – Social Innovation Shaping Work Organisation and Working Life	 // Workplace Innovation – Social Innovation Shaping Work Organisation and Working Life Session Organizers Juergen HOWALDT, Social Research Center Dortmund, Germany,   Peter OEIJ, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Netherlands,   Ben FRUYTIER, Research Centre for Social Innovation, Netherlands,   Session in English Workplace Innovation is a social, participatory process which shapes work organisation and working life, combining their human, organisational and technological dimensions. This participatory process simultaneously results in improved organisational performance and enhanced quality of working life. Workplace innovation is an important element of strategies for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth of the economies (EU2020 Strategy) through higher productivity, a better quality of working life and more innovation capability. Workplace Innovation or ‘social Innovation in the workplace’ facilitates the impact of technological and economic innovations, delivering a productivity and innovation leap for private and public enterprises. A lack of investment in Workplace Innovation results in idle capacities and a lagging development of the knowledge economy, a gap intensified by the emergence of new working patterns and new types of organisation. At the same time, data of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS; Eurofound, 2012) demonstrate that workplace Innovation results in active work situations: workplaces and jobs in which workers have greater autonomy in controlling their work demands, coupled with higher discretionary capacity for learning and problem-solving. Little is known about how Workplace Innovation drives and adapts to recent and emerging social developments in the world of work: growing numbers of self-employed individuals, the emergence of the network economy and multi-located working sites, the notion of the mobile and boundless ‘workplace’, the concept of distributed leadership and management, the changing institutional roles of unions and occupational groupings, the ageing work force, complex patterns of self-organising linkages connecting organisations and individuals, the application of ICTs and the use of social media. These highly unpredictable, yet irrefutably emerging patterns demand social intelligence and innovative capacity which transcends restricted technical or economic perspectives. The paper contributions should discuss opportunities and challenges of workplace Innovation and its potential for wellbeing and organizational performance and explore how Workplace Innovation can contribute to sustainable economic, ecological and social change by fostering the innovative capacity of organisations and individuals. Developing and deploying human talent and fostering a willingness to cooperate are indispensable components of a versatile network economy, relying heavily on participation, dialogue and self-organisation of engaged individuals working in and between organisations. Examples should help to understand how different countries address the topic. The contributions of this session should discuss (one or more of) the following questions: What does for workplace innovation look like in practice? How does workplace innovation incorporate technical and social aspects of change? How do organisations, managers and workers deal with tensions related to innovation? What is the role of social media and new ICTs in workplace innovation today? In what way differ Western societies from Non-Western societies in workplace innovation? Best papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of the journal World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Migration, RC31
RC31	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s1	Ambivalence as a Category for Migration Studies: Promises, Pitfalls, Ways Ahead 	 // Ambivalence as a Category for Migration Studies: Promises, Pitfalls, Ways Ahead Session Organizers Peter KIVISTO, Augustana College, USA,   Paolo BOCCAGNI, University of Trento, Italy,   Session in English Ambivalence, seen as an actor’s reaction towards any complex, cognitively confusing or emotionally charged social phenomenon, is emerging as a meaningful interpretive tool in the social sciences, including sociology. In this regard, migrant life experiences can be analyzed by emphasizing ambivalence as an enduring emotion, a more situationally-specific attitude, or even as a permanent life condition. The thorny coexistence of “opposing affective orientations toward the same person, object or symbol”, as the quintessential character of ambivalence (Smelser, 1997), is visible in immigrants’ typical life experiences, which are marked by contrasting and sometimes contradictory roles and fluid identities. This holds, for instance, for first generation migrants’ reactions and expectations towards receiving societies, as a mixture of attraction and repulsion, which intermingles feelings of acceptance (at least instrumentally, as members of the labour force) and rejection (as marginalized human beings with rights, needs and life projects of their own). Migrants’ relationships with their home societies may likewise produce ambivalence, the product of what has been described as “ambiguous loss” (Boss, 1987). Ambivalence can be relevant to immigrants’ future life projects, as the allure of the prospect of return home is set against the typically greater opportunities afforded by everyday life abroad – which results in decisional trade-offs. More broadly, immigrants’ relatively limited control over their ‘external situation’ in host societies and their limited ability to ‘define’ their situation can be a source of ambivalence. Relatively unexplored in the literature to date is how the weight of ambivalence is affected by cultural and societal variations that define both immigrant groups and receiving societies, as well as by the interplay of migrants’ agency and the external structure of opportunities. Against this background, we welcome theoretical and/or empirical contributions, based on single case studies or on comparative analyses that may advance our understanding of the interpretative added value of an ambivalence lens for migration studies. Reflections on the methodological and substantive difficulty of research on migrant ambivalence are welcome, as well. 
RC31	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s2	Arts, Migration and Incorporation: A Global Perspective 	 // Arts, Migration and Incorporation: A Global Perspective Session Organizers Marco MARTINIELLO, Université de Liège, Belgium,   Mónica IBANEZ ANGULO, Universidad de Burgos, Spain,   Session in English The academic literature on immigrant integration and incorporation is huge both in Europe and in America. It has literally exploded in Europe and in the US since the 1980’s (Martiniello and Rath, 2010, 2012) to cover a wide rage of issues linked to economic, social, political and cultural incorporation of immigrant and their offspring. However, some topics and issues have so far been, relatively neglected, for example the relationship between the arts and the integration of migrants and their offspring. Itis remarkable that the first book to examine comprehensively the importance of art in the lives of immigrants in the US was published as late as 2010 (DiMaggio and Fernandez-Kelly 2010). In Europe, two special issues of dedicated to that question appeared in 2008 (Martiniello and Lafleur 2008) and 2009 (Martiniello, Puig and Suzanne 2009). The importance of art and popular culture in immigrant integration remains a relatively less explored subject in the sociological and political science literature on migration and integration. In this background, the aim of this session is precisely to contribute solving that gap by engaging in a global discussion on the importance of art in general, of popular music in particular in the integration and incorporation of immigrants and their offspring from a sociological perspective. In this session we are interested in papers that address the interrelationships between art migration and immigrant incorporation that draw from a theoretical and/or an empirical based research. More precisely, we are interested in examining: (i) the extent to which art constitutes a form of expression that has no borders allowing to the mobility of both the social agents that produce the artworks and the artworks themselves; (ii) empirical data regarding the ways in which art has facilitated the social inclusion of migrant artists by successfully integrating them into the receiving society; (iii) empirical and theoretical papers dealing with the role of art in the métissage and hybridization of cultural practices; (iv) contrasting definitions across cultures of what constitutes an artistic expression/artistic performance and of how one becomes an artist; (v) the spatial and temporal locations of migrant artists and their works: popular music, street art, etc; and (vi) the role of art in the struggles for migrants’ rights (e.g. civil society associations, social movements, demonstrations). 
RC31	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s3	Asian Migration from Comparative Perspectives	 // Asian Migration from Comparative Perspectives Session Organizer Hideki TARUMOTO, Hokkaido University, Japan,   Session in English There is no doubt that Asia is an active area of international migration. But, how we can understand Asian migration? What are difference between migration in Asia and ones in other areas like the Western world? All Asian countries have received not a few migrants from other countries. A lot of migrants to Asia seeks well-paid jobs in other countries. Recently, female migrants are paid attention to in this area. They move to other countries to be engeged in so-called `women`s works` such as care workers, housekeepers, and international marriage, which lead to creating global household in the world. Surely, some of the immigrants have come from Western highly-industrialised countries, but a large part of them move across borders within Asian countries. Asia is not only a migration-receiving area but it is notable for sending massive emigrants. The Philippines is a typical example to establish emigration-producing industry within. A part of migrants go towards Western highly-industiralised countries to seek better opportunities of work and education. As a result, they have helped Western societies to become multicultural further. Some of them, such as Japanese and South Koreans, are called `moral minorities` in Western countries like the United States. As well-known, oversea Chinese have dispersed all over that world. Besides, it should be also mentioned that there are a considerable number of Asian emigrants who go towards other Asian countries. These Asian cases highlight the theoretical hypothesis of globalisation versus the nation-state. While some nation-states in Asia still retain their power contrary to the globalisation thesis. Even if not so, others might be immature to organise people as nationals, which make national boundaries blur. In these situations, what migration policies do such Asian-typed states produce? Can they perform to regulate migration effectively? Consequently, this session poses the purpose of clarifying characteristics of Asian migration with comparison to migration in Europe, America, Africa and Oceania etc. 
RC31	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s4	Back to Class and Race: Migrant Workers and Low Income Jobs in a Globalizing World	 // Back to Class and Race: Migrant Workers and Low Income Jobs in a Globalizing World Session Organizers Nuno DIAS, Universidad Nueva de Lisboa, Portugal,   Renato CARMO, Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, Portugal,   Session in English Historically, low-income sectors such as domestic services and construction and low- end industrial jobs have played an important role in incorporating foreign workers into the labour markets of host societies. This importance has been constantly highlighted by specific literature along with references to the intertwined growth of immigration and of the relative importance of those particular sectors to the global economy. These migrant workers are mainly recruited in the informal market, frequently being engaged with unreliable salary conditions where any sort of social benefits are usually absent. In face of this unequivocal concentration of migrants in specific gendered sectors of the labour market; the consequent occurrence of processes of social segmentation and racialization within these sectors with regard to these contingents; and of the globalized crossed patterns of social disqualification where class and race surface as mutual explanatory variables seems urgent to enlarge, in a comparative fashion, the debate on the intersection underlined above but also on how the current recession is affecting these particular labour market sectors and its migrant workers. Therefore, the main objective of this workshop is to discuss the intersection of processes of ethnic and class formation in specific labour-market segments and also its relation with wider processes such as the increased deregulation in labour market, the contraction of Welfare state, etc. Ultimately we will try to convey a limited number of articles to apply for a publication on labour and race issues. 
RC31	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s5	Circular or Temporary Mobilities and Global Inequality	 // Circular or Temporary Mobilities and Global Inequality Session Organizer Lloyd WONG, University of Calgary, Canada,   Session in English This session will examine the phenomenon of circular or temporary migration which has (re)emerged as a significant theme in the migration literature as distinct from the phenomenon of settlement migration. Papers that examine specific case studies of circular migration are welcome as well as those that address state policies with respect to circular or temporary migration. Further, along with the customary focus on low, unskilled and semi-skilled temporary labour migration (such as agricultural worker, home care workers, etc.) papers are also welcome on highly skilled labour migration (such as high-tech workers, transnational athletes, etc.). Authors are encouraged to utilize the new mobilities paradigm by itself or integrate it with other perspectives or dimensions of inequality, such as global political economy, racialization, and genderization, to theoretically frame their papers. The case of circular irregular migration will also be considered. 
RC31	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s6	Contemporary Labor Migration Policies in East Asia	 // Contemporary Labor Migration Policies in East Asia Session Organizer Kristin SURAK, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany,   Session in English Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan stand out as democracies with strong economies, aging societies, well-educated populations, and rock-bottom birthrates that have opened only the narrowest of doors to labor immigration. Indeed, by some measures, they stand out as negative cases. But they have not remained static over time. The purpose of this panel would be to bring together papers on Japan, South Korean, and Taiwan to explore both change and stasis in labor migration policies over the past twenty years. Focus would be placed on the political economy of labor migration in the region. What explains the halting turn to foreign workers? Do developmental state characteristics or neoliberal trends play a role in how labor migration programs are implemented and managed? What has been the impact of democratic mechanisms on migration policy formation? How have these states dealt with the unintended consequences of policy implementation? Are regional patterns or dynamics evident? 
RC31	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s7	Contemporary Spatial Mobilities in Family Life	 // Contemporary Spatial Mobilities in Family Life Session Organizers Laura MERLA, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium,   Loretta BALDASSAR, University of Western Australia, Australia,   Yukimi SHIMODA, University of Western Australia, Australia,   Sachiko SONE, University of Western Australia, Australia,   Session in English This session explores spatial mobilities in family life in all their diversity: sojourn, commuter, transnational, retirement, multi-local, lifestyle, international student, FIFO, return visits, repatriations, ‘tenkin-zoku’... We examine mobility as the new paradigm for understanding social life, and explore mobility and absence as increasingly common experiences in contemporary family life. What are the major issues and challenges presented by this wide range of internal and transnational mobilities? Can we usefully examine these diverse types of mobility together or are there distinctions that warrant careful attention? Our consideration includes the ways in which the mobilities of family members influence those who move and those who stay at ‘home’. We invite contributions that examine contemporary family mobilities in diverse forms and raise issues and challenges for our spatially moving societies. We are particularly interested in contributions that examine contemporary family mobilities in Asia, and other non-western regions. 
RC31	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s8	Emergent Multi-Cultural Identities and Practices of Immigrants: Toward the Recognition of Yet Another Integration Trajectory	 // Emergent Multi-Cultural Identities and Practices of Immigrants: Toward the Recognition of Yet Another Integration Trajectory Session Organizer Ewa MORAWSKA, University of Essex, United Kingdom,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . In this session we consider the need to recognize yet another trajectory of immigrants’ integration into the host society which is becoming common in the era of intensified glocalization and, thus, multi-culturalisation processes, namely, the emergence of plural identities and cultural practices among immigrants. These plural identities and practices may combine elements of customs and lifestyles of several different groups in the host society immigrants come into contact with and/or merge elements of local (ized) commitments and cosmopolitan orientations. Such multi-cultural form of adaptation circumvents the existing models of immigrant integration, both the segmented assimilation theory which distinguishes between mainstream upward and downward trajectories, and the ethnic-path or ethnicization model whereby immigrants acculturate to the receiver society from within their ethnic group by mixing-and-fusing just two components, that is, their home- and host-country traditions. The session panel will include Thomas Faist (UBielefeld), the author of a 2011 JERS article on diversity as a new mode of integration; Steven Vertovec (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity/Goettingen), the author of a 2012 EJS essay on diversity as the social imagery and several publications on multiculturalism; Peter Kivisto (Augustana College), the author of 2010 book on multiculturalism in a global society; and Ewa Morawska (forthcoming essays on “Multiculturalism from Below: Reflections of an Immigrant Ethnographer” and “On Conviviality: Theoretical Reflections on Its Meanings, Facilitating & Hindering Circumstances, and Different Varieties”). 
RC31	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s9	Exploring Return Migration	 // Exploring Return Migration Session Organizer Francesca DEGIULI, City University of New York, USA,   Session in English Since the economic crisis of 2008-09 and the following economic turmoil in Europe a number of former immigrants have returned home. This panel aims to explore who are the migrants who return, when and why they chose to do so/ In addition, the panel aims to explore what roles do these social actors play in their countries once they return if any and what it means to be a return migrant in the current state of affairs. 
RC31	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s10	Forced Migration	 // Forced Migration Session Organizer David BARTRAM, University of Leicester, United Kingdom,   Session in English Migration scholars in recent years have argued that distinctions between ‘forced’ and ‘voluntary’ (or ‘economic’) migration are difficult to sustain. Certainly there is no dichotomy between these two types – but it nonetheless seems possible and desirable to describe (& thus categorize) different migration flows using these terms. Papers considering conceptual and/or empirical questions along the following lines are particularly welcome: beyond the obvious cases where people flee rather than be shot or blown up, what exactly makes ‘forced migration’ forced? To what extent is the conventional ‘refugee’ paradigm still useful for understanding forced migration on its own terms? What consequences might follow from describing a particular migration stream as forced (e.g. do the migrants in question merit more consideration than other migrants in claims for entry)? Other papers directly connected to forced migration issues will be considered as well. 
RC31	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s11	Immigrant Integration in the New Immigration Destinations	 // Immigrant Integration in the New Immigration Destinations Session Organizer Hirohisa TAKENOSHITA, Sophia University, Japan,   Session in English Over several decades, many countries have experienced a massive inflow of immigrants from other countries. Meanwhile, there has been a wide variation across nations in the way in which immigrants have been incorporated into the host society. Although some countries in Asia and Europe have recently been added to new immigration destinations, previous research has been limited to several countries that have accepted immigrants for a long period of time. Questions addressed in this session would be whether there would be any systemic difference in actual mechanisms for incorporation and integration, depending on the period in which countries began to accept immigrants from other countries. If any, how different would the integration mechanism be across nations? Would there be any similar characteristics of integration of immigrants within recent immigration countries? Papers that focus specifically on immigrants in a country are also welcome, whereas the session organizer expects presenters to discuss the features of integration in a given country in a comparative perspective. 
RC31	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s12	Immigration and Participation in Voluntary Organizations	 // Immigration and Participation in Voluntary Organizations Session Organizers Eric FONG, University of Toronto, Canada,   Wataru OZAWA, Ritsumeikan University, Japan Session in English Participation of immigrants in voluntary organizations in the host country has been gradually gaining attention among researchers. Using participation in voluntary organizations as an indicator of civic participation, we can evaluate the degree of civic integration of immigrants in the host country. This session attempts to facilitate discussions on factors that affect the participation of immigrants in voluntary organizations and the consequences of participation in voluntary organizations with respect to immigrant integration 
RC31	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s13	Japanese-Brazilians from Global Sociological Perspectives	 // Japanese-Brazilians from Global Sociological Perspectives Integrative Session // : Japan Sociological Society, RC31 Sociology of Migration and Brazilian Sociological Society Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC31	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s14	Migration and Gender	 // Migration and Gender Session Organizer Manashi RAY, West Virginia State University, USA,   Session in English Women comprised 49 percent of migrants in 2000 (International Labor Organization 2003: 9). While it true that there has been no significant change in the proportion of female and male international migrants since the 1960s, there have been notable changes in the pattern of migration. More women are migrating independently, and they are doing so as primary income earners instead of following a male relative (Martin 2005). Furthermore, there have been major changes in the migratory patterns between different regions and countries (Jolly and Reeves 2005). Feminist and gender scholars have recognized these facts and since the mid-1990s have sought to explore the reciprocal relationship between the social construction of gender and the migration process (Curran, Shafer, et al. 2006). The scholarship ascertained that while multiple factors may be influencing migratory decisions, namely economic, social, and political pressures and incentives, the ongoing gender relations and hierarchies within a household context and beyond – state institutions, markets, networks, and civil societies – are what more importantly affect such decisions. The migratory interests of both genders do not necessarily coincide and might influence the decisions about who manages to migrate, for how long, and to what countries (Boyd and Grieco 2003). Further, gender roles, relations, and inequalities – at the local and global levels – have consequences for the migrants themselves, as well as for the sending and receiving countries and regions. Therefore, the goal of this panel is to invite critical analytical scholarship addressing: how gender is central to understanding migration causes and consequences how migration becomes the critical site for exposing the mutability of gender relations. How does the gender-segregated labor market as a consequence of globalization offer different opportunities and rewards to male and female migrants in receiving and sending countries and regions? How does gender affect how migrants adapt to the new country, the extent of contact with the original country, and the possibility of return and successful reintegration? How does migration create gendered work-family contexts that affect the lives of female and male migrants? How do government policies and state institutions affect gender migration at both the domestic and international levels? From a development perspective, how does migration create a more just society while attending to concerns of gender equality and social development? 
RC31	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s15	Migration in Africa: Challenges for Global Sociology	 // Migration in Africa: Challenges for Global Sociology Session Organizers Pragna RUGUNANAN, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Ria SMIT, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Session in English The African continent has in the last few decades seen an unparalleled rise in social inequality. Although Africa has a long history of labour migration, increasing numbers of individuals have of late become part of the oscillating migrant labour system due to economic difficulties. Moreover, drought and famine have forced many individuals and families to cross boarder within and between nation-states in order to find means for survival. Others have become internally displaced or compelled to seek political refuge because of persistent political crises, civil war, and human rights violations in their home countries. The aim of this session is to draw the focus to migration in Africa, the challenges migrants face and the strategies they employ to move beyond mere survival to forge a better life. The session welcomes scholarly contributions related to migration in Africa, which may include but is not limited to the following: forced migration and the life experiences of refugees and asylum seekers; ‘feminisation’ of migration on the African continent; gender and labour migration; migratory experiences and discourses of vulnerability; and migrants and the issue of the ‘second home’. 
RC31	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s16	Migration, Gender and Development: Narrating Experiences in the Global Context	 // Migration, Gender and Development: Narrating Experiences in the Global Context Session Organizer Bishnu Charan BARIK, Sambalpur University, India,   Session in English Migration of labour both skilled and unskilled has been viewed as a change agent of development of a society. Earlier research suggests that migration of labour was male dominated. Only in few cases women use to migrate if the case is family migration. With the advent of Globalization with diminishing market and spatial boundary, the scope of migration of women across the globe has increased many folds. As the data reveals there are now 175 million international migrants worldwide or approximately 3.5 per cent population and about half of them are women. Large chunk of them fall under human trafficking group. These women labour largely engage themselves in informal sector jobs like domestic establishments, small scale factories and hazardous industries etc where they undergo severe exploitation mentally, physically and financially. They are paid paltry wage for long hours of work with no social and job security. They are segregated in the work place and prevented not to form their own ethnic group identity. In fact they live a life of floating population in host country. This panel intends to invite papers with empirical data narrating the working and living condition of women workers across the globe. 
RC31	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s17	New Trends in Migration Flows	 // New Trends in Migration Flows Session Organizer Catherine WIHTOL DE WENDEN, Sciences Po, France,   Session in English The last years have been characterised by many features regarding migrations, which have entered in a global perspective. First, migrations flows going to the north (south-north and north-north) are challenged in their number by migrations going to the south (south-south and north south), due to the economic crisis in Europe which opened new opportunities in emerging countries and to demographic trends which are creating new jobs at north but also at south (seniors going to the sun) Second, the regionalisation of migration flows which coexists with its globalisation is attracting new candidates for l migration who did not travel so long in the past because migration was not involving poor people who are beginning to move in some areas of the world (Latin America, Africa, Asia), particularly among women and minor children Third, the economic crisis in Europe is making this destination less attractive than in the past with migrants in Europe who leave it towards their countries of origin and other destinations and Europeans who leave Europe to find jobs Fourth, the recent political crises (Syria, Arab revolutions in Egypt and Maghreb) are changing the profile of southern Mediterranean countries, along with border controls in Europe and roles of border guards of these neighbour countries, changing them into immigration and transit countries. Most of these changes have occurred in the last five years. The panel will explore these new migration situations as well as the attempts of management of this new migration landscape (world governance of migration, regional areas of free circulation). 
RC31	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s18	RC31 Business Meeting	 // RC31 Business Meeting 
RC31	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s19	Re-Migration of Immigrants: Who Stays, Returns, and Moves on?	 // Re-Migration of Immigrants: Who Stays, Returns, and Moves on? Session Organizer Ayumi TAKENAKA, Bryn Mawr College, USA,   Session in English In this session we examine an emerging type of global migration that has not received adequate attention in the migration literature: re-migration and multiple migrations. While much research has focused on one-time migration, typically from developing countries to developed ones, more and more migrants today move multiple times, either intentionally or otherwise. Some migrants undertake “transit migration” by moving first to neighboring countries before reaching their final or preferred destinations. “Secondary migration” is common among refugees who move again after being settled in one locale. Moreover, immigrants may decide later to re-migrate, using the first destination as a stepping-stone to move to another country. Who moves on, where, and why, in contrast to who stays and who returns? When does migration stop altogether, if at all? And how do the patterns of re-migration differ from those of one-time migration? The aim of the panel is to collectively examine these questions by comparing different case studies around the world. We hope that the panel will provide an opportunity to attempt a theoretical model on immigrants’ re-migration and create future dialogs to further discussions. 
RC31	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s20	Transnational Lives: Inequalities and Adaptation	 // Transnational Lives: Inequalities and Adaptation Session Organizer Caroline PLUSS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,   Session in English More and more people now live in more than one country during their life, being or having been educational, professional, family, and/or friendship or life-styles migrants. This panel presents theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to explain the experiences of people and collectivities whose lives straddle more than one society. The themes that the papers for this panel should address include: the uneven embeddedness of transnational migrants in the societies to which they are connected transnational migrants’ adaptation strategies to become and remain embedded in more than one society constructions of cultural hybridity and/or cosmopolitanism as strategies to attempt to maintain and/or increase social integration in more than one society the issues that arise for transnational migrants when they have crossed national boundaries to live elsewhere (several times) in terms of not being or feeling integrated in either one society 
RC31	s21	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC31#s21	Transnational Migration Networks among Ethnic Minorities in the Global Era	 // Transnational Migration Networks among Ethnic Minorities in the Global Era Session Organizer Kayoko ISHII, Toyoeiwa University, Japan,   Session in English This session will discuss transnational migration networks among ethnic minorities and their utilization of their ethnicities which is once marginalized in the Nation State as social capital in order to survive in trans-border space, by reviewing field-based case studies. In today’s globalized world, certain ethnic minorities, who were once marginalized in the nation-state system, are now vigorously building transnational migration networks by taking advantage of their particular ethnicity/culture. By examining cases on the transnational migration networks among ethnic minorities, this session attempts to analyze connotations of border, center–periphery relationships, and the transition of the “power balance” between ethnicities and nationalities. This session may include the following themes/discussions: How do trans-border migration networks expand among particular ethnic minority groups, and what is the function/connotation of such networks? How do ethnic minorities, who were marginalized in the nation-state system, take advantage of their ethnicity/culture as social capital in order to survive as trans-border citizens? How have ethnic minorities maintained their transnational migration networks throughout their incorporation into the nation-state system in the 20th century; how have these networks changed in the face of globalization? Papers based on field cases are welcome, regardless of whether they are qualitative or quantitative. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Women in Society, RC32
RC32	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s1	A Cross-National Comparative Approach to CEDAW as an Instrument to Effect Women’s Rights and Gender Equality	 // A Cross-National Comparative Approach to CEDAW as an Instrument to Effect Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Session Organizers Solange SIMOES, Eastern Michigan University, USA,   Manisha DESAI, University of Connecticut, USA,   Session in English The Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, dubbed the “international bill of rights for women”, has been adopted and ratified by 187 of 193 countries. The US – surprisingly to some but not to all - stands out as one of the few countries, together with Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Palau, and Tonga, that have not ratified the Convention. By ratifying CEDAW, countries commit to end de jure as well as de facto discrimination against Women. Nevertheless, besides the usual gaps found between policy making and implementation, there are other issues that lead to a debate about the extent to which CEDAW has been an effective instrument to foster women’s rights and gender equality. On the one hand, the Convention has been used by women’s and feminist movements worldwide in order to demand the establishment of institutional mechanisms for monitoring and implementing gender equality policies, plans and programs in critical areas of women`s lives. On the other hand, several countries have ratified CEDAW with “reservations” that, arguably, directly or indirectly clash with the object and purpose of the Convention. This session’s objective is to allow for a cross-country comparative approach to the varied ways the Convention has been promoted – or not – by the women’s movements and governments throughout the world as a key tool to effect institutional change leading to gender equality. How - and to what extent – has CEDAW been implemented in the countries where it was ratified? Why have some countries – and notably the US – not ratified the Convention? What are the implications of that domestically and internationally? In sum, what can we learn by an international dialogue about the Convention, comparing the different contexts in which CEDAW was ratified or not, effectively implemented or not? 
RC32	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s2	Author Meets their Critics 	 // Author Meets their Critics Session Organizer Glenda BONIFACIO, University of Lethbridge, Canada,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . RC32 members` new books are being presented and discussed. 
RC32	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s3	Confronting De-professionalization, Deskilling and Inequality: Immigrant Women’s Alternative Strategies for Survival	 // Confronting De-professionalization, Deskilling and Inequality: Immigrant Women’s Alternative Strategies for Survival Session Organizers Patience ELABOR-IDEMUDIA, University of Saskatchewan, Canada,   Guida MAN, York University, Canada,   Session in English Contrary to contemporary notions of universalism, liberalism, democracy and equality in a globalized world marked by massive movement of people internationally, immigrants of color continue to confront discrimination on the basis of race, class, gender, ability and religious affiliation. In Canada for example, the selection of immigrants for admission based on the point system, has led to the impression that discrimination has been eliminated from the process with equality prevailing. The fact remains, however, that upon arrival in the country after going through the rigorous screening process, the foreign credentials of most immigrants, particularly those of minoritized women, are devalued resulting in their de-professionalization and deskilling. This results in their inability to become gainfully employed for self- actualization in the Canadian society. This session will explore the social, political and economic dimensions of this trend as well as examine the survival strategies adopted by minoritized immigrant women for coping with their marginalized position in their newly adopted country. Specific focus will be placed on immigrant women from China, Nigeria/Ghana and India in the presentation. 
RC32	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s4	Crisis, Transnational Migration, and the Gender Order in Europe	 // Crisis, Transnational Migration, and the Gender Order in Europe Integrative Session // : RC31, Sociology of Migration, RC32 Women in Society, RC38, Biography and Society, German Sociological Association and European Sociological Association – RN 33, Research Network on Women and Gender Studies Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC32	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s5	Gender and Work in a Global Context	 // Gender and Work in a Global Context Session Organizers Shobha Hamal GURUNG, Southern Utah University, USA,   Kumiko NEMOTO, Western Kentucky University, USA,   Session in English Modernization, democratization, and globalization have prompted many nations to make gender equality a political, economic, and social imperative. The emerging adoption of egalitarian policies, combined with the women`s movement`s wide exposure of local women`s low status, has promoted the participation of women in the labor force and the reconciliation of work and family life. However, gender inequality and sex segregation persist in formal and informal sectors; occupational and organizational institutions; and local and globalized market places. The session invites papers that examine organizational, employment, labor, and workplace structures and processes that produce or reinforce inequality of gender, as well as the roles of actors such as workers and employers in mediating and shaping social and cultural outcomes of inequality in local and global contexts. The session will deal with papers that illuminate gender, work, and inequality in contemporary contexts, focusing on either macro or micro processes, with local or comparative perspectives. We are interested in understanding the various shapes of gender inequality that intersect with cultural, economic, and policy factors. This session hopes to investigate thoroughly the formal and informal, organizational, and cultural processes and mechanisms in which gender inequality is reinforced. 
RC32	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s6	Gender in Sexual Minorities Research: Focus on Asian Scholarship	 // Gender in Sexual Minorities Research: Focus on Asian Scholarship Session Organizers Saori KAMANO, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan,   Day WONG, Hong Kong Baptist University, China,   Session in English It is conventional academic wisdom that the world is unequal, but there is less attention on the inequality embedded in sociological knowledge on the world, such that certain topics remain marginalized and certain regions remain mostly an object of research than a source of scholarship. In the past decade, research on sexual minorities in and produced in Asia has gained some visibility in international interdisciplinary conferences and an explosion of publications. Following in this trend, we aim in this session to bring together current sociological research generated in the Asian context addressing the intersection of gender with sexualities. This section seeks theoretical and empirical research that explores these and related questions: What does recent research in Asia and/or on Asian subjects tell us about the configuration of gender and the category “women”? How do heteronormativity, heterosexism, homophobia, male-domination, sexism, and binary thinking (e.g. male versus female) mutually constitute the experiences of “women” and “men” in the Asian context? What implications do recent lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer studies in Asia have on current understanding of gender inequality? How do social divisions based on class, ethnicity, nationality, colonial experiences, and politics intersect with the relationship between gender and sexual orientation? In light of growing critiques of the Euro-American domination of sociology, this session aspires to destabilizing, and hence, enriching Sociology in general and in particular the field of gender, by giving voice to hitherto neglected research on sexual minorities in Asia. 
RC32	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s7	Gender, Culture and Innovation in the Bio-Economy	 // Gender, Culture and Innovation in the Bio-Economy Session Organizers Cynthia JOSEPH, Monash University, Australia,   Josephine BEOKU-BETTS, Florida Atlantic University, USA,   Session in English The significance of bio-technology and the emerging bio-economy to primary production, health and industry, as well as national and global economic outputs, has been well documented (OECD, 2012; Roy & Ong, 2011). Understanding the social, cultural and technical dimensions of this sector also provides valuable knowledge regarding higher-level skills (complex communication, analytical and problem-solving skills) that are vital for productivity growth, GDP and successful participation in the global bio-economy (Dutta 2012,OECD, 2012). The focus of this panel is professional and semi-professional women in the biotechnology sector, an untapped group of knowledge workers in the bio-economy and knowledge economy (OECD 2012). The papers on this panel explore the ways in which social relations and power dynamics within the bio-technology sector shape women`s identities working in this sector and their access to resources and opportunities (e.g., promotion, appropriate mentoring, networking opportunities). Women in the bio-technology sector are not just scientists and professionals; they carry their cultural identity (as members of ethnic and religious collectives), their gender roles, their familial roles, community roles with them into their biotechnology workplace. This panel also looks at how the occupational identities of women in the bio-technology industries are bound up with their interactions with technological/technoscience artefacts and the work culture in emergent industries. Increased participation of women in the science, technology and innovation sectors will lead to a greater influence in shaping responses to some of the major socio-economic and scientific questions which impact directly on the lives of women (for example, targeted therapies for breast cancer, gender-sensitive health research, ethno-pharmacy, management of plant biodiversity). 
RC32	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s8	Gender, Violence, and Disaster: Rebuilding and Co-Construction through Participation	 // Gender, Violence, and Disaster: Rebuilding and Co-Construction through Participation Session Organizers Mieko YOSHIHAMA, University of Michigan, USA,   Azumi TSUGE, Meiji Gakuin University, Japan,   Session in English In this session, findings from a number of empirical investigations of women’s experiences over the two years following the Great East Japan Disasters in March 2011, will be presented. These studies of varied methodologies, coupled with participant observations and community-based participatory workshops, will elucidate the extent to and the ways in which gender and various other sociocultural and structural forces interactively affect women’s experiences in/after disaster at the individual, organizational/professional, community, and societal levels; how women, individually and collectively, respond to and make meaning of loss and destruction caused by disasters; and how they begin to take action to address them. This session will examine the social processes of loss and dislocation, as well as rebuilding and co-construction in the lives of women in the dynamic interaction of social, cultural, and political environments in Japan and globally. 
RC32	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s9	Gender, Violence, Human Rights, Peace: Activist / Research from Different Parts of the World	 // Gender, Violence, Human Rights, Peace: Activist / Research from Different Parts of the World Session Organizers Bandana PURKAYASTHA, University of Connecticut, USA,   Akosua ADOMAKO AMPOFO, University of Ghana, Ghana,   Session in English This session will showcase current knowledge about gender, violence, human rights and peace. People’s ability to build lives of human dignity – which is the ultimate objective of human rights – requires conditions of peace. We are acutely aware that violence spans a continuum from wars to violence in intimate spaces. Much of this violence is gendered so that the effects of violence – the gamut from coercion to physical and sexual abuse – are unequally borne by women. Scholarly and activist discussions of peace and human rights are often directed to macro or micro level structures and cultures within societies. Papers in this session will emphasize activist and research knowledge on peace, claims for human rights, and efforts to mitigate violence in the authors’ part of the world. 
RC32	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s10	Gender, Work and Family under Globalized Economy: Asia and Beyond	 // Gender, Work and Family under Globalized Economy: Asia and Beyond Session Organizers Esther Ngan-Ling CHOW, American University, USA,   Yu-Hsia LU, Academia Sinica, Taiwan,   Shirley Hsiao-Li SUN, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,   Session in English The purpose of this session is to examine changing gender relations in connection with shifting employment conditions and family relations in globalized economies in Asia. Global economic fluctuation and recession since preceding decades’ global economic restructuring and late 1990s’ financial crisis brought about the increasing deregulation and privatization in the labor market which has resulted in increasing insecurity in the work organization and employment relations. Informal, precarious, contingent and migration-based work are examples of changing employment practices. Petty entrepreneurship is another prominent strategy for local industries, especially in Asia, in coping with market’s uncertainty. Various patterns of discrimination, inequality and injustice accompanying with the changing work organizations, employment relations and practices are in fact directly linked to gender relations, power and control. In addition, citizenship rights and regimes have various relationships with production and social reproduction and thus affect diverse men’s and women’s identities, experiences, agencies and lives differently. For example, some citizenship regimes emphasize “conditional citizenship”, where citizens’ access to state welfare depends on their full employment; while other regimes stress citizenship-rights, universal state support is provided based on citizen-status. Papers may address either how changes in paid or unpaid work affect gender relations within and across households or how changes in family structure and dynamic shape gender relations in the workplace and/or both. We aim to contribute to a deeper and more holistic understanding of the interconnections among gender relations, economic production, and social reproduction in Asia and beyond. These interconnections may be further compounded by intersectionality of class, race, ethnicity, nationality and age in different socio-cultural contexts. Theoretical works based on Asian experiences and comparative research between Asia and other regions are particularly welcome. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following: Gender differences in entitlements Employment relations by gender Family, work and women’s agency Gender dynamics in family business Gender, citizenship, and flexible employment Gender, employment & fertility Gender, family, work & migration 
RC32	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s11	Gendering BRICS: To what extent and how have Economic Growth and Economic Development been translated into Increased Gender Equality in Emerging World Economies?	 // Gendering BRICS: To what extent and how have Economic Growth and Economic Development been translated into Increased Gender Equality in Emerging World Economies? Session Organizers Bila SORJ, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Solange SIMOES, Eastern Michigan University, USA,   Session in English In the last decade the five BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – gained increasing world recognition as emerging powers, distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs. A lot of attention has been given to the fact that, as of 2013, the BRICS countries represent almost 3 billion people, with a combined nominal GDP of US$14.9 trillion. Not much has been said, however, about the impact of economic growth on the reduction of poverty and inequality in general, and we know very little about the extent to which economic growth has translated into greater development gender equality. This session will look into the relationship between economic growth, development and gender equality in the BRICS countries by asking: What have been the gains for women in education, labor force participation, employment sector (formal/informal), type of work (paid/unpaid), equal pay, occupational desegregation, access to top level positions, and the domestic division of labor? To what extent have gains led to greater equality between gender and among gender (among women on the basis of class, race, and ethnicity)? Moreover, moving beyond the description of the current domestic market and labor positions of women and men in the BRICS economies, this session will seek to develop a cross-country comparative approach, supported by empirical evidence, of the factors that might explain gender inequality within and among BRICS such as economic variables (development models, growth rates, gendered economic globalization processes), political-institutional factors (type of state, social policies, labor relations, women’s movements agendas and influence), and value orientations (traditional versus modern attitudes towards gender roles). In sum, to what extent and how do economic growth and economic development translate into increased gender equality in the BRICS? 
RC32	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s12	Global Cities and Women’s Emotional Labor	 // Global Cities and Women’s Emotional Labor Session Organizers Marlese DURR, Wright State University, USA,   Iris E. HARVEY, Kent State University, USA,   La Pearl LOGAN WINFREY, Wright State University, USA,   Session in English As women in the global North and South experience recurring socio-cultural and economic stalemates, the question arises whether we recognize the effects of emotional labor and emotional well-being on their lived experience. Do we understand the influence of socio-cultural traditions united with religiosity for these women? Do we recognize how aspects of daily life tie to and inhibit their emotional well-being? Are we aware and/or informed on exactly how contraction and expansion of the global labor market impacts women’s concerns with socio-cultural traditions and well-being? And, finally, are we attentive to the linkages between emotional labor and well-being with stressful life events for women globally? Such questions address the social psychological status of women intertwined with ever-increasing social transformations and /or legislation for social change. We invite papers addressing these questions across social, national, and international contexts. Topics may include: Gender and social psychological independence; emotional well-being and supplemental household income; religiosity, socio-cultural pressures inside and outside the home; women’s movements and emotional conflict; stressful life events for women as breadwinners; social transformation and women’s well-being. 
RC32	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s13	Interrogating Gender and State in Local, National and Transnational Contexts	 // Interrogating Gender and State in Local, National and Transnational Contexts Session Organizers Evangelia TASTSOGLOU, Saint Mary`s University, Canada,   Margaret ABRAHAM, Hofstra University, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This invited session aims at discussing the role of contemporary states in regulating gender relations, gender identities and gendered institutions in local, national and transnational contexts. To what extent and how are states still key – players in regulating gender? What has been the impact of globalization, multiple and intersecting structures of inequality, technology, international human rights and social movements on states regulating gender? The family, law, violence against women, immigration, security, the military, but also the labor market and welfare are some of the instances where states have historically played key roles. 
RC32	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s14	Latin American Women’s Agency and Resistance in a Globalized World. Acciones y resistencia de las mujeres latinoamericanas en un mundo globalizado	 // Latin American Women’s Agency and Resistance in a Globalized World. Acciones y resistencia de las mujeres latinoamericanas en un mundo globalizado Session Organizers Alicia I. PALERMO, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Argentina,   Alicia DAMBRAUSKAS, Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, Uruguay,   Session in English/Spanish During the five centuries of colonization of Latin America, women have been involved in multiple struggles for their people and their own rights, yet their stories, with few exceptions, have remained silent and invisible. An example of this during the Conquest was the “strike of wombs” episode by native Nicaraguan women who wanted to avoid giving slaves to the well-known oppressor Pedro Arias Dávila. This event is practically unknown. On the other hand, in relation to the symbolic position assigned to women, the sad story of Malinche is well known. She was the Aztec woman considered a traitor because as a slave, she became lover and translator of Hernán Cortés, her captor. The male, western and white glasses through which we have looked at our historical vicissitudes have generated omissions, misrepresentations and forgetfulness that require the emergence of different perspectives in order to broad our horizon. Embarking on this quest we’re inviting research papers about women’s resistance and women’s movements in Latin America. The purpose of the session is to share, analyze and disseminate learning about different approaches striving to achieve equity. The social movements of Latin American women, since the beginning of the 20th century have taken different forms in claiming rights, and facing discrimination and injustice. Nowadays, the globalized world under a market logic, far from improving the distribution of wealth, has consolidated differences, discrimination and injustice. Therefore, we want to underscore the need to collect the wide diversity of voices and experiences of Latin American women, historically and presently subjected to discrimination based on gender, class and ethnicity (among others), and to carry out this session as a forum to develop critical thinking and promote another globalization guided by the hope of transformation. Durante los cinco siglos transcurridos desde el inicio del proceso de colonización de América Latina, las mujeres han sido protagonistas de múltiples luchas por sus derechos y los de sus pueblos, sin embargo sus historias, salvo excepciones, han permanecido en el silencio y la invisibilidad. Poco y nada se sabe de la “huelga de úteros” que realizaron indígenas nicaragüenses para no dar esclavos durante la conquista al sí muy conocido opresor Pedro Arias Dávila. En cambio, sugestivamente en relación al lugar asignado simbólicamente a las mujeres, sí ha tenido amplia difusión la triste historia de Malinche, indígena azteca identificada con la traición por haber sido entregada como esclava y oficiar de amante y traductora de Hernán Cortés. Los cristales masculinos, occidentales y blancos con que hemos observado nuestra peripecia histórica han generado omisiones, tergiversaciones y olvidos que hicieron y aún hacen necesaria la emergencia de otras perspectivas que amplíen el horizonte de nuestra mirada. Es en esa búsqueda que invitamos a presentar investigaciones vinculadas a las múltiples formas que ha adoptado y adoptan en la actualidad la resistencia femenina y los movimientos de mujeres en Latinoamérica, a los efectos de compartir, analizar y difundir aprendizajes que estimulen el logro de la tan anhelada y postergada equidad de género. Los movimientos de las mujeres latinoamericanas, desde inicios del siglo XX, han adoptado diferentes formas para reclamar el ejercicio de sus derechos, afrontando la discriminación y las injusticias. En el actual mundo globalizado bajo una lógica mercantil, que lejos de mejorar la distribución de la riqueza, ha consolidado las diferencias, entendemos relevante recoger la diversidad de voces y experiencias de las mujeres latinoamericanas, discriminadas por razones de género, clase y etnia (entre otras) y concebir esta sesión como una instancia para desarrollar una reflexión crítica y promover otra globalización signada por la esperanza de la transformación. 
RC32	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s15	Looking at Inequalities through the Intersectional Prism: Potentialities and Challenges	 // Looking at Inequalities through the Intersectional Prism: Potentialities and Challenges Session Organizers Bula BHADRA, University of Calcutta, India,   Laura CORRADI, University of Calabria, Italy,   Session in English Feminist theories of intersectionality for the last 30 years focused on how categories of oppression such as like race, ethnicity, nationality, class, different abilities, age, sexuality and gender, do intersect (Davis 1983, Crenshaw, 1994, Collins, 1998, Wekker, 2004, Lykke, 2003, 2005, McCall, 2005, Verloo, 2006, Yuval-Davis, 2006, Meekosha 2010). The benefits of intersectional approaches are due to the fact that it can be applied to a broad range of research topics. Integrally connected to the concept of intersectionality is the question of power, Foucault (1973), introduced as procedures of exclusion and inclusion leading to multi-dimensional inequalities. Within the frame of post-colonial theory such a vision of power has been deconstructed as embedded in western domination – as Annibal Quijano pointed out in La colonialidad del poder (1992). In spite of greater analytical and explanatory ability of intersectional approach, there is still a serious dearth of intersectional studies globally to address the complex problems of multifaceted inequalities of our times. This particular session will address issues related to the complexity of intersectionality towards identities in transition; the debate about additive and transversal intersectionality. We’ll try to answer to questions like: how should we make intersectionality more ‘mainstream’? How can we combine intersectional approach and post-colonial ethics and politics? The task of de-colonizing sociology from dominant ideologies proposed by many authors (Mignolo 2011, Connell 2007) are urgent and necessary process for a foundation of global social sciences that do not replicate the center-periphery dichotomy and inequalities within our studies. 
RC32	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s16	Negotiating Gender and Generation in Transnational Cultures	 // Negotiating Gender and Generation in Transnational Cultures Session Organizers Marilyn PORTER, Memorial University, Canada,   Peruvemba JAYA, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Session in English This session brings together research areas that are often separate. There is interesting work being done throughout the world on the family structures and practices of different ethnic and cultural groups; on the impact of policies and practices of multiculturalism on families; on the ways generations of immigrant families interact and negotiate change. The approaches and the problems vary in complex ways in different countries and contexts. In this session we encourage contributors using a feminist perspective to address aspects of the following: transnational migration; families and gender relations; the realities of multiculturalism policies and politics for families; and cultural and ethnic transmissions across generation. The goal of this session is to develop a more sophisticated analysis of these topics and to highlight the relations between gender, race, class, ethnicity and cultural diversity. The session especially encourages researchers looking to compare their work with that of others with the aim of developing fruitful research collaborations. 
RC32	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s17	RC32 Awards / Reception	 // RC32 Awards / Reception Session Organizer Evangelia TASTSOGLOU, Saint Mary`s University, Canada,   Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC32	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s18	RC32 Business Meeting	 // RC32 Business Meeting Session Organizer Evangelia TASTSOGLOU, Saint Mary`s University, Canada,   
RC32	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s19	RC32 Roundtable Session I. Women’s Experiences in Labor Markets, Families and Households in Globalized Society	 // RC32 Roundtable Session I. Women’s Experiences in Labor Markets, Families and Households in Globalized Society Session Organizer Josephine BEOKU-BETTS, Florida Atlantic University, USA,   Session in English 
RC32	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s20	RC32 Roundtable Session IA. Housewives at the Intersection of the Local, National and Global	 // RC32 Roundtable Session IA. Housewives at the Intersection of the Local, National and Global Session Organizers Ayse SAKTANBER, Middle East Technical University, Turkey,   F. Umut BESPINAR, Middle East Technical University, Turkey,   A. Idil AYBARS, Middle East Technical University, Turkey,   Session in English This roundtable aims to focus on the category of housewives with a view to understanding the way they shape and are shaped by the local, national and global transformations. These transformations reveal themselves best in the rise of different trends such as traditionalism, conservatism, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. While the question of housewives has often been conceptualized within the limits of the domestic sphere, they equally interact with the economic, social and political trends at the local and the global levels. To approach the issue of housewives from such a broad perspective is necessary within the context of the changing balance between work and private domains, increasing global mobility, intensified technological transformation, as well as newly emerging political configurations. The agency of these women has generally been neglected by mainstream studies on this specific category. However, the changes in the political arena and social class configurations point to the importance of the agency of these women, who are often regarded as a ‘silent majority’. The changing organization of politics, the altered experience of motherhood and work, the rapid dissemination of global markets, global meanings and global consumption patterns through technology and the new media, the impacts of cultural globalization, the changing perception of the self in its relationships with others, as well as the increasing horizontal and vertical movement and geographic mobility of women all imply that women from different class backgrounds now experience housewifery in different manners and dimensions. The objective of this roundtable is to open up the possibility for new thinking on the experiences, practices and identities of housewives in a changing world. 
RC32	s21	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s21	RC32 Roundtable Session II. Women and Gender in an Unequal World	 // RC32 Roundtable Session II. Women and Gender in an Unequal World Session Organizer Akosua ADOMAKO AMPOFO, University of Ghana, Ghana,   Session in English 
RC32	s22	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s22	RC32 Roundtable Session IIA. Are White Collar Women Workers “Proletarianized” in the Globalized Economy?	 // RC32 Roundtable Session IIA. Are White Collar Women Workers “Proletarianized” in the Globalized Economy? Session Organizer Aylin AKPINAR, Marmara University, Turkey,   Session in English Globalization has involved feminization but the actual form that this has taken has raised some conflicting interpretations. On the one hand it has been argued that the demand of higher levels of multi-skilled work would bring more women to the higher levels of the labour market. On the other hand it has been argued that women were still over-represented in lower-paid & lower quality non-standard work even if their numbers have increased. Some others have pointed to the fact that women workers were seen as semi-skilled and that they had less promotion chances. According to other researchers white collar women workers had lost their autonomy in the workplace as a result of the impact of technology. Yet, it was agreed upon that under the global economy the role of the state was marginalized and as a result women were left by themselves to bargain for the conditions of their employment. We are in need of knowledge of the working conditions and gendered experiences of white collar women workers. The feminization of the “call centre work” has been assessed to a certain extent. Yet, we are still in need of information about the women workers’ working conditions in finance & banking sectors, human resources & management sectors, insurance companies, research companies as well as in plazas and the like. This roundtable aims to contribute to bring in empirically based research knowledge by calling in for papers under the questions which will be formulated within the framework of this important issue. 
RC32	s23	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s23	Social Transformation of the Middle East and the Shaping of Gender and Family Relationships	 // Social Transformation of the Middle East and the Shaping of Gender and Family Relationships Session Organizers Suaad Zayed AL-ORAIMI, United Arab Emirates University,   Nazanin SHAHROKNI, University of Berkeley, USA,   Rima SABBAN, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates,   Session in English The Middle East today is one of the fastest changing regions in the world. Change is becoming the rule to a certain extent more than stability and continuation. Family in the region has been a site of great changes, and significant adaptation as well. This session proposes to look at social change in the region and its impact on the family from multiple perspectives: the inner-family perspective such as (family intimate relationships, gender relationships, gender roles, family domestic violence, changing family values, changing family structures, changing believes and so on); and the outer-family perspective where the outside world impact families and their ability to survive, adapt, and be sustained. Some of the suggested impacts on the family could be those of social media and / or technological advancements. Changing ideologies and believes could be looked as the outer-family perspectives impacting the family. For example, feminism could be seen as an ideology which has shaped families and gender roles in the region. Finally, the session examines ways in which victims of violence can utilize collective belief systems (feminism or other) as a tool for self and collective empowerment. When studying the family, this session focuses more on the gender dynamics of it, however it is not limited to it. 
RC32	s24	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s24	The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work	 // The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work Integrative Session // : RC02 Economy and Society, RC32 Women in Society and RC44 Labour Movements Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC32	s25	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s25	Thinking Gender on a World Scale: Prioritising Feminist Theory from the South 	 // Thinking Gender on a World Scale: Prioritising Feminist Theory from the South Session Organizers Raewyn CONNELL, University of Sydney, Australia,   Laura CORRADI, University of Calabria, Italy,   Session in English In sociology and gender studies we are familiar with ideas from the global North and less familiar with feminist research and theories from the rest of the world. Following the professional norms of sociology, we rarely frame our research and international discussions with ideas from the global South where the great majority of the world’s women live. Feminist sociologists such as Fatima Mernissi, in Morocco, and Teresita de Barbieri, in Mexico, offered new conceptual perspectives decades ago. Yet little of this kind of thinking gets general international recognition or circulation. This situation is ripe for change. Chandra Talpade Mohanty has called for “Feminism Without Borders”, Chilla Bulbeck for “Re-Orienting Western Feminisms” and Valentine Moghadam discussed the reshaping of feminism by transnational networks. There is an international movement for a post-colonial revolution in social science, in Africa, South America and India, with active members within ISA.The workshop is intended to bring these issues together within RC 32. We give priority to theory because of its strategic role in sociology. Speakers in the panel will be invited: to present conceptual or strategic work on gender issues from their regions to respond to such work from global South regions to offer thoughts on the reshaping of global gender theory Participants in the workshop will have time to interact with developing proposals. One outcome of the session will be practical suggestions to RC 32 about how to foster South/South exchanges in feminist sociology. 
RC32	s26	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s26	Women and the Economic Crisis: New Challenges and New Forms of Gender Inequalities	 // Women and the Economic Crisis: New Challenges and New Forms of Gender Inequalities Session Organizers Chrysanthi ZACHOU, American College of Greece, Greece,   Laura MARATOU-ALIPRANTI, Athens University, Greece,   Session in English The recent economic crisis and the austerity measures imposed on several countries in Europe and other parts of the world, challenged women’s position in society and the labor market, undermined their rights, impeded the realization of their aspirations, reinforced existing gender inequalities and created new ones. This session aims to document the crisis’ impact concerning the nature of gender-based power imbalances and their ideological or structural basis. Through case studies or comparative research, it intends to address the consequences of crisis in economic and socio-cultural terms, for diverse categories of women both in the context of specific nation-states and across the globe, as they are experienced individually or collectively. The submitted papers could focus on: the special hardships encountered by different categories of women (occupational, social, class, age, racial /ethnic etc.) the impact of declining standards of living, the dismantling of the welfare state and poverty on women’s social position the (changing ) nature of gender relations and the ways in which identities become (re)negotiated the differential patterns of male-female experience in the private or public sphere new forms of displacement and migration collective responses or activist commitment to the ‘cause’ of gender equality and social justice. Given the growing scholarly interest on the economic crisis in national and global terms, this session intends to contribute to the discussion about the ways in which this crisis intersects with gender ideologies and creates structural inequalities and new challenges for women today. 
RC32	s27	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s27	Women in the Academic Workplace: Challenging the Dynamics of Gender, Power and Knowledge	 // Women in the Academic Workplace: Challenging the Dynamics of Gender, Power and Knowledge Session Organizer Smita VERMA, Isabella Thoburn College, India,   Session in English Women`s underrepresentation within academic space continues to be a reality even in our days, after decades of struggle for gender equality. Although the patriarchal organization of the university has stimulated an ongoing dialogue among intellectuals in academia giving rise to activities challenging dominant male perceptions and gender segregation, women continue to be relatively excluded , and at best subjected to acts of tokenism in the name of equal representation. Gender influences women`s experiences within the academy as faculty members, as well as the academy`s expectations of them. This calls for a serious dialogue to acknowledge and understand the hiatus between the reality of universities today and the expectations from women faculty in universities. Discussing issues of leadership, promotions, tenure, among others will help in identifying and understanding the distinct pattern of gender bias across cultures and also diverse degrees of disempowerment at different stages in the process and in different locations. The session proposes to focus not just on the quantitative analysis but also the qualitative understanding of the subjective experiences of women in academia. It is important not just to acknowledge and discuss the diversity of marginalization but also delineate the dynamics of power and knowledge experiences, so as to challenge the monolithic and masculine university structure. 
RC32	s28	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC32#s28	Work, Women, Class and Care: Working Women in Contemporary European Cities	 // Work, Women, Class and Care: Working Women in Contemporary European Cities Session Organizer Evelyn MAHON, Trinity College, Ireland,   Maria KONTOS, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany,   Session in English This session emanates from research on FLOWS – a European FP7 project on the impact of local welfare systems on women’s participation in the labour market which is generating rich accounts of women juggling work and childcare, and responding to the care needs of their elderly relatives in eleven European cities. The European social agenda strives to promote social inclusion and to reduce social inequality. But women within the European Union still participate in the labour market under different social welfare systems and employment conditions. Gendered care related issues persist within all class contexts so women’s revolution is still an incomplete one. Similarities and differences between women from different class positions are emerging. This session invites papers on women’s commitment and orientation to work in different class positions, how they enact their roles as working mothers, the roles played by fathers, social networks, nannies, domestic help and access (or not) to affordable childcare. How do women in different classes and occupational groups negotiate a balance between their work and family lives and do welfare state care policies help to reduce class related inequalities between working women? Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Logic and Methodology in Sociology, RC33
RC33	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s1	Analysing and Counteracting Undesired Response Patterns in Survey Research 	 // Analysing and Counteracting Undesired Response Patterns in Survey Research Session Organizers Ben JANN, University of Bern, Switzerland,   Volker STOCKE, University of Kassel, Germany,   Sebastian SATTLER, University of Freiburg, Germany,   Peter GRAEFF, Bundeswehr University, Germany,   Session in English Evidence suggests that, depending on topic, respondents tend to distort their answers to comply with social norms (social desirability bias), refuse to answer certain questions (item non-response), or refrain participating in the entire interview (unit non-response). Especially questions about deviant behaviour (e.g., drug use, plagiarism) can be affected, as well as questions about attitudes, preferences, and values (e.g., attitudes towards minorities, self-reported religiosity, age-related stereotypes). These problems can vary with topic and survey technique, and also across groups of respondents (e.g., due to differing internalized social norms with respect to a behaviour under investigation), and pose a serious threat to data quality. Providing a theoretical framework to explain the factors influencing such response patterns and investigating them are challenges of current survey research. In general, social norms are the basis on which respondents determine whether an answer might be socially desirable or not. However, situational factors are important as well. For example, respondents might gauge their answers in response to interviewer characteristics and behaviour as well as the survey sponsor. Furthermore, undesired response patterns can be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, and can be conceptualized as the result of “self-deception” or “other-deception”. Various approaches such as randomized and non-randomized response techniques, vignette-based studies, or self-administered questionnaires have been suggested to improve data quality by increasing the respondents’ feeling of privacy protection and anonymity. Furthermore, imputation techniques are employed to deal with missing data and increase the amount of usable information. This session invites contributions about: theoretical approaches for explaining and predicting undesired response patterns techniques to reduce such response biases empirical studies investigating undesired response patterns statistical techniques that help to reveal undesired response patterns approaches to address problems of data quality after data collection. 
RC33	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s2	Challenges to the Secondary Analysis of Large-Scale Cross-National Comparative Surveys	 // Challenges to the Secondary Analysis of Large-Scale Cross-National Comparative Surveys Session Organizer Kazufumi MANABE, Aoyama Gakuin University Tokyo, Japan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . One of the most significant developments in contemporary social sciences is the implementation of large-scale cross-national comparative surveys. So far, such surveys have been conducted mainly in Western countries. Two such excellent survey projects include the European and World Values Survey and the International Social Survey Programme. In recent years, cross-national comparative surveys have also started in Asian countries. The examples of such survey projects are East Asia Values Survey and AsiaBarometer. Data from cross-national surveys are being accumulated, and efforts are being made to conduct secondary analysis on survey data at the international level. The secondary analyses to be conducted in our session will focus on: confirmation of theoretical hypotheses in the social sciences exploratory data analysis examination of the question equivalence. It is our aim that by proposing the new idea and methodology we will be able to shed light on the advantages and challenges of secondary analysis. Content: As the example of large-scale surveys, we are thinking: European Values Study & World Values Survey International Social Survey Programme East Asian Values Survey AsiaBarometer We are planning to invite a key person from each of these surveys. 
RC33	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s3	Cognitive Aspects of Survey Research 	 // Cognitive Aspects of Survey Research Session Organizers Wander VAN DER VAART, University of Humanistic Studies, Netherlands,   Robert F. BELLI, University of Nebraska, USA,   Session in English Psychological issues always have been important in methodological studies into survey data collection. In particular the ‘cognitive aspects of survey methods’ (CASM) movement has made a huge contribution to the field of data collection. More recently both conversational interviewing methods and survey calendar methods again steered the attention towards psychological aspects of data collection methods. This time attention was paid not merely to specific methods like question wording but also to more general procedures such as the style of interviewing and the integration of (aided recall) tools in the interview. The rise of conversational interviewing and calendar interviewing in survey practice, urges for a more profound examination of the psychological mechanisms that underly these and related data collection procedures. The current session focuses on cognitive and conversational aspects that are of importance to these data collection methods. This session brings together studies from the several fields like linguistics, sociology and psychology, including research into: Verbal interaction, framing, non-verbal behavior; Memory, life histories, narratives, timeframes, aided recall, probing; The interaction of these issues with: characteristics of the study population the type of research design the mode of data collection the visual or verbal characteristics of data collection tools. The aim of this session is to discuss how conversational and cognitive insights can be used to enhance the data quality as produced by flexible interviewing methods. 
RC33	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s4	Crisis, Transnational Migration, and the Gender Order in Europe	 // Crisis, Transnational Migration, and the Gender Order in Europe Integrative Session // : RC31, Sociology of Migration, RC32 Women in Society, RC38, Biography and Society, German Sociological Association and European Sociological Association – RN 33, Research Network on Women and Gender Studies Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC33	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s5	Dealing with Nonresponse: Strategies to Increase Participation and Methods for Post-Survey Adjustments 	 // Dealing with Nonresponse: Strategies to Increase Participation and Methods for Post-Survey Adjustments Session Organizer Vera TOEPOEL, Utrecht University, Netherlands,   Session in English Response rates are rapidly declining. Non response bias is a major threat to the validity of survey answers. Researchers are developing tools to increase survey participation, use pre-survey adaptive designs or post-survey adjustments in order to improve representativity of survey results. Which types of tools increase participation? We know from literature that incentives are a major trigger for responding, but are there other (less expensive) tools that increase participation as well? How can you use adaptive designs in order to increase participation and reduce nonresponse bias? And last, how can weighting be implemented in post-survey correction. Which type of weighting methods work? Which variables can best be used for weighting? How well does weighting in non-probability samples work? This section will discuss all methods that can be used to improve sample composition in order to produce reliable results. 
RC33	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s6	Design Aspects of Response Scales in Surveys 	 // Design Aspects of Response Scales in Surveys Session Organizer Kathrin BOGNER, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany,   Natalja MENOLD, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany,   Christof WOLF, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany,   Session in English This session focuses on the design aspects of response scales measuring attitudes, opinions or behavior in surveys and their potential effects on response behavior and data quality. Researchers are invited to submit papers dealing with the effects of design aspects of response scales such as number of categories, middle category, unipolar or bipolar scales, numerical and/or verbal labels, ascending or descending order of categories or the scale`s visual design/layout. Papers should focus on the effects of response scale design on response behavior and reliability and validity or the responses. Contributions analyzing the moderating influence of cognitive or motivational factors on the effects of response scale design are also welcome. Furthermore, specifics in design of response scales in different survey modes, their comparability in mixed mode surveys as well as their intercultural comparability are further topics of interest. 
RC33	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s7	Facing the Challenges of Data Collection via Mobile Internet 	 // Facing the Challenges of Data Collection via Mobile Internet Session Organizers Marika de BRUIJNE, CentERdata, Netherlands,   Arnaud WIJNANT, CentERdata, Netherlands,   Session in English Engaging mobile devices for data collection is relatively new in social sciences. Mobile surveys challenge the typical questionnaire design and introduce new ways to interact with the questionnaire. Next to surveys, mobile devices open the opportunity to collect different types of non-reactive data such as geographical data or accelerometer measurements through the numerous types of sensors present in the devices. In this session we wish to discuss the recent findings of methodological research on the effects of mobile surveys, new ways of recruiting and approaching respondents, alternative data collection methods enabled by mobile devices, the challenges of response rate and bias in (mobile) online surveys, and considerations on mobile survey user interfaces and questionnaire design. This session will also discuss future developments in survey interaction. 
RC33	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s8	How to Think Methodology without Notion of Object nor Subject? 	 // How to Think Methodology without Notion of Object nor Subject? Session Organizers Charlotte BAARTS, University of Copenhagen, Denmark,   Lina HAUGE KATAN, University of Copenhagen, Denmark,   Session in English Recently new theories of science referred to as ‘new materialisms’ have introduced frameworks of thoughts about scientific practices that refuse completely any notion of object or subject. It is not all new that the subject-object dualism as a fundamental presumption for the traditional practice of Social Sciences is under attack. It has been so since the rise of modernity and not least since the first appearances of methodologies such as reflexivity in the 60’ies. These methodologies sought to moderate the distance and separation implied by the dichotomised dualism by taking into account the effect that the scientist had on her object and the influence of the object on her – in other words the relation of inter(ex)changeability between the two. Within the last couple of decades, however, new materialisms have brought this confrontation of the dichotomy as far as to a complete abandonment of both object and subject as points of reference. Concepts such as ’engagement’, ‘entanglement’ and ‘intra-action’ announce an inherent relationality of separately indeterminate materialities including that of the scientist. No object pre‐exists nor is evoked by a subject; instead properties and boundaries are appearances that emerge as effects of continuous becomings rather than delineations of separate entities. In the disappearance of subject-object as given positions of difference and distance, the points of reference they represent for epistemology and ontology also fade, thus evoking new methodological challenges for the practice of the social sciences. New materialisms is thus a move beyond methodological concepts that have functioned as central presumptions for the social sciences. Hence this move leaves behind questions to be explored within this theoretical framework about the practice of science and our own part in it. Explorations in this field of questions could for instance reflect the possibilities of imagining a methodology that omits any notion of object or discuss how sociology should approach its field of study, not to mention identify it, if this process does not involve the concept of object. Furthermore, relevant questions to be pondered could be, who the social scientist becomes in the lack of relation to an object. How to conceive science as a practice of a subject if there is no object or how to even begin conceptualizing methodological approaches if we cannot establish anything to be approached? This session welcomes contributions of theoretical, empirical, practice‐based orientation that somehow explore, assess, elaborate or connect these or related considerations with regard to the formative stages, recent actualizations or future potentials of knowledge production. 
RC33	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s9	Latent Constructs or Simply Descriptive Measures? Index Based Measurement and Applications 	 // Latent Constructs or Simply Descriptive Measures? Index Based Measurement and Applications Session Organizers Peter GRAEFF, Bundeswehr University Munich, Germany,   Robert NEUMANN, Dresden University of Technology, Germany,   Session in English A large part of research within the social sciences relies on item based indices (such as the Index of Materialism/Postmaterialism or the Happy Planet index). The measurement qualities of indices for socio-economic and socio-political phenomena are topics which have got too less attention from scholars across social science disciplines which might be due to the different understanding about how the phenomenon of interest should be measured. While sociologists and psychologist usually apply the idea of latent constructs, it seems that econometricians (such as Word Bank researchers) understand the measurement process in a rather descriptive way. As a result, they do not elaborate techniques of measurement and focus instead on statistical techniques for analyzing data. This might be problematic as the most prominent and large data sets such as from the World Bank or similar institutions are gathered and constructed by economic researchers. These data sets (including their scales and indices) are usually picked up in (comparative) social science research and applied in multivariate models without reflecting its measurement properties or meanings. While there is an abundant use of such indices when comparing e.g. institutions, quality of governance, welfare regimes or educational systems both theoretically and empirically, the origins or the construction of these indices is only seldom regarded. This session proposal aims at theoretical and empirical contributions which contribute to stimulating the missing debate about criteria of assessing indices for comparative research and multivariate modeling. address and identify criteria that will improve the comparability of different indices, that address new forms of parameter estimation (e.g. Bayesian approach) or new procedures for assessing the measurement quality (for instance structural equation models evaluating the validity and reliability of data). apply indices within a multivariate approach in order to measure a phenomena of interest on the group or aggregate level indirectly. Papers which contribute to the “latent” properties of variables or items are highly appreciated altogether with contributions that show the applicability of measurement criteria in research fields dealing with indices (democracy, governance, conflicts or values). Since the application of indices is prominent in sociology, psychology and political science, the topic can be of interest for a broad audience. 
RC33	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s10	Measuring and Making Use of Social Embeddedness in Survey Research 	 // Measuring and Making Use of Social Embeddedness in Survey Research Session Organizers Dominique JOYE, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland,   Christof WOLF, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany,   Session in English That human behavior is influenced by other humans is a key assumption of social sciences. In the 1940s Paul Lazarsfeld probably was the first to design a quantitative study in which this assumption was tested. This early study was followed by Edward Laumann`s investigation of the influence of three best friends in the Detroit Area study, by Claude Fischer`s multiple name generator instrument implemented in his seminal North California Community Study and by Ronald Burt`s single item name generator designed for the GSS to name but a few influential developments in the collection of ego centric network data.in spite of their significance these instruments have been criticized in different ways. One criticism emphasizes that these instruments do only capture the core of social relations, neglecting "weak" ties that can have considerable impact in some circumstances. Other critics have pointed to methodological short comings of these instruments, e.g. the comparatively large interviewer effects produced by these instruments. Alternative approaches like Nan Lin`s position generator or Martin Van der Gaag`s resource generator try to overcome these problems. The collection of network data today is not confined to a few specialized studies but has been introduced in many major national and international surveys which often contain at least some aspects of social embeddedness. Aside of collecting network data survey research has also utilized the social fabric to develop novel sampling procedures, i.e. network sampling, a method particularly pertinent to capture hard to reach populations. The session aims at discussing current developments of measuring social networks and social resources. Contributions comparing different operationalizations or contributions investigating the cross-national stability of variability of network indicators are particularly welcome. Also research based on network sampling will be highly welcomed. 
RC33	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s11	Methods of Social Network Analysis 	 // Methods of Social Network Analysis Session Organizers Peter CARRINGTON, University of Waterloo, Canada,   Anuska FERLIGOJ, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia,   Session in English Social network analysis is the application to social research of the concept of the network – a set of entities, or nodes, connected by relationships, or ties. Conceptualisation of social structures as social networks has been fruitful in many areas of the social sciences, and has, indeed, facilitated recognition of substantive patterns and analytic problems common to the social and other sciences. One of the most lively areas of social network analysis has been the development of suitable methods for applying the network concept in social research. These methods address the three main issues: sampling, measurement, and data analysis. In each of these areas, the problems faced by network researchers are considerably, though not entirely, different from those encountered by conventional attribute-based research. This session will provide a forum for presentation of new developments in research methods for social network analysis. These papers may be theoretical, concerning epistemological problems in the use of the concept of the social network; methodological, concerning technical developments in sampling, measurement, or data analysis; or empirical, demonstrating novel applications of social network analytic methods in actual research. 
RC33	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s12	RC33 Business Meeting 	 // RC33 Business Meeting Session Organizer Katja LOZAR MANFREDA, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia,   
RC33	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s13	Recent Advances in Composite Likelihood Methods for Modelling Multivariate Longitudinal Data 	 // Recent Advances in Composite Likelihood Methods for Modelling Multivariate Longitudinal Data Session Organizers Roger PENN, Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland,   Damon BERRIDGE, Lancaster University, United Kingdom,   Session in English The proposed session will provide a forum for papers on recent developments in composite likelihood methods. These methods are relatively new but they offer innovative approaches to the analysis of longitudinal data, particularly when there are multiple explanatory variables and multiple response variables [See Penn and Berridge, 2013]. The complex inter-relationships between a set of multiple response variables and a set of explanatory variables can be broken down into a series of relationships between pairs of variables. A composite likelihood is built up on the basis of a set of pairwise likelihoods, thereby offering an efficient way of analysing complex multivariate longitudinal data. The session will be open to social scientists who are engaged in the development and refinement of such methods and in their application to sociological questions, as well as those involved in the development of appropriate specialist software solutions such as SABRE R. The proposed session builds upon the successful session that took place at the RCSS VIII Social Science Methodology Conference in Sydney in 2012 on the issues arising in the collection and analysis of incomplete longitudinal data. 
RC33	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s14	Response Latencies in Survey Research: Methodology and Applications 	 // Response Latencies in Survey Research: Methodology and Applications Session Organizers Jochen MAYERL, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany,   Volker STOCKE, University of Kassel, Germany,   Session in English The time necessary to answer survey questions is an unobtrusive and cost effective measure to enrich data of computer assisted surveys. There is a wide range of applications of response latencies in survey research, inter alia to operationalize cognitive accessibility and depth of thought, to identify high predictive social judgments, to detect response effects, to measure implicit attitudes, to identify wording problems and to evaluate survey questions in other respects, and to explore the validity and reliability of respondent’s answers. However, response latency data are proxy measurements and biased by survey mode (CATI, CAPI, CASI), measurement instrument, interviewer characteristics, interview situation, and individual characteristics. Thus, identification of biasing factors as well as measurement and statistical treatment of response latency data is essential to avoid biased interpretation of response time results and to improve data quality. More research into the factors affecting the predictive validity of response times is needed. This session has the goal to contribute to solve the above mentioned and other open questions about the validity of response latencies as indicator for data quality. In particular we welcome contributions relating to (a) substantive and methodological applications of response latencies in survey research, (b) analyses concerning data quality and data treatment of response latencies and (c) data collection issues of response latencies. 
RC33	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s15	Spatial Methods	 // Spatial Methods Session Organizers Nina BAUR, Technical University Berlin, Germany,   Linda HERING, Technical University Berlin, Germany,   Cornelia THIERBACH, Technical University Berlin, Germany,   Session in English The session aims at exploring which research methods are appropriate for approaching space in the social sciences, seeing space either as dependent or independent variable: Researchers can ask how people think about space and construct space or they can see space as a relevant frame for social action that influences social life. Papers should address one of the questions below either at a more general methodological level or using a concrete example in a specific research project: Which qualitative and/or quantitative methods are best suited for which kind of theoretical problems? What methodological innovations concerning the spatial can be observed? (How) can traditional sociological or geographical methods be adjusted to address spatial problems within sociology? Which sampling strategies are appropriate for spatial problems? What are the specific data requirements for spatial analysis, and how can these data be collected? Which strategies of data analysis are appropriate for spatial analysis? 
RC33	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s16	Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in the Study of Different Dimensions and Aspects of Inequality 	 // Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in the Study of Different Dimensions and Aspects of Inequality Session Organizers Elisabet NASMAN, Uppsala University, Sweden,   Linnea BRUNO, Uppsala University, Sweden,   Julijana ANGELOVSKA, International Balkan University, Macedonia,   Krystyna SLANY, Jagiellonian University, Poland,   Ewa KRZAKLEWSKA, Jagiellonian University, Poland,   Anna RATECKA, Jagiellonian University, Poland,   Session in English Intersectional analysis has now been used in research on dimensions of inequality for many years, but has also been criticised and contested concerning theory development as well as how such an approach can be applied in empirical research. There are, for instance, different perspectives on intersectionality mainly concerning the relationship to power. There is also a question about the stress on inequality in terms of financial resources compared to other aspects of inequality that are not easily or meaningfully quantified or sufficiently captured in such studies. Departing from an approach that focuses on power relations and different social dimensions of inequality as well as the different aspects of inequality that impact on lived experiences of oppression or privilege, as well as on the formation of subjectivities, we would like to invite discussion concerning new theoretical ideas as well as problematic or enlightening experiences drawn from empirical studies. There is a need for further comprehensive research, especially on experiences of inequality in daily lives. The organisers of this session are trying to challenge the state of art as far as inequality is concerned. Can we by using the methods produced across different disciplines concerned with inequality really understand the potentials of equality for individual quality of life and social development? Do we have sufficient tools to study inequality on the individual level? Are we able to catch up the changes in the experienced inequality within the life course? Are we able to compare these situations between diverse societies or between those living in different social contexts? 
RC33	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s17	Time Use and Daily Activities 	 // Time Use and Daily Activities Session Organizer Kimberly FISHER, University of Oxford, United Kingdom,   Session in English Time is a basic element of daily life. Unlike financial, physical or other resources, time is the one resource shared equally by all people. Understanding how people use their time informs a wide variety of social research, from monitoring human impacts on the environment, to measuring the full scale of economic activities (including those transpiring outside the paid economy), to modelling scheduling of care, voluntary, and free time activities in with changing patterns of paid work, to assessing shifts in well being and the degree to which people lead (un)healthy lifestyles, to assessing integration of minority populations, to examining the scale of gender inequalities generated by daily activity patterns. Interest in time use research has expanded recently, with the UN Statistics Division, UN Economic Commission for Africa, UN Economic Commission for Europe, OECD and Eurostat all releasing new guidance for the use of time use data in policy research in 2013. This session will accommodate a range of papers about the collection of time use data, the use of new techniques in analysing people`s use of time, and new findings arising from time use research. 
RC33	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s18	Using Survey Data to Describe Societies at Global Level – Is There Still a Hidden Treasure? 	 // Using Survey Data to Describe Societies at Global Level – Is There Still a Hidden Treasure? Session Organizers Markus QUANDT, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany,   Christof WOLF, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany,   Session in English With the advent of long-standing comparative programs such as the International Social Survey Programme, various international “Barometer” projects, the European Values Study, the World Values Survey, and the European Social Survey, the option of deriving society level, comparative (and even trend) information from academic survey data has come into the world. Researchers working for example on value change or on the analysis of ‘cultural zones’ have used this opportunity extensively; and their substantive work has been accompanied by a growing literature on the cross-national equivalence of attitude measures based on multiple indicators. A similar potential for deriving society level measures seems to exist when we turn to non-attitudinal concepts: e.g. behavioural variables such as church attendance or socio-demographic characteristics such as migration background. Potentially, survey data from the generic programmes mentioned above hold a wealth of information in areas where official statistics data fall short of research needs due to limitations in thematic scope and cross-nationally harmonised measures. However, we observe a lack of systematic research on the validity and reliability of such survey-based measures in comparative settings. Often comparability is implicitly assumed to be a trivial issue here. This neglects problems that can affect all comparative research: translation and question format issues, lack of validity due to different national contexts, variation in sampling designs, problematic ex post-harmonisation requirements, etc. A similar lack of research appears when we look at a limitation of survey data that is rather obvious: Small sample sizes (in comparison to official statistics) reduce estimation reliability and hamper the analysis of sub-populations. But where exactly are the practical limits? This session strives to invite new research on the quality of aggregate level estimates. We welcome presentations that demonstrate and analyse the robustness or vulnerability of aggregate measures derived from comparative survey data to the aforementioned and related problems. Examples are comparisons of survey-based estimates to census-like data, or research into quality effects of particular measurement approaches that different surveys might pursue for the same concepts. We particularly invite research that strives to overcome limitations of given data sources by combination with other sources, e.g. by pooling data across surveys to increase final sample sizes, by estimating correction factors for known biases, etc. 
RC33	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC33#s19	Well-being and Quality of Life. Methodological Challenges for Cross-National Surveys	 // Well-being and Quality of Life. Methodological Challenges for Cross-National Surveys Session Organizers Wolfgang ASCHAUER, University of Salzburg, Austria,   Martin WEICHBOLD, University of Salzburg, Austria,   Session in English Research on subjective wellbeing has gained enormous importance during the last years. It seems that we witness a fundamental turn from measures of economic progress to multidimensional measures of quality of life and societal wellbeing as well as a shift from objective indicators to a higher relevance of subjective measures. Thirdly, high efforts in the development of new concepts for cross-national comparisons are clearly visible (e.g. National Accounts of Wellbeing of the nef foundation, “Your better life index” of the OECD). Despite this boom of subjective wellbeing measures, also with regard to cross-national research, the analysis of the comparability of these approaches still remains in its infancy. It seems to be common to take the cross-cultural equivalence of the concepts for granted, to neglect the use of statistical methods of equivalence testing and to widely ignore critical approaches questioning the cross-cultural validity of wellbeing in general. Culture-specific concepts – representing a counter-trend in wellbeing-research – highlight that there is no universally accepted general theory on wellbeing and certain components of the construct are culturally sensitive. Locally emerging concepts (such as the GNH approach of Bhutan or the ONS concept of GB) are seen considered more valid than approaches with the intent of being universally relevant. Picking up these contemporary developments and debates in subjective wellbeing research this session addresses three main research questions: If we decide to conceptualize comparable wellbeing measures, how should we address the methodological challenge of achieving cross-cultural validity? How can we assess the cross-national equivalence of existing concepts of wellbeing? Is it possible to construct new comparable indicators of quality of life and societal wellbeing based on survey data and subjective perceptions of the citizens? The session aims at participants who work in the field of Wellbeing research and use cross-national survey data. We welcome speakers who try to develop new conceptual frameworks of wellbeing and quality of life which can be applied to cross-national research or who highlight the challenges of comparability of wellbeing approaches. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Youth, RC34
RC34	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s1	RC34 Business Session Meeting Part I	 // RC34 Business Session Meeting Part I 1st half: Session organisers/chairs meeting 2nd half: RC34 Board Meeting 
RC34	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s2	RC34 Business Session Meeting Part II	 // RC34 Business Session Meeting Part II General Meeting. Meet-and-greet. Full RC34 membership invited. 
RC34	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s3	Theme I. Presidential Session 1. Youth in Emergent Prosperity: Perspectives for the Sociology of Youth in the BRICS Countries	 // Theme I. Presidential Session 1. Youth in Emergent Prosperity: Perspectives for the Sociology of Youth in the BRICS Countries Session Organizer Tom DWYER, University of Campinas, Brazil,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The declaration of BRICS heads of state, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, signed in Delhi in 2012 set up the investigation of youth policies in the countries as a priority. These countries account for approximately half of the world`s youth and the following dimensions chapters are examined in the in Sociology of youth in the BRICS countries (2013, Moscow, Russian Academy of Sciences): History of concepts and theoretical and methodological assumptions of research, Demographic characteristics, Identity and generation, Consumption and leisure, Family, Marriage and Sexuality, The State and political values, Education and employment and Internet participation and communication. The participants will comment on youth policies in their respective countries, especially those related to the reduction of inequality. Indeed it is the turbulence of our times that has been responsible for stimulating this joint five country comparative sociology exercise. The sociologists of youth in the BRICS countries involved have all been seeking to understand how common structural changes intersect with youth life courses and values, and produce diverse and similar outcomes. The Delhi declaration also referred to the necessity to build an academic perspective on future relations between the BRICS countries. Since 2009 researchers in this session have employed the hypothesis that reflections about and relations between youth of the BRICS carry the seeds of the future. Young people are agents of change and influence the functioning of distinct dimensions of the system through their mobilizations in favour of reform, revolution or innovation. In cyberspace a new dimension of social life appears – virtual space, where new kinds of social action take place. We can expect a complex and rich discussion, which – we believe – contributes to the opening up new perspectives for youth studies. Futures research and the sociology of youth come together in this proposed session. 
RC34	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s4	Theme I. Presidential Session 2: Youth in Austerity	 // Theme I. Presidential Session 2: Youth in Austerity Session Organizer Howard WILLIAMSON, University of Glamorgan, United Kingdom,   Session in English In the recent past, young people in many parts of the world have seen their economic opportunities and life chances diminish for a variety of reasons, most notably the global economic crisis. Papers are invited that deal with “youth in austerity” in its various forms and consequences, both across and between the generations, including young people’s responses to inequalities such as (but not limited to) the Occupy movement, Arab Spring, riots in the UK and France, shootings in Norway, suicides in Greece, and so forth. 
RC34	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s5	Theme I.1 Opportunities and Challenges for Youth Studies	 // Theme I.1 Opportunities and Challenges for Youth Studies Session Organizers Steven Sek-yum NGAI, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China,   Ngan-pun NGAI, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China,   Session in English During the recent decades, much of youth research in Asian societies has sought to understand the transformation of the younger generation and their social environment under trends of globalization, deindustrialization and economic insecurity. The epochal event of the global financial crisis, along with longer-term trends in Asian societies, such as rising unemployment, income disparity, gender inequality, and migration issues, are in the process of creating new structural relations between young people and related social actors. This session provides a platform for academic colleagues to exchange views on new youth issues and emerging policy and practice responses pertaining to inequalities in contemporary Asia. We seek papers that broadly engage the following themes, and welcome contributions on other related topics: Economic insecurity, youth poverty and social protection Rural-urban migration and social exclusion of young migrant workers Children’s rights: participation and dialogue School-to-work transition and the NEET phenomenon Gender and equal opportunities Education and intergenerational poverty Young disabled people and social inclusion Theories of youth studies in Asian societies Theories of youth work in Asian societies 
RC34	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s6	Theme I.2 Japanese Youth Studies	 // Theme I.2 Japanese Youth Studies Session Organizers Tomohiko ASANO, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan,   Ichiyo HABUCHI, Hirosaki University, Japan,   Session in English In the period following the late 1970s, Japanese youth were described in a homogeneous manner. One of leading youth researchers, Shinji Miyadai, wrote that in 1980s that youth were following "the code of consumer society," which had nothing to do with any socio-economic inequality. Youth should be studied, he said, just in terms of consumption style. After the collapse of "Bubble economy" in the early 1990s, however, youth researchers found socio-economic inequality among youth to be widening. Among them, Yuki Honda, another leading youth sociologist, emphasized "communication skills" as an important factor for a reproduction of inequality. Today, many Japanese sociologists focus on inequality and differences among youth. Some even doubt there is "youth" as an identifiable object of study. This session examines how the youth period is conceptualized in Japan today. 
RC34	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s7	Theme I.3 Towards a Comparative Sociology of Youth: Alternative Frameworks and Empirical Advances	 // Theme I.3 Towards a Comparative Sociology of Youth: Alternative Frameworks and Empirical Advances Session Organizers Mikito TERACHI, International University of Japan, Japan,   Tuukka TOIVONEN, University of Oxford, United Kingdom,   Session in English The sociological study of youth has continued to diversify in recent decades, expanding from issues around inequality, identity, generations, transitions and gender to themes such as risk, exclusion, activation, creative careers and online behaviour. However, while certain youth research discourses have indeed spread around the globe, can we proclaim that this field has now finally become comparative at its very core? Or is there still significant further scope for leveraging the comparative method as we pursue important research questions? This innovative session challenges interested scholars of all career stages to submit fresh contributions that acknowledge earlier comparative work, but that showcase alternative frameworks and empirical projects that can inspire an evolved comparative sociology of youth. This session welcomes diverse submissions that demonstrate a degree of reflexivity. Submissions may be either theoretical or empirical, including, for example, comparisons across two or more regions, generations, ethnic groups, policy discourses, youth organisations, social categories, online/offline communities or institutional environments. International comparisons, including those that deal with East Asian youth issues, are encouraged. Analyses that contrast competing constructions of youth (e.g. as “passive” vs. “agentic”, as “adaptive” vs. “innovative”) are also welcomed. Presenters will be requested to focus on key insights from their papers that could not have been produced by purely domestic or non-comparative research. How can comparative methodology and theory be further developed in relation to specific research issues? How can it also serve those who wish to inform youth policy? 
RC34	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s8	Theme II.1 Faces of Uncertain Transitions to Adulthood across Cultures	 // Theme II.1 Faces of Uncertain Transitions to Adulthood across Cultures Session Organizers Christoph SCHWARZ, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany,   Lutz EICHLER, Erlangen-Nuremberg University, Germany,   Session in English Nowadays, for youths in many regions of the world, it seems to become more and more difficult to reach the status of an independent adult. The reasons are manifold, and they depend on the regional context. Accordingly, the many concepts which describe and analyze this phenomenon vary to a great degree. In Arab countries this phenomenon is currently discussed as “waithood”. This stalled transition to adulthood describes a particular form of social exclusion of the younger generation, which was an important motive for the uprisings of 2011. In the Arab context, the difficulty to integrate young adults into society might last but not least be related to the particular demographic development, because people under the age of 30 represent the majority of the population. Nevertheless, in Europe, where demographic development is contrary but youth unemployment rates are soaring in many regions, the concept of “waithood” seems equally fitting, as young adults remain dependent on their parents and their life plans are impeded. In other regional contexts, the transition to adulthood is uncertain because of tendencies for social (self-)isolation of youths, as has been observed in Japan in the 90s and later in Taiwan, South Korea, China, Singapore and Hong Kong. In Japan, the most known example is that of hikikomori: youths and young adults who completely refuse to leave their parents’ house. In contrast to the phenomenon of “waithood” in Arab countries, “hikikomori” are a largely invisible phenomenon which is discussed as a reaction to the excessive demands on individuals in the particular phase of transition to adulthood in Japanese society. In this session we invite researchers to present their findings on uncertain transitions to adulthood in a variety of regions, in order to discuss the phenomenon from a cross-cultural perspective. We would like to debate the results of qualitative and quantitative empirical research, but also focus on the theoretical concepts used in the analysis. Which aspects of the issue do they highlight (political, social, economic, personal aspects)? Are they useful in other cultural contexts as well, or in how far can they be used to sharpen neglected aspects of prevalent concepts in other used regions? 
RC34	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s9	Theme II.2 Unequal Age: Young People, Inequality and Youth Work	 // Theme II.2 Unequal Age: Young People, Inequality and Youth Work Session Organizer Michael HEATHFIELD, City Colleges of Chicago, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This session will be a cross-cultural, comparative presentation and dialogue. A panel of international presenters will highlight key findings of papers that look at the current position of young people in their own country with specific regard to persistent inequalities. This broad sweep analysis will be framed through the fifocal lens of class, race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and disability. These differential contexts for young people will then be contrasted with the role, impact, practice implications and future prospects for youth workers within each of the countries featured. Framing questions for panellist contributions: Can you explain the definitional boundaries for “young people” and “youth work” within your specific context? What are the dominant issues in your country that describe the position of young people and the current contexts in which they thrive, survive or struggle? If we apply a fifocal lens to these shifting positions of young people (class, race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability) what common threads and distinctions are pertinent to the practice of youth work? What are the significant changes in domain of youth work over the past decade and what responses to inequality can youth workers provide? 
RC34	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s10	Theme II.3 Youth Unemployment / Underemployment and Precarity	 // Theme II.3 Youth Unemployment / Underemployment and Precarity Session Organizers John GOODWIN, University of Leicester, United Kingdom,   Henrietta O`CONNOR, University of Leicester, United Kingdom,   Session in English Globally the levels of youth unemployment are disturbing. For example in the UK the rate currently stands at a rate of 22.2 per cent among 16–24 year-olds, with significantly higher rates among vulnerable populations such as early school-leavers. However, the vulnerability of young people, and concerns about their plight, is not a new phenomenon. In 1984 unemployment among 16–24 year olds reached 19.6 per cent and in the 1980s, as with other recessions, youth unemployment (which is always two to three times higher than all-age unemployment) was a major cause of concern, leading to talk about a ‘lost generation’. In order to provide a better understanding of the early labour market experiences of young people in difficult economic circumstances, and help pave the way for more effective policies, the objective of this session is to explore a number of research questions: What are the current lived experiences of young unemployed/underemployed and precarious workers? How can we understand the ways in which these experiences are influenced by policy interventions? In what ways have the experiences of unemployed, insecure and vulnerable 18-25 year-olds changed between the recessionary periods of 1980s and the 2000s? Is it possible to map the nature and extent of unemployment and precarious or fragmented forms of working in the 1980s and 2000s? How are of various groups of young people (based on gender, class, ethnicity, disability) distributed between different components of the precariat? We invite papers that consider the youth unemployment/underemployment and precarity that explore these questions amongst others. We would particularly welcome papers that are research-based and which engage with the longer-term change and transformations in youth unemployment / underemployment and precarity using qualitative and/or quantitative data and analysis. 
RC34	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s11	Theme III.1 Building a Transnational Sense of Justice among Youth in a Globalized World	 // Theme III.1 Building a Transnational Sense of Justice among Youth in a Globalized World Session Organizers Vincenzo CICCHELLI, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France,   Nicole GALLANT, Observatoire Jeunes et Société, Canada,   Sarah PICKARD, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France,   Ian WOODWARD, Griffith University, Australia,   Session in English This session invites papers that shed light on the processes through which young people today develop a sense of global social justice. Undoubtedly, the world continues to globalize and boundaries of social interaction are redrawn as networks of objects, people and ideas are mobile in many types of ways. This has made national borders increasingly porous, and allowed certain events to take on a global rather than local meaning. The first wave of globalization theory establishes this set of changes, and more recently exploration of cosmopolitan possibilities have encouraged researchers to investigate the changes in ethical and moral perspectives this sweeping globalization may cause. Such changes are not assured, however, as local reactions and contexts mean these global changes are understood differently. In addition, various local events mean a shutting-down of the hospitalities and openness associated with forms of global mobilities related to processes of exclusion and othering. Finally, theories of the global and associated social changes are remarkably – and problematically – free of complexities introduced by matters of age. This leads us to ask an important set of questions about matters of a cosmopolitan sense of justice and ethics amongst youth in this global context. Specifically, we are looking for a variety of empirical work regarding learning, context, values, role models and interaction factors, which may or may not lead youth to develop a sense of global justice. Has globalization changed the sense and the meaning of inequalities? What kinds of transnational injustices are pointed out? What kinds of young people become aware of the unequal world in which they live? What factors influence them, e.g. country of residence, contact with culture, travel experience, level of studies, peers, socio-economic class, gender, etc.? How do they learn about global inequalities? What kinds of discourses on global justice do they have, and how are these related to other similar discourses, such as the Human Rights repertoire, Indigenous rights narratives, national or cultural values, popular culture, transnational youth cultures, classic humanism, alternative and new social movement activism, etc. What types of actions do young people undertake to attempt to reduce inequalities? Is there among young people a claim for a supranational regulation of justice? How can we understand the ways in which transnational solidarities are imagined and shaped? Are these processes any different from those of previous generations of youth and from those among adults? 
RC34	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s12	Theme III.2 Youth and Social Media: Transformative Agents of Social Change	 // Theme III.2 Youth and Social Media: Transformative Agents of Social Change Session Organizers Smita VERMA, Isabella Thoburn College, India,   Vinod CHANDRA, Jai Narain Post Graduate College Lucknow, India,   Session in English Nations across the globe are witnessing major social movements (e.g., Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India). The common feature of the movements in these countries catalysing social change has been youth, who are without any political leadership and party affiliations. Interestingly, youth as main agent - often thought to be focussed, self-absorbed, and individualistic, time and again excluded from the decision making processes, are now playing a key role in forging a democratic society, transforming policies and creating more equitable institutions, and making the state agencies accountable by bridging the formidable gap between political agendas, social norms, and the expectations of the youths. The main partners to this activism are the Internet and social media, helping them connect and communicate their idea and activities and to mobilize support. Social media are giving face to the faceless, helping in re-inventing free speech (e.g., Erom Sharmila, Malala Yousafzai, Nirbhaya, Esraa Abdel Fattah & Ahmed Maher). The proposed session invites a debate on the relationship between the social structure and agency of the youth at the axis of social media shaping the trajectory of democratic representation and citizenship. 
RC34	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s13	Theme IV.1 Chronotopes of Youth: Spaces and Times of Youth Cultures in the Global City	 // Theme IV.1 Chronotopes of Youth: Spaces and Times of Youth Cultures in the Global City Session Organizers Carles FEIXA, University of Lleida, Spain,   Carmen LECCARDI, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy,   Pam NILAN, University of Newcastle, Australia,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This is a session by invitation that will focus on the concept of “youth chronotopes”, that is, the time/space dimension of social practices by young people in the global city. This innovative approach to understanding contemporary youth cultures retains the emphasis on trying to see the world through the eyes of young people themselves, but pays far more attention to the space and time in which their practices are located. Not only do the contributors came from countries across the world, and report on very diverse youth culture phenomena, but they represent a mixture of established researchers and new voices in youth research. 
RC34	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s14	Theme IV.2 Time and Space in Youth Studies 	 // Theme IV.2 Time and Space in Youth Studies Session Organizers Dan WOODMAN, University of Melbourne, Australia,   Carmen LECCARDI, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Notions of time and space are central to sociological youth research. Transitions research investigates the movement from one status to another and often from one place to another. Cultural youth research investigate the symbolic practices of young people, practices that necessarily unfold over time and often involves engagements in place and across space, potentially over larger scales than ever before. Conceptualising time and space will be important to youth researchers’ efforts to understand the increasingly global interaction of youth cultural practices, political movements and forms of inequality. Despite this importance, understandings of time and space often function implicitly in youth research and tend to be under-theorised. The presentations in this session develop these concepts for the sociology of youth, drawing on empirical examples to do so. 
RC34	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s15	Theme V.1 Social Inequality in Young People`s Housing Transitions	 // Theme V.1 Social Inequality in Young People`s Housing Transitions Session Organizers Marc MOLGAT, University of Ottawa, Canada,   Miriam MEUTH, University of Frankfurt, Germany,   Session in English This session will focus on the biographical and societal aspects of the housing transitions of young people from the perspective of social inequality. Although in most world regions, emancipation from parents, leaving home and setting up independent housing are a decisive part of the transition to adulthood – and have been conceptualized as such by many researchers – the housing transitions of young people have received insufficient empirical attention. As a part of the process of reaching adulthood, housing transitions can be considered as markers of social inequality: low income or precarious employment often means that they involve intermediate, semi-dependent living arrangements, and returns to the family home; in other cases, the family of origin is wealthy enough to support the prolonged cohabitation of young adults; in more extreme cases, periods of homelessness characterize the transition out of the family home. Accordingly, leaving home cannot be understood as a singular act and should instead be considered as a process that both reveals and structures situations of inequality. In this perspective, this session proposes to examine not only subjective attitudes, but also the roles of housing and job markets, education and training systems, and welfare state support (or lack thereof) in the housing transitions of young adults. Paper proposals for this session from sub-national, national or international perspectives are welcomed and may focus for example on urban/rural differences, the effects of housing transitions on family formation or arrangements, or the supports for youth housing transitions. In order to facilitate discussions and comparisons, the session organisers will request that each paper contain some contextual information about the society being referred to, in terms of the housing transition patterns of young people, the types of existing public supports and the state of scientific discourse on these transitions. 
RC34	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s16	Theme V.2 Youth Education-Work Nexus: Potentialities, Vulnerabilities and Resilience	 // Theme V.2 Youth Education-Work Nexus: Potentialities, Vulnerabilities and Resilience Session Organizer Clarence M. BATAN, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines,   Session in English This session examines the education and work nexus in the lives of young people to demonstrate varied forms of potentialities, vulnerabilities, and types of resilience. It explores various experiences of youth across cultures in terms of how education and work are connected and/or disconnected, integrated and/or disintegrated; and highlights their impacts on the growing up processes in contemporary world. This session envisions engaging both theoretical and methodological youth discourses in three areas, namely, potentialities, vulnerabilities and resilience, to determine how well these themes aptly or unsuitably capture the nature of education and work structures impacting contemporary youth. 
RC34	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s17	Theme V.3 Troubled Youth, Troubled Families? 	 // Theme V.3 Troubled Youth, Troubled Families? Session Organizer Ara FRANCIS, College of the Holy Cross, USA,   Session in English Scholars, activists, policy makers, and care practitioners frame families’ troubles, particularly those related to youth, as matters of public concern. Such framing tends to rely on a distinction between the ordinary family problems of “normal” youth and the pressing family problems of “troubled” youth. Building on a colloquium that brought together a group of international scholars in 2010, this session seeks to interrogate that distinction. How might we conceive of disruption as an ordinary feature of families with teens and young adults? How do the family lives of “troubled” youth resemble those of youth we conceive of as “normal”? How do powerful actors construct and contest definitions of “troubled youth” and “troubled families”? And how do the politics of trouble shape the sociology of these topics? This panel is designed to address such questions from varying vantage points, inviting research on a broad array of substantive topics such as kinship care, social exclusion, migration, violence, substance abuse, risky sexual behaviour, mental illness, and disability. Themes might include: Responsibility. Who is responsible for “troubled” youth? How do political contests inform and reflect assumptions regarding the responsibilities of teens and young adults, their parents, extended kin, communities and nation states? How are notions of agency and dependency culturally variable, and what are the ramifications of such variation? Risk. What constitutes acceptable risk, and how do teens, emerging adults, families, practitioners, policy makers, and scholars identify and manage “unacceptable” risk? How do lay perceptions of risk align or diverge from those of experts? Resources. How do material and cultural resources shape youths’ and families’ lived experiences of change, challenge, or disruption? How do dominant constructions of trouble reproduce and/or seek to ameliorate social inequalities? 
RC34	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC34#s18	Theme VI.1 The Youth Research Journey and How to Address It: Method and Ethics	 // Theme VI.1 The Youth Research Journey and How to Address It: Method and Ethics Session Organizer Kitty TE RIELE, Victoria University, Australia,   Session in English The commitment of youth researchers – and sociologists more generally – to solidarity, justice, and diversity tends to be reflected in how we conduct our research, so that we do not contribute to generating or intensifying inequalities. The choices we make for the research methods we use have consequences for the kinds of questions we can answer, the ways in which we can represent young people, and the ethical dilemmas that we may encounter during the youth research journey. This session will explore the methodological decisions made and ethical challenges experienced by youth researchers, from the design to the dissemination of research. Presenters will discuss why they made certain decisions and how these impacted the research journey, including unforeseen events and challenges. Implications for youth sociology more generally will also be examined. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Conceptual and Terminological Analysis, RC35
RC35	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s1	Citizenship, Cosmopolitan Recognition and Democratic Imaginaries	 // Citizenship, Cosmopolitan Recognition and Democratic Imaginaries Session Organizers Craig BROWNE, University of Sydney, Australia,   Gilles VERPRAET, Université Paris Ouest, France,   Session in English It could be argued that cosmopolitanism and citizenship involve two dimensions of recognition. Citizenship is mainly concerned with political recognition, the formal equality of members of a political community, and how rights and duties are combined (Rousseau; Marshall). Whereas the cosmopolitan thematic might be related more to cultural recognition, since it proposes modes of recognition that go beyond the limitations of exclusive citizenship and exclusive nationalism (Kant; Beck; Delanty). Honneth claims that struggles for recognition have made citizenship more democratic, opening it to wider categories of persons and enriching its meaning in ways that are consistent with T H Marshall’s typology of civil, political and social rights. By contrast, cosmopolitanism is suggestive of types of cultural recognition that are not limited to the national frame and that are contrary to the image of citizenship as defined by the exclusion of the other. This session aims to clarify and explore how the relationship of recognition and democracy bears upon cosmopolitan citizenship. It will consider whether the elucidation of mutual recognition modifies our conception of democracy as a normative ideal and an empirical reality. Yet, it asks whether current understandings of recognition are sufficient and whether they need to be supplemented by other historical frameworks and genealogies. Given that democracy is conditioned by the horizons of expectation (Koselleck) and the sense of meaning that subjects draw from the social imaginary, such as that of a moral order of mutual benefit according to Charles Taylor and Proudhon, or the project of individual and collective autonomy according to Cornelius Castoriadis. For this reason, historical and genealogical approaches that combine interpretations of cosmopolitanism and statements of citizenship may be heuristic, as they assist in clarifying the relations between State democratization and the extending of cultural exchanges, and between recognition and cosmopolitan democracy. The authors of reference can be reviewed on some historical periods, so as to specify the relations between ideology and utopias, between global imaginaries and proceedings of recognition (Taylor, Balibar, Delanty, Benhabib). From this can be developed some intersecting histories of political recognition. Finally, does the notion of democratic recognition enable us to enhance a better appreciation of the recent waves of social contestation that have sought to promote democracy and its resonance implicated in their attempts to give expression to democracy through public actions and the mobilising of popular will, such as in the case of the Arab spring or the Occupy movement? 
RC35	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s2	Giving as Social Practice and Economic Alternative	 // Giving as Social Practice and Economic Alternative Session Organizer Dave ELDER-VASS, Loughborough University, United Kingdom,   Session in English Giving is a topic that has been seriously neglected by sociologists. If we include sharing within the family or household, volunteering, charitable donations, blood and organ donation, assistance to friends, neighbours and co-workers, presents on ritual occasions such as birthdays, and the blossoming culture of digital gifts on the Internet, then giving may be as important economically as the market. Yet this is a set of social practices that is excluded from economics by its very definition of the economy, and thus a prime opportunity for sociologists to demonstrate the importance of social practices that do not conform to the neoliberal logic of the market in our contemporary social world. Giving may also be seen as an important non-capitalist form that already exists alongside the capitalist economy, and thus as offering part of a viable alternative to the current political and discursive dominance of capitalism. Nevertheless, giving is also entangled with commercial activities, notably in the burgeoning digital economy. Papers are invited that consider how the many social practices of giving operate, as well as those that discuss the critical/political implications of these practices. 
RC35	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s3	Individuality Revisited: A Concept between Cultural and Epistemological Perspectives	 // Individuality Revisited: A Concept between Cultural and Epistemological Perspectives Session Organizers Jochen DREHER, University of Konstanz, Germany,   Hisashi NASU, Waseda University, Japan,   Session in English The sociological discipline does not offer a standardized definition of “individualization” or “individuality,” but a common tendency within different theoretical orientations points to the fact that the individual is not considered to be the isolated entity or actor, but can only be thematized within societal interrelations and interdependences. There is a focus on a process of removal from traditions and life forms within freely eligible, anonymity gaining networks, a pluralizing of life styles and the emergence of internal and external constraints which put pressure on individuals to make use of their personal freedom. Societal differentiation according to Georg Simmel causes individualization; specialization and division of work lead to individualizing processes. Individualization is seen as the growing quantity of group affiliation and the individual is considered to be the intersection of social circles. Wilhelm von Humboldt’s and Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s idea of individuality postulates a “self-unfolding subject” expressing itself in its actions, relationships, and creations. Jean Jacques Rousseau connected individuality to concepts like spontaneity, natural sentiment, and authenticity while John Stuart Mill’s political reflections put emphasis on the supreme obligation of government which lays in protecting individuality. What is the specific nature of the phenomenon of individuality? Are the classical sociological and social philosophical reflections a specific product of Western thought? In some cultures, the individual may cease to be the primary unit of consciousness and instead, the sense of belongingness to a social relation is so strong that it makes more sense to think of the relationship as the functional unit of conscious reflection, especially in Japan, China, Thailand, the Philippines, India etc. The session will challenge the classical perspectives on “individuality” uniting scholars from different cultural contexts and epistemological approaches. 
RC35	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s4	Ontologies of Development and its Absence	 // Ontologies of Development and its Absence Session Organizer Claudio PINHEIRO, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil,   Session in English Development became a key and global concept after Second World War. Undeniably it affected the organization of political agendas at the level of Nation-States and institutions created to regulate the international order after 1945. Disputes concerning its definition, validation and applicability widened its semantic field and had huge impact to political, economic and intellectual agendas. Although straightforwardly associated to the historical context of the post-1945, it is not difficult to illustrate how development relates to a wider arena referred to the promotion of improvement and progress and to the production of wealth – ideas already available at 18th century Adam Smith´s Wealth of the Nations. All in all development and its absence (backwardness, underdevelopment etc.) organized a semantic field referred to binary oppositions conceived as Antinomies of Modernity, structuring the relationship of the West to colonial and post-colonial peripheries. We encourage the submission of papers aimed at mapping conceptualization, theorization and debates largely associated to development as a topos and a semantic field in relation or reaction to western expansion through colonialism and capitalism. Special attention will be given to investigations dealing with the analysis of contexts/experiences addressed from peripheral and post-colonial contexts concerning experiences of anti-development debates. 
RC35	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s5	Power and Violence Revisited: Understanding the Theoretical Significance of Challenges to Western Modernity	 // Power and Violence Revisited: Understanding the Theoretical Significance of Challenges to Western Modernity Session Organizers John RUNDELL, University of Melbourne, Australia,   David STRECKER, University of Jena, Germany,   Session in English The prevalent notions of power and violence in social theory have been strongly shaped by a dominant self-conception of Western modernity: Power as the capacity to enforce aims is essentially based on violence as the primary resource to suppress resistance; what has been termed modernization has brought about an increasing centralization of violence and, hence, power within the state; democratization has dissolved or, at least, diminished the repressive character of power and violence. This conceptualization has been challenged for some time: Power does not exclusively or even primarily work by suppression; power’s repressive and constitutive functions can go hand in hand and are interlinked in subtle ways; furthermore, the relationship between violence and power is more difficult than is usually assumed; they might even better be understood as antithetical; finally, modernization has not tamed or at least mitigated power and violence; the recent history of the West plainly evinces the contrary; and voices from the Global South have long contested the dominant narrative. It is not always clear, however, what the challenge raised by postcolonial, decolonial and related critiques of Western social theory exactly consists in. Does it go beyond moral protestation and a demand for historical recognition and inclusion? Do processes of modernization more or less neglected by the dominant narrative also possess significance for how we have to understand and model the central concepts of social theory? The session is intended to take a closer look at this question by asking: What can we learn from challenges to Western modernization about the functions and mechanisms of power and violence and their relation to each other. Hence, we invite contributions discussing issues like slavery, colonialism, connected histories, and entangled or multiple modernities with the aim of thereby refining our conceptions of power and violence. 
RC35	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s6	RC35 Business Meeting	 // RC35 Business Meeting Session Organizer 
RC35	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s7	Renegotiating Modernity: Imaginaries, Projects and Critiques	 // Renegotiating Modernity: Imaginaries, Projects and Critiques Session Organizers Julian GO, University of Boston, USA,   Oliver KOZLAREK, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Mexico,   Session in English In the last decades the concept of modernity has been tested time and again. While rejected by many, others observed a multiplication and proliferation of modernities. We welcome papers that present projects, imaginaries and critiques of modernity that draw on `non occidental` perspectives and experiences. What kind of theories of modernity have emerged in the Asia, Africa, and Latin America and how do these negotiate, challenge, contest or even align with modernity projects elsewhere? In many countries the debates about modernity transcend the academic discourse. Literature and the arts in general are important media. Accordingly, in order to understand how certain societies conceive of modernity, we especially welcome submissions that take these media into consideration. An important question is how a fruitful dialogue between social theory and the arts can be established. 
RC35	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s8	Resonance Theory and the Quality of Life	 // Resonance Theory and the Quality of Life Session Organizer Dietmar J. WETZEL, University of Bern, Switzerland,   Session in English The panel assembles current research which focuses on the connection between theories of resonance and quality of life. The finding that experiences of resonance positively influence individual’s quality of life can be taken as a starting point. A fundamental intuition comes from the conviction that sociological analyses of resonance offer the possibility to address and expand questions of recognition, of social positioning and responsiveness in a theoretically and empirically fruitful manner. The difference to approaches that exclusively focus on social relationships is found in the inclusion of objects as well as the natural sphere which make up important dimensions in experiencing resonance. Resonance theory takes these additional dimensions into consideration. Affects, emotions and modes of affection constitute crucial elements in generating and explaining experiences of resonance. Their influence can be revealed in a complex and constellative analysis. Thus resonance can be understood as a social relation, as an induced reaction by a counterpart or as an answer to things. By contrast, the lack of resonance in constitutive relationships (within the family, the spheres of work, politics, religion, nature etc.) can be understood as producing experiences or situations of alienation. In this panel, theoretical as well as empirically accessible dimensions and spheres of resonance (love, work, nature, aesthetics and religion) will be explored. The following questions can be considered as points of departure for further reflections/contributions: What empirical approaches serve to investigate experiences of resonance? What are the existing works on this topic and where’s a need for methodical innovation? How can a conceptual connection between ways of life and experiences of resonance (and alienation) be developed? What are the empirical findings and how can they be integrated into the current discussion? Is there space for (alternative) indicators in this discussion that may help to redefine the understanding of quality of life in order to overcome a one-sided definition that remains in economic categories? Conceptions of the quality of life obviously shift with class, milieu and generation (age) affiliation. What potential explanations can a critical sociology working with resonance analysis provide to this connection? 
RC35	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s9	Rethinking Concepts of `Global Sociology` from Indigenous Perspectives	 // Rethinking Concepts of `Global Sociology` from Indigenous Perspectives Session Organizer Gurminder K. BHAMBRA, University of Warwick, United Kingdom,   Session in English Struggles by indigenous peoples around the world for sovereignty and land rights have emerged in recent years as perhaps the key global sites for articulating alternative visions of the global. With their common vision against the intensification of neoliberal policies and a plurality of ‘solutions’ envisaging the possibility of ‘another world’ or conceptualising the world differently, these struggles provide an important place from which to think again about the global and its associated concepts. This session calls for papers that engage theoretically with the challenges posed by indigenous struggles for our understandings of the `global social` and the possibilities for solidarity across struggles. It would also like to invite papers that address these thematics through substantive empirical research. 
RC35	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s10	Semantics of the Concept of Community: Different Traditions and Cultural Backgrounds	 // Semantics of the Concept of Community: Different Traditions and Cultural Backgrounds Session Organizers Alejandro BIALAKOWSKY, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Pablo DE MARINIS, Universidad de Buenos Aires/CONICET, Argentina,   Session in English Social sciences (among other social and political discourses) are currently participating in some sort of “discursive emphasis” around the idea of community. As, in fact, they always have. All throughout the history of social sciences, there have emerged various semantics of community. Two of the most acknowledged, quite opposed to one another, are the German and the Anglosaxon traditions. The German semantics have generally tended to imbue community with affective, culturalistic, romantic and “natural” elements, and have conceived individuals as immersed in a “collective fusion”, often parting from a call to “blood and ground”, and making a strict delimitation of a sense of “us” strongly antagonic to a “them”. On the other side, the Anglosaxon semantics have assumed voluntaristic and proactive characteristics, which imply that subjects consciously, rationally and deliberately join a collectivity that includes them but, simultaneously, promotes their individuality. In this sense, this tradition seems to include components of other notions related to it, such as “civil society” and “civic sphere”, which are based on a more individualistic, contractual and liberal notion of community than that of the German tradition. Needless to say, we are aware of the fact that the characterization of these semantics is schematic, and that there exists a number of divergent cases, of mixtures, overlappings, etc., even inside the perspective of one single author. This is why the session calls for the presentation of works on the wide range of concepts of community found in a diversity of authors. We especially welcome contributions of scholars doing research on theories that belong to these traditions and to different cultural backgrounds, where community acquires other distinctive semantics. 
RC35	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s11	Sociological Inquiries into the Concept of ‘Crisis’	 // Sociological Inquiries into the Concept of ‘Crisis’ Session Organizer Marcos GONZALEZ HERNANDO, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom,   Session in English Crisis has become a ubiquitous term to describe a widening array of facets of our contemporary societies. Nonetheless, what we mean by it is frequently vague and opaque. When we claim a particular situation is one of ‘crisis’, we make an underlying statement on a distance from ‘normality’ that might allow the enactment of profound and transformative actions that are unthinkable in other circumstances. That process, paradoxically, habitually comes accompanied with a recognition of the limits of our understanding. Crises thus point at the junction between knowledge and politics, and the way they are publicly tackled often involves moral and ethical considerations that confront us with essential aspects of our world. Different modes and accounts of crises, in this sense, also help delineate the contours of the social time in which we dwell: for instance, as part of a cycle and thus finite (e.g. in neoclassical economic theory), as trials of our resoluteness (e.g. in wartime discourse) or more fundamentally to the end of our social world (as in eschatology). Hence what is telling about ‘crisis’ is not only the situation this word describes, but also the effects it has on it, especially and precisely when we are faced with the limits of our knowledge. Acknowledging that this process is profoundly subjective, the aim of this session is to shed a light onto the implications of the use of this concept within sociology and elsewhere. Exploring the intersections between crisis and time, narrative, uncertainty and knowledge, we expect to contribute to Edgar Morin’s appeal for the foundation of a discipline of crisologie, clarifying what this concept reveals and obscures when uttered – ever more frequently – to describe a rapidly changing world. We welcome submissions that attempt to tackle these issues from a theoretical, empirical, analytical, comparative or historical point of view. 
RC35	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s12	Technology and Society: How Culture-Bound are Sociological Concepts?	 // Technology and Society: How Culture-Bound are Sociological Concepts? Session Organizer Elísio MACAMO, University of Basel, Switzerland,   Dieter NEUBERT, University of Bayreuth, Germany,   Session in English Science and Technology are acknowledged as important features of modernity. Classical modernization theories, including Marxist approaches, articulated them with notions of progress and innovation to derive complex processes of social change largely based on diffusionist ideas. This generally up-beat approach to the relationship between science and technology and modernity came, however, to be viewed with scepticism by theoretical approaches developed within risk sociology and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Ulrich Beck’s notion of a “risk society”, for instance, drew attention to the extent to which modern societies organize in response to risk created by complex technologies and the unintended consequences of their use. Equally, Science and Technology Studies (STS) re-defined the (societal) values of scientific fact-production and re-framed the realms in which technology is enacted while focusing on a notion of the “local” that emphasises its distance to notions of universality. These approaches argued against the omnipotence of science and technology, but with regard to (Western) industrialized societies. This raises the question of their validity beyond the Western context and, more importantly, whether their account of modern society yields theoretical and analytical concepts that can be applied to other societies. In this sense, our panel is interested in raising questions over the process through which concepts and theories developed within the framework of accounts of modernity are made relevant in different societal and cultural settings and the implications of resulting challenges to sociological theory building. This will be discussed with a focus on the relation between technology and society. More specifically, the panel asks: How useful are approaches like risk society or STS in non-western settings and/or settings in which technology has only penetrated parts of the society? What are the analytical advantages and disadvantages of viewing “risk” (in Beck’s understanding) as a feature of modern societies as against the much broader view that the transformation of danger into risk is an anthropological constant and, therefore, not a prerogative of modern society? How can the idea that societies shape technological design be applied in settings which are radically different from a cultural and societal perspective? 
RC35	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s13	The Concept of Society: National, Global or None?	 // The Concept of Society: National, Global or None? Session Organizer Boris HOLZER, University of Bielefeld, Germany,   Session in English Although sociology is usually defined as the scientific study of society, sociologists by no means agree on what society ‘is’. Some even hold that the concept is dispensable and therefore advocate a sociology without society. The latter position can be traced back to Max Weber’s critique of ‘collective notions’ (Kollektivbegriffe) and how they reify social phenomena. It has gained new currency in the globalization debate as societies as primary units of analysis are called into question. Obviously, that line of reasoning challenges the everyday usage of the concept of society: Common parlance identifies ‘societies’ with particular countries and thus distinguishes ‘American’ from ‘Indian’ society. Yet precisely that kind of identification of society with the nation-state loses its credibility as increasing transnational flows and networks render any ‘container theory’ of society implausible. Not only economic relations but also the arts and popular culture, science, religion and political protest transcend the territorial domain of any given nation-state. Yet does it follow that we have to jettison the concept of society? Or is it rather necessary to adopt a concept of society that severs the link with the nation-state, i.e. the concept of global or world society? Between the two extremes of having no concept of society at all and having only one, there are of course plenty of other options, e.g. various concepts of regional societies (such as European society). Against this backdrop, this session aims to reconsider the concept of society and its criticism. Papers could approach the topic from a theoretical or empirical perspective, highlight historical continuities or discontinuities in the thinking about society or discuss the meaning of ‘society’ and related concepts in a particular culture or region. Bearing in mind that society is a term that is used in both scientific and everyday discourses, papers could also examine the performative relationship between those two contexts of usage – how has the sociological concept influenced the common sense and vice versa? And finally, the European origins of the term – as it is used today – could spark reflections about its Eurocentrism and possible alternatives. The session invites contributions addressing some of these issues and concerns. 
RC35	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s14	The Global South and Postcolonial Perspectives in International Sociology	 // The Global South and Postcolonial Perspectives in International Sociology Integrative Session // : RC08 History of Sociology, RC35 Conceptual and Terminological Analysis and WG02 Historical and Comparative Sociology. Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC35	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC35#s15	Time and Society	 // Time and Society Session Organizer Hartmut ROSA, University of Jena, Germany,   Session in English The concept of time provides key-access to the analysis of the cultural and structural fabric of society. In fact, time can be seen as the essential factor that bridges or intermediates between structure and action, since, on the one hand, it proves to be solidly constructed socially, while on the other hand it figures as an individual resource and experience. This is the core-insight that led a group of international reseachers to the foundation of the journal Time &Society in 1990. We would like to dedicate this panel to a revision of our current conceptions of social temporality. For this, we invite contributions that approach the subject from a theoretical perspective and ask for the conceptions of time in different strands of social theory. Furthermore, we are looking for contributions dealing with the temporalities of particular social spheres such as the temporality of politics, education or the economy. Finally, a specific interest lies in the identification of temporal conflicts that arise between cultures (multitemporality), classes or social spheres (desynchronization). The journal is co-sponsoring this session and thus invites all readers and authors as well as everybody interested in the subject to a small reception following the session. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Alienation Theory and Research, RC36
RC36	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s1	Alienation and Sub-alterity: Race, Ethnicity, and Struggle	 // Alienation and Sub-alterity: Race, Ethnicity, and Struggle Session Organizer Lauren LANGMAN, Loyola University of Chicago, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . In line with the World Congress focus on “Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology,” this session explores alienation and sub-alterity through the lens of race, ethnicity, and nation. Panelists examine various ways whereby the institutions of society impose structures that rank and organize groups according to historically entrenched hierarchies even as individuals and groups struggle against, challenge, and resist this process. The papers explore how inequality is embedded in and perpetuated by the prison system, through economic and political arrangements, and by ideological and structural processes related to community and belonging. 
RC36	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s2	Alienation, Emotions, and Well-Being	 // Alienation, Emotions, and Well-Being Session Organizer Vessela MISHEVA, Uppsala University, Sweden,   Session in English The relationships between alienation and feelings of ill-being, ill-health, and poor social performance are well established in research. Alienation typically manifests itself through a cluster of attitudes towards self, the other, and the world which are emotionally charged. Modern diseases at the work place related to the very nature of modern work, such as stress, lack of work satisfaction, being burnt out, and being bored out, both lead to a growing number of short-time sick leaves and burden families, organizations, and social performances with loneliness, depression, social anxiety, distrust, and lack of self-esteem. This is evidence for the fact that alienation today shapes all spheres of public and private life. Modern social research must examine more closely the nature and workings of human emotions in order to move from merely contemplating the worsened quality of the individual’s social conditions, the erosion of feelings, and the diminished quality of emotional life, to active explorations of ways in which to overcome alienation and restore well-being and health. This session will investigate the relation of alienation to patterns of emotion expression, emotion exchange, emotion control, emotion work, emotion recreation, and emotion erosion in both virtual and real worlds. The role of emotions in overcoming alienation and restoring the individual’s socio-psychological and physical health is a focus of attention. Theoretical and empirical presentations that contribute to an understanding of the various ways in which alienation through emotion labor and control has become an important part of the creation of modern organizations, consumer society, and economic wealth will be particularly welcome. Also of interest are critical explorations of Hochschild’s “emotional labor thesis” and her interpretation of Marx’s alienation theory. 
RC36	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s3	Disrespect and Misrecognition	 // Disrespect and Misrecognition Session Organizer Michael J. THOMPSON, William Paterson University, USA,   Session in English The question of social justice as a deficiency of respect involving misrecognition has become a major theme in social and moral philosophy. These two concepts are rooted in the idea that social relations can be constituted in such a way that the “other” is denied the recognition needed for the development of a more inclusive society which combats inequality and injustice on multiple levels. How can the categories of “disrespect” and “misrecognition” help us understand, formulate, and research themes in social justice? Are these categories sufficient for the articulation of justice in terms of social relations and institutions? How do they relate to other, more well-tested theories in the social sciences? This panel will explore these issues in respect to social theory as well as empirical research and seek to defend, contest, or elaborate the energetic theme of misrecognition and disrespect in contemporary social theory. 
RC36	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s4	From Alienation to Agency	 // From Alienation to Agency Session Organizer Miriam ADELMAN, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil,   Session in English The classical concerns of objectification, estrangement, and alienation as articulated by Marx have been generally considered to be the basis of powerlessness and isolation in modern “mass society.” In this type of society, armies of “cheerful robots” toil in meaningless work by day, deaden their consciousness via mass culture in the evening, and find momentary gratification in the compulsive consumerism on weekends. Even if this “ideal typical” description of life in a capitalist society may be a bit overdrawn, most examinations of alienation nevertheless focus on how the conditions of capitalist work, consumption, and leisure time thwart human capacities for creative self-fulfillment and meaningful communal life. However, a more careful and nuanced examination of contemporary society reveals a number of ways in which people attempt to overcome this alienation and indeed find agency, meaningful community life, and gratifying identities in a variety of social activities. These range from participating in social movements, to certain forms of cultural consumption, such as ecotourism, and other kinds of community activities. This session will attempt to explore some of these ways in which people attempt to overcome the objectification and estrangement of alienation and, in fact, transcend the various limits imposed by late capitalism. 
RC36	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s5	Global Protest and Alternative Media	 // Global Protest and Alternative Media Session Organizer Devorah KALEKIN-FISHMAN, University of Haifa, Israel,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . In recent years we have seen an increase in the hardships forced upon common people throughout the world, in both totalitarian regimes and Western democracies, by the global neo-liberal order. But this painful process, in which the iron grasp of neo-liberal domination is becoming ever stronger, is also a dialectic process. It is accompanied by the growing criticism of intellectuals and social scientists as well as anti-globalization and anti-capitalist protests on the part of activists who clearly see that today’s economic crisis is but one of the successive crises of capitalism. These global protests may be analyzed in respect to a two-fold process. First, both online and offline communities formed from the classic nucleus of activists, primarily young people – supported by public intellectuals protesting in small groups who are joined by numerous organizations and then by countless citizens of various classes – aim to transform themselves from a crowd of alienated individuals into a cohesive community. They discuss their demands face to face in the public spheres of city squares as they unite themselves in solidarity and present their demands to the nation and to other movements as well. Second, their use of new media to communicate their voices and protests to national and global audiences alike continuously online by means of the new digital media, as was the case with, for example, the “Occupy Wall Street” blog, overcomes the relative lack of coverage by the Western national and global broadcast networks. Not only may broader public support be won in this way, this can also serve to monitor police conduct and police violence, lead to legitimization of the movement, and produce denunciation of the politicians who ordered police actions. This exerts influence on the political field and pressures the mainstream media to extend their coverage of the protests. The panel intends to present recent studies on the above issues, including discussions of the analytical framework that has been proposed. 
RC36	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s6	Post-colonized Eastern Europe: Overcoming Alienation and Social Fatigue	 // Post-colonized Eastern Europe: Overcoming Alienation and Social Fatigue Session Organizer Nikolay ZAKHAROV, Södertörn University, Sweden,   Session in English This session will explore how the concepts of alienation and social fatigue provide tools for understanding individual responses to social change and the search for authenticity. Increasing irritability and social withdrawal as well as lack of trust and social cohesion have been discussed at length. However, it is less clear whether new strategies of resistance and empowerment can sensitize students of alienation and help them chart the logic of overcoming self-estrangement and isolation. Against this background, this session aims to provide a broad forum of discussion about the traumatizing consequences of the dramatic social changes that have taken place in post-communist Europe. 
RC36	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s7	Race, Ethnicity and Alienated Consciousness	 // Race, Ethnicity and Alienated Consciousness Session Organizer David EMBRICK, Loyola University of Chicago, USA,   Session in English One of the most salient aspects of globalization has been the contraction of the world and the growing proximity of different peoples whether through migration, tourism, or access to cultural diversity. In many ways this has led to growing toleration, indeed celebrations of difference. At the same time, however, the rapidity of social change and the problematic nature of the global economy, in which many people have lost income, status, or both, has also led to the growth of a number of reactionary forces that encourage racial/ethnic intolerance. These range from Islamophobic parties in Europe to the Tea Party movement in the United States. A long-standing body of theory and research in sociology has shown how the alienated segments of the society have been prone to intolerance, which was the major theme of the early Frankfurt School studies. How do we understand relationships between race, ethnicity, and alienation today? This session will examine recent theory and research on how alienation often fosters intolerance and why overcoming alienation fosters a more tolerant society. 
RC36	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s8	RC36 Business Meeting	 // RC36 Business Meeting 
RC36	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s9	Rethinking Reification in Contemporary Social Theory	 // Rethinking Reification in Contemporary Social Theory Session Organizer Lauren LANGMAN, Loyola University of Chicago, USA,   Session in English Reification has emerged as an important theme in contemporary social theory and philosophy. Although thinkers such as Axel Honneth have put reification back on the agenda in social philosophy, its fuller potential for philosophy, political and social theory, as well as the empirical social sciences, has yet to be explored. This session will seek to probe the various aspects of reification, explore it as a concept, and examine ways in which it should be conceived. In addition, its relevance for the empirical social sciences will be taken into account. How does an increase in a consumptive ethic in late capitalism make reification relevant again in the contemporary context? How does reification affect the cognitive and social-relational dynamics of modern subjectivity and intersubjectivity? How does reification today retain, but also depart from, Georg Lukacs’ initial concept of reification first presented almost a century ago? These questions and others will be taken up in this session as it attempts to rethink reification for contemporary social theory and the social sciences. 
RC36	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s10	Security, Inequality, Alienation – The Banner of a Revolution in Reverse?	 // Security, Inequality, Alienation – The Banner of a Revolution in Reverse? Session Organizer Marvin T. PROSONO, Missouri State University, USA,   Session in English When the dust had cleared after the struggles of the 20th century, especially the victories over Nazism and Fascism, it was presumed that the great project of the Enlightenment would be free to continue its course. However, the optimistic motto of the French Revolution – liberté, egalité, fraternité – has been subverted as neo-liberal capital, bristling with energy after its ostensible triumph over socialist alternatives, has found the political and economic means to push back against any human definition of progress. Our age is characterized by a continuing loss of liberty in the name of security, an increasing inequality both within and among nations, and a growing sense of alienation. Alienating tendencies are on the increase as millions find themselves without work, without hope, and even without national purpose or sense of destiny. For Marx, the revolution against capital would have resolved alienation. But what happens next in the face of increased alienation when the best we might imagine is a revolution postponed? How are certain nations, such as Japan, able to control to a large degree internal socio-economic inequality while others, such as the United States, seem able to increase inequality almost indefinitely without infuriating their people? How intense do feelings of alienation need to become before multitudes learn the true nature of Empire and take the necessary steps to put humanity back into the equation? 
RC36	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s11	The Impact of the Use of Digital Media in Social Life	 // The Impact of the Use of Digital Media in Social Life Session Organizer Richard MISKOLCI, Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil,   Session in English This session aims to provide a forum for discussion concerning the consequences of the growing use of digital media in everyday life. Although new forms of inequality and a changing scenario for interpersonal relations arise within the new social and historical context that has emerged, the latter also promises to create new types of communities based upon intimate/personal interests that compete with traditional communities based upon the enforcement of collective values. Examining these issues can help foster a new understanding of the social transformations now underway and a reevaluation of old theoretical frameworks. Limitations of the latter that need to be overcome include the separation between public and private lives and the inability to address how new technologies transform not only social relations, but also individual subjectivity. The changes generated by digital media are evident in such new phenomena as the increasing importance of such media in finding love/sexual partners and the ways in which permanent connectivity changes our experience of time and space as well as our own comprehension of ourselves. The session will welcome presentations about the methodological challenges and the ethical questions connected with this new set of subjects for social research. 
RC36	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s12	Theories and Practices of Alienation: New Perspectives	 // Theories and Practices of Alienation: New Perspectives Session Organizers Devorah KALEKIN-FISHMAN, University of Haifa, Israel,   Lauren LANGMAN, Loyola University of Chicago, USA,   Session in English Marx, drawing on Hegel’s discussion of alienation, initiated our current concerns with alienation as a consequence of wage labor, or the commodification of one’s labor power. Although interest in alienation has waxed and waned since 1844, it remains a very robust concept. This session will seek to explore some of the more recent endeavors in developing and, indeed, rethinking the nature of alienation in the contemporary globalized world. In the countries of the West today few people toil in satanic factories. Most instead work in various service industries providing information and/or personal services, in which “managing the heart” can be just as alienating. But at the same time, hundreds of millions still toil in sweatshops, where both labor protests and suicides are frequent. The session will discuss some of the newer theories and research agendas that speak to the continued relevance of alienation. 
RC36	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s13	Wither the 2011 Mobilizations: Progressive, Regressive or Irrelevant	 // Wither the 2011 Mobilizations: Progressive, Regressive or Irrelevant Integrative Session // : RC07 Futures Research, RC36 Alienation Theory and Research and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC36	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC36#s14	Youth and Alienation	 // Youth and Alienation Session Organizer Tanya Jukkala, Södertörn University, Sweden,   Session in English Today one is tempted to say that youth is wasted on the young. Such problems as increasing suicide rates, self-destructive behavior, and drug and alcohol abuse among younger generations seem to indicate that youth in contemporary society are particularly alienated. On the other hand, alienation also implies a questioning of the prevailing norms, rules, and goals in society, and as such it is a component of the innovation and rebellion which are predominant in youth culture. The line between these differing aspects of alienation is not always clear. For example, such youth sub-cultures as the Graffiti culture or the ”Emo” culture are often considered to be deviant from the perspective of the dominant culture even though they are undeniably expressions of creativity. This session aims to explore both how the concept of alienation provides a variety of means for gaining an understanding of youth and youth culture, and also how social actions and behavior among the young may provide a way to discuss alienation, the various aspects of alienation, and how the latter are interrelated. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Arts, RC37
RC37	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s1	Analyzing Art Works as a Way to Social Knowledge. Part I	 // Analyzing Art Works as a Way to Social Knowledge. Part I Session Organizer Paulo MENEZES, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English This session aims to evaluate the state of art of research in sociology and social sciences that have their principal focus in the analyses of art works as a way to achieve social knowledge about societies or social groups. It intends to discuss sociological possibilities and strategies in the analyses of art works in their epistemological, methodological or analytical problems and approaches, in order to problematize art works as an important social phenomena that alludes to the observer various possibilities of meaning constitution and interpretation about reality and social organization, social groups and their relational systems of values and social structuration. In this way, it aims to compare differentially these possible perspectives related to art works in their various supports, from the visual arts like painting, sculpture, video art, films and photographs to the written and performed ones, as literature, theater, scenic arts, etc., in order to discuss their epistemological, methodological or analytical proximities or discrepancies in the social sciences researches. 
RC37	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s2	Analyzing Art Works as a Way to Social Knowledge. Part II	 // Analyzing Art Works as a Way to Social Knowledge. Part II Session Organizer Paulo MENEZES, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English 
RC37	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s3	Artistic Reputations, Success and Consecration: A Sociological Analysis	 // Artistic Reputations, Success and Consecration: A Sociological Analysis Session Organizers Alain QUEMIN, Université Paris 8, France,   Session in English The sociology of art in its present form emerged in the 1960`s in France with a double tradition that developed strong empirical research: Raymonde Moulin and her analyses on the art market, and Pierre Bourdieu (and collaborators) with his innovative and seminal studies on audiences. Since then, empirical research has led to a remarkable development of the sociology of art not only in France but also worldwide. Nonetheless, the study of how reputations and success are created and constructed has not been central to either Pierre Bourdieu’s or Raymonde Moulin’s research. However, it became prominent in the Anglo-Saxon world in the 1980’s with the work of Sherwin Rosen and that of Alan Bowness; a preeminence that continues at present. This session welcomes papers devoted to the study of the social construction of artistic reputations and fame focusing on a variety of art sectors: the visual arts and contemporary art in particular, but also music, dance, cinema, and theater. Empirical research is strongly encouraged. 
RC37	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s4	Carving Out Gastronomical Spaces of Aesthetic Publics: Cuisine and City in Global Perspective 	 // Carving Out Gastronomical Spaces of Aesthetic Publics: Cuisine and City in Global Perspective Session Organizer Eiko IKEGAMI, The New School for Social Research, USA,   Session in English This session focuses on the social dimension of aesthetic practices, broadly defined. By connecting various kinds of people and resources, sharing and appreciating aesthetic practices can yield powerful communicative spheres in urban settings. However, spaces of aesthetic publics can be carved out not only by conventionally defined categories of art. This panel proposes to look at social dynamics of cuisine culture and its relationship in the context of urban dynamics in a globalized world. In our contemporary world, gastronomical experiences are often talked about as if they embody cultural tastes. People talk about their experiences of cuisines and put photos in blogs and Facebook. Star chefs are often treated as popular culture icons as embodiment of culinary art and originality. Cuisine is becoming a powerful means of attracting local people as well as tourists, with huge economic consequences. The dynamics of food culture often results in transformations of the urban landscape. At the same time, the global migration of ethnic cuisines and food cultures also constantly redefine local identities. This panel welcomes innovative papers that highlight any aspect of social and communicative dynamics of cuisine culture in regional and global settings. 
RC37	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s5	Emotions and the Sociology of Art 	 // Emotions and the Sociology of Art Session Organizer Marta HERRERO, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session seeks contributions exploring the role of emotions in sociological analyses of art. It welcomes papers with a strong bias on empirical research, as well as theoretical analysis focusing on a wide range of research topics, from audiences and arts engagement, artists and careers, management of the arts, studies of arts organisations, analyses of art markets. The aim of the session is exploratory, it is designed to map out research in the fields of sociology of art and of emotions. 
RC37	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s6	Literature and Sociological Knowledge	 // Literature and Sociological Knowledge Session Organizer Ana Lucia TEIXEIRA, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English Literature has always been at the centre of the sociological studies of art. This session seeks to discuss the mutual contribution that may arise by combining both fields of knowledge. Its purpose is to explore new approaches to sociological studies of literature based on theoretical analyses of this classic theme in sociology. This session welcomes presentations discussing the following: 1- the role of literature as an object of sociological interest; 2- the use of literature as a vehicle for the re-formulation of other sociological concepts; and 3- the status of the sociological text as a literary text. 
RC37	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s7	Meta, Macro, Meso, Micro: Different Levels of Analysis in the Sociology of Art	 // Meta, Macro, Meso, Micro: Different Levels of Analysis in the Sociology of Art Session Organizer Eduardo DE LA FUENTE, Flinders University, Australia,   Session in English The sociology of art has experienced a significant revival in the last three decades. It now has contemporary ‘classics’ such as Becker’s Art Worlds and Bourdieu’s Rules of Art; and a significant amount of research has been carried out on different types of art in various local, national and global contexts. But the latter raises an interesting question: what level of analysis should the sociology of art aim for? Is the field best suited to the study of localized art worlds? Or does the sociology of art have something to offer social science reflection on civilizational and other long-term historical developments? This session invites papers that reflect either theoretically or empirically on the different levels of sociologizing that might productively be undertaken with respect to art and other aesthetic phenomena. 
RC37	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s8	RC37 Business Meeting	 // RC37 Business Meeting Session Organizer 
RC37	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s9	Sociological Approaches to Western Music in Japan	 // Sociological Approaches to Western Music in Japan Session Organizer David G. HEBERT, Bergen University College, Norway,   Session in English This session features research into historical and contemporary aspects of western music in Japan, from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Presenters include musicologists, sociologists and experienced performers, who address what is "Japanese" about the phenomenon of western music in Japan, as well as how Japan has made unique contributions to global practices in this field. Research in this session will be based on case studies of notable ensembles and individual musicians, as well as more holistic examination of institutions and social practices that illustrate how aspects of Japanese and European traditions have fused through creative agency. 
RC37	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s10	The Arts as Affordances for Action, Affect and Cognition 	 // The Arts as Affordances for Action, Affect and Cognition Session Organizer J. MARONTATE, Simon Fraser University, Canada,   Session in English This session focuses on studies of the visual and performing arts as affordances, a term coined in psychology (Gibson 1979) that has been adapted in theoretical and empirical research on music by sociologist Tia DeNora (2003). Proposals are encouraged that present research on the visual or performing arts as affordances for cognition, affect and/or action. 
RC37	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s11	The Arts in `Times of Trouble`	 // The Arts in `Times of Trouble` Session Organizer J. MARONTATE, Simon Fraser University, Canada,   This session examines research on the arts and art worlds in `times of trouble`. The `troubles` could be socio-political or economic strife (such as the violent demonstrations that began in the Middle East during the so-called `Arab Spring`) or they could be natural or man-made disasters (like tsunamis or the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear melt-down). Papers are encouraged that present empirical research and study questions about the place of the arts in societies confronting challenges. For example, how have creators, mediators or audiences used the arts to engage in public discourse to confront inequalities or address cultural trauma? How have the arts served as affordances for social action, resistance or recovery? Have times of trouble shaped the arts in positive or negative ways? How have the arts been used to promote positive change or, in a critical perspective, to enhance the hegemonic powers of forces of oppression? 
RC37	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s12	The Artwork Made Me Do It: Reflections on Art and Agency	 // The Artwork Made Me Do It: Reflections on Art and Agency Session Organizer Eduardo DE LA FUENTE, Flinders University, Australia,   Session in English Ever since the late anthropologist Alfred Gell’s (1999) posthumously published Art and Agency there has been significant discussion of the material, symbolic and even cognitive causal properties of artworks. The design theorist Donald Norman has also spoken of how objects as mundane as coffee pots can generate ‘love’, ‘hate’ and other emotional-cum-aesthetic responses. The importation of material culture and sociology of science/technology perspectives to the study of art has led to a further emphasis on how art objects embody distinct kinds of agencies – many of which transcend human intentionality. But how are we to explain these various agencies without resorting to either an old-fashioned ‘formalism’ or ‘psychologism’? Should sociologists of art be interested in fields such as cognitive psychology or neuroscience? And what role do the senses play in aesthetic agency? Presentations are welcome on any aspect of how art shapes and exercises agency in the world at large. 
RC37	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s13	The Sociology of Art in Japan	 // The Sociology of Art in Japan Session Organizer Yoshitaka MOURI, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan,   Session in English This session welcomes contributions reflecting on the impact sociological studies of the arts in Japan have made to Japanese sociology, and vice-versa, how Japanese sociology has shaped and influenced sociological approaches to the arts. It also welcomes papers exploring wider theoretical influences that have shaped the sociology of the arts in Japan, as well as empirical studies of the arts in Japan. 
RC37	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC37#s14	What is the Worth of Art?: Approaches to the Sociology of Art Valuations and Evaluations	 // What is the Worth of Art?: Approaches to the Sociology of Art Valuations and Evaluations Session Organizer Marta HERRERO, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session brings together empirical and theoretical papers on approaches to the valuation and evaluation of art; more specifically, it seeks contributions that explore how the value of art is measured by agencies, institutions and individuals outside the artistic/cultural realm, e.g. governments, corporations, banks, activists, as well as the types of mediums being employed for such measurements, e.g. indexes, quantitative tools. This session also welcomes submissions focusing on the role of sociology to the study of valuation in the context of other social-scientific approaches to the same topic. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Biography and Society, RC38
RC38	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s1	Biographical Perspectives on Intimacy and Passion	 // Biographical Perspectives on Intimacy and Passion Session Organizer Beate LITTIG, Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna, Austria,   Session in English Intimacy and passion look pretty different at first glance. However, they both involve intense emotional experiences which have meaningful repercussions on people`s biographies. They are also experiences which can be difficult to talk about. This can be because they are so tied up with the body (something one feels but doesn`t put into words) or because they are not public or because they are invisible or even secret. They may in some cases disrupt individual`s ordinary lives, evoking shame, embarrassment, or even distress. The result is that they have been under-theorized and under-researched. We invite contributions which explore how experiences of passion and intimacy shape people`s biographies, the kinds of narratives which can be told about these intensely desired, but often secret and sometimes disruptive experiences, and the methodological and ethical challenges which experiences of intimacy and passion present for biographical research. 
RC38	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s2	Biographies in the Global South and Collective Histories. Individual Remembering in Interrelation with Public and Hegemonic Discourses	 // Biographies in the Global South and Collective Histories. Individual Remembering in Interrelation with Public and Hegemonic Discourses Session Organizers Hee-Young YI, Daegu University, Korea,   Gabriele ROSENTHAL, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany,   Session in English We would like to invite colleagues who collected biographical data in countries of the Global South and who are analyzing the biographies in the context of the collective histories in these countries respectively regions, and the collectivities and groupings to which the biographers feel affiliated. The overarching question for this session would be, in which ways individual remembering is interrelated with collective memories and discourses. The practice of remembering is, depending on the historical and cultural context, subject to various social rules of commemoration and reveals traces of rules of remembering which were effective in past or in different social and situational contexts. At the same time, it reveals the traces of the rules which are currently used. 
RC38	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s3	Biography and Politics	 // Biography and Politics Session Organizers Rosa Maria BRANDHORST, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany,   Michaela KOETTIG, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany,   Session in English Individuals are actors in politics. Simultaneously, political framings and developments influence biographies to a great extent. This session addresses the mutual interrelations between biography and politics. We invite contributions from different theoretical and methodological perspectives approaching this topic, may they explore the way activists contribute to a political development at regional, national or global levels, or focus on the biographical meaning of political activism in past or contemporary political systems. Also papers are welcome which focus on political events and analyze how political actors and affected individuals revalue these events in retrospect, and which meanings they attach to them in their lives. 
RC38	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s4	Biography, Violence and Gender	 // Biography, Violence and Gender Session Organizers Michaela KOETTIG, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany,   Hermilio SANTOS, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,   Session in English The experience and the exercise of violence are highly connected to experiences of life history and specific gender roles. This session welcomes contributions that explore relations between violence, biography and gender at the theoretical and empirical level. The perspective of male and female perpetrators and victims at the level of couple and family relations and in the social context can be addressed. It may be asked, for instance, which historical and biographical developments and interactive mechanisms are connected with the exercise and experience of violence, how gender constructions are involved in these constellations and which individual, social and societal impact violent actions and experiences unfold. 
RC38	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s5	Concepts of Inclusion from a Biographical Perspective 	 // Concepts of Inclusion from a Biographical Perspective Session Organizers Lena INOWLOCKI, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany,   Kathy DAVIS, Free University Amsterdam, Netherlands,   Session in English Sociological theory has paid much attention to concepts of exclusion and exclusionary practice. In our session, we would like to discuss in which ways concepts of inclusion have come to address inequalities in society, and how the concepts relate to forms of exclusion. Inclusion is interesting for biographical researchers because it raises questions about individuality and differences; what is ‘normal’; and the ways practices of exclusion and inclusion are mutually dependent. Given the backdrop of – rising – social inequalities and concomitant exclusions, “inclusion” has come to be written into policies, as a critical corrective to previous policies of “integration,” thereby becoming a kind of ‘feel-good’ term for thinking about difference and diversity. In this session, we want to critically explore “inclusion” from a biographical perspective, focusing on how individual strategies of inclusion (for example, ‘passing’) actually work, the social constraints that prevent inclusion of some, while enabling it for others (for example, inclusion as privilege of the powerful or as symbolic capital), as well as the policies and practices which change society and restructure institutions in the direction of less inequality and more recognition and acceptance of difference. 
RC38	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s6	Constructing Biographies in Different Media 	 // Constructing Biographies in Different Media Session Organizers Roswitha BRECKNER, University of Vienna, Austria,   Gulsum DEPELI, Hacettepe University, Turkey,   Maria POHN-WEIDINGER, University of Vienna, Austria,   Session in English Biographical research has focused on written or oral narrated life stories since its beginning, and has developed a variety of very fruitful and well established approaches to elicit and to analyze them. The increasing use of so-called ‘new media’ in transnationalizing and globalizing social settings, crossing long distances and cultural diversity, calls for reflection how biographical imagination and creativity in general are shaped by different media and communication technologies. How is the construction of the self as a ‘creative work’ changing in multimodal processes? In how far are biographies constructed similarly and/or differently in narratives, photographs, pictures, film, video, artifacts, bodily performances, blogs, and social networks? How do the different modes of expression relate to each other? How can we get access to and understand these processes? This session invites speakers who deal with the characteristics of constructing biographies or biographically relevant experiences in different media, and welcomes reflection of these processes also from a methodological and methodical perspective. 
RC38	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s7	Crisis, Transnational Migration, and the Gender Order in Europe	 // Crisis, Transnational Migration, and the Gender Order in Europe Integrative Session // : RC31, Sociology of Migration, RC32 Women in Society, RC38, Biography and Society, German Sociological Association and European Sociological Association – RN 33, Research Network on Women and Gender Studies Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC38	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s8	Different Perspectives on Life Stories	 // Different Perspectives on Life Stories Session Organizers Tazuko KOBAYASHI, Hitotsubashi University, Japan,   Irini SIOUTI, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany,   Session in English The session enables the presentation and discussion of methodological approaches and methods of analysis in biographical research. Participants from different theoretical and cultural backgrounds and with different methodological approaches are asked to exemplify their way of doing a biographical case study analysis using the same biographical-narrative interview provided ahead of time by the session organizers. In the session, the invited researchers will demonstrate their analysis of the case, their methodology and "technique" as a basis for comparison and discussion with each other and the audience. The format of this session has become something of a tradition at the world congresses and enjoys great interest. 
RC38	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s9	Embodied Biographies and Sexy Stories 	 // Embodied Biographies and Sexy Stories Session Organizer Kathy DAVIS, Free University Amsterdam, Netherlands,   Session in English This session focuses on sexual experiences, sexual practices and sexual identities from a biographical perspective. On the one hand, sexuality is often left out of biographical research as though it had no appreciable influence on people’s lives, sense of self, or relationship with the world around them. On the other hand, sexuality studies often look at sexual practices and cultural discourses without attending to how these practices and discourses shape individual biographies. In this session, we want to explore some of the methodological, normative, and theoretical challenges of biographical research on sexuality. For example, how do different social contexts and cultural discourses and normative formations shape people’s sexual experiences? How are sexual identities constructed in life stories? 
RC38	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s10	RC38 Business Meeting	 // RC38 Business Meeting Session Organizer 
RC38	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s11	Reconstructing Gendered Biographies in Transcultural Research Settings: Methodological Challenges	 // Reconstructing Gendered Biographies in Transcultural Research Settings: Methodological Challenges Session Organizers Bettina DAUSIEN, University of Vienna, Austria,   Irini SIOUTI, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany,   Hiromi TANAKA, Meiji University, Japan,   Session in English In biography research gender is conceived not only as a social construction which is produced and reproduced in ongoing interaction processes but also as a biographically constructed and reconstructed social category. The thesis of the biographical construction of gender implies certain challenges for a reconstructive methodology in biography research: How can we “discover” gender constructions in biographical narratives without presupposing “typical” male/female attributes? The problem appears to be even more complex in transcultural research settings because gender constructions as well as patterns of biographical narratives and life courses are related to the respective societal and cultural context in which they are produced and communicated. In particular, the notion of the constructed character of gender and biographies makes it necessary to rethink and question common methodological premises of interpretative research and leads to a reflection of contemporary research and fieldwork practices. In this session we invite contributions focusing on the methodological challenges that the theoretical concept of gendered biographies implies in the field of transcultural biography research. 
RC38	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s12	The Concept of Transnationality under Conditions of Social Inequality. A Look at Transnationality through the Magnifying Glass	 // The Concept of Transnationality under Conditions of Social Inequality. A Look at Transnationality through the Magnifying Glass Session Organizers Julia BERNSTEIN, University of Cologne, Germany,   Agnieszka SATOLA, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany,   Session in English The goal of the session is to reflect on the concept of transnationality broadly used in the last two decades through close consideration of different studies about transnational biographies. The transnational biographies are aggregations of the ambivalence and complexity of the globalization. On the one hand, a transnational research perspective enables to scrutinize the micro-level of social action namely individual agency of knowledgeable actors, the people who move, as a meaningful reaction, and in contrast to the earlier macro-models of migration studies. Numerous recent studies have been dedicated to the analysis of new opportunities and changes in the social worlds and ways of life of transnational actors. On the other hand, the processes of globalization are inevitably connected with structures of inequality and social exclusion, which directly influence the individual biographies of transmigrants. Three questions appear to be especially relevant for this session: How transmigrants cope with controversies of social inequality? How the third transnational space created in the context of inequality can be analyzed on the basis of transnational biographies? What new theoretically differentiated concepts can be suggested for analyzing significantly different ways of life which are hidden behind the general concept of transnationality? 
RC38	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC38#s13	Understanding Social Problems through Narratives by Insiders	 // Understanding Social Problems through Narratives by Insiders Session Organizers Tazuko KOBAYASHI, Hitotsubashi University, Japan,   Mamoru TSUKADA, Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Japan,   Session in English This session seeks to explore the constructed reality of social problems through narratives told by insiders. When we consider social problems, we try to solve them from outsiders’ perspectives by regarding them as problems to society. In this session we would like to understand social problems by listening to insiders’ narratives about them. In doing so, we may see what the most important aspect of the problems for those facing them is and provide a different insight into the problems from that of outsiders. Topics in social problems in this session will include the relationship between doctors and patients with HIV tainted blood, that between nurses and terminal care patients, that between ethnic minorities and majorities and the other related ones. Anyone who has conducted life story interviews with insiders of any social problem is encouraged to attend this session and discuss the problem from multiple perspectives. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Disasters, RC39
RC39	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s1	Adapting to Climate Change: New Ideas and Voices 	 // Adapting to Climate Change: New Ideas and Voices Session Organizer Ashutosh MOHANTY, Centre for Environment and Economic Development, India,   Session in English Throughout the world, the early signs of dangerous climate variability are already threatening the lives, livelihoods, and health of billions, especially the poorest and most socially vulnerable. Future changes in precipitation, sea level, glacial cover, and incidence of extreme events are expected to affect food security, nutrition, and availability of water, sanitation, shelter, health, labor productivity, productive sectors, and household incomes. The objective of this session is to increase understanding of the factors, barriers, and drivers that condition social adaptation to climate change. In particular, papers will be included that, among other topics, focus on innovative climate change adaptation strategies that 1) promote learning and innovation, 2) reduce social inequality, and/or 3) measure and assess changes in health, education, and social protection policies. Authors are also encouraged to consider the transferability of findings across various geographic and social contexts. 
RC39	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s2	Cities as Socio-Ecological Places: Global Risks and Local Vulnerabilities	 // Cities as Socio-Ecological Places: Global Risks and Local Vulnerabilities Session Organizer Andrea LAMPIS, National University of Colombia, Colombia,   Session in English The intertwining dynamic between the effects of Global Environmental Change (GEC), Climate Change (CC), and the capacity of cities to adapt, is a growing area of concern for the international scientific and policy community. While it is straightforward to conceptualize the central role of city-level institutions for the successful realization of adaptation policies, this is not the case regarding what may foster adaptation capacity according to varying institutional and social geographies. The production of risk and the determinants of vulnerability are not only environmental but also have an economic, political, and cultural dimension. As climate change is producing unprecedented patterns of environmental and socio-ecological transformations, international sociological and cross-disciplinary evidence is still patched and not informed by solid conceptual frameworks capable of tackling the perspective proposed by the natural sciences. The session seeks papers reflecting on the conceptualization of cities as socio-ecological places; urban disasters and ecological dependence; the materialization of risk society: disasters, risk and vulnerability in contemporary urban settlements; planning, land-use and prevention: usefulness and limitations of technical approaches in the face of socio-ecological risks; cultural dynamics and perceptions in the face of urban ecological risks and vulnerability. 
RC39	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s3	Cultural Preservation, Memory, and Restoration in Disaster Contexts	 // Cultural Preservation, Memory, and Restoration in Disaster Contexts Session Organizer William LOVEKAMP, Eastern Illinois University, USA,   Session in English This session will explore the ways that communities can be prepared for and recover from disasters by preserving the cultural heritage, historic record, landmarks, and other important elements of community. This session also examines the importance of collective memory in disasters, such as how collective memory of events can shape future mitigation and preparedness, the importance of memorializing after disasters, and the importance of remembering as an element of community identity. 
RC39	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s4	Disaster and Development Discourses, Policies, and Practices	 // Disaster and Development Discourses, Policies, and Practices Session Organizers Andrew E. COLLINS, Northumbria University, United Kingdom,   Hirokazu TATANO, Kyoto University, Japan,   Norio OKADA, Kamamoto University, Japan,   Session in English Disaster and development discourses of the last two decades have tended to converge around matters of sustainability, risk, resilience, adaptation, and poverty reduction. Less attention has been paid, however, to the implications of this convergent thinking for researching issues of prediction, precaution, and hope in human survival. There is a need to understand the systems of meaning that underlie disaster and development thinking. This work should be engaged cross-culturally and in relation to the emergent institutions of the future. How also might the conceptualization of disaster and development get reflected back through policies and practices of a growing disaster reduction or sustainable development industry? This session aims to bring together a number of contributions that address theoretical, methodological, and sector based interpretations addressing disaster in development and vice versa. The session is timely as we reconsider complex disaster events in terms of varying development trajectories. This extends to looking anew at accompanying global strategies that would anticipate, take better care of, and motivate people who struggle with local realities stemming from global change. The session is hosted by the Japan-UK Disaster Risk Reduction Study Programme and is open to inputs from any part of the world. 
RC39	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s5	Disaster Capitalism: Exploring the Political Economy of Disaster	 // Disaster Capitalism: Exploring the Political Economy of Disaster Session Organizer Lee MILLER, Sam Houston State University, USA,   Session in English Political and economic systems provide the contexts in which disasters occur. These systems create or lessen economic, political, and social inequalities thereby influencing vulnerabilities and exposure to risk. Furthermore, resources are managed and distributed in preparation for, and in response to, disasters differently according to political and economic pressures. Efforts to mitigate risks and consequences of disasters are also emphasized or overlooked depending on political will and economic priorities. Since economic and political contexts accentuate or diminish vulnerabilities to, and consequences of, disasters, disaster scholars are exploring the interrelationships between economics, politics, and disasters. For example, the concept of “disaster capitalism” points to the ways disasters can be leveraged for large economic gains, usually by economic and political elites that result in heightened economic inequalities and increased exploitation of disenfranchised groups. However, the long-term effects of disaster capitalism on vulnerability and risk are under researched. Therefore, in terms of preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, the political economy of disaster offers compelling new directions for disaster research. Research from diverse economic and political contexts will examine these themes from a range of international and comparative perspectives. 
RC39	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s6	Disaster Vulnerability, Resilience Building, and Social Marginality 	 // Disaster Vulnerability, Resilience Building, and Social Marginality Session Organizers Margarethe KUSENBACH, University of South Florida, USA,   Gabriela CHRISTMANN, Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning, Germany,   Session in English The session welcomes papers investigating conceptual and empirical aspects of both vulnerability and resilience to disasters and social crises at the social margins; among urban or rural poor communities, ethnic and racial minorities, immigrants and non-citizens, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and/or other disadvantaged groups, in all regions of the world. We invite empirical studies of how – considering their structural, cultural, and situational constraints –marginalized groups perceive hazards, social crises, and their own vulnerability. How do they prepare for, and deal with, specific emergencies and disaster contexts? And how do they build resilience? We also welcome theoretical submissions that critically examine current definitions of vulnerability and resilience, and that show awareness of the fact that resilience building of one social group might increase the vulnerability of others. Further, given their growing use outside of disaster studies, what can these concepts contribute toward the study of social problems and social inequality more generally? And what is their value for understanding conditions and processes of social inequality? Whether theoretical or empirical, we hope that papers in this session will contribute ideas and strategies toward improving education, reducing individual or collective risk, encouraging collaborative governance of preparedness, and informing social policy regarding disasters, social crises, and social problems in the future. 
RC39	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s7	Disaster Warnings	 // Disaster Warnings Session Organizer Michael LINDELL, Texas A&M University, USA,   Session in English This session will address issues associated with warning sources (e.g., authorities, news media, and peers), warning channels (e.g., broadcast, print, Internet), and message content (e.g., threat, responses by authorities, recommended household protective actions). The session will also examine differences among warning recipients in their perceptions of warning sources, channel access and preferences, cognitive processing of message content, and responses (e.g., information seeking, protective response, and emotion-focused coping). 
RC39	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s8	Disasters and Politics 	 // Disasters and Politics Session Organizer Benigno AGUIRRE, University of Delaware, USA,   Session in English The session will delve into the reciprocal, complex relationships that exist between political systems and disasters. It will accept manuscripts that explore these relationships and that will give answers to the following types of questions: What are the impacts of types of political representation (and domination) on the capability of societies to prepare, respond, reconstruct, and recover from the effects of disasters? How is it that societies’ abilities to establish rule systems that increase the likelihood of the adoption of mitigation depend on the presence and effectiveness of constitutional, democratic governments? To what extent is the accumulation of disaster-related risks associated with dictatorships? 
RC39	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s9	From Disaster to Lessons Learned: Citizen Resilience and Government Accountability in the Aftermath of Disasters 	 // From Disaster to Lessons Learned: Citizen Resilience and Government Accountability in the Aftermath of Disasters Session Organizer DeMond MILLER, Rowan University, USA,   Session in English Oftentimes it is assumed that we learn from the disasters of the past as a way to prevent disasters from occurring in the future. Following a disaster, a heightened awareness of problems and potential solutions may lead to a false sense of security leaving citizens to think that local and national governments are ready for the next catastrophic event. Many humanitarian and non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), governments and policy makers often invoke the “lessons learned” stance as a way to assure the public that catastrophic events (e.g. flooding of New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina or the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster) will not occur again. This session has a threefold purpose: 1) understand how citizens interact with government and non-governmental agencies to use information to become more resilient and less vulnerable to the next disaster; 2) view the role and responsibilities of governments; and 3) foster a dialogue regarding how disaster research can inform processes, policy makers, the broader public’s understanding of disasters, disaster policy, and disaster rebuilding policy. 
RC39	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s10	Learning from History: Research into Past Disasters 	 // Learning from History: Research into Past Disasters Session Organizer Joseph SCANLON, Carleton University, Canada,   Session in English Thanks to seminal work from researchers at the Disaster Research Center, the Natural Hazards Center, and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), among others, there has been a great deal of research into incidents right after they happened. But there has been little attempt – with a few notable exceptions – to delve into historical records to learn about past disasters. This session will include papers about any and all aspects of disaster history. Authors will be encouraged to mention what light their historical research casts on current findings about human and organizational behavior in disaster. 
RC39	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s11	Lessons Learned through Assessing Disaster Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation	 // Lessons Learned through Assessing Disaster Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Session Organizer Dana M. GREENE, University of North Carolina, USA,   Session in English This session is broadly conceived as a comparative analysis between lessons learned from previous natural, technological, and intentional human-caused disasters and what remains to be learned. Given the recent occurrence of these types of events worldwide, papers should focus on past natural or technological disasters as well as emergent threats (e.g., school shootings, terrorism, etc.). This session will address questions and concerns related to the applied sociology of disasters; namely, where do we go from here, and how do we navigate a new normal in the post-disaster milieu. Papers included in this session should address specific issues in disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and/or mitigation in international context, while also offering recommendations for researchers and practitioners. 
RC39	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s12	Looking for Relief: Humanitarian Aid and Volunteerism in the Aftermath of Disaster 	 // Looking for Relief: Humanitarian Aid and Volunteerism in the Aftermath of Disaster Session Organizer Tricia WACHTENDORF, University of Delaware, USA,   Session in English This will examine the challenges of providing human assistance and humanitarian aid in the aftermath of disaster. Aid and assistance typically flows from a combination of formal and informal sources, and through activity that combines established and emergent mechanisms. The success of these efforts varies considerably, sometimes with long-term implications on development efforts underway prior to the disaster event. The ways in which assistance is provided may be tightly connected to social, political, economic, and cultural factors. Papers may consider such topics as organizational coordination, convergence, ethical concerns in relief provision, volunteer activity, cultural appropriateness of giving, and the role of news and social media in generating relief, among other areas. 
RC39	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s13	RC39 Business Meeting	 // RC39 Business Meeting Session Organizer Walt PEACOCK, Texas A&M University, USA,   
RC39	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s14	Sociological Studies and Disaster: The Challenges of Regulation	 // Sociological Studies and Disaster: The Challenges of Regulation Session Organizer Susan STERETT, National Science Foundation, USA,   Session in English Recent disasters have brought to the fore the importance of regulatory and compensatory frameworks and how each is mobilized both domestically and internationally. These issues directly implicate the conference theme concerning inequality: the unequal distribution of risk and the ineffectiveness of legal response can be amplified by inequality in mobilizing the law on one’s own behalf. This invited panel will bring sociological insights to concerns about limits to the legal regulation safety and compensation for loss through legal processes. It will include an analysis of the IAEA, the international body responsible for nuclear power regulation, as a reputation-seeking organization, and why that might imply limits to the effectiveness of safety regulation. Despite both international and domestic regulation, we can expect disasters to occur, turning us to response and compensation. The remaining papers will address disaster response and compensation, focusing on Thailand and Japan after the 2011 disasters. Panelists will address how lawyers and legal rules have or have not facilitated compensation in Japan, and why changes in law did not make for better response to the 2011 flood in Thailand. 
RC39	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s15	The Impact of Disasters on Culture, Livelihood, and Material Goods 	 // The Impact of Disasters on Culture, Livelihood, and Material Goods Session Organizers Michele COMPANION, University of Colorado, USA,   Susann ULLBERG, Swedish National Defence College, Sweden,   Session in English Disasters have an immediate and long-term impact on communities. They provide unanticipated opportunities for growth and adaptation, mitigation of threat to livelihood or cultural survival, or, at times, may result in community collapse. Disruption to life-ways also alters the relationship between people and the material objects used for economic exchange, religious and spiritual life, replication of cultural identity, artistic expression, and memory. This session seeks to explore processes of cultural change and continuity of communities in the face of disasters and what role material goods play in these processes. We welcome research from any point in a disaster event (before, during, or after) and from disaster situations world-wide. 
RC39	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC39#s16	What a Gender Lens Brings to Disaster Studies: Case Studies from Japan and Beyond	 // What a Gender Lens Brings to Disaster Studies: Case Studies from Japan and Beyond Session Organizers Elaine ENARSON, USA,   Shelley PACHOLOK, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Session in English Scientists predict that climate change, rapid urbanization and development, increasing population, growing wealth divides, environmental degradation, and neoliberal policy reforms will increase the frequency and intensity of disasters as well as their human and economic costs. In this context of change, uncertainty, and heightened risk new insights generated by Japan’s growing body of research on the vulnerability and resilience of women and men, boys and girls are particularly relevant for gender-focused disaster studies. This panel is an opportunity for Japanese researchers to share their findings from recent disasters and to engage with international gender and disaster researchers. Other panelists are invited to share findings from case studies in different regions. Each paper will address the significance of a dynamic hazard environment for gender relations in the context of preparedness, impact, response, and recovery. Speakers will be invited to give special attention to intersections with sexual identity, age, social class, and region, and to consider what can be learned about sustainable recovery from gender focused research. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Agriculture and Food, RC40
RC40	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC40#s1	Alternative Food Practices in the Global South: Organic and Sustainable Production and Local/Global Issues in Distribution and Consumption 	 // Alternative Food Practices in the Global South: Organic and Sustainable Production and Local/Global Issues in Distribution and Consumption Session Organizer Patricia TOMIC, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Session in English In the last decades there has been an explosion of interest in the study of food worldwide. However, the study of food practices in the Global South has not received enough attention, particularly in sociology. Topics may cover (but are not limited) to the following: Local/global relations in the production, distribution and consumption of food from a Southern Perspective. Producers, distributors and consumers of organic and sustainable food in the global South. Fair Trade and the global South The local and the seasonal in alternative food practices in the South Labor relations in the production and distribution of food in the South Labour, agricultural migration and the economy of organic and sustainable food worldwide Quality initiatives: sustainability criteria in labels/certification of food in the global South South food production and international Norms/Regulations (public & private) Class, gender, race and alternative food practices South-bound tourism and organic/sustainable food practices North-South volunteer work and alternative practices in food production Discourses of food, health, and sustainability in the global South Global corporations and organic/sustainable food production and distribution Popular culture, organic/sustainable food and the global South Organic food, sustainability, identity and the global South The relationship between organic and sustainable food production/consumption and the cosmetic industry 
RC40	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC40#s2	Food Security Part I. Intersections between Indigenous Knowledge, Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Livelihoods	 // Food Security Part I. Intersections between Indigenous Knowledge, Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Livelihoods Session Organizers Bill PRITCHARD, University of Sydney, Australia,   E. P. K. DAS, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Services, India,   Session in English Food security refers to the stage when all people at all times have access to sufficient safe nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. In many parts of rural Asia, profound challenges face the goal of improving the food security circumstances of the poor. This panel session will address two key research sub-themes associated with the contemporary problematic of food insecurity. The first of these sub-themes relates to the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge in the attainment of sustainable agriculture. In rural populations across the developing world, agriculture generally remains the largest employment sector. Ensuring small farmers can continue to cultivate sustainably on small plots is essential for food security. However, in rural communities, households are increasingly organizing their agricultural activities within complex webs of non-agricultural livelihood options. This brings forth the second key-sub-theme of the session, which relates to sustainable livelihoods. The Livelihoods Approach emerged in the 1990s as a strategy for rescaling analytical foci in the social sciences to the level of individuals, households and communities. During the past two decades its influence has waxed and waned in line with trends and priorities among stakeholder communities, especially, aid and development agencies. By focusing on the changes within agriculture (with particular reference to Indigenous Knowledge and agricultural sustainability) and those from outside of agriculture (via the Sustainable livelihoods perspective) this session will highlight a holistic and people-centric view of food security which gives priority to the needs of poor households. 
RC40	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC40#s3	Food Security Part II. Politics of Food Security in Asia Pacific: Neoliberal Reforms, Contamination, and Social Movements	 // Food Security Part II. Politics of Food Security in Asia Pacific: Neoliberal Reforms, Contamination, and Social Movements Session Organizers Keiko TANAKA, University of Kentucky, USA,   Shuji HISANO, Kyoto University, Japan,   Aya H. KIMURA, University of Hawaii, USA,   Yohei KATANO, Tottori University, Japan,   Session in English Threats to food security in the Asia Pacific region come from multiple directions, and this panel focuses particularly on two aspects: 1) the neoliberal reforms of agricultural sector and 2) food contamination due to disasters and accidents. First, many countries in the Asia Pacific are pushing for free trade, direct foreign investment and corporatization of agriculture and fisheries. This trend is particularly evident in the case of TPP and KORUS. Many countries in the region are heavily dependent on food imports, whereby affecting the fragile world food market. In the mainstream discourse, however, those “food security concerns” are appropriated and manipulated to justify the business-as-usual agricultural and food policy for further neoliberal reforms and large-scale overseas agricultural investment in order to make food accessible in the globalized market at the expense of food sovereignty within and beyond the region. Second is the issue of the widespread food contamination via accidents and disasters. The case of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear accident is reflective of the broader pattern, including the lack of accountability and information disclosure from the governmental and scientific authorities, consumer panic, and decline in farm economy. The Japanese government released little information on the contamination, citing social anxiety and “harmful rumors,” and is using the discourse of reconstruction as a way to further push for reforms driven by neoliberalism in the agriculture and fishery sectors. In either case there can be observed conflicts/collaborations among government, business, and community/citizen groups in addressing a heightened sense of food crisis and insecurity whether brought by neoliberal reforms, devastating disasters and accidents. We welcome contributions that assess the impact of market-based reforms and free trade regimes in agrifood sectors, the implications of widespread food contamination, and the prospect of social movements that are responding to these food security challenges. 
RC40	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC40#s4	Food Security Part III. Critical Perspectives on Food Crises, World Hunger and Farming Alternatives	 // Food Security Part III. Critical Perspectives on Food Crises, World Hunger and Farming Alternatives Session Organizers Alia GANA, Université Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, France,   Shelley FELDMAN, Cornell University, USA,   Session in English Recent world food crises have triggered food riots and political instability in numerous countries. The popular press and international organizations offer explanations that highlight proximate causes including the food price explosion in response to the growing and changing demand for food, extension of biofuel production, higher oil prices, climatic shifts, and speculation. Other accounts explore long-term and structural processes that shape agricultural production regimes. Often, the latter focus is on a transformation of the world food system that highlights the displacement of staple food crops with exports, an increasing monopolistic control of world food supplies by multinational corporations, world trade liberalization and unfair trade agreements with effects that leave countries of the global south vulnerable to global markets shocks yet increasingly dependent on food imports. This proposed session seeks to explore these themes within the context of how they are deployed to reframe popular understanding as well as institutional practices and policy choices. How, for example, have farming alternatives movements and debates on food sovereignty, agrarian justice, food democracy, and the right to food reframed popular understandings of the food crisis, social responsibility, and interpretations of rights and entitlements? Alternatively, how has a rejection of the demand for food sovereignty and IAASTD’s policy options shaped policy discourses and practices or investments in agricultural production? 
RC40	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC40#s5	Global Agri-Food and Labor Relations: Exploitation, Vulnerabilities and Resistence of Agri-Food Workers	 // Global Agri-Food and Labor Relations: Exploitation, Vulnerabilities and Resistence of Agri-Food Workers Session Organizers Alessandro BONANNO, Sam Houston State University, USA,   Josefa Salete B. CAVALCANTI, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil,   Session in English Under neoliberal globalization limited scientific attention has been paid to labor relations in agri-food. Additionally, a number of theoretical formulations downplayed the importance of labor, despite the centrality of the restructuring of labor relations in the global era. The result has been that the copious literature on global agrifood has focused on a variety of relevant topics but has not produced adequate contributions on labor relations (use, conditions, exploitation, vulnerabilities, but also resistance) and the role that labor plays in current social relations. This session wants to address this gap by soliciting papers that address salient aspects of labor relations in agri-food under neoliberal globalization. Papers that discuss aspects of labor relations in production, retailing, processing and other facets of the agrifood process as well as forms of labor resistance to dominant socio-economic arrangements are welcome. Papers that use qualitative and quantitative data as well as theoretical papers are welcome. Salient research questions can cover – but may not be limited to – topics such as forms of labor aggregation across agri-food commodity chains; forms of labor utilization and their relationships with production and consumption processes; issues of solidarity between producers and consumers; labor and other social movements; labor, gender and locality; certification and labor. 
RC40	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC40#s6	Land as an Asset Class: The Future of Food and Farming 	 // Land as an Asset Class: The Future of Food and Farming Session Organizers Hilde BJORKHAUG, Centre for Rural Research, Norway,   Geoffrey LAWRENCE, University of Queensland, Australia,   Carol RICHARDS, University of Queensland, Australia,   Phillip MCMICHAEL, Cornell University, USA,   Bruce MUIRHEAD, University of Waterloo, Canada,   Session in English Agricultural land is a vital yet limited resource – we depend upon it for food production, but it is also in direct competition with other activities, such as housing, infrastructure, mining, investment, carbon off-setting, biofuel production, and nature conservation. This competition has direct impacts for national and international food security. The spectre of food insecurity is also intensified by the combination of global population growth, environmental degradation, climate change and excessive market speculation of agricultural assets. These processes and their outcomes have heightened interest, globally, in securing land as an asset or what has been referred to as “land grabbing”. The conflicts related to multiple land uses often marginalize women, indigenous peoples and peasants, as well as threatening the cultural significance of land. At the same time, this asset-based view of land also side-lines non-economic values and other less tangible public goods including aesthetics, maintenance of a sense of ‘place’, and intrinsic links between humans and nature. This working group encourages insights into how ‘resource hierarchies’ are culturally constructed, as different interests and agendas compete for this finite resource. For instance, how do agricultural interests, environmental interests and financial interests develop and seek to impose, different and potentially conflicting approaches to the ‘meaning’ of land, and to land management? Answering this question might involve the consideration of any of the following: the role of financial institutions in altering the course of modern agriculture; the links between financialisation, globalisation, neoliberalisation and power; the dynamics of finance capital’s role in agriculture; power relations influencing land acquisition; retailer and consumer dynamics; and the impact of these relationships of power on food democracy, food security and resistance. 
RC40	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC40#s7	RC40 Business Meeting	 // RC40 Business Meeting 
RC40	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC40#s8	Towards a Different and More Future-Oriented Understanding of Agricultural Modernization	 // Towards a Different and More Future-Oriented Understanding of Agricultural Modernization Session Organizers Karlheinz KNICKEL, SD Innovation Consulting, Germany,   Douglas H. CONSTANCE, Sam Houston State University, USA,   Session in English In this session we want to jointly explore alternative trajectories of agricultural development – addressing the increasing scarcity of natural resources, distributional questions and the deep uncertainty regarding future developments and new challenges (like climate change). The discussions are to improve our understanding of the multiple mechanisms underlying rural prosperity and resilience. Contributions will highlight potential synergies between farm `modernization` and sustainable rural development and explore a different and more future-oriented understanding of the term `modernization`. The discussion will explicitly recognize the complexity of challenges, the diversity in situations, and the multidimensionality of strategies forward. The contributions will be diverse and have different boundaries but they are to combine an explorative perspective with an action-oriented policy and governance orientation, highlighting innovative development trajectories. The conclusions will focus on issues that are particularly relevant for decision-makers: How do market forces, societal demands and resource constraints interact to create both opportunities and constraints for local actors? Where are the links between farm modernization, rural development, commodity systems and resilience and how can we shape them in positive ways? Factors that enable and encourage the creation of synergies will be identified. The discussion might be structured by four thematic areas: Resilience, Prosperity, Governance, Knowledge and Learning (to be re-examined on the basis of the papers submitted). The session wants to facilitate an informed and productive interaction among researchers from a wide range of disciplines and, as much as that is possible, representatives from industry, government and civil society organisations. The aim is to overcome simplistic viewpoints of what `modernization` entails by identifying best practices supporting a sustainable agriculture in vibrant rural areas. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Sociology of Population, RC41
RC41	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s1	Ethnicity, Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion	 // Ethnicity, Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion Session Organizer Farhat YUSUF, Australia,   Session in English Many countries have ethnic populations. These may be persons living in a country who were born in some other country, or persons who, though born in their country of residence, are different from the majority population in terms of their social, cultural or religious norms. Countries such as the UK and many in Europe have large segments of their populations consisting of overseas-born people; while countries such as China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have distinct ethnic groups living in these countries for centuries. Some countries such as Australia and Canada have adopted policies of multiculturalism, and encourage integration rather than the complete assimilation of migrants. Social cohesion is an important consideration in adopting such policies. Papers concerning the demography of ethnic groups, as well as those dealing with the interactions between ethnicity, and multiculturalism, ethnicity and social cohesion or with all three would be welcome. While authors are encouraged to use quantitative data based on censuses, surveys or other sources, papers utilizing only qualitative data will also be considered. 
RC41	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s2	Gender Mortality and Morbidity Inequality	 // Gender Mortality and Morbidity Inequality Session Organizer Ofra ANSON, Ben Gurion University, Israel,   Session in English The fact that, in most societies, women survive longer but are less healthy than men at least throughout their adult life has been well documented. This paradox has been under debate for more than half a century now, without really being resolved. Yet beyond the paradox, there are number of questions which puzzle the scientific community: At what age do health differential start? At what age does gender gradient of mortality and morbidity reach its pick? Do gender mortality and morbidity differences converge at old age? Do the greater gender behavioral similarities (such as education attainment, labor force participation, occupational change, etc.) affect gender differences in causes of death and patterns of morbidity? Are men’s and women’s life expectancy and burden of disease differentially affected by the second and third demographic transitions? To what degree do resources (i.e. education, income and social support) differentially affect the longevity and health of men and women? These are the topics which will be dealt with in this session. 
RC41	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s3	Gender-Related Aspects of Fertility	 // Gender-Related Aspects of Fertility Session Organizers Andrzej KULCZYCKI, University of Alabama, USA,   Favour C. NTOIMO, Federal University Oye, Nigeria,   Session in English This session encourages submissions on all issues related to all aspects of fertility and reproductive health which emphasize their gender-related, sociological dimensions. Papers may stress, for example, topics concerning autonomy and other aspects of female empowerment, including adolescents and other vulnerable groups; male roles in fertility; fertility assessed at the couple level; the measurement of fertility and its component behaviors; fertility determinants, consequences, and fertility-related beliefs and attitudes; as well as reproductive health issues (including family planning, maternal and child health, sexuality, and infertility). Empirical case studies and comparative research studies are equally welcome, be it focusing on developed or developing countries. 
RC41	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s4	Global Issues in Family Research	 // Global Issues in Family Research Session Organizers Maria Carolina TOMAS, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil,   Gerardo ZAMORA, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Spain,   Session in English Family is an important sociological and demographic unit. It is the main locus for social and biological population reproduction. In the past decades, this sphere has changed a lot. Some authors even consider a Second Demographic Transition in course. Instances of these changes are found in the increase in cohabitation, late marriage, delay of parenthood and further fertility decrease. Topics that illustrate the many resulting consequences of these changes will be explored, such as, the evolution of women`s economic and social roles, children outcomes in a context of increasing family dissolution, and particularly new family arrangements resulting in the higher presence of children from partners` previous marriages. One salient and very important consequence of the changing family structure is the increasing number of childless individuals and couples. Today most childless individuals over the age of 65 differ greatly from the “new” and upcoming generations of childless persons and, therefore, it is important to ask whether this phenomenon is connected to population aging. Moreover, it is not fully clear, to what extent these changes are spread over the globe, and how local cultural norms help to explain them. Thus, this session will focus on descriptions and analysis of family changes, including involuntary and voluntary childlessness, and the relevance of such research for policies addressing demographic change. 
RC41	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s5	Impact of Rapid Population Growth on the Environment	 // Impact of Rapid Population Growth on the Environment Session Organizers Gloria Luz M. NELSON, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines,   Urgasen PANDEY, Srkpgpcollegeagra University, India,   Session in English The framing of the population-environment relationship led to opposing views. Population growth is either detrimental or advantageous to the environment. The rapid population growth in the developing regions where at least 3/4 of the world population resides provides evidences of environmental deterioration. There is, for example, an increase in air and water pollution especially in the urban areas. Even wealthy countries where there is relatively slow population growth are also concern in overshooting their “carrying capacity”. The climate change phenomenon, in turn, has further linked population with the environment. The extreme weather conditions, from drought to flooding has threatened food security, increased poverty and displaced many populations worldwide. This raises some legitimate concerns like, what are the changes in population trends associated with environment? How do the populations in the developed and developing regions cope with various types of environmental changes? This session welcomes papers that deal with this broad topic that links population with environment. 
RC41	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s6	 Impacto de la violencia en la demografía latinoamericana	 // Impact of Violence in Latin American Demographics Impacto de la violencia en la demografía latinoamericana Session Organizers Guillermo Julián GONZALEZ PEREZ, University of Guadalajara, Mexico,   María Guadalupe VEGA LOPEZ, University of Guadalajara, Mexico,   Session in English/Spanish Latin America has traditionally been considered one of the most violent areas in the world, with high rates of homicide, suicide and accidents in many countries of the region. The activity of organized crime groups joined the paramilitaries, guerrillas and the armed response of governments, as well as a culture that accepts the solution of many interpersonal conflicts through violence, has caused numerous deaths and significant population movements. The objective of this session is to analyze how interpersonal and collective violence affects the structure of the population, its geographic location and the levels of mortality, fertility and migration and therefore, as this situation becomes a challenge for Latin American societies. América Latina ha sido tradicionalmente considerada como una de las zonas más violentas del mundo, con altas tasas de homicidios, suicidios y accidentes en muchos de los países de la región. A la actividad del crimen organizado se suman la de grupos paramilitares, las guerrillas así como la respuesta armada de los gobiernos, y además, una cultura que acepta la solución de muchos conflictos interpersonales por medios violentos, todo lo cual ha provocado numerosas muertes e importantes desplazamientos poblacionales. El objetivo de esta sesión es analizar como la violencia interpersonal y colectiva afecta la estructura de la población, su ubicación geográfica, los niveles de mortalidad, fecundidad y migración y por lo tanto, como esta situación se convierte en un desafío para las sociedades latinoamericanas. 
RC41	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s7	Organizational Consequences of Aging and Declining Populations	 // Organizational Consequences of Aging and Declining Populations Session Organizers Walter BARTL, University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany,   Cristina BESIO, Technical University of Berlin, Germany,   Reinhold SACKMANN, University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany,   Session in English Today, demographic change in most developed societies means aging and sometimes declining populations. Demographic research has obvious strengths in explaining causes of demographic change but there is comparatively little systematic research on its (possible) consequences. Especially research on consequences of declining population numbers is still scarce. However, in modern societies, organizations are obviously crucial for coping with uncertainties and challenges resulting from aging and declining populations. Nevertheless, population and organization studies have only occasionally deliberated jointly about organizational consequences of aging and declining populations. In this context, territoriality of organizational design/jurisdiction and migration across territorial borders seem to be intriguing topics for joint deliberation. The aim of the session is to fill this gap by addressing the following questions: Which organizations are especially vulnerable to aging and declining populations? Theoretically, the desired demographic structure of an organization follows largely from its goals, or more broadly from its formal structure. How well are specific organizations able to control their own demographic structure in the face of ageing and declining populations? According to Stinchcombe et al. (1968), the degree of control an organization has over its demography is partly determined by the degree its jurisdiction is defined in territorial terms. However, in a more and more globalized world that is increasingly less the case – except for certain public service providers. How do individual organizations cope with demographic change? How responsive are specific organizational populations to demographic decline? Which consequences from demographic change result for (the demography of) individual organizations and entire organizational populations? From a theoretical point of view, especially Organizational Demography and Organizational Ecology seem to offer promising perspectives on these questions. The crucial variables for organizational demography are not the population number or age structure of a territorial unit, but their respective values in an organization. Clients and employees of an organization have both an age and cohort structure; similar to territorial units, organizations are growing or declining in their client and staff numbers. However, some organizations might be able to compensate for organizational decline by strategically extending demand for their services or attracting qualified workforce – even beyond territorial borders (e.g. universities). Whereas Organizational Demography addresses demographic change in individual organizations, the Organizational Ecology analyses change in organizational populations. In difference to nation states, organizations are quite often founded, merged, split-up or dissolved. From an organizational point of view, demographic change increases the likelihood of changing sizes of demand, participation (e.g. in education or politics) and labor supply in a certain territory. Declining numbers of (sub-) populations are likely to induce waves of organizational dissolutions and mergers in a certain territory (e.g. business mergers, school closures, administrative territorial reforms). However, other theoretical perspectives on organizational consequences of aging and declining populations (e.g. systems theory, governance approaches) might be fruitful for empirical social research as well. This session is open to different types of conceptual papers and theoretically grounded empirical studies based on qualitative and/or quantitative methods. 
RC41	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s8	Population, Gender Inequality and International Migration	 // Population, Gender Inequality and International Migration Session Organizers Indira RAMARAO, India,   R.B. PATIL, India,   Session in English The Human Development Report of the UNDP in shifting from mechanical indicators of economic progress as GNP and GDP to the well-being and freedoms actually enjoyed by populations. The Human Development Report has three distinct departures: a) the development and use of gender-equity-sensitive indicators; b) the formulation and utilization of measures of gender equality and inequality; and c) the identification of efforts and contributions made by women that go unrecognized in standard national income and employment statistics. Population growth and gender inequality are two entities, yet concurrent and relative terms encompassing many other factors.Gender inequality is a unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on gender. Gender inequality is socially constructed. Gender inequality manifests through race, culture, politics, country, and economic situation. It is a causal factor of violence against women. Increasing population growth has led to increasing migration across national borders. International communities are now visible segments of populations of many countries. Research on migrant groups has also been undertaken from a multi-dimensional perspective. But these studies have by and large concentrated on male migrants, and treated women as dependents of men who are projected as ‘primary migrants’. Gender is an issue that has commonly been side-lined in studies on migration. Migration across one’s national borders per se throws up several challenges in one’s life. While migrant communities, in general experience a sense of alienation, women in these communities not only have to make adjustments to new geographical locations, but also to changed social spaces. International migration puts extra pressure on women because they need to make multiple adjustments in totally new situations. It is in the context of this theme that the present session is planned to be organized. Factors such as age, economic status and group networks have a key role to play in determining the situations in which women in these communities are placed. It is the discussion of the varied ways by which gender determines the experiences of women in international migrant communities that is the focus of this session. Papers are invited for the session under the following sub-themes: Population growth and gender inequality. Gender Inequality and health. Gender Inequality and Wage discrimination, occupational segregation, education, and politics. Population and Gender based violence Gender Inequality in Human Development Indicators. Gender in theoretical discourses on international migration Inter-group differences in negotiating the gendered impact of migration Youth, gender and unequal power relations: Coping strategies Labour market operations and economic empowerment opportunities for women in migrant communities Naturalization of migrant groups: Embedded inequalities Papers on cross cutting themes are also welcome. 
RC41	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s9	RC41 Business Meeting	 // RC41 Business Meeting 
RC41	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s10	RC41 Roundtable: Global Population Challenges in an Unequal World	 // RC41 Roundtable: Global Population Challenges in an Unequal World Session Organizer Elena BASTIDA-GONZALEZ, Florida International University, USA,   Session in English This roundtable invites participants to identify and discuss demographic and institutional transitions that have a bearing on the challenges facing an unequal world. In particular topics are welcome that lead to a thoughtful, but provocative, discussion of the influence these processes exercise, e.g., changing population structures, migration, on social institutions; and vice versa changing family values and norms, advances or declines in political, religious, gender or racial/ethnic participation on demographic processes. Abstracts for discussion are encouraged that highlight these processes globally or in distinct world regions. 
RC41	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s11	 El efecto de la migración en el envejecimiento	 // The Effect of Migration on Aging El efecto de la migración en el envejecimiento Session Organizer Verónica MONTES DE OCA ZAVALA, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   Session in English/Spanish Of the three major demographic processes research on aging has examined the impact of mortality and fertility; however, the impact of migration has been rarely investigated. Yet, migration has a major influence on family support systems and intergenerational relations, e.g. transference issues. This session aims to discuss the impact of migration on aging populations from a sociological and interdisciplinary perspective which seeks to complement current findings in anthropology and demography. Another important phenomenon is aging abroad and the return of migrants to their countries of birth at a late migration and aging stage. En los estudios sobre envejecimiento se ha analizado demográficamente el papel de la caída de la mortalidad como de la fecundidad, pero en pocas ocasiones de analiza el impacto de la migración. Las consecuencias en el sistema de apoyo familiar, las relaciones intergeneracionales e intergeneracionales se han modificado, las transferencias entre otros temas. Esta sesión busca discutir el impacto de la migración en el envejecimiento de la población desde un enfoque sociológico pero también interdisciplinario que complemente los hallazgos con la antropología y la demografía. Otro fenómeno muy importante es el proceso de quienes envejecen en el extranjero o de los migrantes de retorno a sus países que también vinculan pero en un momento tardío la migración y el envejecimiento. 
RC41	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC41#s12	Trend in Current Population Research: Open Session	 // Trend in Current Population Research: Open Session Session Organizer Encarnación ARACIL RODRIGUEZ, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain,   Session in English This is an open session that welcomes proposals for current and important topics in population research that are not considered in the preceding session topics. All relevant topics will be considered and review. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Social Psychology, RC42
RC42	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s1	Gender Roles	 // Gender Roles Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Gender roles in society are shared expectations and beliefs imposed on individuals on the basis of their gender. Gender roles include rights and duties relating to the behavior, which is defined as appropriate for men and women in society. Expectations and inequality regarding gender roles are reflected strongly in family life and work life, and they differ according to cultural-historical context. The session should include any or all of these aspects. 
RC42	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s2	In-equality in a Global Community	 // In-equality in a Global Community Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Inequality exists in many fields including economics, education, and gender. Blurring of boundaries between countries has created the basis for a broad, integrated community. This has led, on one hand, to economic growth and rising standards of living in certain sectors and certain countries; but on the other hand, to an increase in economic and social gaps and unemployment in other sectors and countries. The session aims to debate whether globalization processes are the main forces behind expanding social and economic disparities in the world. 
RC42	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s3	Keynote speaker: Cecilia RIDGEWAY, Stanford University, USA	 // Keynote speaker: Cecilia RIDGEWAY, Stanford University, USA Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts 
RC42	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s4	Keynote speaker: Guillermina JASSO, New York University, USA	 // Keynote speaker: Guillermina JASSO, New York University, USA Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts 
RC42	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s5	Leadership	 // Leadership Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Rapid changes seen in the 21st century, particularly in organizational life, require a new kind of leadership to fit them and contribute to organizational results. Emphasis in this session should deal with diverse aspects of leadership in changing societies and organizations. 
RC42	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s6	Morality	 // Morality Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Morality provides guidelines for all aspects of social life. The session will focus on diverse questions arising from the impact of changes taking place in the world on morality, such as: Is morality still a relative concept? 
RC42	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s7	Power Relations	 // Power Relations Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English In a global vision, power relations exist among countries, populations, & organizations. Advantaged or privileged groups tend to treat weaker social groups (such as gender, class and ethnicity) in ways that lead to inequality and disempowerment. This session will aim to explore such relationships. 
RC42	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s8	RC42 Business Meeting	 // RC42 Business Meeting Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   
RC42	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s9	Relative Deprivation, Entitlement, and Perceptions of Fairness	 // Relative Deprivation, Entitlement, and Perceptions of Fairness Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English The session will focus on new developments in each of these topics, in both laboratory and field studies. The analyses may include related issues as well. 
RC42	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s10	Sexism, Racism and Ageism	 // Sexism, Racism and Ageism Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Negative discriminatory practices still exist against gender, race and age groups in many life domains. Despite legislation, and although there is awareness of prejudice and discrimination, their expression deepen inequality in society. This session aims to examine their expression and prevalence in diverse societies and different settings. 
RC42	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s11	Social Exchange and Trust	 // Social Exchange and Trust Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Because trust affects social relations and exchange among individuals and groups, it is interesting to examine these terms today in light of social changes occurring in the world, for example social networks and technology. This session will explore how innovations in technology, enables communication between countries, producing a new type of social exchange and trust among individuals and groups in different countries. 
RC42	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s12	Social Identities	 // Social Identities Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Multiple and/or complex identities characterizes life in a globalized world, bringing different modes of life and liquidity to social identities. Our social life depends on the ways we define ourselves and others. This session aims to examine the effects of social identities on our lives today in view of technological innovation, sense of belonging, social responsibility and so forth. 
RC42	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s13	Social Interaction	 // Social Interaction Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Internet and communications revolution has brought with it many changes in the way people interact and communicate with each other. This session aims to explore these trends. 
RC42	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s14	Social Justice	 // Social Justice Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English A little over a year ago, thousands of people from around the world gathered at various sites to demand social justice, and the unrest is still prevalent. Although each country has its distinct problems, relating to economic systems, social inequality and human rights, the desire for greater social justice seems global. This session aims to explore the diverse causes and expressions of social protest and its links to broader concepts of social justice. 
RC42	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s15	Social Psychology and Culture	 // Social Psychology and Culture Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English This session aims to address the diverse aspects of relationships between the terms. First, is multiculturalism as socially beneficial as most sociologists assumed? Recent socio-political events seem to cast some doubt on the possibility of attaining mutually beneficial and significant inter-cultural exchange. So and each culture has a different effect on personal goals and aspirations of members of that culture. Have the technological developments made intercultural communication easier and faster, or are cultural differences still prevalent and inhibiting social relations? 
RC42	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s16	Well-Being and Life Satisfaction	 // Well-Being and Life Satisfaction Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English There are many variables that affect well-being of people and their life satisfaction (such as, poor health, unemployment, divorce, religiosity, political rights and more). This session aims to examine the factors that influence well being and life satisfaction in a global and changing society. 
RC42	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC42#s17	Work Values, Norms and Perceptions	 // Work Values, Norms and Perceptions Session Organizer Dahlia MOORE, College of Management, Israel,   Session in English Work values, norms and perceptions affect the way people and groups interact with each other within organizations, and might influence equality or inequality at work. This session aims to discuss the contribution of these aspects to organizational success and effectiveness, and display the importance of adjustment to the external environment which is constantly changing. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Housing and Built Environment, RC43
RC43	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC43#s1	Home-Making Practices and the Domestic Spaces of Migrant and Ethnic Minorities	 // Home-Making Practices and the Domestic Spaces of Migrant and Ethnic Minorities Session Organizers Paolo BOCCAGNI, University of Trento, Italy,   Andrea Mubi BRIGHENTI, University of Trento, Italy,   Session in English In this session we focus on the creation and transformation of domestic spaces by migrant and minority groups. We invite contributors to consider a wide set of home-making practices relating to feeling ‘at home’. Ranging from mundane details such as furniture styles and the informal organization of living spaces, to large-scale trends such as the patterns of house ownership by migrant populations, we explore the implications of the everyday construction of domesticity ‘away from home’ and its imaginary signification. Home-making is a multifaceted enterprise that shapes the meaning of dwelling and unfolds through various processes of spatial appropriation. Whether in search for short-term accommodation to foreign (often, hostile) settings, or in the attempt to symbolically assert migrants’ background and heritage, a veritable set of territory-making activities and adjustments revolves around domestic spaces. But we also urge to investigate how the boundaries between public, community and private spaces are established, affirmed and transformed in the everyday life of migrant and ethnic groups. Some of the questions we are interested in discussing include yet are not limited to the following: How is the decoration of domestic space linked to emotion and nostalgia? How can domestic space be experienced as vehicles of intimacy and sociability or, on the contrary, as estranged, alienated spaces? Which aspects of ‘feeling at home’ can be successfully recalled in the new life spaces abroad? How do the meanings attributed to the idea of home evolve over time and in relations to native populations? How does home-making affect interethnic relations? We encourage contributions drawing from ethnographies of domestic, community and public spaces in urban multicultural contexts. We are also keen, though, on theoretical reflections about how migrant and ethnic minorities provide insights about contemporary spatiality. We welcome submissions from sociologists and, potentially, a variety of other disciplines - including urban planning, anthropology and human geography. 
RC43	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC43#s2	Housing Wealth, Intergenerational Financial Transfers and Family Solidarity 	 // Housing Wealth, Intergenerational Financial Transfers and Family Solidarity Session Organizer Christian LENNARTZ, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands,   Session in English This session will take a new perspective on intergenerational transfers in which the house stands central, including houses as bequests, money transfers for home purchases, patterns of co-residence, and how these shape (inter-) generational inequalities across countries. Papers can deal with the theoretical and/or practical aspects of the house in this process. 
RC43	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC43#s3	Housing, Diversity and Identity	 // Housing, Diversity and Identity Session Organizer Janet SMITH, University of Illinois, USA,   Session in English Continuing migration and increasing diversity have very real place-based implications for urban and rural areas. Ethnic and racial groups are marginalized politically and socially, compounding problems for securing housing and also for interpreting the places where these groups settle. Sociology looks at these issues through the lens of the collective or the group, collapsing identity into categories, which limits our ability to understand the experiences of individuals or how, because housing is a scarce resource, these individuals come together in particular places. Historically, racial and ethnic “enclaves” have been treated as sites of concern – places to study (e.g., “ghettos”) and intervene. Many argue that current sociological frameworks are not adequate for understanding these sites of housing and identity formation, and particularly the hybridity of experience in them. This session will look at these concerns and explore a range of questions such as: How through housing (location, usage, etc.) might different groups form identity, and how can we understand this relationship? How does looking at housing through race / ethnicity shape our understanding of ethnic and racial settlements? How can we document, analyze and theorize the hybridity of experiences in these housing settlements to document the increasing diversity but also types of inequalities. 
RC43	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC43#s4	Older People, Housing and the City 	 // Older People, Housing and the City Session Organizer Alan MORRIS, University of New South Wales, Australia,   Session in English In the contemporary period, there is growing polarisation between households with the resources to choose their housing and lifestyle and those with minimal capacity to control their everyday lives and housing situations. This is particularly significant for older people. A greater proportion is finding themselves in housing and neighbourhood situations which are not conducive to a decent life. The session will examine the varying circumstances of older people in the city both in terms of housing and neighbourhood. 
RC43	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC43#s5	RC43 Business Meeting	 // RC43 Business Meeting 
RC43	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC43#s6	Shrinking Cities: Implications for Housing and the Built Environment	 // Shrinking Cities: Implications for Housing and the Built Environment Session Organizer Janet SMITH, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA,   Session in English Researchers are paying attention to a growing number of cities in developed countries that are shrinking due to deindustrialization and mobility. While many cities in developing countries continue to experience growth, a 2008/09 UN report brought attention to this as a potential issue in cities citing war, civil unrest, disease but also mobility as some people return to rural areas as possible reasons. While attention from researchers and policy makers have focused on documenting the phenomena and what to do to offset and deal with population loss, relatively little attention has been given to the sociology of these kinds of cities in the current global state in terms of the housing and built environment. How do we study and interpret the relationship between the housing and built environment and who is currently there now and who is likely to be there in the future? 
RC43	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC43#s7	Social/Public Housing: What Place Does It Have in Society Today?	 // Social/Public Housing: What Place Does It Have in Society Today? Session Organizer Janet SMITH, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA,   Session in English Social or public housing has been more or less a part of many countries policy agenda for decades. Since the end of the 20th century, we have seen it transformed as many countries have shifted toward market-based strategies to either redevelop or produce new social housing. One concern has been the privatization of the public good through public-private partnerships and relying on private investment, because it raises questions about its long-term affordability but also how these methods can and do provide housing for those that market historically has not served. In some countries, social or public housing is part of a larger ghetto replacement strategy, raising questions about social exclusion, displacement and gentrification. Still in others, we see continued support of it as a means to respond to particular housing needs and populations. This session seeks to explore what is happening in social/public housing policies today and how is affecting urban inequality. 
RC43	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC43#s8	Where is Home and Why Does It Matter in Our Global Society?	 // Where is Home and Why Does It Matter in Our Global Society? Session Organizer Janet SMITH, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA,   Session in English Globalization has created opportunities for people to migrate both within regions and countries (e.g., rural to city) and to other countries for work resulting in rapid urbanization. While some urban areas are restructuring their housing markets to accomodate new urban dwellers, others are creating housing with the hopes that people with move there. As a result, we have uneven conditions that in most cases have not helped poor people have better housing or access to the same benefits as higher income people, and in some cases has increased inequality. This session will examine this problem using examples from different countries. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Labor Movements, RC44
RC44	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s1	Asian Labor Insurgency	 // Asian Labor Insurgency Session Organizer Eli FRIEDMAN, Cornell University, USA,   Session in English Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, Asia’s relative weight in the global economy has expanded dramatically. As this region captures an increasing share of the world’s growth, there has been a corresponding increasing in the dynamism and global import of labor as a political actor. But the contours of worker struggles look quite different in contemporary Asia than was the case in earlier developers in Europe and the Americas, both because of deeper global integration and distinct internal politics. This session will seek to explore how labor politics in Asia are distinct from countries that industrialized in an earlier period as well as to assess the differences and similarities between countries within Asia. Not only does labor insurgency in East Asia manifest itself in different configurations than it does in other regions, but there are also distinctive challenges and responses in each East Asian country. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam have all witnessed labor militancy, but it has peaked in different time periods and had different organizational and ideological characteristics in each case. Finally, we will pay special attention to how labor politics in Asia have changed since the onset of the crisis and attempt to draw some implications for the future of globalization. 
RC44	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s2	Three New Perspectives in Global Labour Studies. Session with Rina Agarwala, Ruy Braga and Jamie McCallum 	 // Authors Meet their Critics Three New Perspectives in Global Labour Studies. Session with Rina Agarwala, Ruy Braga and Jamie McCallum Session Organizers Jennifer Jihye CHUN, University of Toronto, Canada,   Peter B. EVANS, University of California-Berkeley, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts This session brings three important new books in the field of global labour studies in dialogue with each other: Rina Agarwala’s Informal Labor, Formal Politics and Dignifying Discontent in India (Cambridge University Press, 2013) Ruy Braga’s A Política do Precariado (Boitempo, 2012) Jamie McCallum’s Global Unions, Local Power (Cornell University Press, 2013) Each book focuses on a new agent of capitalist transformation – from informal and precarious workers to global unions – and examines how they attempt to reconfigure the balance of power between labour, capital and the state in particular local and national contexts. Each book also provides critical theoretical and empirical insight into kinds of economic and political challenges facing workers and labour unions in the new global order, paving the way for the development of new areas of research inquiry. This session will not only bring the authors together with its critics, but it will also bring authors in dialogue with each other in an innovative panel format. 
RC44	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s3	Building Global Worker Communities among Migrant Worker Diasporas 	 // Building Global Worker Communities among Migrant Worker Diasporas Session Organizers Chris TILLY, UCLA, USA,   Elizabeth TANG, International Domestic Workers Network, China,   Session in English Transnational migrant diasporas have created new global communities of workers. Increasingly, these communities are learning how to act collectively across borders and within a variety of national contexts to defend labor rights, often times where states and conventional labour organizations have failed to do so, but at other times in collaboration with unions or other labour organizations. This kind of organizing can take different forms. In some cases, political organizations have developed nodes in a variety regional and national contexts to form complex transnational organizational networks that demand that sending and receiving governments provide better working conditions and rights protections for migrant workers. In other cases, unions and community organizations have innovated their organizational practices and membership boundaries to support new global communities of workers. Even in cases when transnational communities are much more fragmented, home countries experiences and transnational communities make a crucial contribution to the ability of migrant workers to organize. This session will bring together papers that analyze the role of diasporas in organizing workers around the world, enabling a comparative discussion of their dynamics and effectiveness in different sectors and different national contexts. 
RC44	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s4	Chinese Workers in the Global Economy: Structural Conditions and Agency of Resistance	 // Chinese Workers in the Global Economy: Structural Conditions and Agency of Resistance Session Organizers Andreas BIELER, Nottingham University, United Kingdom,   Ngai PUN, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China,   Session in English Chinese development is widely considered to be an example of successful developmental catch-up with double-digit growth rates year on year. Some even talk of an emerging power, which may in time replace the US as the global economy`s hegemon. And yet, there is a dark underside to this miracle in the form of workers` long hours and widespread super exploitative working conditions. This has resulted in rising levels of industrial conflict across China. The purpose of this session is twofold: to assess the way China has been integrated into the global economy to understand better the basis of these economic growth rates, but also to investigate how the exploitative working conditions are linked into global production structures to analyse new forms of resistance be it through the state trade union All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), be it through informal labour NGOs. Hence, we are interested in three different types of contributions to this session: papers that concentrate on the structural dynamics of Chinese production in the global economy papers that focus on resistance to the exploitative working conditions in China papers that investigate the connections between structural conditions and agency of resistance 
RC44	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s5	Closing the Enforcement Gap: Improving Employment Standards for Workers in Industrialized Market Economies and Beyond	 // Closing the Enforcement Gap: Improving Employment Standards for Workers in Industrialized Market Economies and Beyond Session Organizer Leah VOSKO, York University, Canada,   Session in English This panel/workshop will explore the nature and dimensions of the employment standards (ES) enforcement gap and workers’ organizing efforts to close this gap. It will explore developments, on the one hand, in industrialized market economies (e.g., Canada, the United States, Australia, the UK and Ireland) where, in response to the decline of the standard employment relationship (SER), there is a growing body of research investigating the problems of workers in precarious jobs and, on the other hand, in Asian and Latin American contexts, where the SER never operated as a normative model of employment.  We seek papers that discuss the nature and scope of ES violations as well as the evasion, erosion and abandonment of minimum standards; survey alternative models of enforcement; explore employers` responses to changes in ES enforcement. 
RC44	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s6	Confronting the Challenge of Global Corporate Empires 	 // Confronting the Challenge of Global Corporate Empires Session Organizers Bridget KENNY, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa,   Carolina BANK MUNOZ, CUNY Brooklyn College, USA,   Session in English From Wal-Mart to G4S to Foxconn, workers confront global corporate empires whose operations and economic power extend around the world. Global corporate actors restructure local economies and connection them to global economic networks in new ways. They empires present new challenges to worker solidarity, within and between countries, but they also create opportunities for new forms of resistance. This panel will compare differences and similarities across a range of national settings in the effects of global corporate strategies on industrial organization, labor relations and state regulatory contexts. It will examine union and worker responses, with the aim of generating more nuanced and systematic analyses that can facilitate global labour solidarity. Papers dealing with country specific examples in retailing, wholesaling, supply chains, service provision are encouraged. 
RC44	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s7	Geopolitical Turmoil and the Fate of the Labor Movement in the 21st Century: 10 years after Forces of Labor	 // Geopolitical Turmoil and the Fate of the Labor Movement in the 21st Century: 10 years after Forces of Labor Session Organizer Peter EVANS, University of California-Berkeley, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts World Wars and the dissolution of colonial empires were fundamental to shaping the trajectory of the labor movement in the 20th century. World Wars sparked both labor unrest and concessions by capital to secure the loyalty of workers. The anti-colonial upheavals that followed the second World War were fundamental to the growth of labor movements in the Global South. But what, if anything do these 20th century trajectories tell us about the fate of labor in the 21st century. In this session, Beverly Silver, one of the premier analysts of historical trends in labor unrest will present her vision of what the geopolitical context created by declining U.S. hegemony, China’s rise, and the increasingly destructive power of global finance capital mean for the future of the labor movement. 
RC44	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s8	Mobilizing at the Margins: Comparing Informal Worker Organizing Around the World	 // Mobilizing at the Margins: Comparing Informal Worker Organizing Around the World Session Organizer Sarah MOSOETSA, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa,   Session in English Informal workers (those not receiving standard labor protections and work-connected social benefits) make up an estimated half to three-quarters of the non-agricultural workforce in the global South. Estimates for richer countries run about one-fifth of the nonfarm workforce. Just as important, the proportion of precarious informal workers is growing across a broad spectrum of countries, from the US, Europe, to Latin America and Asia, contradicting expectations that informality was a vestige of past forms of production that would be left behind in a process of modernization. Thus, it is not an exaggeration to say that the greatest challenge facing those concerned with decent work and job quality around the world is finding ways to bolster the quality of informal work. Solidarities build around community membership, gender or ethnic identities almost always play a role in creating the capacity for organized collective action among precarious informal workers, but nation-specific economic, political, and social factors give rise to particular organizing and alliance strategies and condition their odds of success. This session will place informal worker organizing in a broad comparative context by bringing together studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America as well as the global North. 
RC44	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s9	New Organizing Strategies for Confronting Gender Bias and Discrimination for Women Workers	 // New Organizing Strategies for Confronting Gender Bias and Discrimination for Women Workers Session Organizer Akira SUZUKI, Hosei University, Japan,   Session in English New strategies and institutional channels are being used to challenge on-going gender disparities in wages, working conditions, and employment relations and job security. This session seeks papers that examine how various organizations, including unions, community organizations and women’s organizations, are using innovative strategies to support the struggles of women workers against gender-based discrimination, especially discrimination against women in lower-paid, non-standard forms of employment. Gender discrimination is a particularly acute problem in East where the gender pay gap is the highest among all OECD countries, normative gender roles restrict women’s labour force participation and career mobility, and male-dominated unions tend to neglect and sometimes actively perpetuate gender-based employment discrimination. Therefore, papers dealing with Japan, Korea and other countries in the East Asian region are particularly encouraged, although focusing on other regions and national contexts are welcomed. 
RC44	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s10	No Borders, No Boundaries: Organizational Changes, Strategic Innovations and Prospects for a Global Labour Movement	 // No Borders, No Boundaries: Organizational Changes, Strategic Innovations and Prospects for a Global Labour Movement Session Organizers Michele FORD, University of Sydney, Australia,   Michael GILLAN, University of Western Australia, Australia,   Jamie MCCALLUM, Middelbury University, USA,   Session in English The contours of the global labour movement are being reshaped by a surge of global campaigns, renovations of the organizational structures of global union organizations and the emergence of new organizational forms. Unions and non-traditional labour organizations are collaborating on long-term campaigns to organize within some of the largest corporations on earth. This has included efforts to win global framework agreements, codes of conduct, and social clause provisions. This panel seeks to assess the divergent strategies currently employed to unite workers across national boundaries ,focusing on both the opportunities and the constraints for the emergence of effective transnational labour networks, with special attention to the relationship between domestic context (inclusive of institutional settings and trade union forms and repertoires) and global labour actors, both traditional and non-traditional. The organisers particularly invite contributions from researchers investigating multi-scalar campaigns and organising initiatives and relations between labour organisations and other actors in global civil society. 
RC44	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s11	Organizing East Asia`s Precarious Workers 	 // Organizing East Asia`s Precarious Workers Session Organizers Xin TONG, Peking University, China,   Nobuyuki YAMADA, Komazawa University, Japan,   Session in English The expansion of precarious work is an endemic problem for workers across East Asia, but the challenge and the efforts to organize responses to it take different forms in different countries. In China, informal employment, outside of the reach and/or grasp of existing labor laws such as 2008’s Contract Labor Law, has exploded and the All China Federation of Trade Unions, the state-and-party-affiliated lone labor federation in China not offered an effective response, but on the margins, a lively set of labor NGOs serving, advocating for, and organizing informal workers has arisen. Japan’s stagnating economy has also pushed workers, especially young workers, into precarious employment relations, and these workers have also shown remarkable resilience in creating new organizations, such as “individually-affiliated unions” to improve their lot. Korea and other smaller East Asian countries have also witnessed creative responses to the challenges of precarity. This panel aims to bring together analyses of experiences in organizing precarious informal workers in East Asia to explore both distinctive national patterns and commonalities. 
RC44	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s12	Precarious Employment Regimes: Divergent Trajectories of Regulation and Union Mobilization	 // Precarious Employment Regimes: Divergent Trajectories of Regulation and Union Mobilization Session Organizers Bridget KENNY, Witwatersrand University, South Africa,   Iain CAMPBELL, RMIT University, Australia,   Session in English Precarious employment has come to characterize a significant trend in diverse labour markets. Categories of work that fall short of the rights and entitlements in a ‘standard employment relation’ are growing in importance in many countries, and scholars such as Guy Standing argue that these categories underpin the emergence of a new global precariat.  Yet amongst the common trends are significant differences, especially at a national and sub-national level, where differences reflect the continued legacy of distinct historical trajectories of regulation and worker mobilization. These differences have substantial implications for the way in which workers and their organizations can pursue policies and politics in the present day to combat precarious work.  This panel seeks to gather together scholarship linking regulatory processes to the emergence of particular regimes of precarious employment. It aims to provoke discussion that can tease out differences and similarities in the distinct configurations of casual, contract, temporary, part-time and irregular work found in different places. It is particularly interested in exploring contexts where new forms of precarious work such as ‘casual’, ‘temporary’ work or ‘irregular’ work are becoming dominant.  We encourage papers that are sensitive to the different realities lurking under common labels such as ‘casual’ work and that examine the trajectories of regulation as well as trade union mobilization and negotiation and worker politics.  Ultimately we aim to provide a platform for renewed debate around contemporary politics of labour market reform. 
RC44	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s13	Precarious Labor and Working Class Resistance in Comparative Perspective	 // Precarious Labor and Working Class Resistance in Comparative Perspective Session Organizer Marcel PARET, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Session in English The growth of the power of capital to shape politics and economic policy has made employment and working class livelihoods increasingly precarious. Traditional forms of worker organization built around accountable employers and employment as a social contract are threatened, but the precarious working class has also begun to develop new organizational forms, and is playing an important role in social movements and uprisings from the Arab Spring to the indignados in Spain to the Occupy Movement in the United States. This session aims to place capital’s contemporary assault and working class resistance in comparative perspective, examining variation both within and between the Global North and Global South. "How are attacks on workers and their responses constituted differently in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Global North? How do relations between the state, political parties, trade unions, social movement organizations and communities impact responses to growing precarity? How do social divisions and solidarities based on gender, race, and citizenship hinder or strengthen resistance? 
RC44	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s14	Precarious Work and Employment Risks in East Asia	 // Precarious Work and Employment Risks in East Asia Integrative Session // : RC02 Economy and Society, RC44 Labor Movements and RC30 Sociology of Work Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC44	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s15	RC44 Business Meeting	 // RC44 Business Meeting 
RC44	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s16	RC44 Roundtable IA: Labor Sociology in Capitalist Peripheries 	 // RC44 Roundtable IA: Labor Sociology in Capitalist Peripheries Session Organizer Adam MROZOWICKI, University of Wroclaw, Poland,   Session in English This panel aims at comparing experiences and developing support networks among labor sociologists in central, peripheral and semi-peripheral countries across the globe. We particularly focus on capitalist peripheries and invite scholars/activists who undertake attempts to labor sociology under hostile conditions of authoritarian and post-authoritarian and new neoliberal regimes. We hope that discussion during the panel will provide insights into mechanisms of rebirth of labor sociology in the countries in which it was repressed in the past (e.g. as a result of authoritarian socialism or military dictatorships) and thereafter became a subject of neoliberal attacks. Our goal will be to document similarities and differences across the countries in the centre and peripheries of capitalist system with respect to the situation of labor sociology and to discuss the possibilities of its revitalization in cooperation with labor activists, community groups and social movements. The socio-historical analyses of local and transnational cooperation between sociologists and labor activists and the case studies of good practices of such cooperation at the present moment in peripheral and semi-peripheral regions of world capitalist system are particularly welcome. 
RC44	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s17	RC44 Roundtable IB: Structural and Associational Power in the New Global Order 	 // RC44 Roundtable IB: Structural and Associational Power in the New Global Order Session Organizer Jamie MCCALLUM, University of Middelbury, USA,   Session in English How have shifts in the global political economy reshaped the power resources of workers and their organizations? The common answer is that globalization has undermined labor’s prospects at the local level, and successfully guarded against cooperation at the global level. Indeed, even the leading global and national unions are still declining in density and grappling with how to successfully respond to conditions commonly associated with neoliberal globalization. But, recent scholarship suggests that other dynamics are at play as well. Certain types of global industrial developments, including the “logistics revolution” may enable workers to exploit the vulnerabilities of a globalizing capitalist order and exercise structural power. At the same time, workers in certain locations, especially the service sector, have found new ways to use symbolic power to make new claims on employers and states. This roundtable seeks to evaluate the different sources of power that workers can access depending on their location in the global political economy. Factors to be considered might include regional/national location, industrial/sectoral settings, existing union structures, legal and political structures and local labor histories. 
RC44	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s18	RC44 Roundtable IC: Global Capitalism, Uneven Development, and Local Labor Regimes in Comparative and World-Historical Perspective 	 // RC44 Roundtable IC: Global Capitalism, Uneven Development, and Local Labor Regimes in Comparative and World-Historical Perspective Session Organizers Lu ZHANG, University of Temple, USA,   Phillip HOUGH, University of Florida Atlantic, USA,   Session in English This session will bring together research and analysis that explores the ways in which the spatial-temporal uneven development of global capitalism are transforming the nature of work and employment and producing divergent forms of labor oppression and resistance in Asia, Africa and Latin America as well as in the Global North. Contributors are particularly encouraged to put the present economic crisis and restructuring and its impact on workers and their movements in comparative and world-historical perspective, with the ultimate goal of rethinking the relationship between capital and labor, the waged and unwaged, the employed and jobless, and the linkage between land, labor, and livelihood. 
RC44	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s19	RC44 Roundtable ID: Promoting Worker Organizing and Social and Economic Justice through Activist-Scholar Research Collaborations	 // RC44 Roundtable ID: Promoting Worker Organizing and Social and Economic Justice through Activist-Scholar Research Collaborations Session Organizer Jenny CHAN, University of London Royal Holloway, United Kingdom,   Session in English How does research promote worker organizing and social and economic justice? This roundtable will discuss collaborative efforts by scholars and activists to develop action-oriented research projects. We invite participants with a range of research experience with workers and worker organizations, including but not limited to hands-on, community-based research, strategic campaign research, policy-oriented research, popular education, and participatory action research. We will discuss best practices models for how academics and practioners can work together to achieve common goals and the use of diverse media outlets (e.g. social media, more traditional news media, etc.) to disseminate research findings. We will also discuss how power dynamics in the research relationship and organizational structures influence scholar-activist research collaborations. 
RC44	s20	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s20	RC44 Roundtable IE: Does Economic Growth Mean Ecological Catastrophe? Challenges for Labour?	 // RC44 Roundtable IE: Does Economic Growth Mean Ecological Catastrophe? Challenges for Labour? Session Organizers Nora RATHZEL, Umea University, Sweden,   Jacklyn COCK, Wits University, South Africa,   David UZZELL, University of Surrey, United Kingdom,   Session in English The proposed session would be structured around one question: How is the labour movement responding to the crisis in nature? Labour movements all over the world are responding very differently to the crisis in nature. This crisis is deepening and one aspect – climate change – is having devastating consequences on the working class in the form of rising food prices, crop failures, water shortages and displacement from extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. At the same time the increasing marketisation of nature in the name of `the green economy` is providing new sources of accumulation for capital.The global impact of these events raises important questions about attempts to conceptualise differences between the global North and South, notions such as `the environmentalism of the poor` and `Southern Theory`. The central question is open enough to allow for a variety of very different theoretically informed and empirically based papers. 
RC44	s21	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s21	The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work	 // The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work Integrative Session // : RC02 Economy and Society, RC32 Women in Society and RC44 Labour Movements Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC44	s22	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC44#s22	Workers’ Livelihood Struggles and New Collectivities in the Global South	 // Workers’ Livelihood Struggles and New Collectivities in the Global South Session Organizers Shruti TAMBE, University of Pune, India,   Sanjukta MUKHERJEE, DePaul University, USA,   Kiran MIRCHANDANI, University of Toronto, Canada,   Session in English This panel explores newly emerging patterns of labour struggle and mobilization which have manifested in the newly industrializing countries of the global south including Latin America, Africa and South, East and South-East Asia. As neoliberalism makes inroads in new sectors, the survival-livelihood issues have become more pertinent. Basic livelihoods are challenged and labour politics takes new forms. It is important to flesh out the details of these processes in particular contexts, so that some broad trends of labour mobilisation can be discerned. The papers in this session explore questions like: How has neoliberalism impacted the labor and livelihoods of people in different sectors and regions? What are the various forms of labor struggles in response to neoliberalism? What is the scope of collective action around particular labor issues? What kinds of new collectivities with common political attributes emerge in these contexts? What are the cultural particularities of these collectivities in different regions of the global south? Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Rational Choice, RC45
RC45	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s1	Attitudes and Rationality	 // Attitudes and Rationality Session Organizer Antonio M. JAIME CASTILLO, Universidad de Málaga, Spain,   Session in English For long, the study of attitudes and values has been seen in a tension with a Rational Choice perspective: Critics of Rational Choice Theory argued that starting from interests and goals would pay no attention to values and attitudes, and indeed some economists and early Rational Choice theorists openly denied that values and attitudes are more than an incomplete mirroring of preferences which are better revealed through factual deeds. However, in recent sociological practice, Rational Choice theory and the study of values and attitudes are used in a much more reflected and hence much more productive way. Many Rational Choice models have been tested using survey data that measure attitudes and values producing a better understanding of the relationship between attitudes and preferences. The session is intended to give room for studies which combine these two aspects. The main goal is to integrate different approaches of empirical practice, but papers of theoretical or meta-analytic review are likewise welcome. 
RC45	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s2	Current Research in Rational Choice Theory. Part I	 // Current Research in Rational Choice Theory. Part I Session Organizer Hanno SCHOLTZ, University of Fribourg, Switzerland,   Session in English 
RC45	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s3	Current Research in Rational Choice Theory. Part II	 // Current Research in Rational Choice Theory. Part II Session Organizer Hanno SCHOLTZ, University of Fribourg, Switzerland,   Session in English 
RC45	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s4	Institutional Change in Times of Crisis: Rational Choices in Historical Sociology	 // Institutional Change in Times of Crisis: Rational Choices in Historical Sociology Session Organizer Hanno SCHOLTZ, University of Fribourg, Switzerland,   Session in English In recent years, an actor-oriented understanding of historical processes has become a central toolkit of historical sociology. The identification of actors and their situations and resulting choices has been used to clarify both institutional paths in specific societies and the dynamics of institutional differentiation between societies as well as general aspects in the development of societies, and both in the understanding of historical processes and of current developments. In the recent phase of social development in which notions of „crisis“ are abound, these perspectives have the potential to be useful toolkits to understand current situations of social development with its chances, its retardations, and its perspectives. The session invites papers that use actor-oriented models to study macro-social processes of historical change, both in the present and in the past, with their micro-level underlying foundations. 
RC45	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s5	Intimate Relations	 // Intimate Relations Session Organizer Jun KOBAYASHI, Seikei University, Japan,   Session in English This session focuses on intimate relationships, such as the family, the couple, love, and emotional attachment. Anthony Giddens argued that modern industrial societies have transformed traditional fixed intimacies into personal and thereby flexible ones. This should be the case especially in the era of globalization. One of the pioneering examples of Rational Choice sociology was the increase in divorce, resulting in changing roles of women and men. More recently we have observed increasing acceptance of homosexuality, nonmarital birth, and patchwork families. These relationships are in many respects similar to traditional families, but in other aspects different from them. The structure within intimate relationships depends on the distribution of resources as human capital, social capital, or cultural capital. All together, the sociology of intimate relationships is full of choice-oriented questions which shall be combined in this session. Theoretical and empirical papers are likewise welcome. Topics may include (but not limited to): cohabitation, international marriage, divorce, sexual division of labor, household work, declining birth rates, aging, care, sexuality, social stratification, and welfare states. 
RC45	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s6	Rational Action and Trust	 // Rational Action and Trust Session Organizer Antonio M. CHIESI, University of Milano, Italy,   Session in English The centrality of trust and reputation as well as trustworthiness in social relations has played an important role in traditional societies but has still a central function, which is even increasing in complex societies and global life. Trust and trustworthiness have long challenged rational action theory, because they imply emotional involvement and cannot be analysed only in terms of risk taking, i.e. estimating the chance of being betrayed. The recent interest in these issues has developed different levels of analysis (i.e. the distinction between interpersonal and generalized trust), different implications for adjacent fields (i.e. the study of social capital), and different technical tools (i.e. theoretical studies on conceptual clarification, ethnographical observation, game-theory applications, experiments, traditional survey approaches). The aim of the session is to gather different approaches to this issue and discuss the state of the art in the field. Both theoretical and empirical papers are welcome, as well as qualitative and quantitative approaches. 
RC45	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s7	Rational Choice and Network Dynamics	 // Rational Choice and Network Dynamics Session Organizer Masayuki KANAI, Senshu University, Japan,   Session in English The understanding of network dynamics has improved through a variety of methodological developments such as the stochastic actor-based model among others. As all models, these make specific assumptions on individual actions. How are these assumptions related to the traditional concept of rationality? This currently understudied question is the main focus of this session which welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers including simulation studies. Especially invited are papers that challenge this issue from the perspective of the links between micro and macro level. 
RC45	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s8	RC45 Business Meeting	 // RC45 Business Meeting Session Organizer 
RC45	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s9	Relationalism, Rationality, and Embedded Institutions	 // Relationalism, Rationality, and Embedded Institutions Session Organizer Kazuto MISUMI, Kyushu University, Japan,   Session in English In modern society most of social institutions are rationally designed (in a bureaucratic way); at the same time, they are inherently embedded in social structures to some degrees. As Putnam suggests, performance of social institutions might be efficiently enhanced by social structures (trust and norm of general reciprocity) surrounding the institutions. In a sense, embeddedness is a necessary factor to be considered when rationally designing social institutions. On the other hand, as Burt suggests, an embedded institution often produces unfair results because social networks within and surrounding it should have structural holes. If fairness or equality is a significant element, the influences by embeddedness must be carefully controlled when designing and managing social institutions. Specifically in those East Asian countries that commonly share relationalism, this paradoxical issue is significant because the default level of embeddedness should be deeper than other countries. In this session, by focusing on relationalism (or East Asian countries) in wider comparative perspectives, we explore a unique model of embedded institutions in that social structures are congruent with rationality. Theoretical approach, case study, and survey research are welcome; however, it is expected that discussions will refer to concrete institutional problems. 
RC45	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC45#s10	Social Capital and Rational Choice Theory	 // Social Capital and Rational Choice Theory Session Organizers Yoshimichi SATO, Tohoku University, Japan,   Rafael WITTEK, Groningen University, Netherlands,   Session in English Social capital has been popular in social sciences, but it has also been criticized for its conceptual ambiguity. Rational choice theory can contribute to solving this problem by exploring how something social such as social networks is converted into social “capital.” The session invites papers that study this conversion process as well as rational choice of social capital. Other topics about social capital and rational choice such as the study of the interaction of social capital at different levels (individual, meso, and macro levels), the analysis of the relationship between negative social capital and actors, and the study of social capital and reputation management are also intriguing. Both of empirical and theoretical papers are welcome. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Clinical Sociology, RC46
RC46	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s1	Addressing Inequality before, during and after Difficult Times: Research, Intervention and Effective Outcomes	 // Addressing Inequality before, during and after Difficult Times: Research, Intervention and Effective Outcomes Integrative Session // : RC46 Clinical Sociology, South African Sociological Association, Philippine Sociological Society and TG03 Human Rights and Global Justice Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC46	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s2	Analyse critique et clinique de la Nouvelle Gestion Publique 	 // Clinical and Critical Analysis of New Public Management Analyse critique et clinique de la Nouvelle Gestion Publique Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English/French The New Public Management had become a reference model in public institutions and the states. Are the basic paradigms of this management conception (utilitarianism, positivism, functionalism, objectivism) compatible with the ones in clinical sociology? Managerial “reforms” planned or imposed in business firms, public services or institutions produce an increase of a deep workers’ ill being (psychosocial risks for health), expressed through stress, burn out, professional exhaustion, depression, moral harassment, suicide. What are the answers, theoretical or practical, that can be given, in clinical sociology, to address this social phenomenon? Le New management public s’est imposé comme référence et comme modèle dans la gestion publique des institutions et des États. Les paradigmes qui fondent cette conception de la gestion (utilitarisme, positivisme, fonctionnalisme, objectivistes) sont-ils compatibles avec les paradigmes de la sociologie clinique ? Les « réformes » managériales voulues ou imposées des entreprises, des services publics et des institutions engendre une montée d’un mal être profond des travailleurs (risques psychosociaux) qui se traduit par des symptômes comme le stress, le burn out, l’épuisement professionnel, la dépression, le harcèlement, le suicide. Quelles réponses, théoriques, méthodologiques et pratiques, la sociologie clinique peut-elle apporter face à ce phénomène social global ? 
RC46	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s3	Clinical Sociology Analysis and/or Intervention in Work or Educational Settings	 // Clinical Sociology Analysis and/or Intervention in Work or Educational Settings Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English Presentations are invited that deal with work and/or educational settings. Social scientists currently interested in the specialized area of work/labour in different capacities are encouraged to participate. Work takes on many forms in varied locations. The work context could be, for instance, an office building, a foreign country, a sidewalk or a ship at sea. Work intersects at multiple levels in diverse societies; these intersections include but are not limited to gender, race, class, ethnicity and nationality. Both clinical sociology and education seek to improve the quality of life for all learners - both abled and differently abled learners. Presentations are encouraged from those working in the field of education. 
RC46	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s4	Clinical Sociology and Community Intervention 	 // Clinical Sociology and Community Intervention Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English This session focuses on the analysis and interventions that clinical sociologists engage in to improve the quality of life in communities, whether communities are defined as geographic areas or places; relationships; or as an expression of collective political power. Presentations are welcome which discuss the ways in which individuals, community organisations and institutions help to address community issues, such as through improved service delivery; increased home ownership; increasing neighbourhood spirit; transportation initiatives, promotion of health and wellness; prevention of crime and improved climate. We also are interested in presentations that analyse the causes of disadvantage (e.g., economic, education, political, racial, ethnic and/or gender causes) in communities and the need (as well as how) to mobilize people, power and other resources to effect social change and development in such communities. 
RC46	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s5	Clinical Sociology and Inclusiveness	 // Clinical Sociology and Inclusiveness Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English One of the basic values of clinical sociology is inclusivity. This session invites presentations focusing on gender; race; ethnicity; physical and mental challenges; sexuality; class; age; religion and/or other considerations that must be taken into account when putting inclusive initiatives in place. The papers may focus on the barriers or the ways in which barriers have been, are being or could be overcome. 
RC46	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s6	Sociologie clinique et changement social	 // Clinical Sociology and Social Change Sociologie clinique et changement social Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English/French The Social change perspective is a traditional basic issue in Clinical Sociology, anchored from the beginning on a dialectical relationship between theory and practice. Through different research and practice experiences, we are to examine how and to what extent social change is produced. Different models and strategies are first to be distinguished, for example the planning of change, based on problem solving and pragmatic principles or more interpretive and symbolic interaction models, or more radical change models. We also will evaluate what is changed: people (attitudes, political consciousness, ways of thinking), collectives and power relationships (in organizations and institutions), and/or structural dimensions (rules, governance models, policies). What do we change, actually? Le changement social est une dimension traditionnelle de base en sociologie clinique, ancrée depuis le début sur une perspective des rapports dialectiques entre théorie et pratique. A partir de différentes expériences de recherche et d’intervention, il convient d’étudier comment et jusqu’à quel point un changement social se produit. Nous devons d’abord distinguer différents modèles de changement, comme celui du Changement planifié, fondé sur les principes du Pragmatisme et sur le modèle de résolution de problème, ou ceux fondés sur des modèles Interprétatifs ou d’interactionnisme symbolique, ou d’autre plus radicaux. Il faut ensuite d’apprécier ce qui et changé : les personnes (attitudes, conscience politique, façons de penser), les collectifs et les relations de pouvoir (dans les organisations et les institutions), des dimensions structurelles (règles, modèles de gouvernance, politiques). Que changeons-nous, finalement? 
RC46	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s7	 Sociologie clinique, diversité culturelle et immigration 	 // Clinical Sociology, Cultural Diversity and Immigration Sociologie clinique, diversité culturelle et immigration Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English/French Migrations, in all countries, international immigration or internal migrations inside a country constitute a major social phenomenon. In the cities, at school, in the workplace, in health services, in the political public sphere, diversity is the word. How can we build a society based on an inclusive social democracy, a true citizenship that addresses the dialectical tension between universal rights and duties and “otherness”, the basic differences expressed through languages, values, beliefs, life habits, gender relationships? Presentations are welcome on all kinds of cultural diversity and immigration/migration issues. Les migrations dans tous les pays, que ce soient l’immigration internationale ou les migrations internes dans un pays constituent un phénomène social majeur. Dans les villes, à l’école, dans les milieux de travail, dans la sphère publique, la diversité est la règle. Comment construire une société fondée sur une démocratie sociale, une citoyenneté qui se définit dans une tension dialectique entre des droits et devoirs universels et « l’altérité », sur des différences fondamentales de langues, de valeurs, de croyances, d’habitudes de vie, de relations de genre ? Les présentations sont les bienvenus sur tous les types de diversité culturelle et les questions d`immigration/migration. 
RC46	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s8	Clinical Sociology, Health and Social Policy	 // Clinical Sociology, Health and Social Policy Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English Presentations are invited that deal with important human needs and desires such as food; shelter; a sustainable and safe environment; the promotion of health; the treatment of illness; inclusion; education; training; labour; adoption; abortion; and social security. Abstracts are welcome about clinical sociological analysis and/or intervention in the health care sector in areas including health care delivery, health planning, health education, health care organizations and professions, and health policy. We particularly are interested in the analysis of social policies (e.g., guidelines, principles, legislation, mandates, and treaties) that have been put in place to meet human needs and learning about actual practices and change initiatives in relation to social policies. 
RC46	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s9	Courses, Programmes, Certification and Accreditation in Clinical Sociology 	 // Courses, Programmes, Certification and Accreditation in Clinical Sociology Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English Presentations for this session could examine the development of selected courses in clinical sociology and/or the certification/licensure possibilities for clinical sociologists in selected countries. In addition, selected programmes in clinical sociology could be analysed (for instance, in terms of their development, coverage, desirability and effectiveness). There also could be analyses of certification or program accreditation efforts. 
RC46	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s10	Destructive Social Experiences and/or Dependencies 	 // Destructive Social Experiences and/or Dependencies Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English This session looks at extremely difficult social experiences such as bullying; war; mafia and gang control; and harmful cultural practices. It also covers emotional and behavioural dependencies such as addiction to drugs, alcohol, work, food, sex or gambling. The session also can discuss co-dependency (people may form or maintain relationships that are one-sided, emotionally destructive and/or physically abusive). Papers are invited that analyse one or more phenomena in a single locality or make comparisons of various kinds (e.g., by geographic setting, different kinds of experiences) and/or discuss attempts to intervene. 
RC46	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s11	Epistemology, Theories, Research Methods and/or Research Ethics in Clinical Sociology 	 // Epistemology, Theories, Research Methods and/or Research Ethics in Clinical Sociology Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English Although much sociological research and intervention is about program or policy development, clinical sociologists also have epistemological, theoretical, methodological and ethical considerations in designing and gaining approval for their work. Abstracts are welcome about any of these issues. The presentations might be about, for instance the different experiences in clinical sociology research and intervention in different countries; the basic criteria for a typical or ideal clinical sociology practice; or the way ethical dilemmas have been or could be addressed. Among epistemological issues, presentations may connect contemplative knowledge and practices with our discipline at theoretical, empirical and professional levels. Contemplative practices come mainly from religious and spiritual backgrounds (contemplative knowledge). Contemplative knowledge challenges disciplines about what should be considered as the self and experience, recognizing the body and sensations as part of knowledge construction. 
RC46	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s12	History of Clinical Sociology in Countries and Regions: Descriptions and/or Comparisons 	 // History of Clinical Sociology in Countries and Regions: Descriptions and/or Comparisons Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English This session will examine the history of clinical sociology in selected countries and regions. Various topics may be covered including the following: case studies of countries or regions; histories of clinical sociology organizations; biographies of individual clinical sociologists; histories of subfields in clinical sociology (e.g., health, community development); and comparisons of developments in clinical sociology in selected countries and regions. 
RC46	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s13	RC46 Business Meeting	 // RC46 Business Meeting Session Organizers Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   
RC46	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s14	Sociology and Social Work: Past, Present and Future	 // Sociology and Social Work: Past, Present and Future Session Organizer Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English This session will look at the history, development and concerns of the two fields in selected countries. Papers are invited about a range of topics including the similarities and differences in the two fields in terms of theories, research methods and/or practices; emergent trends; teaching and/or internship issues; occupational hazards and challenges facing practitioners; the influence of the two fields on social policy; professionalization efforts; opportunities and collaborations. Also of particular interest is the relationship between the two fields over time. 
RC46	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC46#s15	 Violence et souffrance dans les milieux de travail	 // Violence and Suffering in the Workplace Violence et souffrance dans les milieux de travail Session Organizer Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa,   Jan Marie FRITZ, University of Cincinnati, USA,   Session in English/French In a context of globalization, increasing complexity and constant reorganizations, the relationship to work has become uncertain and chaotic. The transition from industrial capitalism to financial capitalism was accompanied by a transformation of modes of corporate governance. The need to improve productivity to satisfy the rate of return required by "financial markets" has put businesses in a headlong rush. The reorganization has become the norm. Inside the enterprise, the way of functioning is based on the search for immediate efficacy, in a temporal context dominated by immediacy and continual acceleration. With the triumph of managerial ideology, the quest for a meaningful work and the recognition of the person’s contribution in management are strikingly absent. These are the consequences in terms of individual and collective suffering that will be discussed during this session. Attempts to cope with this ‘economic violence’ will also be studied. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Social Classes and Social Movements, RC47
RC47	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s1	Borderless Movements from Political Action to People Free Mobility 	 // Borderless Movements from Political Action to People Free Mobility Session Organizer Aide ESU, University of Cagliari, Italy,   Session in English Since the dynamics of globalization have compressed space and time, we are witnessing an enhancement of protest political and cultural movements, characterized by a transnational communication and innovation in self-organization. A mix of free communication with mobile phones, Social Networks and You Tube and the occupation of urban space to debate and share ideas created a hybrid public space of freedom. These events might be interpreted as the first manifestation of a civil sphere where the subjective aims are expressed by claiming personal rights, pursuing the need to choose an individual destiny. The Tunisian upheaval, “the search for dignity”, as a reaction to autocracy epitomized (rapidly disseminate in the Arab world) the hope for change and a dream for a better life fuels also a new migration dynamic. The search for a better life is looking also for a freedom of movement, even if this means to be in the first stage of undocumented migration, under control of the surveillance power. Crossing the Mediterranean sea, perceived as free-way to the new world, put migrants lives at risk through unsafe journey. Wars and refugee movements in the 20th century played a crucial role in the development of borders, citizenship, new methods of administration, and criteria for determining belonging. Reflecting on the movements of displacement during the past 15 years period in the Mediterranean “open border” reveals how a number of different types of exclusivist/protectionist policies have developed a corresponding determination of categories for inclusion and exclusion. More recently people, coming from a borderless movement, are at the core of undocumented migration experiencing the displacement, to be dispossess of their land of departure rights and be under the rules of the landing territory; enlightens the understanding of homeland and space that challenges the power of states to determine belonging and sentiment. 
RC47	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s2	Cultural Fields and Movement Trajectories: Comparing the Effect of Different Cultures upon Movements in the Political Process	 // Cultural Fields and Movement Trajectories: Comparing the Effect of Different Cultures upon Movements in the Political Process Session Organizer Jeffrey BROADBENT, University of Minnesota, USA,   Session in English Papers on how movements are shaped by their cultural context coming from different societies. How does the cultural context shape many factors: the movement and other actors as social organizations, the ideologies and goals of the movements and other actors, the networks of relations among many actors including social movements,the nature of power and resistance in different cultures, what counts as outcomes, and so forth. My recent book, East Asian Social Movements, can be one basis of comparison and recruitment of authors, and we can invite any other interested authors as well. 
RC47	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s3	Emotions and Protest	 // Emotions and Protest Session Organizers James JASPER, City University of New York, USA,   Nezihe Basak ERGIN, Middle East Technical University, Turkey,   Esin ILERI, Centre d`Analyse et d`Intervention Sociologiques, France,   Session in English/French This is an open session; I will accept up to four papers on any aspect of the role of emotions in social movements and contentious politics. I will serve as facilitator and discussant. I would ask presenters to be brief in their remarks so that I can lead a discussion along with audience members, asking questions of participants along the way. 
RC47	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s4	Latin American Social Movements in Comparative and Transnational Perspective	 // Latin American Social Movements in Comparative and Transnational Perspective Session Organizers Maria da Gloria GOHN, State University of Campinas, Brazil,   Manuel Antonio GARRETON, Universidad de Chile, Chile,   Session in English/Spanish This session aims to discuss original research on social movements in contemporary Latin America according to their agendas and claims, forms of expression and organization and the use (and impact) of different technologies. The proposal is to discuss these agendas, forms and instruments in a comparative way (both within the region and with other regions, mainly with the recent wave of movements and “outraged” in Europe, North Africa, North America and beyond) and in a transnational perspective (looking for networks, dynamics of diffusion and several types of mediations that connect resistances and movements located in different places). 
RC47	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s5	Old or New Cycles of Contention? Anarchist Strains in Contemporary Social Movements	 // Old or New Cycles of Contention? Anarchist Strains in Contemporary Social Movements Session Organizer Grzegorz PIOTROWSKI, Södertörn University, Sweden,   Session in English The session “Old or new cycles of contention? Anarchist strains in contemporary social movements” is aimed to present the recent anti-capitalist mobilizations from all over the world. The particular focus is on elements of anarchist critique and modes of organization that can be found in these mobilizations. Answers to questions of how the movements and the activists frame their struggles, what kind of protest repertoire they choose and how they organize can help to determine whether we are facing a continuity of anarchist-inspired protests or a new cycle of contention. By focusing on the radical voices of grassroots groups opposing (neoliberal) capitalism a new perspective on the condition of the broader left can be presented, particularly interesting in the times of economic crisis. 
RC47	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s6	Players and Arenas: Strategic Dynamics of Politics and Protest	 // Players and Arenas: Strategic Dynamics of Politics and Protest Integrative Session // : RC21 Regional and Urban Development, RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC47	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s7	Popular Unrest and Resistance Movements in Africa	 // Popular Unrest and Resistance Movements in Africa Session Organizer Marcelle DAWSON, University of Otago, New Zealand,   Session in English The papers in this session will give an account of the array of resistance efforts on the African continent, notably South Africa. Panelists will seek to engage with, challenge and modify northern-centric perspectives on the study of social movements in an effort to advance a theoretical approach that is more relevant to the global south. 
RC47	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s8	Populism, Nationalism and Social Movement	 // Populism, Nationalism and Social Movement Session Organizer Emanuele TOSCANO, University Guglielmo Marconi, Italy,   Session in English European and Western countries are witnessing the rise of movements, organizations and political parties directly inspired by populist discourses and practices. Starting from the People’s Parties in the North-European countries to get to the extreme rights movements in the Mediterranean countries, the populist discourses are rising around Europe and challenging democracy. This panel will gather empirical and analytical contributions focusing on the nature, the characteristics and the impact of this emerging populism from a sociological perspective. 
RC47	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s9	RC47 Business Meeting	 // RC47 Business Meeting Session Organizer Antimo Luigi FARRO, University of Roma La Sapienza, Italy,   
RC47	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s10	Re-Thinking Urban Social Movements	 // Re-Thinking Urban Social Movements Session Organizers Carl CASSEGARD, University of Gothenburg, Sweden,   Hakan THORN, University of Gothenburg, Sweden,   Session in English Today when more than half of the world’s population live in cities, and the social life of cities has become increasingly globalized, key social conflicts concern urban issues. As cities in both the Global North and South are upgraded to attract tourists, capital and the “creative class”, estate values increase, and so does segregation, as gentrification pushes low income-groups towards urban peripheries. In this process, public spaces are also to an increasing extent being privatized and/or surveilled. For example migrant workers often find themselves at the heart of the contradictions of urban processes, as their labor often provide services demanded by urban elites, while they at the same find it hard to find a space for living in the city, often relegated to the margins of urban space. It is against this background that we have seen the emergence of movements such as The Right to the City, the Arabic Spring, the Indignados, Occupy as well as struggles of shack dwellers, homeless people and other urban poor around the world. Through their issues, and/or their protest methods, they have all engaged in a struggle over the meaning and material resources of urban space and its’ ‘public-ness’. Surprisingly, however, urban social movements have hardly been paid sufficient attention in the field of social movement theory and studies generally. This session is therefore a call to re-think the urban question, urban social movements and urban conflicts 30 years after the release of Manuel Castells’ ground-breaking The City and the Grass-Roots. We ask for conceptual papers based on empirical research, addressing social movement theory in the light of recent social conflicts in cities. Considering these recent developments, to what extent does social movement theory need to be re-formulated – and how? 
RC47	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s11	Social Media and Collective Identities in the New Activism	 // Social Media and Collective Identities in the New Activism Session Organizer Paolo GERBAUDO, King`s College London, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session will look at the use of social media by social movement activists with a particular focus on the new forms of identification that develop in the use of these forms of communication. It invites papers looking at the way in which Facebook pages and groups, and Twitter accounts and feeds become a platform for the construction of the collective identity of new actors, by putting forward common names, common images, common slogans, and common imaginaries. It will question what is the nature of the new forms of identity that are developed on social media, what is their degree of coherence, permanence, and how they reflect the existential challenges of a phase of economic crisis, political transition and technological innovation. 
RC47	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s12	Social Movements in Present Asia	 // Social Movements in Present Asia Session Organizers Han SANG-JIN, Seoul National University, Korea,   Dai NOMIYA, Sophia University, Japan,   Ryoko KOSUGI, Tohoku University, Japan,   Session in English Civil society has always been a strong component that make up our life-world. Historically, however, it has had varied expressions depending on the circumstances it is in. South Korea, for example, has had strong civil actions with fairly antagonistic attitude to the government. Japan, on the other, appears to have a calmer, often ineffective, expression of civil society. And present day China, apart from South Korea and Japan, is full of civil activities that altogether form an unseen landscape of protest. Furthermore, India shows yet another picture of civil activities. What happens to Asia, and why? How diverse are Asian civil societies? Asian unfolding of civil activities in the second decade of the 21st century is the direct outcome of an unprecedented development Asian countries have witnessed during the first decade of the same century. We need to examine the Asian development, and hopefully compare it with those in other continents. 
RC47	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s13	Social Movements, Inequality and Global Environmental Change: Exploring New Actors and Evolving Institutional Frameworks at Multiple Levels of Governance	 // Social Movements, Inequality and Global Environmental Change: Exploring New Actors and Evolving Institutional Frameworks at Multiple Levels of Governance Session Organizers Anahita GRISONI, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France,   Sophie NEMOZ, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France,   Deborah DELGADO-PUGLEY, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France,   David ROJAS, Cornell University, USA,   Session in English/French One aspect of the domination of and by the environment operates through its definition in the normativity advanced by institutions and public policies. Going against these trends, several actors on the ground propose alternative ways of establishing and understanding relations among society and the biophysical environment. While some of these alternative socio-environmental postures carry the seeds of new models of society, others convey ‘good governance’ concerns that challenge institutional frameworks movements deem defective. These socio-ecological stances, both individual and collective, can be understood through the prism developed by the sociology of social movements. Conversely, individual and collective socio-environmental actions raise new theoretical questions and suggest analytical strategies that may be followed in the examination of the evolving relationship between modern societies and “nature.” In this panel, we examine how socio-environmental movements challenge environmental institutional frameworks and governance strategies, and how, by so doing, they offer new insights that may be used in the sociological field to revisit theoretical and methodological approaches. Collective mobilizations around environmental matters are unusual in that their engagements are not limited or, apparently, not centred in “social” stakes. Their repertoires of action encompass issues that emerge from the relations that “society” establishes with “nature.” Collective mobilizations underline the links between the social problem of inequality and environmental issues. They manifest through collective mobilizations (against the construction of major development projects such as dams, airports and highways); diffuse networks (such as those against shale gas exploitation or GMO crops) or shared individual practices. These new social movements – which Alain Touraine argues emerged around anti-nuclear protests – were all similarly born through reflective engagements that bring to the fore subject positions and make it possible to posit new social models. Similarly, their claims are driven by a dual dynamic – which is contradictory only in appearance: on the one hand, they resist the imposition of meaning and of a model of society in which actors do not recognize themselves (this is sometimes interpreted as a reactionary and backward-looking posture). On the other hand, they display innovative capacities – both social and technical – and modify day-to-day practices. Meanwhile, at the global level, received wisdom about environmental change facilitated making the case for the creation and funding of national-level executive agencies with responsibility for environmental management. This trend, established during the colonial period (Agrawal 2005, Leach and Mearns 1996), develops to the present day. How do social movements face evolving environmental institutions at global and regional scales? How do they try to gain influence in policies that shape the access to environmental and natural resources? How do governments relate to, and assimilate, local critiques social movement advance against external structures that aim to control the access and use of natural resources? What relationships are currently privileged between officials working in governments, international donor agencies, and non-governmental organizations [(NGOs)] and local actors? Which governance structures are accepted and fostered in the international arena? We would like to explore the interfaces between society and governmental structures related to environmental issues and the place social movements take in this stake. At the intersection of environmental sociology and social movements – and drawing on the situated practices of social movements – this panel intends to opens new paths for exploring the socio-environmental problem of inequality. 
RC47	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s14	Theorizing Social Movements and Expressions of Contestation: Towards a Global Dialogue	 // Theorizing Social Movements and Expressions of Contestation: Towards a Global Dialogue Session Organizers Breno BRINGEL, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Shujiro YAZAWA, Seijo University, Japan,   Session in English For a long time social movement theories were practically synonymous of North American and European social movement theories. Although there was never a completely uncritical reception of these theories in Latin America, Africa and Asia, in recent decades the theorization of social practices and experiences of contestation of these regions has moved towards a more original, consistent and less Eurocentric perspective. At the same time, frames of interpretation and theoretical frameworks begin to move toward an increasingly global dialogue. Somehow, this is not unique to the debate on social movements and accompanies a broader movement in the social sciences. This session aims to present theoretical proposals to interpret collective action, social and cultural contentious expressions and social movements, with emphasis on the Global South. However, unlike some contemporary interpretations, the goal is not discard “Northern” theories and experiences, but weaving a critical and global dialogue based on the consideration of the specificities of the local joints and societies; the diversity of political cultures and national/regional traditions of thoughts; the historical and spatial constructions of social conflict, and so on. Critical, reflexive and contextual theories are especially welcome. 
RC47	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s15	Violent versus Nonviolent Strategies by Movements and States	 // Violent versus Nonviolent Strategies by Movements and States Session Organizers Jeff GOODWIN, New York University, United States,   Fabian VIRCHOW, University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, Germany,   Session in English This panel will consider how the interactions between movements and states,　and with other actors, shape each side`s choice of violent or nonviolent strategies. 
RC47	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC47#s16	Work, Subjectivity and Social Movements	 // Work, Subjectivity and Social Movements Session Organizers Daniele DI NUNZIO, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Italy,   Antonio FAMIGLIETTI, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy,   Session in English Work has no longer the central dimension in the society as in the industrial era. Nevertheless, it maintains an important role in the affirmation of subjectivity and in the paths of modernization. Contemporary age offers new opportunities for the individuals, especially considering the increasing importance given to well-being, knowledge and creativity in the working life. On the other side, there are many challenges to avoid the alienation and exploitation of humans and environmental life. At global level, logic of market seems to impose itself on the dignity and rights of workers, leading to a crisis of democracy and representation that accompanies the economic one. This panel will gather empirical and theoretical contributions focusing on the meaning of work at individual and collective level, encouraging a multidisciplinary approach to the debate. Main attention will be given on the issues of workers` dignity and on the experiences of the workers movements in a comparative perspective. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change, RC48
RC48	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s1	Activists and Activisms Amidst Occupy-Type Protests: Practices, Possibilities and Dilemmas	 // Activists and Activisms Amidst Occupy-Type Protests: Practices, Possibilities and Dilemmas Session Organizer Ignacia PERUGORRIA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Session in English/Spanish Little more than two years have passed since the Tunisian uprisings, the spark that ignited a series of occupy-type protests that spread like wildfire across three different regions of the world: the Arab countries, Southern Europe and the United States. Much has been written about these mobilizations in terms of their struggle against socio-economic inequality, their demands for democratization/“real” democracy, their participatory, horizontal and deliberative organization, the savvy and intensive use of social media/the internet, and the occupation and transformation of the public space into a public sphere. Less has been said, however, about the impact of these traits on the praxis of activism, and on the self-perception and public portrayal of activists themselves. In this session we would like to reflect on the issue of activism amidst the current cycle of protest. We invite papers addressing the following main topics, among others: The interaction between an embodied/territorialized political praxis associated to the occupation of public space, and disembodied/de-territorialized online activism; The challenges derived from the political socialization of (usually young) “political neophites,” and the “re-socialization” of “senior” activists trained in hierarchical organizations; The display of humor, irony and parody, and the possible inception of a novel type of “ludic activism,” characterized by ingenuity, pleasure, creativity, and play; Activists’ previous socio-cultural profiles, militant trajectories, and multiple activisms, and their conflictual embeddedness and articulation in mobilizations that reject politico-ideological “flags and banners” on account of their divisiveness; The influence of cultural collectives, hacktivists, bloggers, and community organizers in the implementation of tactics such as sousveillance, media hoaxing, subvertising, flash mobs, street art, and hacktivism, to name but a few; The tension between the exclusive category of “activist/militant” and the encompassing identities that were crafted for the social movement community (e.g. “the persons,” “the 99%,” “common people”) in an attempt to garner broad public support. Papers that are both theoretically driven and empirically grounded will be favored. A focus on the current cycle of protest and comparative papers addressing continuities and discontinuities with previous waves of mobilization are equally welcome. 
RC48	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s2	Aprendizaje en la calle: Cases of Education Reform Movements in Latin America	 // Aprendizaje en la calle: Cases of Education Reform Movements in Latin America Session Organizers Jackson FOOTE, University of Wisconsin, USA,   Rebecca TARLAU, University of California, USA,   Pauline LIPMAN, University of Illinois, USA,   Session in English This panel features four richly researched empirical papers that attempt to provide a framework for understanding the forms of popular resistance to neoliberal education policies that see emergent movements coalescing around education issues and longstanding social movements extending their agendas to address new education challenges. These papers address how resistance movements in Chile, Brazil, and El Salvador analyze and critique new educational policies, generate programmatic proposals, strengthen cross-issue coalitions, and innovate pedagogically through the movement-building networks they establish. The first paper investigates the way that a new generation of Chilean students are challenging the neoliberal education legacy of the country’s 17-year military dictatorship, which OECD has called the most unequal among their membership, by framing political opportunities through online social networks and engagement with key media actors. The second paper offers a look at the historical roots of the current movement in the anti-dictatorial mobilizations of teachers and students in the 1980s. The third paper examines how the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) has entered the education debate to transform social relations of production in the countryside through critical pedagogy that would enable cooperative ownership and management. The final paper continues a community-centered approach in assessing how a Salvadorian area traditionally aligned with the once revolutionary FMLN has resisted the World Bank-backed EDUCO program to preserve established popular education approaches. Through in-depth fieldwork, long-form interviews, policy analysis, archival research, examination of media coverage, and study of network structures, these papers provide insight into how education-centered social movements are reshaping the region from the bottom-up. This research carries implications at multiple levels of social movement analysis, from the impact of movement demands and community structures on regional and national policy to increased understandings of movement dynamics and political process perspectives at the micro, meso, and macro levels. 
RC48	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s3	Civil Society and Collective Actions	 // Civil Society and Collective Actions Session Organizer Debal SINGHAROY, Indira Gandhi National Open University, India,   Session in English The civil society in the contemporary world has been posited in a paradoxical situation especially in the context of globalization and the emergence of the neo-liberal state on the one hand, and the resurgence of the culture of grass roots resistance on the other. The emerging scenario has caused phenomenal change in the functioning of civil societies and its relationship with the state and the people. Even as the state is emerging to be hegemonic, and the market is becoming all encompassing civil society still creates the space for creative engagement of people to protect their dignity, autonomy and identity. Through this creative space it not only develops contestations against the conventional hegemony of the state and the market but also creates new body of knowledge, identity, and ontology of collective being in a globalizing world. Significantly a vast body of this knowledge is formed based on every day experiences at the grass roots. As against this backdrop this session would integrate varieties grass root civil society engagements, their emerging patterns of collective mobilization, social net working and alternatives initiatives especially of the marginalized people. 
RC48	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s4	Climate Justice? Climate Movements and Climate Inequality	 // Climate Justice? Climate Movements and Climate Inequality Session Organizer James GOODMAN, University of Technology, Australia,   Session in English Anticipating dangerous climate change, a range of social movements have emerged to demand effective climate action and to contest existing climate policy. These movements have become evident amongst the high-income countries that are most responsible for the emission of green house gasses. They have also become evident in low-income countries that are affected by global climate policy or are suffering the immediate impacts of climate change. As such, climate movements reflect the asymmetries of climate change, between those principally responsible, most insulated from the effects of climate change and with greatest capacity to adapt, as against those least responsible, most exposed and least able to adapt. These movements are often defined against climate action that downplays these asymmetries, and have sought to construct their own model centered on `climate justice`. These climate justice conceptions directly address global inequalities, and seek to offer a means of constructing global solidarities to address widening climate inequalities. Advocates argue such approaches are the precondition for more effective climate policy. What are the parameters for this emergent climate justice orientation? To what extent does climate justice signal the advent of a new kind of social movement? In terms of mobilization and leverage, how effectively has climate justice been pursued and what problems have arisen? What are the prospects for this emergent movement in contesting the new climate inequalities? 
RC48	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s5	Democracy Now: Are New Understandings of Radical Democracy Transforming its Practice?	 // Democracy Now: Are New Understandings of Radical Democracy Transforming its Practice? Session Organizer Francesca POLLETTA, University of California, USA,   Session in English Fifteen years ago the conventional wisdom among scholars and many activists was that radically democratic decision making was a quixotic exercise in idealism, undertaken by committed (and often aging) idealists unconcerned with political effectiveness or economic efficiency. Today, bottom-up decision making seems all the rage. Crowdsourcing and open source, flat management in business, horizontalism in protest politics, collaborative governance in policy studies–these are the buzzwords now and they are all about the virtues of nonhierarchical and participatory decision making. What accounts for this new enthusiasm for radical democracy? Is it warranted? Are champions of the form understanding key terms like equality, consensus, and decision differently than did radical democrats in the 1960s and 70s? And is there any reason to believe that today’s radical democrats are better equipped than their forebears to avoid the old dangers of endless meetings and rule by friendship cliques? This panel invites papers on how the people who practice radical democracy today – in movements, but also in nonprofits and even for-profits – understand what radical democracy means. Where do those understandings come from? And what are their consequences for groups` ability to act effectively and fairly? 
RC48	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s6	Dilemmas of Unfinished Revolutions	 // Dilemmas of Unfinished Revolutions Session Organizer Piotr SZTOMPKA, Jagiellonian University at Krakow, Poland,   Session in English The last decades of the twentieth century as well as the first decade of the twenty-first century have witnessed an unprecedented number of successful pro-democratic social movements from below resulting in fundamental regime transformations. Some of them, embracing all levels of social reality – political, economic, cultural, mental, everyday life – are rightly referred to as revolutions. One may mention several areas where such epochal events took place: Eastern-Central Europe, the Ukraine, Georgia, the Balkans, Baltic States, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. In spite of the great differences in the revolutionary goals, strategies and processes, there is one striking similarity. Most revolutions seem incomplete, unfinished, suffering from various unexpected challenges. To name but a few: post-revolutionary social and cultural traumas, anomie in axiological and normative area, asynchrony of developments at various levels of social life, often incompetent, dishonest and weakly motivated elites, weakness of civil society and apathy of citizens, incomplete reconciliation with the past, deficit of democracy and resulting ungovernability, backlash of populist and nationalist tendencies. The congress of ISA seems the perfect place to bring together sociologists from various countries that have experienced revolutions, to compare post-revolutionary dilemmas, new forms of inequality and exclusion, and to share reflections on possible remedies and directions of further developments. 
RC48	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s7	Feminists Movements and Feminists Mobilizations in a Complex World	 // Feminists Movements and Feminists Mobilizations in a Complex World Session Organizer María MARTINEZ, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain,   Session in English Feminists mobilizations and feminists movements take nowadays an enormous number of forms: from the typical SMO, to a library, a bar or a squatting building. Feminists are also present in political parties, other social movements (LGTB, anti-globalization, environment…), ONGs, and they have played an important role in the 2011 uprisings all over the world. Likewise, feminists actions do not focus merely on the State, but politizes with their actions everyday life. This diversity of feminists mobilization troubles, partly, the study of these collective action with the tools of social movements theories. But at the same time, encourage us to reshape some of our approaches for a better understanding of social movements in a complex world. This session invites contributions that go beyond the acknowledgment of the diversity of feminists mobilizations and feminist movements – already credited by most feminists movements scholars. By presenting specific feminists mobilizations or mobilization of feminists in other collective actions, the propositions should challenge social movement approaches and/or make an analysis of those feminists mobilizations through an interdisciplinary and/or inter-approach to the analysis. Some of the issues and questions we would like to address are: what can a feminist and/or queer approach do to the analysis of feminists mobilizations nowadays?, how can the intersectionality of discriminations proposal contribute to a better understanding of feminists movements and mobilizations in a complex world?, how the studies on the anti-globalization or the 2011 uprising can inform or be informed by feminists movements analysis in the last years?, etc. 
RC48	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s8	Media and Social Movements in the Age of Globalization	 // Media and Social Movements in the Age of Globalization Session Organizers Takeshi WADA, University of Tokyo, Japan,   Edwin AMENTA, University of California, USA,   Patrick HELLER, Brown University, USA,   Session in English The media has always been an important research topic in the literature of contentious politics and social movements. We have learned that favorable media coverage of social movements will likely embolden movement participants, make them less vulnerable to state repression, and thus facilitate diffusion of their ideas and repertoires. However, recent contentious events – such as the protest mobilization in the Arab Spring and a series of social forums around the world – signal the changing nature of the media and public sphere. The rise of social media – Facebook, twitter, and so on – offers an unprecedented opportunity for those who live under authoritarian conditions both to have access to and disseminate the information without relying on traditional mainstream media, such as television, radio, and newspapers. What will be the theoretical implications of such a change? Does the emergence of new interactive media shift the balance of power in favor of movement actors? Has the traditional media become less relevant to social movements’ success today? Or, do the social media empower movement actors more in the authoritarian countries than those in the democratic ones in which the traditional media maintain credibility? This session invites papers that examine empirically the relationship between social movements and the media, both traditional and new. 
RC48	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s9	Movements and Civil Society Actors Against Corruption and Organized Crime	 // Movements and Civil Society Actors Against Corruption and Organized Crime Session Organizers Francesca FORNO, University of Bergamo, Italy,   Alice MATTONI, European University Institute, Italy,   P. P. BALAN, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, India,   Session in English Political corruption and organized crime are two crucial issues in contemporary societies. In the field of social and political sciences, literature flourished in the last decades about the mechanisms supporting the development and thriving of political corruption and organized crime. A growing body of studies is also focusing on the anti-corruption and anti-organized crime policies at the level of national and local public administration as well as on the incorporation of these issues in the agendas of political parties, not only during electoral campaigns. The role of civil society and social movement actors in fighting against corruption and organized crime, on the contrary, remains a heavily understudied topic. This, although citizens` participation in both institutional and non-institutional settings has an important role in fighting corruption as well as organized crime. This session aims at attracting empirical contribution on grassroots mobilizations against corruption and organized crime in the Global South and the Global North. In particular, we are interested in papers that: explore the organizational patterns, forms of protest, mobilization of resources, communication/mediation practices, and/or contentious discourses that civil society and social movement actors develop when mobilize against corruption and organized crime; investigate the role of institutional political actors, especially at the national and local level, in creating spaces for citizens` participations as well as participatory mechanisms of accountability, like for instance the Social Audit policies in India explain the outcomes of civil society and social movement actors mobilizations against corruption and organized crime, with particular attention to the outcomes at the level of policy making at the local and national level; discuss the methodological challenges that the study of such mobilizations, that span from high-risk and high-visibility protests to high-risk and low-visibility actions, imply for scholars approaching them. We welcome papers employing qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods approaches. Comparative studies, contrasting different mobilizations, different countries, and/or different periods of time are also welcome. 
RC48	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s10	Occupy-Type Protests in Comparative Perspective	 // Occupy-Type Protests in Comparative Perspective Session Organizers Ruth MILKMAN, City University of New York, USA,   Michael SHALEV, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel,   Session in English Occupy-type protests are an unexpected type of social movement, sharing some characteristics of both new social movements and the more recent anti-globalization movement, but with a distinct focus on domestic socioeconomic issues. Do these protests imply not only an unanticipated historical development, but also a paradigm crisis at the theoretical level? At the empirical level, research so far on contemporary anti-austerity and Occupy movements has focused mainly on Europe and North America, with partially parallel developments in Latin America receiving separate attention, and without questioning why such protests did not occur in other developed regions (Eastern Europe, Australasia, Japan). This points to the need to move from national case studies to cross-national comparisons, with questions like: what is similar and what is different about the Occupy-type protests and those that took place earlier in the Arab world? Is a single analytical model appropriate or not? Why did anti-inequality protests take root in some affluent societies but not others? Is there value in differentiating between different sub-types of Occupy protests or is there a compelling family resemblance among all of them? We envisage that proposals for this session will be explicitly comparative in their orientation, including case studies informed by a comparative perspective as well as paired case studies and systematic multi-country comparisons. 
RC48	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s11	Outside Agitators, Coalition Partners, and Social Movement Success	 // Outside Agitators, Coalition Partners, and Social Movement Success Session Organizer Sharon BARNARTT, Gallaudet University, USA,   Session in English In the US in the 1960’s, media commentators sometimes attributed social movement activities to ‘outside agitators,’ often Communists. After the Cold War, there was less such attribution, but, in fact, it has happened that there were outside agitators, although they were not usually Communists. One example of outside agitators from American social movements is Fundamentalist Christians who participated in, and escalated, Anti-Abortion protests, sometimes leading to more violence than the originators intended. Another example was outsiders fomenting the Deaf President Now protest in Washington, DC in 1988. A non-American example was the participation of disabled people in protests which occurred during and proximal to the Arab Spring protests in Egypt. But how common are they? Outsiders can have goals allied with the movement they joined, their goals or means can be a little different, their goals can be so different that they effectively hijack the movement, or they became coalition partners within the original movement. When do outside agitators become coalition partners, or vice versa? And what role do these outsiders play in the success or failure of a particular action or of the movement as a whole? While we know that movement success is related to mobilization patterns, is this true if those who are mobilized are not part of the same movement? Under what conditions would such participants facilitate movement success, and under what conditions would they not? Ultimately, how do we link those participants to the success of the movement? 
RC48	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s12	Players and Arenas: Strategic Dynamics of Politics and Protest	 // Players and Arenas: Strategic Dynamics of Politics and Protest Integrative Session // : RC21 Regional and Urban Development, RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Not open for submission of abstracts . 
RC48	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s13	Pre-Disaster Alternative Politics in Post-Disaster Protests	 // Pre-Disaster Alternative Politics in Post-Disaster Protests Session Organizer Patricia STEINHOFF, University of Hawaii, USA,   Session in English Following Japan’s “triple disaster” on March 11, 2011, Japanese society has witnessed some of the largest public protests to emerge in decades. This panel locates the rise in collective protest within the historical trajectory of existing civil society organizations in Japan. It examines the continuation, change, and transformation of these social movements since 3.11 as they have responded to the ramifications of the disaster, and relates them to the broad body of literature on social movements and collective behavior. Organizations within Japanese civil society have a long history of grappling with various social issues that arose from the fracturing of the postwar paradigm premised on economic growth and political stability. The panel will approach the rise in protest since the 3.11 crisis through the responses of organizations that have been dealing with issues such as nonstandard employment, U.S. military base issues in Okinawa, dispossessed youths who hop from job to job, constitutional revision, and other social issues. The panel will explore the following questions. How do these organizations frame the crisis and engage in post-3.11 popular protests? What were the processes of connecting their old agenda to a new agenda? What do the connections linking pre-existing social movements with new actors, and new movements that have emerged from the 3.11 crisis suggest about the future of Japanese civil society? What do these studies contribute to the study of social movements and collective behavior more generally? 
RC48	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s14	Protest, Movement and New Identities in Contemporary India	 // Protest, Movement and New Identities in Contemporary India Session Organizers Dipti Ranjan SAHU, University of Lucknow, India,   Rajesh MISRA, University of Lucknow, India,   Session in English Contemporary India has been experiencing many protests and social movements concerned with the issues of casteism, land rights, environment, women’s rights, life style choices ethnicity and human rights. These movements have mobilized the people for developing a socio-political force and challenged the state and society. Further expressions of such movements have broadened the meaning of freedom. A much-needed exercise is an assessment of trends in social movements, past and present and their impact on people across the country. Indian movement scholars have been debating over the concept of social movement and people’s protest and the later being treated as a politically a more effective and potent concept than the social movement. Moreover, these have been termed as new social movements that encapsulate the class movements within its fold and covers all kinds of people’s rights – the movements of Dalits, Tribal people, Peasants and women in Indian situation. The anti-caste movements i.e. movements of lower castes and untouchable castes (Dalits) have influenced the mainstream politics in India and created a socio-political space for themselves. Environmental movements in India have questioned the development process and industrial growth. Human right groups asserted people’s identity by exposing the state authority. Similarly, women activists raised the issues of structural and cultural oppression. The primary objectives of the session is a critical assessment of people’s protests and movements in India, historical and contemporary and setting an agenda for future. Further it will present a spectrum of macro and micro social movements in India. 
RC48	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s15	Radical Left Wing Movements and Contemporary Politics	 // Radical Left Wing Movements and Contemporary Politics Session Organizer Magnus WENNERHAG, Södertörn University, Sweden,   Christian FROHLICH, Södertörn University, Sweden,   Session in English Recently, scholars have paid attention to the role of radical leftist parties in Europe; both regarding newly democratized post-communist political systems and more established liberal-democratic regimes. However, the corresponding political role and impact of the radical left’s extra-parliamentarian part – or its social movement base – has hitherto not been sufficiently analyzed. It has often been noted that radical leftist groups have played a prominent role for the broader left and the new social movements of Western democracies since the late 1960s; often appearing as their “radical flank”. The ideas, strategies and forms of protests of these radical groups have many times – directly or indirectly – influenced the agendas and action repertoires of more established organizations, e.g. political parties and trade unions. This session is interested in the political role of contemporary radical left groups that are rooted in different intellectual traditions of the Worker’s movement such as Anarchism, Autonomism, Communism and Trotskyism. In this session, we wish to focus these groups’ interplay with new social movements, political parties and trade unions, as well as their direct or indirect impact on the general public debate, agenda setting and decision-making (also including the state’s use of counter-measures against these groups). Especially, we are interested in the role of specific ideas of democracy and political change for radical left groups’ political visions/goals as well as movement-internal practices/repertoires of action. We invite papers concerning the radical left from all parts of the world. 
RC48	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s16	RC48 Business Meeting	 // RC48 Business Meeting 
RC48	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s17	Symbols and Social Movements 	 // Symbols and Social Movements Session Organizer Thomas OLESEN, Aarhus University, Denmark,   Session in English This session focuses on what is an often overlooked aspect of social movement action: the use and production of symbols. In some cases social movements create new symbols by mobilizing around unjust events. In other cases social movements draw on already existing symbols in order to generate cultural resonance. A variety of objects can attain symbolic status: Photographs, events, people, art. The session is open to all papers dealing explicitly with the relationship between social movements and symbols. It particularly welcomes papers that address: the methodological and theoretical challenges of studying symbols in social movements; the visual aspects of symbols; the transnational aspects of symbols; the relationship between violence and symbols; the political effects of symbols. 
RC48	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s18	The Transnationality of Transnational Movements	 // The Transnationality of Transnational Movements Session Organizer Helena FLAM, University of Leipzig, Germany,   Session in English This session calls for papers conceptualizing transnational movements and proposing novel ways of approaching them. While some researchers argue that the established conceptual and methodological apparatus is sufficient to analyze transnational movements, others hold that transnational movements have a complex organizational structure, choose unusual cooperation partners and develop novel cooperation and action patterns. Alone these features call for developing new approaches. Such movements are often composed of `movements from below` linking bottom-up and across borders to other movements; cooperating with the representatives of the state(s), international organizations, and even selected enterprises. They sometimes rely on a few dominant, but at other times many different languages. Their ongoing work is accomplished by core activists, but also movement enterpreneurs, translators, brokers, institutional activists, etc. Of interest are approaches capable of grasping this diversity, problems it causes and solutions it brings forth, while addressing the question under what conditions (by what sorts of power: strategic, moral, economic, symbolic or network-based) such movements manage to accomplish the goals they set for themselves. 
RC48	s19	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC48#s19	Wither the 2011 Mobilizations: Progressive, Regressive or Irrelevant	 // Wither the 2011 Mobilizations: Progressive, Regressive or Irrelevant Integrative Session // : RC07 Futures Research, RC36 Alienation Theory and Research and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Not open for submission of abstracts . Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Mental Health and Illness, RC49
RC49	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s1	Building Networks and Sharing Mental Suffering	 // Building Networks and Sharing Mental Suffering Session Organizer Breno FONTES, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil,   Session in English We propose to organize a section to discuss questions about virtual social networks in relation to mental health and coping. These networks support interactions that are mediated by the worldwide computer network and are capable of structuring secondary (predominantly) and primary (occasionally) sociabilities. Similarly to landform social networks, these Internet networks can mobilize resources and provide social support for their members. This proposal invites abstracts that discuss the meaning and structure of these new social networks for people who seek advice and support for mental health. Examples include internet discussion groups for people with mental disorders, chat roms, comunication mediated by computers (facebook, orkut, and others), online therapy and more. These online mental health communities are an important vehicle for the creation of social support networks, the dissemination of information on practices of care, and the formation of public opinion about mental health. 
RC49	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s2	Gender and Mental Health	 // Gender and Mental Health Session Organizers Ariane PROHASKA, University of Alabama, USA,   Bronwen LICHTENSTEIN, University of Alabama, USA,   Session in English Social science research indicates that mental health is a gendered process, with men and women experiencing gender-specific diagnoses for mental illness, or social environments that give rise to gender-specific expressions of mental health and wellbeing. While gender differences in relation to depression and anxiety have been well documented, research continues to uncover unique ways in which men and women have different experiences in relation to diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. This proposal invites sociologists to submit 300-word abstracts on the role of gender in relation to mental health. These topics can include, but are not limited to: Explanations for gender differences in mental health outcomes Gender expectations and mental health Gender, sexuality, and biases in mental health diagnoses Intimate partner violence and mental health Resource access, gender, and mental health Gender and PTSD Masculinities and mental health 
RC49	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s3	HIV/AIDS, Social Inequality, and Social Justice	 // HIV/AIDS, Social Inequality, and Social Justice Session Organizer James G. LINN, Optimal Solutions for Healthcare, USA,   Session in English Since 2006 there has been universal acceptance in both the developing and developed world that HIV treatment and related services, including mental health counseling and intervention, and stigma reduction, be available to all. Similarly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized mental health as a basic human right and a principal objective of all healthcare systems. Despite wide spread agreement on these principles, and advances in HIV/AIDS and mental illness treatment, enormous disparities in access to healthcare services in these areas exist between the global south and the northern hemisphere. This session invites abstracts on HIV and mental health including stigma, mental health service needs of HIV-positive people and their providers, and north/global south disparities in mental health services for persons who are infected with HIV. Research on programs seeking to improve social justice in these areas is especially welcome. 
RC49	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s4	Mental Health and Adolescents	 // Mental Health and Adolescents Session Organizer Takashi ASAKURA, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan,   Session in English This session calls for a paper about mental health issues in the adolescent. Each year an estimated 20 per cent of adolescents experience a mental health problem. Today, suicide, self-harm behaviour, bullying and violence, eating disorder, depression, loneliness, delinquency, and drug abuse are prevalent among adolescents not only in developed countries but also developing countries. Mental health problems experienced in the adolescent can affect their mental health in the adulthood. However, their mental health needs are likely to be overlooked; therefore sufficient health services and/or social support are not available to the adolescent. 
RC49	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s5	Mental Health and Crime	 // Mental Health and Crime Session Organizer Jeremy DIXON, University of Bath, United Kingdom,   Session in English Mental illness and offending may both be designated as deviant forms of behavior. Mentally disordered offenders pose a particular challenge to health, welfare and criminal justice services in terms of how their behavior should be categorized and managed. Offenders themselves are also faced with challenges of how they negotiate and manage their identities. We invite abstracts on any aspect of mental health and crime from a broad range of sociological and inter-disciplinary perspectives. The following list is suggestive but not exhaustive: Early intervention and diversion from custody The organization and treatment of mentally disordered offenders in prison The organization and treatment of mentally disordered offenders in hospital settings Processes of risk assessment and management Offending identities The supervision and treatment of mentally disordered offenders in the community User /carer views on care, treatment and supervision Victim perspectives 
RC49	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s6	Mental Health and the Family	 // Mental Health and the Family Session Organizer Silvia KRUMM, Ulm University, Germany,   Session in English The family is one of the most important social factors that contributed to mental health and illness. There are many interrelations between mental health/illness and the family from impact of parenthood on the course of illness through adverse effects of a mental illness to family members up to family as a buffer against and/or additional risk factor for illness as well as burden of care for relatives with mental health problems. In accordance with changing understanding of mental health the family has been assessed as more or less relevant for mental health treatment. In this session we will focus on family and mental health/illness from a sociological perspective and we are glad to welcome the submission of abstracts on theoretical and empirical papers that address the various links between mental health/illness and the family. 
RC49	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s7	RC49 Business Meeting	 // RC49 Business Meeting 
RC49	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s8	Safety and Mental Health in Contemporary Societies	 // Safety and Mental Health in Contemporary Societies Session Organizer Reinhold KILIAN, Ulm University, Germany,   Session in English Safety is a crucial precondition of human life and the lack of safety in many areas of life has been identified as a major risk factor for the occurrence of mental disorders. Contemporary societies differ largely in the extent they provide basic safety with regard to the provision of food, water, accommodation, health care, protection form violence and constitutionality. However, even people who live in societies who guarantee all of these basics are confronted with increasing economic uncertainties, environmental hazards, international terrorism, and food scandals. In this symposium an overview on the international research on relationships between several types of uncertainties and mental disorders as well as between safety and mental health should be provided. As contributions to this symposium, abstracts of theoretical papers as well as results of empirical studies are welcome. 
RC49	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s9	Social Change and Mental Health in Asian Countries	 // Social Change and Mental Health in Asian Countries Session Organizers Yuko HIRANO, Nagasaki University, Japan,   Takashi ASAKURA, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan,   Session in English This session calls for abstracts about the implication of social changes in Asian countries on mental health and illness. The populations of these countries have been exposed to social, economic, political changes due to industrialization, urbanization, population concentration, democratization, and globalization of market-oriented economy, as well as natural disasters. Topics could include any aspect of mental health in relation to these social changes, or in response to natural disasters that have occurred throughout Asia and Pacific Rim countries in recent years. 
RC49	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC49#s10	The Sociology of Diagnostic Systems and their Emerging Trends	 // The Sociology of Diagnostic Systems and their Emerging Trends Session Organizer Kjeld HOGSBRO, Aalborg University, Denmark,   Session in English Changes in the diagnostic systems DSM and ICD are currently being negotiated, and gaps between science, practice and economic interest are being identified. Biological determinism as well as the concept of chronic disease are being challenged by new scientific developments. Some of the diagnostic categories have been dismissed from the diagnostic systems, and spectrum disorders and dimensional determinants seem to be more strongly supported by research and clinical experience. What are the consequences for users of psychiatric services concerning personal identity and access to help? How do we understand the complex interaction between different actors in this process? And how does a sociological point of view define the relation between social problems and new diagnostic descriptions? 300-word abstracts of papers dealing with these issues on the macro- and micro-sociological levels are sought for presentation in this session. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

International Tourism, RC50
RC50	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s1	Beyond the Gaze. Tourist Experiences with Senses Other than Sight	 // Beyond the Gaze. Tourist Experiences with Senses Other than Sight Session Organizer Jens Kr. Steen JACOBSEN, Institute of Transport Economics, Norway,   Session in English There is more to travel than sightseeing: travel experiences are not just in the eye of the beholder but also in the ears, palate, nose and hands. Tourist experiences are both corporeal and multisensory, although vision is a dominant mode of consciousness in the modern world and some 90% of our perceptual intake is visual – while much of the rest is auditory and tactile. What one might call polysensualism in tourism is a manifestation of the increased use of senses other than vision in travel experiences. Tours are partly about new tastes, smells, sights, sounds and other feelings. Taste is perhaps considered more important than smell as a desirable and sought-after experience of place. Food is to a certain extent regarded as a central ingredient in place sensation. Because people cannot stop sounds, they are especially vulnerable to sounds in the experience of place. Haptic tourist experiences are also under-researched, that is, the tactile receptivity of the skin and body movements through the environment. This session invites presentations that include for instance studies of tourists themselves, tourism providers, travelogues and promotional material. Conceptual papers on tourist experiences with senses other than sight are also welcome. 
RC50	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s2	Ethical Dimensions of Tourism Practices: Tourism and its Social Contributions in and beyond Japan	 // Ethical Dimensions of Tourism Practices: Tourism and its Social Contributions in and beyond Japan Session Organizer Megumi DOSHITA, Tama University, Japan,   Session in English Nowadays, many people are willing to contribute to different communities and societies through tourism practices, for the purpose of, not momentary pleasure, but being acknowledged as useful individuals and actualising their own ideal societies. In Japan, a number of city dwellers have joined agricultural experience programmes to revitalise depopulated rural villages, and many people have taken volunteer trips to disaster-stricken areas in Tohoku to support their recovery. In East Asia, there are some national conflicts among the countries, yet individual tourists explore neighbouring countries, appreciate their culture and interact with local people. In this century, the discussion of ethical and philosophical issues of tourism has become fruitful, and a number of papers have been published with reference to Western philosophies and/or case studies in less developed countries. There seem to be few contributions from the Far East both academically and practically, even though a variety of organisations including project groups at universities conduct tourism-related programmes for social contributions and a number of participants empathise and are involved in them. The main aim of this session is to share and examine various projects and practices in and beyond Japan in order to enrich the understanding of ethical dimensions of tourism. 
RC50	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s3	Experiences and Narratives of Travel and Mobility	 // Experiences and Narratives of Travel and Mobility Session Organizers Silke LAUX, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany,   Johannes BECKER, University of Göttingen, Germany,   Session in English This session focuses on experiences of people being ‘on the move’. How are these experiences shaped and expressed while travelling? And what role do they play afterwards, for example in the daily lives, and life histories of travellers? If mobility is an ideal of the ‘modern global citizen’, travel experiences as well as narrative and other representations of them gain high importance in the actors’ lives. Travel experiences transform values (e.g. independence and creativity), as well as identities/belongings. They influence the construction of biographies and serve as a source for professional advancement. Thus, there is an increasing need to look at what happens not only while, but also before and after travelling. However, the assumption that “we are all tourists now” does not take into account that participation in mobility highly differs and ranges from frequent and occasional travelling to non-travelling. This opens up questions including: in what ways do economic and social imbalances shape experiences of mobility? How does a highly mobile class negotiate travel experiences with less mobile contemporaries and in between generations? Finally, taking the actors’ own narratives of travelling and mobility seriously might help to disentangle well-known terminological difficulties that have developed in this specific research field: Who is (still) a tourist, who is ‘hyper-mobile’, already a part-time dweller, a ‘modern nomad’, or a migrant? Contributions are welcome that deal with how experiences are shaped while travelling; the role of travelling in biographies, in families, within different generations; narrations about travelling and other representations such as pictures, videos, social media, and blogs; meaning-making, changes and mediations of travel experiences through (re-)telling; the role of images and discourses in forming travel experiences; interdependencies of class, gender, social, religious, national or ethnic belongings and travel experiences/narrations; lacking experiences of travelling; actor-centred methodology in tourism research. 
RC50	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s4	Festivals and Cultural Tourism	 // Festivals and Cultural Tourism Session Organizer Leif SELSTAD, University of Stavanger, Norway,   Session in English Festivals and special events attract both domestic and international tourists all over the world. A case in point is traditional festivals in Japan, that long have been attractive to tourists and sightseers, and provide a wide range of experiences, from onlookers to active participation by so-called ‘festival buffs’. Festivals take many forms, and it seems necessary to develop a more varied and multifaceted scholarly discourse on tourism directed at celebratory cultural events. This session calls for papers that take a closer look at festivals and cultural tourism. One pertinent question may be to what extent tourists are able to understand and appreciate festivals and related cultural events, which may offer a bewildering diversity of impressions and expressions. Such experiences may be hard to comprehend even for practitioners, yet tourists often express an appreciation of the colour and pageantry of special cultural events. A wider issue of relevance to this session is the need to assess and evaluate festivals and cultural events as a growing and developing part of today’s late modern tourism landscape. All papers dealing with these issues will be welcome. 
RC50	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s5	New Developments of Medical Tourism in Asia: The Cross-roads of Economics and Ethics	 // New Developments of Medical Tourism in Asia: The Cross-roads of Economics and Ethics Session Organizer Mika TOYOTA, Rikkyo University, Japan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . International medical tourism, namely people travelling across national borders in search of medical care, has been fast developing worldwide over the last decades. Sociology has, up to now, focused on the global economic inequalities that drive medical travel, for instance how medical tourism enables Western patients to take advantage of the low costs in medical care and other related services in developing countries, especially in Asia. This trend is in turn interpreted as resulting from neoliberalism, especially the privatization of medical care and the ascendance of the market globally. However, recent work in various disciplines has called attention to more nuanced social, political, cultural, emotional and moral dynamics shaping these international movements. Papers at this panel, all based on field research and documentary analysis; shed light on new developments in medical tourism in Asia. First, all the articles, especially Toyota’s, point to a clear trend of regionalization in Asia. More and more countries target patients from the region instead of from the West. Second, there is a diversification of the content of medical tourism. The articles by Whittaker and by Ormond for instance discuss the co-existence of high-end and low-end medical ‘rotten trade’ in body parts and trafficking of people it can entail travel. Third, as Chee and Mariano detail in their articles, which are strongly corroborated by the others, the development of medical tourism is to a great extent driven by state policies, shaped by regulations and intermediaries, and is laden with moral concerns, instead of being dictated by single market logic. The session comprises researchers from sociology as well as from neighbouring disciplines such as geography, anthropology and social policy. Paper contributors are based in five countries (Japan, Singapore, Australia, the Netherlands, and Malaysia), covering the empirical data from the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. 
RC50	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s6	Problems and Solutions in Intangible Heritage and World Heritage Site Tourism 	 // Problems and Solutions in Intangible Heritage and World Heritage Site Tourism Session Organizers Ge RONGLING, Xiamen University, China,   Yujie ZHU, Heidelberg University, Germany,   Session in English With an emphasis on East Asia, this session invites papers that examine the interplay of multiple actors shaping the forms and values of intangible heritage in World Heritage Site tourism. Topics we wish to explore include how do States adapt UNESCO Conventions on Intangible Heritage and World Heritage Sites to fulfil their national goals? How do scholars support local governments for nomination, documentation and conservation? How does local industry utilize the branding of “intangible heritage” and/or ”world heritage site” to satisfy the imaginaries of modern urban consumers? How do these notions shape local community value systems and identities? We aim to explore the problems and solutions of intangible heritage in world heritage site tourism. 
RC50	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s7	RC50 Business Meeting	 // RC50 Business Meeting Session Organizers Margaret SWAIN, University of California Davis, USA,   Bihu WU, Peking University, China,   Jan Te KLOEZE, Foundation Wageningen International Centre of Excellence on Development of Sustainable Leisure, Netherlands,   Session in English 
RC50	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s8	Science and Power Relations in Tourism Studies	 // Science and Power Relations in Tourism Studies Session Organizers Rami ISAAC, Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands,   Erdinc CAKMAK, Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands,   Session in English Science has been depicted most often as an isolated phenomenon (Popper, 1963; Lakatos & Musgrave, 1970) that is driven forwards by internal mechanisms. Scientific progress has been imagined as a self-corrective development steered by an internal criterion like testability or falsifiability. In the last two decades this image has become more relative through the acceptance of external developments co-determinant for scientific development (Kuhn, 1965; Cohn, 2012). Yet, science is an embedded phenomenon that is always heavily influenced by the surrounding environment. This makes us sensitive to the political, economical, socio-cultural and technological influences on scientific developments. This, certainly, goes for the tourism field of social scientific research (Tribe, 2003). In this session the focus will be on the various types of power constellations (Foucault, 1981; Latour, 2005) that have influenced the development of tourism knowledge from its initiation. Possible themes include the origins of tourism studies, post-colonialism and tourism, political (in)stability and the (lack of) development of tourism knowledge, lingua franca, and inclusions/exclusion - silenced voices and inequality. 
RC50	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s9	Tourism Issues in Japan and China	 // Tourism Issues in Japan and China Session Organizer Margaret SWAIN, University of California Davis, USA,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Keynote speaker: Nelson GRABURN, University of California, Berkeley, USA Drawing on decades of interaction with Japanese and Chinese colleagues, Nelson Graburn charts the rise of Tourism Studies in Japan and China and current issues now being addressed. 
RC50	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC50#s10	Tourist Experiences and Gender	 // Tourist Experiences and Gender Session Organizer Bente HEIMTUN, University of Tromsø, Norway,   Session in English Over the last two decades gender analysis has become more important in tourism studies and has produced new gender aware concepts and insights into the lives of tourists, locals and employees. Gender and the holiday experience form part of a rich range of discourses and debates in social science, and within the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field of tourism. Here researchers draw on the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, geography and the interdisciplinary field of gender studies. In the last few years studies of differences within gender have been undertaken leading to more nuanced concepts and understanding of women’s holiday experiences over the life course. Moreover, there has also been an increased interest in understanding masculine tourism practices. For instance, such knowledge is found in studies on sex tourism and gay tourism as well as research on stag tourism and men’s backpacking experiences. In spite of this development much research the tourist experience has often remind ‘gender-blind’. Papers are invited that focuses on the tourist experience and gender. Topics could include: gendered tourist experience performances which embrace tourists and other actors involved; male and female tourist experiences over the life course, gendered tourist experiences related to various types of tourism practices such as backpacking, package tour holidays, city breaks, adventure travels, sightseeing, outdoor recreation and so on. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociocybernetics, RC51
RC51	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s1	A More Equal World: A Systemic Perspective to Think the Relation between Knowledge Construction and Cultural Management Development	 // A More Equal World: A Systemic Perspective to Think the Relation between Knowledge Construction and Cultural Management Development Session Organizer Margarita MAASS, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,   Session in English Cultural management and sustainable development of communities since ethno-ecology, is one of the most important issues of social development. Because we have a high cultural diversity in Latin America countries, we need developing community work in order thinking challenges for a Global Sociology. It is necessary look for new ways to democracy and a more equal world. It is urgent developing the ability to solve problems institutions and third sector all together. We need strengthen links between our research groups and public actors. We propose a work session on interdisciplinary knowledge and cultural management development since the systemic perspective. The most important objective of this session proposal is not only the dialogue and reflection around this issue but also an important opportunity to foster greater synergies between academics and public sphere in order to think the transdisciplinarity. The discussions and dialogues should provide the basis for collaborative and comparative research projects, in order to a “glocal” and a transformative change in our region. Each of the papers accepted for presentation at the meeting will have an exposure and a subsequent discussion. The total time of 105 minutes will be distributed equally to each of the selected works. 
RC51	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s2	Complejidad, intervención social y trabajo comunitario. Complexity, Social Intervention and Community Work	 // Complejidad, intervención social y trabajo comunitario. Complexity, Social Intervention and Community Work Session Organizer Juan David GOMEZ QUINTERO, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain,   Session in Spanish Subject Despite the new epistemological questioning unidirectional relationship of subject-object many social work planning kept the conventional paradigm. Many still think of linear and causal relationships, that is, believe that influence a particular case involves an expected consequence. Nothing is further from the truth. The linear or mechanical causality assumes that social intervention is diagnosed, planned and executed to solve a problem. In this argument, and assuming that all steps are performed properly, obviating the unpredictability and the free will of the subject. People living in poverty and exclusion are also holders of knowledge and action. For decades some methodologies such as Participatory Action Research or notions of local and subaltern knowledge epistemologies have shown that these actors are not passive objects. The unidirectional attribution "identification of needs" and "resource allocation" from a condition of political or scientific has demonstrated its failure. As mention, it should pop retroactive circular causality (Morin, 1990), second-order cybernetics (Ibañez, Von Foerster) and other forms of epistemological subject-subject relationship. In this vein, there is a simple causal relationship between the parties, as if it were a model of mechanical parts unidirectional relationships as we noted earlier, however, in social relationships influence predominates multiple. The initial effect of an action can feed back to stimulate or influence the intent of the initial action (Morin, 1990: 123). In short, if reality is complex, we must move towards complex analysis and also to avoid simplification in social intervention. Although we cannot deal with and understand all the dynamics that encloses the phenomenon of social exclusion from their different perspectives and logical analysis, we must not fragmented modes of analysis and action to realize like a whole should address, without having "understood and grasped what is the `parent` of the exclusion of individuals, groups, collectives, acting situations" (Renes, 2004). Papers selected will be presented and discussed during the session. The total time of 105 minutes will be equally distributed among the selected papers. Sinopsis A pesar de las novedades epistemológicas que cuestionan una relación unidireccional de sujeto-objeto muchos de los trabajos de investigación y planificación social mantienen el paradigma convencional. Muchos siguen pensando en relaciones lineales y causales; es decir, creen que incidir en una causa determinada conlleva una consecuencia esperada. Nada más lejos de la realidad. La causalidad lineal o mecánica parte del supuesto de que la intervención social se diagnostica, se planifica y se ejecuta para solucionar un problema. En tal argumentación y suponiendo que todos los pasos se realicen adecuadamente, se obvia la impredecibilidad y la libre voluntad del sujeto. Las personas en situación de pobreza y exclusión son también sujetos de conocimiento y acción. Desde hace décadas algunas metodologías como la Investigación Acción Participativa o las nociones de epistemologías locales y conocimientos subalternos han evidenciado que estos actores sociales no son objetos pasivos. La atribución unidireccional de “identificación de necesidades” y “adjudicación de recursos” desde una condición de poder político o científico ha demostrado su fracaso. Como elementos emergentes conviene citar la causalidad circular retroactiva (Morín, 1990), la cibernética de segundo orden (Ibañez, Von Foerster) y otras formas de relación epistemológica sujeto-sujeto. En este orden de ideas, no hay relaciones de causalidad simple entre las partes, como si se tratase de un modelo de piezas mecánicas de relaciones unidireccionales como hemos señalado antes, por el contrario, en las relaciones sociales predomina la múltiple influencia. El efecto de una acción inicial puede retroactuar para estimular o incidir sobre la intencionalidad de la acción inicial (Morin, 1990: 123). En definitiva, si la realidad es compleja, habrá que caminar hacia análisis complejos y también hacia evitar la simplificación en la intervención social. A pesar de que no podamos abordar y comprender toda la dinámica que encierra el fenómeno de la exclusión social desde sus diferentes perspectivas y lógicas de análisis, no debemos caer en modos fragmentados de análisis y acción que damos cuenta como si de un todo se tratasen, sin haber “entendido y captado lo que es la ‘matriz’ de la exclusión de las personas, grupos, colectivos, situaciones que actúa” (Renés, 2004). Cada uno de los trabajos aceptados para presentar en la sesión contará con un tiempo de exposición y otro de debate posterior. El tiempo total será de 105 minutos, distribuido por igual para cada uno de los trabajos seleccionados. 
RC51	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s3	Developments in Systems and/or Cybernetic Approaches: Asian and European and American Perspectives. Part I	 // Developments in Systems and/or Cybernetic Approaches: Asian and European and American Perspectives. Part I Session Organizers Eva BUCHINGER, Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria,   Czeslaw MESJASZ, Cracow University of Economics, Poland,   Session in English Sociocybernetics is a heterogeneous research field which benefits from the reciprocal influence of cybernetics, biology/neurobiology system sciences and the social system sciences over decades. Whereas the cybernetic dimension is linked to names such as N. Wiener, W. R. Ashby, C. E. Shannon, W. Weaver and H. v. Foerster and the biological/neurobiological dimension to L. v. Bertalanffy, F. Varela and H. Maturana, the social science response was given by scientists such as M. Mead, G. Bateson, G. Pask, T. Parsons, R. Merton, E. v. Glasersfeld and N. Luhmann. It is thereby historically well known that system and cybernetic approaches do have a strong American basis, which itself is significantly rooted in the European tradition. But is this true even today? And what can be said about the Asian contribution to the historical and ongoing development of this field? Nowadays there exist a great number of system & cybernetic communities all over the world which are only loosely connected, even if some individuals function as ‘bridges’ between them and there exists professional global organizations such as the International Federation for Systems Research IFSR, or the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics WOSC. The aim of these three complementary sessions is to learn which scholarly traditions concerning systems theory and/or cybernetics are existing and whether there can be found significantly different national/regional traditions or not. For these sessions, abstracts/papers are welcome which present one’s work in a specific national/regional context (i.e. referring to the context of the nation/region in which the work/research takes place) in a scholarly context (i.e. positioning one’s own work in one or more specific research tradition/s) There are no further thematic or other constraints and theoretical as well as empirical, and history- related as well as contemporary contributions are welcome. 
RC51	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s4	Developments in Systems and/or Cybernetic Approaches: Asian and European and American Perspectives. Part II	 // Developments in Systems and/or Cybernetic Approaches: Asian and European and American Perspectives. Part II Session Organizers Eva BUCHINGER, Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria,   Czeslaw MESJASZ, Cracow University of Economics, Poland,   Session in English 
RC51	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s5	Gender Based Violence, Consequences and Public Policies: Sociocybernetic Approaches	 // Gender Based Violence, Consequences and Public Policies: Sociocybernetic Approaches Session Organizers Manuel LISBOA, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal,   Dalila CEREJO, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal,   Session in English Contributions for this session should have a general approach to the gender based violence, but with the specific focus on the development of public policies and identifying the consequences of Violence. Sociocybernetic theoretical or already developed empirical sociocybernetic models are expected. Since the successful or unsuccessful application of public policies has a major impact on the level the consequences of the perpetrated violence, contributions that reflect concern on the violence consequences, whether they refer to health consequences, social, economic, etc., are invited. Questions to be addressed are, as it follows: Application and development of public policies on gender based violence; Consequences of violence regarding victims and other indirect victims (children, families, etc.); Consequences of violence regarding the direct victims: health, social, legal, economic and others. Papers that have a mere theoretical and comprehensive approach on the thematic in question are also welcome. 
RC51	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s6	Interpersonal Violence as a Complex Issue: Research through Advanced Techniques Using Discourse Analysis, Video and Micro Methods of Data Analysis	 // Interpersonal Violence as a Complex Issue: Research through Advanced Techniques Using Discourse Analysis, Video and Micro Methods of Data Analysis Session Organizer Santiago BOIRA SARTO, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain,   Session in English Interpersonal violence is a complex issue with many faces and aspects (Walby, 2013). It is a research field, which requires different tools of observation, analysis and interpretation in order to explain and anticipate future scenarios. Improve understanding of the dynamics of interpersonal violence should help to refine the technical and social response to these phenomena (Collins, 2009). Moreover, some answers traditionally provided for explaining violent dynamics have focused on very partial aspects or have considered both the stage of violence as the actors involved in static, compartmentalized and dichotomous way (Wieviorka, 2009). If interpersonal violence is defined as a complex phenomenon in which aspects micro, meso and macro social, then it seems pertinent to explore theoretical and methodological perspectives that broaden the understanding of the phenomenon and overcome explanatory logic is, sometimes, overly reductionist. In this context, some proposals from the Sociocybernetics like self-reflexivity, second order observation, systems theory can extend the explanatory framework of this type of violence. In this sense, from some theoretical traditions as symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, phenomenology of emotions or have made significant contributions. The purpose of this session is to stimulate interdisciplinary debate about the mechanisms that trigger and explain interpersonal violence in contexts like the couple, family or peer violence. It may show: Theoretical and conceptual proposals, Methodological contributions for analysis, Empirical, As well as questions, reviews and revisions to the existing literature. We will welcome proposals to develop methodological strategies novel data analysis and qualitative work with advanced methods of research like discourse analysis, videos, mobile phone, photos, etc… Each of the papers accepted for presentation at the meeting will have an exposure and a subsequent discussion. The total time of 105 minutes will be distributed equally to each of the five selected works. 
RC51	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s7	Observing Social Systems in the Era of Big Data	 // Observing Social Systems in the Era of Big Data Session Organizer Fabio GIGLIETTO, University of Urbino, Italy,   Co-organizers: Bernard Scott, Center for Sociocybernetics Studies, United Kingdom Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Jean Burgess, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Elena Esposito, University of Modena, Italy Luca Rossi, University of Urbino, Italy Giovanni Boccia Artieri, University of Urbino, Italy Session in English The idea of studying society as a system made up of different inter-related parts dates back to well before the 20th century; indeed, the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who defined society as a system with a metaphor regarding living organisms, first formulated it. Even without going back so far in time, it is clear that the idea of social systems and the use of the word itself developed with the emergence of sociology as a discipline. In the light of the work of these authors, over the last seventy years, Talcott Parsons and Niklas Luhmann formulated their respective theories. The theory of social system developed by Parsons and that of social systems conceived by Luhmann, are commonly considered the most relevant applications of the principles of cybernetics, general systems theory and second order cybernetics to the study of society as a system or network of social systems. On the opposite end of this ideal spectrum, where at one end we can see the macro-sociological approaches inspired by cybernetic theories, there are in fact all those studies based on the simulation of social subjects’ behaviour through informational techniques. These include agent-based simulations used not only in sociology, but also widely adopted in economic studies about consumer behavior. From a sociological point of view, multi-agent-based simulation models are even more interesting. In these models, agents’ behaviour is affected not only by the context in which they are placed, but also by the behaviour of other agents that can work with similar or different rules. In this context, the advent of Internet has also had an impact. The availability of an inexpensive global communications network has had, and is still having, an extraordinary impact on numerous aspects of everyday life. It is not by chance that the metaphor of the network is considered a specific characteristic of contemporary society (Castells, 1996). The equal nature of this network has given rise, mainly following the extraordinary success of the so-called social media, to a phenomenon of progressive re-arrangement of the possibilities of communication and the power dynamics related to it (Jenkins, 2006). A condition of permanent connection has opened up new forms of reflexivity, both at the individual and societal level. According to a growing number of authors, this permanent relational reflexivity can be seen as a salient aspect of late/post-modernity (Boccia Artieri, 2012). However, the same study of society necessarily entails a reflexivity exercise, since research and study are an integral part of the subject under study. This is why we can reasonably expect that such significant changes in society will imply changes in the status of the discipline itself. Furthermore, contemporary communications and social processes leave - both intentionally and unintentionally - a growing number of digital traces: personal communication shared in social network sites, family relationships declared on Facebook or political thoughts and opinions posted on Twitter are just the top of the iceberg of the data available to digital social researchers (Rossi, Giglietto, & Bennato, 2012). The session seeks high quality, original and unpublished works on epistemological, theoretical and methodological issues concerning limits and potentials of approaches inspired by the idea that that social systems have never been more observable than they are today. We therefore invite the submission of abstracts that: report the empirical findings of qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods studies focused on the analysis of data gathered from social media or social network websites (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.); address the methodological, technical and ethical issues associated with the acquisition, analysis and presentation of studies based on data gathered from social media or social network websites; address the epistemological impacts on the theory of social systems and, more generally on sociocybernetics, of the growing availability of permanent and searchable communications. All abstracts will be evaluated in a standard double-blind peer review. Abstracts, individual or multi-author, 300 words maximum, should include: Description/summary of the work`s intellectual merit with respect to its findings, its relation to extant research and its broader impacts. A description of the methodological approach or the theoretical underpinnings informing the research inquiry. Conclusions or discussion of findings. 
RC51	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s8	Online Health Information Seeking, Health Management and Gender	 // Online Health Information Seeking, Health Management and Gender Session Organizer Gul SECKIN, Isik University,Turkey,   Session in English As the technologies for health information and communication develop, the adoption of social computing technologies especially by women has been of growing interest. This proposal intends to organize a paper or panel session on gendered aspects of online health information seeking and health management. The Internet transforms men and women’s role from being passive and even helpless recipients of information from medical professionals to proactive and empowered information managers. This, in turn, promotes the self-health care movement, health care consumerism and patient empowerment (Pfeil, 2010; Pitts, 2009). This session seeks to receive papers on the following sub-themes: Online Information Seeking and Health Management A commonly cited reason for seeking information online is disappointment with the amount and depth of information received from health providers, who operate under time constraints during medical consultations. Most Internet users, especially women, report that they perceive the Internet as an opportunity for being able to exercise control over the amount and content of information they receive (Drenta and Moren-Cross, 2005). Women turn to the Internet before doctor appointments in order to be able to ask informed questions and to clarify and/or supplement doctors’ information following their appointments (Schaffer, Kuczynski, and Skinner 2008). The women on the web even check the accuracy and completeness of information received from medical professionals. Gender Comparisons in Online Health Information Seeking Research shows that women are the main users of the Internet for health related information and support, and they are more likely than men to seek information for the members of their family or friends (Drentea et al. 2008). Women are also more likely to search information from diverse online sources and they are more likely to utilize information they find on the web to manage their own or loved ones’ health (Lee, 2008). Women’s higher level of engagement with online health or medical information resources is possibly because they tend to experience more chronic health conditions, functional limitations, and utilize health care services more often than men (Stern, Cotten, and Drentea, 2011). They are also more likely to take care of health needs of other people. Research also suggests that women are more likely than men to report that gathering online health information increases their confidence to ask questions during medical encounters, and helps them to build their confidence in decision making process (Stern, Cotten, and Drentea 2011). Interestingly, women are also less likely to be satisfied and/or be relieved than men with information they find on the Internet and feel more overwhelmed, especially when different online health information sources provide conflicting information (Ybarra and Suman, 2008). This is possibly because of women’s higher sense of responsibility for maintaining and/or promoting others’ health such as their children and aging parents (Stern, Cotten, and Drentea, 2011). Research also suggests that men are less likely to be concerned about the quality of Internet-based information (Cotten and Gupta, 2004). Participation in Online Communities of Health Information Sharing A key component of online health information seeking is participation in online communities of information sharing. Quoting literature, cross-referencing information, assessing the merits of alternative treatments choices, and comparing treatments are found to be empowering the users (Kivits, 2006). The Internet is also a resource where users produce experiential knowledge. This helps to establish a new social context of familiarity and similarity built on shared understanding of illness experiences (Van Uden-Kraan et al. 2008). In these groups, participants not only receive information and support, but also circulate their own information or experiences (Schaffer, Kuczynski, and Skinner 2008). Hearing the perspectives of others provides a form of complementary health information, reconstructs lay knowledge as part of an informational self-help, and helps participants find answers to their questions from those who understand their issues from a patient perspective (Pitts, 2009). Narrators of illness experiences in communities of information sharing become producers of experiential and practical knowledge and give impetus to their self-definition as consumers of health care. Moreover, exchange of illness experiences provide a frame of reference of normalcy for those who have no prior experience and reduce uncertainties and fear of the unknown (Pfeil, 2010). Self-education, making informed choices, and participatory decision-making are the common themes in these groups. Gender Comparisons in Utilizing Online Communities of Health Information Sharing Comparison of women’s and men’s postings on message boards of health information groups reveal that women’s postings tend to be more emotionally supportive with focus on empathy, exchange of personal experiences, and encouragement, whereas men’s messages are more directed at gathering and exchanging of information (Seale, Ziebland, and Charteris-Black, 2006; Bottorff et al. 2007). However, the ultimate objective in seeking health information online is to assume an active role in achieving health and wellness, and be an informed care partner with health professionals in health management (Gooden and Winefield, 2007). Models of Women’s Online Health Information Seeking Behavior Health and wellness model proposes that women use the Internet to promote or maintain their health in a proactive manner. The health needs model posits that women use the Internet because of their health concerns or needs. It is triggered by a health problem. Information is perceived to be a key to regaining or restoring health. Women want to find every crucial piece of information that could be potentially helpful (Schaffer, Kuczynski, and Skinner, 2008). The search cost model posits that women use the Internet to be effective in using their time and reduce the effort involved in finding health information. The common denominator across all these models is that women’s intention in seeking information on the Internet emerges as a personal responsibility. Gathering information from the web sources provides a sense of empowerment and gives impetus to women’s self-definition as consumers of health care (Van Uden-Kraan et al. 2008; Pandey, Hart, and Tiwary, 2003). 
RC51	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s9	Open Systems, Open Data, Open Government 	 // Open Systems, Open Data, Open Government Session Organizer Chaime MARCUELLO SERVOS, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain,   Session in English This session attempts to explore, from a sociocybernetical approach, some of the effects of the open data movement, specially, its consequences in the idea of open government and open knowledge. Open data and open government could be analyzed in an independent way, however they are closely related to Information and Technologies of Communication (ICTs). In fact, both ideas will be more difficult to develop without computers and Internet. There are different social organizations, firms and political actors promoting and lobbying around the idea of open data, open government and open knowledge in different countries. They are building architecture of definitions, processes and gadgets. At first glance, they have in common a shared utopia where technology seems to be the door to freedom and transparency and better democracy desired horizon. In this session we will discuss the impact of ICTs and their effects in democratic systems. There is happening a strange coincidence in the political sphere: governments of very opposite ideologies are creating laws about transparency and opening up their data to the public and others developers and everybody connected to the web. At the same time, there are different organizations in a global civil society perspective lobbying in similar world of words, for instance, Open Data Foundation (ODaF), The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN), The Open Government Partnership inter alia. We could define a triangle of forces and notions. First corner is the supposedly aseptic and neutral technological evolution and its applications. Second corner are political promises with varying degrees of ideological scenarios, including the social movements pushing to reach different utopias (therefore, no-where, unreachable). Third corner are the processes of social knowledge construction and social interaction. All of them are involved in a system of structures and elements were complexity of operations limit the choices of its actors. It is not clear that this “openness” enables a better and transparent circulation of information of any entity, and also it is unclear that transparency, openness and disclosure promote a better society without more, as if by magic. In any case, ICTs evolution is modelling a new social and political scenario. Digital generations are moving our societies to a soft(ware) societies and the possibilities of accessing and building a global system based in global metadata standards is available. Technologists, scientists, business people, policymakers, social activist seems to converge in a same place where technology and transparency define a new “open future”. It seems to get a new good news, a vision: humans of over the world could live in a better world if ICTs and related tools allow to Discover the existence of data; Access the data for research and analysis; Find detailed information describing the data and its production processes; Access the data sources and collection instruments from which and with which the data was collected, compiled, and aggregated; Effectively communicate with the agencies involved in the production, storage, distribution of the data; Share knowledge with other users”. However, applied technology is not simple and sure guarantee of that happens. Papers selected will be presented and discussed during the session. The total time of 105 minutes will be equally distributed among the selected papers. 
RC51	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s10	RC51 Business Meeting	 // RC51 Business Meeting 
RC51	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s11	Recalibrating the Social	 // Recalibrating the Social Session Organizer Saburo AKAHORI, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, Japan,   Session in English Sociology is the discipline that takes “the social” as its particular object of inquiry. It more or less indicates an emergent property created from the interactions of human beings. Therefore, the term has been one of the most fundamental and most important concepts of sociology. Until now, however, it has been defined and understood in many different ways, for example, social action, social fact, and social network and so on. As for sociological systems theory, its main concern has been expressed under the label of “social” systems. Even this area of sociology, however, the meaning of the social has been ambiguous and debatable. Despite the fact that, in Niklas Luhmann’s sociological systems theory, the social is clearly defined as a system, which consists of communications or communicative events, it can be understood otherwise. Adding that, recently, the concept of the social comes to be accepted in the broader society. It is because of the progress of informatization and the rise of so-called social media. Taking this point into account, we can safely say that, these days, the meanings and the characteristics of the social are changing rapidly and drastically. How can sociologists describe such phenomena properly and effectively? In this session, we would like to answer this question. More precisely, what we have to do now is to recalibrate the concept of the social and also “social” theories, by means of systems approach. Based on the statement mentioned above, we will welcome contributions from anyone connected with the topics as follows: Theoretical studies of the current change of communication or communication media with the reference to the combination between sociology and systems theory (or cybernetics) Empirical studies of this issue with the reference to sociocybernetics Theoretical studies which deal with not only systems theory but also another sociological approach to this issue 
RC51	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s12	Social Networks, Digital Generation and Democratization Processes	 // Social Networks, Digital Generation and Democratization Processes Session Organizer Leandro ARAMBURU, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,   Session in English Nowadays, technological digital innovations are spread throughout the population over the world, challenging social conventions and even the law in many spheres of different social systems. This is thanks to the Internet, conceived as a technological sphere, which creates a network of networks where different software and applications build a new level of social interactions. Diverse phenomena in different countries and cultures all over the world show some of these effects. The Arab Awakening or Arab Spring, the Spanish 15M Movement also named Indignados Movement, and the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) are partially linked to ICTs and its effects. These cases, like others, have had quick emergence and volatility. It seems that they are easily evaporated at normal ambience: some weeks present in mass media (including digital social networks) and then disappear. After some weeks living in a stunning fervor where emotions and ideas boil nonstop, they just volatilize without anybody knowing how, neither why. Several months later they remain only a few embers and ashes. They fail in ritualize their emotional energy to become a movement in the classical meaning. Nonetheless, they embody a new wave in the world of political representation and political identity. In that context, if it is true that we are moving to a “soft(ware)” mediated imaginary, in our every day more globalized societies, that implies a transformation in the local and global political arena. Then we are entering into the soft societies where ideals and envisions are moving. Traditional citizenship is also mutating into “cyber-citizenship” with new tools and devices to facilitate political participation or its dark side of massive manipulation. Some activists and authors (Bauerlein & Jeffery, 2007) claim for a “Politics 2.0” following the new trend of 2.0 “paradigm”, where many times we find only smoke over a tension between freedom and social control. ICTs allow increasing the communication flow and, apparently, civil liberties (Sádaba & Gordo, 2008). The aim of this session is to analyze how “new tools”, like Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, etc. influence and determine the configuration of the political arena, and its social consequences on the level of organizational interactions. A theoretical framework is building up in recent years. In this session, the aim is to consider whether or not these transformations modify the political sphere. We expect papers exploring the understanding the different ways of social appropriation of “internet technologies” and with the goal to determine how powerful could be for the new way of being a “zoon politikon”. Papers selected will be presented and discussed during the session. The total time of 105 minutes will be equally distributed among the selected papers. 
RC51	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s13	Sociocybernetic Theories and Conceptualizations of Social Change and Transformations 	 // Sociocybernetic Theories and Conceptualizations of Social Change and Transformations Session Organizer Karl-Heinz SIMON, University of Kassel, Germany,   Session in English In several crucial policy areas – like climate change, sustainable development - there is a call for a “great transformation”, that is, a fundamental change of societal structures to bring up a future society better prepared for dealing with the recent problems. Such a future society could be envisioned as a society adapted to climate change, or one that reached a stage of development qualified as sustainable, guaranteeing a certain level of quality of life for world population as a whole. No doubt, such a transformation implies big challenges and it is more than questionable under which conditions it could be successful. Sociocybernetics could contribute to the analysis and design of such a transformation. There are theories of social change inspired by social systems theory. Especially the distinction of an actors’ perspective and a systems perspective, and their interactions but also their rivalries, is important here. Sociocybernetics could contribute to a better understanding of the “landscape” of involved actors and sub-systems of society. For example, what has to mentioned here is the differentiation of society into functional sub-systems and their specific rationalities. That differentiation has severe consequences for the addressees and the contents of transformation strategies and, possibly, has not given the role it deserves. And the very nature of transformations could be analyzed from a cybernetic viewpoint. Is the paradigm a mechanical one – all the elements in the transformation process are known and transition rules are more or less stable in the transformation process. Or is the paradigm influenced by constructivist ideas and the transformation has to be conceptualized as a “wicked problem” with a lot of unknown and changing elements in the sense of non-trivial transformations (as has been introduced by Dirk Baecker). Therefore, the session is planned to intensify the dialogue between sociocybernetic thinking and practical problems and challenges in the context of the prominent transformation issue. 
RC51	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s14	Sociocybernetics of Innovation: Drivers, Barriers and Stabilizers of Innovation in Different Theoretical Contexts	 // Sociocybernetics of Innovation: Drivers, Barriers and Stabilizers of Innovation in Different Theoretical Contexts Session Organizers Eva BUCHINGER, Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria,   Czeslaw MESJASZ, Cracow University of Economics, Poland,   Session in English Presently the analysis of technological innovation has two mainstreams: one focuses on its unifying characteristics and the other on its distributed nature. Whereas the first can be summarized under titles such as “socio-technical-systems” or “innovation systems”, the second can be labelled “open innovation”. Both approaches treat technology in its various forms, not only focussing on artefact technology but also including individual skills, organizational routines and societal technologies such as subculture/community practices and public governance. Both approaches deal with creativity and ask how newness becomes a “real world phenomenon” and which factors and conditions shape innovation paths from ideas to applications to new ideas and further applications. From a sociocybernetic perspective both approaches are of equal value, since the one as well as the other examines explicitly or implicitly feed-forward, feed-back and lock-in . This means questions like: What are the drivers of innovation processes (feed-back, feed-forward)? What are the barriers of innovation processes? What are the stabilizers of certain achievements? Well known theoretical cornerstones for the analysis of technological innovation are among others the invention-innovation-distinction (Schumpeter and followers), constructivist approaches (e.g. T.P. Hughes, W. Bijker, T. Pinch), actor-network-theory (e.g. M. Callon, B. Latour, J. Law), evolutionary approaches (e.g. R. Nelson, S. Winter, G. Dosi, G. Basalla, J. Fleck, J. Mokyr), technological dynamics approaches (e.g. A. Rip, T. Misa, J. Schot, F. W. Geels, L. Leydesdorff, H. Etzkowitz), innovation systems approaches (e.g. C. Freeman, B.-A. Lundvall, C. Edquist, OECD) and open/distributed/network innovation approaches (e.g. E. v. Hippel, K. Pavitt, S. Breschi, F. Malerba, H. W. Chesbrough). According to the diversity of the theoretical approaches session-papers are welcome which either compare two or more theoretical approaches related to their conceptualization of drivers, barriers and stabilizers of innovation or examine drivers/barriers/stabilizers thoroughly on basis of an empirical innovation-example (the latter preferably, but not inevitably, in the fields of “new media” or “sustainability”, since these topics are continuous issues within RC51). 
RC51	s15	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s15	Special Sessions in Cooperation with the Japanese Systems Theory Societies. Part I: Dialogue on New Generation Systems Approach	 // Special Sessions in Cooperation with the Japanese Systems Theory Societies. Part I: Dialogue on New Generation Systems Approach Session Organizers Saburo AKAHORI, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, Japan,   Eva BUCHINGER, Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria,   Hiroshi DEGUCHI, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan,   Czeslaw MESJASZ, Cracow University of Economics, Poland,   Akira TOKUYASU, Hosei University, Japan,   In cooperation with Japan Association for Social and Economic Systems Studies and Japanese Luhmann Forum Session in English Systems approach in social sciences is a well established research issue in the host country of the XVIII ISA World Congress. Nonetheless, the contact between RC51 and the Japanese systems theory societies was unfortunately very limited untill now. However, the host of the XVIII ISA World Congress opens up an opportunity for exchange and mutual learning, and we are going to have a dialogue with each other in cooperation with the Japan Association for Social and Economic Systems Studies (JASESS) and the Center for Agent-Based Social Systems Science (CABSSS) in two special sessions. JASESS is an interdisciplinary academic society established in 1982, which puts importance on systems approaches especially in social sciences and is a member of IFSR (International Federation for Systems Research) in common with RC51. CABSSS was established as a center under the support of Tokyo Institute of Technology in April, 2005 to develop the mission of the 21st century COE program “Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences". The aspired exchange and mutual learning is of course not limited to these two sessions and will hopefully take place in all the others sessions too. In this session we invite Japanese scholars for contributions dealing with the upgrading of systems approaches in social sciences. However, this session is not only open to Japanese scholars, but also to researchers who are interested in this issue and in the dialogue with Japanese scholars. 
RC51	s16	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s16	Special Sessions in Cooperation with the Japanese Systems Theory Societies. Part II: Dialogue on Niklas Luhmann’s Sociological Systems Theory	 // Special Sessions in Cooperation with the Japanese Systems Theory Societies. Part II: Dialogue on Niklas Luhmann’s Sociological Systems Theory Session Organizers Saburo AKAHORI, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, Japan,   Eva BUCHINGER, Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria,   Hiroshi DEGUCHI, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan,   Czeslaw MESJASZ, Cracow University of Economics, Poland,   Akira TOKUYASU, Hosei University, Japan,   In cooperation with Japan Association for Social and Economic Systems Studies and Japanese Session in English In this session we invite Japanese scholars for contributions dealing with Niklas Luhmann’s theory. However this session is not only open to Japanese scholars, but also to researchers who are interested in this issue and in the dialogue with Japanese scholars. 
RC51	s17	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s17	The Management of Complex Organizations and Firms: A Sociocybernetic Challenge	 // The Management of Complex Organizations and Firms: A Sociocybernetic Challenge Session Organizers Bernd HORNUNG, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Germany,   John RAVEN, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Germany,   Session in English The Problem The contemporary world is characterized by a growing population, technical and organizational innovations at an ever increasing rate along with producing a host of new problems while making the coping with old ones often more difficult instead of solving them. This goes along with globalization producing with accelerating speed an increasingly complex world society. Organizations – business firms and other kinds of organizations - are confronted with socio-technical innovations in a highly dynamic environment in which, in addition, fundamental conflicts risk to escalate. Nevertheless, these organizations need to be managed and sustained in this environment, at least for some time. It is complex because of the high number and variety of relations involved. Management of an organization implies both sustaining and adjusting daily routine operations within a given (organizational) framework, and the (strategic) adaptation, i.e. structural change, of this very framework, in order to adapt both the framework and the routine operations it supports to changes in the environment. The Purpose In the face of the rapidly increasing difficulty of action and decision in such a complex and highly dynamic world on the one hand and in the face of the evident insufficiency of much public, non-public, policitical, and economic (organizational) decision-making on the other hand, a novel approach is required which goes beyond established theories (and practice) and implies possibly a novel view of management and control under the constraints of complexity. The latter is not an entity but a characteristic of systems, in particular social and socio-technical systems which are of primary interest here. If there is any theoretical approach which might be suitable to meet this challenge, it is only system theory and cybernetics, including 1st and 2nd Order Cybernetics. After all, the so-called "Sciences of Complexity" are based on the paradigm of systems and cybernetics. In the real world, there is barely anything nowadays which is not dealt with as a system, even if this terminology (and the theory it represents) is not used or not even known to those who, however, act accordingly. The session proposed is intended to collect and discuss papers which offer, on the basis of sociocybernetics, ideas, proposals, and steps towards such a novel approach. What we are looking for is not just new theory, but new ideas for management based on systems and cybernetics which can be applied in real-life organizations. Also we are not looking for cooking book recipes for managers, but for practical suggestions, abstract or concrete, thoroughly rooted in theory and the systems paradigm. Papers Welcomed Welcome are applied papers or empirical studies which analyze the conditions of complexity, under which organizations have to operate, which promise to be useful to design theories and strategies for operating, planning, and developing organizations under such conditions and constraints. Also welcome are theoretical papers which contribute to developing a new understanding of what management, planning, steering, and control might mean under conditions of complexity. This excludes theoretical papers on sociocybernetics or on complexity dealing with any other aspects. 
RC51	s18	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC51#s18	The Sociocybernetics of “Cybernation” and the Emerging “Cyber-Nation” 	 // The Sociocybernetics of “Cybernation” and the Emerging “Cyber-Nation” Session Organizer Bernard SCOTT, Centre for Sociocybernetics Studies Bonn, Germany,   Session in English Papers are invited which use sociocybernetic theoretical concepts and research methods to explore the phenomena associated with “cybernation” and the emerging concept of a global “cyber-nation”. The term “cybernation” refers to the existing and imminent cybernetic technologies of control and communication, data storage and retrieval, social media, user modelling and intelligent support for man-machine conversational interaction. The term “cyber-nation” refers to the emerging internet-based communities that promote social change and, explicitly or implicitly, practice forms of non-hierarchical (heterarchical) democracy. Well-known examples are Wikipedia, Avaaz and Change.org. A less well-known example is the Zeitgeist movement, that developed from the Venus Project, initiated by the late Jaques Fresco and Roxanne Meadows. Fresco coined the term “sociocyberneering”. There is a Facebook page dedicated to his work. A well-known example of an hierarchical organisation that works towards social change through cybernation is Google. There are many other organisations that use the internet to promote their particular vision of global harmony and utopian futures. Questions to be addressed in the session include: What is the current state of play? What does the future hold? What influences are at work in terms of checks and balances on privacy and social control? Who owns cybernation (hardware, processes, data)? How viable is the concept of a cyber-nation in the context of existing dominant belief systems and institutionalised practices? Papers with a strong empirical base are particularly welcome. Please also feel free to submit papers that are speculative and imaginative regarding possible future developments. It is expected that, as well as presentation of papers, the session will provide ample time for discussion. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Sociology of Professional Groups, RC52
RC52	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s1	Challenges for Professionalism in a Global Managerialism	 // Challenges for Professionalism in a Global Managerialism Session Organizers Helena SERRA, University of Lisbon, Portugal,   Tiago CORREIA, University of Lisbon, Portugal,   Session in English The ongoing influence of neo-liberal agendas, alongside the reform of public services under the new public management has led to deep-seated changes in the way work is structured and practised across the globe. Even though the advent of managerialism has sought to limit professional autonomy, professionalism is somehow getting reinforced through either the control of management tasks or the profession’s definition of managerial criteria. Nevertheless, this feature of professionalism still lacks a consensus and has been differently approached among countries. This evidence also places professions against new inequalities as not all can control equally managerial procedures and criteria, nor are in possession of the same resources to limit the external control of managerialism. We invite papers focusing on several topics, among others: potentially conflictual relations between professional and managerial interests; professionalism between the inclusion and the opposition of managerialism; and managerialism and internal hierarchies of professions. 
RC52	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s2	Change and Inequality in Professional Status	 // Change and Inequality in Professional Status Session Organizers Lars THORUP LARSEN, University of Aarhus, Denmark,   Gitte SOMMER HARRIS, University of Aarhus, Denmark,   Session in English It is well recognized in the field of professional sociology that members of a profession not only enjoys certain privileges or market monopolies, but typically also a given professional status. The professional status is not constant, however, since a doctor or a teacher might not enjoy the same status today as they did decades ago. Furthermore, the changing patterns of professional status might not simply reflect the public’s view of a specific profession’s knowledge or ethics. The general status of knowledge in society may change, but the same goes for the patterns of social status underlying professional groups. With the overall aim to understand changes in professional status, this session invites papers that take into account changes over time or the comparative changes between different professions, social groups or countries. Is there a general loss of professional status or rather new inequalities emerging between the status of various professions? 
RC52	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s3	Doing a PhD: Researching, Publishing and Networking in the Field of Sociology of Professions	 // Doing a PhD: Researching, Publishing and Networking in the Field of Sociology of Professions Session Organizers Mike SAKS, University Campus Suffolk, United Kingdom,   Lara MAESTRIPIERI, Polytechnic of Milan, Italy,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . This invited panel session attempts to build bridges between PhD students from different countries of the world as well as between early career researchers and experienced scholars. This includes, among others, fostering knowledge exchange on how to appropriately configure PhD research; creating ideas for mentorship and networking across countries that help to overcome geopolitical and other inequalities in professional career development; and considering information on publication and discussion with editors of major journals in the field of sociology of professional groups. 
RC52	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s4	Globalization, ICT and Professions: Emerging Trends	 // Globalization, ICT and Professions: Emerging Trends Session Organizers Virendra P. SINGH, University of Allahabad, India,   Parvez A. ABBASI, VNSG University, India,   Session in English Globalization (along with privatization and liberalization) affects not only the economy of a given society but also has important implications for other social institutions of both the developed and the developing countries. As a structural process, it also creates social inequalities at different levels by making simultaneously, inclusion/exclusion of the persons, social groups and categories. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are at the heart of globalization which not only facilitate it but also help in maintaining integration in the social system. Transnational flows of individuals, commodities and capital affected the existing professions and their support system in various ways and also created new occupational categories with varying degree of professionalism. 
RC52	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s5	Inequities within Professions: Patterns of Intra-professional Hierarchies	 // Inequities within Professions: Patterns of Intra-professional Hierarchies Session Organizer Siddharamesh L. HIREMATH, Gulbarga University, India,   Session in English Professions coming to be graded into prestige hierarchies based on their functional importance, functional autonomy, technical expertise and cost and length of training required to pursue them is a universal phenomenon. However, owing to growing intricacies and complexities, hierarchies have emerged within professions segregating professionals along trade, sector, repute, image and location of the organization, professional networks, access to know-how and technology, gender, ethnicity and the like giving rise to social grading of professional groups within professions. In some instances such grading is also based on the levels of professionalism, expertise, approach, effectiveness performance and outcome. These developments appear to have manifested in the warranted and many a time unwarranted inequalities and exclusions among those practising a profession. This session invites papers that deal empirically and conceptually with the extent, nature, causes and consequences of inequalities within major professional groups in different social and cultural contexts. 
RC52	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s6	Inter-professional Collaboration and Inequality	 // Inter-professional Collaboration and Inequality Session Organizer Mike SAKS, University Campus Suffolk, United Kingdom,   Session in English This session looks at the relationship of inter-professional collaboration with inequality in specific societies and in a more comparative and global context. It asks how far different professions can collaborate effectively across boundaries, not least where they hold different hierarchical positions in a given country and/or more globally. The obstacles to such collaboration such as interests and culture – and how they may be overcome – are also assessed. Papers for this session are also invited on to what extent inter-professional collaboration can combat inequality in terms of broader societal impact serving the public interest. Contributions should illustrate their analysis with reference to examples from particular professional fields. In health, for example, papers may consider the collaborative relationship and its impact in relation to inequality between the typically high ranking medical profession and such groups as midwives, nurses and social workers – as well as marginal professions like alternative practitioners.  
RC52	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s7	Knowledge Workers: Processes of Hybridization, Marketization and Subjectivation 	 // Knowledge Workers: Processes of Hybridization, Marketization and Subjectivation Session Organizers Lara MAESTRIPIERI, Polytechnic of Milan, Italy,   Emiliana ARMANO, University of Milan, Italy,   Annalisa MURGIA, University of Trento, Italy,   Session in English Differently from traditional professions consolidated in the last century, knowledge workers are characterized by forms of professionalism that find their own peculiarity in the notion of hybridization: they perform their activity under many different typologies of work contract; they form a component of professional work that is increasingly exposed to the logic of market and they are supposed to auto-activate their own resources, empathy and individual autonomy. The aim of this session is to develop a critical discussion on knowledge workers` conditions and subjectivities. We invite papers that explore the following areas: the representations and experiences of the no-collar workers; the mechanisms of subjectivation and strategies to seek to avoid them; the risk of precariousness and proletarization that might derive from a professionalization driven by market and, finally, their collective practices, with particular attention to new forms of coalition, sociality and social features of welfare, with their limitations and potentialities. 
RC52	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s8	New Inequalities, New Professionalism, New Ethics?	 // New Inequalities, New Professionalism, New Ethics? Session Organizer Christiane SCHNELL, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany,   Session in English The session addresses the question if and how the transformations professions experience in contemporary societies affect the concept and reality of professional ethics. For a long time the discussion of professional ethics was structured by the opposition of functionalism and the power approach. Today the role of professions as trustees of the public interest and their endeavours to exploit the image of altruism and ethical responsibility in their own interest are much more understood as two sides of the same coin. But how relevant are professional ethics in the face of deeper changes of professions and their relation to society, market structures, and organizations and also to their clients? Are professions reconstructing their legitimization on the background of different frameworks and conditions? And how far are professional ethics concerned about social inequalities? What do we know about the moral fragmentation of professional groups? Is pragmatism prevailing or are there new paradigms of morality emerging? 
RC52	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s9	Professionalism and Expertise 	 // Professionalism and Expertise Session Organizer Jens-Christian SMEBY, Centre for the Study of Professions, Norway,   Session in English One of the key characteristics of professions is that they are knowledge based occupational groups and a theoretical knowledge base is considered to be a core element of professionalism. Nevertheless, sociology has mainly concerned itself with the contextual conditions of the development of expertise and its functions in modern societies. Little attention has been paid to what expertise is, how it is developed and what kind of knowledge professionals actually use in their work. While some sociologists have called for a new sociology of expertise, the aim of this session is to explore how studies of expertise and expertise development may contribute to the sociology of professions. The session addresses three main issues: Professionalism and expertise – similarities and differences The development of professional expertise in education and work The role of theoretical and practical knowledge and skills for professional expert performance and legitimacy 
RC52	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s10	Professions, Incentives and Interests 	 // Professions, Incentives and Interests Session Organizer Ruth MCDONALD, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom,   Session in English The subject of incentives has been studied widely by economists, particularly in a context where financial incentives are increasingly being used to try to influence professional behaviour and identity. The topic has received less attention from sociologists, yet incentives financial and otherwise, are important features of the landscape in which all professionals work. Linked to this, sociologists have also paid less attention to the concept of ‘interests’ than it deserves. Engaging with the topics of incentives and interests in relation to professions does not imply acceptance of economists’ views of these terms. This session therefore invites conceptual and empirical papers which bring a sociological lens to the issues of incentives and interests in relation to professional groups, to shed new light and stimulate debate on these issues. 
RC52	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s11	RC52 Business Meeting	 // RC52 Business Meeting 
RC52	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s12	Rethinking Professions: Visions and Divisions in World Perspective	 // Rethinking Professions: Visions and Divisions in World Perspective Session Organizer Ellen KUHLMANN, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany,   Session in English Not open for abstract submission. The transformations of societies into service economies have created a new importance of the sociology of professions across the globe. Yet the developments embody also many challenges that impact in the concepts of professions and professionalism. These transformations may play out differently in the various parts of the world, because the professions are firmly nested in institutional contexts, culture and economy of societies. This invited panel discussion brings together researchers from different countries. The aim is twofold: first, to place the contemporary developments in the professions in a world perspective and reveal the blind spots and divisions of existing theories; and second, to create visions of an international sociology of professions that is more sensitive to diversity and social contexts and that helps to better understand how professions may foster social equality. 
RC52	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s13	The Changing Relationship between Clinical Professionalism and Management: From Polarisation to Hybridization?	 // The Changing Relationship between Clinical Professionalism and Management: From Polarisation to Hybridization? Session Organizers Ian KIRKPATRICK, University of Leeds, United Kingdom,   Mike DENT, University of Staffordshire, United Kingdom,   Federico LEGA, Bocconi Management School, Italy Session in English In health systems around the world there has been a common focus on strengthening the management capabilities of hospitals and other provider organisations. A key question arising from this concerns the shifting relationship between clinical professionals and management. In most health systems doctors and nurses are being co-opted into management and leadership roles and asked to focus increasingly on the financial performance of health services. However, the consequences remain unclear. On the one hand it is suggested that these changes are leading to greater polarisation between managers and clinicians, or, after Freidson, re-stratification within the professions themselves. Against this is the suggestion that clinical professionalism itself is changing leading to hybrid identities and practices that mainstream management concerns and priorities. The aim of this session is to explore these themes and also think about their impact on the way health services are delivered and the experiences of patients. 
RC52	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC52#s14	Theoretical Challenges for Professions and Professionalism: Changes, Inequalities, Values and Ideologies	 // Theoretical Challenges for Professions and Professionalism: Changes, Inequalities, Values and Ideologies Session Organizer Julia EVETTS, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom,   Session in English Change is a constant feature of professional, knowledge-based, service-sector work and occupational control of the work and discretionary decision-making is increasingly difficult to sustain. Professional work both helps to alleviate and yet at the same time contributes to the maintenance of inequalities, nationally and internationally. Professionalism can be interpreted both as an occupational value and something worth preserving but also as an ideology and mechanism of social control and unequal power. New questions are being asked about professions and professionalism and some established theories seem less relevant in different time periods, policy contexts, areas and geographical regions. Also new knowledge-based occupations develop which pose new questions and challenges to and for theories of professionalism. We look forward to receiving abstract proposals which support and/or challenge existing theories and interpretations and welcome new interpretations and suggestions of new concepts for professions and professionalism in a globalising world. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Sociology of Childhood, RC53
RC53	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s1	Child Abuse and Neglect: Causes and Remedies in 21st Century	 // Child Abuse and Neglect: Causes and Remedies in 21st Century Session Organizer Vinod CHANDRA, University of Lucknow, India,   Session in English Child abuse and neglect is as old as crime in society. Technological advancement and its necessary evils have increased the frequency of child abuse in both developing and developed societies. The new forms of child abuse through information technology in the digital world have been emerged. Media Message Service (MMS) and You-tube and various websites on internet are used for child pornography and sexual abuse of children. Economic competition in technologically advanced societies has created new space for different varieties of child abuse. On the one hand child abuse and neglect is on increase while on the other hand the debate on children’s care and protection from such circumstances has also became very effective as some countries have expanded their Juvenile Justice system to children in need of care and protection. The UN Convention on Rights of the Child has also paid significant contribution in igniting the debate and strong measures were taken for providing care and protection to children who suffer from abuse and neglect. Looking at the importance of the issue a session is proposed to discuss issues related to child abuse and neglect in global perspective. 
RC53	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s2	Childhood: Socialization in a Globalized World	 // Childhood: Socialization in a Globalized World Session Organizers Ethel V. KOSMINSKY, Queens College/CUNY, USA,   Fernanda MULLER, University of Brasilia, Brazil,   Session in English This session refers to the socialization processes, which occurs through contemporary childhood. Children learn the values, norms and social practices of their own culture, and at the same time are social agents able to make decisions and socialize other children, and adults. How does a globalized world affect these socialization processes? How do children interfere in the globalization process? A globalized world presents a very fast circulation of people and goods, and at the same time widens the gap between rich and poor people within countries and between them. We intend to cover all possible socialization processes in which children are social agents and gain knowledge and experience, as well as, are goods submitted to the globalized circulation. 
RC53	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s3	Childhoods in ‘Other’ Countries: Challenges for Theory and Practice	 // Childhoods in ‘Other’ Countries: Challenges for Theory and Practice Session Organizer Lucia RABELLO DE CASTRO, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,   Session in English The emergence of children as a subject of rights, as consumers and as global actors, in a not very recent past, has prefigured univocal understandings about childhood supported by certain epistemological, ethical and political underpinnings. For instance, the concept of a ‘universal childhood’ indexed in international legal documents stands as a prevalent ethical construction worldwide; consequently, it has foreclosed other as important possibilities of ethically construing children and childhood. On the other hand, the impetus to particularize childhood and contrast its univocal and dominant constructions, though present, seems to exert at most an illustrative/ ‘negativizing’ function in theorizing and public policy. This session opens up the invitation for a discussion about how particularities of childhood, especially those found in the periphery countries of the highly industrialized nation-blocks, can serve to challenge present epistemological, ethical and political tenets by which childhood is made visible. Instead of accommodating particularities in well-established and legitimated theories of childhood, it is proposed here to think out how particularities can serve as challenges for making positive ‘other’ theorizing and practice about children and childhood. 
RC53	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s4	Children and Violence in Close Relationships	 // Children and Violence in Close Relationships Session Organizers Maria ERIKSSON, Mälardalen University, Sweden,   Elisabet NASMAN, Uppsala University, Sweden,   Session in English How can critical perspectives developed within the ‘new social studies of childhood’ contribute to the development of theory, methodology and ethics in studies of children and violence in close relationships? The session invites papers on violence that problematise implicit or explicit constructions of children/young people, adults and child-adult relations, and that analytically treat children/young people as social actors among other social actors. A broad range of topics are welcome, for example, adults and children, perpetrators and victims, politics and policy, public authorities and professional practice, social movements and civil society, privilege, marginalization and different forms of inequality. 
RC53	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s5	Indigenous Issues, Conflict and Children 	 // Indigenous Issues, Conflict and Children Session Organizer Maria de Lourdes BELDI DE ALCANTARA, University of São Paulo, Brazil,   Session in English This session welcomes papers that lie at the intersection of indigenous issues, conflict and children’s well being. While the session organizer focuses on this subject in the Brazilian context, papers from other countries are welcome to create a cross-national discussion of relevant issues. 
RC53	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s6	Inequality, Diversity, Discrimination 	 // Inequality, Diversity, Discrimination Session Organizer Régine SIROTA, Université Paris Descartes, France,   Session in English/French At different times, contexts and sociological traditions the issue of inequalities in childhood arose quite differently, whether social inequalities, ethnic, or other types. How the relevant questions asked, and what are the themes that were then worked out? Which questions are left unanswered? How do these questions and the issues they suggest redefine childhood? And how in turn will this redefinition of childhood then call for additional concepts, categorizations and problems to be addressed? Suivant les époques, les contextes et les traditions sociologiques la question des inégalités concernant l`enfance s`est posée assez différemment, qu`il s`agisse des inégalités sociales, ethniques, de genre ou autres. Comment ces questions se sont-elles posées, quelles sont les thématiques qui ont été préférentiellement travaillées? quelles sont celles qui ont été laissées de côté? Comment ces problématiques redéfinissent-elles l`enfance? En quoi le fait de les aborder à partir de l`enfance appelle à une redéfinition de ces catégorisations et de ses problématiques? 
RC53	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s7	Institutional Interactions Involving Children	 // Institutional Interactions Involving Children Session Organizer Claudio BARALDI, University of Modena andReggio Emilia, Italy,   Session in English This session will examine institutional interactions involving children. 
RC53	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s8	International Migration, Adaptation and Inequalities during Childhood 	 // International Migration, Adaptation and Inequalities during Childhood Session Organizer Loretta BASS, University of Oklahoma, USA,   Session in English This session examines international migration, adaptation and inequalities experiences during childhood for the first and second generation. This session seeks papers from all regions of the globe in order to examine this phenomenon cross-culturally. This session seeks papers that examine inequalities, the negotiation of social status, structured power relations, constraint, perseverance and resistance. Paper may examine structural dimensions, such as interactions with the government, social class, and race or ethnic distinctions, and cultural dimensions such as social norms and religion. 
RC53	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s9	RC53 Business Meeting	 // RC53 Business Meeting Session Organizer Loretta BASS, University of Oklahoma, USA,   
RC53	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s10	RC53 Roundtable: Facing an Unequal World – Challenges for Childhood within a Global Sociology	 // RC53 Roundtable: Facing an Unequal World – Challenges for Childhood within a Global Sociology Session Organizer Loretta BASS, University of Oklahoma, USA,   Session in English This session entitled, Facing an Unequal World – Challenges for Childhood within a Global Sociology, will include five roundtables with two-to-three presenters at each table. Participants are invited to present their research or preliminary findings in a less formal format than a regular Open Paper Session. 
RC53	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s11	Social Definitions of Children’s Problems and Professional Interventions. From Local Specifics to Global Implementations	 // Social Definitions of Children’s Problems and Professional Interventions. From Local Specifics to Global Implementations Session Organizers Lars ALBERTH, Wuppertal University, Germany,   Doris BUEHLER-NIEDERBERGER, Wuppertal University, Germany,   Session in English Children, their needs, their characters, deficiencies and problems are objects of professional definitions. A perspective on inequalities in childhood has to take the differences of social definitions of children’s states into account, which may vary with professions involved as well as with the social contexts the professions work in. This seems especially true for professional groups responsible for interventions into the children’s lives beyond mere diagnostical practices, as they practically use social definitions of children’s problems and therefore are able to powerfully render the children’s lives respectively. Moreso, these stocks of knowledge are parts of globalized expert markets and therefore achieving importance for children’s lives around the world. Such knowledge, however, becomes transformed in local contexts. As inequality in childhoods from a global perspective involves inequality by: the generational axis amongst peers between different local contexts the applied stocks of knowledge can refer to quite different objects and gives account on the value of the child in the professional programs of interventions. This session is planned as a double session. The first part will address comparisons among professional groups whereas the second part deals with inter- and intraprofessional dynamics. Therefore we invite papers to address one or several of the following questions: What are dominant definitions of children’s problems and which ideas of social order do they respond to? What professions and organizations are involved in defining children’s problems? What are their specific kinds of knowledge, their diagnostic categories, aims and modes of their interventions? To what extend do the stocks of knowledge as well as the practices of intervention take the children’s point of view into account or even concern the children at all, in contrast to other agents (e.g. family)? How do stocks of professional knowledge as well as practices of intervention on children’s problems evolve over time? How are they shaped by local contexts, division of work among professions or the appearance of new agents (new professions or organizations) in the field? What are the outcomes of such dynamics on the children’s lives and how do the children perceive the interventions they are subjected to? 
RC53	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC53#s12	The Queer Child/The Queer Family: Challenging Normative Constructions of Childhood and Children’s Families	 // The Queer Child/The Queer Family: Challenging Normative Constructions of Childhood and Children’s Families Session Organizer Kerry ROBINSON, University of Western Sydney, Australia,   Session in English Hegemonic discourses of the construction of childhood in western societies operate to regulate normative representations of the child, family structures, and adult citizen subjects. Papers in this session will examine how heteronormativity and ‘childhood innocence’, both central to constructions of the normative child, regulate children’s gendered and sexualized identities, children’s access to sexual knowledge, and what are considered the appropriate family contexts in which to raise children. This session will address: children who challenge heteronormative understandings of gender; the discourse of childhood innocence constituting the ‘vulnerable’ child; and queer families perceived by many as destabilizing the very moral fabric of the foundations of society. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

The Body in the Social Sciences, RC54
RC54	_ftnref1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#_ftnref1	 Identifying Bodies and Bodily Inequalities in an Inequal World 	 XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology, Yokohama, Japan, July 13-19, 2014 var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-26777758-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); ISA Home // ISA Congress 2014 Home // Contact us // Program Information // Program Committee // Facing Inequality: A proposal for sociological debate // Timetable // How to present a paper // Guidelines for Program Coordinators // Academic Sessions // Plenary Themes // Japanese Thematic Sessions // Integrative Sessions // Research Committees // Working Groups // Thematic Groups // Joint Sessions // National, Regional & Thematic Associations // Professional Development Sessions // Ad Hoc Sessions // General Information // ISA Membership // Congress Registration // Visa requirements // Grants // Book Exhibition & Sponsorship // Farewell Party // Practical Information // Local Organizing Committee // Research Committee on The Body in the Social Sciences, RC54 RC54 main page // Let’s Re–Invent an Embodied Sociology. Identifying Bodies and Bodily Inequalities in an Inequal World Program Coordinator Bianca Maria PIRANI, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy,   Number of allocated sessions including Business Meeting: 14. Aim of the RC54 14 allocated Sessions is to focussing on embodiment in action, how we use information of our body state to enable complex movement, and in turn, how this knowledge can also be used to understand movement in other bodies. In the process of critiquing philosophy’s own negligence regarding the body, the very expression “the body” has become problematized, and is increasingly supplanted by the term “embodiment”. The move from one expression to another corresponds directly to a shift from viewing the body as a non gendered, prediscursive phenomenon that plays a central role in perception, cognition, action and nature to a way of living or inhabiting the world through one’s acculturated body. The question of embodiment is thus not simply a theoretical problem, but a problem that has emerged for strictly historical reasons. This also means, howewer, that while a certain historical necessity has led the body to require attention in a great variety of disciplines, the body simultaneously remains obscure, and for precisely the same reason, insofar as our ways of addressing it remains attached to forms of thought that are inadequate to the very phenomenon they seek to address. This is what it means to speak of the “epoch of the body”: if we take seriously the historical necessity of the contemporary interest in the body, and not simply dismiss it as a fashion, we would have to regard it not only as an enigma that poses a conceptual challenge, but also as an epochal matter – a problem that arises from within the history of our thought, as a rupture within that history. Despite a growing number of reflections about the body, there currently exist, indeed, no complete works based on the sense and associative functions of corporeality as an “entity” located within space and time, particularly in the dominion of social sciences and, more specifically, in the field of sociology. According to Shilling (2008: 7) [1] // “our very ability to intervene in social life is dependent on the management of our bodies through time and space”. It is, therefore, not a question of reconstructing the history of the body and its conceptualization, nor of revisiting the paradigms through which the body has been contemplated. This is graphically illustrated in post-structuralist thought, although Foucault put great emphasis on the role of the body in the construction of thought and social action. Nevertheless, the mainstream of post-structuralist theories views bodies as reconfigured, fluid, multiple, and dispersed. The impact of physical mobility on contemporary cultural logic is such that sociological research is becoming more focused on analytical paradigms to make mobility the fundamental paradigm of our daily lives. This return to relevance of spatiality, in the physical world and in the offline world is nevertheless not a return to space in the sense of how we have understood it up to now: a mere container of individuals, objects and events. As Dourish and Bell (2011) [2] // highlighted, also in light of the digitalization of the omnipresent web, the re-emergence of spatiality, starting from diverse disciplinary dominions (geography, sociology, architecture, economy, art, urban informatics, to name a few), is configured as “transduced space” [3] // ), or in other words constructed and initiated continuously and socially by networks and new digital realities emerging at the intersection of mobility, geo-sociality and increased reality. Within the aforesaid scenario in movement the concrete problem of defining the space of action, as a fundamental integrated element, defined by the interaction between sensorial-motor activity and the experience of the body in a situation and the mobile connection produced by specific technologies, is evident. Therefore, to determine the boundary between the social sensorium [4] // and mobile technologies is the fundamental metho-dological problem, still unresolved, arising from the current “spatial turn” [5] // . There is a growing view in cognitive neuroscience that embodiment is a reflection of grounded cognition. This is a theoretical and empirical view that conceptual knowledge is divisible into domains, and these domains are in large part determined by partially separable brain networks. Any one network is the location for information encoding, memory storage, retrieval and mental manipulation. For example, brain areas that are used to manipulate a tool are the same that are used to know what a tool is, to remember tools in general, to plan new actions and to learn about new tools. The same applies for social networks, non-tool objects and so on. This has implications in that it says there are different categories of knowledge that embody the world in different ways. There is not one unique neural embodiment "system" or process. The interpretation of brain scans and what information is actually contained in the information images create their own reality about mind-brain connections. The notion of the “sensory inscribed body” [6] // , emerging from current digital media research, presents the body as a relatively “free form” [7] // availing itself of a range of narratives generated from electronic scans in order to participate fully in a “networked society.” The interpretation of digital scans by the press and non-scientists is, indeed, a relatively “free form,” with all sorts of narratives generated from the new media. It is really the body a “free form”? We need to identifying corporeality as the total of sensory-motor abilities that permit the body to interact successfully with the environment that surrounds it. The exact ways in which the activation profiles are “connected” constitutes a central problem for scientists who study brain, mind and society. One may ask how simultaneously activated processes are bound to one another to generate a continuity of experience. As in all living organisms, the human body is organized according to a specific temporal structure, where all of the vital functions demonstrate variability over periods of time that range from a few milliseconds to several months. In human beings, just as in less cognitively sophisticated organisms, the frequencies of many biological rhythms relate to periodic stimuli from the external environment, while many others are determined by internal pacemakers, totally independent of environmental input. But the external influences are not simply overlapped by the rhythms dictated by endogenous pacemakers, but are in fact modulated by them. In relation to time, the variability of the physiological condition also implies a diverse “susceptibility” of the human body to disease. Even so, pathogenic mechanisms may not be constant over time, either in terms of their presence or severity, so determining a variability over time of their suitability to produce clinical manifestations of disease. Our sensory apparatus has evolved by relying on the environment in different ways: for example, taking advantage of contingent facts relative to the structure of natural scenarios (Ullman and Richards, 1984: 21) [8] // or of the computational shortcuts produced by body movements and locomotion (Blake and Yuille 1992) [9] // . Once the fundamental role of the environment as pertains to evolution and the development of cognition is acknowledged, extended cognition becomes a true cognitive process. Entering into this process, the rhythmic body becomes the central point of intersection between time, action and context. How is the passage of time fixed, how are the significant benchmarks “domesticated,” how are the most important memories marked? In anthropological and ethnographical repertoires, the history of archaic humanity gives extensive and significant answers to these questions. According to Descola (2005: 57) [10] // , the rhythmic body constitutes, indeed, the difference that separates the modern Western World from from all the populations of the present and the past, which have not considered it necessary to proceed with naturalization of the world. Theoretical as well as empirical presentations are welcome. ------------------------------------------ [1] // “The Body in Sociology”, in Malacrida, C, Low J (2008), Sociology of the Body. A Reader, Toronto, Oxford University Press. [2] // Dourish, P. Bell D., (2011), Divining a Digital Future: Mess and Mythology in Ubiquitous Computing, Cambridge (MA), The MIT Press. [3] // The theory of transduced space is referred to by Kittchin, Dodge (2011) in an essay in which the authors recall their previous works and the work by A. Mackenzie (2002, 2006) on the social dimensions of software and programming codes. [cfr. Kitchin R., Dodge M. (2011): Code/Space: Software and Everyday Life, Cambridge (MA), The MIT Press. [4] // The term “sensorium” signifies the totality of the sensory functions that in a given moment connect the human body to the context in which it is moving and acting. See Dizionario il Ragazzini (Bologna: Zanichelli, 2005: 972). [5] // The term is from Warf and Arias 2009 [cfr. Warf B., Arias, S., eds. (2009), The Spatial Turn: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, London: Routledge.] [6] // Farman, J.(2011), Mobile Interface Theory: Embodied Spaces and Locative Media, New York, Routledge. [7] // Manovich, L. (1999), “Database as Symbolic Form, « Convergence » , 5: 80. [8] // Ullman, S. Richards, W. (1984), Image Understanding, Norwood NJ, Ablex. [9] // Blake, A. and Yuille, A. (1992), Active Vision, Cambridge MA, MIT Press [10] // Descola, Ph.(2005), Par-delà nature et culture, Paris, Gallimard On-line abstracts submission June 3, 2013, 11:00 GMT - September 30, 2013 24:00 GMT. // If you have questions about any specific session, please feel free to contact the Session Organizer for more information. Proposed sessions in alphabetical order: 
RC54	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s1	Author Meets their Critics 	 // Author Meets their Critics Session Organizer Bianca Maria PIRANI, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . Presentation of the RC54 collective book: Body & Time: Bodily Rhythms and Social Synchronism in the Digital Media Society. Edited by Bianca Maria Pirani and Thomas S. Smith. 
RC54	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s2	Bodily Power at Work in Everyday Practices 	 // Bodily Power at Work in Everyday Practices Session Organizer Itsuhiro HAZAMA, University of Nagasaki, Japan,   Session in English This session aims to generate a dialogue that goes beyond the traditional glamorized body to reexamine the processes by which life practice opens the possibilities of the body in a particular time and place. Approaches to experiences of pain and suffering have focused on the phenomenological body as the basis for the generation of meaning in contexts of political violence and societal marginalization. For example, such approaches have revealed that the body in pain unmakes the world. They go beyond the dichotomy of nature and culture to describe the pre-verbal body`s capability of expression, but not its political or social power. The nature-culture dichotomy supplies methods for rescuing the body from physical predicaments. For example, perceived somatic disorders in traditional settings, in which the body has been idealized as a micro-cosmos constituting a perfectly ordered culture and society, have been considered to be resolved by the restoration of order through activities such as healing rituals. Customary procedures for the reintegration of bodies into a community’s intrinsic “culture” are believed to stop bodies from belonging to the “natural” world, thereby preventing them from excluding, utilizing, or conflicting with each other. However, research in the social sciences has not fully examined the body in actual societal experience or bodily dynamism in coexistence with others. In contemporary life practices, highly mobile people or those experiencing drastic societal change make various efforts to ensure the continuity of life, such as by making the best use of cross-border movements of people, goods, and worldviews based on “here and now” interactions involving a physical body. Not only must the body be reshaped into a canonical figure within a fixed social institution through traditional practices but body experience must also be imagined and created by way of bricolage, the assembly of pieces to make something new. This session addresses the issues of the body’s power of semantic generation and the political and social effects of this generation by clarifying the processes by which a common body is made through the reading and transmitting of macrosocial dynamics, with reference to coping practice and the use of logic in a manner that is sensitive to local and differential contexts. The approach of this session enables theoretical and empirical examination, helping to cultivate fieldwork-based research. The session explores the possibilities of the body in life practice by suggesting the following investigation areas: the invention of a new meta-ethnic identity through communicative musicality, the acquisition of a body searching for peace by citizens in a conflict-ridden society, the resonance of patients’ voices among caretakers, a new form of vitality in medical expertise, and the modification of bodily movements for self-commoditization to produce an ethnic culture. 
RC54	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s3	Challenges and Trends in Sociology of Time	 // Challenges and Trends in Sociology of Time Session Organizer Marian PREDA, University of Bucharest, Romania,   Session in English Time is a determinant agent of life, one we do not feel, as it strains along with us. Because time is not irreversible, it is our destiny, the stable and intangible component of life. Treating the irreversibility of time as the base of the Universe expansion, S. Hawking1 (1988/ 2001) analyzes time interdependent with space, as they curve in the movement process of an object. G. Bachelard2 (1958/ 1969) sees the space as the quality component of time, while Einstein places time in a reference system. Being coordinated by this intangible variable of life, the time, could we manage to have control over our daily actions? Time is also the base of social order. No matter the society we live in, we can all schedule and manage our daily activities guided by time. While antique societies treated time as an agent in the process of mentality, body, nature and social life change, contemporary societies discuss time through measurement, coordination and control. Which is the first gesture we do when we wake up? ‘Placing’ ourselves in a chronologic time could be the foundation of social order? Every form of life responds to the cosmic time (B. Adam3, 1990). Time is not just a measurement unit of the surviving process, but also a biorhythm unit. People have adjusted even to the rhythms imposed by the society, for a better coordination and organization, by creating different measurement units like the clock, the week, the month, the year. So the industrialized societies are characterized by the budgeted human time. Through the last decades, Sociology has shown interest in studying time budgets.We must not understand time only related to the measurement instruments, but also from a social perspective, as regulator of norms, values and social control. Could time be the fundamental element of social change? Could technological innovations be an important agent of temporality? Quantum leaps, life prolongation, could they be a result of progress? 
RC54	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s4	Dancing Bodies: Accessing Implicit Memories	 // Dancing Bodies: Accessing Implicit Memories Session Organizer Dulce FILGUEIRA DE ALMEIDA, University of Brasilia, Brazil,   Session in English One of the most traditional forms of body language is dancing. In the so-called traditional societies, it complies aspects that refer to ritual systems, corroborating the formation of social interaction processes based on their rites. In different cultures (indigenous, African and aboriginal), dancing allows understanding the interfaces between sacred and profane, revealing culture patterns and the ethos of each ethnic or social group. In this context, by means of the relation sacred/profane present in a dance, senses and meanings expressed by the experienced body of the social actor can also be established. Here, the notion of experienced body has the sense of corporeality (embodiment) as its background. It refers to what is culturally learned in terms of the perception that the social actors develop in their schemes of experiences of the social world and it is socially produced by means of the social practices that constitute the habitus. The aim of this session of the RC54 is to understand the embodiment in action (the movement) and, specifically, is working up to the body practice experienced – through the dance ‒, that is build based on a set of body techniques, thus conforming a body education ‒ we can identify, record and interpret cultural, social and symbolic traces. Therefore, a dance is a privileged form of accessing implicit memories. In this way, we encourage papers with methodological perspectives in sociological theory, especially in phenomenological approach. 
RC54	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s5	Design, Undesign and Redesign: Eliminating Embodied Inequality	 // Design, Undesign and Redesign: Eliminating Embodied Inequality Session Organizers Stephen GILSON, University of Maine, USA,   Liz DEPOY, University of Maine, USA,   Session in English Over the past several decades, design and branding efforts for social justice and democracy have exponentially increased. Designers have apprehended and applied market strategies to create products and images to change the world. However, to date, design and branding have not been analyzed to understand and reassign their power in creating, labeling, and affixing differential worth to bodies that are disenfranchised because they are atypical, unruly alters. This vacuum leaves a huge gap in intellectual development and guidance necessary to harness design and image to challenge and diminish social inequities that have prevented local through global social acceptance for the full range of bodies. In this presentation, we argue, and illustrate through a targeted analysis of embodied design, its epistemic and axiological foundations and its praxis that design and branding are tacit yet powerful influences on the creation, reification, and perpetuation of the acceptable human corpus and its opposite. We illustrate how design and its byproducts in advanced capitalist global, national and local environments are significant social influences on determining and reifying embodied worth, internalized and assigned identity of category members, social status, and comparative flourishing of members of diverse social groups. Given this understanding, we conclude with the constructs of undesign and redesign as the power tools to advance symmetry, inclusivity, and equality for diverse bodies. 
RC54	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s6	Embodiment in Digital Society. New Perspectives in Social Time	 // Embodiment in Digital Society. New Perspectives in Social Time Session Organizer Bianca Maria PIRANI, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy,   Session in English According to the current digital media research, the body is a relatively “free form” availing itself of a range of narratives generated from electronic scans in order to participate fully in a “networked society”. The twentieth century saw art move from the canvas to the computer. Digital technology earned the status of paint, plaster, and pencil and became a mode of artistic expression. Since its birth, the digital arts have become a major influence in the art world and society as a whole. Graphic design and computer gaming are the two most common forms of digital art that have captured the attention of people in and outside of the artistic community. Computational creations often emulate real-world objects; for example the digital keyboard mimics the wood and ivory piano. Penny wondered how society can influence the evolution of an artistic expression that bases itself on the manipulation of behavior. Nevertheless, there is another way of observing the current technological shift – a way that makes us wonder whether this shift might not be interfering with, the biological, physical and social inborn clocks –with their own rhythms that manage our biologically experienced time. Once the fundamental role of the environment as it pertains to evolution and the development of cognition is acknowledged, extended cognition becomes a true cognitive process. Entering into this process, the rhythmic body becomes the central point of intersection between time, action and context. How is the passage of time fixed, how are the significant benchmarks “domesticated,” how are important memories recorded? In anthropological and ethnographical repertoires, the history of archaic humanity gives extensive and significant answers to these questions. This Session aims at focussing on the ways in which biologically experienced time in a technologically shrinking world interacts with cultural traditions, with social systems, with social innovations, with new technology, with embodied memory, and with human dyadic and community bonds: i.e., on the elementary communication of people. Theoretical as well as empirical presentations are encouraged , especially those relating to micro-interactional research on the sociology of embodiment. In other words papers, power point presentations, and multimedia performances are most welcome. 
RC54	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s7	Embodying Another Self	 // Embodying Another Self Session Organizer Chan LANGARET, Université Paris Ouest, France,   Session in English Considering the multiplicity of the selves, in the material life or in the virtual life, related to the individual or to the community, according to the reality or to the fiction, we can wonder how the self is constructed. This session explores how the constitution of the self is linked to an embodied dimension. Focused on case studies in different fieldworks, with notably questions of personal conceptions and social visibility, associated to different sociological approaches, the session aims to present several analyses about the embodied dimension of various self conceptions. Sociology and anthropology have already studied this question of embodiment, the self often counted as a unity. Following precursory Marcel Mauss`s analysis of the body (1934), we can ask the cultural dimension of the body uses and understand how this dimension can impact the construction of the self. Edward T Hall (1966) explored this cultural dimension in the way people consider distances between bodies with the concept of proxemics. David Le Breton (1990, 2002, 2011) also analyzed the link between the cultural and imaginary conception of the body and its use in creating a physical and spiritual entity defined as an embodied identity. These works help to consider, in various areas of self expression, the embodiment of the self. Erving Goffman’s analysis (1959, 1963, 1971) notably aimed to understand how the embodiment of multiple roles and identities are linked to cultural, socio-economic or professional requirements. Norbert Elias’ analysis (1939, 1956, 1987) explored the Western cultural and historical production of self-control in the last centuries. He showed how individuals can follow the way of the “detachment”, where the self is based on (and attached to) a rational thinking about it ; and how individuals can otherwise follow the way of the “involvement”, where the self is based on (and attached to) the feeling of real experience. This last dimension of his sociological analysis can also be linked to the notion of Flow developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990) and opens a new field in asking the embodiment of the self by distinguishing the embodied self and the mentally considered self. 
RC54	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s8	Facing Unequal Bodies. On the Construction of Social Inequality in Body Image	 // Facing Unequal Bodies. On the Construction of Social Inequality in Body Image Session Organizers Michael MUELLER, University of Dortmund, Germany,   Anne SONNENMOSER, Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, Germany,   Session in English Bodies can be considered as pictures, but they are, as the art historian Hans Belting has stated, far more than pictures as they represent people. The philosopher Helmuth Plessner described this problem out of the perspective of the individual, who has a body which he has to be as a person, while s/he can watch at her/his body as an object. This disposition is − besides being a possibility − quite a challenge, as one cannot only work on his/her body, s/he has to. Moreover one can work on his body, but s/he cannot totally change it: So every individual has to be a body s/he cannot totally control, while the body and especially the body image is seen as a representation of the person. To understand what a person represents with his or her body image, people can use a society’s knowledge resources (pictures, sculptures, books, movies, oral discourse etc.). By providing information about the meaning of certain types of body images these knowledge resources link body images as well with social valuations, group affiliations and stereotype. In this respect the experience, that a body image cannot be brought in consilience with social norms and expectations, is not only an individual problem, as it can be a manifestation of social inequality and discrimination routines. Moreover a society’s handling of body images can give insight into the ideas of human perfectibility or non-perfectibility which underlie contemporary conceptions of man. The proposed session focuses on empirical studies: which inspect situations of social interaction (e.g. selection procedures and competitions) as well as social discourses (e.g. newspapers, pictures, movies or advertising), which construct social inequality by creating body image expectations. which inspect the way people react on a gap between social body ideals or body image expectations and personal body images. For example: strategies of empowerment, body techniques (e.g. dieting, aesthetic surgery, sport etc.) and the way such reactions are embedded in discourses of social recognition (authenticity, upward-mobility, success etc.). 
RC54	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s9	Let’s Re-invent an Embodied Sociology	 // Let’s Re-invent an Embodied Sociology Session Organizer Bianca Maria PIRANI, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy,   Session in English 
RC54	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s10	Music on the Move: The Rhythms of Mobility and Performed Movement-Space	 // Music on the Move: The Rhythms of Mobility and Performed Movement-Space Session Organizer Shinichi AIZAWA, Chukyo University, Japan,   Session in English This session welcomes papers presenting sociological approaches to the study of music. Music is an essential part of human life and human body. Our session is not limited to only the cultural aspects of music. Rather, we comprehensively examine the relationships between music and human life or between music and human body. Music is embedded in people’s lives in the form of the daily rhythm, tempo of life, sentimental moods, social collective memory, or individual preferences. Music has been important part of the sociological theorization in the daily social world. For example, a French sociologist, Maurice Halbwachs, has drawn a connection between musical memory and collective and social memory. Other sociologists and social thinkers have attempted to theorize music, body and society, for example, Max Weber, Theodor Adorno, Pierre Bourdieu. In this session, we aim to deepen sociological understanding of music to facilitate sociological research on musical experiences. We welcome papers, preferably providing empirical evidence, concerning the various musical experiences.Of course, we welcome papers employing not only sociological but also economic, anthropological, or psychological approaches in examining music and the human body. 
RC54	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s11	RC54 Business Meeting 	 // RC54 Business Meeting 
RC54	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s12	The Robot and the Forest	 // The Robot and the Forest Session Organizer Roberto CIPRIANI, University of Roma 3, Italy,   Session in English Biology has been under the influence of the animal-machine metaphor. Today’s reference machine is no longer a clock but a robot. Accordingly, living cells are but individual parts in charge of the smooth functioning of the robot. Now, what if the living body rather were compared to a forest? Ecosystems do not evolve under the tutelary guidance of some central programming biased by the search of a best collective interest, but rather by the search of a best collective interest of each of its individual inhabitants. That body-forest would arise not from a prefigured plan tending to a preconceived goal merely from its history. Among the many questions that such a Session many at once inspire is the following: how could emerge specialized psychosocialized functions from that organizatiion, that implicates the cooperation of multiple cell types? Theoretical as well as empirical presentations are encouraged; especially welcome are multimedia performances. 
RC54	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC54#s13	The Sensory Inscribed Body	 // The Sensory Inscribed Body Session Organizer Anabela PEREIRA, University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal,   Session in English Embodied experience is a fundamental concept for understanding culture as cognitive construction (communication, learning, and identity). Culture structures the sensory experience in specific ways so that we give sense, worth, and feelaccording with relational spaces (Bennett &Castiglioni, 2004). In current information time enclosed by all technological shifts, and by the logic of a fully “networked society” this raises the question of the construction of our culturaltech identities, and embodied computer-generated expe-rience,concerning the extension of“physical move ment”through“electronic communications”.How conscious are we of the process? How perceptional are we of itsinscription in our bodies? Integrating tech (embodied) cultural identity means dealing with the dynamics of this process involving the mobile connectivity (and disconnection),innovatively across a variety of cyber-devices and integrated places. It involves the opening of our space of perceptiontowards a “sensory inscribed body” mirrored on different “narratives generated from electronic scans making it our own experience” (Pirani, 2013:39). Grounding between mobility and immobility, itrequires examining the interdependencies and changes in “physical movement” and in “electronic communications”, with the increasing focus on the “social sensorium”(ibid.). The aim of this session is to evaluate how people connect and built new forms of identification,and embodiment,withinthe expanding of physical experiences, and individual (and collective) sense of time,inthis “movement-space”.The session holds this theme incorporatingnetworkedmobile experiences into one’s praxis of living, comprising bodily interactions mediated by technological networks, applications,and devices. Joint Sessions Click on the session title to read its description. 

Social Indicators, RC55
RC55	s1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s1	Changes and Dynamics: Challenges in Constructing and Defining Complex Social Indicators	 // Changes and Dynamics: Challenges in Constructing and Defining Complex Social Indicators Session Organizer Filomena MAGGINO, University of Florence, Italy,   Session in English One of the most important issues to face in measuring and monitoring quality of life through comlex indicators is stability and change (well-being dynamics). Generally, studies on change and stability may have different objectives, such as: describing detailed patterns of change predicting change values from those obtained in the past obtaining insight into underlying causal processes In order to attain these goals, measuring and analysis of change require two aspects to be carefully and systematically considered: 1) theoretical, concerning the definition and conceptualization of change; 2) methodological, concerning: (i) design, (ii) measuring procedures, and (iii) data analysis. Papers are urged focussing on this particular issue, crucial in monitoring societal well-being also in policy perspective. 
RC55	s2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s2	Conditions for Happiness	 // Conditions for Happiness Session Organizer Ruut VEENHOVEN, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands,   Session in English The rational pursuit of happiness requires sound knowledge about conditions for happiness. Such knowledge is required at three levels. At the micro level individuals need it for making choices in life, such as where to live, what work to do and having children or not. At the meso level organizations need information about what will contribute to the happiness of their members and clients, such as what leadership practices provide the most happiness. At the macro level governments view on the consequences of policy options on the happiness of citizens, such as how much taxation is optimal. The evidence base for informed choice in these matters is growing, but many questions are still unanswered. Additions to this strand of research are welcomed in this session. 
RC55	s3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s3	Construction of Composite Index: Methodological Innovation	 // Construction of Composite Index: Methodological Innovation Session Organizer Ji-Ping LIN, Academia Sinica, Taiwan,   Session in English Constructing a “reasonable” and “acceptable” composite index has long been a great challenge for social indicator researchers. The new issue lies not only in the problem of measurement, but also in the integration of different measurement scales and in the availability of sufficient real-world data. For instance, how can we integrate qualitative (nominal and ordinal) and quantitative data (interval and ratio)? How can we construct a composite index using both subject and objective indicators? How can reasonable weights associated with a given set of indicators be quantified while constructing an index? How can we take advantage of increasing availability of high quality micro big data to deal with these issues? Is emerging crowdsourcing method an ideal collaborative research method? This session aims to call for papers that present innovative methods for constructing composite index. 
RC55	s4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s4	Happiness in Social Theory	 // Happiness in Social Theory Session Organizer Ming-Chang TSAI, National Taipei University, Taiwan,   Session in English This session is devoted to new sociological theorizing of happiness and well-being. Sociological research on life satisfaction has conventionally drawn insights from the Durkheimian and functional traditions. Other social theories can be brought in to broaden the scope of observation, renovate research design, and enrich interpretations. This panel aims at addressing the theoretical issues of quality of life and well-being from conflict theory, exchange theory, utilitarian theory, cultural theory, feminist, or post-modern/structuralist perspective, etc. Papers that address how happiness is understood distinctively in various social theories and how suitable social indicators can be constructed accordingly are particularly welcome. 
RC55	s5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s5	Keynote Speech Session	 // Keynote Speech Session Session Organizer Ming-Chang TSAI, National Taipei university, Taiwan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts Speaker: Kenneth C. Land, John Franklin Crowell Professor of Demographic Studies and Sociology, Duke University, USA 
RC55	s6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s6	Pain and Social Suffering Indicators around the World	 // Pain and Social Suffering Indicators around the World Session Organizer Ronald ANDERSON, University of Minnesota, USA,   Session in English This session solicits reports on new research or re-analysis of existing social indicator data focusing upon the low-end of measures of well-being and quality of life. Of special interest are studies that explicitly measure pain, despair, suffering, or social traumas from either a social or an individual framework. Both qualitative and quantitative evidence are of interest. Like quality of life and well-being, suffering is generally examined as an outcome or something to be explained by social dysfunctions like poverty. In the past two decades, several theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Arthur Kleinman, David Morris, and Iain Wilkinson) pioneered the concept of social suffering, which casts pain and suffering as systemic. In this perspective, social suffering is not so much a cause or an outcome of poverty, violence, health risks, and other social traumas. Conceptualizations of suffering as well as empirical analyses of comparative ill-being are most welcome. Comparisons within as well as across countries are useful. The justification for research on suffering is not just a matter of humanitarian concern, but of strategic planning for social and economic progress. Pain and suffering are arguably the most fundamental criteria for judging differential social inequality, because they produce agony, distress and personal hurt and other negative emotions most feared by human beings. 
RC55	s7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s7	Quality of Life across Life Courses: Early Predictors, Mediating Processes, and Moderators	 // Quality of Life across Life Courses: Early Predictors, Mediating Processes, and Moderators Session Organizer Yi-fu CHEN, National Taipei University, Taiwan,   Session in English With the accumulation of longitudinal data sets, researchers have more chances than before to investigate the continuity and discontinuity of human behaviors. Past research has established the predictors, mediating processes, and moderators of individual`s externalizing and internalizing behaviors. However, on the area of quality of life, this type of studies remains few. This panel calls for original papers addressing the long-term effects of early predictors on the quality of life in later stages of life course. We also welcome papers that elaborate the mediators connecting the early predictors and later quality of life and the factors that moderate the link(s). Cross-cultural studies are also encouraged. 
RC55	s8	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s8	Quality of Life in Times of Recession 	 // Quality of Life in Times of Recession Session Organizer Robert BIJL, Netherlands Institute for Social Research, Netherlands,   Session in English The financial crisis worldwide has influenced the real economy and the daily life of people in many countries. In this session we explore the consequences of the crisis on quality of life of citizens and their possible reactions. Have there been predominantly negative changes in QoL (e.g. in life situation, happiness, inequality, discrimination) due to the recession and the policy measures taken by governments? Or has there (also) been a positive contribution of the crisis, caused by a changing awareness about what `really` is important in personal and social life of citizens? Has the crisis contributed to a paradigm shift in thinking about QoL? 
RC55	s9	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s9	RC55 Business Meeting	 // RC55 Business Meeting 
RC55	s10	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s10	Social Policy and Well-Being	 // Social Policy and Well-Being Session Organizer Piotr MICHON, Poznan University of Economics, Poland,   Session in English Social policy aims at providing social protection, social investments and well-being to citizens and includes actions to prevent social risks and to resolve existing social problems. Social policy affects social well-being; individuals’ motivations, relations between groups, and between individuals. It can influence behaviors and choices related to: employment, family, care, education, migration etc. It can affect objective living conditions and it can help to reduce social inequalities. The influence can be direct (for example: system of benefits and taxation affects financial situation of the families), but it can also be indirect (for example: means-tested benefits can be stigmatizing; universal welfare arrangements can promote trust). Examples of topics that could be addressed include, but are not limited to: discuss the relationship between social policy and social well-being introduce the state-of-the-art approaches, methodologies and their applications of measuring the relationships between economy, socio-demographic changes, political developments, social policy and social well-being 
RC55	s11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s11	Social Quality/Social Well-Being Indicator: From Social Economic Security to Social Empowerment 	 // Social Quality/Social Well-Being Indicator: From Social Economic Security to Social Empowerment Session Organizer Lih-Rong WANG, National Taiwan University, Taiwan,   Session in English Not open for submission of abstracts . The panel discussion will address the development of social quality indicator adopted in certain countries as a way for examining wellbeing of the society. Papers will join together to illustrate the quality of life in Asia like Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and China. Cross cultural comparison study will be presented through forum. Major findings include current social quality/social well-being from for dimensions –social economic, social inclusion, social cohesion and social empowerment. The implication for the public policy will be addressed in this roundtable based on critical data exposed from analysis. 
RC55	s12	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s12	Sustainability of the Welfare State: Implications for Social Indicators and Quality-of-Life Studies	 // Sustainability of the Welfare State: Implications for Social Indicators and Quality-of-Life Studies Session Organizer Kenneth C. LAND, Duke University, USA,   Session in English The welfare states across the globe are facing increased difficulties. Challenged by growing openness of national economies to globalization, the welfare states particularly in advanced countries need to develop new capacities to survive mounting adversities and justify their legitimacy. How the welfare states can be sustainable in the future, achieve redistributive justice and continue to contribute to human quality of life is an urgent research question. Papers that explore the sustainability of the welfare states and its impacts from a social indicator approach are welcome in this session. 
RC55	s13	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s13	Thinking Globally and Acting Locally: The Challenges and Opportunities of ‘Aging in Place’ in an International Context	 // Thinking Globally and Acting Locally: The Challenges and Opportunities of ‘Aging in Place’ in an International Context Session Organizer Emily NICKLETT, University of Michigan, USA,   Session in English Populations are aging in developing and developed societies. Adults aged 65 and older compromise 15% of the population in developed societies. This is targeted to increase to 25% in 2050 on average, but will be higher in some European countries and in Japan (approaching 35-40%). Although developing countries will remain young on average, they too will face unique challenges in the coming decades. Aging in Place is defined by the Centers of Disease Control as "the ability to live in one`s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level." The promotion of age-friendly communities through research, policy, and action is fairly new in urban sociology and planning. However, creative practices to promote aging in place, intergenerational social interaction and participation are seeped in tradition. This session highlights investigations of aging in place that fuse sociological theory with community-based social action. 
RC55	s14	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC55#s14	Violence and Culture: The Prevalence of Physical Punishment	 // Violence and Culture: The Prevalence of Physical Punishment Session Organizers Ichiro TANIOKA, Osaka University of Commerce, Japan,   Hachiro IWAI, Kyoto University, Japan,   Session in English The use of physical punishment in intimate spheres often raises a controversy. Some cultures view the use of physical punishment as an effective means of discipline, whereas other cultures view it as an unacceptable conduct. Nevertheless, both explicit and implicit forms of punishment by parents, partners, teachers, and coaches have repeatedly reported in many societies, especially among Asian countries. This session calls for submissions on the cultural differences in the prevalence of physical punishment, its social background and its outcome on life experiences. Top // International Sociological Association June 2013   // 

Plenary Themes, PLENARY
plenary	1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/plenary-themes.htm	Dimensions of Inequality	Dimensions of Inequality Session Organizers Sari HANAFI, American University of Beirut, Lebanon Tina UYS, University of Johannesburg, South Africa Elena ZDRAVOMYSLOVA, European University, Russia Session I.1 Configurations of Structural Inequalities What combination of inequalities’ dimensions is most prevalent in different parts of the world? Economic, race/ethnicity, gender, location or space, urban/rural, the body, health, disability, vitality, social citizenship and substantive citizenship (access to rights). Exclusion, discrimination, exploitation. Inter-sectionality of these patterns. Session I.2 Inequalities and Structures of Power Concentration of decision making. Power concentration on financial oligarchy (global/transnational, regional, national, local). Impact on different inequalities. Issues of democracy. War and violence. Theme II
plenary	2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/plenary-themes.htm	Dynamics of Inequality	Dynamics of Inequality Session Organizers Chin-Chun YI, Academia Sinica, Taiwan Margaret ABRAHAM, Hofstra University, USA Edgardo LANDER, Venezuela Session II.1 Production and Practice of Inequality Processes and mechanisms of production and reproduction of inequality. What are the processes of disempowerment, disentitlement and their legitimation? Rise of emerging countries. Session II.2 Conflicts on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Future Science and technology: opportunities, risks (shared, distributed, ignored, mitigated), benefits, losses. Unsustainability. Global unequal exchange. Toxic imperialism. Responsibilities and impacts. Displacements.  Distributive justice and access to world´s commons. Indigenous peoples/forest conservation. Tensions between social and environmental justice? Theme III
plenary	3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/plenary-themes.htm	Justice and Inequality	Justice and Inequality Session Organizers Göran THERBORN, University of Uppsala, Sweden Kalpana KANNABIRAN, CACIR-ASMITA, India Esteban CASTRO, Newcastle University, United Kingdom Session III.1 Conceptions of Justice from Different Historical and Cultural Traditions What are the key issues in the debate about justice today? Universal human rights, just rule and good society, first nation conception of good life. Session III.2 Justice and Social Systems Limits to equality in capitalism. Contemporary social critiques and equality. Difference and inequality (gender/feminist and pluri-cultural perspectives). Theme IV
plenary	4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/plenary-themes.htm	Social Injures of Inequality and Social Resistance	Social Injures of Inequality and Social Resistance Session Organizers Markus SCHULZ, New York University, USA Raquel SOSA, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico Session IV.1 Social Injuries of Inequalities In a world of inequalities, does inequality trigger social struggles? Can extreme inequality inhibit social resistance? Can we explain social resistance or political dissatisfaction without considering inequality? Social injuries of inequality: scars, traumas. Session IV.2 Overcoming Inequalities: Actors and Experiences Everyday life practices, citizen initiatives, social movements, labor unions, and political parties challenge existing modes of inequality. How do these and other social actors attempt to realize and imagine alternative futures? What opens or limits the horizon of the possible? International Sociological Association June 2013   //

Japanese Thematic Sessions, THEMATIC
thematic	1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/thematic-sessions.htm	Natural/Human Disasters and the Recovery of Local Society	Natural/Human Disasters and the Recovery of Local Society Session Organizers Koichi HASEGAWA, Tohoku University, Japan,   Takashi MACHIMURA, Hitotsubashi University, Japan,   Not open for submission of abstracts . The 3.11 disaster in 2011 has raised many tasks to sociological studies. This was a complex combination of earthquake, tsunami and serious nuclear accident. What can we do as sociologists? What should we learn from it? What feedback can we provide to the devastated area? The session “Natural/Human Disasters and the Recovery of Local Society” consists of four prominent papers.   The first one will provide a global perspective on the sociology of disaster focusing on gender, ethnicity, and inequality with a comparative view on the case of Hurricane Katrina of 2005 in the United States as well as other major disasters. The second paper will discuss problems in the recovering process in the fishermen’s village of Minami Sanriku Town, in the tsunami-devastated area of northeastern Japan. The third paper will discuss the problems faced by the refugees from the nuclear-contaminated area of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, focusing on the decontamination processes, generation gaps, and other segmentations of the challenges the refugees experience. The fourth paper will present the damage in local farming and the self-metering activities of radiation levels in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, which shows a hot spot area in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Discussants will provide comments on Japanese society and the research experience on floods in Brisbane, Australia, in January 2011. Thematic Session 2
thematic	2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/thematic-sessions.htm	Low Fertility, Rapidly Aging Society, and Changing Gender Relations	Low Fertility, Rapidly Aging Society, and Changing Gender Relations Session Organizers Sawako SHIRAHASE, University of Tokyo,   Saeko KIKUZAWA, Hosei University,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Japan is characterized by a rapid change in its demographic structure and by persistent gender inequality both within the family and at work. The session “Low Fertility, Rapidly Aging Society, and Changing Gender Relations” consists of three prominent papers. The first presentation will discuss from a socio-demographic perspective the declining fertility since the mid-1980s. The second paper will demonstrate the extent to which women face serious conflict between family and work. And the third presentation will discuss care for children and the elderly in a rapidly aging society in Japan and other East Asian countries. These three papers correspond to three important aspects of social inequality in contemporary Japan: family, work, and care. Thematic Session 3
thematic	3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/thematic-sessions.htm	Civil Society Issues: CSOs, NGOs, Social Movements	Civil Society Issues: CSOs, NGOs, Social Movements Session Organizer Daishiro NOMIYA, Sophia University, Japan,   Not open for submission of abstracts . This session discusses how civil societies in Asia have responded to the nuclear disaster of March 2011 in Japan. The nuclear power plant explosions, which occurred subsequently to a huge earthquake and a subsequent tsunami which hit the northern part of Japan, led to emergency mass evacuations and resultant community dislocations. What we now collectively call “3.11” has ignited responses from civil societies in various parts of the world. To date, Japan has witnessed more than a thousand events and civil activities calling for de-nuclearization of the whole of Japan. In Taiwan, a series of anti-nuclear actions have taken place nearby the capital city of Taipei. In Japan and Taiwan, but also in many other countries in Asia, such as South Korea, China, Singapore, the Philippines, and India, civil activities have become vibrant after the 3.11. Interestingly, however, these responses appear to differ from one country to another. Civil society in India, for example, tends to utilize 2011 Japan’s disaster as a motivational source for their anti-nuclear weapon drives, while in Taiwan, civil society has mainly focused on the stoppage of nuclear power plants. This session will explore how civil societies in Asia have responded to the 3.11. In so doing, we explore why civil societies have given differing responses in various countries in Asia. We also seek to view the Asian response from global perspectives, including European and American ones. Thematic Session 4
thematic	4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/thematic-sessions.htm	Globalization, Migration and Multi-ethnicity in Asia: Mobility and Conviviality in Northeast Asia Based on Case Studies of Foreign Workers and Intermarriage Migrants in Japan	Globalization, Migration and Multi-ethnicity in Asia: Mobility and Conviviality in Northeast Asia Based on Case Studies of Foreign Workers and Intermarriage Migrants in Japan Session Organizer Kazuhisa NISHIHARA, Seijo University, Japan,   Not open for submission of abstracts . This session titled “Mobility and Conviviality in Northeast Asia” includes presentations which seek to examine the situation of labor migrants in the Foreign Trainees and Technical Internship Program and cross-border migrants in Japan by studying marriage migrants, examine the way modern Japan society should be like in relation to the problem of social justice or human rights, and explore a new sociological perspective on the sociological meanings of the phenomenon, referring to the problems of discrimination and equality in modern Japan and East Asia. The present studies are mainly based on interviews with a) trainees from China and the Philippines and b) marriage migrants from China, Korea, and the Philippines. The interviews were basically conducted in those local areas in Japan: agricultural districts in the Chubu region, and disaster-stricken fishing districts in the Tohoku region, while referring to the Tokai and Kansai urban region for comparison. Through those case studies, contemporary multi-cultural and multi-ethnical situations in Japan and East Asia will be investigated in this session. In conclusion, those cases would be asserted to be most suitable to encourage the development of “methodological transnationalism” in an age of globalization. Thematic Session 5
thematic	5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/thematic-sessions.htm	New Cultural Waves from Asia	New Cultural Waves from Asia Session Organizers Kiyomitsu YUI, Kobe University, Japan,   Kimio ITO, Kyoto University, Japan,   Not open for submission of abstracts . New Cultural Waves from Asia could include many topics and themes. Among the fundamental themes, there is the “new” and transformed dimension of global cultural inequality and cultural hegemony as a challenge for global sociology. These basic themes touch upon the issues of transformation in post-colonialism, orientalism, the new horizon of the digital world divide and so forth. Based upon these themes, the session will focus on the following issues concerning the waves from Asia: new sub-cultures including youth culture, animation, comics, movie, music, fashion, games, costume play, and so forth, questioning whether these “waves” really have some presence in the world in the transformed situation aforementioned. Also the session explores as the final goal the implication of those phenomena vis-à-vis the problematics that contemporary society faces and then, the implication for the current situation as well as for the future development of sociological theory. Though we cannot cover every Asian wave, we will have observations of cases from Korea and China on the new cultural phenomena, especially in cultural production, then from Japan followed by their reception in Europe and the USA International Sociological Association June 2013   //

Integrative Sessions, INTEGRATIVE
integrative	1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm	Addressing Inequality Before, During and after Difficult Times: Research, Intervention and Effective Outcomes	Addressing Inequality Before, During and after Difficult Times: Research, Intervention and Effective Outcomes Session Organizers RC46 Clinical Sociology Jan Marie FRITZ, W. Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA,   South African Sociological Association Freek CRONJE, North West University, South Africa,   Philippine Sociological Society Emma PORIO, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines,   TG03 Human Rights and Global Justice Brian GRAN, Case  Western Reserve University, USA   Sesion Coordinator Jan Marie FRITZ, W. Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA,   Not open for submission of abstracts . This session will bring together scholars and scholar-practitioners from two national associations and two ISA research divisions to discuss the different perspectives on how inequality has been or can be effectively addressed in past, present and future research, intervention and combined research/ intervention projects in different parts of the world. Taking into account the different perspectives in their organizations, the projects will be critically analyzed by the panel and, with the help of those in the audience, facilitators and barriers to effective outcomes will be identified and discussed. Topics to be covered include: evidence-based practice; explicitly including rights frameworks in research and intervention work; multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to research and intervention; and the extent to which sociologists are involved in interventions in different parts of the world.
integrative	crisis	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#crisis	Crisis, Transnational Migration, and the Gender Order in Europe	Crisis, Transnational Migration, and the Gender Order in Europe Session Organizers RC 31, Sociology of Migration Marco MARTINIELLO, Université de Liège, Belgium,   RC32 Women in Society Evangelia TASTSOGLOU, Saint Mary´s University, Canada,   RC 38, Biography and Society Roswitha BRECKNER, University of Vienna, Austria,   German Sociological Association Martina LOW, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, President of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie,   European Sociological Association – RN 33, Research Network on Women and Gender Studies Maria Carmela AGODI, University of Naples, Italy,   Michael MEUSER, University of Dortmund, Germany,   Session Coordinators RC32 Women in Society Evangelia TASTSOGLOU, Saint Mary´s University, Canada,   RC 38, Biography and Society Roswitha BRECKNER, University of Vienna, Austria,   RC 31, Sociology of Migration Marco MARTINIELLO, Université de Liège, Belgium,   German Sociological Association Martina LOW, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, President of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie,   European Sociological Association – RN 33, Research Network on Women and Gender Studies Maria Carmela AGODI, University of Naples, Italy,   Michael MEUSER, University of Dortmund, Germany,   Not open for submission of abstracts . The focus of this integrative session is on the ways in which European societies, in the midst of ongoing socio-economic crisis, encounter and deal with new transnational migration flows, mainly of women and young people without prospects in their home countries. What is the impact of transnational migration and consequent transnational family arrangements, in the context of socio-economic crisis, on gender relations and the gender order across European societies? The latter are dealing with the dual challenge of the new role of women entering the globalized world of flexible, de-regulated work on the one hand, and the shortage of the labour supply for reproductive work according to the dominant gender order, on the other. New migratory patterns and behaviors of marginalized persons and groups are being developed as means to achieve self-inclusion. Among feminists there is a consensus that inequality is gendered in terms of civil, social, and political citizenship rights. Different modes of women's inclusion into citizenship, both as a status and a practice, have been identified in different citizenship regimes. In migratory circumstances new patterns of behavior, biographical prospects, family arrangements and community building are being developed, challenged by inclusion into citizenship both as a status and a practice in different citizenship regimes. Questions that this session addresses include but are not limited to: What happens to the social citizenship rights of the new migrant workers from the EU Southern, Eastern and third countries to the North and what happens, in particular, to female workers? How those acting in these new social spaces deal with the challenges of new family arrangements and citizenship under conditions of crisis and gendered inequality? What can we learn from the "case" of Europe? What are the implications of a new gendered transnationalization of migrant generations in Europe from a global perspective?
integrative	emerging	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#emerging	Emerging Society and Sociological Discourse in BRICS Countries	Emerging Society and Sociological Discourse in BRICS Countries Session Organizers Brazilian Sociological Society Russian Society of Sociologists Indian Sociological Society South African Sociological Association Session Coordinator Valery MANSUROV, Russian Academy of Science,  Russia,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), despite their divergent pasts, are relocating themselves in the new world economic, political and social system. All the five countries are influenced by and play leadership roles in relation to other countries in their respective economic, social and cultural arenas, and similarly they have a presence in the other parts of the world. A process of economic transition and ideological reconciliation is common to the BRICS countries. BRICS is an idea, a formation and a reality in-the-making. It has yet to crystallize its form, shape and functioning. In terms of trained and skilled manpower, burgeoning middle class, market economy, and competition with the USA and West Europe, the BRICS have already become an acknowledged reality. The BRICS can be in the forefront of a new dialogue on development and change as they represent a semblance of tradition and modernity, uniqueness and global character, self–realization and wider participation, autonomy and interdependence. BRICS can also question the hegemony of the West in economic, political and intellectual domains, by creating new structures and processes of economy, political institutions and centers of creativity and intellectual excellence. The problematic is, thus, for the socio-economic and political space for the BRICS countries in the post-globalization era. The BRICS can highlight their commonalities vis-à-vis the western world, and also discuss their specific socio-political and economic formations. As such, the proposed integrative session will discuss not only the nature and character of the emerging society in BRICS countries but also the sociological discourse in response to the above.
integrative	inequality	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#inequality	Inequality and the Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices	Inequality and the Future of Aging: Global and Comparative Perspectives on Trends, Implications, Policies, and Practices Session Organizers RC07 Futures Research Markus S. SCHULZ, New York University, USA,   RC10 Social Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management Julia ROZANOVA, University of British Columbia, Canada,   RC11 Sociology of Aging Andreas HOFF, Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Germany,   Session Coordinator Julia ROZANOVA, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Population aging is considered among the top three challenges of global development by the United Nations. By 2025 one in every seven Americans, one in six Canadians, one in five Japanese and Europeans (in some European regions such as Germany or Italy one in four) will be over the age of 65. This historically unique global transition towards ageing societies will affect almost all countries before the end of the century. But what will this revolutionary change mean for sociology and for society? The three Research Committees will lead an integrative reflection on long-term future theory, policy, and practice implications of aging societies, dispelling common myths and stereotypes and pointing out problems that are largely ignored. Papers will both present cases contextualized in particular societies and make international comparisons to address questions that cut across the three Committees' research agendas: Is aging a challenge or an opportunity for democracy? How will aging affect the Global South and its relation to the North? Will aging result in societies where ideas of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber can no longer be valid? Will income security and healthcare be sustainable? How will differences in the age structure affect economic competitiveness in a world of competing nation-states? Will fears of gerontocracy enhance inter-generational conflicts? What is the future of the family when eldercare rather than childcare becomes a universal responsibility for adults, while the ages of life course transitions are further delayed? In cultural terms, will active aging become the mainstream worldwide lifestyle driven by the anti-aging industries? And what may be the theoretical and the policy implications of these trends and how can sociology address them and advise policy makers, other stakeholders in society as well as the older and the younger generations so that the future looks promising for people of all ages?
integrative	players	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#players	Players and Arenas: Strategic Dynamics of Politics and Protest	Players and Arenas: Strategic Dynamics of Politics and Protest Session Organizers RC21 Regional and Urban Development Jan Willem DUYVENDAK, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands,   RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements Antimo FARRO, University of Roma 1, Italy,   RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Benjamín TEJERINA, Universidad del Pais Vasco, Spain,   Session Coordinator James JASPER, City University of New York, USA,   Not open for submission of abstracts . In recent years pejorative psychological theories of social movements and the structural theories that replaced them have both been dislodged by perspectives that take the point of view of participants seriously, with improved understandings of what protestors want. But this cultural sensitivity must still be linked with the strategic interactions between protestors and a number of other players who can help or hinder them. This session would promote this emerging strategic approach by combining insights from the structural and cultural paradigms while focusing on decisions and actions. It has the potential to profoundly transform theories of local politics and protest. Integrative Rationale: Similar strategic dynamics can be found in many social institutions, but especially among organized politics, protest, and markets. An integrative session would allow experts on different arenas to perceive similar strategic tradeoffs and dilemmas in their respective realms.
integrative	precarious	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#precarious	Precarious Work and Employment Risks in East Asia	Precarious Work and Employment Risks in East Asia Session Organizers RC02 Economy and Society Karen A. SHIRE, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany,   RC44 Labor Movements Andreas BIELER, University of Nottingham, UK,   RC30 Sociology of Work Byoung-Hoon LEE, Chung-Ang University, South Korea,   Proposal Session Coordinator Karen A. SHIRE, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany,   RC02 Economy and Society Not open for submission of abstracts . The panel addresses the impact of work-based insecurities and rising social inequalities within and across nations, with a specific regional focus on East Asia. Standing's work shows that precarious work involves an interaction of seven dimensions of economic insecurities, pointing to the need for an integrated understanding of the link between precarious work and social inequalities. The integrated panel enables a focus on multiple insecurities and how they interact to produce precarious work relations, in reference to working conditions and the experience of social exclusion (RC30 Work), the links between de-regulation, liberalization and the individualization of employment risks (RC02 Economy and Society), but also the development of interest representation and social organizations for supporting labor market outsiders (RC44 Labor Movements). The location of the ISA Conference in Yokohama is an opportunity to highlight Asian sociologists and the specific regional contexts of precarious work, to discuss issues, such as Sen's thesis, that Japan is a model for other Asian economies in achieving social inclusion, or the loss of social protections through the decline of state-owned enterprises, as well as the intersection of inequalities generated by internal and foreign migration
integrative	social	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#social	Social Network and Social Capital in East Asian Societies: China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan	Social Network and Social Capital in East Asian Societies: China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan Session Organizers Japan Sociological Society Korean Sociological Association Taiwanese Sociological Association Session Coordinator Yanjie BIAN, Xi´an Jiaotong University, China,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Contributing to the hotly debated concept of social capital, we develop an East Asian conceptual framework of network social capital for EASS 2012 module. East Asian Social Survey is a biennial social survey project that purports to produce and disseminate academic survey data sets in East Asia. As a cross-national network of GSS-type surveys, Chinese General Social Survey, Japanese General Social Survey, Korean General Social Survey, and Taiwan Social Change Survey teams worked together to make a family module in 2006, a culture module in 2008, and a health module in 2010. The core idea for the EASS 2012 module is that East Asians are the cultural creators of social networking. This means that East Asians are both heavily dependent upon their interpersonal networks for social engagement and social trust, among other forms of social action, and make considerable instrumental and emotional efforts in cultivating new ties in order to expand, adjust, and enrich network social capital. The EASS 2012 module is consisted of three parts: Social Networks assessing potential and mobilized social capital, Social Engagement assessing behavioral dynamics and outcomes, and Social Trust assessing community-level dynamics and outcomes of social capital. The following speakers will examine the generalization of the hypothesized interrelationships among these measures using the EASS 2012data set.
integrative	global	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#global	The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work	The Global Migration of Gendered Care Work Session Organizers RC02 Economy and Society Heidi GOTTFRIED, Wayne State University, USA,   RC32 Women in Society Evangelia TASTSOGLOU, Saint Mary´s University, Canada,   RC44 Labour Movements Jennifer Jihye CHUN, University of British Columbia, Canada,   Session Coordinators RC44 Labour Movements Jennifer Jihye CHUN, University of British Columbia, Canada,   RC02 Economy and Society Heidi GOTTFRIED, Wayne State University, USA,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Care work, a form of unpaid and paid labour performed primarily by women, is a major site of job growth across both the developing and developed world. The increasing demand for care workers in a variety of sectors – from private homes to long-term elder care facilities to public hospitals – has contributed to the global migration of care workers. Transnational flows of women workers, especially from poorer migrant-sending countries to wealthier migrant-receiving countries, raise critical questions about the dynamics of new forms of inequality, subordination and commodification associated with globalized care chains. How do global hierarchies influence the patterns and characteristics of care migration? In what ways do changing demographics, institutional policies and cultural practices affect the supply and provision of care across national borders? What are the social costs and consequences of global care chains for care workers and their families? How are care workers attempting to challenge the unequal relations of power and authority that underpin low-paid and precarious forms of care work? What are the means and modes of organizing among care workers? To investigate the intersecting avenues of inquiry among gender, political economy, migration, social inequality, labor movements, and work, this integrative session draws on academic and community researchers from three primary Research Committees (RC44, RC02, RC3). We will also seek paper presenters and dialogue with research committees that are also engaged in this area of inquiry, including RC19, the Research Committee on Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy, and RC31, Research Committee on Migration.
integrative	is7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#is7	The Global South and Postcolonial Perspectives in International Sociology	The Global South and Postcolonial Perspectives in International Sociology Session Organizers RC08 History of Sociology Per WISSELGREN, Umea University, Sweden,   RC35 Conceptual and Terminological Analysis David STRECKER, University of Jena, Germany,   WG02 Historical and Comparative Sociology Manuela Boatca, Free University of Berlin, Germany,   Session Coordinator Raewyn CONNELL, University of Sydney, Australia,   Not open for submission of abstracts . The ISA is the bearer of a great prospect for sociology: becoming a genuinely international field of knowledge. A powerful contemporary change is the emergence of postcolonial and southern perspectives. Sociology's history is being re-thought; the economy of knowledge centred on Europe and North America is being analyzed; more complex international flows of ideas are being traced. "Postcolonial sociology" is not a new specialization: it is a shift that affects all fields of sociology. Postcolonial perspectives are currently being explored in sociological theory, the sociologies of disability, education, gender and modernization, the history of sociology, and more. This session responds to this moment in the ISA's history, providing a forum to link postcolonial perspectives emerging in different areas of the ISA's work. The session will allow researchers to compare changes in their own fields, and discuss the implications for world sociology. Speakers will be asked to respond to a set of questions posed by the participating ISA units. Through the contact persons, units will be asked to propose issues about postcolonial and southern perspectives for discussion at the session. These will be redacted by the contact persons and the coordinator, and given (well in advance) to the speakers. The session is intended to be interactive. The Chairperson will pose questions to the speakers, based on the agreed agenda, and invite debate as well as direct statements. In the second half of the session, contributions (time-limited) from the floor will be invited, involving exchange with speakers on the panel. At the end of the session, the speakers will offer short closing statements. With this format, we cannot list 'themes' individually for speakers. Possible themes are: innovations within specific fields of sociology; postcolonial curricula for teaching sociology; new audiences across the majority world; relations between sociology and indigenous knowledge.
integrative	whiter	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#whiter	Wither the 2011 Mobilizations: Progressive, Regressive or Irrelevant	Wither the 2011 Mobilizations: Progressive, Regressive or Irrelevant Session Organizers RC07 Futures Research Markus S. SCHULZ, New York University, USA,   RC36 Alienation Theory and Research Lauren LANGMAN, Loyola University Chicago, USA,   RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change Tova BENSKI, College of Management Studies, Israel,   Session Coordinator Lauren LANGMAN, Loyola University Chicago, USA,   Not open for submission of abstracts . In 2011, the self-immolation of a Tunisian fruit peddler ignited a massive protest against the government that not only led to new leadership, but inspired protests throughout the MENA region.  This was followed by similar protests over sovereign debt crises in Southern Europe and then the Occupy Wall Street movements. These protests were rooted in Neo-liberal globalization, growing inequality, injustice, poverty and limited mobility, while retrenchments of State services and benefits adversely impacted a wide range of actors. Young, often college educated activists played significant roles in organizing mobilizations and publicizing them throughout the world via ICT and social media. Moreover, a growing precariat has become a major factor for these movements. At this point, there are two major questions that need to be considered. What has been the impact of these movements that might be considered moments of a longer cycle of global justice movements? While articulating anger, alienation and indignation, have there been any genuine changes?    Secondly, these movements have required a rethinking of social movement theorizations, especially since the predominant paradigms, RM and/or NSM do not really grasp these movements, especially since they are rooted in political-economic crises of legitimacy. While collective identity has played a major role in these movements, NSM theories have not paid much attention to the role of emotions and constellations of emotions that motivate and sustain mobilizations. At the ISA Forum, these movements were widely discussed. A number of RCs had panels concerned with these questions, especially RC 36 and 48 that held some joint sessions, while 07 also addressed these issues from a futures perspective. Given the importance of these movements in impacting the political, as well as the extent to which we must advance our frameworks of understanding, we therefore propose an integrated session that would bring diverse, but complimentary frameworks to consider the consequences of these movements. 
integrative	11	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm		2 Integrative Sessions to be included under National Associations’ sessions time slots 15:30-17:20 on Monday-Friday, July 14-18, 2014:
integrative	economic	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#economic	Economic Regionalization and Social Inequality in East Asia	Economic Regionalization and Social Inequality in East Asia Session Organizers Taiwanese Sociological Association Japan Sociological Society Korean Sociological Association Session Coordinator Ray-May HSUNG, National Chengchi University, Taiwan, President of Taiwanese Sociological Association,   Not open for submission of abstracts . In the last decade, the cross-border economy in East Asia shows the processes of globalization and regionalization occurring simultaneously, and the fast increasing economic exchanges with China for Taiwan, Korea, and Japan have been the most significant phenomena of economic regionalization in this area. The challenges of this regionalization trend are great number of investments and jobs go to China and social inequality among individuals and regions have been continuously increasing in Taiwan and in some other East Asian countries. Some studies or discourses imply that this new trend of economic regionalization is related to the social problems of high unemployment rates and low wages for college graduates and young adults in Taiwan and other countries in the world as well. The social inequality due to economic concentration to China varies among East Asia countries, and this trend of world market to China even makes the inequality worse in China. Different governments already noticed these problems of social inequities and proposed different policies in order to ameliorate them recently. For example, the Obama administration's incentives for returning manufacturing jobs back to the United States or Taiwanese government has the "Salmon Return Back" policy to lure mainland-based Taiwanese businesses to invest more at home. We will invite important scholars in East Asia to discuss the following questions: What's the spatial-temporal evolution of economic exchanges and variations of growing inequalities in East Asian societies? How do the increasing trend of concentration on China in terms of export and import values for Taiwan, Korea and Japan associate with the social and regional inequality in domestic labor market in respective society? What are the institutional policies to deal with the social inequality problems due to the new trend of economic regionalization in East Asia.
integrative	japanese	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm#japanese	Japanese-Brazilians from Global Sociological Perspectives	Japanese-Brazilians from Global Sociological Perspectives Session Organizers Japan Sociological Society RC31 Sociology of Migration Brazilian Sociological Society Session Coordinators Japan Sociological Society Koichi HASEGAWA, Tohoku University, Japan,   Brazilian Sociological Society Irlys BARREIRA, Brazil,   RC 31, Sociology of Migration Marco MARTINIELLO, Université de Liège, Belgium,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Today, relations between Brazil and Japan are played out at many levels, from the micro to the macro. From the early 20th century Brazil received large numbers of Japanese migrants as a result it is nowadays home to the largest Japanese community outside the Japan, estimated in 1,5 million. Since the second half of the 1980s, they made the reverse movement to Japan. More than 300,000 of them work and live in Japan on a permanent basis, a new generation of Brazilians has been born in Japan and, beyond the day-to-day solidarity and conflicts, they challenge Japanese society and its public policy to respond to the question: how to deal with foreigners? Brazilians became Japan's third largest group of foreigners. From 2008, when the world financial crises resulted in job losses, one third these Brazilians returned home. Many of them face great difficu lties as they try to reinsert themselves in the labor market. Ironically 2008 saw the Centennial celebrations of the Japanese immigration to Brazil, and resulted in great visibility for Japan-Brazil relations. One result of the strength of these relations has been the implementation of many bilateral agreements. Meanwhile, power relations in the global setting have been changing over recent years, and are now quite different to those found last century. For instance, Brazil is now classified as an "emerging country", however extreme social inequalities persist. The proposed session will reflect on migration as a possible vector of expression of multicultural exchanges (Maruyama); verify the concrete experience of migrants as a part of a larger process of not only economic globalization (Mita and Ishikawa), but also as populational flows and social networks (Sasaki), especially by treating contradictory perspectives, as posed by Sayad (1998). This research can make an original contribution to Global Sociology (Hirano). International Sociological Association June 2013   //

National, Regional, Linguistic and Thematic Associations, ASSOCIATIONS
associations	1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/associations.htm	Gender Inequality and Its Multi-Dimensional Complexity in Korea	Gender Inequality and Its Multi-Dimensional Complexity in Korea Session Organizer Korean Sociological Association Session Coordinator Joohee LEE, Ewha Womans University, South Korea,   Not open for submission of abstracts . The papers presented in this session address a far wider range of gender issues in Korea, providing a critical and comprehensive assessment of the relationship between gender, family, and the state. It brings together contributions from scholars with diverse intellectual backgrounds to explore multi-dimensional gender inequality in the contemporary Korean society. CEDAW is clearly a comprehensive Bill of Rights for women, but the implementation of these rights is highly dependent on the actions taken by the state and the genuine transformation of gender relations in wider society. Increasing number of unmarried women in Korea signifies resistance to strong familism, but has the potential of intensifying neoliberal individualization and gender disparity. Sometimes gender issues transcend national boundaries. The awareness of global politics regarding 'Comport Women' highlights the enormity and complexity of gender inequality, as well as the tremendous difficulty of changing entrenched social and national relationships.
associations	2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/associations.htm	Social Stratification and Inequality in South Korea	Social Stratification and Inequality in South Korea Session Organizer Korean Sociological Session Coordinator Kwang-Yeong SHIN, Chung-Ang University, South Korea,   Not open for submission of abstracts . This session explores changing contours of social inequality and social stratification in the 2000s. After the financial crisis in 1997, the Korean society has experienced fundamental transformation in the labor market and social stratification. Analyzing survey data, three papers will examine objective and subjective dimensions of social inequality and social stratification. The first paper shows that age has been important social factor in wage formation, not simply as a proxy of work experience but as a social and economic principle in the system of compensation of labor. The second paper examines the nexus of family formation and labor market participation, displaying a strong homogamy and increasing women's labor market participation. That might contribute to the rise of inequality of family income. The last paper interrogates impacts of economic deprivation on social capital and self-identity of social strata in the 2000s, showing prolonged impacts of financial crisis on social relations and subjective perception of self in the social hierarchy.
associations	3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/associations.htm	Social Inclusion Problem in Transforming Azerbaijan	Social Inclusion Problem in Transforming Azerbaijan Session Organizer Azerbaijanian Sociological Association Session Coordinator Rufat GULIYEV, President of the Azerbaijanian Sociological Association,   Not open for submission of abstracts . For Azerbaijan, as well as all post-Soviet countries, the issue of social inclusion is very important. Under the communist regime people were not able to fully participate in society. There were insurmountable barriers to the participation of people in all aspects of life, such as education, employment, leisure and citizenship. Now, when Azerbaijan was freed from the shackles of communism and headed for democratization, free market and social progress, has opened up new opportunities for economic, political and social activity, as an individual, and society as a whole. However, the heavy legacy of the past, as well as the low level of civic consciousness still pose significant challenges for inclusion in active and social life of people with low levels of education, the unemployed, the homeless, refugees, people with disabilities and other people with low social status. In the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development (UN, 1995, chap. I, resolution 1, annex II), held in Copenhagen in 1995, inclusive society was defined as "a society for all", in which every individual, each with right and responsibilities, has an active role it play” (paragraph 66). Achieving such an inclusive society is a goal with universal appeal. An inclusive society is one that rises above differences of race, gender, class, generation and geography to ensure equality of opportunity regardless of origin, and one that subordinates military and economic power to civil authority. In an inclusive society, social interaction is governed by an agreed set of social institutions. The capability of all citizens to determine how those institutions function is indeed a hallmark of an inclusive society. An inclusive society is also one that, when confronted with new a challenge, such as climate change, gives everyone a say and everyone a responsibility. At this Session will analyze the experience of Azerbaijan to combat poverty and lawlessness, the implementation of social integration and the creation of "society for all". The focus of the agenda Sessions is supposed to consider the following types of social inclusion, which are priorities in the social practice of Azerbaijan: Helping jobless families with children to increase work opportunities, improve parenting and build capacity by helping parents into sustainable employment and giving children agood start in life. Improving the life chances of children at greatest risk of long term disadvantage by providing health, education and family relationship services. Reducing the incidence of homelessnessby providing more housing and support services. Improving outcomes for people with disability or mental illness and their careers by reducingdiscrimination, creating employment opportunities and building community support. Closing the gap for small remote communities with respect to life expectancy, childmortality, access to early childhood education, educational achievement and employment outcomes. Breaking the cycle of entrenched and multiple disadvantages in particular neighborhoods and communities by tailoring place-based approaches in partnership with the community. Improving the life chances and helping vulnerable new arrivals and refugees. These groups remain central to the social inclusion agenda in Azerbaijan. A special place in the Session will be devoted to methods of measuring poverty and social exclusion, barriers to social integration and performance criteria measures to overcome them.
associations	4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/associations.htm	The Role of National and Regional Associations of Sociology in Understanding the Processes of Democratization in Latin America and the Caribbean	The Role of National and Regional Associations of Sociology in Understanding the Processes of Democratization in Latin America and the Caribbean Session Organizer Argentinian Sociological Asociation Session Coordinator Alicia I. PALERMO, Argentinian Sociological Asociation, Coordinator de la Red de Asociaciones de Sociología de América Latina y el Caribe, Argentina,   Not open for submission of abstracts . In the XXVII Congress of Sociology of the Latin American Sociological Association, held in Buenos Aires, in 2009, there was a meeting of the associations of sociology in Latin America and the Caribbean, in which the different levels of development of each of these associations could be visualized. These differences are related to several factors, among which are the different social, political and economic conditions and unequal development of sociology in the region. In this meeting, a Latin American and Caribbean network of national and regional associations of sociology was constituted, with the purpose, among others, to identify the problems and limitations of these associations to define the challenges of sociology in the region. Also, in August 2012, took place in Buenos Aires the Second Forum of Sociology of the ISA, co organized by the Latin American Association of Sociology and the Argentinean Sociological Association, with the topic: Social Justice and Social Democratization. The theme of this forum was relevant in the current global context (note that the ISA opened a space on this subject on its web page). In the Second ISA Forum were held two open forums, which addressed this topic in the Latin American context, one of them on social justice in Argentina and the other one on democratization processes in Latin America. We consider that the field of the Latin American network of national and regional associations of sociology of Latin America and the Caribbean, is a suitable space to continue the discussion of these issues in the region. Specifically it is relevant to discuss theories and outlooks from which the sociologists deal with these processes and the role of these associations, as their contribution to the understanding of political and social changes and the democratization processes in Latin America and the Caribbean.
associations	5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/associations.htm	Theories About and Approaches towards the Internationalization of Sociology in the Era of Globalization: Asian Perspectives	Theories About and Approaches towards the Internationalization of Sociology in the Era of Globalization: Asian Perspectives Session Organizer Japan Sociological Society Session Coordinator Shujiro YAZAWA, Seijo University, Japan,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Facing an era of globalization, sociology in Japan has been challenging to internationalize sociology as the most important task. In terms of organizing the World Congress of Sociology, we hope, to attempt internationalization of sociology in Japan should be mainly targeted aim too. It is the ironical stance to organize the session on internationalization of sociology set in National Association that is a clear message to respond to an era of cosmopolitanization of our time. What is internationalization of sociology? We can provide so many different answers to this question. But we would like to focus on the most important and urgent issue: how to create a world or global sociology. This is because globalization necessitates internationalized knowledge; nevertheless, this knowledge has been created through ethnocentric analytical frameworks within nationally confined societies. This session will discuss with colleagues from around the world their different theories, strategies and approaches to respond to these challenges in epistemological, methodological, educational and science policy making ones. Sessions of Thematic Associations
associations	6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/associations.htm	From Social Sciences to Social Changes: Dialogue about Education across the Mediterranean	From Social Sciences to Social Changes: Dialogue about Education across the Mediterranean Session Organizer AMSE, Mediterranean Association of Sociology of Education Session Coordinator Olga SERRADELL, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain,   Not open for submission of abstracts . In AMSE we are sociologists from different cultures and different religious traditions who share the interest of developing theory and research that can contribute to improve education for all children, thus reducing educational inequalities. Education, which is understood in a broad sense as socialization processes, will become a powerful tool to radicalize democracy without racism, sexism or discriminations of any kind. Our focus is the Mediterranean region is due to multiple reasons that unite us with each of the different societies that are part of it. However, the Mediterranean has historically been a space where conflict arose. In this sense, the will exists of building common foundations, as collected by the Barcelona Declaration –adopted in 1995 in the Euro-Mediterranean Conference. From AMSE, we seek to participate in this relation through the scientific evidence and the collaboration among researchers from different areas in the Mediterranean, in order to contribute to a democratic radicalization of our societies. Consequently, we especially focus on the role of education to contribute to social change, making especial emphasis on the vulnerable groups which are at greater risk of suffering inequality or discrimination, such as women and cultural or religious groups, among other. Session contents There exists a constant tension between the structures that tend to reproduce society and the human agency which, inversely, tries to transform it. Consequently, education can become an important mechanism to overcome social inequalities and to foster democratic processes to build a more cohesive society. The session will be developed through a dialogue between different researchers about education throughout the Mediterranean, with the goal to contribute, from the scientific analysis, to give response to current social changes. The reality of different Mediterranean countries will be tackled (i.e. Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, France and Spain) from different domains in order to strengthen social cohesion, citizenship construction, gender, cultural groups, social classes and democratization. All these aims will contribute to promote a debate that goes in depth in the role of education for the overcoming of social and educational inequalities, from diverse perspectives and sociological realities in the Mediterranean. This panel will discuss the results of social researches developed in different Mediterranean contexts, obtaining a plural sociological dialogue with education as a cross factor. In particular we will focus on: the construction of citizenship among high school students in a divided society such as Israel, the dilemma of religious education and secularism in Turkey, the impact of economic recession on educational exclusion in Southern Europe, the successful educational actions that reduce inequalities among marginalized groups in Spain, the effects of educational reform on disadvantaged groups in Lebanon and, overall, the discussion of social justice and equality from education today across the Mediterranean region. International Sociological Association June 2013   //

Professional Development Sessions, PROFESSIONAL
professional	1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/professional-development-sessions.htm	Academic Publishing and Its Key Roles	Academic Publishing and Its Key Roles Sessions Organizer Jennifer PLATT, University of Sussex, United Kingdom Session 1 . July 14, 2014 The editor’s task Writing a successful article Writing a review article Book reviewing  Session 4. July 17, 2014 Writing or editing a book or monograph Refereeing journal articles Mentoring junior scholars on publishing The changing journal publishing system These two sessions are designed to inform colleagues about some of the issues and opportunities involved in international academic publishing of the kinds undertaken by the ISA. Each will consist of several short presentations, by members of the ISA's publications team, on different aspects of the topic. Some topics especially suitable to early-career colleagues are in the first session, and some more relevant for their seniors in the second, but everyone is welcome to both; we shall also raise some issues about important recent changes in the publishing situation. We plan to allow time to develop each listed topic a little, but also to let questions and discussion lead in directions responding to participants' felt needs and interests. The speakers will be the current editors of various ISA publications, plus the Vice President for Publications. Session 2 July 15, 2014
professional	2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/professional-development-sessions.htm	Junior Sociologists meet Senior Sociologists	Junior Sociologists meet Senior Sociologists Session Organizer Emma PORIO, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines,   In Conversation: Connecting Senior and Junior Sociologists at the World Congress. This session with simultaneously run round tables will provide the opportunity for junior sociologists to engage with well-established and renowned sociologists in a more informal setting. Starting with some introductory remarks from the senior sociologist at each roundtable, the session will be opened to answering questions from the junior sociologists. The ISA is committed to encouraging emerging sociologists and this session is one small but important initiative at the Congress to increase the dialogue among a global community of junior and senior sociologists Session 3 July 16, 2014
professional	3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/professional-development-sessions.htm	Global Dialogue – 4 Years On	Global Dialogue – 4 Years On Session Organizer Michael BURAWOY, University of California-Berkeley, USA,   The purpose of this session is to discuss progress made and challenges facing the ISA newsletter and magazine Global Dialogue . The idea is to discuss its possible future and directions of development.  Global Dialogue appears 5 times a year in 14 languages. Each issue has about 20 articles, varying in length from 500 to 2,500 words.  Global Dialogue publishes articles on sociology from different parts of the world, arranges debates about major issues in sociology, especially international sociology, invites distinguished sociologists write columns on “sociology as a vocation,” reports on conferences throughout the world, presents photo-essays and interviews, etc.  A panel session in which representatives from the editorial teams from all over the world – Spain, Colombia, Iran, Taiwan, Poland, Russia, Romania, Lebanon, Tunisia, Brazil, India, Japan – discuss their experiences working on Global Dialogue and suggest new directions.  International Sociological Association June 2013   //

Ad Hoc Sessions, AD
ad	1	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/ad-hoc-sessions.htm	Debates about Climate Change: a Cross-Societal Comparison	Debates about Climate Change: a Cross-Societal Comparison Session Organizer Jeffrey BROADBENT, University of Minnesota, USA,   Not open for submission of abstracts . The project on Comparing Climate Change Policy Networks (Compon) seeks to understand variation in how societies have been dealing with the problem of reducing their emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG, most prominently, carbon dioxide) that cause global climate change. Reducing emissions (mitigation) has been a new global norm since 1992; international negotiations have tried to move toward that goal. But despite these efforts, total global emissions have continued to increase rapidly. This situation poses enormous future risks for all of humanity without exception. It would greatly enhance the common global good if all societies made every possible unstinting contribution within their capacities to help their own and other societies reduce emissions. However, given the disparities of development and other conditions around the world, societies have different needs and face different obstacles. Often, other issues take precedence and force climate risk into lesser priority. As a result societies have responded quite distinct ways, with their GHG emissions trajectories going either downwards, stabilizing or continuing rapidly upward. Grasping this situation as a (un)naturally-occurring sociological experiment, the Compon project, started in 2007, seeks to analyze the underlying factors that bring about this cross-societal variation in GHG emissions trajectories. Research teams in 19 societies collect comparable data on both the discourse around the mitigation issue and the mobilization of actors on different sides within each case, as these affect the mitigation performance. In this panel, case teams report their analyses of discourse around mitigation and discourse coalitions as they appear in the main newspapers of the society. Synthesizing papers present cross-case comparison and also the global field of discourse they describe.
ad	2	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/ad-hoc-sessions.htm	Dilemmas of Public Sociology: Negotiating the Academic and the Political	Dilemmas of Public Sociology: Negotiating the Academic and the Political Session Organizer Marta SOLER, University of Barcelona, Spain,   Not open for submission of abstracts . The purpose of this session is to engage in a comparative debate of the diverse ways of doing public sociology in different historical contexts and political regimes, in order to discuss the dilemmas faced by sociologists, for instance, in the relation between academic and extra-academic fields when they engage with civil society and the public sphere. In the debate we will aim at recognizing the tensions and unity among the different types of knowledge and we will attempt to bring the national and global dimension of doing public sociology to the discussion. The speakers will provide examples of social scientists engaging with publics in gender struggles, labor movements, civil rights protests and human rights defense, in Japan, Brazil, Argentina, and Russia (besides, Chair and Discussant will be from Spain and the USA). Through theory and narrative, they will discuss the complexity of intervention along with the importance of developing a critical and professional sociology. This session will thus contribute to advance perspectives on public sociology by taking into account both, social theory and social action, from national contexts and within an international and comparative dialogue.
ad	3	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/ad-hoc-sessions.htm	Dimensions and Dynamics of Inequality in the Global South	Dimensions and Dynamics of Inequality in the Global South Session Organizers Naxhelli RUIZ, National Autonomous University of México, Mexico,   Iliana YASCHINE, National Autonomous University of México, Mexico,   Not open for submission of abstracts . This ad hoc session is proposed by the Academic Network for Development and Inequality Research (ANDIR) which was established in 2011 as a collaborative academic initiative between young scholars from different regions of the Global South. ANDIR is formed by researchers from Argentina, Brasil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Its purpose is to pursue various academic initiatives with the common project of fostering channels of research collaboration on themes related to development and inequality. So far ANDIR has focused on collaborative research projects and the creation of an e-journal titled Rethinking Development and Inequality. An International Journal of Critical Perspectives (ISSN 2306-6598) which centers on publishing research of Global South academicians and development practitioners. Considering that inequality is a multidimensional phenomenon, the session seeks to reflect upon several of these dimensions in different regional contexts. We are also concerned with exploring the dynamics of inequality, that is, the processes through which inequality is generated and reproduced. Each paper will center on a specific dimension of inequality and will reflect upon the processes that help to comprehend it in a particular country. The papers will focus on reviewing the main conceptual and methodological debates of their specific field of research and will present empirical results from the area of analysis based on quantitative and/or qualitative methods. The dimensions include education, occupation, gender, digital technologies, territory and subnational institutions. The countries of analysis are Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Peru. The inclusion of this range of dimensions and countries would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the reproduction of inequalities in the Global South.
ad	4	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/ad-hoc-sessions.htm	Exploring Hegemonic Masculinities in The World Gender Order from The East and The South	Exploring Hegemonic Masculinities in The World Gender Order from The East and The South Session Organizer Futoshi TAGA, Kansai University, Japan,   Not open for submission of abstracts . It is almost 40 years since the establishment of United Nation’s International Women’s Year and a “feminist” or “gender” perspective has now become one of the essential approaches in every area of sociological studies. While it is fundamental to focus on women and femininities in order to understand the conditions of gender inequality, we should also closely look at the other side of gender relations: men and masculinities. Although sociology of men and masculinities has been studying up the ways in which male-dominant regimes are maintained and legitimized, it tended to focus only on “Western” societies at a national level. However, during the last decade, we witnessed the global emergence of sociological research on “non-Western” masculinities, which had a great impact not only on the sociology of gender but also on the sociological analyses of the global structures of power and economy. Based on the papers which look at the construction of masculinities in some regions outside Europe/North America, the session explores the regional variation of the construction of hegemonic masculinities and their relations with Euro/American hegemonic masculinities. Looking at the ways in which regional gender orders are maintained or changed by interaction with the global gender order, the session is expected to bring deeper understanding of the background of gender inequalities and explore the way to overcome them in both regional and global level.
ad	5	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/ad-hoc-sessions.htm	Facets of Multiculturalism and Transnationalism	Facets of Multiculturalism and Transnationalism Session Organizers Eliezer BEN-RAFAEL, Tel-Aviv University, Israel,   Judit BOKSER-LIWERANT, Mexico National University, Mexico,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Contemporary transnationalism can be studied from many different perspectives. One aspect concerns the insertion into societies of populations carrying a wide diversity of cultural singularity originating from the outside challenging, in many cases, national cultures’ aspiration to sociocultural unity. Another aspect is the dual homeness illustrated by present-day diasporas the allegiances of which cut across national borders and fuel the multiculturalization of society. Moreover, one may also focus on the multiculturalization of the transnational diasporas themselves as their dispersed communities are exposed to different mainstream cultures which unavoidably contribute to their transformation. In these circumstances also arise the questions  of the roles of central policies in the “ordering” of the social and cultural reality, on the one hand, and on the other, the diasporans’ own aspirations and the extent that they resist the abandon of their identities and original cultures on behalf of national tokens acquired in their new homelands. This atmosphere is favorable to the multiplicity of cultural influences throughout society and the propagation of phenomena of ‘hybridization’. This notion finds its utility in its accounting for new cultural developments discernible in this era of transnationalism as it is associated with innovations and mixings of sources, inviting actors of all boards to question, redefine and argue about their identities. One more crucial aspect in this imbroglio of developments, most countries which attract migrants these years consist of veteran democracies where the maturation of political processes witnesses a profusion of actors– including diasporan communities which come to constitute constituencies and to articulate identity politics. This very process is expected to decrease diasporans’ alienation – if such existed a priori . Though, at the same time, it is also plausible,  that whenever politics is a source of profits, this very fact should also be an incentive for leaders to increase the political mobilization of their followers. Further on, empowered actors may also be tempted to strive for responsiveness not only to their specific demands but also to aspirations regarding what constitutes at all in their eyes a ‘desirable’ society, eventually attacking some of the prevalent premises of the mainstream culture. What is commonly referred to as ‘the right to difference’ might thus be the starting-point of bitter conflicts over the validity of longstanding societal codes. In this, multiculturalism comes to exemplify a ‘risk society’ faced with the dilemma of the limits of multiculturalism. On the other hand, it is here to underline that multiculturalization and the multiplication of transnational diasporas contribute – to some degree - to a slackening of the rigor of duties associated with civility. That neither transnational allegiances nor national identification encompass the total commitment of many individuals to their settings’ respective agendas and general concerns may account for a degree of freedom vis-à-vis each of these commitments, and especially vis-à-vis the society, on the side of circles among diasporans may leave imprints on how non-diasporan citizens get to feel about their societal obligations. These developments request capturing societal and global realities within new prisms. One may think here of the notion of chaos that has recently gained popularity in the social sciences. On the other hand, chaos does not exclude gestalt and it leaves room for pinpointing that the coexistence of communities in the frame of a same diasporan world, and of various diaspora communities evolving in a same societal space, may come to create different lines of what Wittgenstein called ‘family resemblance’. These lines of affinity influence each other and may attenuate the chaotic character of contemporary social reality. They multiply both the opportunities of inter-group adjustments and “good reasons for conflict”. They demonstrate how far their study and investigation concern the transformations of today’s global social reality. 
ad	6	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/ad-hoc-sessions.htm	Inequality, the Capability Approach and Sociology	Inequality, the Capability Approach and Sociology Session Organizers Jean-Michel BONVIN, University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland,   Jean DE MUNCK, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium,   Bénédicte ZIMMERMANN, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, France,   Not open for submission of abstracts . Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum´s Capability Approach is nowadays a well-known analytical framework in non-classical economics and development studies. It gave birth to an "epistemic community" challenging, at the global level, indicators of well-being and growth. Economists, epidemiologists, philosophers, gender studies scholars use the concept of capability in order to describe, explain and assess very different social realities in plural contexts. This session aims to discuss the conditions for the use of the concept of capability in sociology. Three issues must be dealt with in order to address this question: Is the Capability Approach related to methodological individualism or are we to consider that this approach is better described as an "ethical individualism" (borrowing Ingrid Robeyns' term), compatible with different epistemological points of view? Capabilities grasp the individual person through the lens of opportunities, preferences, skills and entitlements. They convey a version of individual reflexivity that includes collective and social dimensions (namely individual freedom as a social responsibility). Capabilities encompass a double dimension: a descriptive and a normative one. How to deal with these two dimensions? As a descriptive framework, capabilities focus the inquiry on scopes of opportunities, resources, entitlements and the achievements (functionings: beings and doings) they allow. They furthermore address people's preferences and the conversion operators required to transform available resources into effective achievements. As a normative framework, the capability approach invites sociologists to set up an evaluative knowledge of social situations (poverty, gender relationships, education, work, health issues…), making out of equal freedom of choice and achievement a yardstick of assessment. Capabilities cannot be reduced to "skills" or "competences", they require positive freedom of achievement. They furthermore imply a pluralist understanding of deliberation, making out of people's agency a central issue. The focus on equality of capabilities goes along with a critique of alternative versions of equality: equality of utilities, equality of resources or equality of formal rights. According to a Capability Approach, the freedom of achievement is not only a matter of resource distribution. It is as well a matter of conversion of resources into valuable achievements. In so far, in order to assess unequalities, it invites social scientists to consider the conditions for the conversion of resources into achievements in changing contexts. Breaking with Rawls' legacy, Sen is arguing for a "realist" theory of justice open to empirical findings. Sociology can contribute, in its own way, to this interdisciplinary dialogue. Revisiting equality/inequalities, individual/collective agency by the means of the capability concept may open up new policy frameworks, in old Welfare States as well as in "emergent" economies. It will be the aim of the session to show the potential richness of a Capability-oriented framework via the discussion of sociological empirical studies addressing inequalities in different spheres of life. Addressing public action as aimed to the promotion of human rights and democratic participation will set a transversal line of discussion. David Harvey described the Capability Approach as a variation of neo-liberalism. The session seeks to discuss whether another reading open to sociology is possible: the Capability Approach beyond liberalism.
ad	7	http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/ad-hoc-sessions.htm	Rethinking Modernity and Capitalisms	Rethinking Modernity and Capitalisms Session Organizer Henri LUSTIGER THALER, Ramapo College of New Jersey, USA,   Not open for submission of abstracts . With the rise of Asia and emerging societies, ours is an age of multi-polarity. Yet our social science analytics and paradigms remain wedded to older formats. Established ideas of modernity and capitalism and their extrapolations in the form of narrow angles on globalization reflect epochs when Europe and the West led industrial modernity, which now lies well behind us. Societies that used to be looked up to as models to emulate have lost their model status and appeal. That conventional understandings of modernity are ethnocentric is a handicap generally, but more so since in the 21st century emerging societies have become drivers of the world economy. To come to grips with contemporary multi-polarity we need to think of modernity and capitalism in the plural, as modernities and capitalisms. Recognizing that modernities are multiple and diverse and transcending ideal-type modernity and its Eurocentric legacy, acknowledges the multipolar realities of 21st century globalization and the rise of the rest. International Sociological Association June 2013   //