ESA 2017 conference “(Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities”: Abstract submission now open

“(Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities”
13th European Sociological Conference
European Sociological Assocation
Athens, Greece, 29 August to 1 September 2017
http://www.europeansociology.org./conferences/13th-conference-2017/
Abstract submission via
https://www.conftool.pro/esa2017/
Abstract submission deadline: February 1, 2017

The European Sociological Association’s (ESA) 2017 conference focuses on the changes, problems and changes that contemporary European capitalism is undergoing and will take place in Athens, Greece in August. WIAS/CAMRI Director Christian Fuchs is as member of the ESA’s executive committee acting as the chair of the conference committee.

Invited speakers include David  Harvey, Yanis Varoufakis, Donatella della  Porta, Eva  Illouz, Hartmut Rosa, Silvia  Federici, Ruth Wodak, Gerard  Delanty, Margaret  Abraham, Maria  Kousis, Markus Schulz, Michel Wieviorka, and others.

The conference will feature keynote talks, invited semi-plenaries, sessions by ESA’s 37 thematic networks, 17 research streams, midday specials, and a pre-conference PhD workshop. In addition, the ESA conference provides for the first time the opportunity for submission of abstracts to selected semi-plenary session topics. Such Semi-plenary topics now open for submission include for example the themes “(Un)Making Europe”, “Un)Making Capitalism”, “(Un)Making Solidarities”, “(Un)Making Subjectivities”, and other topics.

Call details:
http://www.europeansociology.org/download/esa2017_CFPs.pdf
Please consult the details of the call and have a look at the guidelines before you start submission.

In order to make use of the reduced conference fee, renew your ESA membership early or become a new ESA member now:
New membership:
http://www.europeansociology.org/member/
Renew membership:
http://www.europeansociology.org/membership_renewal/

Conference theme
“(Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities”

Europe can be made or unmade, and this is especially true since the ‘Great Recession’ of 2008. European  society, and even the  very idea of Europe, is  under threat.

First, the  inherent  contradictions  of capitalism are  obviously stronger  than  we  thought:  Greece, where the emphatic idea of “Europe” originated, has experienced severe austerity measures; Europe has seen a deepening of neo-liberal politics, threats to what remains of the welfare state and increasing inequality.

Second, solidarities are  fragmented  in  and  between  societies across Europe.  The  new world economic crisis formed a context for both the constitution and the undermining of solidarities. On the one hand, from the Arab Uprisings to the various Occupy and Indignados movements and their  manifestations  at  the  level  of  political parties we  have seen rebellions by citizens demanding political change. On the other hand, refugees fleeing  wars  have  been  denied  human rights  and their  lives  have  been  threatened  by  the closure of borders and the lack of a coordinated European strategy.

Third, subjectivities are formed that do not only result in resistance and protest, but also in apathy, despair, depression, and anxiety. Authoritarianism, nationalism, racism, xenophobia, right-wing extremism, spirals of violence, and ideological fundamentalisms have proliferated throughout the world, including in Europe.

As  a  result,  the  promise  of  Europe  and  the  geographical, political,  and  social  borders  of Europe have been unmade and this ‘unmaking’ poses a profound challenge for sociology and the social sciences more generally.

It is in this context that the European Sociological Association’s 2017 Conference  takes place in Athens at the epicentre of the  European crisis. The  underlying question for  the conference is:

How and where to should a sociology that matters evolve? How can sociology’s analyses, theories and methods, across the whole spectrum of ESA’s 37  research  networks  and various  countries,  be  advanced  in order  to  explain  and  understand capitalism,  solidarities and subjectivities in the processes of the making, unmaking and remaking of Europe?

Image by ESA