CALL FOR PAPERS
12th Annual Meeting of the
INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL THEORY CONSORTIUM
The Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilization
Thursday 27th – Friday 28th June 2013
The Copenhagen campus of Aalborg University, Denmark
Host Institution:
Department of Sociology and Social Work
Aalborg University, Denmark
The Department of Sociology and Social Work at Aalborg University is proud to host the annual International Social Theory Consortium conference at our newly established Copenhagen campus, located on the waterfront of the city. The campus is easy to access by bus, s-train or bike. The campus is situated on a beautiful site in Copenhagen and provides a great location for the conference!
The purpose of the Consortium and its annual conferences is to provide a forum for the international social theory community. Each conference has a specific theme, and papers are being invited that address both the differences between European, North American and other perspectives on social theory, and that encompass the diverse subject matter, theoretical approaches and methodological issues that characterize social theory.
In 2013, the conference will focus on the Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilization: the ways in which contemporary malaises and diseases are related to cultural pathologies of the social body and disorders of the collective esprit de corps of contemporary society manifest on all levels of socio-cultural life, from individual patients’ bodies, via such social forms as voluntary associations and social movements, to national societies and global civilization. Thus, the conference will examine, e.g., how the pathological features of the social & bodies politic are mediated and aggravated further by the transformation and embedding of ways of thinking that are biomedically reductionist and which tend to be psychologistic at the level of individual experience.
Contemporary problems of well-being, human flourishing and health must be scrutinized in light of radical changes of social structures and institutions, extending to deep crises in our civilization as a whole. These problems have hitherto been considered in isolation; both in isolation from one another, and in isolation from broader contexts. The human person is an indivisible whole, the functioning of the body as an organism is intrinsically linked with the functioning of its mind, and even its ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’. Recovery of our individual and collective health & well-being thus needs to be conceived of within such a holistic context, encompassing the importance of meaningfulness to human flourishing. Indeed, related analyses must encompass not just the individual body, the integral human person, and collective social bodies (along with corresponding forms of social organization), but the health of humanity as a whole and our relationship with Nature.
What are the kinds of contributions that social theory is able to make in helping to understand the links between social transformations, social pathologies, and contemporary experiences and perceptions of human flourishing, and to foster international expertise amongst scholars, researchers and postgraduate students working in a variety of fields across the arts, humanities and social sciences? The organizers welcome proposals for papers or for sessions on any topic in social theory, though papers related directly to the conference theme will receive preferred consideration. Please send abstracts (150 -250 words) and outlines/ proposals for sessions (1 -2 pages) to the conference organizers. For a list of conference theme-related topics and submission deadline, see below.
SUGGESTED SUBTOPICS:
A. Health and well-being of…
i. the individual body
ii. the integral human person
iii. collective social bodies
iv. humanity as a whole
v. humanity and nature
vi. society as a whole.
vii. communities
C. Human Health, Meaning, and Human Flourishing
B: Models of Recovering individual and collective health & well-being:
i. Social
ii. Political
iii. Holistic
iv. Critical
v. Interpretive
vi. Cultural
D. Social Theory, Individual & Collective Experiences of Social Transformations and of Health & Well-being
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Anders Petersen – Convenor Associate Professor of Sociology Aalborg University, Denmark
Rasmus Antoft Associate Professor of Sociology and Head, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Denmark
Please submit abstracts by March 15, 2013 to Anders Petersen: apt@socsci.aau.dk
For up-to-date information (keynote speakers, registration fee, lodging), visit: http://socialtheory.org
