Conference Sessions

This session invites a range of research which addresses issues in sociological and wider social theory, broadly defined. We encourage potential submitters to check the range of other social theory sessions to see if there are other sessions better suited to the theme(s) of their work. If you don't find something, then this is the place for you! Join in a diverse dialogue across a range of social theory.

This session aims to provide a space for the engagement with a wide range of 'classical' social theory, including not only the typical classics such as Marx, Durkheim, and Weber, but a wider range of interdisciplinary influences in what has developed over time into contemporary sociology, ranging from Plato and Aristotle, to Ibn Sina and Ibn Khaldun, to Smith and Kant, to Saint-Simon and Comte, to Hegel and Nietzsche, to Wollstonecraft, Cooley, Simmel, DuBois, and beyond! This session seeks to critically revive engagement with sociology's interdisciplinary past, both challenging narrow assumptions many have in their readings of the classics and allowing for the redeployment of 'living theory,' from the past to the present, and into the future.

This session aims to provide a space for the engagement with a wide range of 'classical' social theory, including not only the typical classics such as Marx, Durkheim, and Weber, but a wider range of interdisciplinary influences in what has developed over time into contemporary sociology, ranging from Plato and Aristotle, to Ibn Sina and Ibn Khaldun, to Smith and Kant, to Saint-Simon and Comte, to Hegel and Nietzsche, to Wollstonecraft, Cooley, Simmel, DuBois, and beyond! This session seeks to critically revive engagement with sociology's interdisciplinary past, both challenging narrow assumptions many have in their readings of the classics and allowing for the redeployment of 'living theory,' from the past to the present, and into the future.

For too long the theory and practice of sociology have been divided from one another, with subdivisions expanding in each category. Quantitative work in one camp and qualitative in another, with all those theoretical eggheads in a closet, only allowed out to teach the one mandatory theory class to the undergrads before being shooed away again. Often wider metatheoretical considerations are only used to choose one’s methods - the constructivist choosing this, the positivist choosing that – without a proper bridge being developed and maintained between ‘high theory’ and the individual conceptual development undertaken in inductive research. This session aims to provide a space to challenge these divisions, a space for sociologists to bring together questions of theory and practice by demonstrating how they are applying a wide range of social theory to their research. We are looking for work that balances theoretical engagement with methodological, fieldwork, and policy considerations, challenging each with the other in a progressive dialectical manner. We are open to papers which view sociological practice as a purely empirical space, for papers which view practice as policy consideration – internal to the discipline or otherwise – and for papers which present theory as a practice. Papers drawing on theories of method, grounded theory, demonstrative examples of applied theory, wider discussions of the applicability of theoretical work in empirical sociological practice, and the impact of sociological theory in the everyday of doing sociology are all welcomed and encouraged for this session.

This roundtable session is organized in the spirit of professional development, mentorship, and sharing. We invite undergraduate social scientists to submit papers to this session with the purpose of providing an opportunity to present work at an academic conference, network with colleagues and receive constructive feedback about their work. All papers are welcome from undergraduates, including papers completed as a part of required course work, honours theses, and other original research.