About congress

The 18^th Polish Sociological Congress
Society of the Future: Recompositions

Over the last decade, we have witnessed numerous phenomena, events, and calamities which have disrupted a sense of stability and incontrovertibility regarding the world in which we live. Conspicuous are the signs of a climactic catastrophe, the weakening of liberal democracy and resurgence of authoritarianism, a shaken trust in science, humanitarian crises, and, finally, a pandemic that not only suspended what we had long considered normal life, but exposed weaknesses heretofore unnoticed. All these manifestations evoke inescapable thoughts of an end to the world as we know it.

This is not the first turning point of its kind: sociology has described many, including the most extensive and teeming transition to modernization when the industrial market, democracy, and nation-states arose out of the ruins of the feudal era. The processes and experiences which bring so much disquiet today signal a break with the past and the contravention of established patterns of thinking, but, to the same degree, they unveil and predict the future.

The challenge for sociology is to skillfully discern new forms of social life emerging from the present chaos – yet this requires a search for new concepts and models of thought. The 18^th Polish Sociological Congress stands as an invitation to a collaborative reflection upon the most important social phenomena of the 21^st century and to a bold gaze into the future. The theme of this congress is Society of the Future: Recompositions. With this title we express our conviction that today’s turbulence, growing diversification, and ever more fluid boundaries are a harbinger of new social configurations, new social practices, and new (to refer to Max Weber) “great cultural ideas.” The framework of the congress program is delineated by four broad topics under which presentations and discussions will be organized.

The LANDSCAPE OF TOMORROW considers new practices and lifestyles. Examined will be the new technologies encroaching upon our lives with increasing intensity, the species boundaries crossed in social relations, interactions with non-human actors, the changing paradigm in human-environment relations, and the new ways in which physical space is organized in the city and countryside. All these are already evident, but we must be able to imagine the landscapes in which these social experiences will culminate.

The subject of SOCIETY IN A TIME OF MALADY focuses on (but is not limited to) the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzed here will be the unique functioning of groups, institutions, and collectivities under pandemic circumstances (disease as an objective entity) as well as the cultural, social, religious (secularization), economic (the neoliberal paradigm undermined), and political (the authoritarian turn) problems which have come to the fore or even escalated due to the coronavirus (illness as a metaphor for social life).

Falling within the scope of MOBILITY-DIVERSITY-MINORITIES is the matter of escalating mobility and social diversification. Highlighted will be a capturing of the forces at work in social recompositions. Not only are novel processes of heterogeneity taking place, but old diversities (e.g., ethnic, religious, class, etc.) are being rediscovered by scholars just as new possibilities for fuller political recognition are gained by minorities.

THE SOCIETY OF UNCERTAINTY delves into the instability and incertitude which – aroused by the intensifying dynamics and changeability of the social world – renders it ever more unpredictable. Escaping human control, the contemporary world provokes various social actors to undertake new behaviors, seek less obvious forms of agency and resourcefulness, and rebuild relationships and community anew. Under such circumstances, the social functioning of academia – especially the role of sociology – changes in the face of mounting complexity and volatility.

The 18^th Polish Sociological Congress will be particularly inclusive for PhD candidates and postdoc researchers who are the future of our discipline. A dedicated forum for young sociology will be established to facilitate the sharing of knowledge about (inter alia) publishing know-how, funding opportunities, realizing academic potential, and making a social impact.