Midterm Conference ESA Political Sociology 2022

Since 2020, European society and politics have been confronted to one of the most important challenges since the end of the II World War. How does political sociology deal with the social and political consequences of the pandemic? Is the Covid-19 pandemic an intensification of previous trends or a turning point in Europe? To what extent has the pandemic disturbed consensus on the politics of expertise and the geo-politics of European integration? How has the pandemic shifted patterns of social inequality, gender, racial and ethnic stratification, social protest, securitization, immigration, climate change, illiberalism and populism? Can we observe dynamics of depoliticization, de-democratization and or re-politicization? Political sociology is well placed to interrogate the continuities and discontinuities, in ideas, interests and social patterns, across and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 7th Mid-Term Conference what will be held in November 2022 represents an opportunity for scholar in political sociology aiming to re-assessment, and renew conceptualizations, to share theoretical reflection and discuss empirical research. In this conference we seek to offer a space for colleagues to reflect on the role of Political Sociology not only in generating innovative analyses, but also in considering the social and political conditions of the production of academic knowledge in linking with the multiple and complex challenges posed by the transformation of contemporary democracies, in Europe and elsewhere.