ISA RC36 sessions at the 38 Congress of the International Institute of Sociology
Budapest, Hungary
June 26-30, 2008
http://www.iisoc.org/iis2008

RC36 will have 3 sessions. Please send abstracts to chairs by January 15, 2008:

1. Alienation in a Global Age
Chair: Devorah Kalekin dkalekin@construct.haifa.ac.il
For Marx, alienation, qua objectification and estrangement, was rooted in the nature of wage labor in the early 19th C capitalism. But in the current era, given the demise of formerly existing socialisms, a new international division of labor and changing occupational structures in late capitalist consumer societies, it has become necessary to rethink the classical formulations. More specifically, current research and theory shows that alienation remains a useful concept for understanding the nature of service work, new political realities of powerlessness as well as empowerment, an international culture and new forms of commodified subjectivity, identity and even the body. Moreover, today, we see various efforts at overcoming alienation from global justice movements to escapist forms of trangressive popular culture in which "de-sublimation has taken on new forms from video games to carnivalesque festivals.
Today, revisions of alienation inform such various phenomenon as fundamentalisms, ethno-nationalisms, school shootings and the growing fragmentation of social relationships. Moreover, many of the new technologies of communication and entertainment, from computers and cell phones to I-pods and video games can be sites of alienation as well as new forms of community, agency and empowerment. Finally, alienation is evident in new kinds of interpersonal relationships and organizations ranging from casual sexuality to self help and recovery groups.

2. Is another sociology possible
Chair: Marty Prosono, MProsono@MissouriState.edu
This session would be concerned with the transformations needed by sociology as a discipline we have moved to a globalized world. How has the integration of de-territorialized world markets, transnational regulatory groups and a globalized culture impacted the body, lifestyles and identities, and above all, the "sociological imagination". Moreover, given new kinds of domination, alienation and exploitation, there have emerged a variety of global justice movements in which the WSF has become the symbol of these new kinds of transnational mobilizations. Many sociologists demand a "public sociology" that would inform people and speak truth to power. What are the appropriate theories and methods to understand the new global social formations and new kinds of culture, identity and mobilization? What are the professional, ethical and scientific issues surrounding the place of sociology in the increasingly virtual reality of a globalized, post-modern world.

3. Nationalism in a Post National World
Chair: Lauren Langman Llang944@aol.com
Today many scholars have proclaimed the nation state a historic relic of an earlier age, yet meanwhile, nationalism is ever more rampant and we see the devastating consequences of nationalist conflicts in the Middle East. This session will try to explore the nature of nationalism and national conflicts in a global age.