Executive Committee 2023-2027

Geoffrey Pleyers, President of the ISA
Rabat, 11 July 2025

A time for sociology

A few days ago, I shared my conviction that this is a time for sociology.

However, these are challenging times. Authoritarian leaders and anti-intellectual currents shrink the democratic spaces. While Prof. Benjamin reminds us that ideas and knowledge matter, the ideas that dominate our world are producing a future of surveillance, exploitation, rising inequality and necropolitics.

This should not hide the fact that our discipline has been able to revitalise itself. Research presented throughout this Forum has showed that sociology has become more global in its conceptual frameworks.

It has integrated knowledge and perspectives rooted in diverse regions and epistemic traditions to address the Anthropocene, global warming, the imperative to protect nature, of which humans are a part, and contribute to an urgent transition that has to be ecological, but also social, cultural and eco-feminist.

Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of attending the Latin American and European congresses of sociology. I took part in national congresses in India, Spain, Colombia, Japan, Lithuania, Uruguay and Brazil.

In each congress, I witnessed a vibrant and revigorated sociology:

• A sociology grounded in local contexts, yet attentive to global dynamics;
• A sociology that does not reject subjectivities, but draws upon them;
• A sociology that has profoundly transformed itself, with a renewal rooted in the epistemologies of the South;
• A sociology that has taken into account feminist and decolonial critiques and taken up the task of rethinking its concepts, its epistemologies, its methods and its history.

A space for sharing research and debate in an increasingly intolerant world

Therefore, I remain optimistic about the present and the future of our discipline. However, I am also concerned, particularly about the rise of intolerance, both in broader society, within the academic world and among sociologists. Disagreement is increasingly met with disrespect, dismissal, and sometimes even hatred by those who claim a monopoly on truth or moral superiority.

This Forum of Sociology has shown that disagreement is possible and that different perspectives may improve our analyses. I am grateful for the richness of the exchanges that took place across over 1300 panels. Even on very sensitive topics, such as the debate on the suspension of the Israeli Sociological Society, we have been able to express diverging views with respect.

This is no small achievement. In a time of wars, increasing hatred, racism, and intolerance, we have shared our research, supported each other and debated. When we came to disagree, we did so constructively. We have learned from one another. This is the basis  of global sociology and of the ISA, and this was the heart of this Forum.

Missed voices

Throughout the Forum, I was deeply impressed by the quality of many papers, especially those presented by young researchers. Thank you for your dedication, your work, and your presence here in Rabat.

There were also voices we missed. I missed our colleagues from Iran. I missed friends and respected scholars from Israel, those who oppose the genocide in Gaza and the illegal settlements in the West Bank. I missed more voices from Palestinian colleagues, who could not join us, some due to the daily constraints of life under occupation, others because of flight cancellations, and others because their visa request was refused. This was notably the case for Abeer Musleh, Vice-President of RC34 (Sociology of Youth) and Professor at the Bethlehem University.

Let me address a few words to our colleagues in the West Bank, Palestine: each time I enter a classroom, I wonder how you must feel entering yours, uncertain whether your students will make it past the checkpoints and around the settlements. I admire your courage and your commitment to continue teaching and researching under such conditions.

The joy of being together in Rabat stands in contrast to the grief we feel reading the news. Every day of our Forum, children and adults in Gaza were killed while trying to find food to survive one more day.

The ISA has issued three public statements condemning the genocide in Gaza and expressing concern for our colleagues in the West Bank. This is important, but we must do more. Solidarity must also be expressed through concrete actions, concrete projects supporting our Palestinian colleagues as teachers, students, or engaged sociologists working within civil society.

These are difficult times for many sociologists around the world, particularly for those living through other armed conflicts, notably in Ukraine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and many other parts of the world. These are difficult times for those living in exile. These are difficult times for those who suffer repression, harassment, for those who have been threatened, arrested and jailed for practising sociology and speaking truth to power.

To all our colleagues who stand firm in defence of knowledge, analysis, and tolerance, I want to express our deepest solidarity. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for the hope you give us. Thank you for remaining sociologists. Thank you for remaining human in this world.

Thank you!

I cannot close this fantastic Forum without thanking those who made it happen, those whose dedication, generosity, and behind-the-scenes work made these six insightful days possible.

I want to begin by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to the 300 volunteers who joined us at the Forum. Over these six days, you were the face of this Forum. Shukran for every small and large gesture of support you offered to participants. Shukran for the countless times you crossed the campus to guide us to a room. Shukran for your welcoming words, your patience, your smiles, and your contagious enthusiasm. Shukran to the cleaning ladies, the gardeners, the security men and everyone from the faculties. Your motivation and kindness has embodied the spirit of hospitality and the culture of Morocco.

I thank and congratulate Allison Loconto, the President of this Forum, for such a successful event and for mobilising our RCs around an insightful theme. Thank you for your handling of the challenges that inevitably arise in events of this scale. This Forum has brought several innovations that will become part of the ISA's future: the Code of Conduct and the Film Festival stand out, and I thank Hermilio Santos and Talja Blokland, and all the organizing committee.

We are very thankful to the Local Organising Committee, and its chair Abdelfattah Ezzine. We are grateful to the City of Rabat and Mohammed V University for hosting us so generously, and notably its President and Vice-President, Prof. Ismail Kissou. Please let me say a few extra words for Professor Abdelatif Kidai, the Dean of the Faculty of Education. Although discreet, his tireless work, his support, and his ability to solve problems made the difference. This Forum and the ISA owe him a great deal. Let us also thank Mission Conseil, our local conference organizer, for their dedication and efficient work.

This Forum would not have happened without the Program Coordinators of our 65 Research Committees, Working Groups, and Thematic Groups. You have carried out an essential and time-consuming task, which was crucial in this Forum. My thanks to the session organizers, for the care you gave to your panels, to each participant, and especially to those attending their first ISA event. My warmest thank you to the RC/WG/TG presidents. This is where the heart of our Association beats. It is through our research networks that we share our research, build meaningful exchanges, and create friendships.

Although this Forum is a collective achievement, there is one person who has held it all together: Cecilia Delgado Molina, our exceptional Executive Secretary. This was her very first Forum—what a baptism of fire! Cecilia, congratulations and thank you for your dedication, commitment and remarkable work. Let us thank the entire ISA Team. The ISA is fortunate to rely on your professionalism, humanity, and dedication. Thank you, Anna Maria, our communications and social media manager. Thank you, Nataly, our Membership Officer, for your patience when replying thousands of emails and to the participants during this week. Thank you, Zouhair, for building bridges. Thank you, Elena, our new Event Organizer, for the energy and experience you bring to the team. Thank you Lola and Priscilla, who supported this Forum from our office in Barcelona.

I would like to thank our four Vice-Presidents: Allison Loconto, Bandana Purkayastha, Marta Soler, and Elina Oinas, for their work with our Research Committees, National Associations, Publications, and Finance.

I thank the editors of the ISA journals who joined us in Rabat—Gabriel Kessler and Juan Piovani, Kelvin Low and Joonmo Son, Joy Zhang and Breno Bringel. Thank you for organising training sessions and keeping our publications vibrant and open to emerging voices.

Thank you to each member of the Executive Committee. A special mention to the Human Rights Committee, chaired by Ana Rivoir, and to Nazanin Shahrokni, Dan Woodman, Aaron Pitluck, and David Dueñas, who worked on important projects over the past months.

Thank you to our 15 social media ambassadors, who brought a new dimension to this Forum.

I’m also grateful to the Gwangju team for joining us here in Rabat: the 18May Foundation, Prof. Jhang Wonho (Chair of the LOC), Prof. Lim Woontak and Prof. Han Joon, and a special thank you to Seo Yuju for her efficiency and dedication. I have seen your motivation firsthand, and I can assure everyone: Gwangju will be a fantastic Congress.

I also want to thank the President of the European Sociological Association, Kaja Gadowska, the Co-Presidents of the East Asian Sociological Association, Nomiya Daishiro and Zheng Bing, and the Vice-President of the Latin American Sociological Association, Breno Bringel, for being present and actively contributing to the Forum.

I am deeply grateful to my two predecessors Sari Hanafi and Margaret Abraham, who joined us in Rabat. The ISA owes you both so much. I thank Michael Burawoy—so missed, and yet so present this week. He was present tonight through the vibrant and passionate talk by Ruha Benjamin. Michael helped build the ISA community like no other and remains our moral compass.

And finally, I would like to thank the 4,120 participants in this Forum. Thanks to your presence, and your contributions, the ISA has grown in knowledge, in wisdom, and in solidarity. We will meet again in your RC conferences, in your national associations’ congresses, and in 2027 in Gwangju, the city of democracy, in South Korea.

Until then, keep the insights, the energy, and the friendships you have built in Rabat and remember that this is a time when a global dialogue is transforming sociology, this is a time when sociology must be supported and defended, this is a time when sociologists must speak out, for democracy, for tolerance, and for social justice. This is a time for sociology.