Centre for Research of Socio-Cultural Change
Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change ¬ The University of
Manchester ¬ Oxford Road ¬ Manchester M13 9PL ¬ United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 8985 ¬ Fax: +44 (0)161 275 8986 ¬ cresc@man.ac.uk ¬
www.cresc.man.ac.uk
CALL FOR PAPERS
“Culture and Social Change: Disciplinary Exchanges”
11-13 July 2005
A conference hosted by
ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC)
to be held at
Hulme Hall
The University of Manchester, UK
Keynote Speakers:
Craig Calhoun (Sociology, New York University)
Veena Das (Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University)
Conference Outline
Numerous accounts of contemporary epochal change now circulate in popular
and academic thinking: globalization; de-traditionalization; individualization;
neo-liberalism; the Third Way. Claims such as these, with their bold
arguments about the novelty and dramatic significance of emerging currents
post huge challenges for our understanding of social change. We need to
think critically and reflexively about how our own intellectual foundations,
based in disciplinary divides constructed in the early modern period, may
prove inadequate to understand such changes. We need to consider the
limits of findings produced by research methods, and what kinds of empirical
investigation allow us to assess and develop our awareness of change.
The issue of culture is central here. All epochal theories place great
significance on cultural change in one way or another. Yet the place of
culture differs radically. For those influenced by the cultural turn, all
relationships are inflected by, and defined by, cultural processes. In other
accounts, cultural change is a concomitant of other kinds of social, economic,
or political changes, with the implication that culture itself is a more
autonomous field. Cultural issues are also important in forcing us to reflect on
the contributions of different disciplines to understanding social change. Many
of the earliest and most influential accounts of change have been developed
by writers within media and cultural studies, but these are often not translated
into other academic disciplines. More established disciplines, such as
anthropology, geography, history, and sociology also have extensive interests
in ‘culture’, which cross cut but which, despite a certain common vocabulary,
do not speak directly to each other. The aim of this conference is to
encourage inter-disciplinary exchanges between researchers in anthropology,
history, geography, sociology and management sciences to develop a greater
dialogue about possible ways of understanding culture and social change,
and to investigate the potential for systematic inter-disciplinary research.
The conference will appeal to those interested in questions such as:
·
What has the impact of the ‘cultural turn’ been on different academic
disciplines, and has the ‘cultural turn’ now reached its limit?
·
What do different disciplines understand by culture, and is there
convergence between different disciplinary frameworks?
·
What are the contemporary prospects for media and cultural studies, and
more established disciplines?
·
How are different conceptions of culture implicated in theories of social
change?
·
How best can empirical research inform debates on culture and social
change?
This conference will be hosted by the new Centre for Research in SocioCultural Change (CRESC), a new ESRC funded research centre whose
mission it is to develop and execute a structured programme of empirical
research to allow us to develop and elaborate our understanding of sociocultural change. This, our first annual conference will comprise a series of key
note sessions exploring these issues, as well as papers in a series of themes
focused to allow us to examine the different perspectives of academic
disciplines on culture and social change. Leading anthropologists, historians,
geographers, management scientists, and sociologists will talk about ways of
conceiving culture within their disciplines. A particular feature will be a plenary
roundtable where they debate different conceptions of culture in their
disciplines with each other.
An invitation for papers
Papers are invited in any area which explores the themes discussed above.
Where appropriate, papers will be streamed into four specific research fields
especially pertinent to debates about socio-cultural change, and because of
their interdisciplinary range. These are:1)
Cultural Economy If the term cultural economy implies some kind of
break with earlier forms of analysis, the field of cultural economy includes
diverse methods and objects which we aim to engage and debate by inviting
papers on key issues which include: the reconfiguratation of the economy in a
financialised and globalised world; new management practices in public and
private sectors; and inequalities around new forms of production and
consumption including the implications for the power elite. (Theme contact:
Professor Karel Williams, karel.williams@manchester.ac.uk, tel: +44 (0)161
275 8987).
2)
Changing Media Cultures and Economies. Grand claims about the
nature and pace of change are perhaps nowhere more evident than in
current theories about the putative epochal transition to a knowledge
economy, a network society or a global cultural economy. Current theories of
societal change place information and communication technologies the heart
of such change but their precise role in bringing about change is often
exaggerated and rarely substantiated with substantial empirical evidence. The
polarities and rifts between, broadly political economy and culturalist
perspectives on questions of media and social change have limited the
potential of interdisciplinary dialogues. How can we bring into closer and
more productive dialogue those working on media economies and media
cultures? We invite papers on three intersecting themes a) the impact of
media convergence on media markets b) the implications of changing
configurations of media audiences for the structure and organisation of
social and political life and c) the consequences of current media and
communications policies for social inclusion and cohesion, and new forms of
political and cultural identification. (Theme contact: Dr Marie Gillespie,
M.Gillespie@open.ac.uk).
3)
Cultural Governance and Citizenship. The increasing significance of
neo-liberal forms of governance has highlighted the importance and distinctive
nature of the role played by culture in neo-liberal forms of governance. What
has been the history of relations between culture, liberal government and
varied regimes of citizenship? What bearing does this have in contemporary
deployments of culture in both formal policy domains and everyday forms of
social regulation? What light do the perspectives of historians, sociologists,
anthropologists, cultural geographers and cultural studies academics throw on
these questions? (Theme contact: Professor Tony Bennett,
T.Bennett@open.ac.uk, tel: +44 (0)1908 654431).
4)
Changing Cultural Values and Politics It is argued that cultural values
appear more unstable, fractured and complex than previously, leading to a
greater fluidity of meaning and effects, so that social categories, such as
class, ethnicity or gender, do not relate directly to personal cultural identity.
However, ‘individualisation’ and ‘de-traditionalisation’ theories often rely
limited historical understandings of the nature of cultural values in the past,
superficial survey evidence, and pay inadequate attention to the way that
stabilities and continuities can be detected even where claims to change are
strong. We are also keen to explore the gaps between ‘expert’ accounts of
change and lay beliefs in a variety of global locations. Accordingly, we
welcome papers offering new and distinctive approaches to this issue from
researchers in anthropology, history, sociology and geography, as well as
other relevant disciplines. (Theme contact: Professor Mike Savage,
mike.savage@manchester.ac.uk, tel: +44 (0)161 275 8987).
In addition, we also plan an open a theme on Culture and Social Change:
disciplinary exchanges.
Abstracts/full papers
Any researcher with interests in any of these fields is encouraged to submit a
paper to any one of these themes. Abstracts, of up to 200 words, should be
submitted to cresc@manchester.ac.uk by 28 Feburary 2005, with an
indication of which theme it is particularly relevant to. You will be informed by
the end of March if your paper has been accepted.
Full papers to be submitted by 23 June 2005 for inclusion on conference CD.
For further details on the submission of papers, please contact:
Fiona Wilson (Centre Administrator)
fiona.wilson@manchester.ac.uk
tel: +44 (0)161 275 8990
fax: +44 (0)161 275 8986
Abstracts will be available to view before the conference on the CRESC
website (http://www.cresc.man.ac.uk/). A CD of papers will be given to
delegates at the conference, and will be made available after the conference
on the CRESC website.
Organisation
The conference will run across three days in Manchester. The residential
conference fee includes bed and breakfast accommodation as well as
morning and afternoon break refreshments and lunches. The non-residential
fee includes morning and afternoon break refreshments and lunches.
Evening meals are not included in the conference fee. Please ensure you
book an evening meal in addition, if required.
Booking form available to download at
http://www.cresc.man.ac.uk/events/july04/bookingform.htm or email
cresc@manchester.ac.uk
Karen Ho
Sociology Events & Research Secretary
x 54458
mailto:k.d.ho@open.ac.uk