Call for Papers
for the Plenary Assembly:
Political Inequality and Cohesion.
Politics between the Poles of Heterogenization and Homogenization
of the DGS sections Political Sociology and European Sociology
Following the tenor of public debates, politics must safeguard social cohesion by, for
instance, promoting the formation of will in society as a whole, making and
implementing collectively binding decisions, organizing political fellowship, and
guaranteeing democratic legitimation. This task, however, does not seem that simple.
First, contemporary complex societies are characterized by a high level of diversity both
in everyday world and culture. At the same time, they are still dealing with social
inequalities. The political integration of heterogeneous societies must safeguard the
acceptance and inclusion of differing, possibly contrary interests, life plans, and
identities, as well as a general involvement of the members of society in spite of unequal
chances in life and of participation. Second, even politically, social cohesion is no longer
to be organized in nation state categories only, as processes of transnationalization and
Europeanization increase social diversity within, between, as well as across nation
states. “Unity through diversity”, as aspired by the European Union, remains fragile with
regard to political cohesion while the current monetary, financial, and economic crisis in
the Euro area strengthens social inequality through the political architecture of the EU
and thereby invests in international and transnational conflict situations. Third, political
organizations of ruling are themselves guarantors of cultural and social diversity, as the
granting of (political) fundamental rights allows for, and even promotes, social
differentiation and pluralization in the first place. In the European and international
context, nation states and their regional subdivisions constitute political societies
through which processes of homogenization and heterogenization are equally inspired.
The plenary assembly aims at researching into this set of problems and at reflecting on
the meaning of political structures and processes of ruling for the genesis of social
diversity and cohesion. A particular focus will thereby be on aspects relevant for
inequality. Several questions are to be at the center of attention:
-
What is the interrelationship between political processes of institutionalization and
the homogenization and heterogenization of social reality – on a local, national, and
1
-
-
European level? What is the role of conflict, compromise, and consensus for a
“political society”?
How do structures of social inequality and processes of political institutionalization
and legitimization react to one another? Does the link between social and political
inequalities change, and does this relationship also have a spatial dimension within
(supra)national organizations of ruling?
Do historical conflict situations change? Are we dealing with a renaissance of “old”
political conflicts (conflicts of distribution, in particular)? Is the process of
Europeanization accompanied by a renationalization of political conflicts, actors and
mobilizations?
Please submit your abstracts for the plenary assembly by March 31st, 2012 to Maurizio
Bach (maurizio.bach@uni-passau.de) and Martin Endreß (endress@uni-trier.de).
They should contain: Topic, name, institution, postal address, e-mail address and a
suggestion of topics (max. 5000 characters including spaces)
Jurors and contact persons:
Maurizio Bach (maurizio.bach@uni-passau.de)
Martin Endreß (endress@uni-trier.de)
2