Resilience and/or Vulnerability of the Civil Sphere
The Editorial Team of Philosophy and Society, an international peer-reviewed and open-access journal issued by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade, is pleased to announce a Call for Papers for its 2025 Special Issue which is dedicated to the topic “Resilience and/or vulnerability of the civil sphere.” This Special Issue will be guest-edited by Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky (Professor of Sociology at Masaryk University), Elisabeth Becker-Topkara (Assistant Professor and Freigeist Fellow, Max Weber Institute of Sociology, Heidelberg University) and Milica Resanović (Research Associate, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade).
Civil Sphere Theory (CST), as the first sociological theory of civil society grounded in interpretative and culturalist principles of cultural sociology, radically transformed sociological thought by introducing a new set of thinking tools for understanding various aspects of democratic life in modern societies. Thus, CST encourages meaning-centered social inquiry of social solidarity and the processes of social inclusion. While CST was initially developed within the U.S. context, it has become globalized through various projects. Researchers worldwide have engaged in empirical research to revise the original theoretical framework and creatively elaborate on its elements and tools. Special endeavors have been undertaken to extend the applicability of CST, not only for analyzing various forms of democratic societies but also for understanding its relevance in authoritarian regimes. Several books published over the last five years, such as The Civil Sphere in Latin America (2018), The Civil Sphere in East Asia (2019), Breaching the Civil Order – Radicalism and the Civil Sphere (2019), The Nordic Civil Sphere (2019), The Civil Sphere and Populism (2020), demonstrate amply that the applicability of civil sphere theory extends beyond the boundaries of the United States.
Although various efforts to “de-provincialize” CST have been undertaken, conducting empirical research driven by CST in different national contexts remains relevant. Firstly, CST prioritizes democratic solidarity and inclusion, providing novel ways to reflect on them in a more systematic and “thicker” manner. Secondly, empirical analyses continue to be important for refining and enriching the original theory, thereby strengthening its universalistic ambitions. Considering this, we invite theoretically inspired empirical studies, with a special emphasis on, but not limited to, research concerning Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, we welcome theoretical innovations aimed at enriching CST as an ongoing theoretical project. Since the applicability of CST tools extends beyond sociology, we encourage submissions not only from sociological perspectives but also from other disciplines such as anthropology, political science, media studies, etc. This special issue aims to capture the latest research on the impact of struggles over meaning on the dynamics of weakening and strengthening social solidarity in various democratic and non-democratic regimes.
Themes to be considered might include, but are not limited to:
- Civil solidarity in the times of radical polarization
- The presence of a civil sphere in authoritarian societies
- Civil, noncivil, and anticivil boundary relations
- Social problems and societalization
- Modes of incorporation of marginalized groups
- Expanding the boundaries of the civil sphere (transnational, globalized, etc.)
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Abstract Submission Deadline: June 30, 2024
Notification of Accepted Abstract: July 20, 2024
Paper Submission Deadline: December 31, 2024
General Guidelines: Papers should be between 5.000 and 10.000 words in length, written in English, and follow the ASA citation style. For further information about the Journal’s guidelines for authors, please see the Submissions page.
Please send your abstract to the Editors
Review Process: All submitted papers will be subjected to the double-blind peer-review process.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Guest Editor(s) at:
Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky: jaworsky@fss.muni.cz
Elisabeth Becker-Topkara: elisabeth.becker-topkara@mwi.uni-heidelberg.de
Milica Resanović: milica.resanovic@ifdt.bg.ac.rs
