XXI World Congress of Sociology

These are times when, once again, we feel that all that is solid melts into air.

In a rising number of countries, state leaders are promoting distrust in science, and attacks on the social sciences are multiplying. Fake news circulates more widely and with greater impact than research-based analysis. An unprecedented concentration of wealth allows a small number of billionaires to control both mass media and social media. Scientific evidence is being denied in order to dismiss systemic environmental and societal emergencies. National or personal interests and logics of power prevail over the rule of law, international law and human rights, fuelling violence, war and settler colonialism. Artificial intelligence is reshaping the nature of knowledge and intellectual work, introducing tools that may serve both surveillance capitalism and emancipatory projects. On every continent, academic freedom is under threat.

In a world shaped by persistent turbulence and rapid transformations, how can sociology produce knowledge that goes beyond immediate reactions and contributes to a deeper understanding of ongoing changes?

The XXI ISA World Congress of Sociology will bring together a global community of researchers driven by the shared conviction that sociology has a crucial role to play in making sense of these turbulent times, by uncovering the social roots of crises and transformations, analysing how inequalities are produced and contested, examining how institutions, democracy and society are reshaped, and understanding how actors, from grassroots movements to global elites, navigate and transform our world.

These turbulent times are defined by profound paradoxes. Daily news immerses us in a dystopian reality. Information has never been more accessible, yet misinformation, conspiracies, distrust and surveillance are on the rise. Technological developments, including AI, create unprecedented opportunities, yet also further concentrate power and wealth. Climate change is increasingly tangible in everyday life, yet strategically downplayed or blatantly denied by powerful actors. Deepening global interconnectedness affects all realms of social life and society, yet nationalist visions and racism are gaining strength, fuelling fragmentation, conflict, and war.