DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS . . . DEMOCRACY IN PERIL?
19th Annual Conference
of the
International Social Theory Consortium
hosted by the University of South Florida
JUNE 17-19, 2021
NOTE:
The conference is being held entirely online.
19th Annual Conference
of the
International Social Theory Consortium
hosted by the University of South Florida
JUNE 17-19, 2021
NOTE:
The conference is being held entirely online.
SCHEDULE
Note: All Times are Eastern Daylight Time
THURSDAY -- June 17 ______________________________________________________________
9:00-9:30 Welcome
Stephen Turner and Harry F. Dahms
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
9:30-11:15 Session One: Illiberalism
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Krešimir Žažar, chair
9:30-11:15 Session Two: Big Picture Classical issues
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Daniel Krier, chair
11:15-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-1:15 Session Three: Trump and Jan. 6
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Ilaria Riccioni, chair
11:30-1:15 Session Four: Technology
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Christopher Schlembach, chair
1:15-1:30 Coffee Break
1:30-2:30: Keynote
Ilaria Riccioni, chair
2:30-2:45 Coffee Break
2:45-4:30 Session Five : Digital and Mass communication
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Daniel Krier, chair
2:45-4:30 Session Six: Critical Social Ontology and the Prospects of Critical Reason
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Harry F. Dahms, chair
FRIDAY -- June 18 __________________________________________________________________
9:00-10:45 Session Seven: Indian Society
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/4427394088?pwd=T2xWTjM5SVByR0dPUkhMM2NHOWRtdz09
Krešimir Žažar, chair
9:00-10:45 Session Eight: Global and System(at)ic Perspectives
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Christopher Schlembach, chair
9:00-10:45 Session Nine: Michael Brown's The Concept of the Social in Uniting the Humanities and the Social Sciences
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Jeffrey Halley, organizer and chair
10:45-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:45 Session Ten: Emotions and Gender
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Christopher Schlembach, chair
11:00-12:45 Session Eleven: Critical Theory and Film
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Ilaria Riccioni, chair
11:00-12:45 Session Twelve: Individualism/Socialism
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/4427394088?pwd=T2xWTjM5SVByR0dPUkhMM2NHOWRtdz09
Stephen Turner, chair
12:45-1:00 Coffee Break
1:00-2:00 Keynote
Stephen Turner, chair
2:00-2:15 Coffee Break
2:15-4:00 Session Thirteen: Populism
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Daniel Krier, chair
4:00-4:15 Coffee Break
4:15-5:45 Session Fourteen: Beyond the Liberal Self: Explorations in Transformation
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Harry F. Dahms, chair
Saturday, June 19 __________________________________________________________________
9:00-10:45 Session Fifteen: Adorno, Critical Theory, and a Critique of Piketty
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/4427394088?pwd=T2xWTjM5SVByR0dPUkhMM2NHOWRtdz09
Krešimir Žažar, chair
9:00-10:45 Session Sixteen: Authoritarianism
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Daniel Krier, chair
9:00-10:45 Session Seventeen: Marx, Simmel, and Saint-Simon
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Ilaria Riccioni, chair
10:45-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:45 Session Eighteen: Weber and Democracy
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Stephen Turner, chair
12:45-1:00 Lunch Break
1:00-2:00 Keynote
Harry F. Dahms, chair
2:00-2:15 Coffee Break
2:15-4:15 Session Nineteen: After Democracy
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Stephen Turner, chair
THURSDAY -- June 17 ______________________________________________________________
9:00-9:30 Welcome
Stephen Turner and Harry F. Dahms
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
9:30-11:15 Session One: Illiberalism
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Krešimir Žažar, chair
- Rafał Wierzchosławski: Nomads, sovereigntists and the post-truth condition: Why liberal democracy suffers in Central Europe
- Brian Singer: Trumpism and the Defense of Individual Liberties: Considerations on Marcel Gauchet's Discussion of Individual Liberties
- Jerome Braun: The Legitimation of Government, with Ramifications for Democracy
- Minoo Mirshahvalad: Crisis of Modern Reason in Italy and the New Path of the Italian Traditionalism
9:30-11:15 Session Two: Big Picture Classical issues
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Daniel Krier, chair
- Christopher Schlembach: Reconsidering Anti-Modernity. The Theories of Schütz, Voegelin and Parsons
- Charles Turner: Keeping it in the family, or why you should read Emmanuel Todd
- Anthony L. Haynor: Social Theory, Moral Vision, and the Liberal Social Order
- Robert Jackson: Disfigurations’ of Democracy? Pareto, Mosca and the Challenge of Elite Theory
11:15-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-1:15 Session Three: Trump and Jan. 6
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Ilaria Riccioni, chair
- Krzysztof Lepczyński: The Promise of the Middle Class as Part of Neoliberal Ideology
- Oliver Simpson: January 6th, insurgency or riot? Populism Democracy and The Exception
- Daniel Krier: Totalitarianism and the Critique of Ideology after 2020
- Douglas Kellner: Donald Trump, the Media, and the Crisis of Democracy
11:30-1:15 Session Four: Technology
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Christopher Schlembach, chair
- Daphne Esquivel-Sada: When democracy and (bio)innovation interlace: on nuts and bolts of the neoliberal model of DIYbio democracy
- Eugene Halton: The Other Others: Tracking, Writing, Clocking and the Contraction of Mind
- Roslyn Fuller: Structure, not Control: Capturing the Democratic Potential of Populist Movements
- Kresimir Žažar: Advanced Technology and Democracy – What Artificial Intelligence Has to Do with It?
1:15-1:30 Coffee Break
1:30-2:30: Keynote
Ilaria Riccioni, chair
- Elizabeth Goodstein: Returning to Simmel on the Future of the Public Sphere
2:30-2:45 Coffee Break
2:45-4:30 Session Five : Digital and Mass communication
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Daniel Krier, chair
- Charles Gattone: Challenges to Democracy in the Age of Electronic Communication
- Stelios Panageotou: Democracy Without Humans: Democracy With Corporations and Cyborgs
- Joel M. Crombez: Perils of Sociological Irrelevance in Times of Crisis: Toward a Theory and Practice of Critical Socioanalysis
- Thomas Bechtold: The persistence of democracy: how a demos insists
2:45-4:30 Session Six: Critical Social Ontology and the Prospects of Critical Reason
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Harry F. Dahms, chair
- Michael Thompson: Immanent Critique and Critical Social Ontology
- Reha Kadakal: Recovering Durkheim's Ontology
- Nicola Marcucci: The Mind within Society: Durkheim’s Sociological Critique of Enlightenment’s Rationalist Ontologies
FRIDAY -- June 18 __________________________________________________________________
9:00-10:45 Session Seven: Indian Society
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/4427394088?pwd=T2xWTjM5SVByR0dPUkhMM2NHOWRtdz09
Krešimir Žažar, chair
- Vivek Khanna and Prabhjot Dutta Khanna: Democracy and the Post-Truth World
- Priyanka Devi Kshetrimayum: Political instability in the largest democracy: Relation among State, Civil Society and Non-state militant groups in Manipur, India.
- Raja Swamy: Neoliberal Hindutva - democracy and resistance in contemporary India
- T. Jeyaraj, A Ghosh, M. Rayen and U. Faruk: Is the Indian (University) Campus Democratic?
9:00-10:45 Session Eight: Global and System(at)ic Perspectives
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Christopher Schlembach, chair
- William Outhwaite: Democracy, national and transnational
- Yufan Sun: Towards A Sociological Theory of Historical Actors and Agencies
- Kosuke Sakai: The Evolutionary Theory of Niklas Luhmann and Its Meaning for Historical Sociology
- Anthony J. Knowles: Sociology as Social System: Luhmann, Enlightenment, and the Gap between “Facts” and “Norms”
9:00-10:45 Session Nine: Michael Brown's The Concept of the Social in Uniting the Humanities and the Social Sciences
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Jeffrey Halley, organizer and chair
- Allen Dunn: The Concept of the Social in Uniting the Humanities and the Social Sciences, by M. Brown
- Ilaria Riccioni: The Concept of the Social in Uniting the Humanities and the Social Sciences, by M. Brown
- Daglind Sonolet: The Concept of Sociality in the Literary Criticism of Georg Lukács, Lucien Goldmann and Theodor W. Adorno
- Harry F. Dahms: Divergent Forms of Sociality under Conditions of Neoliberalism
- Michael Brown: Reply to Critics
10:45-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:45 Session Ten: Emotions and Gender
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Christopher Schlembach, chair
- Bryce Anderson: Pitilessly Blocked Futures and Violently Choked Passions: A Case for Fatalistic Suicide in Understanding Student Suicide in South Korea
- Philip Walsh: Theorizing Political Emotions
- Amanda Rebman: Legalizing Prostitution
- Verena Knerich: Lessons from Early Feminist Advocators for Social Change: Contrasting Harriet Martineau and Jane Addams
11:00-12:45 Session Eleven: Critical Theory and Film
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Ilaria Riccioni, chair
- Jeremiah Morelock (organizer): Siegfried Kracauer and the Interpretation of Films
- Daniel Sullivan: Awaking from the Film-as-Dream: Kracauer and Tarkovsky
- Stefanie Baumann: How to Mediate Reality: Thinking Documentary Film with Adorno and Horkheimer
- Harry F. Dahms: Critical Theory and Science-Fiction Film: Darko Suvin in Perspective
11:00-12:45 Session Twelve: Individualism/Socialism
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/4427394088?pwd=T2xWTjM5SVByR0dPUkhMM2NHOWRtdz09
Stephen Turner, chair
- Bettina Mahlert: Norms, interests and desirable futures: A Parsonian view on democracy in the 21th century
- Daniel Fanta: Micro, Macro and Meso in the Individualism-Holism Dispute. A analysis in Logical Quantification
- Kerry Hunter: Democratic Socialism in the U.S.: Arrested Development or Entirely Different Course?
- Niamh Mulcahy: The enclosure of social housing: Britain’s path to “property-owning democracy”
12:45-1:00 Coffee Break
1:00-2:00 Keynote
Stephen Turner, chair
- Craig Calhoun: Degenerations of Democracy
2:00-2:15 Coffee Break
2:15-4:00 Session Thirteen: Populism
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Daniel Krier, chair
- Sarah MacMillen: American Democracy aboard the Pequod: Insights from Melville for 2021
- Kire Sharamanov: The reasons for the growth of populism and the establishment of illiberal democracy
- Christian Schlaerth: Is Right Wing Populism Real?
- Robert Garot: The Viability of Democracy in Light of the Current Global Ecological Crisis
4:00-4:15 Coffee Break
4:15-5:45 Session Fourteen: Beyond the Liberal Self: Explorations in Transformation
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Harry F. Dahms, chair
- Michael Thompson
- Michael Miller
- James Block (organizer)
Saturday, June 19 __________________________________________________________________
9:00-10:45 Session Fifteen: Adorno, Critical Theory, and a Critique of Piketty
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/4427394088?pwd=T2xWTjM5SVByR0dPUkhMM2NHOWRtdz09
Krešimir Žažar, chair
- Alexander Stoner: Negative dialectics, Sociobiophysical Disintegration, and the Future
- Zeinab Nobowati: Critical Theory and the (Im)Moral Psychology of Racism
- Kevin Amidon: On the Micro-Dialectics of Democracy: Adorno, Right Radicalism, and the Fate of the Subject
- J. I. (Hans) Bakker: Piketty and the Alleged Universality of Three Group Inequality Regimes: Ignoring Patrimonialism and Dabbling in Comparative-Historical Sociology
9:00-10:45 Session Sixteen: Authoritarianism
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Daniel Krier, chair
- Claude Barbre: When Trauma is Us: Christofascism and Religious Authoritarianism as Collective Enreiss in the United States
- Jonah Benjamini: The King's Revolution: A Prolegomenon on De-Democratization at the Dawn of the 21st Century
- Aydin Atilgan: The anatomy of the dual states: The pathological formation of liberal democracies
- Richard Coughlin: Conquest of the state by the nation or the crisis of American democracy
9:00-10:45 Session Seventeen: Marx, Simmel, and Saint-Simon
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Ilaria Riccioni, chair
- Naoki Iso: A Simmelian Theory of Differentiation and Integration
- Roderick Condon: Capitalism, Democracy, and Social Evolution: Neoliberalism as Inverted Development
- Harrison Patten: Henri Saint-Simon’s Unrealized Avant-Garde and Its Potentialities
- Paul Zarembka: Engels’ Deficiencies in Editing Marx’s "Capital"
10:45-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:45 Session Eighteen: Weber and Democracy
Zoom link: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/93634527055
Stephen Turner, chair
- Hans-Peter Müller: "Race" and Racism. Max Weber as a Political Thinker
- Paul Joosse: The Less Agreeable Side of Charisma: Incredulous Onlooking and Anti-structural Power
- Frank Welz: Two Versions of Legitimation: Democracy (in Crisis) and its Delegitimizing Critique
- Elyesa Koytak: Impossible Vocation? Rethinking Weberian Scientific Ethics in the Context of Marketization
12:45-1:00 Lunch Break
1:00-2:00 Keynote
Harry F. Dahms, chair
- John Levi Martin: Critical Theory, The Imagination, and the Critique of Judgment
2:00-2:15 Coffee Break
2:15-4:15 Session Nineteen: After Democracy
Zoom link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/95989823716
Stephen Turner, chair
- Lauren Langman (organizer): The Dialectic of Movements: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Robert Antonio: The “Big Lie” and Failed Coup: Trumpism in the Interregnum
- David Smith: Anti-Democratic Culture and the Usurpation Complex
- Stephen Turner, discussant
ORGANIZERS:
Stephen Turner (host) and Harry F. Dahms
CO-ORGANIZERS:
Daniel Krier
Ilaria Riccioni
Christopher Schlembach
Krešimir Žažar
CALL FOR PAPERS
Thirty years ago, after the collapse of European communism as a system of power, hopes were high that an era of democracy would ensue the likes of which had never been seen. In many regards, this hope was justified. Within the context of globalization and neoliberalism, levels of economic wealth in many countries and around the world reached unprecedented heights, accompanied by an explosion of technological innovations. Starting in the mid-1990s, more people lived in societies with formally democratic political systems for the first time. Yet, already at that time, this indicator of quantitative expansion went hand in hand with concerns of a growing qualitative deficit: that the process of democratization was beginning to go into reverse, and that quantitative success neither did translate into, nor was consonant with the further development of democratic institutions, levels of participation and representation, and constructive communication between elected officials and voters. Today, those early concerns are proving to have been justified: democracy is on the defensive, right-wing movements, parties and politicians are proliferating and increasingly success, support of democratic institutions is weakening, and the idea of solidarity across an array of differences appears to be under attack (if the concept itself retains any meaning and relevance to begin with). Furthermore, the ability to place oneself into the circumstances of others seems to give way, paradoxically, to a sort of structural selfishness that is incongruous with the notion and standards of democracy, not to mention the capacity and inclination to engage in critical self-reflexivity. Under these conditions, which have been aggravated and accelerated further by the global pandemic, the purpose of the conference is to bring together rigorous disciplinary and innovative inter-, trans- and multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives and approaches, to examine, scrutinize and reflect upon well-established notions and currently prevailing assumptions about the historical foundations, impending success, overall desirability, functional adequacy and categorical suppositions regarding democracy in the 21st century.
NOTE: As usual, all submissions that fall into the general area of social theory will be considered, and papers are not required have to address directly democracy, or the theme of democracy in crisis, although abstracts that will address or touch upon this nexus of issues from any angle will be welcomed.
NOTE: As usual, all submissions that fall into the general area of social theory will be considered, and papers are not required have to address directly democracy, or the theme of democracy in crisis, although abstracts that will address or touch upon this nexus of issues from any angle will be welcomed.
POSSIBLE SESSION TOPICS
The End of Democracy
In Defense of Democracy: Political Implications of Contemporary Social Theory
Democracy under Conditions of Global Pandemic
The Current Relevance of Classical Theories of Democracy
Popular vs. Elite Democracy
Was Democracy an Illusion?
Democracy and Post-Enlightenment
Avant-garde as "Social" Democracy in Action
The Rise (or Return) of Counter-Enlightenment
Feminist Perspectives on Democracy
Democracy and Postmodernity
Reconsidering the Nature of Democracy in the 21st Century
The End of Modernity?
The End of Progress
The Future of Capitalism
Democracy and/vs. AI?
Administered World
Democracy in Post-Socialist Context - 30 Years after the Fall of the Wall
Democracy beyond Democracy - Is there an Alternative?
Political System(s) in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
What Use is Political Correctness Today?
Ecology, Democracy, and Dystopia
The Twin Crisis of Labor and Environment
End of Labor -- End of Democracy?
The Meaning of Democracy Today
The Rise (or Resurgence?) of Authoritarianism
Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century
Social Movements for/after Democracy
Race, Class, Gender, and the Future of Democracy
What Future for Democracy?
Democratic Society or Society of Rackets?
Authoritarian and Totalitarian Trends
Global or Planetary Social Theory?
DEADLINE EXTENDED!
MAY 9, 2021
If you are planning to submit an abstract (required), paper, and/or session proposal -- including your affiliation and rank (faculty, graduate student, etc.) -- CLICK HERE.
Note: In the interest of expeditiousness and efficiency, please carefully read the instructions and provide the necessary information; prospective participants who are planning to propose an entire session should click on Panel under the category "Document Type" (the fifth category) and provide as much information as possible under "Description" (e.g., paper session or panel discussion; paper titles if a paper session; participants with affiliation; please inform the participants that they need to register also).
For Submission Agreement, click here. Copyright stays with the author of the abstract, paper, etc.
Stephen Turner will host the 2021 annual conference
and can be reached at turner@usf.edu.
In Defense of Democracy: Political Implications of Contemporary Social Theory
Democracy under Conditions of Global Pandemic
The Current Relevance of Classical Theories of Democracy
Popular vs. Elite Democracy
Was Democracy an Illusion?
Democracy and Post-Enlightenment
Avant-garde as "Social" Democracy in Action
The Rise (or Return) of Counter-Enlightenment
Feminist Perspectives on Democracy
Democracy and Postmodernity
Reconsidering the Nature of Democracy in the 21st Century
The End of Modernity?
The End of Progress
The Future of Capitalism
Democracy and/vs. AI?
Administered World
Democracy in Post-Socialist Context - 30 Years after the Fall of the Wall
Democracy beyond Democracy - Is there an Alternative?
Political System(s) in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
What Use is Political Correctness Today?
Ecology, Democracy, and Dystopia
The Twin Crisis of Labor and Environment
End of Labor -- End of Democracy?
The Meaning of Democracy Today
The Rise (or Resurgence?) of Authoritarianism
Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century
Social Movements for/after Democracy
Race, Class, Gender, and the Future of Democracy
What Future for Democracy?
Democratic Society or Society of Rackets?
Authoritarian and Totalitarian Trends
Global or Planetary Social Theory?
DEADLINE EXTENDED!
MAY 9, 2021
If you are planning to submit an abstract (required), paper, and/or session proposal -- including your affiliation and rank (faculty, graduate student, etc.) -- CLICK HERE.
Note: In the interest of expeditiousness and efficiency, please carefully read the instructions and provide the necessary information; prospective participants who are planning to propose an entire session should click on Panel under the category "Document Type" (the fifth category) and provide as much information as possible under "Description" (e.g., paper session or panel discussion; paper titles if a paper session; participants with affiliation; please inform the participants that they need to register also).
For Submission Agreement, click here. Copyright stays with the author of the abstract, paper, etc.
Stephen Turner will host the 2021 annual conference
and can be reached at turner@usf.edu.