Call for Abstracts

XXI ISA World Congress of Sociology in Gwangju, South Korea, 6-11 July 2025

The ISA Research Committee on Futures Research (RC07) invites proposals for paper presentations at the XXI ISA World Congress of Sociology, to be held in Gwangju, South Korea, 6-11 July 2025. We welcome diverse theoretical, empirical, and practical approaches as well as interdisciplinary collaboration. The program offers an exciting spectrum of topics related to forward-oriented social research. It includes thematically open sessions and opportunities in any the ISA’s three official languages, i.e. English, French, or Spanish.

A series of sessions are convened under the motto “Futures in Turbulence.” This theme is meant to emphasize a forward-orientation and to resonate with the meetings’ general theme of “Global Sociology in Turbulent Times.” The erosion of democratic institutions in countries around the world, the concentration of power and wealth amidst technological transformation, the rise of expulsion, militarism and warfare, the sidelining of human rights and international norms, and the lack of concerted global action on climate change and environmental degradation create turbulence in the present and let us expect yet more turbulence for the future. Strictly speaking, the challenge for conceptualizing futures relates not merely to the turbulences from disruptive or convulsive changes but also to their deep uncertainty, novelty, and ambiguity. Outcomes are not predetermined, but are shaped by courageous resistance against oppression and creative seizure of opportunities. The stakes call for empirically and theoretically rigorous, imaginative sociological futures research. All RC07 members are cordially invited to submit proposals for papers on sessions listed below.

To accommodate proposals beyond these particular themes, we are also reserving one or more sessions for submissions to the “Open Theme”. 

Deadline to submit abstracts: 14 October 2026 (23:59 UTC/GMT) All proposals (title; up to 4 keywords; abstract max. 300 words) must be submitted via Confex: https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2027/cfp.cgi. For your convenience, direct links are provided in newsletter 58/2026. Click on the underlined session title in the newsletter to make a submission to the system. See the newsletter for technical support and further details.