Home Page > Digital libraries > Aalborg 2009

Call for papers

The Social Differentiation of Trust and Social Capital

Organized by:
CINEFOGO Network of Excellence
Department of Sociology, Social Work and Organization, Aalborg University, Denmark

Two Day Research Seminar, 8 and 9 June 2009

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call for papers

The CINEFOGO (Civil Society and New Forms of Governance in Europe) Network of Excellence and Department of Sociology, Social Work and Organization, Aalborg University, Denmark, are inviting PhD-students and senior researchers to take part in a two-day research seminar on Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 June 2009 on ‘The Social Differentiation of Trust and Social Capital’.

The Theme

Social capital and trust are central concepts in many current scholarly debates about social cohesion, civic engagement, and democratic governance and they are also becoming more and more popular among policy makers. The concepts have been applied to a wide range of empirical fields such as for instance health and well-being, crime, urban studies, and education and they are increasingly becoming central to different disciplines such as economics, political science, and sociology. With the growing interest, several disputes about the definition, measurement, level of analysis, functions, mechanisms, causes and consequences etc. have emerged. And while many studies have stressed the positive attributes and positive effects of social capital as a facilitator of co-operation for mutual benefit, there is now a growing interest in questions of inequality in possession of social capital, the ‘club’ good character of social capital, boundaries of trust, and the exclusionary effects of social capital.
The organizing committee is particularly interested in further, both theoretical and empirical, explorations into this critical view of social capital and trust. We therefore welcome papers that address:

- One or more dimensions related to social inequality, stratification, and/or differentiation of social trust and social capital, for instance in relation to local communities, gender, class, or ethnicity perspectives.
- A more differentiated and nuanced perspective on different types and forms of social capital and trust.
- The ‘dark side’ and the less desirable outcomes and consequences of social capital and (dis)trust, for instance in relation to bonding, bridging, or linking perspectives.
- Obstacles and barriers to the social production of social capital and/or trust.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^^^

Format of the seminar

The seminar will be organised in an effort to stimulate debate and discussion. This means that most of the time will be devoted to comments, discussions and reflections upon participants’ papers. This means that:

- papers are circulated and read in advance
- each paper is briefly introduced by the author(s)
- a discussant will be assigned for each paper
- most time will be open for general discussion

Participants are expected to serve as discussant for another paper, and to open the floor with constructive and fair comments.

Besides papers from the participants, Mike Savage, University of Manchester, UK, will give a key note presentation on the second day. Mike Savage is Professor of Sociology and Co-director of the ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC). He has published extensively on social capital, social inequality, social protest and social mobility. His most resent publications include Culture and Class after Distinction (Routledge 2008, with Tony Bennett, Elizabeth Silva, Alan Warde, Modesto Gayo-Cal and David Wright); Globalisation and Belonging (Sage 2005, with Gaynor Bagnall and Brian Longhurst); and Networked Urbanism. Social Capital in the City (Ashgate 2008, co-edited with Talja Blokland).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^^^

Submission

We invite senior researchers as well as young scholars and PhD-students from different fields of the social sciences to submit proposals in the form of an abstract specifying the research question, theoretical approach, method(s), data sources and analytical framework. Preference will be given to papers which explicitly address one or more of the above critical research questions. Because of the format of the seminar we aim at a limited number of participants; about 25-30 papers will be accepted.

Abstracts will be reviewed by the local organizing committee. Abstracts are due 15 March 2009 and will be reviewed immediately after. Participants will be notified no later than 31 March 2009.

Abstracts should be sent electronically to the following email address: larsskov@socsci.aau.dk

Completed papers are due 25 May 2009, and circulated to conference participants via the Cinefogo website.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^^^

Financial support

The seminar is hosted by the Cinefogo Network of Excellence. Conference fee and accommodation expenses are covered by the network. Participants are expected to cover travel expenses.

Time and venue

The research seminar will take place at Hotel Scheelsminde, Aalborg, Denmark. The seminar will start Monday 8 June 2009 and continue through to Tuesday 9 June 2009.

Local organizing committee

Lars Skov Henriksen, Department of Sociology, Social Work and Organization, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Jacob Skjøtt-Larsen, Department of Sociology, Social Work and Organization, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Ann-Dorte Christensen, Department of Sociology, Social Work and Organization, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Lars Torpe, Department of Economics, Politics and Public Administration, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Henrik Lolle, Department of Economics, Politics and Public Administration, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Christian Albrekt Larsen, Department of Economics, Politics and Public Administration, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Anne Kovalainen, Turku School of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Management, Turku, Finland.

The local organizing committee are all engaged in research projects that aim at exploring various dimensions of the theme of the seminar.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^^^

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^^^

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^^^