Suchergebnisse

The COVID-19 pandemic (caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2) is having profound effects on all dimensions of life, such as the individual, social, cultural, public health, and economic dimensions [...]

This position paper is based on the assumption that there is an appreciation of Sociology as a justification for certain representations and practices of social and political intervention. In Sociology: Tension between science and militant activism?, the authors aim at justifying, on a reasoned basis, the relevance of Sociology as a specific form of scientific knowledge in current times, without, however, confusing the role of Sociology with the direct resolution of inequalities and injustices. At the methodological level, a bibliographic search on this subject has been carried out in scientific literature databases, such as Scopus, Web of Knowledge, SCILIT and institutional repositories, supplemented by the experience of the authors as sociologists, both in the teaching and research dimensions. Sociology focuses on sociological problems and not directly on social problems, and, as a science, it can contribute greatly to the understanding of the social world. Furthermore, the results from sociological research can potentially be applied in society in the most diverse political senses (in the broadest sense of this term). In conclusion, and as an implication, if this militant activist tendency is accentuated, Sociology may paradoxically lose recognition and scientific, academic and social legitimacy, contributing to its des-institutionalisation and consequent difficulty in having its knowledge applied to the resolution of social problems.

Visual communication is critical in contemporary societies. Research in social sciences increasingly tends to mobilize the image, for example, in the form of photography, in its processes (in the collection and interpretation of information) and products (in the communication of research results), which leads to the need to reflect critically on its specificities. This paper aims to add to the analysis of the potentialities, limitations and challenges of the use of photography in social sciences research. For this purpose, the paper presents and discusses empirically collected documentary expressions, selected from an organizational case study based on their heuristic capacity to illustrate the argumentation put forth herein. It is concluded that the potential of the use of photography in research in social sciences is high, but it is essential that the researcher considers, besides more technical aspects and ethical complexities, that photography is, in part, also the materialization of a certain socially constructed representation of reality.

The concept of sociological imagination, originally proposed by Charles Wright Mill, is a classic of Sociology. This paper aims to present and discuss the sociological imagination projecting its heuristic capacity in contemporary society, in which the digital is a novelty vis-a-vis the original social context that shaped this proposal. The results of this analysis allow concluding that there are some contemporary challenges to be considered in this crucial analytical proposal in Sociology.

The reading and understanding of the classical authors of sociology are informative of sociology as a science. However, is this centrality ascribed to social perspectives – which have been proposed in another social and historical context – the consolidation of a body of knowledge of sociology, in which there is a growing refinement of theory? What are the advantages, but also the limitations, of this valuation of the classics? In this position paper, mobilizing relevant literature to justify our argumentative stance, we seek to provide a contribution to answering these questions, as well as some implications.

Bearing in mind that the prospect of the future is always a sensitive dimension to be addressed, this paper, based on bibliographic collection and analysis, as well as on the authors' academic experience, aims to add to the (re)thinking of some of the future challenges Sociology will face, in a sociologically informed society. It is concluded that sustainability and the digital are two of the crucial challenges for Sociology given the influence they exert, both in society and in the very way of doing sociology. Furthermore, to be successfully faced, there is the need for a concomitant articulation of a Sociology that amplifies its heuristic capacity to apprehend and respond to these challenges and the practice of fruitful interdisciplinarity, in which the different sciences accept and mobilize the contributions of other sciences. The existence of first-rate sciences compared to second-rate sciences has never been, is not and will never be the solution to (co)address these challenges.

UIDB/04647/2020 UIDP/04647/2020 ; This article aims to understand the domains and uses of the various conceptual frameworks of contagion, its modalities and effects, in its different acceptations and historical contexts, as an expression of the process of interdependence between the stances and the different viewpoints of diverse actors involved with multiple scientific, moral, social and political challenges. Another objective focuses on understanding the process of collective management of contagion, disease and health, in which prevention is a critical element of its objectives and justifications, its discursive order and its practical activities. ; publishersversion ; published

UIDB/04647/2020 UIDP/04647/2020 ; This position paper is based on the assumption that there is an appreciation of Sociology as a justification for certain representations and practices of social and political intervention. In Sociology: Tension between science and militant activism?, the authors aim at justifying, on a reasoned basis, the relevance of Sociology as a specific form of scientific knowledge in current times, without, however, confusing the role of Sociology with the direct resolution of inequalities and injustices. At the methodological level, a bibliographic search on this subject has been carried out in scientific literature databases, such as Scopus, Web of Knowledge, SCILIT and institutional repositories, supplemented by the experience of the authors as sociologists, both in the teaching and research dimensions. Sociology focuses on sociological problems and not directly on social problems, and, as a science, it can contribute greatly to the understanding of the social world. Furthermore, the results from sociological research can potentially be applied in society in the most diverse political senses (in the broadest sense of this term). In conclusion, and as an implication, if this militant activist tendency is accentuated, Sociology may paradoxically lose recognition and scientific, academic and social legitimacy, contributing to its des-institutionalisation and consequent difficulty in having its knowledge applied to the resolution of social problems. ; publishersversion ; published

We increasingly live simultaneously immersed in physical interactions and in a world where the digital dimension is present at various levels, such as the social, economic and political ones. In this context, the relationship between the digital world and Sustainability is pivotal. This aim of this paper is to discuss, in a reasoned manner, the importance of literacy in the promotion of sustainability in a digital society. For this purpose, the results of a literature review will be mobilized, as well as our 20 years of experience in teaching and research in the fields of sociology, education and organizations, without forgetting the publications that we have on similar topics, which will be, whenever heuristically relevant, mobilized to substantiate and justify the arguments presented herein. The conclusions show that, in a reality where the digital involves many of the life dimensions—for example, in the form of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0—the role of literacy and, in particular, digital literacy, are critical in the development of sustainability literacy. For this to be possible, significant training work must be carried out. Furthermore, it is not possible to assume that the access, the skills in its use and the benefits of this wonderful digital world will automatically be grasped and felt by all citizens, in an ideology that must be fought. Only in this way will it be possible to foster sustainability, which must necessarily be inclusive.

Abstract
Sociology is a science with specificities and which can potentially offer a more rigorous knowledge about reality. The goal of this position paper is, by means of a thorough literature review, to contribute to demonstrating the urgency of using a sociological stance in a more complete understanding of the social, as well as of Sociology itself as a science. It is concluded that Sociology, a multi-paradigmatic science, seeks to articulate macro-social dynamics with local processes, allowing to connect the subjective significances with the practices, and which focus on the articulations between systems and actors, between structures and practices, between the reality of the social conditions of existence, and the social construction of reality. As an implication, Sociology as a scientific representation and practice of the social, can be cumbersome by helping to dismantle commonly shared preconceived ideas about the instituted social order.