2009 Conferences in Social Sciences – some links and resources

In 2009 there will be a lot of conferences, workshops and meetings in the social sciences on diverse issues. Thus it could be helpful for scholars to sum up some of the main sources to find out what is going on in the fields of political science, sociology, and psychology. remember that this is neither a full list of all meetings, conferences and workshops nor one of all associations and societies in these fields. But still, the main events might be covered at a glance. The first link refers to the association, the second one on the conferences site:

Political Science:

• The Americal Society for Political Science (APSA) has an impressingly long collection of conferences, meetings and workshops. The 2009 annual Meeting will be held from 3-6.September in Toronto, Canada.
• The European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) gives informations about their joint sessions and their general conferences. The 2009 General Conference will be held from 10-12. September in Potsdam, Germany.
• The International Political Science Association (IPSA) will have its World Congress 2009 from 12-16.July in Santiago de Chile, Chile
• The Deutsche Vereinigung fuer Politische Wissenschaft (DVPW) has a page where all activities of sections, working groups and so on are listed. The 24th Scientific Congress will be held from 21-25.September in Kiel, Germany

Sociology

• The American Sociological Association (ASA) gives some links on sponsored and outside conferences. The ASA 2009 Annual Meeting will be held from 8-11. August in San Francisco, California
• The International Sociological Association (ISA) has a list of conferences and workshops in the field of sociology that is assorted chronologically. The 17. ISA World Congress of Sociology will be held from 11-17.July 2010 in Gothenborg, Sweden
• The Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Soziologie (DGS) has a page with actual calls for papers.

Political Psychology

• The International Society for Political Psychology (ISPP) will have its 2009 Annual Meeting from 14-17. July in Dublin, Ireland

Psychology

• The Americal Psychological Association (APA) hosts a list of APA related Conferences. The 2009 APA Convention will take place from 6-9. August in Toronto, Canada.
• The Association for Psychological Studies (APS) will have its 2009 APS Convention from 22-25.May in San Francisco, California
• The Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Psychologie (DGPS) has a page with Meetings.
• The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) provides some informations on their biennal conference and others
• The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) hosts a page for the SPSP 2009 Conference from 5-7 February in Tampa, Florida
• The International Society for Self and Identity (ISSI) does have as page for preconferences.

Last but not least, my collegue Michael Arfken has collected a lot of links to Conferences and Meetings in the fields of Psychology and Political Science that are related to his research and teaching interests.

Higher Education, the Bologna-Process and Module Design

With the Bologna-Process fourty european countries have started to create a European Higher Education Area in order to make higher education in Europe more transparent, compatible, comparable and competitive. The Bologna-Declaration therefore priorizes the Introduction of the three cycle system (bachelor/master/doctorate), quality assurance and recognition of qualifications and periods of study.

Universities all over Europe have already or are implementing the new System of Bachelor and Master Studies. One of the main instruments to make studies comparable is the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System ECTS. With this system the workload of students can be calculated and expressed in so called credits with one credit representing 30 hours of workload.

For institutes, departments and universities it is a challenging task to design study programmes that fit both to international scientific standards and the Bologna-Criteria. Our expertise on the Bologna-Process and on how to design study programmes and modules adequatly can help to meet both.

Apart from “technical” know-how, we can also offer thematic expertise in political science, psychology, forestry, and others.

If you are interested in our work on designing study modules, please feel free to contact us or visit the “Experience Russia” website for an example of our work (Remember, we are not the web designers, but accountable for parts of the content and for the programme manual). Together with the International Education Office and its Head Roman Kotov of MGIMO-University, Moscow, Russia, we designed the study abroad programme “Contemporary Russian Politics”.

ISPP 2009 Conference – Call for Papers

One part of our job in creating knowledge is to be involved in new developments in research and theory building. Thus, we seek to participate in important conferences as the International Society of Political Psychology’s conferences are for human development.

Togehter with psychologist Michael Arfken, we are interested in organizing several panels for the ISPP 2009 Conference in Dublin, Ireland and would like to encourage any scholars interested in the following topics to submit an abstract by December 15, 2008. If you need any additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact either of the panel organizers.

Section 6: Political Culture, Identity, and Language

Processes of change often referred to as globalization have a significant impact on the everyday experiences of individuals throughout the world. To the extent that these experiences contribute to particular individual and collective identities, we may be witnessing an unparalleled transformation in the fabric of political culture. While much research within political science and
psychology has focused on attitudes, value orientations, and political preferences, there has been relatively little research on the way globalization gives rise to unique political subjects and cultures.

The purpose of this panel is to bring together scholars interested in discussing theoretical and empirical innovations at the intersection of globalization, political culture, and subjectivity.

If you are interested in participating in this panel, please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words to the panel organizer:

Dr. Rolf Frankenberger
University of Tübingen
Institute for Political Science
rolf.frankenberger@uni-tuebingen.de

Section 10: New Theoretical and Methodological Developments

The idea of the subject has played a crucial role in politics and psychology. While other disciplines may explore the historical circumstances that give rise to modern political institutions or the economic conditions that favor one form of government over another, the concept of the subject enables political scientists and psychologists alike to focus on the psychological processes that contribute to specific interpretations of social/political reality.

Yet within political psychology, the very idea of the subject rarely undergoes significant scrutiny. This is particularly troubling as various conceptions of the subject may inadvertently support specific political institutions rather than serve as a point of departure for interrogating the dominant features of modern society.

The purpose of this panel is to bring together scholars interested in discussing the role that subjectivity plays in political psychological theorizing. In particular, we encourage proposals that draw attention to the concept of intersubjectivity.

If you are interested in participating in this panel, please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words to the panel organizer:

Dr. Michael Arfken
University of Prince Edward Island
Department of Psychology
marfken@upei.ca

2009 International Society of Political Psychology Conference
Dublin, Ireland
July 14-17, 2009

Panel Submission Due: December 15, 2008

New member at kopfmaennchen: Clemens Rank

It is a pleasure to introduce a new member at kopfmaennchen: Clemens Rank. Having studied Forestry, he is especially interested in environmental politics, regional planning, sustainability in silviculture and hunting, and optimising operations. Also being a physiotherapist, he has knowledge in health care as well as in rehabilitation of neurologic, surgical and orthopedic diseases. Clemens has written his thesis on legislative norms of Falonry in selected European Countries.

think local planet – act regionally

Tom Christoffel, a shenondoah river, west virginia based (take me home, country roads!) bollgin’ guy is blogging on links, blogs and other contributions on regional affairs in politics and governments all over the world, has published a link on my co-editor scientific series “Change in World Regions”. For all folks interested in regional affairs in any part of the world, his “think local planet -act regionally” platform is one of the important sources in he blogsphere. If you are interested, visit his blog.

Formal Institutions and Informal Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

The second – and affordable paperback – Edition of Formal Institutions and Informal Politics… has been published recently. This volume gives an introductory insight into the title-giving relationship between 1989 and 2005. It comprises a systematic explication of central concepts, analyses the character and main mechanisms of informal politics as performed by power elites as well as the personalisation of politics. Being rather free from norm-driven evaluations up to this point, the authors rise the question of democratic legitimacy in the context of national political cultures and their legacies.

Probably the volume could have produced more fruitful insights, if the authors had set the democratic legitimacy-aspect aside, but nevertheless the book is an excellent introduction into the informal politics debate. In addition, there are four very good case studies. Conclusion: Buy the book, if you are interested in informal politics and/or CEE

• Gerd Meyer (ed.) (2008): Formal Institutions and Informal Politics in Central and Eastern Europe. Hungary, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. 2nd, revised edition. Opladen: Barbara Budrich Publishers. ISBN: 978-3-86649-147, 29,90€

Learning from Baudrillard and Foucault: Consumer Culture, Social Milieus and the Governmentality of Lifestyle

At the ISPP 31st Annual Conference in Paris, 09.-12.-07.2008, I will present a theoretical framework based on Foucault and Baudrillard which hopefully offers inspiring insight into what by some authors is called „postmodern consumer society“. The aim is bringing together Jean Baudrillards early and groundbreaking analysis of Consumer Culture (first published in 1970) with Michel Foucaults concept of neoliberal Governmentality in a concept of what I call the „Governmentality of Lifestyle“.

Combining Foucault’s concept of neoliberal governmentality, Baudrillard’s analysis of consumer culture and developments in market research etc., one can see new kinds of power relations evolve within and across societies. Governmentality of lifestyle is the pattern of interindividual and intergroup power relations. Especially political and psychological research has to be done to trace the impacts of such a new power relations on individuals as well as on societies.

Consumer Culture unfolds to full scale. Today, signs and not the good behind the signs are the most important selling factors. The style of everyday life becomes a powerful means of creating identity and social affiliation in postmodern societies. Social Milieus – large groups of people not only sharing patterns of modern stratification, but also interests, consumer patterns, and even styles of arranging personal relationships – shape postmodern societies, which are characterized by lifestyle-driven segmentation patterns.

Social Milieus also became one of the most powerful means to identify target groups in todays market-research. Data are captured by research, bonus programms and creditcards and . This development goes far beyond the dicussions referring to the protection of data privacy and surveillance, as such techniques are already implemented and, of course, used to create transparent consumers. Taken together, all these developments form a complex of power relations of the Governmentality of Lifestyle.

Lifestyle, Consumer Culture, and Trendspotting

I am really glad that the ISPP section chairs for new theoretical and methodological developments have accepted both of my paper proposals. I am looking forward to it – not only because the conference is held at Paris but also because of the possibility to discuss some of the stuff I think is belonging to my better ones. Short abstracts of both papers will be posted in an instant.

It turned out that the topics – Consumer Culture, Social Milieus and the Governmentality of Lifestyle – are hot. One could have thought that the ideas of a wired mind in its tower of science are a little bit less close to reality. Then I read an advertisment in “Spiegel online” about the 13th German Trend Day.

To my surprise i read about things that sounded familiar to me: The Economy of Attention is dead, so they say. In the eyes of the authors – obviously concerned with market and trend research – the future is social recognition, because we all are social creatures, want to be liked, respected and loved. Therefore, they say, we need the applause of our self chosen relatives to secure our status. This includes the shift from the former main question “Who am I?” to the new one: “Who do I want to be?” in an age of dynamic identity engineering. Very interesting though. First thing I thought was: Ok. Thats not new for me. But then I became aware that I seemed to have detected a real development in real life that shapes the future of our societies. One more reason to discuss this all.