Sociologica - International Journal for Sociological Debate

23/12/2025

The new issue 19(3)/2025of Sociologica. International Journal for Sociological Debate has just been published and is now freely available online at the link:

https://sociologica.unibo.it/issue/view/1417

The issue opens with a Symposium on the highly topical and urgent issue of Academic Freedom Under Attack, edited and introduced by Gisèle Sapiro and Thibaud Boncourt. The symposium brings together a powerful and timely set of contributions examining academic freedom as a contested social practice across different political regimes and institutional contexts. Articles by Thibaud Boncourt, Gil Eyal, Éric Fassin, Pierre-Nicolas Baudot, Gisèle Sapiro, and Elif Can with Sümbül Kaya explore the transformations, tensions, and current threats facing academic freedom in authoritarian, illiberal, and liberal settings.

The Debate/Author Meets Critics section is devoted to Thomas DeGloma’s book Anonymous. The Performance of Hidden Identities (University of Chicago Press, 2023). The discussion features insightful interventions by Ugo Corte, Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Seth Abrutyn, and Lorenzo Sabetta, followed by a rich and reflective response by Thomas DeGloma, providing a compelling example of collective engagement with a work of major theoretical ambition.

The Essays section brings together three original contributions that engage with central questions in contemporary social theory and political sociology. Giuseppe Feola’s article, Beyond Refusal: Reconceptualizing Deconstruction in Prefigurative Social Spaces, revisits the concept of deconstruction through the lens of prefigurative politics, offering a theoretical reorientation of practices of refusal. Filip Majetic, Anjel Errasti, and Sabine Heiss focus on the internationalization of the social and solidarity economy, analysing the discourse of Mondragon cooperatives’ managers and shedding light on the tensions between local embeddedness and global expansion. Finally, Simeon J. Newman’s contribution, Social Theory and the Sociology of Clientelism: Groundwork for a Gramscian Alternative, proposes a theoretically grounded rethinking of clientelism informed by Gramscian insights.

The issue concludes with two truly outstanding interviews that bring exceptional intellectual depth and global relevance to the volume. In For a Responsible Inexpertise, Philippe Van Parijs—one of the most influential political philosophers of our time—engages in a wide-ranging and incisive dialogue with Riccardo Emilio Chesta on the role of expertise, responsibility, and democratic deliberation in contemporary societies. The conversation offers a timely reflection on the tensions between knowledge, public debate, and political decision-making, speaking directly to some of the most pressing challenges facing social theory and democratic governance today.

Equally compelling is the Conversation between Edwin Amenta and Theda Skocpol, which stands out for its extraordinary analytical clarity and critical force. One of the most authoritative voices in sociology and political science worldwide, Theda Skocpol offers a sharp and remarkably актуal analysis of U.S. politics, higher education, and the evolving relationship between sociology and political science. Drawing on decades of path-breaking scholarship, she reflects on the structural transformations of contemporary democracies, the crisis of political institutions, and the role of social science in making sense of—and intervening in—these dynamics.

Together, these interviews constitute a powerful closing to the issue, reaffirming Sociologica’s commitment to fostering dialogue with leading scholars whose work continues to shape global intellectual debates.

24/08/2025

The day after I secured tenure, I set out to actively work on Black Feminist Thought and to get the book published (Collins, 1990). The constraints I faced were those invisible constraints of epistemology: navigating the academy meant making continuous political or intellectual concessions to be seen as a good citizen of the university. Early on, I recognized that I did not want to accept that model. Although it wasn’t as clear to me then as it is now, I was very strategic about avoiding situations where I might be punished, abused, or exploited. When my book was finally published, I became a whole new person. My colleagues looked at me in surprise — I had been very quiet about these kinds of issues for five years. With that degree of certainty, I felt empowered to speak out in the ways I wanted.

Patricia Hill Collins (Department of Sociology, University of Maryland) interviewed by Ilaria Pitti (Department of Sociology and Business Law, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna)

https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/21869/19883

23/08/2025

In this contribution, we have analysed the extent to which remote work generates a greater use of neighbourhood-based services and, consequently, supports the development of the 15-Minute City. The findings seem to confirm the relevance of this relationship, suggesting that the analytical model we have proposed can serve as a valuable starting point for the design of further studies on this topic.

Giampaolo Nuvolati, Department of Sociology and Social Research, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Anne-Iris Romens, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca

Remote Working and Using the Services of the 15-Minute City. An Analytical Model Based on Data Collected in Milan Authors Giampaolo Nuvolati Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6403-3456 Giampaolo Nuvolati is Full Professor of Sociolo...

21/08/2025

Our study engages with geographical and disciplinary diversity in science to provide insights into how scientists imagine their public and how these imaginations influence the perception of science—society relations

Poonam Pandey, Post-Growth Innovation Lab, Universidade de Vigo
Stefano Sbalchiero, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), Università degli Studi di Padova
Cesare Silla, Department of Economics, Society, Politics (DESP), Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo
Brandon Vaidyanathan, Department of Sociology, The Catholic University of America

19/08/2025

What follows then is an invitation for a q***r feminist sociology of imposter feelings grounded in the political potential of constantly feeling like a phoney, unlikable, inadequate, intruder. Throughout my intention is not to present a set of strict instructions or a definitive programme of advice, but to encourage readers to imagine what possibilities for collaborative action in and against the contemporary university might flow from the embrace of imposter feelings, not as a deficiency of the self but as a social, political, collective phenomenon and as resource for collaborative action.

Maddie Breeze — Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology, University of Stirling

17/08/2025

The essay aimed at exploring academics’ lived and embodied experiences of chronic illnesses, illustrating their emotional struggles and attempts to cope with the workplace’s feeling rules and realignments that their health conditions require in order to keep up with more-than-decent work. As academics try to “draw lines” between their care needs and professional roles, key issues emerged, such as a perceived deception of one’s body vis-à-vis the unattainable “ideal academic”, the social stigma and individual feeling of shame associated with being sick, thus the difficult choice of whether or not to disclose their disease and to whom, also considering the lack or inadequacy of protective policy measures for those in precarious or non-tenure positions.
However, personal narratives also showed the existence of positive feelings of pride for being sick and yet being (or becoming) a successful scholar

Sara Bonfanti, Department of Political Sciences, Università di Genova
Maddalena Cannito, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, Università degli Studi di Torino
Manuela Naldini, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin

https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/21084/19875

15/08/2025

Higher education, academic work, and gender relations in academia have, as a result of higher education reforms over the past three decades, become increasingly defined by capitalist logics and purposes. My empirical investigations of gender in academia for the past decade have, to a large extent, drawn on Institutional Ethnography, a method-of-inquiry developed by Marxist feminist sociologist, Dorothy Smith. This method-of-inquiry has largely oriented me towards the language-driven social coordination of academic work as this has been shaped in the context of academic capitalism and neoliberal higher education reforms. However, these explorations revealed complexities in the dynamics of compliance, buying into and resisting the social organisation of academia, which called for a theorisation of emotion.

https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/20936/19873

Rebecca Lund — Centre for Gender Research, Universitetet i Oslo (UiO)

13/08/2025

The formalization of research excellence and the emphasis on addressing societal challenges have not only reshaped how researchers conceptualize their work but have also transformed their emotional experiences. Drawing on insights from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the Sociology of Emotions, we introduce the concept of emotional cultures to explore how shared emotional norms and practices shape the professional lives of researchers

Lucas Brunet, Institute for Science in Society (ISiS), Radboud University; INRAE, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Sciences Innovations Sociétés, Gustave Eiffel, France
Ruth Müller, Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS), School of Social Sciences and Technology & Department of Economics and Policy, School of Management, Technical University of Munich

https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/21071

11/08/2025

The so-called emotional turn in the social sciences — a growing awareness of the role of emotionality in understanding social relationships and experiences, both for those living them and for the researchers studying them — has, in recent years, also reached studies on university work. Several theorists have analyzed academia through concepts like feeling rules, emotional labor, and emotional grammar, or developed typologies of emotional processes as part of the framework of an increasingly central sociology of emotions. A growing amount of research and theoretical reflection has addressed the lived experiences, challenges, and contradictions of academic life. The overall idea is that university structures, which center on individual performance evaluation, generate and circulate particular affective economies

https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/21823/19869

Camilla Gaiaschi — Department of Human and Social Sciences, Università del Salento (Italy)
Rossella Ghigi — Department of Education Studies “Giovanni Maria Bertin”, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (Italy)
Valeria Qu***ia — Department of Education Studies “Giovanni Maria Bertin”, University of Bologna (Italy)

09/08/2025

In this essay honoring Harrison White’s legacy, I have reflected on complexity in dialogue with his theoretical model to shed light on social dimensions of complex systems. My goal has been to stimulate sophisticated systems thinking back into sociology by means of complexity theory. We live in complex social systems far from equilibrium that experience path-dependent histories and unpredictable phase transitions, and that now more than ever, exist in strained relations with our planet. In this connection, I argue that White’s model is extremely significant for future research on complexity in the social sciences. More specifically, I consider White’s integration of indexical semiotics and metapragmatics into networks a turning point in complex social systems theorizing.

Jorge Fontdevila — Department of Sociology, California State University, Fullerton rton

07/08/2025

How is talk about what will, could, and should happen in the future shaped by networks of actors engaged in these conversations? And how do conversations about imagined futures reshape social relations? This essay considers the roots of my current research on “the duality of networks and futures” in seminars and conversations with Harrison White at Columbia in the 1990s.

Ann Mische — Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame
https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/21585/19865

05/08/2025

Harrison White’s reconceptualization of identity as dynamic, relational, and contingent outcome of social interaction and struggles for control offers a powerful alternative to the static, essentialist concept of identity that dominates contemporary social science. Building on White’s network-based framework, this article advances a structuralist critique of identity-based explanations — particularly the framing of partisanship as a “mega-identity”.

Delia Baldassarri — Silver Professor, Department of Sociology and Politics, New York University

https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/21583/19863