4449 - Social Theory and Social Progress: Freedom, Solidarity, Democracy, Equality

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

This panel is devoted to the past and present uses of social and political theory for crafting hopeful futures. Panelists will explore—and critique—the ethical foundations, concrete implementations, and prospective designs that have fostered or may foster practices that enhance solidarity, freedom, democracy, and equality. Panelists are invited to reflect on the successes and failures of these efforts, as well as on the role that the social sciences have played, or might play, in them.

Sub Unit

• Theory Section

Session Organizer

• Christopher Michael Muller, University of California, Berkeley

Presider

• Christopher Michael Muller, University of California, Berkeley

Individual Presentations

• Real Utopias & Racial Fictions: Experimenting with Speculative Methods from DuBois to Data4BlackLives - Ruha Benjamin, Princeton University

• Did it Work in Theory? Lessons from an NSF Dissertation Workshop in Problem-Solving Sociology - Monica Prasad, Northwestern University

• Contagion and Consent, Autonomy and Expertise: Democracy in the Context of Infection Disease - Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, University of Minnesota

• We the Sovereign - Gianpaolo Baiocchi, NYU