Power Conference 2016
Power, Institutions & Authority – 5th International Power Conference
University of Tampere, Finland, 29–31 August 2016
Relations between power, institutions, and authority have formed a mainstay of sociological accounts and theorizing since the time of Weber. However, new institutionalisms have begun to challenge traditional rational-choice and functionalist assumptions of society, and are reformulating theories of how power operates. Historical, discursive, economic and sociological neoinstitutionalisms stress different patterns of behavior that shape and limit the understanding of options open to actors. This spurt of theoretical development is part of a now-widespread popular sense that institutions guide and direct many aspects of social life, from micro choices of lifestyles to organizational fashions to macro economies and geopolitics.
In this backdrop the 5th international, biennial Power Conference will concentrate on how institutions and authority are related to power in the modern world. Special sessions will explore this inter-relationship around the themes of six keynotes, while a number of parallel sessions on related themes are also being organized. In keeping with the tradition of the Power Conferences, papers can be theoretically or empirically focused, and represent a broad geographic spectrum of participants and topics.
Confirmed keynote speakers:
Dr. Evan Schofer – University of California–Irvine, USA
Dr. Merle Jacob – Lund University, Sweden
Dr. Selina Gallo-Cruz – College of the Holy Cross, USA
Dr. Francisco O. Ramirez – Stanford University, USA
Dr. Kerstin Sahlin – Uppsala University, Sweden
Dr. Pertti Alasuutari – Tampere University, Finland
Each keynote speaker has organized and is chairing a special session on the same theme. We are delighted to invite you to submit abstracts for one of the special sessions, a parallel session, or as a general submission (list of accepted sessions at www.uta.fi/power2016).
Welcome to Tampere!
Ali Qadir
Chair of the Organizing Committee
School of Social Sciences & Humanities
University of Tampere