CFP – Two sessions for the ISA World Congress

I am co-organizing two RC06 (Commitee on Family Research) sessions for the XVIII International Sociological Association World Congress (2014, Japan).

1. “ICT & Family Life” with Claúdia Casimiro:

This session critically explores the intersection between family life and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The contemporary family is progressively a networked family through a variety of digital technologies (Rainie & Wellman, 2012). A Pew report concluded, in 2008, that American families were using the Internet and mobile phones to coordinate their lives, to be connected throughout the day, and to bond and share moments online. Is this a cross-cultural behavior? What challenges does this connectedness bring in family routines, relationships, norms, work, intimacy, and privacy?

This session aims to address two main broad questions: How do ICT affect and shape contemporary families? and, How do families, in turn, shape ICT? We welcome both theoretically informed and empirically grounded papers that cover a range of themes in relation to family life and ICT, including but not limited to the following:

– Uses and roles of ICT in family life
– ICT and family time, family norms, family routines/rituals, family relationships, or transnational families
– Domestication of technology
– Meanings, identities, and performances
– Public vs. private/collective vs. individual spheres
– Social capital
– Designing technology for families
– Networked households
– Work/life balance
– Intimacy and autonomy
– Online dating
– Methodology

2. “Facing an Unequal World: Social Capital and Families in a Cross-Cultural Perspective” with Fausto Amaro:

This session explores the role of families in the production, accrual, and reproduction of social capital. Social capital is a multidisciplinary concept with a variety of definitions, but it broadly refers to the resources embedded in our social ties/communities. It has been associated with a variety of positive outcomes, from status attainment to alleviation of poverty. Those with a higher level of social capital seem to have more professional and social opportunities, and to be better off. So, what is the relationship between family life and social capital? How do families contribute to the creation and maintenance of social capital? Do they create specific types of social capital? How does the diversity of contemporary family forms affect social capital? Can families and social capital help us to overcome crises and an unequal world? Or do they reinforce inequalities?

Both theoretical and empirical proposals that cover a range of themes in relation to family and social capital in a cross-cultural perspective are welcome, including but not limited to the following topics: Access and mobilization of social capital; Reproduction of social capital; Dimensions of social capital; Bonding social capital; Bridging social capital; Stratification and social capital; Individual and collective-level social capital; Measurement of social capital; Implications of social capital for family life; Violence and social capital; and, Dark side of social capital.

On-line abstracts submission:
June 3, 2013 – September 30, 2013 24:00 GMT.
A direct submission link will be provided in due course.

Here is a full list of the ‘Committee on Family Research’ sessions.

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Thanks!

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