CONGRESS THEME:

Within the overall theme of the XVIth World Congress of Sociology – the great quadrennial event of international sociology where more than 50 Research Committees and several Working Groups and Ad Hoc Groups will organize a total of well over 700 sessions in different fields of sociology – RC 51 will organize up to 17 sessions on Sociocybernetics including one special congress theme session.


SESSION TOPICS:

At this point the following topics for sessions were proposed and accepted by RC51. At an appropriate time a reorganization may be necessary depending on the papers which will actually be proposed.

• Session 1
  Joint Session RC51 and RC16 Sociological Theory
  Sociology and Systems Theory
  Organizers: Jeffrey Alexander, Yale University, USA, jeffrey.alexander@yale.edu and Raf Vander-straeten, University of Bielefeld, Germany, raf.vanderstraeten@uni-bielefeld.de
  
  
• Session 2
  Joint Session RC51 and RC33 Logic and Methodology
  Causality Revised
  Organizers: Cor van Dijkum, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, C.vanDijkum@fss.uu.nl and Hans van der Zouwen, Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, J.van.der.Zouwen@fsw.vu.nl
  
  
• Session 3
  French Language Session on
  Rétroactions déstabilisatrices en géopolitique - Destabilizing Feedbacks in Geopolitics
  Organizer: Marie-Noëlle Sarget, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France, sarget@atacama.ehess.fr
  
  
• Session 4
  Spanish Language Session on
  Capital social y redes sociales: El "pegamento" del desarrollo social
  Social Capital and Social Net-works: The "Glue" of Social Development and Welfare
  Organizers: Chaime Marcuello-Servós, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain, chaime@unizar.es, Dario Menanteau-Horta, University of Minnesota, USA, dmenante@umn.edu and Juan D. Gomez Quintero, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
  
  
• Session 5
  Portuguese Language Session on
  Igualdade e desigualdade: Género, economica e cidadania - Uma aborgadem sociocibernética
  Equality and Inequality: Gender, Economy and Citizenship - A Sociocybernetic Approach
  Organizer: Manuel Lisboa, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, m.lisboa@fcsh.unl.pt
  
  
• Session 6
  Causes and Consequences of Innovation: Systemic Approaches
  Organizers: Matjaz Mulej, University of Maribor, Slovenia, mulej@uni-mb.si, and Eva Buchinger, ARC Systems Research, Austria, eva.buchinger@arcs.ac.at
  
  
• Session 7
  Communication and Ethics or Sociocybernetics and Cyberethics
  Organizers: Arne Collen, Saybrook Graduate School, USA, acollen@saybrook.edu and Vessela Misheva, Uppsala University, Sweden, Vessela.Misheva@soc.uu.se
  
  
• Session 8
  Precursors of Sociocybernetics: Systemic Thinking in the History of the Social Sciences
  Organizer: Pavel O. Luksha, Russia, bowin@mail.ru
  
  
• Session 9
  Emergence in Social Systems and Sociocybernetic Theory
  Organizer: Bernd R. Hornung, Marburg University, Germany, hornung@med.uni-marburg.de
  
  
• Session 10
  The Concept of Self-reference in Theories of Information Society
  Organizer: Czeslaw Mesjasz, Cracow University of Economics, Poland, mesjaszc@ae.krakow.pl
  
  
• Session 11
  Analyzing and Estimating Feedback Relationships in Empirical and Simulation Studies
  Organizers: Han Oud, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, j.oud@pwo.ru.nl, and Cor van Dijkum, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, C.vanDijkum@fss.uu.nl
  
  
• Session 12 and 13
  Luhmann Applied, Part I and II
  Organizer: Soren Brier, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, sbr.lpf@cbs.dk
  
  
• Session 14
  Sociocybernetics of Emotions
  Organizers: Christian von Scheve, University of Hamburg and ZiF, University of Bielefeld, Germany, xscheve@informatik.uni-hamburg.de, and Bernd R. Hornung, Marburg University, Germany, hornung@med.uni-marburg.de
  
  
• Session 15
  Music in the Context of African Society
  Organizer: Mario Vieira de Carvalho, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, mvc@mail.telepac.pt
  
  
• Session 16
  Participatory Sustainable Development in Rural Areas and the Contribution of Systems Theory
  Organizer: Philippos Nicolopoulos, University of Crete and University of Indianapolis - Athens Campus, Greece, nikolop@groovy.gr
  
  
• Special Session on the Congress Theme
  The System of Mass Media and Social Transformation
  Organizers: Juan Miguel Aguado, Universidad de Murcia, Spain, jmaguado@um.es, and Vessela Misheva, Uppsala University, Sweden, Vessela.Misheva@soc.uu.se
  

FURTHER SUGGESTIONS - WAITING LIST

Risk Governance and Innovative Democracy
Organizer: Danièle Bourcier, CNRS/Université Paris 2, France, bourcier@msh-paris.fr

Sociocybernetic Models of Social Macro-Dynamics
Organizer: Pavel O. Luksha (Russia), bowin@mail.ru
_____________________________________________

For more details please consult the web at:
http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/congress2006/rc/rc51_durban.htm.
A short description of the contents and objectives of each session is available on the website.