Call for Papers & Sessions

4th Midterm Conference "Ageing in Europe: Agency, Citizenship and the Dynamics of Power" of the Research Network on Ageing in Europe (RN01) of the European Sociological Association will take place in Brno, Czech Republic, from Wednesday to Friday, 5 - 7 September 2018.

The final version of the Conference Program & Book of Abtracts are now available online!

The major conference theme ‘Agency, Citizenship and the Dynamics of Power’ brings together topics that have traditionally stood at the core of sociological thinking, but that have not been necessarily at the heart of gerontological theory and research. Many authors now point to the contemporary struggles over the representation of older age within and beyond the realm of the social sciences. Later life and older people are represented on one hand as a quiescent minority bearing multiple disadvantages within a social status of limited agency and increasing dependency, experiencing a loss of autonomy and the need to redefine one´s role in the community and society. On the other hand, older people are also seen as a source of new political, economic, and cultural ‘grey’ power, as an influential actor in contemporary societies, shaping the contours of new policies and welfare regimes. These debates reflect the diversity of the experiences of ageing selves and the pluralities of life courses as well as of the institutional, political, and social changes with which the personal and individual experience is inseparably interlinked. These struggles lead also to the reformulation of the concepts of agency, autonomy, or power themselves and to the calling for their even more reflexive application in academic accounts of the human experience in later life.

The organizers welcome individual and team contributions from the sociology of ageing, social gerontology, and related academic fields, as well as submissions for thematic session proposals. We would like to particularly invite papers and sessions that will discuss ageing-related issues within (but not limited to) the following topics:

• Changing welfare and political regimes under which old age is given shape
• Contemporary theories of power and citizenship in later life
• (In)dependency, interdependency, and personhood in older age
• Homes, communities and power in the context of migration
• Structural changes and existential challenges in later life
• Older persons as (political) actors in contemporary societies
• Research methodologies and power relationships within research (in the field)
• Roles of various stakeholders in ageing related agendas and policies as well as in influencing individual ageing conditions

The conference registration is open from 15 January 2018. The deadline for both calls is 28 February 2018. After this date, registration will only be possible without an active presentation (until 31 March 2018). We invite proposals for thematic sessions as well as individual presentations. One researcher cannot submit more than two abstracts for presentation.

Submitting an Abstract for Oral Presentation

The ESA RN01 Midterm Conference 2018 welcomes individual and team contributions from the sociology of ageing, social gerontology, and related academic fields. To submit a paper proposal, the registration of at least one presenter is required – the page with the submission guidelines opens after registration. Abstract proposals should not exceed 350 words.

Submitting a Thematic Session Proposal

We would like to offer a new opportunity to submit a Thematic Session for the ESA RN01 Midterm Conference 2018. Registration is required for the submission. The thematic session should include 3-5 pre-arranged presenters for a standard slot of 90 minutes. The primary submitter of the session proposal might include his or her own abstract as well (1 maximum) and will be asked whether he or she would like to chair the submitted session. All suggested speakers must individually register for the conference. They might (but do not have to) submit another individual abstract as well. The session will be reviewed as a whole and only the primary submitter will be notified about the result of the review.

The aim of the Call for Sessions is to enhance the comparative approach in the sociology of ageing and to inspire multiple-perspective discussions on selected up-to-date empirical and theoretical topics. Thus, on one hand, we prefer the abstracts within the proposed session to be thematically close, but to represent various contexts, approaches, or perspectives on the other. Only one abstract per institution per one thematic session is recommended. Abstracts proposed within the session should not exceed 350 words.

Proposals will be reviewed in March and submitters will be notified by the end of the month. We would like to kindly ask you to pay the registration fee until 15 May 2018 via the Masaryk University Online Shopping Center.