Coordinators:
Cristina Parente (ISUP - FLUP)
Graça Rojão (Coolabora, CRL)
Sílvia Ferreira (CES-FEUC)
Fábio Rafael Augusto (ICS-ULisboa)
Inês Vieira (U.Lusófona-CEIED)
In a context marked by multiple interconnected crises of an environmental, economic, social, political, and institutional trust nature, Sociology is challenged to strengthen its presence in the public sphere and assert itself as a fundamental resource in understanding and transforming contemporary societies. Faced with the worsening and intensification of inequalities, social vulnerabilities, and tensions that permeate democracies, it becomes particularly relevant to reflect on the contributions of sociological knowledge and practice to building more just, sustainable, and inclusive futures, capable of responding to the complex challenges of the present.
In this context, the analysis of the role of civil society, alternative economies, volunteering, and their collective, cooperative, and collaborative practices aimed at producing new responses to contemporary challenges assumes particular importance. This field, situated at the intersection between the State, the market, and the community, integrates a wide diversity of actors, including non-governmental organizations, cooperatives, associations, social enterprises, collectives, and informal initiatives. Their practices contribute to economic and social democratization, social innovation, and the construction of sustainable alternatives, frequently anchored in principles of cooperation, participation, and orientation towards the common good. These dynamics are particularly relevant in crisis contexts, where forms of organization and intervention that seek to respond to emerging social needs and, simultaneously, anticipate possible futures become visible.
These domains constitute privileged spaces for social and institutional experimentation, where solutions, practices, and forms of organization emerge that challenge dominant development models and contribute to the renewal of forms of participation, solidarity, and collective action. Simultaneously, they prove central to promoting more inclusive forms of civic engagement, strengthening local dynamics, and building responses tailored to the needs of the territories and their populations.
Thus, the Thematic Section on Civil Society, Alternative Economies and Volunteering (ST SCEAV) invites the submission of proposals that explore the contribution of different actors, practices, and organizational forms to social transformation and the strengthening of democracy. In particular, it is of interest to understand how these initiatives are situated within the public sphere, how they interact with public policies, and how they contribute to processes of citizen mobilization and civic participation. The aim is also to promote in-depth reflection on the conditions that enable or limit their action, the tensions that permeate these spaces, and the impacts they produce at different scales.
Sociology, as a discipline attentive to relationships, practices, and contexts, plays a central role in the critical analysis of these dynamics, in understanding their conditions of emergence and development, and in evaluating their social, economic, and political impacts. In its applied version, sociology shapes the perspective of professionals working in these organizations, attentive to the multidimensionality and complexity of social systems, benefiting from the back-and-forth between academic and practical knowledge, assuming a relevant function in transferring this knowledge to public debate, in promoting processes of co-construction of knowledge with different social actors, and in valuing informed and reflective forms of intervention that contribute to the construction of more democratic and inclusive societies.
In this regard, contributions addressing, among other topics, the following themes are particularly welcome:
We invite the submission of abstract proposals based on academic and non-academic research, including empirical work, theoretical and methodological contributions, as well as reports of professional experiences.
Proposals, in addition to theoretical essays, must be formulated presenting their theoretical framework, objectives, methodologies used, results and conclusions.
Professional contributions can take the form of experience reports, including context, objectives, actors involved, methodologies, activities developed, and key learnings.
Proposals must be submitted via the personal area by the deadline specified in the submission guidelines.
Proposals may be submitted in Portuguese, English, Spanish or French.
The maximum length of the abstract is 2,500 characters (excluding spaces).
Evaluation will consider the clarity of objectives, methodological adequacy, relevance of results, and the overall quality of the proposal.
The Congress will take place in person at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Algarve, in Faro, from 23 to 25 March 2027, and may include online sessions on 22 March. At the time of submission, authors must indicate whether they intend to participate in person or online.
All the authors will be invited to submit the full papers for publication in the Congress Proceedings.
Information about the section: https://stnr.aps.pt/sceav/
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