Coordenators:
José Pereira Coutinho [UCP - CITER ]
Helena Vilaça [FLUP - ISUP]
Tiago Pinto [FLUP - ISUP]
The 14th Congress of the APS is themed ‘Futures in the making: sociology in the public sphere’. Within this framework, the sociology of religion can offer a set of theoretical reflections and empirical studies grounded in a reality increasingly marked by religion. Indeed, although privatisation is a feature of Western societies, resulting from secularisation, there has been a countervailing trend of religious return to the public sphere. Globalisation and migration have altered Western religious landscapes, with consequent identity reformulations strongly associated with religion. In Portugal, this religious presence in the urban space is not only maintained within the Catholic field, but is also asserted by immigrant groups of diverse ethnicities and religions. Even non-Catholic Christian groups, associated with recent migratory flows, have also made their mark on the public sphere. Although Portugal is a predominantly Catholic country, its religious landscape is in motion, already displaying some dynamics typical of a religious market.
In this context, several issues are welcome within our thematic section, such as:
- Privatisation versus de-privatisation
- Increasing presence of religion in the public sphere
- Impact of migration on the reshaping of the religious landscape
- Impact of migration on religious visibility in the public sphere
In addition, the classical questions within our sociological field are also always welcome:
- Secularist political and legal strategies in the regulation of religion
- Instrumentalisation of religion by individual or collective actors to promote specific interests within the dynamics of social and political power
- External religious plurality: variety of religious groups existing within a given country or territory, strategies used to gain share in the religious market, relations between religious groups, relations with political power, limitations on religious freedom
- Internal religious plurality: liberalising attitudes and attitudes defending fidelity to traditional normativity, a tension that cuts across Catholics, historic Protestants, Evangelicals, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others
- Defence of values motivated by religion in domains related to private morality (sexuality, life ethics)
- Variations in political and religious attitudes and positions in generational terms, with particular emphasis on religiously committed (or not) youth.
Accordingly, we welcome proposals that fall within the topics mentioned or within the sociology of religion more generally. We therefore invite all sociologists, researchers and related professionals to submit proposals for abstracts of situated research, in both academic and non-academic contexts. Proposals may include theoretical, methodological and/or empirical analyses, namely applied research projects or action research, among others, at more or less advanced stages. We make a particular appeal for the participation of early-career researchers, students and professionals, who may present coursework, master’s dissertations, doctoral theses or non-academic work, whether completed or ongoing.
In evaluating proposals, we will consider not only their relevance to our Thematic Section, but also their theoretical, methodological and/or empirical quality, their contribution to the field, and the absence of an ideological bias.
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.
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