Social participation is one of the fundamental promises of democracy. Firmly anchored in the foundation of normative theories, it manifests itself in the empowerment of individuals to lead independent and fulfilling lives. At the same time, an inclusive society should be designed in such a way that it does justice to the realities of life for all people. Martha Nussbaum pointedly demands that all citizens "be enabled to cross a certain threshold and reach a level at which they can choose to lead a good life". (Nussbaum 1999, p. 63; translation by organiser). In many places, however, social practice does not live up to this ideal: barriers such as educational inequality, poverty and the risk of poverty, especially for children and senior citizens, as well as housing and homelessness, stand in the way of citizens' development as free and equal citizens. The contemporary relations of inequality call on the various social science disciplines to analyse and reflect on the crisis, whereby an exchange between political science, citizenship education and social work seems particularly overdue.
At the same time, the reflection on social and political crises provokes the question of the solutions adopted in politics and civil society. According to Krlev et. al. (2019, p. 52), the anticipation of a crisis already initiates the development of new ideas – specifically: social innovations. Although innovations have received increased attention in the social sciences since the 1980s, the potential of innovation research is far from exhausted. Under the broad umbrella of social innovation research, discipline-specific perspectives have emerged, for example on "community innovations" (e.g. Hill 2022), "democratic innovations" (e.g. Escobar/Elstub 2019) and "innovations in social work" (Parpan-Blaser 2018). These concepts of innovation are united by an understanding of science that locates research beyond the ›ivory tower‹ and recognises the value of the diversity of knowledge sources in the sense of a lively exchange between theory and practice.
The conference aims to bring political science, political education and social work into exchange about current crises, possible innovations and future perspectives as well as the pitfalls and potentials of transfer orientation. We are particularly, but not exclusively, interested in research projects in these disciplines that focus on gender, inclusion and participation research, citizen science, democracy research, welfare state research, education in and out of school, and didactics.
We welcome proposals for presentations, posters and workshops, e.g. on the following topics:
Panel I. Crises: Catalysts for inequality relations?
- What is the significance of barriers to participation in society and politics, in the fields of action of social work as well as in school and extracurricular civic education, and how are these reproduced through discourses and practices?
- What do the disciplines addressed understand by social, cultural or political participation?
- What are the consequences of political crises – such as wars, underfunding in social and health care, inflation – in the different fields of action of civic education and social work?
- To what extent does society's perception of challenges as a crisis shape the scope of action of civic education and social work?
- What challenges do democratic education of and citizenship education with children and young people face (e.g. in the context of ›stockpiling‹ without real opportunities for co-determination)?
Panel II: Innovations: Shaping the Future
- What concepts of innovation do the disciplines addressed discuss and to what extent can epistemic links between them be identified?
- To what extent are innovations dependent on the awareness of social crisis?
- How can innovations in education and social services be made sustainable and inclusive?
- What is the relationship between innovations and education and social management?
- What is the potential for innovation in intersectional and postcolonial perspectives?
- Citizenship education with hard-to-reach target groups: What innovation potential does (non-)user research promise here?
Panel III: Opportunities and Obstacles for Interdisciplinarity: Citizenship Education and Social Work
- How do citizenship education and social work interact in practice? Where are the obstacles, where are the opportunities?
- How can citizenship education, especially in and out of school, be linked?
- What is the relationship between the training of teachers and social workers at universities – especially in early childhood and child pedagogy – and how could this be reformed?
Panel IV. Open Panel
This open panel provides space for innovative ideas, new perspectives and current/planned projects as well as applications for third-party funding. Transfer and practice projects are of particular interest. Contributions from teaching research projects are also welcome.
Academics in the qualification phase and female colleagues are particularly invited to apply. Proposals of 250-500 words should be sent to ic.panreck@katho-nrw.de by 10 December 2023. Contributions are possible in German and English. A conference volume is intended.
Bibliography
Elstub, Stephen; Escobar, Oliver, Democratic Innovation and Governance. Cheltenham, Northampton 2019.
Hill, Hermann (Ed.), Kommunale Innovationen. Baden-Baden 2019.
Krlev, Gorgi; Anheier, Helmut; Mildenberger, Georg, Identifying and Analysing the Social Innovation Streams, in: Helmut Anheier, Gorgi Krlev und Georg Mildenberger (Ed.): Social Innovation. Comparative Perspectives. New York 2019, pp. 49-76.
Nussbaum, Martha, 1999, Gerechtigkeit oder Das gute Leben. Frankfurt am Main.
Parpan-Blaser, Anne, 2018, Organisationen des Sozialwesens als Ort von Innovation, in: Johannes Eurich, Markus Glatz-Schmallegger und Anne Parpan-Blaser (Eds.), Gestaltung von Innovationen in Organisationen des Sozialwesens. Wiesbaden 2018, pp. 31-53.
Organiser: Catholic University of Applied Science NRW, with the kind support of the German Political Science Association, Section “Political Science and Civic Education“