Conference Series

SSRC CONFERENCE SERIES

The SSRC sponsors a series of conference workshops. It is envisaged that these workshops will involve close collaboration between contributors, who will circulate papers in advance. The papers may be made available online as SSRC Working Papers if so desired. We should like to facilitate a situation in which the participants meet over a period of three to four days, so that each paper can be discussed in detail by all members of the group. We intend that this will develop into a prestigious and internationally reputable series of meetings.

Funding to a maximum of €3000 will be contributed at the discretion of the Board, depending on the countries of origin of the participants and other costs. Any applications should include a detailed costing, which will be used as a basis to decide the final sum. Payments will be based upon receipts received.

Events funded under this initiative include:

5th SSRC International Conference Workshop 2009

The 5th SSRC International Conference Workshop 2009 'Bringing Nature Back In? Theories of Nature-Society Relations in Environmental Sociology & Sustainability Research' was organised by Henrike Rau. This brought together academics such as Dr. Matthias Groß (from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany) and Dr. Peter Doran (from Queens University Belfast) together with academics from NUI, Galway and the proceedings of which will published in the coming year.

The Social and Political Relevance of Gellner's Thought Today

Organised by Dr Sinisa Malesevic and Dr Mark Haugaard, Dept of Political Science and Sociology, this conference was held on 21-22 May 2005. Organised at the eve of the 10th anniversary of Gellner's death, it brought together some of the world's most prominent social scientists whose own work, in one way or another, is indebted to the legacy of Gellner.

Ernest Gellner (1925-1995) was unique as a thinker, a polymath whose work covered areas as diverse as social anthropology, analytical philosophy, the sociology of the Islamic world, nationalism, psychoanalysis, postmodernism, East European transformations and kinship structures.

During the inter-war period Gellner was raised by his German-speaking Jewish parents in the city of Prague, a formative period where he experienced the intermingling of many different peoples and cultures. The Second World War ended this, exposing Gellner to change of seismic proportions as the world he knew was literally blown apart by political forces and ideological currents that sought either to obliterate difference or mould it into some form of uniformity. Armed with this life experience, Gellner's education at Oxford equipped him with the intellectual tools to develop a comprehensive and sociologically coherent theory of nationalism. It is this field of research for which Gellner is most likely to be remembered. Indeed Gellner's sophisticated and original account of nationalism as a feature and product of modernity positions him as one of the 'founding fathers' of nationalism studies. Yet his contribution to social and political analysis is much richer than this title would suggest.

The aim of this conference is to shed light on the broader scope of Gellner's work, whose ideas and analyses of social structures remain as relevant today as they were at the time of their inception. In other words, our aim is to go beyond the image of Gellner as a theorist of nationalism so as to emphasise the contribution he has made in other areas of research. For example his studies on Islam and modernity have much to offer in understanding the social dynamics of our post 9/11 world; his philosophical works on relativism and the nature of cognition provide invaluable insights on the nature of modern thinking; and his macro historical analyses of social transformation from the agricultural polyglot Empires to the industrial monoglot nation-states and beyond provide fruitful ideas about the form, content and structure of global change taking place today.

Participants:

Professor John A. Hall, McGill University, Canada

Dr. Mark Haugaard, National University of Ireland, Galway

Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen, University of Oslo, Norway

Professor Michael Lessnoff, University of Glasgow, Scotland

Professor Alan Macfarlane, Cambridge University, England

Dr. Sinisa Malesevic, National University of Ireland, Galway

Professor Michael Mann, University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Pete Morriss, National University of Ireland, Galway

Mr. Kevin Ryan, National University of Ireland, Galway

Professor Petr Skalník, Department of Social Sciences, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic

ABSTRACTS  and links to videos

John A. Hall 'More Right than Wrong: Ernest A. Gellner on Nationalism'

Gellner's theory of nationalism is justly criticised for its socio-economic functionalist style of explanation. This line of attack has led to some neglect of his most basic perception, that nationalism is about homogenising political space. I inquire into the circumstances that led to this view, and ask whether it is correct--in part by comparing his account to that of the recent work of Michael Mann.

Mark Haugaard - Modernity, Civil Society, and Power

Central to Gellner's staunch support for Western liberalism and critique of communism, Islam and postmodernism, is the belief that the emergence of 'civil society', at the end of the 18th century, represented a unique event that allowed freedom to flourish in a historically unprecedented manner. This claim was premised upon the further hypothesis that what made this event unique was a change in power structures. Prior to this, power was based either upon coercion or ecclesiastical authority. With the advent of early modernity, violence became divorced from everyday life and religion became a private affair. This allowed for the emergence of a new realm, 'civil society', which was neither physically coerced nor subjected to religious dogma.

While I believe Gellner to be broadly correct in these observations, there is a certain absence in the theory. Is civil society somewhere without power? Is it a realm of total freedom? Or, is the existence of civil society premised upon a new kind of power? In this paper, the latter question is answered in the affirmative and the unique characteristics of this new kind of power are explored.

Miroslav Hroch - Could Gellnerian terms be understood by historians?

 In this paper, I would like, firstly, to confront the use of some terms, how they are used by Gellner and how they are understood by historians. Two examples: using the term Reformation in the book Plough, Sword, Book or using the term industrialization in the book on Nationalism. Secondly, some observations on the difference in Gellner's understanding of chronology, confronted with the historian's work with it. - Naturally, all these reflexions concern a more general topic: the specific differences in the methodology of historical sciences and anthropology.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen - Ernest Gellner and contemporary multiculturalism

For a politically engaged social theorist, Ernest Gellner was surprisingly uninterested in analysing the contemporary identity politics arising from migration into the West. In several of his books and essays there are hints about his attitudes to multiculturalism and the new cultural configurations, but he never began to analyse the impact of migration on European political identities. However, many of Gellner's writings provide ideas and facts which are clearly relevant for such an enterprise. His views on liberalism and romanticism, his work on the collapse of empires and the rise of nationalism, and perhaps most notably his writings about the societal foundations of ideology, offer rich and challenging input to any discussion of cultural pluralism and national (or post-national?) identities. The paper will amount to an analysis of contemporary dynamics of cultural identity in selected European societies, taking its analytic cues from Gellner's work.

Michael Lessnoff - Islam, Modernity and Science

Ernest Gellner's analysis of Islam was shaped by his theory of history and of modernity. Modern industrial society, for Gellner, rests on and demands a uniform, literate (i.e. 'high') culture: pre-modern agricultural society was fragmented into a literate 'high' culture and illiterate 'folk' cultures. In Islam, Gellner argued, the central literate high culture was and is in a generic sense very 'Protestant' and therefore (unlike other non-Western traditional cultures) well suited to modernity: hence its present strength. But in fact traditional Islamic high culture was divided between puritan orthodox and Sufi mystic variants; and the former is in spirit profoundly anti-modern -  more so, arguably, than the Sufi alternative, which nurtured the great scientific culture of medieval Islam. Science is a defining element of Gellnerian modernity, but Islamic science never became modern science. I shall try to suggest why not, through comparison with the Western case.

Alan Macfarlane - Ernest Gellner and the Conditions of Liberty

Much of Ernest Gellner's work was concerned with 'The Conditions of Liberty' (1994). This arose from his own early experiences and reflected in his extensive work on the Enlightenment discussion of liberty (especially D.Hume), the admiration for the work of Karl Popper, the analysis of religion-political integrations in Islam, and of ideological closure in communism. What did Gellner mean by 'liberty'? Why did he think it precarious and unusual and what were the tendencies working against it? What were his prescriptions for maintaining liberty? The paper will look at some of the strengths and weaknesses of his approach by comparing it to earlier accounts (from Montesquieu to Mill) of the conditions of liberty. It will question whether liberty can survive in a post 9/11 world and the threats posed by the 'war on terrorism' to the Enlightenment vision.

Sinisa Malesevic - Between the Book and the New Sword: Gellner, Violence and Ideology

Gellner's historical sociology rests on a simple but profound understanding of the radical structural transformations that have shaped the nature of human collectivity. His focus is on the tectonic structural changes which have transformed a deeply hierarchical, economically stagnant, inegalitarian and violent world into one characterised by an intensive social mobility, perpetual economic growth, (principled) egalitarianism and relatively peaceful social conditions. This paper challenges such a view of modernity that privileges production over coercion. I argue that Gellner underestimates the role of both violence (in its internal and external form) and ideology in the modern, and particularly late modern, era. Not only that modernity was born through and with violence, but violence has dramatically intensified and transformed with modernity requiring much more potent and subtle sources of self-justification articulated in the proliferation and development of the powerful and pervasive ideological doctrines.

Michael Mann - European Miracles (Not all of them nice)

It has been customary for well over a century to describe the "European Miracle" as having been an essentially economic and political breakthrough, leading to a highly productive capitalism and a polity embodying liberal freedoms. This is a very happy story, since it left behind societies based on want, despotism and violence. Ernest Gellner's version of the Miracle Story centred on a distinction between a past based on predation, and a future based on production. There is much truth in the Story, but the Miracle also enabled Europe/ the West to dominate the world through military conquest institutionalized as a form of imperialism that proved uniquely short-lived because it was racist, and so proved incapable of assimilating other peoples into imperial citizenship. The Miracles were plural. Thus plural, often contradictory forms of power have been playing out in the European/ Western/ American-dominated centuries ever since.

Pete Morriss - Sociology and Political Philosophy

Gellner did not think highly of political philosophy: it had, he thought, been superseded by sociology. However, he never produced a fully developed defence of this view, or even a developed account of what he meant. I shall argue that this thesis, in its more sweeping form, is wrong: political philosophy is (or should be) here to stay, in part because it does (or tries to do) worthwhile things that sociology cannot attempt to do. More interesting, and useful, connections between sociology and political philosophy have been drawn recently by several writers less interested than Gellner seemed to be in point-scoring between academic disciplines. One claim is that it is only in certain sorts of societies that we find political philosophy at all. Another is that the nature of a society strongly influences the conceptual apparatus available to that society, and hence the form, and content, that political philosophy can take. This paper explores these claims that sociological knowledge can help us to understand political philosophy.

Kevin Ryan - Putting Gellner on the Couch: Truth, Reason, and the Spectre of Contingency

The paper focuses on Gellner's critique of absolutism ('fundamentalism') and relativism. Within Gellner's oeuvre these may relate to epistemology, ideology or movements, and together they incorporate religion, Marxism, psychoanalysis, and postmodernism. Gellner's defence of rationalism, which is indebted to Popper's principle of falsification, takes up a middle position between these extremes. This is characterised in the paper as a 'weak' conception of contingency: context-transcending knowledge of the real is possible but the status of true knowledge remains provisional pending the results of further research. This is contrasted with 'strong' contingency: truth which is fundamentally contextual. By examining the structure of Gellner's argumentation it become apparent that the relation between his three primary positions is one of intra- and inter-textual instability. At the intra-textual level the positions of absolutism and relativism slide into each other, with the defence of weak contingency disclosing a hegemonic struggle to define a foundational truth against its 'outside'. Whether this constitutive outside is defined as the problem of absolutism or relativism its meaning condenses as 'anti-reason'. The inter-textual dimension requires an examination of the relation between 'Gellner' as a text and postmodern theory, attending to the relation between regimes of truth such as rationalism and social practices which are constitutive of and constituted within particular ontologies. By putting Gellner 'on the couch' the title of the paper points towards the tropes of metonymy and metaphor, which are used to demonstrate how Gellner's critique of 'unreason' undermines his own position so that he becomes an unwitting ally of his opponents.

Nicos Mouzelis 'Industria', Modernity, Nationalism

If one replaces Gellner's concept of 'industria' with that of modernity, it is easier to identify mechanisms which link in a non teleological manner the structural conditions of modernity with the development of nationalism. From a sociological point of view, modernity refers to the type of social organization which emerged and gradually became dominant in Western Europe after the English Industrial and French Revolutions. It entails three basic structural features: a) The destruction of what Gellner called 'segmental localism'; b) The massive mobilization and inclusion of the population to the 'imaginary community' and the nation-state; c) The top-down differentiation of institutional spheres (economic, political, social, cultural), each portraying, as least potentially, its own values and logic. Once nation broad, differentiated institutional spheres emerge, as T. Parsons has pointed out, the problem of integrating them arises. From this perspective nationalism can be seen as one of the mechanisms which elites at the centre, in an intended or unintended manner, use in order to integrate the differentiated parts of modern social formations.

Peter Skalnik - Gellner and Marxism: A Complementary Opposition

Gellner's social theory rests on two pillars: civil society and modernity. In both Marxism has a stake. Lessnoff argues that Gellner saw Bolshevism as 'an effective agent of economic and social modernization' and Marxism-Leninism as an ideology was for him a kind of functional equivalent, a collectivist substitute, for the 'Protestant ethic' of Calvinism (Lessnoff 2002: 55). My paper will be an attempt at a more subtle and diversified look at Gellner relationship with Marxism. On the one hand there is the reality and practice of Bolshevism (Soviet Marxism or Marxism-Leninism) which Gellner viewed rather critically, on the other there was Marxism (without epithetons) as a general social and historical theory. I shall analyse both strands. Although Gellner did not submit the former to any deeper analysis (even though there are indications that after his one year stay in Moscow in the late 1980s he envisaged a book on late communist Soviet system) I believe that he was attracted to the theory and practice of the Soviet experiment. In perhaps his last word on this theme, he wrote that he 'always knew that those beliefs were rubbish' but treated them with respect 'as one generally does with regard to the religion of others'(Gellner 1993: 141). In a way he liked the exchange between liberalism and socialism and as a notorious maverick regretted the 'total collapse of one participant in the Great Debate' (ibid.). The latter, as it reflected itself in the theoretical disputations among Soviet ethnographers, fascinated Gellner as well and he spent relatively lot of time in order to understand and explain to the western readers what preoccupies theorists such as Semyonov, Kabo or Bromley. I shall pay attention to these theories, their pitfalls and the trap into which Gellner fell while studying them.

Links to opening and discussion sessions:

Opening Session

Civil Society and Liberty

Nationalism, Ideology and Modernity

The Politics of Identity

Acknowledgement:

This conference was sponsored by the Sociological Association of Ireland, the SSRC NUI Galway, the Department of Political Science and Sociology NUI Galway, the Arts Faculty NUI Galway, and the Czech Embassy. The conference organisers wish to express their gratitude for this support, which made this conference possible.

Society, Culture and the Environment

Global Solutions for Pressing Environmental Problems

A workshop held at Brigit's Garden, Roscahill, 'The Transition to Ecology: Environmental Issues from a Transcultural/Transdisciplinary Perspective', addressed the many environmental challenges that affect Ireland and China today. The event was organised by Dr. Henrike Rau and Dr. Ricca Edmondson from the Department of Political Science and Sociology (NUIG) with support from the Social Science Research Centre at NUI, Galway. The interdisciplinary nature of the workshop brought together academics from the social sciences, heritage studies, history, journalism and literary studies and provided a forum for Irish and Chinese researchers to exchange ideas.

The workshop addressed many issues relevant to the ecological debate, such as local knowledge and wisdom in Irish and Chinese society, health, the body and community-based reactions to environmental threats as well as social and cultural aspects of car dependence and mobility.

Presentations by Chinese visitors Prof. Liu Wei (Wuhan University) and Prof. Chen Hong (Central China Normal University) focused on environmental politics and activism in China and images of human-animal relations in English and Chinese art and poetry.

The exchange between researchers from Ireland and China proved insightful. Many environmental challenges that concern people in Ireland also affect Chinese society and call for innovative and sustainable policy solutions on a global scale. Most importantly, the workshop brought to the fore the important role of social and cultural factors in the transition to a more ecologically sustainable society.

Women and the (Globalised?) Sex Industry in Ireland

Organised by Dr Eilis Ward, Centre for Women's Studies and sponsored by the Social Sciences Research Centre.(November 2004)

The conference , which was the first of its kind in Ireland, took place in NUIG, CSHCHS Seminar Room, on November 12th with an invited audience of approximately 40 people. The conference was organised by the Women's Studies Centre.

The conference set out to address the research gaps on the topics and the policy areas and was organised specifically to allow an informed debate amongst individuals and organisations with a particular policy, service, research or other interest in the area of the sex industry in Ireland. The audience consisted in staff of Health Boards, the Gardai and the Probation Service, the Gender Equality Unit of the Department of Justice and Law Reform, a number of academics (UCC, TCD and NUIG) and representatives from a number of NGOs (Irish Organisation of Migration, Rape Crisis Network Ireland, the Refugee Council, Ruhama, Women's Aid, the Women's Human Rights Alliance, the Migrants Council of Ireland, the National Women's Council of Ireland, the Women's Health Project and the Merchants Quay Project Dublin, the Campaign Against Pornography).

The conference began with an opening address by Dr. Eilis Ward, of the Women's Studies Centre and was followed by the following presentations:

• Ivana Bacik (TCD) 'Street Prostitution in Dublin'
• Helen Mortimer (Campaign against Pornography) 'Pornography and Sexual Exploitation: Some issues for Ireland".
• Joanna McMinn (NWCI) 'Prostitution and Violence against Women: the position of the NWCI'.
• Gillian Wylie (ISE, TCD) "Researching the Extent of Trafficking into Ireland'.
• Mary O'Shea (Merhcants Quay Project) ' Reaching the Hard to Reach: Women Addiction and Sex Work'
• Alan Bailey (Bridewell Garda Station) 'Operation Quest: Issues Arising'. Kathleen Fahy (ruhama), 'Women in Prostitution: Research Gaps and Policy Questions'.

A paper on the trafficking of women and children into Europe and Ireland for sexual exploitation was also circulated at the seminar on behalf of Maria Delaney of the COPINE Project (UCC) who was unable to attend on the day. A brief report on the conference is being drawn up and will be circulated and made available on the WSC website. The conference was also the first step in a wider research and publications proposal to a) host a major (open) conference on the topic in 2005 b) publish a collections of papers in book form.

Eilis Ward is collaborating with Gillian Wylie of the Irish School of Ecumenics (TCD) on this next stage of the project. In addition, the Irish Human Rights Commission is interested in exploring collaboration on the topic.

Violence in the 21st Century

Organised by Dr Felix O Murchadha, Dept of Philosophy (March 2003)

The violence seminar series was hosted by the philosophy department and sponsored by the SSRC. It consisted in a series of six seminars on different theoretical issues concerning violence in its different manifestations. The series was interdisciplinary in nature and presentations were given by experts from Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and Ireland. The topics discussed ranged from specific issues of terrorism and crimes against humanity to the more general questions of the violation of human rights, responsibility and evil.

Speakers and Titles

• Professor Dr. Bernhard Waldenfels (Universit�t Bochum): "Violence as Violation".
• Professor Norman Geras (University of Manchester): "The Concept of Crimes Against Humanity"
• Dr. Eve Garrard (University of Keele) 'Violence, Cruelty and Evil'
• Mr. Garret O'Boyle (Trinity College Dublin): Justifications for Terrorist Violence
• Professor Bill Starr (Marquette University) "Violence in America: A Philosophical Perspective"
• Dr. Vittorio Bufacchi (University College Cork): "Political Violence: A Philosophical Analysis"

Aging and Values

A conference on 'Aging and Values' was held on 20-22nd October 2006, in association with the Irish Centre for Gerontology. For further details click here.

The Theory of Capitalist Stages and Social Structures of Accumulation

The SSRC supported a conference on 'the Theory of Capitalist Stages and Social Structures of Accumulation, held in NUI Galway on 2nd-4th November 2006. Further details available here.  

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