Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilisation
Call For Papers
September 13th & 14th, 2012. University of Hull, UK.

This conference focuses on the social pathologies of contemporary
civilisation, i.e. on the ways in which contemporary malaises, diseases,
illnesses, anxieties and psycho-somatic syndromes are related to cultural
pathologies of the social body, how disorders of the collective esprit de
corps of contemporary society manifest at the level of individual bodies,
and how the social body and bodies politic are related to the hegemony of
reductive biomedical and individual-psychological perspectives. The
central research hypothesis guiding the conference is that many
contemporary problems of health and well-being are to be understood in the
light of radical changes of social structures and institutions, extending
to deep crises in our civilisation as a whole. A particular focus of the
conference is the role of humanities and social sciences, particularly
sociology, philosophy and anthropology, in helping to understand the
connection between individual and collective experiences of social
transformations and of health and well-being.

Now in its third year, the thematic scope of the conference offers an
insightful approach to unfolding social, political and cultural processes
across disciplinary boundaries, with a focus extending from the experience
of the individual to a global scale. Following successful conferences at
Aalborg (2010) and Cork (2011), this year the conference is hosted by the
University of Hull.

We invite abstracts of not more than 300 words related to any of the above
themes to be submitted not later than June 10th to the email address
below. All abstracts will be subject to peer-review and should be sent to
the conference organisers at:

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Organizers: University of Hull Dept of Social Sciences, University of
Aalborg, University College Cork.


Dr Michael S. Drake,
Lecturer in Sociology,
Dept of Social Sciences,
University of Hull.
Hull
HU6 7RX
UK.

Tel.: 01482 465770
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