IV CONFERENCIA INTERNACIONAL de SOCIOLOGÍA de las POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS y SOCIALES
¿IDEOLOGÍA, IDOLATRÍA O PROPAGANDA?
La globalización social, económica y jurídica.

IV International Conference on Sociology of Public and Social Policies
IDEOLOGY, IDOLATRY OR PROPAGANDA?
Social, Economical and Legal Globalization


MAY 23—24, 2019


WORKING GROUPS
ESPAÑOL

(1). Depopulation and the labor market
Chairs: Luis Antonio Sáez Pérez. Departamento de Estructura e Historia Económica y Economía Pública. lasaez@unizar.es Victor M. Montuenga Gónez. Departamento de Análisis Económico. vimontue@unizar.es
  • Depopulation is a far-reaching phenomenon in the political debate in our country. It faces several fronts. From the demographic point of view, the abandonment of population in many localities leads to their gradual disappearance due to the ageing of their inhabitants, making it difficult for them to remain in time, as well as acting as a brake on vegetative growth. Socially, it has implications for the type of people who remain in depopulated areas. On the one hand, older people tend to remain with the limitations that this entails in terms of education, health and social services (closure of schools, less frequent health care and care for dependency, etc.). The emigration of the population from these areas is rarely compensated by the immigration from other countries, other regions or provinces, and in some few cases people return or settle in order to carry out entrepreneurial activities or to seek for new areas away from large cities. In the first case, massive immigration in certain areas can bring with it cultural, religious and even moral differences. In the second case, there may also be social consequences due to different background between natives and newcomers. As for the economic aspects, depopulation represents a great challenge in terms of ensuring that individuals enjoy equal rights and duties since basic benefits such as education, health, social services are much more expensive to provide in localities with few inhabitants and belonging to more or less homogeneous population groups. On the other hand, the lack of entrepreneurship and economic growth feed-back the tendency to abandon the areas with less future for more promising ones. The costs of providing services that the autonomous governments must face, by virtue of the competences they have transferred in this matter, are reflected in the needs of economic financing and in the factors that determine it, being able to provoke, in the last instance, alliances between different autonomous communities with common interests against depopulation in order to confront others that do not suffer from this problem. On the other hand, less economic activity is reflected in less dynamic labour markets, sometimes excessively focused on one or two activities that create a great dependence on the entire geographical environment.
    All this has led governments at all levels, national, regional and provincial to implement policies that seek to combat depopulation, trying to energize the most affected areas. Aid policies are combined with labour market policies in order to favour development in these depopulated areas, although the effects and consequences do not seem very encouraging. In this sense, the evidence that boosting employment opportunities in the most depopulated areas slows down this situation is far from corroborated. If there is a lack of relationship between work and population, what will be the future of the areas that are losing population? On the other hand, is it really worrying that some areas lose population if others gain it? Apart from the individuals affected, it could be that society as a whole is better off in this type of population that is more concentrated in certain areas.
    In this context, the objectives of this working group could be specified in some of the following.

  • Aims
    1. The phenomenon of depopulation: characteristics and scope
    2. Social and economic problems associated with depopulation.
    3. Depopulation in relation to the labour market
    4. Emigration and immigration as phenomena related to depopulation
    5. Public policies in the treatment of problems associated with depopulation

  • Contributions
    In this working group, we are interested in receiving contributions that, apart from influencing the aforementioned objectives, also include deeper reflections on the phenomenon of depopulation, the treatment and policies that are formulated to alleviate its negative consequences and, ultimately, that try to answer a question that perhaps is the first one that we should ask ourselves: Is depopulation really a problem? In this sense, after all, towns, cities, localities in general are living beings and can be born, grow and die. Throughout history we have seen that cities have appeared and others have been decaying. If many of today's localities have their origins in a profoundly agricultural and livestock society, now that these sectors barely represent 5% of the population and GDP, does it really make sense that they continue to exist in a profoundly tertiarized society? We can also think of those localities that were formed from road crossings, border crossings, and proximity to old transit routes. Today, where globalization, means of transport and communication, where ICTs allow almost instant contact, does a structure of cities, towns and localities that have their origins in the Middle Ages make sense? These questions have their immediate correlation with the labor market, since the life of localities is intimately related to the labor dynamics observed in them.

    Key Words:
    Depopulation, economic growth, labour market, structural policies, active labour market policies.

(2). Volunteering multidisciplinary and intergenerational link between citizens
Chairs. Mª Isabel Saz Gil, sazgil@unizar.es , Dirección y Organización de Empresas, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Ana Gil Lacruz, anagil@unizar.es , Dirección y Organización de Empresas, Escuela de Ingeniería y Arquitectura, Marta Gil Lacruz, mglacruz@unizar.es , Psicología y Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza

  • The Horizon 2020 programme (EC, 2014) identifies social challenges as one of its three fundamental pillars. To promote health and well-being throughout life, to achieve economically sustainable high quality health and care systems, and to generate new opportunities, jobs and growth are identified as main challenges for societies. The achievement of these objectives depends on allowing vulnerable groups to be fully integrated both within and outside the labour market. For example, population ageing represents a societal challenge, which affects the most developed countries around the world, and must be addressed in a satisfactory and inclusive way and as an opportunity  to enrich life experiences. In order to cover social needs detected but not solved, there are entities that carry out a wide range of heterogeneous, diverse, plural and different activities. These organizations are included in the Code of Associative Activities of the Ministry of the Interior (Monzón et al., 2008) and are are part of the so-called Third Sector of Social Action (TSAS) which, as stated in Law 43/2015. Non-governmental organizations tackle situations of inequality and social exclusion. The TSAS organisations are characterised by the fact that they incorporate the possibility that their human resources carry out unpaid work, that is, voluntarily.
    Globalization, even is refers to a unitary concept, implies multiple dimensions of unequal development, whichconditions social relations on a world scale (Fonseca and Martínez Gonzáles-Tablas, 2008). Globalization, from its complexity, has altered multiple spheres, both public and private, shaking people's lives. In fact, globalization has contributed to the rediscovery of the territory or territorial dimension. From this perspective, civil society is organized through volunteer organizations to address new challenges. Some authors point out that volunteer entities are born with the aim of satisfying the demand for public goods that are not satisfied by the Public Administration (Weisbrod, 1975), which is called the theory of the public sector’s failures. But there are also other theories that explain it through market failures (Hansmann, 1996). Even others point out that they arise from the citizens' initiative to develop existing missions in society, that is,they are born as a commitment with society (López Salas, 2009). Wilson and Musick (1999) remark that in volunteering has a double feature in terms of benefits and importance. Volunteering is beneficial for society in general, but also for the own volunteer.
    Law 45/2015 goes forward in the regulation, protection and recognition of Volunteer Actions. Article 3.1 of the Law defines volunteering as those activities developed by people with a general interest, of a supportive nature and free with a commitment on the part of the volunteer, without receiving any consideration and that such activities are developed through social entities on the basis of specific programs developed both inside and outside the national territory. The Act deals with the diversity of volunteering by showing the complex and rich associative panorama, which approaches different areas from a multidisciplinary perspective, and contemplates measures and mechanisms for its promotion, from the public administration, companies and universities, recognizing the value that volunteer activities have for society as a whole.
    On the other hand, societies have recently demanded to companies and institutions a greater active awareness of social problems. Social responsibility has acquired greater importance, especially at the level of strategic management among companies, universities and organizations. Volunteering is a pillar of this social responsibility and makes possible for people with different socio-demographic profiles and from different disciplines to work together to achieve a societal improvement. The discussion group is structured around different aspects on which volunteering is formed as a nexus among multiple stake holders that interrelate with each other to improve the citizens’ life quality.

  • Aims
    - To identify and to analyze social changes that affect volunteering.
    - To study the impact of volunteering on society.
    - To analyze the normative changes of volunteering.
    - To describe the state of art about the impact of globalization on volunteerism.
    - To reflect how volunteer activities improve the volunteers’ life quality.
    - To figure out future trends.

  • Contributions:
    - Improving the quality of life and volunteering.
    - Learning and knowledge through voluntary action.
    - Global trends in the study of volunteering.
    - The multidisciplinary nature of volunteering.
    - Promotion of intergenerational relations through volunteering.

  • Key Words:
    quality of life, intergenerational relations, volunteering, multidisciplinarity

(3). The impact of globalization on law: towards a new legal order?
Chair: Mª José González Ordovás, mjgonza@unizar.es Filosofía del Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Zaragoza

  • Globalization is not a process but a set of interrelated processes that are changing the economy, finance, society, art, culture and, of course, law. In this field, in the legal field, the effects and consequences that globalization has caused and continues to cause are many and varied. Thus and to refer to it while some authors speak of a "global law" others prefer the expression "globalization of law. Note that it is neither a play on words nor the same phenomenon. Perhaps as a preliminary step to the distinction between the two, it would be advisable to try to specify what relationship and influences exist between the westernization and globalization of Law, that is, to try to reflect on the limits of Western legal reason or, which is the same, on the limits of Western culture. Afterwards it is necessary to know, refer and analyze the juridical derivatives of all this, but if, in addition, one does not delve into the causes of so much and so rapid change in the normativity, reasoning, thought and juridical practice, it will be difficult to formulate or understand the due descriptions and explanations.
    The affections and transformations are of such caliber that there is no branch of Law that has not been seen or is being altered. Classical distinctions such as those separating public law from private law; national law from international law, or the adjective of the noun that were considered to be consolidated provide less and less security and continue to lose meaning and importance.
    In this context, the Philosophy of Law is increasingly being asked to contribute to the configuration of a new theory that harmonizes positive law with the social reality in which it is to be applied. Without the modulation of both, without the mutual consideration of theory and praxis, if there is a divorce between legal principles and effectiveness, the result could be the appearance and extension of anomie, which, in turn, would concern the legitimization of the Law since it could be seriously harmed. If this were the case, democracy could not remain on the sidelines, since Law and Democracy are the two sides of a single coin: our concrete social contract.
    Two socio-legal issues of undeniable importance deserve separate mention: human rights and legal pluralism. The consideration of the situation of human rights with regard to the influence of globalization on law, politics, economics ... The discourse, theory, effectiveness and the very concept of human rights is being directly and substantially affected by globalization. Somehow the current state of human rights is a metaphor and symbol of the changes brought about by globalization, to notice this is imperative if it is a question of sustaining and fortifying such rights. As far as legal pluralism is concerned, it is almost evident that this is a matter directly related to the issue of the universality of human rights and the aforementioned role of the West in shaping its theory. As all the above mentioned matters are inferred and others hardly suggested have an evident relation and influence between them and, in any case, an unquestionable connection with globalization, the importance of all of them justifies the need and convenience of their analysis.

  • Aims
    - To refer to and analyze the changes produced in the Law by Globalization.
    - To analyze the changes that the Law can produce about Globalization.
    - Describe the state of the human rights issue
    - Reflect on the current state of democracy as a consequence of all of the above and try to glimpse future trends.

  • Contributions:
    - The impact of globalization on the sources and principles of law
    - The Impact of Globalization on the Effectiveness of Law
    - The Impact of Globalization on Democracy
    - The impact of globalization on human rights
    - Globalization and legal pluralism

  • Key words:
    Globalization, Law, Democracy, Legal pluralisms

(4). Community, Coexistence and Inequality: Social Policies in the Face of Social Fracture
Chairs: Chabier Gimeno Monterde (chabierg@unizar.es) y Miguel Montañés Grado (miguelmg@unizar.es) Departamento de Psicología y Sociología. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y del Trabajo. Universidad de Zaragoza

  • This group draws on the experience of the round table held in 2017, entitled "Crisis, participation and social cohesion: Community challenges for social policies", which brought together some thirty communications on the Community approach. On the basis of this forum, we proposed a new collective reflection to make visible and enhance the many innovative research and professional practices that are being carried out in European urban and rural territories. To this end, we will have references linked to the group "Mobilities, Territories and Social Cohesion", which from the Iberus Campus works with professionals and researchers from Spain, France, Italy and Great Britain, around community intervention.
    In Europe as a whole, at the beginning of this century, the Public Administrations, and especially at the local level, are implementing social policies aimed at prevention and social promotion. From an approach marked by a political agenda that revolves around: the growing economic inequality, the sustained increase in cultural diversity in the territory and the demands for citizen participation, already transversal in the different areas of the Welfare State.
    Based on this context, this working group calls for texts that reflect processes of community diagnosis, systematisation of community intervention practices, research carried out by university groups or by professionals in social work and community social services, as well as other forms of reflection that favour the transferability of these innovative practices. In this last direction, the content of the table has a great capacity for impact and transferability of results, given the significance of the emergence of various experiences that are taking place in the space of social intervention in community key. Many of them also need such a forum to complete their systematisation and evaluation process.

  • Aims
    - To present experiences of Social Policies and public and private interventions with a community focus, especially those that promote participation as a way to improve social cohesion.
    - Present research carried out by university groups or by social service professionals, as well as other forms of reflection that favour the transferability of these innovation practices.
    - Create a space for exchange and reflection on the potentialities and obstacles to the development of these intervention formulas in the present context.

  • Contributions:
    - Experiences of community approach in Social Services.
    - Diversity management plans in municipalities and Autonomous Communities.
    - Community intervention projects in territories of high cultural diversity.
    - New community strategies in the Third Sector.
    - Community approach to Social Policies financed with European Funds.

  • Key Words:
    Community, Participation. Diversity, Social Cohesion, Crisis

(5). Policies and strategies for sustainability: economies, organizations and society
Chairs: Alexia Sanz Hernández, alexsanz@unizar.es, y
Mª Victoria Sanagustín Fons vitico@unizar.es, Dpto. Psicología y Sociología. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y del Trabajo. Universidad de Zaragoza

  • The debate about whether we will be able to manage the planetary challenges in the medium and long term has taken hold in recent decades, amplifying after the recent crisis. The declaration of the advent of the era of sustainable development by Sachs, one of the best known economists of globalisation, has rekindled interesting debates about the very notion of growth (or degrowth) and its limits. In this debate, the notion of sustainability takes centre stage in its three dimensions (economic, social and environmental), and becomes the discursive support for new proposals for political models and economic practices such as the green economy, the circular economy or bioeconomy.

    The commitment to global change and the contribution to societal transition that has been made explicit in the political agendas at all levels is based on the anticipation of messages about scarcity and the convenience of incorporating efficiency in both production and consumption processes, in a framework called responsibility, where the notion of innovation is also another key element. These are proposals that place their trust in the capacity of knowledge to solve global problems (also from the local and community level).
    This approach has been articulating policies and strategies closely related to each other, which have much to do with the management of resources (water, energy, raw materials, land, etc.), as well as with access to them and attention to vulnerable groups or territories or affected by the effects of such management.
    At the same time, relevant notions such as justice, education or inclusion have been incorporated into the political, media and academic debate within the framework of the global political agenda that is being set from Agenda 2030 with the maxim of not leaving anyone behind. This "global" guideline establishes 17 Sustainable Development Objectives and five basic pillars: "Planet, people, prosperity, peace and partnership (the 5Ps).
    Thus, the policies that are integrating this approach or that are being formulated around the concept of sustainability are heterogeneous but closely interconnected: Social, educational, food, energy, health, economic, demographic, migratory or mobility policies... They also propose frameworks for action that lead to) a redefinition of individual roles at different levels (at the economic level for example in relation to producers, consumers or prosumers), b) the search for global solutions based on interdisciplinary and collaborative research and the generation of environments that make scientific-technological and social innovation possible, c) the call for the ethical behavior of organizations (ethic busines) in the aforementioned framework of Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Objectives, and d) the verbalization of the importance of the social dimension in the process of change (actors, interactions, networks), as well as the unavoidable commitment of citizens in decision-making.
    For some, these sustainability policies can bring development closer to a human scale, having repercussions at a local and community scale with different strategies to those at a global scale that globalization has moved and that have simultaneously aggravated impoverishment, poverty and inequality. For others, they are essentially discursive proposals that "capitalize hope", that is to say, with enormous promising capacity and generating expectations in populations and territories, but with limited possibility of having a positive and effective impact on social and territorial development.

  • Aims:
    o To debate the degree and way in which different public policies are incorporating the notion of sustainability (economic, social and environmental) in their strategies at different scales (local, autonomous, national or international).
    o Analyze how the effects or impacts of these policies are being measured.
    o Identify from case studies to what extent and in what direction these policies are contributing to the modification of "sustainable" behavior at organizational, community and individual levels.

  • Contributions
    Multidisciplinary theoretical or empirical contributions from diverse but relevant fields such as: socioeconomics, sociology of organizations, accounting, social economy, education, social psychology, geography, political sciences, law... In general, contributions that enrich the debate and come from different social and human disciplines (e.g. philosophy) as well as from other disciplines such as agricultural, environmental or technical sciences will be accepted.

  • Key words:
    Public policies, sustainability, resource management, social development, impact, organizations, society

(6). Enterprises, social entrepreneurship
Chairs: Ignacio Bretos ibretos@unizar.es Millán Díaz-Foncea, millan@unizar.es GESES, Universidad de Zaragoza, Ruth Simsa, Ruth.Simsa@wu.ac.at, Institut für Soziologie, Kompetenzzentrum für Nonprofit Organisationen und Social Entrepreneurship, Vienna University of Economics and Business

  • Social enterprises are a plural reality, with a great diversity of experiences. There are social enterprises with a long history and others are emerging. Furthermore, we can identify different types of economic activities, management models, networks, etc. Social enterprises wanted to give a response to the needs and challenges that affect persons having as reference the Social economy framework. Work integration social enterprises, social cooperatives are examples of social enterprises. However, especially in the last decade other emerging types of social enterprises have been incorporated.
    The definition of social enterprise is multi-dimensional. It combines elements of the traditional enterprise and Social Economy that particularly affect the social objective, the economic motivation, and the management models of these types of organizations. Academic literature contains different social enterprise models emerging from both European and Anglo Saxon tradition. European social enterprises are linked mainly with collective social entrepreneurs, while Anglo Saxon social enterprises are linked primarily to individual social entrepreneurs. The increase Social Economy experiences in Latin America and Eastern Europe, the revitalization of social enterprises in Europe at the dawn of the latest EU directives, the strengthen of the social sector in Asia, as well as the increase of the support from the academic to this reality are examples of this. Other issues analyzed have to do with the type of economic activity executed by the enterprises, their similarity to the capitalist enterprise, the legal forms adopted, and the associated governance.
    The current economic crisis and the ensuing public fiscal austerity, as well as the high unemployment rate and cuts in welfare state provision, represent recent drivers for the creation of social enterprises. These factors, combined with new elements from the supporting structures, such as social entrepreneur programmes and private initiatives for encouraging social initiatives, seem to have acted as impulses for emerging new forms of social enterprises, where entrepreneurs engage in economic activities but with clear social aims and within a participatory decision-making process. All of them represent a movement of new civic attitudes towards co-responsibility and the resolution of common problems, coming from the private sphere. In this regard, the transition from traditional sources of funding for associations and foundations (public funding and donations) to new sources of funding (e.g. crowdfunding) is currently underway in parallel with the engagement in economic activities to achieve their social aims and make them sustainable over time. In this sense, another consequence of the crisis is the shift in attitude of social investors towards the type of projects for investment. Over the last few years, new initiatives by investment funders which are interested in international cooperation and environmental activities have been created, following requests from clients of private banks. In the beginning, clients were looking for returns in social or environmental terms. They are currently shifting their focus to groups at risk, such as unemployed people or people with disabilities who have been severely affected by the economic crisis.

  • Aims:
    To examine the concepts of the social enterprise and social entrepreneur from different perspectives and experiences
    To analyzes the new social entrepreneur trends, creation processes, and the configuration of social markets.
    To examine the different management models and public policies supporting the social enterprises and their ecosystems
    To study the risks and opportunities of social enterprises

  • Contributions:
    o Social enterprises models: legal, economic and social analysis.
    o Case studies and sectoral analysis.
    o Systems and funding models: institutions, social finance tools (crowdfunding, community bonds, patient capital...).
    o Governance models: models of decision, involvement, participation of stakeholders.
    o Social entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurship: context, ecosystems.
    o Women as social entrepreneurs
    o.Evaluation of the economic and social impact.
    o Social innovation and organizational culture in social enterprises.
    o Public policy and social enterprises.

  • Keywords
    Social Enterprises, social entrepreneurs, collective entrepreneurship, social impact, management, public policy

(6). Global policies, local realities: interdisciplinary perspectives in social policy analysis and implementation
Chairs: Patricia Eugenia Almaguer Kalixto almaguer@unizar.es, Departamento de Psicología y Sociología. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y del Trabajo. Universidad de Zaragoza. Raija Koskinen raija.koskinen@helsinki.fi, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Research and Social Work, University of Helsinki.

  • Globalization has also impacted the way of designing and implementing public policies, as it is part of a complex system of multiple interdependencies of actions, agents and discourses. Any country is linked to macro processes of global and macro-regional policies that impact on its local implementation; from macro-economic policy, environmental or social policy on issues such as migration, well-being, quality of life, health, education, environmental protection, social development and so on.
    In principle, deliberative policies designed at macro level, should strengthen the following levels of implementation. However, the evidence shows that this is not always the case, and examples of de-globalisation, processes of political localization (i.e. Brexit), and new protectionism approaches (United States foreign policy) are emerging and somehow consolidating. In contrast to these processes, global consensus tries to advance with comprehensive global agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the 2030 agenda.
    This conference group proposes to critically analyze: To what extent do global and regional agendas really strengthen and implement local social policies? What conceptual tools help us explain the closure/openness processes? How much consistency and coherence does global policy imprint to when it reaches the regional and local levels of implementation?

  • Aims
    o Discuss the impact of globalization on the process of designing regional and local social policies.
    o Analyze the current theoretical approaches to explain the interrelation of levels in the design of global, regional and local policies.
    o Present geographic and / or thematic case studies (migration, welfare, quality of life, health, education, environmental protection, social development), where the impact of global policies in local contexts is analyzed.
    o Generate proposals for interdisciplinary analysis of global policy processes linked to cases of local implementation

  • Contributions
    In this working group we are interested in discussing contributions that, in addition to addressing the proposed topics, dedicate a part of their work to the methodological and conceptual reflection of the cases raised. We seek novel approaches in the interdisciplinary approach that can results in strength of the presented analysis.

  • Key Words:
    Global politics, social policy, interdisciplinary perspective, regionalisms, policy implementation


(8). Ideology, government and security: producing and managing 'Exception' in the areas of Penal Control and/or Social Intervention
Chairs: Daniel Jiménez Franco djf@unizar.es, Laboratorio de Sociología Jurídica. Facultad de Derecho. Universidad de Zaragoza. Jesús C. Aguerri jesuscarrerasaguerri@gmail.com Universidad de Zaragoza.

  • Most current social and security policies seems marked by a convergence between the emergence of threats and a certain homogenization of political responses. Due to this trend, exceptional reactions - against dangerous phenomena allegedly affecting 'civic order' and social peace - come to export their logics to different spheres of intervention. Through this import-export process of approaches and institutional responses, the notion of exception tends to become the norm. The influence of these processes on how we conceive fundamental rights and their enforcement is one of the main objects in this working group.
    A sort of intra-state transfer must be added to the dynamics involving economic globalization and the ideological totalization that legitimates their deployment: a “special relationship of subjection” between the systems of penal control and social protection, which seems to extend in many senses and intensities.
    In recent decades, a variety of researches have stressed the role of the USA as the main exporter of these policies and discourses, whose influence on the social and penal policies in many states requires a complex analysis. We also consider that it is necessary to address the role of both spheres as testing grounds for a globalized governmentality whose legitimacy relies on the ideological pillars of punitivity - at the expense of the material foundations of equality and social justice.

  • Aims
    o Analyzing different approaches and theoretical uses of the notion of exception along the current political and economical cycle.
    o Observing contemporary securitarian processes and discussing the material and ideological effects of their expansion.
    o Analizing the relationship between different state contexts regarding the production-management of exception.
    o Discussing the relationship between the spheres of social protection and penal control, their causes, processes and broad effects.

  • Contributions
    Theoretical and empirical contributions on punitivity, security and exception. Critical discussions on public policies, social security, social work, penal policies, and policing. Analyses of contemporary punitive trends, along with the similarities and differences dat a global level. Debates on these dynamics' genealogy, origins, evolution and causal mechanisms.

  • Key Words
    Ideology, government, security, exception, penal control, social protection, social work, prevention