Do environmental issues merely express social and economic inequalities, or do they reinforce them? While there is a relative consensus among sociologists in favor of the 2nd response, we feel it is also necessary to examine the obstacles to individual or collective acceptance of the threats to the environment and, consequently, to social life. What may seem self-evident to some may appear as an unattainable goal, reducing any desire to take part in any kind of action. How can we express the complex relationship that individuals and groups have with the environment and the consequences of their actions? Within the RT47 Sociologie Visuelle et Filmique, contributors will explore this theme in the form of still or moving images, through documentary films or photographs.

We propose the following lines of thought and communication.

1. The environment, a question of standard of living, lifestyle and integration into social life that calls into question representative democracy. An economic, social, political enigma? For example, the Gilets Jaunes or Earth Uprising movements
2. Environmental links and spatial and social (in)equalities: Good conscience and false pretenses in the ecological transition actions of northern countries in a globalized world.
3. Inequality as (lived) experience in different social and material spaces
4. What images of mobilization and coercive measures in a landscape dominated by a multiplicity of interests?
5. Is visual and filmic sociology a discipline in action? Should it be/could it be anything other than the repetition of a common discourse “engaged” in the struggle to defend the environment?

Submission procedures

• Proposals for papers of no more than 3,500 characters should include the following information:
• Surname and first name of author(s)
• Institutional affiliation
• Contact e-mail(s)
• Sub-focus
• Title of paper

Timetable

• Friday January 17: submission of paper proposals on the RT 47 page
• March 1, 2025: response from RT 47
• July 8-11, 2025: AFS congress in Toulouse

Practical information

To take part in the Congress, you need to be an AFS member (provisionally around €40 for non-tenured members and €110 for tenured members - for two years) and pay the registration fee (around €60). Non-tenured colleagues who cannot be financed by their laboratories may, on presentation of a dossier, be exempted from the registration fee and receive assistance with transport and accommodation (the procedure for applying for exemption from the registration fee will be specified later).