Call for Abstracts
ISA World Congress of Sociology
Session: Organizing Organizations: Meta-Organizations and Their Role in Modern Society
Toronto, Canada
July 15-21, 2018
Session 8749
Organizers: Göran Ahrne, Nils Brunsson, Michael Grothe-Hammer
Submission deadline for abstracts: September 30, 2017
We are delighted to invite you to submit your abstracts to the forthcoming session "Organizing Organizations: Meta-Organizations and Their Role in Modern Society" at the XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology 2018 in Toronto.
Meta-organizations-that is, organizations that have organizations as their members-are an important phenomenon in contemporary society. There are now hundreds of thousands of meta-organizations worldwide, including business associations, trade union confederations, sport associations, military alliances, and intergovernmental organizations. They may be national or international, and often play an important part in shaping modern society.
Meta-organizations differ fundamentally in many ways from organizations whose members are individuals. Unlike individual-based organizations, meta-organizations' members are also organizations. Meta-organizations may need to compete with their member organizations for autonomy and often struggle to become strong actors in their own right.
Despite their societal significance, scholarly interest in meta-organizations has been limited. This session aims to facilitate a broader discussion in organizational sociology on meta-organizations, their characteristics, and their relevance. It will be open to theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Struggle for autonomy between meta-organizations and their members
- The effects of membership upon member organizations
- Power among and within meta-organizations
- Differences between weak and strong meta-organizations
- Typologies of different types of meta-organizations
- Different levels of meta-organizing, from meta-organizations to meta-meta-organizations and so on, and their relevance
- Development of meta-organizations over time
- Differences between meta-organizations and (partially organized) networks and how networks become meta-organizations
- The roles of individuals in meta-organizations as employees, representatives, and boundary spanners
- The role of meta-organizations in shaping modern society and vice versa
The World Congress of the International Sociological Association offers a unique forum to discuss current developments with a global scholarship.
The deadline for receipt of abstracts is September 30, 2017. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words.
To find the CfA online and for abstract submission, please visit:
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2018/webprogrampreliminary/Session8749.html
For the submission guidelines, please visit:
http://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/world-congress/toronto-2018/call-for-abstracts/
For general information about the XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology, please visit:
http://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/world-congress/toronto-2018/
If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact session co-organizer Michael Grothe-Hammer (michael.grothe-hammer@hsu-hh.de).
Hope to see you in Toronto!
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Michael Grothe-Hammer
Helmut Schmidt University
Department of Economics and Social Sciences
Institute of Social Sciences
Holstenhofweg 85
22043 Hamburg
Germany
E-Mail: michael.grothe-hammer@hsu-hh.de