【2026年會公告】即日起開放投稿（7/15截止）
2026-04-28
抵抗與團結：為動盪世界而生的社會學
Resistance and Solidarity: Sociology for a World in Flux
會議時間｜2026 年 11 月 21 日至 11 月 22 日（週六、週日）
會議地點｜東吳大學外雙溪校區
主辦單位｜臺灣社會學會
合辦單位｜東吳大學社會學系
在當前全球局勢快速變動的時代，「動盪」已不再只是國際政治的背景，而是深刻滲透於當代社會結構與日常生活之中。從美國與各國之間可能升高的關稅衝突，到國際關係中新舊戰爭並存的局面，再到科技、能源與地緣政治的重新排列，世界正處於高度不確定與持續重組之中。
在此過程中，台灣亦被推向全球關注的核心：一方面因半導體產業的重要性而成為關鍵節點，另一方面亦因潛在戰爭風險與能源政策（如核電重啟）的爭議，面臨複雜的內外壓力。這些變化不僅重塑國際秩序，也與台灣社會內部快速變化的少子化與高齡化人口結構相互交織，深刻影響社會關係、勞動結構、政策選擇與公民生活。
在動盪世界中，「抵抗」與「團結」不再是彼此對立的選項，而是交織生成的社會實踐。在某些情境中，我們需要對抗不平等、壓迫與排除；在另一些情境中，則需要跨越差異，建立新的連結與合作關係。更為關鍵的是，許多抵抗行動本身正是透過團結而得以可能——無論是跨國的社會運動、在地社群的互助網絡，或不同群體之間的策略性聯盟。
本次年會將舉辦於東吳大學的外雙溪校區，以「抵抗與團結：為動盪世界而生的社會學」為主題，邀請國內外學界與實務界共同思考：在全球與在地劇烈變遷的交織之中，社會學如何理解、回應並介入這些動態過程。
我們特別歡迎從社會運動、社會動員、社會不平等、勞動與社會政策、城鄉關係、社會與國家邊界、社會學理論、社會創新與社會影響力等面向，探討社會如何在動盪中被重新組織、治理與想像，並分析不同群體如何在其中進行抵抗、協商與連結。學會誠摯邀請各位投稿，透過多元理論視角與實證研究，共同描繪當代社會如何在不穩定之中生成新的抵抗形式與團結可能，並回應這個持續變動的世界。
子題一：社會不平等與政策回應
在少子化與高齡化交織的社會轉型中，人口結構變遷正深刻重塑國家政策與日常生活安排。面對年輕世代對婚姻與生育態度的轉變，各類催生政策與生殖科技持續發展，包括雇用家庭移工標準的放寬（開放育有12歲以下子女家庭申請移工）、代理孕母討論以及人工生殖技術擴展，皆引發關於身體、再生產與國家治理的倫理與政治爭議。
在高齡化社會下，長照3.0的推動、照顧負擔分配、照顧悲劇如照顧殺人及其法律與社會回應，以及善終和生命自主的期待，進一步凸顯個人、家庭與國家之間責任界線的重構。同時，勞動力減少亦使工作與家庭平衡、住宅與年金制度等議題更加迫切。本子題邀請投稿者從性別、族群、障礙與階級等交織視角出發，探討人口變遷下的社會勞動政策、再生產政治與照顧體制，並關注個人與群體如何透過抵抗不正義制度，或透過新的連結與合作形式建立團結，重新協商責任、權利與未來的可能性。
子題二：疆界與社會邊界
在全球動盪與跨境流動加劇的當代脈絡中，「邊界」早已不僅只限於地理意義上的疆界，更是跨國資本流動與運作、國家治理、國籍和公民權的管理、民族情感、防衛性民主、民防／國防基礎設施建置、勞動體制、性／別秩序與族群關係交互作用、彼此共構且共同形塑的社會場域。
本子題探討物質性及象徵意義上的邊界、邊緣與疆域如何在日常生活與制度實作被建構、協商、鬆動或挑戰，以及差異化的治理如何製造社會不平等與形塑社會邊緣群體的生命經驗，而人們又如何在結構夾縫中想像並實踐抵抗、連帶與跨界結盟之可能。
子題三：產業轉型與城鄉關係
在地緣政治動盪的背景下，台灣的區域發展持續受到國際貿易、能源轉型與人口變遷的多重影響。政府推動地方振興的政策與實踐，凸顯治理邏輯與在地社會脈絡之間的張力。同時，農漁村社會正面臨產業轉型、土地使用變遷與生態壓力等挑戰，而各地社區組織、返鄉青年網絡與地方知識社群，嘗試透過互助與串連，在不確定中維繫地方能動性。
本子題邀請探討城鄉差異、區域平衡、非都會地區的發展策略、地方振興的批判性檢視、農漁業轉型與地方社會變遷，以及在地知識體系的建構，並關注不同社會行動者如何在城鄉張力中進行抵抗、協商與團結，以及這些過程如何再製或重塑區域不平等與發展路徑。
子題四：社會運動與公民動員
在動盪世界中，社會運動呈現高度不穩定且跨尺度的組裝樣態。從台灣的青鳥行動、各類公共政策批判，到邊緣群體的自我倡議與日常抵抗，不同行動形式彼此交織，並透過社群媒體與跨國連結不斷流動與轉化。在此過程中，民主與民粹、主動與被動之間的界線日益模糊。既有的社會學視野如何追蹤行動的生成與延續？如何重新界定誰能發聲、誰在發聲？何種團結得以形成？
本子題關注社會運動如何在不確定性中被動員、連結、擾動、裂解與重組，成為理解當代抵抗實踐的重要課題，並進一步分析權力、媒介與情感如何在這些過程中交織運作。
子題五：社會創新與影響力
在全球政治經濟不穩定、科技快速變遷與地方社會承受高齡化、勞動不穩定、照顧危機及環境風險等多重壓力之下，社會創新成為回應制度失靈與社會需求的重要實踐場域。從地方創生、社區營造、合作經濟、社會企業、公民科技，到永續轉型與照顧創新，各類創新實踐試圖回應國家與市場未能充分處理的社會問題，也重新組織資源、參與形式與公共關係。然而，何謂創新、何謂影響，以及誰能定義其價值與成效，亦涉及治理邏輯、權力關係與公共性的競逐。
本子題關注社會創新如何在不確定與不平等擴大的脈絡中形成、推動、制度化或爭議化，並探討不同行動者如何透過協作、實驗與動員回應社會問題，創造新的公共連結與實踐形式；在追求社會影響力的過程中，我們亦關注績效評估、政策收編、市場邏輯與民主正當性之間的張力，從社會學及跨領域視角出發，分析社會創新與社會影響力如何成為當代社會中抵抗、協商、治理與團結的重要場域。
子題六：社會理論與社會學理論
我們將「社會性」視為生成性的軸線，藉此使不同的研究領域得以彼此對話。社會性不僅指涉制度化的社會連結方式，也關乎一種關係場域：其中，不同尺度、不同類型的行動者，透過協商、衝突與相互依賴，而被持續地構成。從個體、家庭、社群，到跨國網絡；從人類行動者，到動物、微生物、基礎設施、媒介技術、資料系統與生態環境，社會性從來不是自我同一主體之間穩定的關係。毋寧說，它的生成乃是透過在異質存在模態之間持續的纏結、協調、摩擦與共構。
本子題邀請從不同理論傳統與跨域進路出發，探討社會理論與社會學理論在當前世界中的位置。特別鼓勵從台灣經驗、東亞脈絡與全球南方視角出發的研究，因為這些位置提供了不可或缺的視角，使我們得以重新檢視社會學概念的翻譯、挪用、限制與創造性的轉化。透過理論與經驗、概念與歷史之間持續而深刻的對話，我們期待開展出一個更豐富而生動的思想空間。
會議徵稿類別
投稿時程與注意事項
2026 Annual Conference of the Taiwanese Sociological Association
Resistance and Solidarity: Sociology for a World in Flux
Dates | 21–22 November 2026 (Saturday–Sunday)
Venue | Soochow University (Waishuangxi Campus)
Organizers | Taiwanese Sociological Association
Co-Organizer | Department of Sociology, Soochow University
In an era of rapidly shifting global dynamics, “flux” is no longer merely the backdrop of international politics but has deeply permeated contemporary social structures and everyday life. From escalating tariff tensions between the United States and other countries to the coexistence of “new” and “old” forms of warfare, and the reconfiguration of technology, energy, and geopolitics, the world is undergoing profound uncertainty and ongoing transformation.
Taiwan has been drawn to the center of these developments. On the one hand, it serves as a critical node in global supply chains, particularly through its semiconductor industry; on the other, it faces mounting pressures shaped by geopolitical tensions and energy policy debates, including discussions over the potential revival of nuclear power. These global dynamics are further intertwined with Taiwan’s internal demographic shifts—marked by rapid population aging and declining fertility—reshaping social relations, labor structures, policy choices, and civic life.
In such a world in flux, “resistance” and “solidarity” are no longer opposing alternatives but mutually constitutive forms of social practice. In some contexts, resistance to inequality, oppression, and exclusion is necessary; in others, building connections and cooperation across difference becomes essential. Crucially, many forms of resistance are made possible through solidarity—whether in transnational movements, local mutual aid networks, or strategic alliances across diverse groups.
The 2026 Annual Conference, taking place at the Waishuangxi Campus of Soochow University, invites scholars and practitioners to reflect on how sociology can understand, respond to, and engage with these dynamic processes.
We particularly welcome contributions on social movements and mobilization, social inequality, labor and social policy, rural–urban relations, state–society boundaries, sociological theory, and social innovation and impact. We encourage submissions that examine how societies are reorganized, governed, and reimagined in times of flux, and how actors engage in resistance, negotiation, and solidarity.
Topic A: Social Inequality and Policy Responses
Demographic change is profoundly reshaping policy choices and everyday life. As younger generations rethink marriage and childbearing, pro-natalist policies and reproductive technologies—such as migrant care worker schemes, surrogacy debates, and assisted reproduction—have expanded, raising ethical and political questions about the body, reproduction, and state governance.
At the same time, developments such as Long-Term Care 3.0, shifting care burdens, care-related tragedies, and growing expectations of end-of-life autonomy highlight the reconfiguration of responsibilities among individuals, families, and the state. Labor shortages further intensify challenges in work–life balance, housing, and pension systems. This subtheme invites intersectional analyses of social policy, reproductive politics, and care regimes, and explores how resistance and solidarity are formed in the process.
Topic B: Borders and Social Boundaries
In an era marked by global upheaval and increasing cross-border mobility, “borders” are no longer limited to geographical boundaries. They are also the social spaces shaped by the intersections of, and at times co-composition of, the flow and functioning of transnational capital, state governance, nationality and citizenship management, nationalistic affects, defensive democracy, infrastructural capacity of civil and national defence, labor regimes, sex/gender orders, and racial/ethnic relations.
This subtheme explores how borders, margins, and boundaries—in both material and symbolic senses—are created, negotiated, challenged, and contested in everyday life and institutional settings, and how unequal governance produces social inequality and shapes the experiences of marginalized groups. It also examines how resistance, solidarity, and cross-border alliances are envisioned and practiced within the existing social structures.
Topic C: Industrial Restructuring and Rural–Urban Relations
Taiwan’s regional development continues to be shaped by intersecting forces, including geopolitics, global trade, energy transition, and demographic change. Efforts to revitalize local areas reveal tensions between top-down governance and local social realities. Rural communities face pressures from industrial restructuring, land-use change, and environmental challenges, while community organizations, return-migrant youth networks, and local knowledge initiatives seek to sustain place-based agency through mutual support and collaboration.
The subtheme invites contributions examining rural–urban disparities, regional balance, development strategies, critical perspectives on local revitalization, agricultural and fisheries transformation, and the construction of place-based knowledge systems. We particularly welcome work that explores how these processes reproduce or reshape regional inequalities and development trajectories.
Topic D: Social Movements and Civic Mobilization
In a world in flux, social movements increasingly take the form of unstable, cross-scalar assemblages. From Taiwan’s Bluebird movement and public policy critiques to the everyday resistance of marginalized groups, diverse forms of action intersect and evolve through digital and transnational networks. These include protests against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), anti-war mobilizations, and the ongoing struggles of Iranian women. In this context, the boundaries between democracy and populism, as well as between agency and passivity, become increasingly blurred.
This subtheme interrogates how sociology can trace these movements, rethink who can speak and be heard, and analyze how solidarities emerge. It further invites examination of how movements are mobilized, connected, disrupted, fragmented, and reassembled under conditions of uncertainty, and how power, media, and affect intersect in these processes.
Topic E: Social Innovation and Impact
In the context of global political and economic instability, rapid technological change, and the mounting pressures confronting local societies—including population aging, labor precarity, care crises, and environmental risks—social innovation has become an increasingly important site for responding to institutional failures and unmet social needs. From local revitalization, community-building initiatives, cooperative economies, social enterprises, and civic technology to sustainability transitions and care innovation, diverse practices seek to address social problems that the state and the market have not sufficiently managed and reconfigure resources, modes of participation, and forms of public engagement. Meanwhile, what counts as innovation, what constitutes impact, and who has the authority to define their value and effectiveness are bound up with struggles over governance, power, and the meaning of the public good.
This subtheme invites contributions that examine how social innovation is formed, advanced, institutionalized, or contested amid growing uncertainty and widening inequality. It also welcomes analyses of how different social actors—including local communities, civil society organizations, nonprofits, social enterprises, cooperatives, technology communities, and public institutions—respond to social problems through collaboration, experimentation, and mobilization, thereby creating new forms of public connection and collective practice. We are also interested in the tensions that arise in the pursuit of “social impact”, particularly those concerning performance evaluation, policy incorporation, market-oriented logics, and democratic legitimacy. Submissions exploring how social innovation and social impact have become important arenas for resistance, negotiation, governance, and solidarity from sociological and interdisciplinary perspectives are welcome.
Topic F: Social and Sociological Theories
We approach “the social” as a generative axis through which different fields of inquiry may be brought into conversation. The social refers not only to institutionalized modes of social connection but also to the relational fields in which actors of different scales and kinds are ceaselessly composed through negotiation, conflict, and interdependency. From individuals, families, communities, to transnational networks; from human actors to animals, microorganisms, infrastructures, media technologies, data systems, and ecological milieus, the social has never been stable among self-identical subjects. Rather, it comes into being through the ongoing entanglement, coordination, friction, and co-constitution of heterogeneous modes of existence.
The subtheme invites contributions from diverse theoretical traditions and interdisciplinary trajectories that reflect on the place of social and sociological theory in the present. Contributions that begin from Taiwanese experience, East Asian contexts, and perspectives from the Global South are particularly encouraged by this year’s Annual Conference, since they offer indispensable vantage points from which to reconsider the translation, appropriation, limits, and creative transformation of sociological research. Through sustained dialogue between theory and experience, concept and history, we hope to cultivate a space for thought that is at once more critical, more reflexive, and more responsive to the urgencies of the present.
Conference Themes
Submission Types
Submission Guidelines and Timeline
Submission Links
Resistance and Solidarity: Sociology for a World in Flux
會議時間｜2026 年 11 月 21 日至 11 月 22 日（週六、週日）
會議地點｜東吳大學外雙溪校區
主辦單位｜臺灣社會學會
合辦單位｜東吳大學社會學系
在當前全球局勢快速變動的時代，「動盪」已不再只是國際政治的背景，而是深刻滲透於當代社會結構與日常生活之中。從美國與各國之間可能升高的關稅衝突，到國際關係中新舊戰爭並存的局面，再到科技、能源與地緣政治的重新排列，世界正處於高度不確定與持續重組之中。
在此過程中，台灣亦被推向全球關注的核心：一方面因半導體產業的重要性而成為關鍵節點，另一方面亦因潛在戰爭風險與能源政策（如核電重啟）的爭議，面臨複雜的內外壓力。這些變化不僅重塑國際秩序，也與台灣社會內部快速變化的少子化與高齡化人口結構相互交織，深刻影響社會關係、勞動結構、政策選擇與公民生活。
在動盪世界中，「抵抗」與「團結」不再是彼此對立的選項，而是交織生成的社會實踐。在某些情境中，我們需要對抗不平等、壓迫與排除；在另一些情境中，則需要跨越差異，建立新的連結與合作關係。更為關鍵的是，許多抵抗行動本身正是透過團結而得以可能——無論是跨國的社會運動、在地社群的互助網絡，或不同群體之間的策略性聯盟。
本次年會將舉辦於東吳大學的外雙溪校區，以「抵抗與團結：為動盪世界而生的社會學」為主題，邀請國內外學界與實務界共同思考：在全球與在地劇烈變遷的交織之中，社會學如何理解、回應並介入這些動態過程。
我們特別歡迎從社會運動、社會動員、社會不平等、勞動與社會政策、城鄉關係、社會與國家邊界、社會學理論、社會創新與社會影響力等面向，探討社會如何在動盪中被重新組織、治理與想像，並分析不同群體如何在其中進行抵抗、協商與連結。學會誠摯邀請各位投稿，透過多元理論視角與實證研究，共同描繪當代社會如何在不穩定之中生成新的抵抗形式與團結可能，並回應這個持續變動的世界。
子題一：社會不平等與政策回應
在少子化與高齡化交織的社會轉型中，人口結構變遷正深刻重塑國家政策與日常生活安排。面對年輕世代對婚姻與生育態度的轉變，各類催生政策與生殖科技持續發展，包括雇用家庭移工標準的放寬（開放育有12歲以下子女家庭申請移工）、代理孕母討論以及人工生殖技術擴展，皆引發關於身體、再生產與國家治理的倫理與政治爭議。
在高齡化社會下，長照3.0的推動、照顧負擔分配、照顧悲劇如照顧殺人及其法律與社會回應，以及善終和生命自主的期待，進一步凸顯個人、家庭與國家之間責任界線的重構。同時，勞動力減少亦使工作與家庭平衡、住宅與年金制度等議題更加迫切。本子題邀請投稿者從性別、族群、障礙與階級等交織視角出發，探討人口變遷下的社會勞動政策、再生產政治與照顧體制，並關注個人與群體如何透過抵抗不正義制度，或透過新的連結與合作形式建立團結，重新協商責任、權利與未來的可能性。
子題二：疆界與社會邊界
在全球動盪與跨境流動加劇的當代脈絡中，「邊界」早已不僅只限於地理意義上的疆界，更是跨國資本流動與運作、國家治理、國籍和公民權的管理、民族情感、防衛性民主、民防／國防基礎設施建置、勞動體制、性／別秩序與族群關係交互作用、彼此共構且共同形塑的社會場域。
本子題探討物質性及象徵意義上的邊界、邊緣與疆域如何在日常生活與制度實作被建構、協商、鬆動或挑戰，以及差異化的治理如何製造社會不平等與形塑社會邊緣群體的生命經驗，而人們又如何在結構夾縫中想像並實踐抵抗、連帶與跨界結盟之可能。
子題三：產業轉型與城鄉關係
在地緣政治動盪的背景下，台灣的區域發展持續受到國際貿易、能源轉型與人口變遷的多重影響。政府推動地方振興的政策與實踐，凸顯治理邏輯與在地社會脈絡之間的張力。同時，農漁村社會正面臨產業轉型、土地使用變遷與生態壓力等挑戰，而各地社區組織、返鄉青年網絡與地方知識社群，嘗試透過互助與串連，在不確定中維繫地方能動性。
本子題邀請探討城鄉差異、區域平衡、非都會地區的發展策略、地方振興的批判性檢視、農漁業轉型與地方社會變遷，以及在地知識體系的建構，並關注不同社會行動者如何在城鄉張力中進行抵抗、協商與團結，以及這些過程如何再製或重塑區域不平等與發展路徑。
子題四：社會運動與公民動員
在動盪世界中，社會運動呈現高度不穩定且跨尺度的組裝樣態。從台灣的青鳥行動、各類公共政策批判，到邊緣群體的自我倡議與日常抵抗，不同行動形式彼此交織，並透過社群媒體與跨國連結不斷流動與轉化。在此過程中，民主與民粹、主動與被動之間的界線日益模糊。既有的社會學視野如何追蹤行動的生成與延續？如何重新界定誰能發聲、誰在發聲？何種團結得以形成？
本子題關注社會運動如何在不確定性中被動員、連結、擾動、裂解與重組，成為理解當代抵抗實踐的重要課題，並進一步分析權力、媒介與情感如何在這些過程中交織運作。
子題五：社會創新與影響力
在全球政治經濟不穩定、科技快速變遷與地方社會承受高齡化、勞動不穩定、照顧危機及環境風險等多重壓力之下，社會創新成為回應制度失靈與社會需求的重要實踐場域。從地方創生、社區營造、合作經濟、社會企業、公民科技，到永續轉型與照顧創新，各類創新實踐試圖回應國家與市場未能充分處理的社會問題，也重新組織資源、參與形式與公共關係。然而，何謂創新、何謂影響，以及誰能定義其價值與成效，亦涉及治理邏輯、權力關係與公共性的競逐。
本子題關注社會創新如何在不確定與不平等擴大的脈絡中形成、推動、制度化或爭議化，並探討不同行動者如何透過協作、實驗與動員回應社會問題，創造新的公共連結與實踐形式；在追求社會影響力的過程中，我們亦關注績效評估、政策收編、市場邏輯與民主正當性之間的張力，從社會學及跨領域視角出發，分析社會創新與社會影響力如何成為當代社會中抵抗、協商、治理與團結的重要場域。
子題六：社會理論與社會學理論
我們將「社會性」視為生成性的軸線，藉此使不同的研究領域得以彼此對話。社會性不僅指涉制度化的社會連結方式，也關乎一種關係場域：其中，不同尺度、不同類型的行動者，透過協商、衝突與相互依賴，而被持續地構成。從個體、家庭、社群，到跨國網絡；從人類行動者，到動物、微生物、基礎設施、媒介技術、資料系統與生態環境，社會性從來不是自我同一主體之間穩定的關係。毋寧說，它的生成乃是透過在異質存在模態之間持續的纏結、協調、摩擦與共構。
本子題邀請從不同理論傳統與跨域進路出發，探討社會理論與社會學理論在當前世界中的位置。特別鼓勵從台灣經驗、東亞脈絡與全球南方視角出發的研究，因為這些位置提供了不可或缺的視角，使我們得以重新檢視社會學概念的翻譯、挪用、限制與創造性的轉化。透過理論與經驗、概念與歷史之間持續而深刻的對話，我們期待開展出一個更豐富而生動的思想空間。
會議徵稿類別
- 與下列子題相關之論文：
- 社會不平等與政策回應
- 疆界與社會邊界
- 產業轉型與城鄉關係
- 社會運動與公民動員
- 社會創新與影響力
- 社會理論與社會學理論
- 一般論文。
- 自組主題場次：年會歡迎學術工作者個人、學術團體或機構研究小組報名自組主題場次。自行籌組之場次至少包含三篇論文。籌組人需簡要說明主題，並附上各篇論文之摘要。是否邀請評論人由籌組者自行決定並邀請，並告知年會籌備小組。
- 新書論壇：歡迎作者進行新書發表，請繳交新書內容說明摘要，並在截稿前上傳新書論壇簡報或 1,000 字簡稿。
- 學生作品海報（Poster）發表：歡迎大學部及碩士班學生以其研究作品投稿，於年會期間固定時間及地點展示海報，展示期間發表者須在場。繳交摘要投稿時請註明「學生海報作品投稿」。僅接受個人獨立完成作品，每人至多投稿一篇海報發表。
投稿時程與注意事項
- 摘要投稿期限：2026 年 7 月 15 日。
- 論文摘要以 800-1,200 字為限，須為 Word檔；摘要內容包括研究問題、方法與分析架構、研究發現等，並提供 3-5 關鍵詞。
- 每人投稿（單獨作者或第一作者）以一篇為限。
- 8 月 15 日前籌備會將以Email通知論文接受與否，敬請留意電子信箱。
- 10 月 15 日前論文全文上傳（6,000-15,000字，須為PDF檔），如未能於期限內繳交全文視同撤稿。
2026 Annual Conference of the Taiwanese Sociological Association
Resistance and Solidarity: Sociology for a World in Flux
Dates | 21–22 November 2026 (Saturday–Sunday)
Venue | Soochow University (Waishuangxi Campus)
Organizers | Taiwanese Sociological Association
Co-Organizer | Department of Sociology, Soochow University
In an era of rapidly shifting global dynamics, “flux” is no longer merely the backdrop of international politics but has deeply permeated contemporary social structures and everyday life. From escalating tariff tensions between the United States and other countries to the coexistence of “new” and “old” forms of warfare, and the reconfiguration of technology, energy, and geopolitics, the world is undergoing profound uncertainty and ongoing transformation.
Taiwan has been drawn to the center of these developments. On the one hand, it serves as a critical node in global supply chains, particularly through its semiconductor industry; on the other, it faces mounting pressures shaped by geopolitical tensions and energy policy debates, including discussions over the potential revival of nuclear power. These global dynamics are further intertwined with Taiwan’s internal demographic shifts—marked by rapid population aging and declining fertility—reshaping social relations, labor structures, policy choices, and civic life.
In such a world in flux, “resistance” and “solidarity” are no longer opposing alternatives but mutually constitutive forms of social practice. In some contexts, resistance to inequality, oppression, and exclusion is necessary; in others, building connections and cooperation across difference becomes essential. Crucially, many forms of resistance are made possible through solidarity—whether in transnational movements, local mutual aid networks, or strategic alliances across diverse groups.
The 2026 Annual Conference, taking place at the Waishuangxi Campus of Soochow University, invites scholars and practitioners to reflect on how sociology can understand, respond to, and engage with these dynamic processes.
We particularly welcome contributions on social movements and mobilization, social inequality, labor and social policy, rural–urban relations, state–society boundaries, sociological theory, and social innovation and impact. We encourage submissions that examine how societies are reorganized, governed, and reimagined in times of flux, and how actors engage in resistance, negotiation, and solidarity.
Topic A: Social Inequality and Policy Responses
Demographic change is profoundly reshaping policy choices and everyday life. As younger generations rethink marriage and childbearing, pro-natalist policies and reproductive technologies—such as migrant care worker schemes, surrogacy debates, and assisted reproduction—have expanded, raising ethical and political questions about the body, reproduction, and state governance.
At the same time, developments such as Long-Term Care 3.0, shifting care burdens, care-related tragedies, and growing expectations of end-of-life autonomy highlight the reconfiguration of responsibilities among individuals, families, and the state. Labor shortages further intensify challenges in work–life balance, housing, and pension systems. This subtheme invites intersectional analyses of social policy, reproductive politics, and care regimes, and explores how resistance and solidarity are formed in the process.
Topic B: Borders and Social Boundaries
In an era marked by global upheaval and increasing cross-border mobility, “borders” are no longer limited to geographical boundaries. They are also the social spaces shaped by the intersections of, and at times co-composition of, the flow and functioning of transnational capital, state governance, nationality and citizenship management, nationalistic affects, defensive democracy, infrastructural capacity of civil and national defence, labor regimes, sex/gender orders, and racial/ethnic relations.
This subtheme explores how borders, margins, and boundaries—in both material and symbolic senses—are created, negotiated, challenged, and contested in everyday life and institutional settings, and how unequal governance produces social inequality and shapes the experiences of marginalized groups. It also examines how resistance, solidarity, and cross-border alliances are envisioned and practiced within the existing social structures.
Topic C: Industrial Restructuring and Rural–Urban Relations
Taiwan’s regional development continues to be shaped by intersecting forces, including geopolitics, global trade, energy transition, and demographic change. Efforts to revitalize local areas reveal tensions between top-down governance and local social realities. Rural communities face pressures from industrial restructuring, land-use change, and environmental challenges, while community organizations, return-migrant youth networks, and local knowledge initiatives seek to sustain place-based agency through mutual support and collaboration.
The subtheme invites contributions examining rural–urban disparities, regional balance, development strategies, critical perspectives on local revitalization, agricultural and fisheries transformation, and the construction of place-based knowledge systems. We particularly welcome work that explores how these processes reproduce or reshape regional inequalities and development trajectories.
Topic D: Social Movements and Civic Mobilization
In a world in flux, social movements increasingly take the form of unstable, cross-scalar assemblages. From Taiwan’s Bluebird movement and public policy critiques to the everyday resistance of marginalized groups, diverse forms of action intersect and evolve through digital and transnational networks. These include protests against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), anti-war mobilizations, and the ongoing struggles of Iranian women. In this context, the boundaries between democracy and populism, as well as between agency and passivity, become increasingly blurred.
This subtheme interrogates how sociology can trace these movements, rethink who can speak and be heard, and analyze how solidarities emerge. It further invites examination of how movements are mobilized, connected, disrupted, fragmented, and reassembled under conditions of uncertainty, and how power, media, and affect intersect in these processes.
Topic E: Social Innovation and Impact
In the context of global political and economic instability, rapid technological change, and the mounting pressures confronting local societies—including population aging, labor precarity, care crises, and environmental risks—social innovation has become an increasingly important site for responding to institutional failures and unmet social needs. From local revitalization, community-building initiatives, cooperative economies, social enterprises, and civic technology to sustainability transitions and care innovation, diverse practices seek to address social problems that the state and the market have not sufficiently managed and reconfigure resources, modes of participation, and forms of public engagement. Meanwhile, what counts as innovation, what constitutes impact, and who has the authority to define their value and effectiveness are bound up with struggles over governance, power, and the meaning of the public good.
This subtheme invites contributions that examine how social innovation is formed, advanced, institutionalized, or contested amid growing uncertainty and widening inequality. It also welcomes analyses of how different social actors—including local communities, civil society organizations, nonprofits, social enterprises, cooperatives, technology communities, and public institutions—respond to social problems through collaboration, experimentation, and mobilization, thereby creating new forms of public connection and collective practice. We are also interested in the tensions that arise in the pursuit of “social impact”, particularly those concerning performance evaluation, policy incorporation, market-oriented logics, and democratic legitimacy. Submissions exploring how social innovation and social impact have become important arenas for resistance, negotiation, governance, and solidarity from sociological and interdisciplinary perspectives are welcome.
Topic F: Social and Sociological Theories
We approach “the social” as a generative axis through which different fields of inquiry may be brought into conversation. The social refers not only to institutionalized modes of social connection but also to the relational fields in which actors of different scales and kinds are ceaselessly composed through negotiation, conflict, and interdependency. From individuals, families, communities, to transnational networks; from human actors to animals, microorganisms, infrastructures, media technologies, data systems, and ecological milieus, the social has never been stable among self-identical subjects. Rather, it comes into being through the ongoing entanglement, coordination, friction, and co-constitution of heterogeneous modes of existence.
The subtheme invites contributions from diverse theoretical traditions and interdisciplinary trajectories that reflect on the place of social and sociological theory in the present. Contributions that begin from Taiwanese experience, East Asian contexts, and perspectives from the Global South are particularly encouraged by this year’s Annual Conference, since they offer indispensable vantage points from which to reconsider the translation, appropriation, limits, and creative transformation of sociological research. Through sustained dialogue between theory and experience, concept and history, we hope to cultivate a space for thought that is at once more critical, more reflexive, and more responsive to the urgencies of the present.
Conference Themes
- We invite submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Social Inequality and Policy Responses
- Borders and Social Boundaries
- Industrial Restructuring and Rural–Urban Relations
- Social Movements and Civic Mobilization
- Social Innovation and Social Impact
- Social Theory and Sociological Theory
Submission Types
- Individual Papers: Submissions are invited for individual paper presentations that engage with the conference themes or broader sociological inquiries.
- Panel Proposals: We welcome proposals for organized panels submitted by individual scholars, research groups, or academic institutions. Each panel must include at least three papers. Panel proposals should include:
- A brief description of the panel theme
- Abstracts for all included papers
- Panel organizers may choose to invite a discussant at their discretion and should inform the conference organizing committee accordingly.
- Book Forums: Authors are invited to present recently published books. Submissions should include an abstract outlining the book’s key arguments and contributions. Presenters are required to upload their presentation slides or a short manuscript (approximately 1,000 words) by the deadline.
- Student Posters: Undergraduate and Master’s students are invited to submit original research for poster presentation. Posters will be displayed at a designated time and venue during the conference, and presenters must be present during their session. Please indicate “Student Poster Submission” when submitting your abstract. Only independently authored work will be accepted, and each student may submit only one poster.
Submission Guidelines and Timeline
- Abstract submission deadline: 15 July
- Abstracts should be 800–1,200 words (Word format), including:
- Research question
- Methodology and analytical framework
- Key findings
- 3–5 keywords
- Each participant may submit one paper only (as sole or first author).
- Notification of acceptance: by 15 August (via email)
- Full paper submission deadline: 15 October
- Length: 6,000–15,000 words (PDF format)
- Failure to submit the full paper will be deemed a withdrawal.
- All presenters must be members of the TSA (membership registration details available here).
Submission Links
