“This essay develops a new theoretical and empirical understanding of the contemporary crisis of American democracy. Between November 3, 2020, and January 7, 2021, President Donald Trump battled to overturn the results of the American presidential election, launching myriad lawsuits and pressuring hundreds of electoral officials…

The conference program, along with all the abstracts, has been posted!

“Identify and critically understand the theoretical and methodological efforts of the civil sphere theory. The course addresses how the latter accounts for the construction processes of expanded and restricted solidarities in different social and cultural contexts.”

Check out the new special issue: Civil Sphere Theory in Cultural Sociology.

The website for the civil sphere theory conference is UP, and registration is open. Registration will be open from March 6, 2023, to July 31, 2023 and please note that contributors must register by May 15, 2023, to be included in the program…

“Photographs of migrants can evoke powerful reactions. Since the ‘migration crisis’ of 2015–16, politicians, media, and the public have all expressed strong opinions about people who cross borders. Within the civil spheres of Western democracies, debates about who belongs as a ‘good citizen’, and who should be excluded as an ‘anticivil’ outsider, result in consequences for migrants and locals alike…”

“Combining Alexander’s (The civil sphere. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006) account of an assimilatory mode of civil incorporation with his concept of “societalization” (Alexander in Am Sociol Rev 83(6):1049–1078, 2018; What makes a social crisis? The societalization of social problems. Wiley, Hobroken, 2019), we discuss how “re-societalizing” antisemitism led to strong enactment of anti-antisemitism and increased Jewish sub-group anxiety in the civil sphere. Anti-antisemitism in Denmark has historically been integrated into cultural codes and historical narratives in the civil sphere…”

The organizing committee for the second meeting of the Civil Sphere Theory Working Group is pleased to announce that our meeting will be held on October 18-19, 2023, in Heidelberg, Germany!

The organizing committee for the second meeting of the Civil Sphere Theory Working Group is pleased to announce that our meeting will be held on October 18-19, 2023, in Heidelberg, Germany!

“With eSports and video games rapidly gaining popularity, we are witnessing a rise of semi-autonomous gaming communities. I propose using Alexander’s civil sphere theory and my concept of the gaming sphere to understand the dynamics of the meaning-making processes herein. I ask: why did the Blitzchung controversy spark such outrage?”

Ondřej Klíma