In January 2026, the Centre for Social Ontology held its annual meeting at the University of Padova (Italy), where the CSO is currently based.

The meeting ran between January 13 and January 16, during which the CSO welcomed its new members: Helena Flam, Bridget Ritz, Frédéric Vandenberghe, and Davide Ruggieri. Members discussed the CSO’s research agenda and have worked collectively on a new book proposal.

Photos: Beatriz Ribeiro da Silva

The program of presentations ranged from foundational issues, the transformation of institutions, organizations and inter-organization dynamics, collective action and social subjectivities, deep cultural codes, personal and social identities, and types of life conduct.

Tuesday, January 13

Douglas Porpora: Polarization and the Disintegration of the Neoliberal Order

Ismael Al-Amoudi: Social disintegration, fascism and capitalist organizing

Bridget Ritz: Reflexivity in Doubt: An Immanent Critique

Frédéric Vandenberghe: Zeitdiagnose. Sociology as empirical philosophy of history

Wednesday, January 14

Emmanuel Lazéga: Death of a corporate law firm: A case of structure, culture and agency in multilevel resilience and collapse

Pier Paolo Donati: The Morphogenesis of the algorithmic society as a creative destruction process

Helena Flam: On Emotional Discomfort

Jamie Morgan: Life, death and profit: Private equity and healthcare

Thursday, January 15

Andrea Maccarini: “Leading a Life” in the Digital Age. Flourishing as Relational Good

The CSO’s new research agenda will be devoted to studying processes of morphogenesis, morphonecrosis, civilizing/democratic repair and resilience, with a focus on boundary issues, polarization, encounters between actors following different situational logics, and the emergence of humanizing vs de-humanizing cultures.

The group will explore the transition between different institutional configurations and the related situational logics, an often overlooked aspect of the realist-morphogenetic approach. 

The Annual Meeting concluded on Friday morning, January 16, with the brown bag seminar “What is dis-integrating global society? Civilizing and de-civilizing processes in the perspective of realist social theory”, an open event and moment of sharing with the academic community.

The seminar aimed to foster interdisciplinary discussion on the dynamics of global society, focusing on processes of integration and dis-integration through the lens of realist social theory. The discussion was chaired by Andrea Maccarini, CSO director, and speakers included CSO members Ismael Al-Amoudi, Emmanuel Lazéga, Douglas Porpora, Bridget Ritz, and Frédéric Vandenberghe.

Information

The CSO now has a dedicated email adress for direct inquiries: centreforsocialontology@gmail.com