In “Teoria Social Contemporânea: Um Laboratório” (“Contemporary Social Theory: A Laboratory”), a book organized by professors Frédéric Vandenberghe and Alexandre de Paiva Rio Camargo and published by FGV Press, authors who are part of the Sociofilo research group look back on their doctoral dissertations and demonstrate what theory has made possible in their research.

Created in 2007 at Rio de Janeiro State University’s Institute of Social and Political Studies and later transferred to Rio de Janeiro Federal University’s Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Sociofilo combines theoretical and philosophical reflections, both foundational and substantive for sociological theory, applying them to current problems, from a perspective that is simultaneously critical, rational, plural and humanistic.

Insofar as the texts gathered in this collection derive from research trajectories that express Sociofilo’s concerns, outlook and diversity as a collaborative laboratory of theory and critical reflection on the present, they do not aim for an analysis that is closed in on itself.

The book offers an exemplary form – not as the only possible form, but as its own style that allows us to speak of a school, as a place where we learn – of what the work of theory can be, although it does not claim to be an exhaustive overview of contemporary social theory, by using some of the most important theories produced in Europe and the United States in recent decades as “field data.” 

To launch this book, a webinar will be held, involving the following professors: Alexandre Camargo, Frédéric Vandenberghe, Priscila Coutinho, Raquel Weiss, Renan Springer and Thiago Panica. To take part, please sign up here.

Event: Webinar to launch the book “Teoria Social Contemporânea: Um Laboratório” (“Contemporary Social Theory: A Laboratory”)

Date: January 23

Time: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.