ABSTRACT. In recent years, Los Angeles has been depicted as one of the frontrunner cities paving the way for the gradual phasing out of oil infrastructure and fossil fuel dependency. This paper tells a more contrasted story. I propose to uncover the fabrics and social uses of petro-camouflage in densely populated areas. Petro-camouflage refers to how local extractive petrochemical companies have placed strategic objects such as fake trees or plastic bushes to cover their invasive petro-infrastructure, such as oil wells, pumpjacks, and iron pipes. While this architecture largely produces ignorance and denial of petrotoxic risks in the neighborhoods impacted by the industries, the paper will show that petro-camouflage has not been deployed uniformly in all of the impacted territories. Building on long-term ethnographic fieldwork conducted from 2022 to 2024 in Los Angeles, visual sociology and environmental sociology, the paper will discuss how these processes of investment (and disinvestment) in visual markers of “aesthetic tolerability” are largely geared towards, and benefit, white middle-class and upper-middle-class communities in the Los Angeles area. Additionally, the paper will engage in reflexivity regarding the physicality of observation in the streets Los Angeles, since walking can be regarded as an additional challenge for the ethnographer documenting the material environment and social interactions in one of the most car-dependent regions worldwide.

ABSTRACT. Territorial traversal, inspired by the Situationist dérive, serves as a qualitative methodology for examining urban transformations through direct and sensory engagement with space. Following Francesco Careri’s perspective in Walkscapes, walking becomes a heuristic tool for uncovering the material and immaterial layers of the urban landscape. However, as Leslie Kern emphasizes, access to public space is not neutral: gender, race, class, and other social categories shape different possibilities for movement and territorial appropriation. Interrogating the figure of the flâneuse means deconstructing the implicit universalism that frames flânerie as a predominantly white and male practice. It raises critical questions about which subjectivities can navigate public space freely and which face restrictions. This study starts from the premise that urban walking is neither a neutral nor a universal experience but rather a situated act shaped by structural inequalities and power dynamics. Some individuals move through the city with relative ease, while others must constantly negotiate their presence. Drawing on Kern’s concept of emotional geographies, this research argues that perceptions and experiences of the city are shaped not only by its physical structures but also by the power relations that permeate it. What kind of woman does the term flâneuse encompass? What material and symbolic barriers define who can truly claim public space? This study explores the theoretical and methodological significance of traversal practices, challenging the primacy of the homo loquens and expanding the analysis to include the sensory, affective, and political dimensions of urban life. Walking is both an act of exploration and a negotiation of social inclusion and exclusion—one that reveals and disrupts spatial hierarchies and urban marginalization. Through an intersectional and comparative lens, this research critically engages with the relationship between urban space, gender, and power.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, the advance of the evangelical religion, especially neo-Pentecostal groups, has caused changes and disputes in Brazilian society, generating a series of new relationships between different social categories. This paper seeks to understand the social relations that arise when these churches begin to establish themselves in territories that were constituted with a samba school as a reference. Pentecostal conservatism begins to operate in spaces where, culturally, the influence of these structured cultural institutions predominates, giving the territory its name and/or visibility, consolidating its identity and forming an important socialization network. In these territories, samba is perhaps the most important element of socialization and sociability. The history of the settlement of these communities is linked to that of these schools. They are where a large part of these groups' networks of sociability and reciprocity are formed, and they are also the space where conflicts arise and the necessary mediations take place to produce or modify the interests of these organizations and their members, as Simmel (2009) puts it. The samba schools are a sample of the ability of the working classes to organize themselves, who have built these institutions without the state, creating their own rules, customs, uses and norms. They emerge as “an ordered social group, fixed in a defined space and regulated by a certain pattern of social relations” (Goldwasser, 1973, p. 10). These relationships change over the years, in a process that involves ruptures, accommodation and tensions. The research proposes an investigation into how social relations within these communities are affected by the growth of evangelical religions, especially the neo-Pentecostals. Adopting the psychogeographical precepts of Urban Drift, it seeks to understand and contextualize these changes through the multisensory experiences involved in this analysis.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how Cluj-Napoca residents engage with the River Someș as a dynamic urban space, analyzing their spatial practices, sensory experiences, and territorial perceptions. Historically, the river functioned as a boundary between urban civility and marginality, neglected by city planning despite its centrality. For decades, the city turned its back on the Someș, treating it as a utilitarian infrastructure rather than an integrated public space In recent years, revitalization projects have aimed to reintegrate the Someș into urban life, promoting it as a site for leisure, mobility, and social interaction. However, perceptions of these changes vary, reflecting deeper socio-spatial inequalities in access and use.

Using a multimodal qualitative approach, this research draws on CATI surveys (866 residents), 24 in-depth interviews (urban planners, activists, and residents), participatory mental mapping, and sensory ethnography through walk-along interviews. Findings reveal contrasting engagements with the river: while younger, mobile residents reclaim the riverbanks for recreation and transit, older generations and marginalized communities often remain detached, shaped by nostalgia, accessibility barriers, or past urban policies. Mental maps and qualitative narratives expose competing spatial imaginaries: the Someș as a historic landmark, a contested site of urban redevelopment, and an emerging space for environmental and social justice.

By integrating Michel de Certeau’s (2011) spatial practices, Edward Relph’s (1976) place attachment, and urban dérive as a tool for territorial analysis, this study highlights how sensory and affective experiences shape urban spatial appropriation. The research contributes to understanding how rivers function as arenas of social production, memory, and transformation, emphasizing the need for inclusive, community-centered planning.

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes the urban atmospheres of the city of Venice through field recordings and a critical revisitation of Ralph Rumney's psychogeographic dérive, The Leaning Tower of Venice (1957). The research focuses on the everyday landscape of the city, with particular attention to its sensory and phenomenological aspects, tracing some of Rumney's itineraries within the city. The study considers more specifically how the sonic and lived identity of the city changes due to tourism, as aspects of the everyday are increasingly replaced by a uniform and commodified soundscape, through an auditory dérive and its reproduction in sound postcards. Offering an alternative perspective on the Venetian soundscape, the research emphasizes the role of sound as a crucial medium for interpreting urban atmospheres. The results show how the city's soundscape illustrates deeper socio-economic and cultural changes and, in doing so, transforms the image of Venice from a merely visual spectacle to a contested soundscape afflicted by overtourism.

ABSTRACT. The need to reconfigure the power dynamics embedded in knowledge production is an essential part of decolonising methodologies. This applies both to research conducted within urban (or rural) localities and to collaborations between participants and researchers from contexts with differing colonial histories. This paper critically examines the relationship between participatory, collaborative methods and decoloniality, arguing that decolonial practices hinge on the redistribution of epistemic power. Drawing on a literature review, it explores the tensions and contradictions inherent in decolonial scholarship, such as the reliance of many authors on academic centres and knowledge production in Europe and North America, despite their focus on resisting colonial structures. The paper highlights the necessity of contextualised decolonial methods, with examples such as Kaupapa Māori research in Aotearoa New Zealand, which integrates cultural self-determination with participatory frameworks. Interestingly, however, the adoption of such decolonial methodologies appears limited in some formerly colonised countries, such as Sri Lanka, where these approaches have not gained significant traction. I also identify a recurring peculiarity: participatory and power-sharing methodologies often remain confined to the data collection phase, leaving deeper structural and epistemic hierarchies unchallenged. By interrogating these dynamics, this paper aims to contribute to the development of more genuinely decolonial research practices, offering participants opportunities to contribute to the interpretation of social reality and advocating for participatory interpretation as a qualitative method.

ABSTRACT. This paper theorizes the centrality of griotisme as a philosophy for methodology and its integration with decolonial storytelling and decolonial dialogue to decolonize urban research in West African context. Griotisme is more than an oral tradition; it is a dynamic epistemic system rooted in relationality, memory, and intergenerational knowledge transmission. As historians, mediators, and social critics, griots have long played a crucial role in shaping how communities interpret their past, navigate their present, and imagine their future. Their methods of knowledge production—based on performance, dialogue, and collective memory—offer a decolonial alternative to extractive, Eurocentric research paradigms. Western urban research methods often impose rigid, detached frameworks that marginalize indigenous epistemologies. By contrast, griotisme, when integrated with decolonial storytelling and dialogue, fosters research practices that are participatory, situated, and deeply embedded in the lived realities of West African urban spaces. Decolonial storytelling reclaims narrative agency, while decolonial dialogue centers critical, reciprocal engagement with local voices and experiences. Together, these methodologies challenge the epistemic violence perpetuated by dominant research models and offer new ways of analyzing and representing urban life. This paper positions griotisme as a methodological philosophy that transcends disciplinary boundaries, emphasizing interconnectivity, orality, and embodied knowledge. Through this lens, urban research becomes not only a site of inquiry but also a space for reimagining knowledge production in ways that resist colonial logics and affirm the complexity of West African urban worlds.

ABSTRACT. This presentation is based on my PhD research, which investigates how insurgent home-making practices and claims to well-located affordable housing, articulated by racialized and impoverished residents of housing occupations. The research looks at how practices and discourses articulated by residents of housing occupations challenge the reproduction of spatial segregation and injustice that continue to shape post-Apartheid South African cities. The study also examines the collective work and forms of organization performed by the residents of Cissie Gool House (CGH), a large housing occupation in Cape Town, part of the Reclaim The City (RTC) movement for housing and spatial justice. In this presentation I reflect on my involvement in the ‘CGH Co-Design’ project, which aims to collaboratively imagine and design stable, inclusive housing solutions for CGH, while avoiding the displacement of its residents. The Co-Design project serves as an ‘invented space’ of participation, bringing together experiences and knowledge-making practices from a wide range of subjects, including CGH residents, architects, activists, and researchers. In the paper I reflect on decolonial approaches to Participatory Action Research, which guided my engagement in and observation of the collective work of the CGH Co-Design team in articulating alternative conceptions of homemaking and housing. Based on my engagement in the Co-Design project and ongoing support to the CGH occupation, I stress the importance of adopting participatory/collaborative, action-oriented research approaches in order to: a) decolonize urban research practice; b) produce actionable research outputs that support housing struggles. In conclusion, I reflect on the politics of collaborative knowledge production in processes of grassroots collaborative design/planning.

ABSTRACT. Our paper examines the role of emotions in knowledge production in social research from the perspective of feminist methodology. We explore how researchers’ reciprocal sharing of personal experiences and emotions with participants can foster enriched and deeper insights in sociological research. Our analysis is based on our ongoing fieldwork with women in STEM fields in Turkey, where we are exploring women’s experiences with educational and scientific institutions, workplaces, family members, peers, and colleagues. As our fieldwork has evolved, we have observed that our affective exchanges and sharing of embodied memories during in-depth interviews with participants significantly contribute to their recall of other memories, emotional responses, and further self-reflection on their experiences, thus enriching the dialogue between researcher and subject. This process not only facilitates the emergence of new narratives but also triggers a form of emotional recall, where past experiences, sometimes previously unarticulated, resurface in response to the researcher’s affective engagement. Through this dynamic, participants do not merely recount past events but actively reinterpret them in light of the ongoing dialogue, thereby deepening the co-construction of knowledge. We embrace this affective exchange as a form of co-construction of situated knowledge (Haraway, 1988) that helps us build a ‘stronger objectivity’(Haraway, 1988) rather than weakening or ‘distorting the objectivity of the data.’ This process of knowledge production based on emotional exchange shows that knowledge can possibly be produced through relational and embodied interactions, going against the usual observer-observed dichotomy. Building on feminist care ethics and the concept of situated knowledges, this study emphasizes the importance of methodological transparency and reflexivity. Overall, our analysis contributes to contemporary feminist epistemological debates by highlighting the importance of affective engagement and dialogical practices in social research, and it invites scholars to rethink traditional methodological boundaries in favor of more inclusive approaches to knowledge production.

ABSTRACT. Traditional sociological research on youth often struggles with the epistemological gap between researchers and participants. To address this challenge, our study employed a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, actively involving 18 master’s students as co-researchers in a project investigating young people’s fears. The participatory design aimed to reduce the distance between researchers and subjects by integrating the perspectives and lived experiences of young scholars into the research process. The entire research team—comprising the students, a postdoctoral researcher, and three professors—collaboratively developed the research questions, identified subgroups of interviewees, and co-designed interview guides. This collective effort ensured that emotions and subjective experiences were not merely objects of study but were actively incorporated into the research framework. Starting from the analysis of a focus group, qualitative interviews, fieldnotes of the co-researchers, this contribution reflects on the methodological implications of engaging students as co-researchers. It explores the challenges and benefits of participatory approaches in mitigating research biases, fostering reflexivity, and reshaping power dynamics within the research process. The co-researchers told us that the fact that they didn't work alone but in a group was an important resource for them in terms of discussion and mutual support. From some fieldnotes, explicitly requested from the group as a way of self-reflection to think about how they felt in the role of co-researchers and having to deal with a sensitive issue such as fear, some said that when faced with the telling of sensitive episodes, they felt they had to break ‘the even minimal distance between interviewer and interviewee to show closeness and empathy’, and that this was not always easy. By bringing emotions to the fore, this study contributes to ongoing discussions on the role of emotionality in knowledge production and the transformative potential of participatory methodologies in youth studies.

ABSTRACT. Emotions emerge in unexpected ways even within the value-neutral sphere of social scientific research, particularly when researcher-subject interactions extend beyond formal inquiry and challenge the classic separation between observer and observed. This case study examines the empathic yet contradictory behaviors of a middle-aged Chinese housewife who relocated to Germany with her husband and children, revealing how emotional bonds surfaced outside the structured interview setting. Initially discussing her struggles with identity loss, social exclusion, and conscious reliance on Chinese social media, the interviewee later confided deeper inner struggles in an informal follow-up conversation. This unexpected exchange, framed by the interviewee as sharing her “intimate secrets,” not only expanded the scope of the study but also led to a re-examination of her naturalization and adaptation journey, reinforcing the necessity of situational reflexivity in social research. Drawing on reflexive epistemology, this study foregrounds the single case as an epistemic advantage rather than a limitation. It illustrates how the emotions arising within researcher-subject interactions do not merely shape data collection but also reposition the researcher within the dialogue, as it is. The interviewee, initially perceived as a passive agent of interrogagtion, engaged in reciprocal emotional exchange with the interviewer, whose shared background and similar dillemma enabled an empathetic connection. This underscores the role of informal discourse in revealing hidden emotional dimensions of migration—nuances that standardized methodologies often fail to capture. By situating this case within the discourse on emotions in social research, this study challenges the rigid methodological orthodoxy that prioritizes detachment. Instead, it argues that emotions, when acknowledged as epistemic resources, can enhance the depth of social inquiry. Particularly in migration studies, where lived experiences are deeply entangled with affective states, the single case study offers a lens into the situational and relational dynamics often overlooked in large-scale research. The findings call for a methodological shift—one that values the researcher’s active presence and acknowledges the generative role of emotions in meaning-making, ultimately redefining reflexivity as an engaged and iterative process in young scholars’ social research training.

ABSTRACT. Emotions as a subject of scientific inquiry has become a focal point in the sociological and social sciences. From an epistemological point of view, anxiety understood as a particular manifestation of an individual's emotional life is often relegated to the sphere of clinical studies in psychology, sometimes attributing to it a pathological character of the emotional sphere. The problems associated with anxiety can find their epistemological legitimacy in a broader sphere of the human sciences and sociology, precisely because of the implications, including causal ones, of the manifestations of anxiety in relation to certain conditions of the social context that may favour or exacerbate it. This paper will examine anxiety as a social phenomenon, focusing on its relevance to younger generations and emphasising its role as a collective sentiment rather than a pathological or psychological disorder. Anxiety is a phenomenon with a structural dimension, influenced by social structures such as family and school, and increasingly linked to identity construction processes. The advent of postmodern societies and the propagation of capitalism has precipitated an exacerbation of anxiety, signifying the duality of autonomy and the concomitant challenges of navigating an ocean of possibilities for individuals. The aim of the research is to investigate anxiety as a social phenomenon among young people and the existence of cultural and structural conditions and contexts that contribute to or hinder its spread. The present study investigates a series of areas that may hypothetically represent deterrents or anxiety-promoting factors, such as social pressure from peers, family and the study or work context; gender identity; lifestyles such as alcohol consumption, sporting activity and the use of social networks; solidarity and altruism; territorial contexts; and family socio-economic conditions. The study was conducted through a survey, to a sample of young people aged between 18 and 30 years in Italy.

ABSTRACT. Qualitative social research has long emphasized the role of the researcher as a central instrument of knowledge production. But what are the epistemological consequences when we do not merely resonate with the world but also become vulnerable in the process? In this paper, we argue that vulnerability is not just a side effect of qualitative research but a necessary condition for generating knowledge. By opening ourselves to interpersonal dynamics, we enable deeper insights into social phenomena. Drawing on empirical vignettes from research projects on shame and body weight, we illustrate how emotional experiences in the research process – including moments of devaluation and embarrassment – become key moments of analytical insight. These examples demonstrate that qualitative research is more than just the collection and interpretation of narratives: it is an interpersonal encounter in which social mechanisms manifest not only linguistically but also affectively and materially. These processes have significant analytical value but also pose challenges for researchers: What institutional and collective care structures are needed to manage the epistemic vulnerability of qualitative research? How can practices such as intervision, supervision, or journaling support researchers in using their own emotional involvement as a productive part of the knowledge process without becoming overwhelmed? On a theoretical level, we discuss how concepts from psychodynamic theory, such as transference and countertransference, can help us better understand the affective dimensions of qualitative research. Additionally, we draw on Actor-Network Theory to explore how researcher-subject interactions are shaped by broader relational dynamics, and we incorporate the concept of resonance to highlight the ways in which qualitative researchers engage with the world through affective attunement. Finally, we advocate for a stronger institutional embedding of reflexive and self-care practices in qualitative methodology training to prepare researchers both epistemologically and emotionally for the challenges of qualitative research.

ABSTRACT. Observing, interacting, and engaging with the field can be a challenging process, often marked by fatigue and turmoil, not only due to gatekeeping dynamics but also because researchers’ identity and positionality interact differently depending on the actors involved and the social reality in which they operate. This requires constant negotiation together with strategic approaches to the performative aspects of fieldwork, where the researchers’ physical, emotional, and political selves are continuously at play. These change radically depending on whether researchers align with and mobilize for the studied category, sharing its worldview, or engage with a group whose ideology they find morally or politically objectionable. In this relational game, where identities are mutually shaped, researchers must critically engage their role, emotions, and dialogical positioning. Drawing on two ethnographic doctoral research projects dealing with opposing groups, LGBTQ+ and anti-gender communities, this contribution aims to explore the issue of “critical distance and inevitable involvement” (Ferrarotti, 2020) faced by social researchers during fieldwork. It will discuss how mimicry becomes an effective strategy facilitating engagement with research participants, fostering interactions, or serving as a means of self-protection, operating within the dialogical relationship between the researcher and subjectivities involved. Mimicry strategies have been employed, on the one hand, to appear “queer enough”, while on the other to be perceived as “not too feminist” within the field. This process demands significant emotional labor, requires practicing reflexivity while maintaining methodological rigor, and entails ethical challenges, tackling the epistemological tensions inherent in social research methodology. This contribution will address the role of emotions in shaping ethnographic performance across these two contrasting fieldwork settings. As researchers, we cannot separate our emotional states or standpoints from the interpretation of social facts. We must acknowledge and transform them into cognitive tools to assess the starting point of our analysis and its limitations critically.

ABSTRACT. A wide literature shows that peer influence plays a key role in educational choices of young students, which can be examined through a social network perspective by mapping student interactions as interconnected nodes. Whole network survey designs, which capture the full structure of these interactions, raise ethical and privacy concerns, requiring robust anonymization and data protection measures. Within this scenario, this study presents a research strategy to address the methodological and privacy challenges of network surveys while ensuring statistical rigor and ethical data management. The proposed strategy is illustrated through a high school survey in Southern Italy conducted in the academic year 2024-2025, exploring the factors shaping students' educational choices during the transition from high school to university or labor market. In a first phase, three focus groups involving students from different high school tracks provided qualitative insights into peer influence, social interactions, and decision-making processes. In a second phase, these findings informed the development of a structured questionnaire administered to around 1,500 final-year students across 28 stratified-sample oh high schools in Campania region. Participants identified up to five peers based on different kind of relationships related to friendship, study, emotional and appraisal support during choices within classmates. To ensure data integrity and participant confidentiality, rigorous anonymization and privacy protection measures were implemented based on random code generation and privacy preserving data integration process. This approach ensured a high level of anonymity, maximizing the protection of participants' sensitive information. By safeguarding students' privacy, it upheld ethical research standards, promoting transparency and responsible data management. This not only protected personal data but also fostered a research environment that respects the rights of all individuals involved.

ABSTRACT. Power dynamics and epistemic polarization profoundly influence the production and dissemination of knowledge. Current perspectives in social epistemology and sociology of knowledge confirm the importance of these factors, highlighting that social networks are not merely neutral channels of information, but active structures shaping source credibility, content selection, and alignment with dominant narratives. These mechanisms significantly impact epistemic cooperation, the homogenization of beliefs within groups, and the capacity to challenge or assimilate external epistemologies.

This abstract introduces a formal, 'diagnostic' model for classifying and analyzing interaction patterns within epistemic networks. By distinguishing between authoritative and peer nodes, both within and outside a reference group, the model defines six ideal types and four 'aberrant' configurations, each representing different knowledge-handling strategies and epistemic interactions. An observed network is assigned to one of these configurations by calculating its probabilistic distance from each ideal type using the Jensen-Shannon measure. This approach allows for quantifying the levels of horizontality/hierarchy and closure/openness that typify epistemic groups, distinguishing two main knowledge-processing mechanisms:

1) the 'epistemic concentration' effect, characteristic of closed hierarchical structures in which knowledge is filtered through a few authorities and transmitted vertically;

2) the 'distributed validation' effect, prevalent in horizontal networks, where peer consensus strengthens beliefs regardless of their accuracy.

The permeability of the ingroup relative to the outgroup, alongside information circulation patterns (distributed or hierarchical), also allows for classification of pathological phenomena such as echo chambers. The model identifies seven ideal configurations: adversarial, expansive, symmetric, authoritarian, egalitarian, reticular, and inward-looking.

An initial empirical validation analyzed 32,181 tweets about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, revealing the predominance of the 'adversarial' configuration, characterized by horizontal intra-group interactions and engagement with external authorities. This demonstrates the model's diagnostic power for quantifying group strategies and predicting vulnerabilities across knowledge systems.

ABSTRACT. The UN Agenda 2030 highlights how corruption is one of the factors hindering sustainable development (goal 16.5). However, to prevent and combat corruption, it is essential to deeply understand this latent phenomenon, which is not easy to measure. Particular attention should also be paid to the purposes of measurement, which, in addition to supporting necessary prevention and counteraction policies, must primarily aim to focus the attention of civil society and foster the growth of social capital as a key antidote to corruption. The literature and practice on this subject span various fronts, from methodologies useful for measuring complex multidimensional phenomena to network analysis and artificial intelligence techniques. A step forward in understanding the phenomenon has been made by the Italian Anti-Corruption Authority, which provides the public with 70 indicators capable of measuring the risk of corruption across territories. Specifically, the methodology involves also the organization into pillars and the use of composite indicators that simplify the interpretation of the complexity arising from multiple dimensions by reducing it to a single number. The selection of the indicators was guided by the relationships between corruption and various cultural, legal, economic, social, and political-institutional factors that can influence its spread and persistence. But some methodological approaches have also been experimentally developed that contemplate the use of network analysis, with particular reference to public tenders. The presence of information on individuals who have assumed top positions in organizations allows us to address, among other things, the issue of conflict of interest, revolving doors, as well as identify the awards presumably characterized by a higher risk of corruption. Finally, a general methodology has been developed that is functional for mapping the shareholdings, family ties and economic interests of individuals with public positions or other individuals subject to a declaration of absence of conflict of interest.

ABSTRACT. The phallogocentric paradigm – which structures reality through a hierarchical dichotomous-oppositional framework – permeates all social structures, including workplaces, where relational models are shaped by patriarchal codes. Neoliberal rhetoric reinforces these dynamics, perpetuating systemic discrimination that marginalises “non-conforming” individuals. In this context, corporate anti-discrimination policies risk remaining ineffective unless accompanied by a radical rethinking of gender categories and power relations. Within this framework, feminist combative self-consciousness – emerging from a transfeminist reading of Eastern arts and philosophies – constitutes a queer method capable of subverting these mechanisms through a practice that integrates body, language, and agency. It isn’t merely a form of physical self-defence but functions as a tool for resignifying power relations, challenging the phallogocentric dichotomous-oppositional narrative, particularly regarding the concept of “force”. In corporate settings, this translates into a transformative process that deconstructs neoliberal-patriarchal rhetoric, developing strategies for preventing and countering violence, from harassment to mobbing. Feminist self-defence enhances self-perception, the ability to recognise risk situations, and confidence in confronting oppressive relationships. In this sense, it’s not only a form of resistance but also a method of transformation which, when applied in the workplace, aligns with the guidelines of PDR-125, promoting a more equitable and intersectional corporate culture. The adoption of such practices as part of “gender certification” strategies enable the complementing of regulatory measures with a structural and performative shift in power relations, fostering more egalitarian work environments. The aim of this study is, therefore, to reflect on the use of these practices as a resignifying method of power relations in social and workplace settings.

ABSTRACT. Autoethnography, as a research methodology in social sciences and humanities, serves as a privileged tool for exploring subjective experiences and identity transformations through a critical lens. This paper aims to investigate the intersection between autoethnographic methodology and Paul B. Preciado’s trans philosophy, analyzing the epistemological potential of a self-writing practice that becomes both a political and theoretical act. Preciado, through works such as Testo Junkie and An Apartment on Uranus, develops a narrative that challenges normative categories of the body, gender, and subjectivity, situating his reflections within a poststructuralist and biopolitical framework. His work stands as a paradigmatic example of radical autoethnography, where the experiential dimension is not merely an object of study but a method and device for deconstructing dominant epistemologies.This paper will explore how autoethnographic methodology can be employed to engage with Preciado’s trans philosophy, highlighting the value of situated subjectivity, experimental writing, and embodied narration as tools for rethinking the relationship between theory, politics, and gender identity. Specifically, it will discuss how autoethnography can contribute to a broader reconfiguration of philosophical knowledge, opening spaces of resistance and possibilities beyond binarism and imposed normativities.

ABSTRACT. The continuous redefinition of forms of social differentiation and the integration of online and offline dimensions present new challenges for social research, requiring a methodological and conceptual rethinking. In this context, queer methodologies provide tools to deconstruct normative categories and critically analyse how identity, subjectivity, and belonging are performed in both digital spaces and everyday life. The concept of identity has, in fact, always been crucial to sociological debate and today manifests as a fluid process, shaped by the interweaving of digital experiences and offline life. Drawing particularly on Goffman’s insights, identity emerges as a play of masks, a dramaturgical performance in which the subject continuously negotiates their image through relational dynamics. This fragmentation of identity fits, within our contemporary society, into the framework of ‘liquid modernity’, where the need for rootedness and the continuous redefinition of the Self intersect with power structures that regulate social recognition. More than Kant’s ‘unsocial sociability’, identity dissolution seems to affirm Hume’s paradox: identity cannot be grounded in self-reference but only in spontaneous bodily sensations. Similarly, the fluidity that drives the debate on gender and sexuality carries with it a sense of unease and ontological loss, much like a desperate selfie unable to reflect a stable image of the Self. Within this premise, the present contribution examines the tensions between scientific standards and innovative methodological approaches, deconstructing the dichotomy between objective data and lived experience. While cyberspace amplifies the dialectic between subjectivity and community, queer research challenges the rigidity of traditional categories, valuing instability as an epistemological resource. Indeed, adopting a queer approach to social research involves rejecting ‘given data’, experimenting with new strategies capable of capturing the complexity of contemporary experience, and creating new spaces for dialogue between sociology, queer studies, and the analysis of social fluidities.

ABSTRACT. Queer theory challenges normative epistemologies and ontologies, yet sociological research often relies on rigid conceptual heuristics to analyze fluid identities and cultural practices. Despite growing recognition of the need to study self-representations of queer subjectivities, the inescapable link between individualization, the valorization of uniqueness, and neoliberal cultural hegemony tends to reinforce Weberian ideal types – such as the Normative Queer Subject or Homonormativity – in sociological analyses of queerness. This approach risks interpreting queer manifestations through binary oppositions, such as complicity vs. radicality or commodification vs. authenticity. Furthermore, it often overlooks hybrid experiences at the intersection of radical activism and adaptation to neoliberal environments, while also universalizing Western models at the expense of non-Western queer articulations. This paper argues that queer sociology would benefit from incorporating Ludwig Wittgenstein’s concept of "family resemblance" as a conceptual and methodological tool for studying queer subjectivities. Unlike more traditional approaches that attempt to extract prototypical features, family resemblance posits that concepts are connected through a network of overlapping similarities, with no single characteristic being essential to their definition. This shift enables a more flexible and context-sensitive analysis of queerness, capturing its fluidity and multiplicity without imposing rigid classifications. Methodologically, this perspective calls for participatory and interpretive approaches that prioritize self-identification and co-construction of meaning, making visible the ways queer experiences overlap and diverge beyond static categories. To illustrate this perspective, this contribution examines the evolution of mainstream drag in recent years as a case study in queer research, showing how drag identities are better conceptualized through overlapping resemblances rather than fixed categories, thereby highlighting the epistemological advantages of moving beyond essentialist typologies in queer analyses.

ABSTRACT. We engage regularly in consent processes in our daily lives, from interactions with mobile apps and terms of use agreements for streaming services to research and educational activities. Although in research contexts, consent is often framed as a bureaucratic step governed by procedural ethics (Guillemin & Gillam, 2004), consent as an ongoing process can be made more fluid, flexible, negotiable, and relational. The purpose of this paper is to encourage more social science researchers to queer research consent practices with queer and non-queer communities. I use queering as a verb here to refer to the ongoing process of disrupting binaries, categorization, and rigidity related to sex, gender, and sexuality specifically but also other identities and related policies and practices (de Lauretis, 1991; Lorde, 1984; Pinar, 1998; Sedgwick, 1990; Spargo, 1999). This argument is rooted in the research on consent practices within queer communities, spanning fields such as sociology, sexuality studies, sex education, psychology, and education (Bauer, 2021; Shelton & Brooks, 2021; Wright, 2022) as well as the literature on queer(ing) methodology and methods (Author, 2023; Ford et al., 2021; Ghaziani & Brim, 2019; Shelton & Brooks, 2021; Westbrook & Saperstein, 2015). I also draw from my experience as a queer nonbinary teacher and researcher of educational research methods, a former member of my university’s Institutional Review Board, and a mentor for students’ postgraduate research at the master’s, educational specialist, and doctoral levels. In this paper, I detail the majoritarian narratives that exist about consent in research by tracing the establishment of research regulations in the USA, where my work is located. I then use queer theories to present potential practices for queering consent by disrupting power dynamics, temporality, and relationality between “researcher and participants” using old and reimagined consent forms as examples.

ABSTRACT. The ethnographic immersion in a long-term care facility for older people encompasses participating in an emotional and bodily experience through all senses: the sight of aged and impaired bodies, the hearing of voices, cries, recognizable smell. Considering that emotions are a constitutive element of the reflexive process and its feeding, in this contribution we reflect on how this “sensing” and the associated emotions condition our work as ethnographers in the way we construct and analyze our data. We adopt an emotional reflexivity approach (Holmes 2010, 2015; Burkitt 2012) to analyze the embodied and relational process through which social actors become aware of their emotions and make them an integral part of their own reflective processes. The underlying assumption is that all emotions are relational phenomena generated in the exchange and interactions in which we researchers are involved (Denzin 1984). We assume that the relational aspect is also decisive in the analysis and interpretation of the data, since the memory of the emotions felt during interviews or participant observation will inform the process of data analysis. The reflection we propose based on these premises draws, first, on the experience of the author with immersion in similar observational fields and on the exchange and discussion of the relative fieldnotes. In addition, I include the discussions of results with a team of researchers engaged in a cross-national multi-sited ethnographic project. We find that acknowledging and widening emotional repertoires is essential not only to enlarge the scenarios and possible interpretive frames in attempts to understand the complexity of the social (Sclavi 2003), but also to identify new methodological and epistemological frameworks.

ABSTRACT. In many social sciences disciplines, researchers are often not adequately trained to manage psychological well-being, both for participants and for themselves. Methodological training tends to focus on technical aspects, neglecting the emotional complexities that arise during fieldwork, particularly when engaging with vulnerable populations. Developing practices that support the emotional well-being of all involved is essential, not only to prevent researcher burnout or vicarious trauma but to ensure ethical, responsible research. This paper explores the integration of psychological well-being into social research through reflections and experiences drawn from personal and collective fieldwork in challenging contexts. I present case studies from research with migrants in irregular situations at the Spain-Morocco border, with families and victims of internal armed conflict in Peru, and with Venezuelan migrants during COVID-19 in Peru. These experiences highlight the emotional challenges faced by both participants and researchers, underscoring the importance of adopting methodologies that prioritize psychological well-being through an interdisciplinary approach. The best practices shared in this paper are informed by decolonial and feminist frameworks, which emphasize care, solidarity, and self-awareness. Many of these practices were collectively developed in Peru, where direct engagement and action-research with vulnerable communities revealed the critical need for supporting emotional health throughout the research process. Finally, this paper proposes concrete strategies for addressing emotional challenges, emphasizing the importance of training researchers and create apposite services to manage psychological well-being in the field. By integrating these focus into universities, we can create a more ethically grounded and emotionally supportive environment for both researchers and participants.

ABSTRACT. These reflections stem from an episode of intense fear I experienced during fieldwork in 2021 when I took part in the annual gathering of a radical right party in Italy. Despite the challenges of conducting ethnography in radical-right settings (e.g., Ashe et al. 2020; Avanza 2008; Damhuis and De Jonge 2022; Toscano 2019), I had not previously felt unsafe during fieldwork. However, the national rally's scale and intensity produced an acute sense of disembodiment and fear. Since I was there specifically due to my interest in political rituals, I wondered whether my extreme fear was related to collective effervescence. Despite my disconnection from the participants' beliefs, I found myself experiencing the emotional component of the ritual negatively—as a reversed collective effervescence. This contribution aims to explore how researchers can use theoretical tools to reflect on their field experiences and field reflexivity to contribute to broader theoretical debates. I will first discuss existing literature on participant observation during public rituals, the degrees of engagement of the researcher in ritual practices, and the embodied experiences of rituals. Secondly, I will look at my negative emotions through the lenses of two competing theoretical models: Randall Collins’s “Interaction Ritual Chains” (2004, 2014) and Jeffrey Alexander’s “Cultural Pragmatics” (2004). Recent theories on rituals can help reflexivity since the researcher is part of the ritual’s public and can experience his emotional effects. Finally, I will underline some elements that the position as researchers experiencing negative emotions can add to both the theories considered, and in particular to the idea that “successful rituals” or “fused performances” depend on the “emotional coordination” or “identification” among the participants. By examining the researcher's experience of fear and estrangement, this article contributes to ritual theory by challenging assumptions about emotional coordination and ‘successful’ rituals.

ABSTRACT. Feminist methods are rooted in a long history of methodological repertoires that consider the male gaze and aim to empower female and intersectional perspectives in research, for example by paying attention to the role of the individuals’ bodies, their emotions, and sense of self in their lived experiences (Crenshaw, 1989/2013; Dupuis et al., 2022). Feminist perspectives are, however, rather rare in big/mass data, quantitative, and digital methods research. That is because these approaches often focus on meta-level data and macro-perspectives, for example social networks, social media metadata, large language models, and other statistical data. As such, they are less likely to capture users’ individual circumstances, regional and cultural contexts, or embodied experiences, including gendered aspects. Expanding the notion of mixed methods, this article discusses various forms of “femmix” in visual research, i.e. feminist mixed visual methods (see Özkula et al., 2024), that illustrate varied layers of methodological entanglements. These include the mixing of quantitative and qualitative approaches, but also combinations with digital and interpretive methods, different modalities of online visuals (e.g. video, static images, memes, reels, audiovisual effects such as soundscapes), the gendered production and consumption of visual information, as well as gendered readings of visual data. For that purpose, this chapter draws on cases of feminist content circulation on Instagram and misogynistic memes on Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube. By juxtaposing these different case studies, this chapter argues in favour of applying femmix across visual phenomena in social media research as a way to engage with nuanced socio-cultural and political practices. Femmix can here help to foreground the multiple layers of signification embedded in the complex visual objects that circulate on social media, and to generate insights that can not easily be grasped by single methods or by analytical lenses that do not incorporate feminist critical perspectives.

ABSTRACT. This paper reviews several issues we encountered in setting up a standard protocol for conducting 18 focus groups with Right-Wing Populist Parties' voters in the six countries that belong to the HE UNTWIST (switchers voters who have previously voted for mainstream parties). We conducted sex-segregated groups with same-sex moderators and in-person assistance. We justify the methodological, ethical and risk-assessment rationale for such decisions.

We review the different cultural understandings of the techniques, preferences, and risks implied in different administration modes, reflect on the ethical dimension of selecting particular profiles, and the moderation of the groups.

The protocol and moderation guide will be shared as part of the contribution.

ABSTRACT. This working paper aims to explore how political parties represent and address gender-related issues in their electoral manifestos. In recent decades, public demands for gender equality have gained significant prominence in the political agenda, prompting parties to adapt their platforms in response to a shifting landscape of political competition. This study is grounded in Salience Theory, which posits that political actors strategically emphasize certain issues to appeal to voters and differentiate themselves from competitors. Methodologically, this research conducts a content analysis of fifty electoral manifestos from both state-wide and non-state-wide parties that contested the Spanish general elections between 2004 and 2019. The analysis follows a coding process structured around five gender-related domains, with the quasi-phrase as the unit of analysis. Additionally, Sketch Engine has been used to examine word concordances, allowing for a deeper understanding of how key gender-related terms are framed within different contexts. While preliminary findings will be presented at the panel, the novelty of this study lies in its ambition to go beyond a mere quantification of the frequency of gender-related content. In this sense, this research also considers the gender of the recipient of the proposal (male, female, non-binary, or unspecified). Additionally, it incorporates an intersectional perspective by taking into account their sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, social class, and age. Moreover, it differentiates whether a given quasi-phrase refers to an issue, an objective, or a policy. Finally, it assesses the extent to which these dimensions are explicitly associated with a particular gender or remain non-gendered. By incorporating these layers of analysis, this study aims to offer a more nuanced understanding of how gender-related issues are framed in party manifestos. The findings will contribute to the broader discussion on how political parties respond to evolving social demands and the role of gender issues in electoral competition.

ABSTRACT. This study presents findings from the survey data of an original questionnaire developed within the Horizon Europe project UNTWIST: Policy recommendations to regain ‘losers of feminism’ as mainstream voters. A key contribution of this research is designing and implementing an innovative method to operationalise the concept of intersectional collective gender identity, traditionally explored through qualitative approaches. The study examines how and to what extent gender identities interact with other social identities, positioning the analysis within the broader framework of Gender Positional Deprivation Theory. The study outlines key theoretical and methodological considerations, discussing the potential advantages and limitations of the proposed measurement approach. Additionally, the study reflects on the robustness of the instrument, considering its reliability and validity. This research contributes to advancing intersectionality studies by providing a novel empirical tool for analysing the complex interplay of gender and social identity.

ABSTRACT. Public opposition to various climate policies is one of the critical barriers for addressing climate change. To uncover the main drivers of antagonism to specific climate policies multiple studies explore general relations between self-interest and ideational factors and attitudes towards separate environmental measures. While these studies generate important insights, multiple oversights remain in relation to public opinion about climate policies. One such blind spot concerns the consistency of people’s attitudes towards climate measures; this is important, as even small, but vocal and well-organized groups of consistent opponents/supporters can both block and enable policy change. In the present study we aim to shed light on this issue by focusing specifically on groups that consistently reject or support three types of climate policies in Belgium – higher fuel tax, mandatory minimum standards for home insulation and introduction of meat tax. Our general hypothesis is that self-interest will have a greater effect on forming consistent opposition to environmental measures, whereas ideational factors, especially pro-environmental values and norms will be the primary determinants of consistent support for climate policies. We test this hypothesis using data from the European Social Survey round 11 fielded in Belgium in 2022-2023. The results show that about a tenth of Belgians is opposed to all of the three policies while a slightly smaller proportion supports each of these. A key contribution of our analysis is the demonstration that the profiles of these two opposing groups are not mirror images of each other as multiple predictors influence the odds of belonging to one of the groups, but not to the other. The strongest predictors of consistent opposition to climate policies are (lack of) perceived responsibility for addressing climate change and old age, whereas the strongest correlates of consistent support for these measures are biospheric values and political ideology.

ABSTRACT. Why are young men and women drifting apart? Value change theory argues that postmaterialist, progressive values flourish when citizens grow up in granted existential security, often measured by GDP per capita. At the same time, other indicators, such as declining real income and soaring rent and property prices, point to diminishing security, with, as we argue, more severe implications for men. Traditionally, value change theory has assumed that affluence benefits everyone equally. Yet, while women have experienced significant gains in labour market participation, educational attainment, and financial independence over the past 50 years, men’s progress in these areas has been comparatively stagnant. As women become less reliant on men as breadwinners, the expectations for men as partners have risen as well — being able to provide for a partner financially is neither necessary nor sufficient anymore. The breadwinner role has also become harder to fulfil due to rising living costs and intensified competition in the labour market with women. This combination of pressures showcases not only a perceived but an actual loss of status for men, while the opportunities faced by women are still increasing compared to preceding generations. Using data from the ESS Round 11, our findings suggest that gendered patterns of declining existential security are central to the ideological divergence between young men and women, with the trend towards more progressive values continuing among women and halting, and in some contexts even reversing, among men.

ABSTRACT. The theory of secular transition proposed by David Voas constitutes a research agenda open to various developments. One of the most debated issues concerns the universality of the secular transition model, specifically whether the transition process is the same in all countries experiencing secularization dynamics, or whether there may be potential variants of a prevailing model. This possibility has been explored particularly in Eastern European countries, given the unique interplay between politics and religion in these nations from World War II to the present day.

Preliminary analyses also focus attention on Southern European countries, which could represent a specific variant of the secular transition model. In Italy, as well as in Portugal and Spain, the transition process appears to be slower compared to what has been observed in other European and Western countries. This hypothesis is being thoroughly tested. If confirmed, the possible explanatory factors for this variant will be investigated, ranging from the religious specificities of the national context to the social structures and networks that may influence the spread of secularity as an innovation.

The analyses are based on the CARPE dataset (Church Attendance and Religious change Pooled European dataset), which harmonizes variables related to religious affiliation and participation in religious services from major international longitudinal and comparative surveys (ESS, EVS, WVS, as well as Eurobarometer and ISSP). Currently, the CARPE dataset contains data for 45 countries, covering the period 1970–2016, and derives from 1,665 national surveys. This translates into a sample of approximately 1.8 million individual observations. For these analyses, the dataset will be updated to include surveys from recent years.

ABSTRACT. Interviewer effects are a common challenge in face-to-face surveys. Understanding the conditions that make interviewer variance more likely to occur is essential in tackling sources of bias. Earlier evidence suggests that certain features of the survey instrument provide more ground for interviewer influence. For instance, attitudinal, sensitive, complex or open-ended questions invite more interviewer variance. In this paper, we aim to validate earlier results, previously derived from single-country studies, by using the large cross-national sample of the European Social Survey (ESS). We compare 31,270 intraclass-correlations (ICCs) derived from 1004 survey questions from 28 countries using data from 10 waves of the ESS. The questions were manually coded based on several characteristics. These features of survey questions were then used as predictors of ICCs in multilevel models. The results show that question characteristics account for a significant portion of the variation in ICCs, with certain types, such as attitude and non-factual questions, items appearing later in the survey, and those using showcards, being especially susceptible to interviewer effects. Our findings have important implications for both interviewer training and questionnaire design.

ABSTRACT. Electoral participation among migrants is frequently examined through the lens of host-country integration policies and institutional access. However, migrants arrive with deeply ingrained values and political attitudes developed through early political socialization in their country of origin which may influence their engagement with democratic institutions even after acquiring citizenship and residing in their host country for extended periods. Based on the “impressionable” years argument and recent studies on political (re)socialization of immigrants, we hypothesize that migrants from non-democratic origin countries are less likely to vote, even after prolonged residence. Specifically, we examine how pre-migration exposure to different political regimes affects electoral behavior, how length of residence moderates these effects, and whether second-generation migrants exhibit different engagement patterns compared to first-generation. Furthermore, electoral behavior is expected to be shaped by the extent to which host societies adopt inclusive (civic) or exclusionary (ethnic) definitions of national identity. To test hypotheses, this study draws on the European Social Survey (ESS) data, collected between 2005 and 2023 (Rounds 5–11), covering 23 EU member states. To ensure voting rights within a shared institutional framework, we focus on citizens of foreign origin, including 14,814 first-generation, 3,022 1.5-generation (arriving before age10), and 17,600 second-generation migrants. Using additional measures from the European Values Study (EVS) and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), we employed a multilevel model integrating individual-level factors (gender, SES , political interest, religious affiliation, age at migration, and length of residence) with macro-level characteristics such as the democratic culture of the country of origin (V-Dem) and conceptions of nationhood in host countries (based on EVS battery on “true” co-national). Our findings challenge the assumption that political incorporation is solely a function of time, revealing that pre-migration habits persist, whereas the way in which people in the host country define national symbolic boundaries influence participation.

ABSTRACT. The words we use to describe social phenomena matter as they shape perspectives and reflect biases and positions. Over time, the meaning and connotations of words may change. Tracking these changes is challenging, especially in migration discourse, as new content is produced daily, continuously shaping the narrative. In this paper, I analyze 1,064 news segments, in total 55 hours of audiovisual material, broadcast between 2013 and 2023. Using this dataset, I explore how the understanding of the word “refugee” has shifted over the past decade in “Wiadomości”, the evening news program of Poland’s public television network (TVP).

A term frequency analysis revealed that in 2017, “Wiadomości” increasingly used the words “migrants” and “immigrants” in its discourse. Word embeddings, vector representations of words, demonstrated semantic changes in the word refugee. In 2013, “refugee” was commonly associated with words such as “child” and “boat”, shifting to “immigrant” and “government” in 2019, and “war” and “accept” in 2023. A critical discourse analysis (CDA) of selected segments helped clarify the understanding of these three terms and uncover the specific groups of foreigners they referred to.

By employing Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods, this research tracks how the word “refugee” evolved in news reports over the past decade and how the terms “immigrant” and “migrant” emerged. Qualitative analysis further examines whether these changes reflect reactions to geopolitical events, shifts in reference groups, or deeper transformations in public opinion. This study also highlights the value of computational methods in understanding long-term discourse changes, demonstrating their effectiveness in tracing subtle linguistic shifts and offering insights into evolving societal attitudes.

ABSTRACT. Obtaining a job requires complex efforts from jobseekers. Several studies have reported on the importance of cultural signaling as a form of impression management in the selection process. It implies that jobseekers cannot merely rely on their skills, credentials, and expertise, but need to engage in a convincing self-presentation when one can give an account of their cultural capital, signal their status, style, character traits, etc. This cultural component is a well-documented mechanism in the process of social allocation, and as such, in hiring decisions. Although there are studies investigating how self-presentation affects hiring outcomes, only a handful of research has dealt with this topic on online platforms despite their increasing importance in job seeking. In this study, we address this gap by making a systematic analysis of the facets of self-presentation and their impact on successful job applications on Freelancer, one of the biggest online labor markets. Besides investigating skills, credentials, geographic distance, job category, we seek to understand the role of impression management on online hiring outcomes. Employing natural language processing to extract general structural, linguistic, social, digital features and identify persuasive strategies from applicant profiles and application texts and image recognition for visual analysis, we analyze over 100,000 job seekers from Freelancer. Using metrics like TTR indicator, Flesch-reading ease score, F-score, subjectivity and polarity scores for texts, alongside other characteristics like skills, geographic location, job category, credentials, expertise, we determine the impact of these factors on the application success with logistic regressions and random forest models. Relying on scraped, online data and conducting a systematic exploration of these complex mechanisms, our work provides valuable insight into the functioning of online labor markets and hiring outcomes.

ABSTRACT. This presentation introduces a conceptual framework for using topic modelling in argumentation analysis and applies it to Polish parliamentary debates on abortion.

The 2020 near-total abortion ban, followed by social protests and failed attempts to liberalize abortion law in 2024, marked a new era in Poland's abortion debates, ongoing since the 1989 democratic transition. Interest in studying those debates has increased, but almost all studies are based on case studies or small-scale qualitative analyses, which often results in making unjustified comparative claims.

In this context, topic modelling offers a plausible solution, enabling the systematic exploration of large text corpora. Topics are considered good operationalizations of discursive frames (DiMaggio et al., 2013), so analyzing topics and their popularity over time allows for exploring frames used in abortion debates and their evolution. However, the concept of frame is ambiguous and tends to be used without reference to rhetorical tools which allow for analyzing argumentative structures (Franzosi & Vicari, 2018).

To overcome this problem, I propose combining topic modelling with conceptual developments of Critical Discourse Studies.

The concept of genre provides a theoretical basis for interpreting topics as related to argumentation. Since parliamentary debate is a genre aimed at persuasion, parliamentary speeches should include arguments.

Within this framework, selected topics may be interpreted: (1) as associated with the particular position in the debate, (2) as signifying content-related topoi (shared assumption used as a warrant) and grounds commonly used with them (Wodak, 2016). The concept of topos is particularly useful here as it combines the general idea of frame with rhetorical theory.

After selecting meaningful topics and initial interpretation based on the most probable words for each topic, the analysis should be validated through a qualitative analysis of argumentation strategies (Reisigl & Wodak, 2001) used in the most representative documents for each topic.

ABSTRACT. This contribution does not claim to propose solutions, but aims to feed the critical debate on the use of text minig in sociology, in particular on the integration of Machine Learning (ML) tools in literature review operations. According to the most optimistic, we could make use of a computational assistant immune to boredom, inattention, bias and the risk of making mistakes: we can see, of course, the benefits of automate the selection, summarization, categorization and, above all, extraction of meaning from a quantity of textual data that is considered humanly demanding, allowing for (supposedly) more exhaustive and precise literature reviews.

However, while the potential of ML is revealed performing this kind of time-consuming and labour-intensive activities, concerns about accountability, replicability, transparency and accuracy arise considering the opacity and lack of standards that characterizes this field. I have identified three methodological issues: in order for ML tools to produce acceptable results, a substantial corpus of data (such as articles) is required: how can we quantify the standard for an appropriate dimensionality, apart from heuristics?; If evaluating results remains a researcher’s responsibility, how can we avoid confirmation bias or overly “loose” interpretations that undermine the promise of rigor and objectivity of text mining aided by ML?; Finally, how can we reduce the information asymmetry that permeates the relationship between sociology and computational tools, increasing the level of trustworthiness and understanding we can place in these instruments?

The transformation of words into numbers occurring during text mining operations, perhaps the last frontier of a drive for quantification and “mathematization” of STEM origin involving humanities, plays nowadays a pivotal role in knowledge production: understanding the mechanisms of this ongoing methodological revolution is vital to ensure effective processing of textual data and guarantee sociology’s scientific credibility.

ABSTRACT. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into data visualization is transforming how complex information is interpreted, communicated, and utilized in social research. This contribution examines the methodological implications of these advancements, focusing on how AI-powered tools, alongside Big Data and Open Data, are fostering innovative approaches to digital storytelling and analysis. AI-driven data visualization goes beyond static dashboards, leveraging machine learning techniques and Generative AI (GenAI) to create dynamic narratives and interactive visualizations that translate abstract data into actionable insights. These tools not only enhance the accessibility of complex datasets for diverse audiences, including researchers, policymakers, and the general public, but also challenge traditional methodologies by reducing manual intervention and increasing analytical precision. This contribution explores how AI algorithms enable the detection of patterns and anomalies that often escape traditional manual analysis, ensuring richer insights and minimizing bias. It also highlights the role of AI-enhanced storytelling in generating intuitive, narrative-driven visualizations that democratize access to knowledge and support more effective decision-making. Finally, it examines the methodological challenges and opportunities associated with integrating AI tools into social research, with a particular focus on transparency, replicability, and ethical considerations in the use of automated systems. This paper illustrates how the synergy between AI, Big Data, and digital storytelling is reshaping the social sciences. The objective is to foster discussion on the potential of these tools to bridge the gap between abstract data and meaningful insights while ensuring methodological rigor and inclusivity in research practices.

ABSTRACT. In recent years of technological development, it has become increasingly important to correctly interpret the large amount of data available to make progress in society, science and decision-making. The understanding of the data provided varies according to the characteristics and needs of the audience to whom it is communicated and consequently influences the way in which the data are interpreted and used. In this abstract we will analyze different communication strategies aimed at three different categories: researchers, policy makers and ordinary people. We will use principles of effective visualization, science communication and data storytelling. In communication aimed at researchers, it is essential that data are acquired using scientific methods and provided in a timely manner so that complex visualizations and interactive tools can be derived for in-depth exploration. Indeed, it is necessary that the results of scientific studies are presented in a reproducible way and adapted to be clearly explained to several types of audiences. For policymakers, inspiration can be drawn from Tufte's principles of clarity on how to analyze and present information and Knaflic's narrative approach, in which understanding needs to be translated into 'actionable insights'. Furthermore, according to Cairo, an effective communication strategy for policymakers must include truthfulness, credibility and clarity, and be based on short messages with data that highlight public problems and potential solutions to be adopted. Finally, to communicate a message to ordinary people, data must be made understandable through data storytelling and engaging narratives and simplified visualizations combined with multimedia content. Narrative information and trust in statistical data are fundamental to communication strategies that aim to make informed decisions, encourage civic participation of citizens, and counter disinformation and fake news. In conclusion, to communicate data effectively, communication strategies need to be adapted to specific audiences and data transformed into clear and accessible knowledge.

ABSTRACT. Based on the analysis of Big Data available on Web of Science, this paper illustrates the challenges of making sense of conceptual clustering and social networks of cross-country co-authorship in the field of aesthetic labour. Workplace contexts are nowadays increasingly characterized by attention to aesthetics of workers that employers explicitly or implicitly evaluate in their management practices. Although the value of workers’ beauty is not fixed but contingent on organizational characteristics and other socio-demographic traits such as race, class, and gender, what remains constant is the attention to employers’ look. A search in WOS database using keywords ‘beauty work’ OR ‘aesthetic labo*r’. The search returned 378 relevant documents, namely articles, review articles and book chapters. These results have been added to the marked list in WOS and their bibliometric information (e.g. authors, publication year, abstract, title, publication source, number of citations and references) have been downloaded as a tab delimited file for further analysis through software such as VOSViewer and SPSS. The preliminary findings show that the most representative study fields approaching this topic are Sociology (29% of total sample) and Women’s Studies (17%). The journals hosting the largest number of published research on the topic of aesthetic labor are Work, Employment and Society (21 articles), followed by Gender, Work and Organization (15 articles). The co-word analysis enabled by VOSViewer technique of keywords co-occurrence shows six major communities of topics. To ensure the accuracy of findings, this paper shows that data curation is a very important step in producing visual maps such as co-word analysis and social network analysis. Technical procedures including producing proper thesaurus files that unify words with similar meanings are critical for the data curation that can affect considerably the visual outcomes of VOSviewer.

ABSTRACT. Sustainable tourism has become a key topic in academic and policy discussions due to its potential to balance economic growth, environmental protection, and socio-cultural well-being. A crucial aspect of this field involves developing and applying sustainability indicators to assess and monitor tourism impacts. However, the extensive and diverse literature on sustainable tourism indicators has led to inconsistencies in classification and purpose. The study develops a systematic review to map the taxonomy and objectives of sustainable tourism indicators by analysing 5,075 papers retrieved from Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. To ensure a rigorous and reproducible selection process, the review follows PRISMA guidelines. A Large Language Model (LLM)-based approach is employed to classify indicators using natural language processing (NLP). By training the LLM on sustainability-focused corpora, key dimensions, patterns, and conceptual relationships among indicators will be identified. The study also examines the theoretical frameworks and methodologies applied in the literature. The primary objectives of this review are: - classifying sustainable tourism indicators into a structured taxonomy using LLM-based clustering approach - assessing the planned uses of these metrics in scholarly and real-world settings - identifying gaps and emerging trends in sustainable tourism assessment. By integrating machine learning techniques, this review will provide a comprehensive synthesis of sustainable tourism measurement. The findings will offer valuable insights for policy design, enabling stakeholders to make data-driven decisions that align with sustainability objectives.

ABSTRACT. Szeged is the third biggest city in Hungary. The area of Szeged has a rich cultural background and it offers a lot of nature related activites, so it has the potential and all the neceseary attributes to become a slow tourism spot. Slow tourism is believed to be a form of sustainable tourism and some researchers even speak about a new paradigm (Polyxeni, et al. 2017). We still don’t have widespred knowledge about slow tourism – for example we still don’t know exactly who slow tourists are, but we know some of their attributes. What seems to be certain is that slow tourists have an environmentally conscious attitude and they are conscious travellers – but how about the tourists who have some slow attributes but possibly are not concious travellers? All in all the reasearch about slow tourism has some challenges and limits. In my presentation I would like to talk about how I conduct my PhD research about slow tourism in the area of Szeged, why I chose this area in Hungary and how I came to the conclusion that it has a lot of potential in the aspect of slow tourism. The presentation also focuses on the challanges and the limits of my research, and reflects on the data already collected.

ABSTRACT. It is notable that, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence confirming the existence of climate change, a significant proportion of the population remains sceptical. Given the documented link between climate change scepticism and a rejection of sustainable behaviour, as well as a low policy acceptance for climate protection measures, this issue is considered a relevant political problem. Yet, there is a lack of carefully developed instruments that measure all dimensions of climate change denial: Trend, attribution, impact and response (Rahmstorf, 2004; Capstick & Pidgeon, 2014). We build on scales developed by Whitmarsh (2011) and De Graaf et al. (2023) and integrate them into a tested scale. In a web survey of 532 participants from a non-probability online panel, we use Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis, to evaluate the dimensionality, scalability and reliability of the newly developed, integrated instrument for measuring climate change scepticism. We propose three scale versions: a 12-item long scale, an 8-item short scale, and a 4-item very short scale. Using nationally representative, large-scale data from the German Longitudinal Environmental Study (GLEN), we evaluate the construct validity, assess climate change scepticism prevalence, and analyze its distribution across socio-economic groups.

References

Capstick, S. B., & Pidgeon, N. F. (2014). What is climate change scepticism? Examination of the concept using a mixed methods study of the UK public. Global Environmental Change, 24, 389–401. De Graaf, J. A., Stok, F. M., Wit, J. B. de, & Bal, M. (2023). The climate change skepticism questionnaire: Validation of a measure to assess doubts regarding climate change. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 89, 102068. Rahmstorf, S., 2004. The Climate Sceptics. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam. (accessed 12.03.2025) In: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/Publications/Other/rahmstorf_climate_sceptics_2004.pdf Whitmarsh, L. (2011). Scepticism and uncertainty about climate change: Dimensions, determinants and change over time. Global Environmental Change, 21(2), 690–700.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this article is to contribute to the development of methodologies to deepen understanding of the complex interdependence among environmental challenges, conflict, community resilience, and child poverty to inform policies addressing these issues. A model is built to identify conditions that are mutually influential and important, yet neither necessary nor sufficient conditions when taken in isolation. Data from Western African countries are used to illustrate the model. Using georeferenced microdata from household surveys, the relationship between children in poverty and the presence of/ distance to schools or primary care health units is seized to explain community-level resilience to external shocks. Microdata are randomly displaced for confidentiality reasons. They can be connected (using open-source road maps) to the location of different public service providers, linking the individual and meso levels. Moreover, the distance of these communities to locations where violence has taken place throughout the country allows the connection of the community sphere (children and the public services that contribute to their resilience) with national violence developments. Additionally, sub-national employment shifts and price variations accumulate to shape national trends. All these elements can be correlated spatially to environmental risks, which occur supra-nationally. In addition, the effects can also be analyzed cascading from the influence of climate shocks (which do not “respect” country borders) to stress on national conditions. In turn, economic factors and the presence of (or potential for) violent episodes influences both the need (and desire) to promote resilience as well as potentially constraining the capacity for community resilience. The latter, also, is a driver of child poverty, closing the loop across the four levels. While the model is conceptualized to be empirically tested with quantitative data, qualitative evidence and information from interviews with community members are included in the analysis to better envisage the interaction across levels.

ABSTRACT. The introduction of digital tools for welfare management and the development of new digitally based intervention strategies have prompted a radical modification in the fundamental essence of social work. The nature of organisational action in the context of welfare policies is, at its core, relational. This inherent characteristic further complicates the relationship between digitalisation and social work, emphasising the necessity for a comprehensive examination of its implications within the specific context of professional practice, that involves individuals, digital artefacts, spatial and temporal dimensions. This paper is part of a research project on the implementation of the Italian Minimum Income Scheme, an interesting case study due its strong reliance on a platform for measure management. The aim of this research is to investigate one of the paradigmatic contexts in which socio-technological innovation induced by digitalisation has affected the processes of transformation of social work. Interviews and Focus Groups were carried out with the entire multi-professional team employed in the provision of the measure (about 20 hours of recorded audio), therefore empowering the direct experience of those who actually and locally implement social policies. This study specifically examines the narrative and discursive dimensions through which the team refers to the digitalisation of a relational-intensive work. By using tools from Corpus Linguistics and adopting a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies approach, both forms of appropriation and resistance to the digital transformation of welfare have been observed, mainly due to the challenge of enclosing the complex product of the relationship with the beneficiary - and with colleagues - within the new digital architectures’ boundaries. Moreover, the lack of synchronisation, interoperability and shareability manifested by the digital infrastructure has created a kind of frozen digitalisation which has inevitably forced social workers to find new, unexpected ways of daily declining their work, especially through their creativity and discretion.

ABSTRACT. In literature, the idea that the dimensions of care and control coexist in the practices of social workers, doctors, educators and other professionals who support individuals living in vulnerability and poverty is now well-established. However, awareness of the coexistence of these two aspects is insufficient to resolve the contradictions, the pressures, and the dilemmas that sometimes arise from the efforts and commitment of practitioners to balance these two essential traits of the helping relationship. It is necessary to continue to explore, for example, how these two 'forces' inform the attitudes and choices of professionals and characterize them within services and organizations. This research work, carried out in two cities in Northern and Southern Italy, fits into this path and had as its primary purpose that of understanding how care and control are perceived, interpreted and then acted out by social workers within the municipal social services initial access (segretariato sociale) and by various social workers within the second reception of refugees (SAI projects). The research used a qualitative approach, combining more traditional research tools and techniques (interview, participant observation) with moments of reflection, conceptualization and participatory restitution of data analysis. Despite the differences that emerged in the two case studies (for example from the organizational point of view and definition of social work in services), some transversal themes have crossed the analysis of the two research units: the practices implemented in the helping relationship, the space and setting of the service, the way of dealing with pressures and dilemmas, the use of digital tools and the computerization of documentation, the learning processes and the explanation of helpful knowledge for innovating a service. Starting from these themes, a synoptic reading of the data that emerged from the two field experiences is proposed.

ABSTRACT. Although ambitious, this paper aims at contributing to reframe – at least epistemologically - the power and control dynamics from the professional viewpoint within two institutions. One is a social worker institution that provides clients with welfare assistance, while the other deals with migrant second level clients (fieldwork research funded by Italian Government as a PRIN project). The above-mentioned power and control dynamics of course are practiced in a relational manner, and a degree of control is also implied in the process (Li, Matouschek and Powell, 2017). Since power is frozen between individuals (micro physics of power) and the intertwined control practices are also part of the picture, it is a challenge to collect static data. Instead, it would be better to have a dialogical approach that includes both the observed person and the observer (Kaczmarczyk, 2016). All the above reflects my opinion. On the other hand, in the fieldwork a set of qualitative interviews were developed. Several open - questions were given so that people answering them were free to offer their own understanding. There was a question about how the person perceived control on users, but nothing was asked about power dynamics. Due to this, the power dynamics are consistent with several nearby meanings and practices as described by the respondents that are not immediately visible themselves. Therefore, the power dynamics can be deducted as obvious due to the several meanings and understanding given by the respondents. In conclusion, the preliminary data analysis shows that a range of meanings for power and control are present in the practitioners’ cognitive maps. There is also the need to re-think the matter at individual and organizational levels while the chance to provide welfare assistance by reducing the power and control dynamics is a plausible option for the present and the future.

ABSTRACT. Within the research group of the University of Messina of the project of national interest on ‘Care and control in service users’, I had the opportunity to focus on an aspect ‘the question of space’ strongly felt by social workers in the context of the social secretariat service. The question of space is understood both as the organisation and structuring of the setting within buildings and as the location of the service in the urban territorial context. In the intensive qualitative research carried out in 2024 by the research team, thanks to the collaboration of the social workers of the Municipality of Messina with in-depth interviews, participant observation of meetings and various workshops, a double reading emerged: 1) the one pertaining to the current and real organisation of the spaces of the social secretariat and 2) the one projected on the future perspectives on how they would like to structure and organise the spaces. Most of the social workers strongly highlighted the critical aspects of the current spatial-organisational set-up, since it would not respond to two fundamental dimensions for a typically universalist service that should be characterised by accessibility and proximity. Accessibility is undermined by the structuring of the front office and the labyrinthine location of the social workers' rooms where the interview takes place, while proximity should be seriously strengthened with the spread of social secretariat access points in the districts. This continuous confrontation between the state of the art and a hypothetical different structuring and organisation of the service also fuels interesting areas of reflection, to be studied in depth, in which pluralities of understandings and visions of the two concepts of care and control emerge.

ABSTRACT. This contribution presents and discuss the findings of a doctoral research titled "Ethnography of a Relationship: Reciprocity in the Exchange between Homelessness and Social Work" (2018-2020). The research aims to: (a) delineate the network of the social service organizations and map the locations in the city where social workers, homeless people and inhabitants generally interact; (b) identify the social representations of the actors; (c) to collect relational experiences to examine the presence, forms, and meanings of reciprocity. The combination of urban and organizational ethnography with qualitative study of the network allowed for immersion in the places where the actors of the relationship commonly met: 13 services, 58 homeless people, 42 social workers and 13 inhabitants were involved through ethnographic conversations, in-deep interviews and oral stories. The focus will be on the methodological framework, the ethical issues and dilemmas, the limitations of the findings linked to it and on the learnings based on the relationship between the researcher and people involved in the study. It will be discussed specifically the importance of considering the possibility to co-produce knowledge with vulnerable people involved in research.

ABSTRACT. How can we navigate secrecy in our fieldwork when we encounter closed groups, the desire to keep practices secret, and a lack of willingness to share information with researchers? This presentation explores possible answers to this question by analysing the strengths and weaknesses of a qualitative methodological approach. Our research focused on student hazing at higher education institutions in Porto, Portugal (with a focus on its ritual dimension, the dynamics of power and violence, and the topics of youth and gender). This phenomenon relies on the constitution of a closed group that enforces strict norms, values, and regulations to ensure conformity among its members. We intend to discuss our experience and strategies for dealing with the notion (and consequences) of secrecy during fieldwork. We propose to reflect on the challenges faced by the researcher, namely the ethical dilemmas, as well as to explore confidentiality, privacy, and legality/illegality issues. Finally, we intend to draw attention to the obstacles and limitations, but above all, to reveal the opportunities that a qualitative approach - through informal conversations, focus groups, semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation - has provided to access this type of group and learn about its dynamics.

ABSTRACT. Trust is a complex and elusive phenomenon, particularly when trust relations extend beyond a circle of immediate familiarity (e.g. trust in strangers) or refer to abstract entities (e.g. social or political institutions). Although a significant body of research on trust has been relying on survey research, the author of the presentation employed qualitative research approach to gain a deeper and more contextualized understanding of formation of trust relations beyond close interpersonal circles. The author chose to conduct individual in-depth interviews. The challenge was, however, finding a way to prompt research participants to talk about a phenomenon that might be considered sensitive, broad or intuitive; thus, hard to articulate and open-up about. One of the techniques that the author explored was trust maps. The authors built on existent examples of research on similar complex or abstract ideas, where researchers employed a visual technique of drawing maps to elicit research participants’ reflections and help them verbally elaborate on a phenomenon at question. The presentation will outline the methodological reasoning behind the combination of verbal and visual components of qualitative interviewing. It will further describe the process of preparation and application of the trust map technique, showcasing selected examples from the interviews. The author will critically reflect upon the benefits and challenges of such an interviewing design, both from the perspective of the researcher and research participants.

ABSTRACT. The paper will deal with the methodological issues posed by studying Public Prosecutors specialising in mafia cases. In January 1991 the Direzione nazionale antimafia (DNA) – the actual name is Direzione Nazionale Antimafia e Antiterrorismo (DNAA) – was built up on the ground of a project elaborated by judge Giovanni Falcone, who was supposed to become the head of the authority. However, in May 1992 the mafia killed him. Since then, the DNA and its districts (DDA) have become one of the main pillars of the institutional antimafia fight. Prosecutors working in these offices show a specific expertise that is based on both their theoretical/professionalization path and on their experience accumulated by dealing with various investigative cases. The paper will address the use of élite interview (Delaney, 2007; Harvey, 2011; Mikecz 2012) in studying the antimafia expertise developed by Prosecutors working in the DNA and in DDA. More specifically, it will discuss two phases of interview procedures, including addressing interviewees and conducting interviews. In dealing with how gaining access to Prosecutors emphasis will put on the relevance of involving them in the research project; in illustrating the interviewer-interviewee interaction great attention will direct to the importance of developing, in short time, a trust relationship with subjects who usually play the role of interviewer – for example during interrogation – and tend to be suspicious. The methodological analysis proposed in the paper is grounded on a long experience in interviewing Antimafia Public Prosecutors (Ingrascì, 2021) and, more specifically, on the research experience developed during an ongoing project on women Antimafia Public Prosecutors, in which 20 Antimafia Public Prosecutors have been interviewed for exploring their professional identity.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates the intersection of political screening in civil service recruitment in China and its dependence on family relations. Political screening, implemented by the Chinese government and its institutions, scrutinizes individuals and their families for historical political loyalty and criminal records. This practice embeds anxiety and uncertainty into everyday family life, illustrating how authoritative state intervention shapes individual relationships and how people develop strategies to navigate and reinterpret such governance.

Findings reveal that the state’s attempts to dismantle ‘traditional’ family structures paradoxically reinforce them. The incomplete legal framework governing political screenings heightens structural uncertainty while creating space for discretionary enforcement and negotiation. Despite the informal nature of the institution, the screening process takes on a ritualistic quality, compelling individuals to publicly perform familial and social relationships, thereby intensifying anxieties around lineage and descent.

Conducting qualitative research on this politically sensitive topic posed unique methodological challenges. Recruiting and accessing participants required careful negotiation, as many were reluctant to share their experiences—particularly with a researcher affiliated with a foreign institution. Issues of privacy, confidentiality, and trust were central, with some participants withdrawing after interviews, selectively omitting critical details, or renegotiating consent.

Beyond presenting research findings, this paper reflects on these methodological obstacles, examining the ethical complexities of working with politically vulnerable participants and the delicate balance between gathering meaningful insights and avoiding the perception of exploitation. It raises broader questions about the feasibility of capturing highly sensitive topics through qualitative methods. By addressing these methodological difficulties—both in terms of failures and partial successes—this study contributes to discussions on secrecy, privacy, and researcher-participant dynamics in qualitative research.

ABSTRACT. Researching sensitive topics presents challenges on both personal and professional levels, particularly when conducting fieldwork involving powerful social actors. A notable example is the study of industrial firms that hold significant economic, social, and cultural influence over the regions where their plants are located and the populations that interact with them daily.

The research at the core of this paper examines the historical impact of a petrochemical plant on a small village in northern Italy. During the fieldwork, accessing information from various sources proved to be difficult. On one hand, obtaining access to municipal and corporate archives – supposedly open to the public – took longer than expected. In the case of the corporate archives, only outdated documents were made available due to industrial secrecy. On the other hand, discussions with stakeholders about past events related to the plant’s impact were marked by diffidence and caution. Many interviewees requested that the researcher stop recording conversations they deemed too sensitive or potentially damaging. Some explicitly asked for their identities to be anonymized.

The research conditions necessitated the development of specific methodological strategies. The fieldwork had to be intensified by actively disseminating information about the research topic and its objectives among social and political actors. Additionally, the researcher needed to establish familiarity within the village, gradually building relationships with stakeholders and gatekeepers.

At the same time, the presence of diffidence, caution, and secrecy provided insights into the power dynamics at play in the field. On one level, gatekeepers exercised control over archives, influencing access to information. On another level, the significance of personal and informal relationships became evident, particularly in the context of a small village where trust is essential. Ultimately, the research underscored the firm’s overarching power, which implicitly regulates the circulation of information through different strategies.

ABSTRACT. This article aims to analyze the different narratives about vaccine misinformation on Telegram using scripts based on Artificial Intelligence. Our general objective is to present a new methodological approach to identify the language of vaccine hesitation and refusal in groups associated with political extremism on the messenger. The period defined for this research was the year of 2024. To advance the analysis, messages from 2,041 channels and groups were collected. After filtering these messages employing Artificial Intelligence software developed by the Laboratory of Internet and Data Science of Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil, we reached 1,042 actors that published messages in Portuguese. In a second step, we isolated only the content that discussed vaccines – reaching 68,303 messages – and thus created with the same AI software four semantic networks corresponding to the main words and narratives of each period. This strategy enabled us to identify the semantic clusters of vaccine misinformation and their proportion within the network during the analysis period. In general,the vaccine misinformation we associated with five types of narratives: 1) conspiracy theories about global elite domination; 2) claims by experts about the risks of vaccines; 3) scientific studies addressing problems with new vaccine technologies; 4) issues related to the mandatory nature of childhood vaccination; 5) reports of vaccine side effects. In a broad perspective, the data allows us to understand how Telegram, unfortunately, continues to be a space where misinformation messages on various topics, including vaccination, spreads rapidly and easily. In a more specific prism, the use of AI to find the information flow between channels and groups in the platform (through analysis of the message forwarding) and to delineate the semantic relations in the messages of the dataset contributed to the understanding of the nature of the content.

ABSTRACT. The growing impact of disinformation in public discourse calls for methodologies to understand the mechanisms enabling citizens, particularly youth, to critically engage with it. This paper presents a reflective methodological framework developed within a European project on disinformation, in which various partners develop workshops with the goal of enhancing students' understanding of current events and the processes of (dis)information.

To understand the (co-)construction of (dis)information literacy that happens through the interaction between adolescents’ students and media professionals, the research addresses two core questions: what social interactions characterize these workshops? And, what types of (dis)information-related knowledge are mobilized through these interactions? This approach emphasizes how knowledge is co-constructed in situ through social exchanges, illuminating how attitudes towards disinformation are socially negotiated and mediated by classroom dynamics. Learning, particularly media literacy, is a social process that involves language (Valdivia-Barrios, Pinto-Torres, and Herrera-Barraza, 2018). Media experience and learning increasingly intertwine with adolescents' socialization experiences and general social development. In the process of (media) socialization, adolescents encounter different socialization agents, each influencing the way media literacy is acquired—both in terms of knowledge construction and its practical application (Pfaff-Rüdiger & Riesmeyer, 2016).

The aim is therefore to create an observation method, non-participant and semi-structured (Clark et al., 2009), that focuses on “the interactive processes or functional articulation of teaching-learning processes in context,” analyzing all constitutive dimensions of these practices through multiple domains of interaction (emotional and relational, pedagogical and didactic-epistemic) (Altet, 2017). The methodology is thought to be adapted to a participatory approach to enable media professionals and educators to develop reflective perspectives on their own activities. This method should enable participants—trained and guided by a framework and an encoding grid—to observe social interactions, knowledge mobilisation and, at the intersection, the co-construction of knowledge related to (dis)information.

ABSTRACT. For most of the 20th century, media in autocracies and democracies did not have much in common. Most autocracies were closed regimes that did not participate in global trade or information flows, and therefore, autocratic media was almost synonymous with state-owned. However, the media in modern autocracies like Hungary and Serbia is a more complex network of private businesses, state-affiliated actors, multiple political parties, and non-governmental actors. Therefore, we need new methods to uncover how media capture works in autocracies that are not hermetically sealed off and participate in global flow of information. Social Network Analysis (SNA) can be used to uncover the density of the ties between multiple socio-economic actors, and the centrality of groups and people within that network. Without understanding the personal connections between business owners and authority’s, autocratic media markets could appear like regular supply and demand. However, through SNA, events like closure or complete restructuring of major outlets can be explained as a part of the process of media capture. In this paper, I will use SNA to demonstrate major changes in Hungarian and Serbian media markets by comparing outlet political bias, personal party-business connections, and outlet audience in 2010 to 2023. The information for 2010 will be taken from the European Media Systems Survey (EMSS), and for 2023 from Media Ownership Monitor Serbia and European Ownership Monitor Hungary. As the data is not unform, supplements will be necessary from publicly available archives and news articles. Moreover, EMSS only covered print and broadcast, so the analysis will be confined. Once the data is refined, I expect that most major outlets from 2010 will either not exist in 2023, or that their bias, owner, and owner’s connections would be completely different. Then, we can measure network centrality and density to determine the extent of media capture.

ABSTRACT. In the last decade, eHealth interventions have become common for multifaceted purposes (Maturo and Moretti 2018), with AI-based systems which are increasingly embedded into it (Miele and Giardullo, 2024). In this scenario, co-design has become an institutionalised, participatory approach to produce eHealth technologies that adapt to people’s environments and conditions (Talevski et al., 2023), putting the end-user “in the position of being an expert of their own experience” (Noorbergen et al., 2021). However, critical technology studies have highlighted that technological production is a complex socio-technical assemblage rather than a linear process (Seaver, 2019; Schwennesen, 2019). Specifically, such different figures as researchers, end-users (e.g., patients and caregivers), physicians, IT specialists and data scientists are involved in the co-design of eHealth interventions, posing the issue of what ‘expertise’ is, who ‘experts’ are, and how these forms of expertise contribute to technological production in healthcare. Within this framework, this contribution investigates the co-design of an e-learning AI-powered chatbot for caregivers of patients with dementia (project AGE-IT, PNRR PE8 “Age-It”). Drawing on a multisited ethnography (Marcus, 1995; Seaver, 2017), this study scrutinises the chatbot’s development from the data collection phase—where caregivers’ needs are gathered by the research team—to the implementation phase conducted by a private company. This approach will allow to trace the different human and non-human actors involved and how various figures and forms of expertise contribute to the enactment of this eHealth intervention. Analysing how the co-design process of this technology unfolds in practice (Christin, 2017; Watson and Wozniak‐O’Connor, 2024), findings will shed light on how the e-learning AI-powered chatbot directed at dementia caregivers is enacted by different activities and negotiations, showing the complexities, divergencies, negotiations of expertise and power asymmetries involved in development and implementation of this artifact.

ABSTRACT. Preterm birth is a potentially traumatic event which affects both the infant's health and family well-being. Our project e-ParWelB focuses on addressing the challenges faced by families of preterm infants and aims to develop an interdisciplinary socio-psychological model using eHealth tools, social research, and psychological support for parents. The study's sociological focus examines NICU social interactions and their effects on clinical practices and preterm parents' well-being. It combines expert interviews with medical staff and ethnographic observations in NICU and sub-NICU wards across four Italian hospitals. We argue that this methodological combination is particularly effective for analyzing highly medicalized environments with a clear hierarchical structure and established formal and informal practices that shape specific social interactions. This approach takes a comprehensive view of who qualifies as an "expert," considering not only their formal training and skills but also the depth of experience they gain through continuous and extensive interactions with preterm parents and children. On the other hand, combining interviews and ethnography allows us to contextualize the role of experts within NICU wards by observing their actual behaviors and comparing them to their own narratives and interpretations. This enables us to explore how experts support parents through the potentially traumatic experience of preterm birth and how the relationship between experts and parents evolves over time. We also observe how the internet’s vast availability of medical (or pseudo-medical) information is reshaping the patient-medic dynamic, as the patient feels able to discuss medical decisions. As Evans (2008) suggests, this process should not be read as a democratisation of knowledge and an erosion of the concept of expert, but rather as a potential risk since the patients’ lack of training does not allow them to properly contextualize and interpret the knowledge they gather autonomously.

ABSTRACT. The literature suggests that effective power-sharing institutions should integrate diverse expertise from various social sectors to establish legitimate conflict-resolution methods. Within the framework of environmental citizenship, water governance needs to create and manage new deliberative arenas, such as the water committees in several countries, including Brazil. In these contexts, it is recognized that techno-scientific knowledge should inform discussions in democratic settings, though it should not hold absolute rights or privileges. Various forms of expertise will be engaged to undertake complementary roles in democratically conducted processes. This approach emphasizes the value of diverse voices, perspectives, and knowledge. The involvement of factors that are not solely technical but also political, economic, and cultural adds complexity to the process. The literature recognizes the public sphere of deliberation fostered by water committees as a promising innovation for democracy. These committees facilitate negotiation among conflicting demands by broadening the scope of who can participate in decision-making. However, recent empirical evidence shows that water committees are increasingly struggling to balance the diverse areas of expertise necessary for effective water governance. To address this challenge, we propose establishing different relational arrangements among various actors, each representing a unique area of expertise. Our goal is to develop innovative strategies for balancing these levels of expertise. This approach will involve creating new research methods to test the effectiveness of such arrangements in mobilizing the knowledge needed to tackle governance challenges. This initiative is part of one of Brazil's most significant water research projects, which aims to evaluate the role of groundwater management in meeting the growing demands for industrial, agricultural, and human consumption, particularly in the context of climate change. Our contribution will include a summary of our preliminary findings, particularly focusing on how we conducted our research to assess the potential of these arrangements to encourage participatory decision-making.

ABSTRACT. The present sociological research project is an investigation about the professionals in the field of taste experience that governs the judgement considered legitimate in the speciality coffee world. The complex and stratified nature of modern society has resulted in the emergence of professional figures of a special status, who are charged with the social responsibility of evaluating various objects or products (Evans, 2008). In Italy these professional tasters (less than 100 individuals), recognised as Q graders of Arabica coffee, as certified by the international association SCA. Their profession is predicated on aesthetic judgement, the discernment of flavours. The question that arises is how to elucidate the manner in which these taste professionals hone their skills. How can we identify how these professionals employ, reproduce and transform their knowledge? How can the singular and subjective moment of tasting be socially shared?

The methodological issues that this paper involves three methodological challenges. Firstly, it addresses the methodological issues about the orientations, values and visions that make up the shared culture of professional tasters, particularly with regard to the issues of the objectivity of taste judgement, and the replicability, comparability and sharability of taste judgement outcomes. Secondly, the paper interrogates the methodological challenges associated with standardisation, i.e. the manner in which taste professionals stabilise and control the object of taste (S. Timmermans, S. Epstein 2010). Finally, from the perspective of method, the question of expertise, i.e. the definition of expert knowledge, will be addressed (E.S. Carr 2010). In particular, it will address how to consider implicit and tacit knowledge rather than explicit knowledge, which is the body of knowledge that can be expressed in words. The focus will be on practices and embodied experiences rather than on discursive knowledge and intellectual awareness.

ABSTRACT. The validation of tools is crucial for ensuring scientifically valid knowledge, especially in social work research, where subjective assessments often lead to non-comparable findings. This study employs a participatory approach in which experts collaborated to develop a questionnaire for monitoring and evaluating the "Spazi Neutri," addressing the gap in available instruments for this purpose. To ensure robustness in the methodological process, in line with the literature (Boateng et al., 2018), different types of experts, with specialized experience or knowledge on this topic of interest, were involved. Both scientists/expert judges, with deep knowledge of the construct and scale development, and pratictioners/target population judges, offering valuable first-hand insights, contributed to refining the tool. The tool development process involved three main steps: (a) identifying the construct-s being assessed, (b) generating items, and (c) considering content validity. Based on the literature review and qualitative data gathered from focus groups involving practitioners, the researchers inductively identified the items pool, trying to formulate them in a clear and unambiguous manner. Then, content validity was assessed by expert judges who evaluated whether the items represented the construct-s, were appropriate, and accurate. Missing aspects were also identified, and item relevance was assessed. Two rounds of expert reviews led to the revision of the item pool, with items accepted, rejected, or modified based on majority opinion. Finally, target population judges assessed the face validity of the tool, ensuring it was appropriate for the intended construct and objectives. Using the final version of the tool, an experimentation process has been initiated, which will involve several areas of a region in southern Italy. This contribution discusses the structure of the questionnaire and its potentials in improving social work research and practice related to Spazi Neutri.

ABSTRACT. The study of experts is essential in the contemporary society in transition (Nocenzi 2024), characterized by the specialization and technical knowledge pervasiveness (Gobo 2021). Foucault (1971) and Bruno Latour (2005) have investigated the role of experts in the social reality construction and how social dynamics influence the production and perception of expertise. The study of the role of experts during crisis helps to understand the relational processes and mechanisms activated between the expert and his various interlocutors, when the expert must urgently make his knowledge available to the public interest, forced to communicate the uncertainty regarding the problems he is called upon to solve. In the medicine, this phenomenon emerged forcefully during the COVID-19 pandemic, when medical experts where required to provide certain answers when there were no certainties. This paper presents the results of the project "I know that you know that I know. The representation that the expert has of his publics". Five focus groups were performed within an important organization that produces public scientific expertise for the policy makers to define policies in the medical and health sector. Thirty experts were involved, with different roles and position: laboratory technicians, junior and senior researchers, unit directors, and communication officers. They were invited to discuss how their expertise is represented externally, with particular concern by their non-expert audiences. The interpretative textual analysis shows that during the crisis the greatest challenge is faced by institutional healthcare communication: the Press Office of healthcare institutions assumes a central role in facilitating understanding between experts and the non-expert and in countering misinformation. The delicate role of the Press Office allows mediation between experts and the non-expert publics, to disseminate clear and timely information and counter the infodemic, perceived as an enemy to the authority of scientific expertise and the reputation of expert scientists.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the methodological challenges of using machine learning (ML) for public sentiment analysis in social research, focusing on digital reactions to the UnitedHealthcare Affair. Using data from Google Trends, Bluesky, Reddit, and YouTube, we employ natural language processing (NLP) techniques, including sentiment analysis and emotion detection via transformer-based models (BERT, DistilRoBERTa). Our analysis investigates how platform affordances influence sentiment dynamics and engagement patterns, raising key methodological questions about algorithmic bias, model validity, and cross-platform generalizability. We preprocess textual data using tokenization, lemmatization, and stopword removal before applying sentiment classification models such as VADER and transformer-based neural networks. Emotion detection employs models trained on Ekman’s six emotions, allowing for a nuanced understanding of how anger, fear, and sadness evolve over time. Our findings reveal that sentiment polarization increases even as overall engagement declines, particularly on platforms with constrained post lengths. Comparative analysis highlights systematic differences in sentiment expression, with YouTube fostering neutral discourse due to its journalistic content, while Bluesky amplifies emotional reactions through its microblogging format. Methodological challenges include biases in pre-trained models, limitations in irony detection, and disparities in sentiment annotation across platforms. Additionally, the time-lag effect between search trends (Google Trends) and social media engagement suggests that ML models could leverage search query spikes for predictive analysis. We discuss the role of explainable AI (XAI) in enhancing transparency and mitigating ethical concerns related to black-box algorithms. This study contributes to the advancement of ML methodologies in social sciences by critically assessing model reliability and ethical considerations. We propose an interdisciplinary approach that integrates ML with qualitative methods to improve sentiment classification accuracy, reduce bias, and enhance the interpretability of digital public discourse analysis.

ABSTRACT. Artificial Intelligence (AI) enables groundbreaking advancements in social research, facilitating large-scale analyses of textual and visual data while offering novel perspectives on collective narratives. This study explores how AI-Powered Methods (AIPM) can be employed to examine social representations of hospitals, focusing on how individuals describe and narrate their experiences within healthcare environments through digital media. Specifically, the research analyses Instagram posts—both textual and visual—related to hospitals, aiming to uncover patterns in public discourse and imagery. The study covers hospital representations across European countries while extending the dataset to include nations where the population predominantly speaks a single, identifiable language. By integrating Natural Language Processing (NLP) for textual analysis and Computer Vision for image interpretation, the methodology leverages AIPM to classify and interpret diverse content. Traditional qualitative methods, such as discourse and hermeneutic analysis, complement these approaches to ensure contextual accuracy and mitigate algorithmic biases. This triangulated strategy enhances the interpretative depth of findings while maintaining a critical perspective on AIPM insights. The results reveal the complexity and diversity of hospital-related narratives, highlighting cultural and social patterns in how medical institutions are perceived and discussed across different linguistic and national contexts. By combining AIPM with social science methods, this research provides a robust framework for analysing hospital narratives at scale, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of public perceptions of healthcare spaces. The findings offer valuable insights for healthcare communication, policy development, and institutional engagement, underscoring the potential of AI in capturing and interpreting complex social realities while emphasising the necessity of a critical and reflexive analytical approach.

ABSTRACT. The exponential rise of generative open-source AI technologies, particularly Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and its advanced variants, offers promising opportunities for methodological innovation in systematic literature reviews (SLRs). This study presents a systematic review of over 600 scientific publications from the past five years, focusing specifically on the application of indirect questioning techniques (IQTs) in surveys addressing sensitive topics. The review leverages state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) integrated with advanced RAG techniques, which optimize data retrieval through memory-enhanced algorithms, thereby streamlining literature screening, thematic coding, and information extraction processes. Key research questions addressed include: (1) What types of IQTs are currently in use? (2) Which research topics employ IQTs? (3) Which disciplines apply IQTs? (4) What differences in prevalence exist between direct and indirect questioning methods? (5) What potential biases are associated with IQTs? We conducted a comparative methodological analysis to evaluate whether advanced RAG-enhanced LLMs can match the performance of traditional human coding. This study explores the potential of these AI systems to accelerate literature reviews and process large-scale textual data, as well as the areas where human coders excel in capturing subtle, context-dependent nuances and interpretative complexities. Ultimately, this investigation provides critical insights into the capabilities and limitations of generative AI in social research methodologies.

ABSTRACT. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recruitment is reshaping hiring processes, with Large Language Models (LLMs) increasingly used to evaluate candidate profiles. While LLMs offer efficiency in screening applications, their potential for algorithmic bias raises concerns about fairness and equity in hiring practices. This study investigates whether LLM-based hiring decisions exhibit gender or ethnic discrimination, applying a Factorial Survey Experiment (FSE) methodology (Auspurg & Hinz, 2014) to six widely used models: Le Chat, ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, and MetaAI. Our research builds on the growing literature on algorithmic bias in AI-driven hiring, which highlights disparities in how different demographic groups are evaluated (An et al., 2024). Using a dataset of 2,592 observations, we systematically varied candidate attributes—including gender, ethnicity, education, and age—to assess whether hiring recommendations reflect statistical discrimination (based on perceived productivity differences) or taste-based discrimination (rooted in prejudice). Hiring outcomes were highly dependent on the LLM used. While some models, such as Le Chat and MetaAI, showed minimal bias, others displayed systematic disparities in candidate evaluation, raising concerns about fairness in AI-driven hiring tools. These results emphasize the urgent need for transparency in AI development and stronger anti-bias safeguards to prevent unjustified hiring disparities. Without proper oversight, LLMs could reinforce workforce homogeneity and reduce diversity, limiting opportunities for historically marginalized groups. Addressing these challenges requires comprehensive auditing mechanisms, ethical AI training, and regulatory interventions to ensure fair and merit-based hiring practices.

References An, H., Acquaye, C., Wang, C., Li, Z., Rudinger, R.: Do Large Language Models Dis-criminate in Hiring Decisions on the Basis of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender? arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2406.10486 (2024). Auspurg, K., Hinz, T.: Factorial Survey Experiments. SAGE Publications (2014).

ABSTRACT. University dropout represents a multifaceted challenge encompassing various forms of academic disengagement: irregular credit acquisition, extended time-to-degree, discontinuous academic trajectories, and permanent withdrawal without credential attainment. The complex interplay of factors influencing student attrition demands innovative analytical approaches. Our research harnesses the potential of Artificial Intelligence to transcend traditional dropout analysis frameworks. We synthesize two complementary data streams: (1) quantitative administrative and academic progression metrics from institutional databases alongside (2) qualitative insights gathered through student surveys examining motivation and social integration within informal peer networks and study communities. We deploy multiple machine learning algorithms, such as logistic regression for interpretable factor analysis, random forest for robust predictive accuracy across large datasets, and neural networks to capture nuanced nonlinear relationships between variables. The research addresses two fundamental questions: What distinctive insights emerge from these parallel quantitative and qualitative data streams? How might their AI-facilitated integration enhance dropout risk prediction? Our findings demonstrate that this integrated approach enables Universities to optimize resource allocation for at-risk student support and implement more precisely targeted, effective interventions to improve retention and academic outcomes.

ABSTRACT. As part of a multi-method research project on cognitive processes in indirect questioning techniques, we conducted an experiment comparing human and large language model (LLM) analyses of three focus group transcripts. Using a two-arm crossover experimental design, the study unfolds in three distinct analytical phases. In the first phase, we examine the manifest content, providing a descriptive analysis of participants’ perspectives on topic sensitivity, trust in surveys, and evaluations of indirect questioning techniques. The second phase shifts toward latent structures, uncovering participants’ reasoning, underlying assumptions, and normative orientations. In the final phase, we engage in theoretical abstraction, integrating findings from both previous phases—and both analytical approaches—to address key questions: What is considered a sensitive topic in survey interviews, why, and for whom? Which normative frameworks shape these judgments, and how do they influence survey responses? At the conclusion of each phase, we systematically compare and integrate insights from human and LLM analyses through an iterative process, refining both methodological and substantive conclusions. This experiment advances the discussion on the role of LLMs in qualitative research by exploring their potential to complement human interpretation. We provide a methodological reflection on areas of convergence and divergence between human and AI-driven analyses, discussing implications for the future of mixed-methods in the social sciences.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the perceptions of workers in Italian SMEs regarding occupational welfare, focusing on three key dimensions: the healthcare system (public and complementary), the pension system (public and complementary), and the digitalization of welfare services. Through 90 semi-structured interviews, I collected qualitative data, which I analyzed using NVIVO for sentiment analysis, an innovative methodological approach that combines traditional qualitative analysis with computational tools. Using NVIVO, I systematically identified and categorized the emotions and attitudes expressed by workers, transforming interview transcripts into analyzable data. I employed NVIVO to code the texts, identify recurring themes, and measure the intensity of sentiments (positive, negative, or neutral) associated with each welfare dimension. Specifically, NVIVO facilitated the identification of complex emotional patterns, such as frustration with the bureaucracy of the public healthcare system or optimism about the opportunities offered by digitalization. The results highlight how sentiment analysis can enrich qualitative research, providing a deeper and more structured understanding of workers' perceptions. However, using NVIVO also raised methodological challenges, such as the need to balance automated analysis with human interpretation to avoid oversimplification. This work demonstrates the value of sentiment analysis with NVIVO in sociological research, particularly in complex contexts like occupational welfare, offering new methodological perspectives for qualitative data analysis.

ABSTRACT. When analyzing data from new content creators (e.g., comments in Twitch chats), we encounter multiple limitations. One key challenge is the difficulty in identifying words due to misspellings or highly colloquial language. However, the most significant obstacle lies in addressing emerging jargon, which is often specific to online messages or particular platforms, as well as the presence of various memes.

In this study, we propose the implementation of a custom dictionary to conduct a content analysis of comments on Twitch videos, with a specific focus on gender differences among content creators. By adopting a mixed-methods approach—combining ethnographic data for the dictionary's construction, we used a quantitative application of content analysis to selected comments—we aim to overcome the main limitations of traditional content analysis and tackle its key challenges through an innovative methodology. This approach allows us to capture a more diverse reality, revealing differences based on the gender of the content creator.

ABSTRACT. Subjective well-being (SWB) is a multifaceted topic embedding social and psychological elements. The implications of migration events and narratives on SWB can be challenging to investigate, affecting different life spheres such as economic perceptions, cultural identity, security, trust and social cohesion. Public discourse, use of language and how political leaders and media portray migration significantly affect SWB, either enhancing fear and anxiety or promoting a sense of inclusiveness and solidarity. In the perspective of methodological development of SWB indicators and diversification of analytical approaches and data sources, we examine the political narratives on migration in relation to the Italian Parliament’s election in 2022 and the possible implications in terms of SWB of the population resident in Italy. We leverage large-scale textual data and metadata from 69,000 titles published in daily newspapers between 2021 and 2022, retrieved using web scraping techniques and filtered by targeted keywords. Right-wing media outlets are way more active in spreading narratives of migration, mainly in relation to European Union governance and bargaining power. They mainly foster a negative narrative of migration as the consequence and the cause of a series of criminal acts and behaviors, ultimately affecting institutional trust and sense of security of Italian residents.

ABSTRACT. The rapid development of emerging technologies has contributed to the dissemination of narratives that shape expectations and imaginaries of the future. Sociotechnical imaginaries, defined as collectively held visions of desirable futures that are institutionally stabilized and publicly performed, play a crucial role in shaping technological trajectories, influencing policies, investments, and public perceptions. Studying these representations is essential today to understand how technological innovation is interpreted and contested, and how different actors—institutions, corporations, and citizens—contribute to the construction of possible futures through public discourse. This study proposes an analytical approach to reconstruct narratives surrounding artificial intelligence and quantum technologies by integrating computational text analysis with sociological inquiry. Based on a dataset collected through web and API scraping from major social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and X) over the period from 2018 to 2024, the research combines lexicon-based and machine learning approaches to extract expectations, sentiments, and discursive patterns from social media. A key contribution of the study is the development of an advanced BERT-based model that automates the classification of three fundamental dimensions: (1) the polarity of opinions (positive, negative, neutral), (2) the expressed narratives (e.g., technological optimism, dystopia, skepticism), and (3) the evoked imaginaries (e.g., desired, feared, or plausible futures). The model leverages BERT’s ability to capture linguistic nuances and ambivalences in texts, ensuring a more accurate analysis compared to traditional classification algorithms. The study highlights how narratives about the technological future are not mere representations of reality but performative acts that directly influence innovation dynamics and technological governance. Analysing them through computational and sociological methods provides tools to decode the processes of consensus-building or contestation around new technologies, offering a replicable model for future sociological investigations within the context of digital transformation.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the tension between queer methodologies and institutional forces shaping knowledge production in academia. It highlights the resistance queer scholars face when conducting research that challenges traditional methodologies, exploring the practical and emotional challenges of navigating academic systems that prioritize conventional methods and epistemologies. Queer methodologies resist rigid definitions, rejecting attempts to confine "queer" to a single framework. They challenge traditional categories of gender and sexuality, acknowledging their instability and social construction. A key challenge is the impossibility of defining a "true" meaning of queer or a singular "right" way to conduct research. The pressure for queer research to adhere to academic rigor conflicts with the nature of queer methods, which thrive on plurality and fluidity. While no studies specifically analyze the stress experienced by queer academics, the concept of "Minority Stress" suggests that discrimination and prejudice are chronic stressors for minority groups. Factors like "universalism," "epistemological normativity," and "disciplinary marginalization" make it difficult for queer researchers to integrate, worsening their socio-psycho-physiological well-being and increasing stress. This paper aims to analyze, through interviews, the lived experiences of queer researchers and their forms of resistance to institutional forces shaping their academic environments.

Bibliography: Borghi, R., Hélène, M., Bourcier, S., & Prieur, C. (2016). Performing academy: Feedback and diffusion strategies for queer scholactivists in France. In The Routledge research companion to geographies of sex and sexualities (pp. 165-174). Routledge. Browne, K., & Nash, C. J. (2010). Queer methods and methodologies: Intersecting queer theories and social science research. Taylor & Francis. Compton, D. L., Meadow, T., & Schilt, K. (Eds.). (2018). Other, please specify: Queer methods in sociology. University of California Press. Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological bulletin, 129(5), 674

ABSTRACT. Queer methodologies challenge dominant research paradigms by unsettling normative assumptions, foregrounding marginalized voices, and rethinking how knowledge is produced. This paper, drawing on two research projects—Refugee States, an oral history archive of LGBTQI+ migrants in Canada, and Renegotiating the LGBTQI+ Refugee Category, which examines the epistemic and legal frameworks governing LGBTQI+ asylum claims—explores how queer methodologies can reshape migration research.

Methodologically, this work engages with oral history as a tool for disrupting institutionalized narratives of LGBTQI+ refugeehood and forced migration. While legal and policy frameworks often demand coherent, linear, and Western-centric narratives of queer persecution and identity, oral history allows for more fluid, fragmented, and intersectional accounts. This paper reflects on the methodological challenges and possibilities of employing oral history in a queer and community-driven research framework, including issues of power dynamics, co-construction of knowledge, and the ethical considerations of working with communities experiencing both hypervisibility and erasure.

By engaging directly with a more fluid and non-linear qualitative process that highlights the constraints of dominant epistemologies, this research interrogates how queer methodologies move beyond rigid categorization and towards a more reflexive, participatory, and decolonial approach to migration studies. It also examines the role of researcher positionality, storytelling as resistance, and the potential of oral history to expand the methodological toolkit of social science research. Ultimately, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions on how queering research methodologies can challenge traditional hierarchies of knowledge production and offer new possibilities for studying migration, identity, and belonging.

ABSTRACT. For over 25 years, researchers have criticized the disconnect between gender measurement in quantitative research and theoretical advancements in queer and feminist theories. While trans, intersex, and non-binary (TIN) identities are increasingly recognized, survey methodologies often fail to capture gender diversity. This presentation explores these challenges using the EUROSTUDENT project, which harmonizes national student surveys across 27 countries for international comparison.

Drawing on both international literature and my experience in gender measurement within large-scale student surveys, I present three approaches to measuring gender: (1) a two-step gender design used in EUROSTUDENT rounds 7 and 8, illustrating common limitations; (2) an improved three-step design with an open response option from the Austrian National Student Social Survey 2023; and (3) a streamlined two-step approach developed for EUROSTUDENT round 9. These designs form the empirical basis for critical comparisons.

This research reflects on the contradictions that arise when applying queer theory within quantitative social science. While statistical methods often rely on stable categories, queer theory questions fixed identities. However, without data on gender-diverse individuals, these groups risk being rendered invisible in social research. My work brings together quantitative methods with deconstructivist thinking, which is central to queer theory but often only associated with qualitative research.

Engaging with Critical Quantitative Research, I ask: Who produces statistical knowledge? For what purpose? Who is included or excluded? This presentation argues that despite the contradictions between queer theory and quantitative methodology, integrating queer perspectives into gender measurement is essential to making marginalized identities visible and challenging the limitations of conventional statistical practices in social sciences.

ABSTRACT. This paper presents reflections from an ongoing research project exploring the processes of subjectivation of neurodivergent individuals within and through urban space. Specifically, it examines the implications of the relationship between power and knowledge production for neurodivergent urban experiences and the construction of urban imaginaries.

In recent years, there has been a discursive explosion surrounding so-called “atypical” neurocognitive functioning (Autism, ADHD, Learning Disabilities, etc.). Thanks to digital platforms, neurodivergent people have increasingly found spaces to share their stories and advocate for a discourse centered on pride and positivity, challenging stigmatization and oppressive systems. However, these narratives risk being absorbed into market-driven valorizations of diversity, where only those who can conform are conditionally accepted, while those who cannot or refuse to normalize are further dehumanized. As a result, the dominant biomedical framework—portraying neurocognitive nonconformity as personal tragedy, a phenomenology of absence (Vanolo, 2024), or essentialized involuntariness (Yergeau, 2018)—continues to be reproduced.

As researchers, we actively contribute to the production of representations and knowledge on these issues, making the risk of perpetuating epistemic injustice particularly pressing. How can we truly engage in and contribute to radical change? Can research be transformative and challenge ableism and neurotypicality (Manning, 2016)? How can we conduct research that does not reproduce preexisting classificatory frameworks and normative knowledge?

Neuro/queer epistemologies and methods can help us question what we mean by method, voice, intentionality, relationship, and humanity—concepts that the neuronormative regime invites us to take for granted. This approach can center neurodivergent stories and experiences without reducing them to rhetorical residues in narratives constructed by others, which frame them solely as pathological symptoms.

ABSTRACT. Queer methods do not merely study queer subjects; their subversive potential lies in dismantling and undoing the structures that define what counts as knowledge, evidence, and method (de Lauretis, 1991; Butler, 1990; Barad, 2007). In my research, I employ a queer digital ethnography to explore how cisgender men on TikTok perform and make sense of their mental states. By challenging the normative assumptions surrounding cisgender masculinity and mental health, my approach interrogates the epistemological limitations of social science methodologies (Connell, 1995, 2005; Ahmed, 2006; Sedgwick, 1990; McRuer, 2006; Fisher, 2009).

Rather than treating masculinity as a stable category, I draw on posthuman queer performativity to show how it is produced and negotiated through TikTok’s algorithmic infrastructures (Barad, 2003; Butler, 1993). The platform does not just represent masculinity but shape in its enactment—shaping which forms of vulnerability, emotional expression, and relationality become intelligible. Through embodied digital ethnographic engagement, I examine how content creators move through states of coherence and incoherence, revealing gender’s instability (Ahmed, 2017).

Queer methods, in this sense, are not just a theoretical stance but a methodological necessity: they allow us to move beyond binaries such as presence/absence, authenticity/inauthenticity, individual/structure, online/offline, mental health/madness, emotion/rationality, discourse/embodiment. By integrating computational approaches with embodied ethnographic practice, I rethink the role of algorithms in shaping gendered and affective experiences.

This paper explores the tensions, frictions, and possibilities that emerge at the intersection of queer methods, masculinity studies, mental health, and digital cultures. How can queer methods account for the material-discursive entanglements through which cisgender masculinity is performed and made intelligible, in relation to distress and suffering (Barad, 2007)? And what does it mean to ‘queer’ social science methodologies to study mental health not only as a category, but as lived experience, negotiated between gender norms, affectivity, and technologies of visibility?

ABSTRACT. In recent years, issues that once enjoyed broad consensus—such as condemning gender-based violence or promoting gender equality—have become deeply polarizing. This growing division unfolds within a broader trend of radicalization in public discourse, fueled not only by so-called challenger parties, traditionally linked to the radical right, but also by mainstream political actors who strategically employ polarization to mobilize their electorate through ideological confrontation. In this context, highly salient issues such as feminism, climate change, and immigration have been strategically intertwined to solidify political identities and intensify polarization between ideological blocs. Building on this idea, this study introduces the concept of ideological packages, offering an innovative theoretical framework to explain how political actors cluster different issues to craft cohesive ideological narratives. The far right, in particular, merges its rejection of feminism with climate denialism and xenophobia, advancing a unified agenda that denies the climate crisis, criminalizes immigration, and seeks to dismantle women's rights. This study investigates how positions on climate change and immigration shape the framing of feminism in Spanish media. To achieve this, we have gathered all news articles published between 2014 and 2024 in the newspaper 20Minutos that contain the terms “climate change” and “immigration” using web scraping techniques. From this dataset, which is expected to include approximately 30,000 articles, we will identify and analyze those that include the prefix “feminis-”, estimated to represent between 5% and 10% of the total. The resulting database will facilitate a content analysis of the selected news pieces, enabling us to trace their evolution over time and examine the discursive frames employed by key political actors when addressing feminism within the broader intersection of ideological debates.

ABSTRACT. Political participation is a key element of democratic engagement, yet significant gender disparities persist, also among young people. Using data from the 2021 Flash Eurobarometer 2574 (N = 17,953; aged 15-30; F=50.6%), this research employs regression models to assess the parental influence on gendered political participation among European youth in formal, informal, and online engagement.

Several research shows that men tend to be more engaged in formal political activities, such as voting and contacting representatives, whereas women are more active in informal actions like petitioning, boycotting, and volunteering. Recent studies suggest that online political engagement is less gendered; however, a gendered pattern seems to emerge, with women more inclined towards expressive and symbolic activism rather than institutionalized digital engagement.

These gendered participation patterns may be shaped by broader socialization processes. Literature highlight family as a key agent in shaping political engagement through indirect (e.g. SES, financial situation and education) and direct (e.g. talking about politics) mechanisms, with lasting effects into adulthood. While the family’s role in shaping youth political participation—particularly in formal and informal engagement—is well-documented, its influence on gendered disparities in online political participation remains underexplored.

Against this background, this study investigates whether direct and indirect family resources differently affect men’s and women’s engagement in formal, informal, and online political activities. The main hypothesis is that while family SES influence both genders in formal and informal politics, its relevance diminishes in the online domain, particularly for women. Furthermore, due to their socialization in the digital age, we expect the moderating role of family political discussion to be weaker for online participation for both men and women in Gen Z than for Millennials.

Preliminary results challenge assumptions about women’s lower political involvement, suggesting a possible shift in engagement patterns, particularly in informal and digital spheres.

ABSTRACT. In 2018, the massive feminist mobilization on International Women’s Day placed Spain at the center of the feminist protest cycle. The 2019 reedition of the event remained one of the country’s largest and most visible demonstrations. Widespread support for feminist demands and the sympathy generated by the so-called 8M movement largely overshadowed public opposition. However, just months earlier, the unexpected electoral surge of the far right—starting with Andalusia’s December 2018 elections—signaled the emergence of a reactionary backlash.

This study examines public perceptions of the 2019 8M protest, focusing on the roots of rejection during a period of broad feminist consensus, when dissent largely remained hidden. Understanding these early signs of opposition or dislike may offer insights into the subsequent anti-feminist backlash. We analyze emotions, assuming that feelings related to collective action stem from shared interests, values, and identities. Methodologically, our innovative approach uses emotions as indicators of public perception, offering a less socially constrained way to capture antagonism. However, in a context of overwhelming support, we expect negative sentiments to be voiced primarily by a minority of core dissenters. Tracing these reactions helps identify the sociopolitical origins of the anti-gender movement.

We analyze a nationally representative survey conducted daily over 20 days before and after the 2019 IWD protest, including questions on emotions and sentiments. The mixed CATI-CAWI administration mode allows us to assess social desirability bias. Using logistic regression, we estimate the likelihood of expressing negative emotions toward 8M. Preliminary findings show that 8M predominantly elicited positive emotions, particularly solidarity and hope, while negative emotions—mainly distrust and boredom—were marginal. Negative sentiments were associated with anti-feminist attitudes and far-right ideology. Additionally, respondents were more likely to express negative views in online surveys than in telephone interviews, suggesting a strong and widespread anti-gender spiral of silence.

ABSTRACT. Since the Treaty of Rome (1957), territorial cohesion has been central to the European project. However, economic and social disparities among rural and urban areas persist. These culminated with the farmers protests during spring 2024, (Hyland et al. 2024). To understand these disparities, an analysis of social tolerance across different urbanisation levels in EU countries was conducted, using data 2008 and 2017 European Value Survey (EVS) data.

Following Luca et al (2023), three indices were developed assessing attitudes towards gender, liberal morality and immigrants. Factor analysis ensured variable correlation, and data was analysed using descriptive statistics and ordinary least square (OLS) regressions.

Descriptive statistics at country level showed that in 2017, urban areas had the most progressive views across all three indices, followed by towns and rural areas. The descriptive cross-sectional comparison of 2008 and 2017 showed that for all three indices about half of countries faced increasing polarisation across all levels of urbanisation.

The ordinary least square (OLS) regressions using 2017 data revealed that even after controlling for a range of variables, degree of urbanisation remained predictive of attitudes. Rural areas had significantly less favourable attitudes towards gender equality, liberal morality, and immigrants than urban areas, showing the lack of cohesion regarding social tolerance.

Comparing 2008 and 2017 OLS regressions cross-sectionally, shows that the gap between rural areas and cities increased, but the gap between towns and cities shrank. This suggests a growing attitudinal divide between rural and urban populations that threatens social cohesion within EU member states.

In conclusion, these results underscore the necessity for strategies to address the growing polarisation between rural and urban areas regarding gender equality, liberal morality and immigrant acceptance. Growing disparities in attitudes need to be addressed otherwise it leaves space for rising populism pandering to those that perceive to be left behind.

ABSTRACT. Political issues like climate change, immigration, and identity politics increasingly drive political polarization. Existing scholarly research often uses political orientation or human values to explain individuals’ attitudes toward these issues. In addition to studying how values and political orientation shape attitudes, researchers have also extensively analysed the relationship between values and political orientation. However, there is a lack of in-depth analysis on whether values or political orientation better predict attitudes toward immigration policy, or if they can be used interchangeably. To address this gap, the following study uses Schwartz’s (1992) psychological theory of human values as its foundational framework. The study combines this framework with the concept of political orientation, comparing their similarities and differences to explore how both shape attitude formation. Using data from the European Social Survey (waves 8–11), we conduct an exploratory factor analysis to confirm how respondents' human values align with the axes proposed by Schwartz (1992): self-transcendence, self-enhancement, conservation, and openness to change. Next, we use structural modelling to analyse the relationship between the value axes and political orientation, and how this relationship shapes attitudes toward immigration policy. Finally, we re-run our analyses on other current policy issues (climate change, identity politics) and over multiple time points to test the consistency and generalizability of our findings. We find that conservation and self-transcendence are the main drivers. They appear to form their own distinct axis. Moreover, when comparing the effects of conservation and self-transcendence with political orientation, the latter plays a less significant role in shaping attitudes. Lastly, our findings remain consistent across different policy areas but show variation over time. Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of the underlying (stable) drivers of attitude formation in a dynamic political landscape and advances research on predicting citizens' policy priorities.

ABSTRACT. The European Social Survey (since 2002), and the European Values Study and World Values Survey (since 1981) are a rich source for cross-national and longitudinal research. Thousands of studies were published in the course of time.

In more recent years, there is an increasing collaboration between ESS, EVS, WVS, and other research infrastures in the context of European and global projects. EVS and WVS are in a way collaborating since their beginning as they have a questionnaire that overlaps for about 70%. A Memoranda of Understanding between the two infrastructures are in place since 2015 and this lead to further harmonization and standardization of the questionnaires.

Since 2015, a cooperation between ESS and EVS exists. It started in the context of the EU-Horizon SERISS project and afterwards also in the EU-Horizon projects SSHOC, ESS-SUSTAIN-2, and Infra4NextGen. Also between ESS and EVS there is a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a closer cooperation, among other things in the form of a common module on individualistic and collectivistic values.

A common point of attention for the three research infrastructures is the transition from face-to-face to web-surveys or self completion (web-surveys with paper questionnaire drop off). All these developments make it more important to be critical about our measurements in the different modes and the comparability between the surveys.

In this presentation, I will pay attention to the above mentioned issues, especially with regard to social and political attitudes.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to answer the research question of the societal and individual determinants of solidarity in the context of Christianity and modernization. Solidarity is approached from two angles: solidarity with the vulnerable, and the extent to which local versus global solidarity gets prioritised. Since that solidarity is seen as an essential dimension of social cohesion, the question of what fosters solidarity in secular liberal democracies remains relevant. The analyses are based on a pooled sample of 3 waves of the European Values Study (1999 to 2017) covering 22 European countries using multilevel modelling. The results suggest a clear Christian-modern or religious-secular divide at the societal level in terms of support for solidarity with the vulnerable and for global solidarity. There is evidence to suggest that a trend towards solidarity with the most vulnerable can be observed in Christian societies. Conversely, the trend towards global solidarity appears to be exclusive to Protestant societies. In contrast, there is no such a divide that appears at the individual level and the results seem to argue for different combinations of Christian and modern influences on solidarity depending on the form of solidarity under consideration. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of the mutual influence of religion and modernisation. They also suggest that individual religious characteristics should be considered in their religious and social context when attempting to assess the role of religion on attitudes.

ABSTRACT. The presented research investigates the role of sociologists as experts, and of sociological expertise, in resolution processes of crisis scenarios, i.e. events that disrupt the equilibrium of a community and undermine its operational mechanisms (Colloca, 2011). To achieve this cognitive aim, a research design was developed involving the administration of an online questionnaire. In particular, the core of the questionnaires is characterized by five fictional stories narrating five crisis scenarios: economic, geopolitical, environmental, informatic, and health-related crises. These fictional crisis stories draw inspiration from research tools such as the stories developed by Alberto Marradi and from the vignettes. Each of the five fictional crisis stories, characterized by an immersive and engaging narrative structure, was considered the ideal tool for studying such a complex and multidimensional topic as expertise. Respondents, i.e. undergraduate and graduate students, as well as PhD students from heterogeneous domains of expertise, were asked to immerse themselves in the narrated crisis stories and select, from a provided list, the expertise they believed most suited to solve each crisis, along with justifying their choices. By analyzing the 332 responses received, it was possible to explore respondents' expectations regarding the functions of sociological expertise in the resolution strategies of the narrated fictional crisis. In this way, as with the study of sociological expertise, the use of fictional stories is intended to constitute a methodological strategy for studying other forms of expertise.

ABSTRACT. The increasing complexity of social issues, especially in the realms of artificial intelligence (AI) and information technology, calls for innovative methodological approaches to engage experts in sociological research. By fostering a comprehensive exploration of diverse viewpoints and facilitating constructive dialogue among experts, this method enables a more nuanced and articulated understanding of societal challenges associated with AI and emerging technologies. Experts involved in this study fall into two groups. The first group consists of professionals such as Project Managers and Senior Developers, offering practical insights into the dynamics of implementing AI technologies and managing daily operational challenges. The second group comprises legal scholars and ethicists whose in-depth knowledge of regulations and ethical implications is pivotal in ensuring responsible and sustainable use of emerging technologies. Through the comparative analysis of these distinct forms of expertise, this study aims to identify barriers and enabling factors in adopting AI technologies while anticipating and assessing their social implications. This approach highlights the divergences and convergences between technical and ethical perspectives and provides valuable insights for formulating informed and inclusive policies. Such policies promote critical reflection on future challenges stemming from technological innovation. The objective is the identification of future scenarios through experts dialogues, developing futures in the making for AI-based technologies, and producing concise reports analyzing their social, economic, and technological implications. The Delphi process facilitates the evaluation of an integrated assessment tool, leveraging quantitative and qualitative approaches to ensure rigorous and contextually relevant evaluation of AI technologies. Finally, a critical analysis of the empirical research methodologies applicable to emerging technologies is conducted. This analysis is crucial for grounding future investigations into robust and pertinent approaches capable of addressing the complexities and challenges posed by technological innovation.

ABSTRACT. Gambling in Italy is a controversial issue: Since the “Decreto Balduzzi” (2012), local authorities have strived to promulgate public policies to counteract the negative effects of the exponential growth of legal gambling on physical networks, sometimes openly opposing decisions made by the central government. The role of experts in the design, conception, and implementation of anti-gambling policies is crucial: administrators rely on (and sometimes are compelled by courts to do so) expert knowledge to justify and legitimize their decisions. But what does it actually mean to be an expert in this field? Health professionals may have specific knowledge of its pathological component, gambling disorder – but they may have never seen a slot machine in their lives. Economists may have a clear understanding of the size of the phenomenon in financial terms, and legal experts will know which article of a specific law violates the principles of free competition, but they may not be aware of the differences between bingo and tombola. Lastly, is it truly possible to exclude from the definition of expertise the knowledge acquired directly and in the field by a seasoned gambler? After all, the gambler is the main protagonist, along with the game itself, of gambling. In my opinion, the methodological issues that arise in such a context can be overcome by adopting a symmetrical anthropology approach. Analyzing the phenomenon of gambling from an Actor-Network Theory perspective, experts and the product of their work are to be understood as actants that contribute toward the construction and maintenance of a network-object. The ANT approach allows for the study of experts without questioning in advance the ways in which they are identified as such; the very definition of expertise is fluid, and during fieldwork it is enriched by the ways in which it is utilized by actants.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the potential of zine-making workshops as an arts-based research method to critically engage with social inequalities and digital intimacies. Situated within a study on sexting practices among queer young adults in Italy, this approach leverages zine-making as a multimodal method that fosters self-representation, agency, and collective knowledge production. Through the "Research Brave Space" (RBS) concept, this work challenges the notion of traditional safe spaces in research, advocating for embracing complexity, discomfort, and reflexivity. The zine-making workshops provide a platform where participants engage with sensitive topics through creative, non-extractive, and ethically grounded methodologies. The workshops were structured to create a physical, cognitive, and emotional space conducive to bravery and self-expression. Key methodological strategies included physical dimension, ensuring accessibility in workshop locations, offering flexible seating arrangements, and providing creative materials to accommodate neurodivergent and disabled participants; cognitive, allowing participants to engage at their own pace, integrating multimodal forms of expression (drawing, collage, text); emotional, emphasizing care practices, facilitating decompression spaces, and encouraging researcher participation to foster collective engagement. Positioned within the arts-based and participatory research landscape, this paper discusses how zine-making functions as both an intervention and an analytical tool, revealing conflicting values, power dynamics, and meaning-making practices embedded in digital intimacies. It demonstrates how arts-based approaches can act as vehicles for critical reflection, empowering participants to navigate issues of digital consent, privacy, and representation on their own terms. This contribution illustrate how creative methodologies offer alternative ways to investigate and challenge conventional social exclusion of queer subjectivities in society and research, fostering a more ethical and relational approach to the study of digital cultures. Ultimately, it argues for arts-based methods in social research as a means to document but also actively intervene in structures of inequality, contributing to a more engaged and socially transformative scholarship.

ABSTRACT. In Western countries, long-term care (LTC) is characterized as a place where residents are destined to die, creating an institutional representation of dying and death in a society where these phenomena are regarded with great social fear and discomfort. This fear influences and legitimizes discriminatory practices in LTC including residents being treated like they are incapable of meaningful social interaction, and that their lives have no meaning. These views are especially pervasive in the context of dementia, with such assumptions minimizing opportunities for vital social connections, particularly with children. Children too are viewed from a deficit perspective in which they are considered to be incompletely developed, lacking skills, and therefore in need of protection. These dominant discourses have profound implications for the pursuit of intergenerational relationships in the context of LTC. Rendering these relationships as inconceivable has resulted in extraordinarily limited understandings of their possibilities. In this paper, I propose digital stories co-created with residents of LTC and adolescents as a way to explore and challenge assumptions about these relationships. Digital storybooks are an arts-based research method used to shed light on complex experiences in a compelling manner, enhance participant engagement, and amplify the meaning of research findings. This sensory pathway to meaning is imaginative, analytical and relational, connecting the tellers of the tale to the listener/reader of the story, changing how and what we know. Further, in an intergenerational context, digital storytelling has the potential to address one of the profound deficits of an ageist society: the blockage of intergenerational communion involving meaningful relationships between people from different generational cohorts. To this end, exploring these relationship experiences through digital stories offers a powerful resource to challenge prevalent perspectives, potentially transform the dominant culture of LTC, and contribute new understandings of intergenerational caring.

ABSTRACT. The digitalization of society has provided criminals with new opportunities to obtain and misuse personal identity information. The emergence and spread of Online IDentity Theft (OIDT) is an example of this. As users, we, directly, generate data and assume risks, not always consciously. However, OIDT can potentially affects anyone. Very little is known about the profile, needs, socio-emotional experiences, risks of people whose identity information has been compromised or misused. European victims of OIDT often do not report the crime, believing that the harm suffered is not significant enough or lacking adequate material and immaterial resources to counteract it. With the aim of expanding information, education, and awareness on OIDT, an interdisciplinary team (sociologists and artist) has conducted an experimental project at the University of Bologna developing art-based projects. The narrations, practical information and emotional dynamics have been outlined by 23 semi-structured interviews with OIDT experts and 47 structured interviews with victims. Key informants’ perspectives were the starting point to create visuals. As a direct outcome, sociologists and artist realized: (1) a care kit cards (2) a comic strip (3) a “riskymeter” infographic. In this scenario, visual projects which merge social research and art, were designed to 1) educate users, victims, and professionals to prevent Online Identity Theft with socio-pedagogical resources 2) inform on various possibilities to report and be assisted 3) raise awareness about social security and empowerment of individuals against digital threats.

ABSTRACT. Arts-based methods offer powerful tools for critically engaging with social inequalities and fostering inclusive knowledge production. This study, part of an ongoing research project, explores the use of comics as a participatory method to examine and challenge stereotypes and biases in educational settings, with the broader aim of addressing social injustice and exclusion. The research was conducted within a laboratory on Inclusive Pedagogy and Disability Studies, where pre-service teachers engaged in individual and group activities inspired by Garry Trudeau’s comic Street Calculus. Participants were asked to create their own comics to deconstruct implicit biases and reflect on how stereotypes influence their educational practices (Moretti, 2023). This creative process allowed them to critically analyze power relations embedded in daily interactions and pedagogical choices. The contribution also presents methodological reflections on the use of comics as an inclusive medium aligned with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (CAST, 2018; Themelis & Sime, 2020; Giorgi et al., 2021; Wiley, 2014). The multi-modal and participatory nature of comics facilitates engagement from individuals with diverse communicative needs, making them an effective tool for co-creating knowledge and amplifying marginalized voices. By framing comics not merely as research objects but as instruments for social change, this study situates comics-based research within broader arts-based methodologies for social transformation. The findings suggest that comics can function as both a critical pedagogical tool and a transformative research method, fostering dialogue, awareness, and resistance against injustice. This contribution aligns with ongoing discussions on how creative methods can challenge systemic discrimination and create spaces for alternative narratives, positioning arts-based research as a key strategy for unveiling and confronting social inequalities.

ABSTRACT. This paper introduces an early-stage research project promoted by harm reduction and outreach services in Venice. The project aims to explore the role of participatory research methods in addressing conflicts within a large open drug scene in Mestre. As the research design is still under development, this presentation seeks to discuss future steps and reflect on initial insights. Grounded in the theoretical framework of critical cartography, the study considers participatory mapping one of the tools for spatial representation and a means of knowledge production and negotiation among diverse social actors (Orangotango, 2021). Participatory mapping and counter-mapping are increasingly used in social research and have shown great potential in fostering engagement, amplifying marginalised voices, and shaping alternative narratives (Germes et al., 2023). Beyond mapping, the research aspires to involve various participatory techniques, including collaborative workshops, semi-structured interviews, and visual storytelling, to capture multiple perspectives on contested urban spaces. By doing so, it seeks to unveil power dynamics, everyday interactions, and emotional geographies shaping the neighborhood. By co-producing knowledge with different stakeholders - drug users, residents, law enforcement, and harm reduction services - the project aims to counteract stigmatising narratives often associating open drug scenes with crime, fear and danger (Smith, 2016). Instead, the research process strives to provide a more nuanced representation of urban space, emphasising lived experiences and coping strategies of those inhabiting the contested area. This contribution invites discussion of methodological challenges and ethical considerations that can help rethink the research design of this case study and contribute to broader debates on the role of arts-based and participatory methodologies in unveiling power relations, reimagining urban coexistence, and supporting the agency of marginalised communities.

ABSTRACT. Our paper focuses on the experience of integration of a Transversal Participatory Approach (TPA) into the research schedule of the CLEAR (Constructing Learning Outcomes in Europe: A multi-level analysis of (under)achievement in the life course) project. To widen the range of voices considered for the analysis of the processes of Learning Outcomes construction, CLEAR has indeed promoted the implementation of participatory actions (PAs) to involve different stakeholders in the field of education at various stages of its development. Variably, the integration of PAs has contributed in finetuning research tools applied in the project’s fieldwork phase, discussing preliminary results of empirical research, and shaping communication and dissemination strategies (and related outcomes). In its final stage, CLEAR promoted the realisation of Innovation Forums (IFs) at a local level. The IFs are deliberative spaces designed to stimulate discussion, reflection, and the exchange of arguments and opinions among diverse participants through innovative tools. IFs served as platforms where stakeholders from various groups engaged in dialogue, fostering an environment conducive to mutual understanding and creative solutions. Drawing from the reflections shared by the project partners throughout its lifespan, the paper discusses the chances and constraints implied by implementing non-standard research methodologies into a more traditional scheme of research. They are questioned in terms of sustainability, complementarity, and contribution to the overarching research questions orienting the empirical work of CLEAR. Furthermore, the TPA has reflexively impacted the project’s research teams, demanding a revision of established research practices, thus implying a shared process of adjustment of epistemological references and methodological skills of the involved researchers. Implementing a TPA therefore means to (at least partially) subvert routinised praxis of social research, calling into question how more traditional methodologies usually construct hierarchies and distribute power among the involved subjects, and turning the mere “information bearers” who are involved in research in competent contributors to the production of knowledge. In discussing these topics, we will focus on the difficulties encountered in integrating methods and approaches that are traditionally not part of the social researchers' toolbox, in research carried out in (and shaped by) a plurality of contexts. Finally, we will discuss the risks arising from the involvement of youth in vulnerable and/or multi-disadvantaged situations. We refer to organizational and methodological challenges and ethical issues resulting from the blurring boundaries between researcher and participants.

ABSTRACT. With STORYLINK, we aim to bridge cross-cultural understanding between Albanian and Swiss communities in Switzerland through an intercultural co-construction of narratives of care and support in older age. Situated within participatory action research approach, our project does not only document lived experiences but also engages older adults as knowledge producers so that their lives are not only represented, but they are built through intersubjective meaning-making. Storylink happens in three interconnected phases; first, we conduct interviews with older adults in which storytelling is both an epistemic and emancipatory practice, where life histories are a means of “self-definition” rather than “other-definition”. Then, in participatory workshops, shared meanings of care, interdependence, and support are reflected and analyzed. These narratives are collectively transformed into biographical and artistic stories and become the center of a bilingual book. All these processes happen as a collective analytic approach, where academic researchers and laypeople co-analyze and co-create project products through the combination of their respective knowledges. In the second phase, this book is made a tool of intercultural dialogue, circulated across various community-based reading and discussion forums. The forums are not just sites of information transfer but also spaces of negotiated belonging, where care, migration, and aging are variously experienced, and where relational solidarities are made. In the last phase of the project, we engage in a critical reflection process about the participatory approach we applied in the project, co-constructing a methodological guidebook that positions storytelling as a research tool and a mode of collective worldmaking. The guidebook's aim is to provide an instructional model for participatory biographical storytelling, portable to other contexts of cultural negotiation, but not limited to. In this presentation we will discuss how participatory paradigms and concrete methodologies shape our decision making and co-creation processes throughout the project, both completed and expected.

ABSTRACT. The data presented in this paper was collected for on a research project that ran in 2022-2023, in partnership with Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC) and their ‘Community Connexions’ programme. Community Connexions is a patient and public engagement programme that seeks to capture and foreground the lived experiences of local under-served communities in Birmingham and the Black Country to i) understand (hyper)local barriers that lead to poor health outcomes, and ii) assess what (hyper)local solutions may be implemented to support those who have traditionally been underserved in research.

After hosting a series of listening events with members of the community, participants made it clear that they felt stuck in a pattern, with researchers going into the field, asking questions and collecting data, and leaving, never to feed back or return. Consequently, participants not only expressed frustration (“We are tired of saying the same things over and over – nothing ever happens”), but also mistrust in research and public institutions (“Why are they approaching us, they have never been interested before”). This was especially true for superdiverse under-served communities. As a result, not only do they refuse to take part in health research and clinical trials – contributing to the existing lack of diversity in research – but they also lose faith in the NHS (National Health Service), which leads to further disengagement with healthcare services.

In this paper, we reflect on a project which trialled innovative participatory methodologies to address the issues stated above, while considering the question of social justice in research. The project was co-designed with Citizens UK and community-led organisations, and included a series of ‘listening events’ and a ‘community sandpit’ event. While the former enabled data collection, the latter provided the opportunity to co-create solutions and fund five community projects, which will be presented in this session.

ABSTRACT. In today's rapidly evolving global landscape, it is increasingly important for higher education institutions to actively engage with communities, labour organisations, and civic groups. This engagement is crucial from a participatory research perspective, as it allows communities to participate in the research process and helps create knowledge and solutions for real-world problems. To address these challenges, the UP2YOU action research, supported by the Erasmus+ Programme, aims to connect academic learning with practical applications in civic society organisations, as discussed by Vargiu and Miller. This initiative seeks to transform how communities and organisations collaborate to make a tangible impact. Starting with a community-based participatory study, the research intends to identify transnational skills gaps and co-develop a training programme based on micro-credentials. The goal is to provide students and professionals from civil society organisations in Italy, Spain, France, Turkey, Macedonia, and Cyprus with valuable skills and experiences, enabling them to engage with communities and promote sustainable development effectively. According to Kemmis and McTaggart, this collaborative approach encourages sharing knowledge and skills, fostering social innovation. The community-building programme emphasises bottom-up approaches, social generativity, and community organising methodologies, all informed by a situational leadership approach. The process includes a desk analysis phase, focus groups, an online survey, and co-design sessions to identify, validate, and adapt the main learning outcomes. The paper discusses the primary findings analysed by the community involved. It employs a comparative perspective and follows the action research self-reflective circle to identify skills gaps, co-design training programmes, and ensure that they meet the community's needs.

ABSTRACT. Participatory Action Research (PAR) is an approach to research that emphasizes collaboration, reflection, and action, engaging participants as co-researchers in the entire research process. Rooted in critical and emancipatory traditions, PAR seeks to democratize knowledge production by valuing the perspectives and expertise of those traditionally marginalized in research settings (Reason & Bradbury, 2008). It operates on principles of reciprocity and shared authority, aiming to produce both scholarly knowledge and practical outcomes that benefit the communities involved (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2005). This contribution argues that the synergy between PAR and processual analysis provides a unique lens for understanding the dynamics of collective action in political sociology. While processual analysis focuses on the unfolding, temporally embedded nature of social actions (Abbott, 2001), PAR’s emphasis on co-creation and reflexivity offers a participatory dimension that deepens our understanding of how collective actions evolve and are experienced by participants.

Since the interpretative innovations of processuality involve the very ontological and epistemological foundations of social research, methodologies and empirical techniques should also find space within the debate on the processual analysis of collective action. The argument I propose on the synergy between processual and participatory approaches is precisely rooted in this paradigm shift that finds many commonalities across the two scholarships. Especially in the study of collective action, PAR provides empirical and analytical tools that are seldom matched by other qualitative and quantitative methods. To support my contribution, I bring forward personal experiences of fieldwork from a more than three-years long participative partnership with Italian farmers’ communities. With these groups, I have been co-creating knowledge (Heron 1996; Jull, Giles, and Graham 2017) through the implementation of workshops and visual diagramming to elaborate on whether and how community agriculture represents an innovative action repertoire.