Editorial

At the end of 2025 we look back upon the successful 5th Forum of the ISA in July in Rabat, where RC02 presented its largest program ever. The past year also marked a significant increase in our membership to over 250 members. More important is how the increase in membership has added voices from all world regions to the activities of RC02. This global reach was clearly evident in Rabat, where we welcomed new members from the MENA region and South Asia. Panels addressed themes such as theorizing migration regimes in South Asia and the Gulf states, as well as pioneering inter-regional analyses of care labour in Latin America and Southeast Asia, authoritarian capitalisms, world-economic change and waves of social protest, revisiting revolutions, and contested financial imaginaries.

The research of RC02 members pushes geographical and analytical boundaries beyond mainstream economic sociology, and in doing so, builds theory and methodologies for a dynamic and relevant sociology of the global economy. Exemplary of RC02 members’ research are the publication plans of the research group FEMME on the Feminists Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa by Valentine M. Moghadam, the report  and of the Caste as Practice Research Network by Jusmeet Singh Sihra, Manali Desai and Priyanka Kotamraju, both in this newsletter, and the call for contributions by the African doctoral researchers group PRESILIENT Reimagining informal economies and practices across Africa in a recent RC02 digest post.  A consequence of the global constitution of RC02 is the prominence of topics long neglected in the study of economy and society. These begin with our now well-established commitment to intersectional and macro-sociological analyses of gender, race, and the impacts of colonialism, and extend to research on carbon economies and environmental sustainability, violence in the economy, the political economy of care, and imaginaries and mobilizations for alternatives to capitalism and productivism. Characteristic of RC02 activities are the tight ties with other Research Committees, Working and Thematic Groups, also manifesting in joint panels at ISA meeting and the multiple RC, WG, TG affiliations of our members, rendering RC02 a microcosm of the ISA.

In 2025 we mourned the loss of RC02 member and past ISA President Michael Buroway. Together with RC44, we organized a tribute in Rabat focusing on the meaning of public sociology for understanding the wars, conflicts, inequalities and disruptions of the world we live and research. Following a series of ISA tributes this year, Global Dialogue has published an issue this month devoted to the work of Michael Buroway.

This year we witness an acceleration rather than a mitigation of the wars, humanitarian crises, and environmental destruction this causes in the Ukraine, Gaza, the Sudan, and Ethiopia. As I write, another democratic government in Latin America (Chile) has elected a right-wing authoritarian opponent. US hegemony remains evident in political attacks on diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and on academic freedom, shaping how we all teach and conduct research. Struggles to end antisemitism are weaponized to divide progressive humanitarian coalitions within and beyond the academy. Universities, educators, and researchers bear a responsibility for advancing international cooperation for democratization and justice. As actors with more resources and voice than many others, exercising this responsibility is urgent.

The debates surrounding how best to mobilize against genocide and injustice were strong and present in Rabat, a sign that we in the ISA community are thinking, not reacting, questioning, not acquiescing, arguing, not remaining silent. At the RC02 business meeting in July this year we engaged in an exceptionally productive discussion of the ad hoc decision of the ISA Executive to suspend the collective membership of the Israeli Sociological Association. RC02 is committed to continue to discuss how best to mobilize the knowledge we generate for peace and justice.

In the New Year 2026 RC02 renews its commitment to balancing academic rigor with normative orientations in supporting research that matters for social change and well-being. In 2026 RC02 endeavours to follow-up on plans that emerged from the discussions in our business meeting in Rabat to better support early career and all researchers in the Global South. In 2026 we will also begin building a program for the World Congress of Sociology in Gwangju, South Korea. My personal aim is to develop a programme that reflects our global membership, the plurality and relevance of our research themes, and that strengthens our collective capacity to imagine and realise sustainable and democratic futures.

In the New Year 2026, I call on RC02 members to continue contributing to the RC02 newsletter, the weekly digest, and to the many activities announced in these channels for networking and collaboration. In 2026, as RC02 members, we will also lay the groundwork for electing a new RC02 Board and Executive Officers. I therefore encourage members to consider standing for these roles.

Wishing all RC02 members a restful end of the year 2025, and a happy new year 2026,

Karen Shire

RC02 President