Inequalities and Injustices in Transforming Societies
Conference July 20-22, 2027
Welcome to the conference
Conference date: July 20-22, 2027 (a pre-conference PhD workshop on July 19 is in preparation)
Location: University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
Under the conference theme “Inequalities and Injustices in Transforming Societies”, the 21st Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Justice Research invites scholars from a wide range of disciplines (including but not limited to Sociology, Psychology, Social Psychology, Political Sciences, Educational Sciences, and Philosophy) and at all career stages to engage with these questions from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives.
Contemporary societies are undergoing profound transformations driven by rapid political, economic, and technological change. The accelerating use of digital technologies, increasing labor market volatility, shifts in political representation and participation, and growing social polarization are reshaping social relations and decision-making in fundamental ways. Recent developments such as the rise of artificial intelligence, climate-related crises, global migration dynamics, and post-pandemic inequalities further amplify these transformations. These developments raise pressing questions for inequality and justice research, for example:
- How do changing institutional arrangements, technological infrastructures, and social norms shape perceptions of fairness and legitimacy?
- Which groups benefit from societal change, and which face new risks of exclusion, marginalization, or misrecognition?
- How are inequalities produced, justified, contested, or normalized in times of rapid transformation, and how do these processes vary across institutional and cultural contexts as well as intersecting social positions?
- How do justice-related beliefs, emotions, and moral frameworks adapt—or fail to adapt—to accelerating social and technological change?
- What roles do institutions, movements, and digital platforms play in fostering or mitigating injustice?
We welcome contributions that address both enduring and emerging forms of inequality and injustice, as well as the psychological, social, and institutional mechanisms through which they are shaped. In line with ISJR’s mission, the conference also aims to foster interdisciplinary exchange, the development of new theoretical perspectives, and dialogue between basic and applied justice research to advance our understanding of justice at all levels – from intraindividual processes to global institutions.
We are looking forward to an enriching conference!
