Contributions are welcomed in the form of contextualised case studies which analyse the social impact of the crisis and/or social responses to the crisis. We do not assume that economic crisis is a one-dimensional process. Social actors may be attributed agency in the way in which they respond (though responses may be very constrained).

The economic crises has exacerbated an already precarious social position for many citizens leading to even more severe levels of unemployment and working poor, frequently in unstable political contexts with depleted welfare states.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

·         mechanisms of social welfare and redistribution

·         activism and social movements

·         the position of precarious intersectional social categories like unemployed, working poor, (former) workers, LGBT, refugees, ethnic minorities, young people, pensioners, women

·         coping strategies

·         crises as normality (in many states economic crises since the early 1980s is more often than not the norm)

·         narrating the crises

Abstracts (max 400 words) and short CVs (max. 3 pages) can be submitted by May 15th to rory.archer@uni-graz.at

Accepted participants will be notified in early June. Draft papers of 5,000-8,000 words need to be submitted by the 15th of October 2013. Accommodation will be covered by the organisers and limited travel grants will be made available (contingent on the timely submission of papers).