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Successful Actions: Democratic Sociology for Democratic Societies

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Achieving Social Impact

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Sociology ((BRIEFSSOCY))

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the idea of ‘democratic sociology’ through presenting how CREA is doing public sociology grounded in the principles of dialogic democracy. I describe how we conduct dialogic research which identifies ‘successful actions’—evidence of actions that reduced inequalities in different social contexts—in dialogue with researched communities. To illustrate this I provide two examples: (a) the transformation of La Esperanza barrio through the implementation of the ‘dialogic inclusion contract’ and the creation of a worker cooperative, and (b) the other women’s movement, the struggle of non-academic women who have transformed their lives and contributed to a more dialogic feminism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Final Conference of the INCLUD-ED project (CREA, 2006–2011) at the European Parliament on December 6, 2011, in Brussels.

  2. 2.

    Author’s translation from Spanish.

  3. 3.

    La Esperanza is a name invented for the purpose of this book.

  4. 4.

    Successful Educational Actions (SEAs) are actions that have already shown to bring both efficiency and equity for all children in schools. They differ from good practice in education because research provided evidence that they improved results in any contexts in which they were implemented. The INCLUD-ED research identified the following SEAs (Flecha, 2015): interactive groups, extension of the learning time (through homework clubs or tutored libraries), family and community educative participation, family education, dialogic literary gatherings and dialogic model of conflict prevention.

  5. 5.

    First Conference of the INCLUD-ED project (CREA, 2006–2011) at the European Parliament, November 18, 2009, in Brussels.

  6. 6.

    Author’s translation from Spanish.

  7. 7.

    Orquiza, C.; Rodrigues Mello, R. & Santos R. 2010. Feminismo Dialógico: Diálogo Possível entre diferentes identidades para a superação de desigualdades de gênero. Diásporas, Diversidades, Deslocamentos, Fazando Género 9, 23 a 26 de agosto de 2010.

  8. 8.

    Romani Mobilities in Europe: Multidisciplinary perspectives. Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. 14–15 January, 2010.

  9. 9.

    These two research grants were directed by Teresa Sordé, a professor of sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a researcher at the Group of Studies in Migration and Ethnic Minorities. They are as follows: DROM-IN. Inmigración gitana en España: los retos de la inclusión social y la convivencia [Roma immigration in Spain: the challenges of the social inclusion and coexistence]. Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; and TRANSROMA. Estrategias de movilidad, retorno y prácticas transnacionales entre población gitana rumana [Strategies of mobility, return and transnational practices among Romanian Roma people]. Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

  10. 10.

    Author’s translation from Spanish.

  11. 11.

    After being skeptical about the cooperatives as viable alternative, we took Erik to visit Mondragon in 2008; he was completely convinced that it had to be included in his book (then in progress), Envisioning Real Utopias.

  12. 12.

    Mixed cooperatives are those whose members have voting rights, depending on the capital they provide. These cooperatives contain two types of owners: worker-owners and shareholders. Workers can make decisions and actively participate in management, as in the worker-owned cooperatives. However, the Mondragon Corporation plays a relevant role as the main shareholder and acts as a silent partner both by contributing the majority of the capital needed and by providing an opportunity to expand the business outside of the Basque Country, successfully expanding the cooperative values further afield (Flecha & Ngai, 2014).

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  1. University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Marta Soler-Gallart

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Soler-Gallart, M. (2017). Successful Actions: Democratic Sociology for Democratic Societies. In: Achieving Social Impact . SpringerBriefs in Sociology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60270-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60270-7_4

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