Theme: "The Organizing Society" 

That we are becoming a society of organizations hardly needs stressing. Early thinkers, such as Durkheim and Weber, conceptualized the transformation of society into structured forms. Contemporary thinkers, such as Beck and Bauman, critically extend this thinking to how modern organization influences our relationship to humanity and environment.

Organization studies have mostly been concerned with the study of formal organizations. However, formal organizations exist as part of a context that contains multiple other kinds of organizing. Forms of organizing, such as states, "the public", the media, movements, standards, networks, professions, disciplines and technologies, emerge and interact to make up the very fabric of the society in which we live. Within this fabric, dynamics unfold as various types of organizing interact in states of tension, dominance and transition.

Thus we may speak of a society of interweaving organizational forms. We propose that the EGOS 2006 general theme be devoted to studying how different forms of organizing interact in shaping contemporary society and how, in turn, society shapes organizing. The research implications are far-reaching, involving all traditions of the social sciences and the humanities.

For example, what happens to society as certain forms of organizing emerge? Are we organizing ourselves into machine societies à la Chaplin’s Modern Times or Orwell’s Big Brother? Do modern forms referred to as “knowledge organizations” and “knowledge economies” bear promise of progress, freedom and justice, or do they in fact increase the degree of discipline and conformity? Does the increasing complexity of organizational configurations offer us the means to make society better, ensure more robust economies and more environmentally friendly technologies? At another level we may ask: What are the possibilities for change in the complex, organized society? Are we creating a society of “black boxes”, in the terminology of Bruno Latour, of interacting networks that rule our lives without us realizing, nor knowing how to change the state of affairs? The stakes are high.

We invite reflection on the interactions of organizational forms and the sort of society they create. The concern is broad and ambitious, and may embody a wide range of research questions. It is a theme that applies no less to business and economics than to political science and sociology. We invite organization researchers to take the time to reflect upon spheres beyond mere formal organizations, on how other modes of organizing interact in shaping contemporary society.