CFP - Social Constitution through Affectivity. Phenomenological Perspectives

Call for papers

Social Constitution through Affectivity. Phenomenological Perspectives 

Editors: Rosario Croce, Alessandra Fussi, Sara Rocca

In the last few decades, the nature of collective and social experiences has become a central concern of many phenomenologists. As has been shown, classical phenomenologists (such as Husserl, Walther, Scheler, Stein, Reinach, and many others) have left a rich theoretical legacy on topics such as social cognition, collective intentionality, and the different kinds of we-experiences (see Szanto & Moran, 2016; Salice & Schmid, 2016; De Vecchi, 2014, 2022; Zahavi, 2025). Building upon this, the political dimension of the phenomenological discourse (see Herrmann et al., 2024) has been rediscovered, thus opening up new paths for future research in the field.

What has remained somewhat in the background of these discussions, however, is the set of questions about what Husserl called ‘the constitution of the spiritual world’—a world meant as both personal and social at the same time.  To speak of social constitution is to ask how the social world comes to have its particular sense and validity for us. Furthermore, it means asking how it is built up through a variety of human experiences and interactions (e.g., empathy, social acts, forms of shared experiences), sedimenting into enduring and even stable practices and social arrangements. The notion of constitution is particularly relevant as it is a methodological concept that underwent several reinterpretations—think of Schutz’s (1967) ‘Aufbau’ or the later development as ‘construction’ by Berger & Luckmann (1967)—as well as important critiques—as in the case of Merleau-Ponty’s (2003) replacement of this notion with that of ‘institution.’ Moreover, social constitution and construction have been major issues in social ontology outside phenomenology as well (see Searle, 1995; Haslanger, 2012).

Now, while the problem of social constitution has certainly been crossed in recent literature, it has never been directly addressed as a theme on its own—with a few exceptions (see Steinbock, 1995; Wehrle, 2013). In particular, what appears to be lacking in the literature is a thorough examination of how the affective, temporal, and bodily dimensions of experience contribute to the constitution of the social and are, in turn, shaped by this very process (Zahavi 2025 has begun to move in this direction).

This special issue aims to address this broad theme from a specific perspective: the role that emotions and affective experiences play in such constitutive processes, and how experiential and affective dynamics shape collective identities, collective memories, and historical traditions, as well as norms and institutions.  In this way, the volume will serve the purpose to ‘think otherwise’—in Ricœur’s words—about the most fundamental experiential structures involved in the social constitution of our world, thus bringing into view how the body, time, and affectivity dynamically interact in shaping the collective dimensions of experience and lifeworld, and, in turn, how the communal sphere acts back upon them.

The volume will build on the burgeoning phenomenological research of recent years on embodied affectivity (Depraz, 1995; Fuchs, 2024) as well as collective (see Scheler, 1954; Stein, 1964, 2000; Scheve et al., 2014; Krueger, 2015; Zahavi, 2025) and political emotions (see Szanto & Landweer, 2020; Osler & Szanto, 2021). Furthermore, it aims to establish a dialogue with the interdisciplinary agenda of the Affective societies research group (see Slaby & Scheve, 2019; Slaby et al., 2025), which emphasizes how emotions shape our social and political life across different contexts, from political communication and engagement with voters to social media and environmental crises—to mention just a few.

Importantly, these dimensions are closely intertwined with technology, which will also constitute a major concern of this volume. In this regard, another key aspect to be explored involves the bioethical implications of a phenomenology of the social world—particularly, how it raises questions about human well-being and flourishing as well as about the mediating role of technology in health care and caregiving support (Boublil & Ferrarello, 2023).

The special issue invites contributions addressing, among others, the following axes of inquiry, which can be investigated either through the lens of relevant phenomenologists or in a more systematic fashion, or combining the two approaches:

• The phenomenological notion of constitution and its various interpretations within the phenomenological tradition. Particularly, how this concept varies when applied to culture and social life as well as how it relates to similar debates in contemporary philosophy more broadly (e.g., social constructivism, social categories).
• The relationship between different levels of temporality, from individual to collective ones. How are collective forms of temporality to be conceptualized vis-à-vis the sophisticated mechanisms of individual inner-time consciousness? In which ways are individual temporal experiences intertwined or synchronized with others’ in an intersubjective context?
• The role of the bodily dimension at the collective level. What is the role of embodiment in constituting a shared temporal space in the form of interbodily resonance? How does the bodily dimension contribute to shaping temporal attunement and intersubjective synchronization?
• The relation between time and history. How does the problem of time-consciousness connect with the emergence of what is commonly understood as ‘history’, or historical heritage and memory? And what is precisely the connection between collective experiences and historicity as a fundamental structure of human existence?
• The role of affectivity in social constitution and collective dynamics. The value of an in-depth study of affectivity in the broader framework of the studies on social constitution and generative phenomenology. How does affectivity contribute to the birth of shared spaces of sense, communities, and traditions? What role does it play in keeping social norms and institutions alive? And how, in turn, can given social arrangements impact and mould affective experiences in individuals and communities?
• Thematic investigations about specific emotions relevant to social constitution and to political experiences, such as anger, resentment, fear, collective excitement, etc.
• The relation between collective emotions and notions such as affective spaces and atmospheres. How do environmental conditions influence emotional experience and cognition? What role do they play in political contexts? How do they shape shared memories and group identities, and serve to orient communal action?
• Affectivity and technology. Given the increasing and pervasive role of digital environments and practices in shaping and igniting human affectivity, what role does this technological mediation play in social constitution processes?
• Affectivity, vulnerability, and care. What is the relevance of affectivity in shaping world-experience and intersubjective experience in sensitive and vulnerable contexts, such as healthcare or mother-child relationships?
• Affectivity and (bio-)ethics. How do affectively grounded shared experiences bear on ethical values and moral obligations? In what ways do shared standards on emotions such as mutual empathy, respect, and compassion contribute to the ethical reinforcement of communities or to moral progress? How can phenomenology contribute to current debates in bioethics, especially in making sense of contexts of illness and dependency on others, where emotional attunement and responsiveness become key?
• The relationship between self-formation and affective societies. How is the self constituted and transformed through its emotional engagements in social contexts? What role do affective bonds, attachments, and shared moods play in shaping personal identity, self-understanding, and agency? How, in turn, do social norms and collective emotions contribute to the sedimentation of habitual affective patterns that form the background of self-experience?

Confirmed contributors

Jeffrey A. Barash, Professor Emeritus (University of Amiens)

Susi Ferrarello, Associate Professor (California State University)

Michael R. Kelly, Associate Professor (University of San Diego)

Alice Pugliese, Associate Professor (Università degli Studi di Palermo)

Submissions must be prepared for double-blind review. Manuscripts – in .doc format – should not contain any identifying information and they cannot exceed 6000 words (references included). Manuscripts must be written in English. Moreover, they must contain:

-        an abstract of no more than 150 words;

-        4/5 keywords;

For stylistic details, see:

https://www.rosenbergesellier.it/eng/journals/phenomenology-and-mind/editorial-norms

Submissions should be sent via the Phenomenology and Mind website by March 20th 2026.

Authors should register here and then log in to submit their papers. Please, make sure to submit your paper to the section “Social Constitution through Affectivity”.

For further information, please contact Rosario Croce (rosario.croce@sns.it), Alessandra Fussi (alessandra.fussi@unipi.it) and/or Sara Rocca (sara.rocca@phd.unipi.it).

Important dates

Deadline for submissions: March 20th, 2026.

Publication of the special issue: December 2026.

 

References

Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Allen Lane (Penguin).

Boublil, E., & Ferrarello, S. (Eds). (2023). The Vulnerability of the Human World: Well-being, Health, Technology and the Environment (Vol. 148). Springer.

De Vecchi, F. (2014). Three Types of Heterotropic Intentionality. A Taxonomy in Social Ontology. In A. Konzelmann Ziv & H. B. Schmid (Eds.), Institutions, Emotions, and Groups. Springer.

De Vecchi, F. (2022). La società in persona. Ontologia sociale qualitativa. Il Mulino.

Depraz, N. (1995). Transcendance et incarnation: Le statut de l’intersubjectivité comme altérité à soi chez Husserl. Vrin.

Fuchs, T. (2024). Verkörperte Gefühle: Zur Phänomenologie von Affektivität und Interaffektivität. Ein neues Grundlagenwerk zur Phänomenologie der Gefühle. Suhrkamp Verlag.

Haslanger, S. (2012). Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique. Oxford University Press.

Herrmann, S., Thonhauser, G., Baratella, N., Loidolt, S., & Matzner, T. (Eds). (2024). The Routledge Handbook of Political Phenomenology. Routledge.

Krueger, J. (2015). The Affective ‘We’: Self-Regulation and Shared Emotions. In T. Szanto & D. Moran (Eds), Phenomenology of Sociality: Discovering the ?We? (pp. 263–277). Routledge.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (2003). L’institution/La passivité. Notes de cours au Collège de France (1954-1955) (C. Lefort, Ed.). Éditions Belin.

Osler, L., & Szanto, T. (2021). Political emotions and political atmospheres. In Atmospheres and Shared Emotions. Routledge.

Salice, A., & Schmid, B. (Eds). (2016). The Phenomenological Approach to Social Reality: History, Concepts, Problems (Vol. 6). Springer.

Scheler, M. (1954). The nature of sympathy. Routledge.

Scheve, C. von, Salmela, M., Scheve, C. von, & Salmela, M. (Eds). (2014). Collective Emotions. Oxford University Press.

Schutz, A. (1967). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Northwestern University Press.

Searle, J. R. (1995). The Construction of Social Reality. Simon and Schuster.

Slaby, J., & Scheve, C. von. (2019). Affective Societies: Key Concepts. Routledge.

Slaby, J., Scheve, C. V., Blickstein, T., & Aronson, P. (2025). The New Key Concepts in Affective Societies. Routledge.

Stein, E. (1964), On the Problem of Empathy. Springer.

Stein, E. (2000), Individual and Community. In E. Stein, Philosophy of Psychology and the Humanities (pp. 129-294). ICS Publications.

Steinbock, A. J. (1995). Home and Beyond: Generative Phenomenology after Husserl. Northwestern University Press.

Szanto, T., & Landweer, H. (2020). The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology of Emotion. Routledge.

Szanto, T., & Moran, D. (Eds). (2016). Phenomenology of Sociality: Discovering the ‘We’. Routledge.

Wehrle, M. (2013). Konstitution des Sozialen oder soziale Konstitution? Gemeinschaftshabitualität als Voraussetzung und Grenze sozialer Erfahrung. Phänomenologische Forschungen, 301–317.

Zahavi, D. (2025). Being We: Phenomenological Contributions to Social Ontology. Oxford University Press.