8th Session of the Immanuel Wallerstein Free Lecture Series with Göran Therborn
Social sciences in a lawless world
By Göran Therborn*
The Free Chair invites you to participate in its eighth session, entitled “The social sciences in a lawless world” , led by Göran Therborn , from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
The event will feature commentary from Esteban Torres , director of the Chair and a leading figure at the National University of Córdoba, and Rommy Morales-Olivares , from the University of Barcelona (UB Spain).
Activity data
📅 Date: 18 Friday of September of 2026
🕒 Time: 15:00 PM Argentina | 20:00 PM Germany, Sweden and Spain
💻 Modality: Interactive
📡 Broadcast: via YouTube, through the channel @FCSUNC
🗣️ Language: Conference in English, with Spanish subtitles.
The activity is organized by the Immanuel Wallerstein Free Chair , with the support of CLACSO, the Institute of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (IEALC), the Institut für Sozialforschung (IfS) and the Faculty of Social Sciences of the National University of Córdoba.
The proposal invites students, teachers, researchers and all people interested in contemporary debates in the social sciences to participate in this meeting.
The 21st-century world is becoming a global version of the American Wild West: a lawless world largely ruled by the strongest and fastest killers. What does this mean for the social sciences, which arose from the discovery and study of social and economic systems and regularities? As social order disintegrates, social reality becomes increasingly planetary and risky, dependent on and interacting with the planet, demanding collective planetary action from humanity. The simultaneity of global sociopolitical disorder and the planetary crisis of climate change and environmental degradation constitutes the central problem of our time. Why is the world's social order being destroyed, and who is responsible? What are the main elements of this current lawless world? What is the culture of this lawlessness? The opposite of the dominant culture is Planetary Enlightenment. Are there limits to the power of violence and wealth? Do they have an end? What can social scientists do in a situation that moves to the rhythm of tyrants' whims?
Göran Therborn is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Associate Professor of Sociology at Linnaeus University, Sweden. He is one of the world's most prestigious sociologists of recent decades. This prestige is built upon a vast body of work, comprising hundreds of texts, focused on researching the processes of social change worldwide, as well as on the theoretical, critical, and historical review of the main intellectual traditions of the Western world. Since March 2010, Göran Therborn has been a member of the UK Academy of Social Sciences. Between 1989 and 1991, he served as the sole representative of the Social Sciences on the Advisory Council of the Swedish Government's Ministry of Research. From 1996 to 2007, he was Co-Director of the Swedish College for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences. He has received numerous awards throughout his extensive career. Among his many achievements are numerous honorary doctorates from prestigious universities worldwide, including the National University of Córdoba, which bestowed upon him its highest honor in 2024. It is also worth noting that in 2017, the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), a member of the Wallerstein Chair, awarded him the Latin American and Caribbean Prize for Social Sciences, its highest distinction. Since 2025, Göran Therborn has co-directed the Global Sociology collection at De Gruyter Brill Publishers with Esteban Torres.
More information: https://sociales.unc.edu.ar/content/8-sesi-nc-tedra-libre-immanuel-wallerstein-con-g-ran-therborn
