População e Sociedade no. 36

The Unpredictability of New Variables in the Framework of Social Organization

Coordinators

Maria Ortelinda Barros Gonçalves

Paulo Cunha

Maria Beatriz Rocha-Trindade

With globalization, the pandemic periods that occurred in the context of international migrations, we learned to live with diversity in a perspective of enrichment. However, it is necessary to develop a greater understanding and acquire a deeper knowledge of the changes that have taken place in society for the construction of processes in various domains that promote equal opportunities, which lead to greater social well-being. Capturing this diversity constitutes one of the most important missions of contemporary research. In such a peculiar moment as the one in which we live, we are faced with a diverse universe of situations that, despite being identified, are still extremely worrying. The different faces assumed worldwide by refugee situations and the asymmetry of economic power and the health status of populations motivate the urgency and intensification of understanding of this global phenomenon.

The framework that frames the established powers, both nationally and internationally, and everything that is developed at the level of civil society, through organizations that act for specific purposes, gain preponderance. In addition to the issues addressed, which traditionally focused interest on stages related to the life cycle (gender, age, health, work, leisure, etc.), new variables are added that, as they are unpredictable, raise many other questions. The difficulty of predicting the social evolution and the determinations resulting from the political, economic or sanitary differences that occur and are verified, whatever the reasons that facilitate or block the mobility in terms of the routing of people, place them before tragedies, personalized by human lives.

It is in this context that this thematic dossier was organized, with articles dealing with several of the dimensions that fall within the scope of the “Unpredictability of New Variables in the Framework of Social Organization”.

In the Varia section, two articles are also covered. The first deals with the role of the Associação de Classe dos Industriais de Padarias do Porto during the Crisis of Subsistence as a result of the First World War, and the other promotes a reflection on the understanding of the historical path of the Country and the representations built about the its destiny in the context of nations.