Call for Book Chapters: “Organizing Failure: Coupling Social (Infra)Structures and Personal Experiences” (no)
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Call for Book Chapters: “Organizing Failure: Coupling Social (Infra)Structures and Personal Experiences”
Editor: Martin Hájek, Charles University, Czechia
Publisher: Lexington Books / Rowman & Littlefield
Concept of the Book:The book aims to explore the social organization of failure by examining the interplay
between the social infrastructures of failure (procedures and narratives) and the subjective
experiences associated with them. Classical sociology associated modernity with specific
types of failure (e.g., Marx’s alienation, Durkheim’s anomie, Weber’s religious anxiety.), but
over the course of the twentieth century, failure as a research topic has been gradually
marginalized. Only now is a renewed scientific interest in the issue of failure in various areas
of society suddenly emerging and the importance of the topic is becoming widely recognized.
Noticeably, failure is viewed predominantly normatively—either critically, for example, as a
consequence of the promotion of neoliberal policies of individual responsibility, or favorably,
as an inevitable part of any success calling for the need to ‘learn to fail’.
In this book, we attempt to move beyond this current normative approach by focusing both
on the organizational routines through which failures and setbacks are recognized and
publicly ratified, i.e., structures and infrastructures of failure, and on people's experiences of
these structures.
Chapter Themes:
This book aims to cover different aspects of failure organization and experience. Specifically,
we target both profit-making and non-profit areas of human activity, e.g. start-ups, platform
work, environmental education or international development NGOs.
Proposed Structure of the Book:
? Conceptual framework for failure
? Organizing and experiencing failure in profit-driven organizations
? Organizing and experiencing failure in value-driven, non-profit organizations
? Failure in comparative perspective: differences and similarities across business and
NGOs
We are’re also open to other themes, particularly those that are under-researched areas of
social organization of failure. We invite submissions from emerging and established
researchers and encourage critical, creative, theoretical, conceptual, and empirical
contributions that engage with diverse inter and trans-disciplinary perspectives, including
sociology, organisational studies, social anthropology, ethnography, cultural studies and
interdisciplinary social science.
Key Dates and Publication Schedule:
? 31/10/2023 - Deadline for chapters’ abstracts
? 15/11/2023 - Decision on abstracts
? 31/1/2024 - Deadline for extended abstracts
? 30/4/2024 - Deadline for chapters
? 31/5/2024 - Decision on chapters
? 31/7/2024 - Deadline for revised versions of chapters
? 30/9/2024 - Book submission to the publisher
Final chapters will be 6,000 – 8,000 words, including endnotes, using APA style.
To contribute to this book, please submit the abstract (300 – 500 words) along with a brief biography to the editor, Dr. Martin Hájek, at martin.hajek@fsv.cuni.cz by October 31, 2023.
For further queries, please feel free to contact the editor of the book.
Contact information: Dr. Martin Hájek, Associate Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Social
Sciences, Charles University, Czechia, https://cuni.academia.edu/MartinHajek,
email: martin.hajek@fsv.cuni.cz
Dr. Martin Hájek,