01-09-2006
28-02-2010
In Portugal, as in other European countries, the production of social cohesion appears to be a central issue, and it is in the name of this social cohesion that a set of policies has been developed that have generally translated into a discursive valorisation of the local as a device for reducing social conflict. Mediation has thus emerged as an issue around which consensus tends to be generated, without it being possible to affirm a consensus between the societal projects it shapes. In reality, it is possible to discern a more security-orientated and socially reproductive perspective and another that, while claiming the purpose of deepening the exercise of citizenship, above all praises its transformative potential in recreating social relations and deepening participatory democracy. This project falls into the second perspective.
It is accepted that the crisis of the Welfare State in Portuguese society and the consequent breakdown of socio-legal macro-regulation mechanisms took place in a social context where the ‘delay’ in consolidating these mechanisms contributed to the preservation of ‘localised’ and ‘community’ forms of conflict management, and seeks to understand and deepen their social and cognitive potential.
The empirical work will, therefore, focus on case studies in the five areas covered by the project: educational, organisational, legal, environmental and social. From a technical point of view, we will preferably use direct observation studies combined with an analysis of the narratives of the main protagonists in the cases studied. This intensive research work will be combined with more extensive work to characterise the institutions and professional figures who are likely to be consistently involved in mediation practices. This empirical research will be combined with a study of the social policies developed over the last 10 years and a characterisation of the cognitive instruments used both in defining these policies and in producing intelligibility for new social issues.
Focussing on an area where the production of new intelligibilities of the social cannot be dissociated from the ways of intervening in the field, the research system is articulated with a postgraduate training system and intervention in the field, to ensure the social relevance of the knowledge produced. In this way, as well as emphasising the interdisciplinarity of the issues under study, the research work tends to be regulated by mechanisms that promote its articulation with the field of training and social intervention. It, therefore involves researchers from the fields of Education, Law, Psychology, Sociology, International Relations, Human Resources Management and Social Work, and establishes a partnership with an institution that develops and accredits training in this field.
Project Members:
FPCEUP Ariana Maria de Almeida Matos Cosme
FPCEUP Celina Paula Manita Santos
FPCEUP Henrique Malheiro Vaz
FPCEUP João Carlos Pereira Caramelo
FPCEUP Jorge Nuno Negreiros de Carvalho
FPCEUP José Alberto de Azevedo e Vasconcelos Correia
FPCEUP Manuel Santos e Matos
FPCEUP Paulo José Vieira Nogueira
FPCEUP Rui Eduardo Trindade Fernandes
FPCEUP Tiago Guedes Barbosa do Nascimento Neveshh
FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
POCI/CED/56626/2004
CIIE/Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto
Associação de Mediadores de Conflitos - Portugal