Workshop on the History of SCOS

The first SCOS conference was held in Exeter 25 years ago and what is happening now is the future of that first conference. It no doubt seems strange to modern researchers that, in the early 1980s the ‘proper’ way to do research was to emulate the natural sciences, but for the ‘modern’ researchers of that period there was an obvious need for a forum outside the mainstream, where a more ‘revolutionary’ approach to knowledge production could flourish. This is what SCOS provided, and very successfully too. In light of the theme of the 2007 conference it seems appropriate to ask the question: ‘Is now the future that was envisaged by the pioneers of SCOS?’

This suggests a number of subsidiary questions. For example:

-- What has SCOS achieved, if anything, in terms of its original ambitions?
-- Can any such ‘achievements’ be seen as completed, and therefore no longer active, or do they need to be retained as projects for SCOS?
-- Are there new projects? If there are, are these different, in substance and/or in style, to those that motivated the early SCOS network, or are they more properly seen as ‘mature’ versions of the old ones?
-- The ‘OS’ in SCOS stands for Organisational Symbolism, which was a fundamental element in the early days, but which seems generally taken-for-granted now. Is that significant? Does it matter?
-- It can be argued that functionalism is still the dominant mode in our field and there is, indeed, a ‘functionalist symbolism’. Given that functionalism is the handmaiden of capitalism, and given the ability of capitalism to incorporate opposition, where has, and will, and could, and should, SCOS stand in relation to this tendency?
-- What, if anything, made SCOS ‘different’, and is it still ‘different’, compared to other research networks?

To address these, and other, questions we are inviting early SCOS contributors and others to participate in a symposium (possibly in its original Greek sense!) to reflect on the original future of SCOS made present and the prospects for its future yet to come.

For further details, to participate, or if you have any suggestions, feel free to contact Pippa Carter or Norman Jackson (carterjackson@carterjackson.karoo.co.uk)