U-turn 2021. Signposts to a new social contract

Book launch

During the past two years, UCSIA has researched the impact of the pandemic on local and international social structures through the U-turn webinar series. Several experts from academia and civil society organizations were invited to reflect upon the societal problems brought forward by the pandemic. Those analyses, ideas and reflections are now brought together in U-turn 2021.Wegwijzers naar een nieuw sociaal contract (ASP Editions, 2022).

The central question in the book is: ‘how do we move toward a more just society in post-corona times?’. The first chapter therefore returns to the philosophical roots of the social contract. Following, in parts two and three, the authors try to learn from the recent crisis: how can we pay more attention to people on the margins? Which strategies, instruments, methods can we use in the pursuit of more social justice, here but also outside Europe?

For the book launch of U-turn 2021, we present the content to three critical readers: Bart Engelen (Assistant Professor Social Philosophy, Tilburg University), Yasmien Naciri (Scientific assistant USOS) and Els Hertogen (Director 11.11.11.). How do they, on the basis of their own expertise, evaluate these signposts to a new social contract?