Max Weber and Émile Durkheim are two of the most important classical authors in the social sciences. The influence of their respective theories and methodological approaches is still seen in the work of many contemporary authors. This article presents some contributions of the authors to qualitative and quantitative research. For this, we discuss Weber’s qualitative research in the work Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism and Durkheim’s quantitative research in Suicide: A Sociological Study. We are interested in showing how the authors use methodological and epistemological constructs to produce a sociological analysis with interpretative and causal scopes on social phenomena.

This study chronicles the major discovery of textual evidence about the eastward diffusion of two major world religions, Christianity and Manichaeism, along the Silk Road, and their eventual arrival in Tang China. It begins with the well-known discovery of the Xi’an Monument (once called the Nestorian Monument) in the seventeenth century and the controversy it stirred up in European scholarship because it was a relic of the (Christian) Church of the East. The study then focuses on discoveries of both Christian and Manichaean material made at the eastern end of the Silk Road, especially at Kaochang (medieval Qočo) and Dunhuang, which authenticated the Monument and inaugurated the study of the history of these two religions in pre-Modern China. The final part of the study chronicles the survival of these two Near-Eastern religions in China and asks whether our knowledge of Christianity in China under the Mongols contributes to the ongoing debate on the historicity of Marco Polo’s visit to China proper.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has, over almost 35 years, developed into a model for effecting science-led governance for global environmental change. However, on the back of the sixth Assessment Report, and with preparations underway for the seventh, the IPCC arguably faces an identity crisis. With many inside and outside the IPCC perceiving a persistent disconnect between this immense scientific enterprise and meaningful political action, some argue the IPCC is failing to fulfil its social contract. At this important juncture, which could have implications for other spheres of global governance, a pilot study was conducted, interviewing IPCC authors about how they perceive the IPCC’s social contract has evolved according to the interplay of key elements that IPCC members draw on to define the organization’s identity and authority. Building on a long history of critical social science about the IPCC, this study found that authors discussed a weave of identity elements, which were categorized under three headings: (i) task identification and interpretation; (ii) mode of operation; and (iii) shifting key concerns. As scoping exercises ramp up for the seventh Assessment Report, IPCC leadership will need to be mindful of how groups inside and outside the IPCC are re-crafting the identity and authority of the organization.

This article explores the ‘moral turn’ in contemporary sociological theory, positioning it as a response to the global crisis of democracy and the erosion of civil society. I argue that beyond institutional (or ‘hard’) democracy, the sustainability of democratic life depends on the moral fabric – or ‘moral space’ – that underpins civil society, constituted by values such as trust, reciprocity, solidarity and justice. As populism and authoritarianism gain traction globally, these moral underpinnings are increasingly threatened. Against this backdrop, contemporary sociological theorists are returning to foundational moral questions, not by imposing normative codes, but by uncovering value systems embedded in social practices and human interactions. This article examines this shift through three major theorists, who respectively advocate for a cosmopolitan morality grounded in empathy and tolerance toward diversity, promote a gift paradigm emphasizing reciprocity as a basis for convivial social life, and identify moral injury and misrecognition as key drivers of social struggle and transformation. Ultimately, the moral turn reflects the renewed ethical responsibility of social scientists to act as public intellectuals, restoring the normative vision of a just and democratic society from within sociological inquiry itself.

The first comprehensive history of World Literature to be published in English was Literature: A World History (4 vols, 2022). As an editor-contributor of this work, I here examine in retrospect the decisions we collectively took about basic structural issues such as periodization, division of the world into six macro-regions, their proportional representation, and the multi-tier process of writing, editing and coordination. In the process, I point out several aspects of our project that in my view did not go as well as they could have, and conclude by acclaiming nonetheless the undoubted success of our pioneering endeavour.

In much of its history from the nineteenth century to the last decade of the twentieth, comparative literature remained largely Eurocentric, and surveys or histories of the world’s literatures were mostly written by Western scholars from a West-centred perspective. Literature: A World History (LAWH) took the first step in writing a history of literature of the world from a non-Eurocentric point of view by having the voices of the world’s different traditions heard and by distributing the proper space to macro-regions more equally than ever before. That is the most significant contribution this long and arduous project made for a better understanding of the world’s literatures.

The decision to apply for EU membership has prompted significant legislative changes in Central and Eastern European countries, including Serbia. The focus on the single European market emphasizes the importance of product safety and quality. Establishing a National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) is crucial for good governance and fostering a favourable trade environment. This article aims to analyse how Serbian policymakers view quality infrastructure by examining parliamentary debates on four NQI laws, contributing to a better understanding of policy development in Serbia and similar countries in the region. Out of 266 parliamentary speeches at the joint hearings of NQI laws, 35 speeches of law proponents, ministers, and deputies were analysed in detail. The European solutions adopted in Serbia lacked sufficient critical evaluation of their applicability, leading to unjustified economic and social costs. The quality infrastructure laws were viewed merely as EU requirements, rather than essential measures with intrinsic value and relevance to Serbia.

The early development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the latter half of the twentieth century was marked by limited, hand-crafted systems and fluctuating perceptions of the field’s potential. Early research explored a range of paradigms – including symbolic, neural and probabilistic approaches – constrained by severe hardware and data limitations. Key technological advances, such as the invention of microchips, GPUs and later TPUs, significantly enhanced computational capacity, enabling more complex AI experimentation. Concurrently, the proliferation of digital data through the internet addressed longstanding bottlenecks in data availability. The most transformative shift, however, came from architectural innovations in neural networks, culminating in the deep learning revolution. This unfolded in two phases: the emergence of Recurrent and Convolutional Neural Networks, followed by the development of transformer-based models, which underpin today’s Large Language Models (LLMs).

Cities play a crucial role in green transformation and need strategies to address environmental, social and cultural issues. This article explores how Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) contribute to strengthening urban resilience, restoring biodiversity, improving air and water quality, and adapting to climate change. The integration of natural solutions with renewable energy systems and circular economy strategies reduces greenhouse gas emissions, enhances energy efficiency, strengthens resource resilience, and supports public health and economic stability. Important EU initiatives such as the Mission ‘100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities’, the Mission ‘Adaptation to Climate Change’, and the New European Bauhaus, provide a framework for integrating sustainability, inclusiveness and aesthetics into urban development. Technological concepts such as Digital Twins and Building Information Modelling help to adapt these innovations to local contexts. Examples of European cities (such as Barcelona Super Block, Aspern Smart City, Rotterdam hydrogen-fuel transport, etc.) clearly demonstrate benefits such as reduced emissions, increased biodiversity, and improved quality of life. This article underscores the role of interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation labs, and creative funding in advancing inclusive, climate-resilient urban transformation across Europe.

This article offers a view of the prospects of nuclear fusion as a sustainable energy source, with a focus on magnetic confinement fusion and tokamaks. It highlights the key theme of integration and presents the EUROfusion programme as a model for coordinated fusion R&D in Europe while stressing the need for public–private partnerships to bridge the gap between laboratory innovation and industrial implementation. A crucial element is human capital development, i.e. the training of a new, diverse generation of scientists, engineers, and technicians. A broader educational effort is called for, with industry–academia collaboration, hands-on training, and mechanisms to retain and transfer knowledge from legacy projects such as JET.

When Johann Wolfgang von Goethe coined the term ‘world literature’ (Weltliteratur) in 1831, he made it clear that this epoch had begun in his time and, like every epoch, would come to an end. This article is about the end of that epoch and the future of comparative literature in an era after the end of world literature. It is easy to see that we are now living in the era of world literatures. In a world in which, at first sight, literature counts for less and less, it must emphasize its unique selling point: it is the only form of human discourse that has actively expanded the realm of knowledge over several millennia. Only comparative literature, which draws on the most diverse literatures of the world, is able to bring this uniqueness into focus and highlight its social relevance.

This study analyses the evolution of body mass index (BMI) as income increases across the population, controlling for age, sex, educational level, marital status and some lifestyle habits. To this end, a quantile regression, an econometric technique that readjusts the weights of the variables in each quantile to minimize deviations, has been carried out, where the variable that orders the sample is income. We use 316,777 observations from the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) for these regressions. This approach allows us to separate the regression analyses for low-, middle-, and high-income groups, evidence that as individual income increases, BMI tends to rise. Consequently, individuals with higher incomes exhibit higher BMI levels. Additionally, the estimated parameters for explanatory variables increase with income, signifying that wealthier individuals not only have a greater likelihood of increased BMI but also that socio-economic factors influencing BMI – whether positively or negatively – evince a stronger impact as income levels rise.

This study, focused on the Czech Republic, examines the influence of ethnic nationalism on the public willingness to accept war refugees from countries with different cultural and religious backgrounds. We present evidence relating to forced migration from Ukraine (predominantly Christian) and from countries with predominantly Muslim populations. The theoretical-conceptual framework for our study encompasses the concepts of ethnicity and historical institutionalism, and the theory of social identity. Our theoretical analysis is strengthened by evidence from structured and semi-structured interviews. We find that ethnic nationalism does contribute in part to public rejection of migrants with different ethnic or religious backgrounds in the Czech Republic, as one of several factors that encourage a perceived ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dichotomy among certain sectors of the Czech population.

This article explores the concept of the ‘Trump effect’, defined by a technological disconnection and evaluated through alterations in export specialization among various economies. It scrutinizes if there were any shifts in the techno-nationalist trends of the EU, China and the US in terms of domestic value-added exports in technology sectors after 2017. The research covers the period from 1995 to 2020 and utilizes a fluctuating difference-in-differences approach. The findings suggest that technological global value chains (GVCs) were minimally affected by Trump’s policies, showing scant evidence of significant disconnection in the economies under study. Consequently, the research underscores the robustness of GVCs against the measures taken by the Trump administration.

While the previous studies of the world history of literature are mostly concerned with the cross-cultural dissemination of literature, this article intends to analyse the intermediality of world literature in light of intermedial studies. It argues that the cross-cultural transmissions of literature are often entangled with and empowered by the intermedial interactions between literature and different forms of art. Under the theoretical framework of cross-cultural and intermedial studies, two representative Chinese literary works are discussed at length, namely Mulan ci (The Ballad of Mulan, sixth century) and Hong gaoliang (Red Sorghum, 1987). In addition to a careful analysis of their respective history of overseas transmissions, a comparative study of the two, an ancient poem and a modern novel, is carried out to show how the evolution of media has contributed to the cross-cultural transmissions of literature.

This article aims to explore the social representations of the Spanish Second Republic and the Transition epochs among university students of various national identities within the Spanish state. A free-association exercise elicited by the words ‘Second Republic’ and ‘Transition’ was completed by 477 university students of the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, and Madrid, who were also asked about their national identity ideological orientation. Lexical analysis was used to analyse their responses. The results demonstrate how these two periods are strongly anchored in the ideological affiliations and social identity of the participants. Furthermore, we observed that the Spanish identity and right-wing ideology were related to a narrative crafted by the political elites during the inception of the current democratic period. Meanwhile, the peripheral national identities and left-wing ideology were associated with a contentious narrative that responds to the contested narrative. In addition, the results also reveal the current relevance of these two periods through their symbols and transmission, whose senses and meanings differ based on the ideological affiliation and national identity of the participants.