Contemplative Social Research. Caring for Self, Being, and Lifeworld.

Contemplative scholars from Europe and North America, and from a variety of social science disciplines, have contributed to this book. Their work extends and broadens the social and human sciences, pushing the boundaries between disciplines and cultures. Our aim is to give voice to an existent array of research and practices that have in common a contemplative vision within a social and human science approach. From the traditions of wisdom, whether religious or philosophical, we have inherited a legacy that can be pragmatically translated in secular terms to address the quest for meaning expressed in the current age by post-modern humans. We hope to contribute to the construction of a new paradigm of contemplative social sciences that can be grounded in an embodied and non individualistic model of knowledge. No single discipline can deal with vital emergent issues such as the consequences of climate change, growing social inequalities, or extraordinary opportunities to modify and create life artificially, as well as the social impact of new digital technologies. We propose a transdisciplinary approach, intended in its wider sense, across the academy and beyond it. This volume intends to contribute to what has been called the “Great Transition” in world societies. The term originally referred to the changes occurring with dramatic speed and impact in the environment resulting from climate change, and the necessity of modifying our behavior and lifestyles to reverse the process. After the 2007-8 financial crisis, it assumed a wider meaning: scholars from across the social and human sciences disciplines concluded that underneath the economic crisis of 2007-8 and 2012 lies a structural and cultural crisis and the search for new forms of social order. An irreversible change in our social and economic system also emanates from the technological revolution: a new society and economy in which traditional hierarchical organizations are made obsolete by new networked peer-to-peer organizations. Contemplative social sciences are intended to help us be aware of our pre-judgmental attitudes and to have a more open-minded approach for the benefit of all. Contemplative social sciences place these processes at the core of their inquiry: a wise and pragmatic methodology to develop and nurture a fresh approach to social interactions.