Jonathan H. Turner defines a societal system as a geo-political-cultural unit that organizes the actions of, and transactions among, members of a population in space, and over time. These systems have evolved throughout human history and have been influenced by different factors, including conflicts, wars, religion, and culture, for example. However, since industrialization, the pace of societal evolution has accelerated to the extent that we can consider that our societies and human relationships have become evanescent.

Two clarifications should be made in advance. First, when we speak of social evolution, we are referring to the social changes that, based on previous social aspects, have been taking place. In this sense, the evolutionary perspective that we assume, accepts the convergence between the theory of evolution and sociological theories, but does not reject any approach that analyzes social change. In this sense, we follow the approach established by Jonathan H. Turner in his trilogy "Theoretical Principles of Sociology".

Second, the idea of social evanescence is also reminiscent of concepts such as Risk Society, Liquid Society, among many others. It is necessary to analyze our own evolution to try to detect which elements will allow a certain sustainability of the social system. Recent global events and crises have presented significant challenges. The SARS-Cov-2 epidemic, the environmental crisis, internet insecurity, the increase in mental health problems, among many others, have fractured confidence in our future. Can we generate strategies or mechanisms that favor social sustainability? What alternatives do we have?

Sociological theories and biosocial research offer insights into answering such questions. The phenomenon of care is a fundamental element for analyzing social sustainability. Hence, currents such as phenomenology or the hermeneutics of care can provide a great deal of information in this regard. Furthermore, ethics plays a vital role in regulating social behavior, with consequentialism, virtue ethics, epistemic injustice, or deontology, among many others, relevant to elucidating such aspects. Likewise, education is a necessary and indispensable element in social evolution, and its role in this evolution must not be left aside.

In short, from a pluralistic and interdisciplinary lens, this Research Topic aims to enrich our current understanding of the evolution of our societal system in the social sciences. As such, we are interested in work of a social nature that is concerned with analyzing people, collectives, and institutions in relation to societal evolution, with the aim of achieving a more sustainable social system. We invite submissions that analyze the evolution and sustainability of contemporary societal systems and encourage research that investigates changes that have occurred during the 20th and 21st century.

Some topics related to this Research Topic (although not an exhaustive list) could include the following:
- Qualitative studies on societal evolution.
- Theoretical studies on the intersection of biology and sociology from an evolutionary perspective.
- Ethics in relation to social transformations.
- Analysis of co-evolutionary processes among societies and education.
- Studies of the development of equity studies according to the dynamics of social change.
- Evolution of society in relation to social care.

Our definition of social evolution is broad, encompassing the progress, development, and change of societal systems over time, and we are excited to bring together work that pushes the boundaries of our understanding of this topic.

References:
Turner, J.H. (2010). Theoretical Principles of Sociology, Volume 1: Macrodynamics. New York: Springer.
Turner, J.H. (2010). Theoretical Principles of Sociology, Volume 2: Microdynamics. New York: Springer.
Turner, J.H (2012). Theoretical Principles of Sociology, Volume 1: Mesodynamics. New York: Springer.
Turner, J. and Machalek, R. (2018). The New Evolutionary Sociology: Recent and Revitalized Theoretical and Methodological Approaches. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351173889

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