Author: NickW

CALL FOR PAPERS! In a world of vertiginous inequality, escalating ecological disaster, and extraordinary political and economic turbulence generated by a winner take all society seemingly designed to concentrate privilege and power in the hands of a very few, the central question that faces sociology is whether social protest will change anything or whether elites will continue to lead the planet and its population to disaster. All the important topics of contemporary sociology, including racial justice, environmental change, immigration, economic inequality, and education, to name a few, turn around this issue. The question of the power of elites, and the conditions under which that power might be tamed, happened to lie at the heart of the historical sociology of Richard Lachmann, who died tragically and suddenly this Fall. In his honor, we solicit papers that address the issues of elite and nonelite influences on political and social processes and outcomes. We welcome both theoretical and empirical papers. Submissions could be, for example, reprises of elite theory, critical summaries, critiques, discussions of class versus elite power, developments of alternatives (i.e., nonelite influences, people power), empirical evaluations of the relative power of elites and nonelites, or concrete investigations into the processes that maintain and undermine that power. Possible topics include the origins of capitalism, empires, elites and contemporary capitalism, social movements and elite conflict, and popular culture and influencers. Abstracts are due to Rebecca Jean Emigh (emigh@soc.ucla.edu) and Dylan Riley on January 28^th, 2022 and should be no longer than 500 words. We are collecting papers with an eye to publishing them as an edited volume for a major university press.

Fatma Muge Gocek writes with a talk of interest to CHAT’s members at UM’s “Sociologists in Action” group:

We are very lucky to have the wonderful Ricarda (Rici) Hammer on campus — she is a Weiser PostDoc here[…]Since Rici’s work is very cutting edge, I asked her to discuss two of her articles with us:  
     One appeared in Sociological Theory in 2020, is entitled “Decolonizing the Civil Sphere: The Politics of Difference, Imperial Erasures, and Theorizing from History” and is attached. 
     The other is written with Jose Itzigsohn (whom we had before on SIA) and is entitled: “The Racial Structure of Sociological Thought: Colonial Modernity in Historical Sociology” and is also attached.
Once again, this reading group brings together those sociologists interested in the post/de colonial critical perspective that explicitly identifies taking action for social justice and liberation as one of the fundamental premises of sociology, hence the name of the reading group, “Sociologists in Action.”

The zoom invite is here:

Topic: SIA Meeting
Time: Oct 28, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://umich.zoom.us/j/99377320305

Meeting ID: 993 7732 0305
Passcode: 557465

Isaac Reed writes to publicize a postdoctoral fellowship at UVA:

Rising Scholar Postdoctoral Fellowship, Political & Social Thought and Sociology

Review of applications will begin April 12, 2021.

In conjunction with the Rising Scholars Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Mellon Foundation, the UVA Department of Sociology, together with the Distinguished Major in Political & Social Thought, seeks to appoint a Postdoctoral Fellow in the study of Race and Racism, Social Theory, and Political Philosophy. We seek a rising scholar whose research and teaching are interdisciplinary in nature, and touch on one or more of the following: historical sociology, political theory, intellectual history, histories of the Black Atlantic, race and power, modernity and racialization. The successful candidate will be affiliated with the Sociology Department, and participate in course training and syllabus development for, and teaching in, the Political and Social Thought major. More information about the PST major can be found here: https://pst.as.virginia.edu/ Candidates who received (or will receive) their Ph.D. degree between August 24, 2019 and August 24, 2021 are eligible to apply. Information about the Rising Scholars Postdoctoral Fellows Program, including instructions for submitting an application, can be found here: https://graduate.as.virginia.edu/rising-scholars. 

Please contact Isaac Ariail Reed, Professor of Sociology (iar2c@virginia.edu) and Michael J. Smith, Thomas C. Sorenson Professor of Political and Social Thought and Associate Professor of Politics (mjs9t@virginia.edu) with any questions. 

Over at The Conversation, Ashley Rubin explores the irony of high COVID-19 rates in prisons. She writes:

Jails and prisons often lack basic hygiene products, have minimal health care services and are overcrowded. Social distancing is nearly impossible except in solitary confinement, but that poses its own dangers to mental and physical health.

As a prison scholar, I recognize a sad irony in this public health problem: The United States’ very first prisons were actually designed to avoid the spread of infectious disease.

A new book series has been launched for historical sociology with Cambridge University.  The editors are Stephanie Mudge (UC Davis) and Anthony Chen (Northwestern University).

At The Hill, Shai M. Dromi compares the events of January 6th, 2021 to historical moments of political instability. He concludes:

Instead, the narrative could focus on the American public’s almost unanimous rejection of violent solutions to democratic challenges and the remarkable energy with which Congress returned to counting the electoral votes. Making this a story of triumph, rather than trauma, will bolster faith in democracy for generations to come.

At scatterplot, Zach Griffen situates COVID-driven suspensions of standardized testing in the longer history of testing and education. He concludes:

At every level of the U.S. education system, standardized testing plays a prominent role in organizational decision-making in ways that affect both diversity and status, and in many cases also affect the content of education (only sometimes by design). There are huge economies built up around nearly every individual test that involve tutoring, prep textbooks, and proctoring. To be sure, the coronavirus will be (indeed, already is) a catastrophe for education. Jobs will be lost, inequalities will be exacerbated in new and frightening ways, and learning will suffer. But we can also use this as an opportunity to think about and prepare for education’s future and our role in it: to reflect on what should change or stay the same, which forms of assessment we need and which we don’t. To ask ourselves: at this point in time, in the midst of a pandemic and facing an uncertain economic future, what is the purpose of education, and how should we measure our success in achieving that purpose? These are questions that academics are going to be asked a lot going forward. We should probably get started on our test prep.

At insidephilanthropy.com, Shai M. Dromi analyzes the spread of and public health response to COVID-19 in Africa by comparing it to the Ebola epidemic:

One of the most important lessons from the Ebola epidemic was that the additional stress on local healthcare facilities came at the expense of treatment for patients suffering from other diseases—in particular, chronic ones like HIV. The CDC estimates that more than 10,000 lives were lost during the epidemic to other diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. As hospitals overflowed with Ebola patients and healthcare workers succumbed themselves to the disease, little funding or working hands were available to treat those diseases. Philanthropists wanting to make an effective intervention during COVID-19 should turn to one of the most commonly neglected aspects of epidemic interventions: continuing healthcare for all medical conditions and supporting the local healthcare systems in affected countries. Not only will this strategy help patients in need during the pandemic, it will also help the country sustain its independent healthcare sector in the long run.