2007 Annual Meeting | Plenary Sessions | American Sociological Association

The meeting theme this year, Is Another World Possible: Sociological Perspectives on Contemporary Politics, and the 2007 Program Committee’s preoccupation with reform led to the planning of a series of sessions which assess the potential for progressive social change both in the United States and the world.

The 102nd Annual Meeting opens on the evening of August 10 with a presentation by Ricardo Lagos, the former president of Chile, who played a major role in the Allende government and as president oversaw a peaceful transition to democracy. On August 11, the first full day of program sessions, a mid-day plenary session looks at paths toward progressive reform in the world system, and that evening a special plenary considers popular culture as propaganda.

ASA President Frances Fox Piven will present her Presidential Address on the afternoon of August 12, in conjunction with the ASA Awards Ceremony. All attendees are invited to this plenary session and to the Honorary Reception afterwards to honor President Piven and the 2007 award recipients.

On August 13, the mid-day plenary focuses attention on the potential for democratic rebirth in the U.S., and in the evening, Barbara Ehrenreich and Congressman John Conyers pursue this theme in a dialogue about immediate prospects for change in American politics.

Complete listings of each plenary session appear below.

Democratic Transition: The Example of Chile
Friday, August 10, 7:00 – 8:45 PM [Details]

Organizers: Susan Eckstein, Boston University; and
                    Frances Fox Piven, City University of New
                    York

Presider: Frances Fox Piven, City University of New
                York

Introduction: Alejandro Portes, Princeton University

Speaker: Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile

Ricardo Lagos played a central role in the tumultuous events that defined Chilean history for the past three decades, from the rise and overthrow of the government of Salvador Allende, through the bitter years of military dictatorship, followed by the successful establishment of a social-democratic government under the leadership of Lagos, and continuing under the presidency of Michelle Bachelet. What distinguished the Lagos period, and recommends it for scrutiny and perhaps for emulation, is the relatively peaceful transition under his leadership from the brutal Pinochet regime to the current Chilean democracy.

For more information about this session and Ricardo Lagos, view the following article published in ASA Footnotes (February 2007): “Without Yesterday There Is No Tomorrow”: Ricardo Lagos and Chile’s Democratic Transition by Peter Winn, Tufts University

Competing Paths to Another World: Strategies and Visions
Saturday, August 11, 12:30 – 2:15 PM [Details]

Organizer and Presider: Fred Block, University of California,
                                       Davis

Panel: Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University,
           Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary General
                for Economic Development, United Nations
           Naomi Klein, Canadian journalist and author of No Logo

This year’s theme asks the question, “Is Another World Possible?” The pressing issue is whether there are realistic alternatives to the recent trajectory of economic globalization with its destructive environmental and human impacts. The three speakers on this plenary, coming from distinct institutional and geopolitical locations, will offer their differing answers to this important question. The session should provide a fruitful dialogue on what that other world should look like and the best strategies for producing significant global change.

For more information about this session and the speakers, view the following article published in ASA Footnotes (April 2007): How Do We Get to Another World? by Fred Block, University of California, Davis

Popular Culture as Propaganda and Critique
Saturday, August 11, 8:00 – 9:45 PM [Details]

Organizer: Bonnie Thornton Dill, University of Maryland

Presider: Herman Gray, University of California, Santa Cruz

Panel: S. Craig Watkins, University of Texas, Austin
           Sara Banet-Weiser, University of Southern California
           Daphne Brooks, Princeton University
           Byron Hurt, documentary filmmaker and violence
                prevention activist
           Jeff Chang, hip-hop journalist and author

Popular and commercial cultures have long been important sites of cultural conflict, where ideas about social relations are persuasively embedded and in constant negotiation with critiques of such ideas. As globalism spreads, the intellectual formulations, political stakes, and popular investments about the extent to which popular and commercial cultures can serve as a force for progressive social change also increases. For example, there is considerable debate around popular culture’s capacity to address issues of inequality within a capitalist economic structure, where the ability to disseminate ideas and ideologies is so tightly bound to economic resources. At the same time, debates continue about the politics of popular and commercial culture and the salience of some of its symbols to both critique and serve the values and ideologies of those in power. Given the economic and political underpinnings in contemporary America, panelists will explore the limitations, challenges, and possibilities of critique in the popular and commercial culture arena as well as its use and mobilization for understanding contemporary social life. The plenary will be presented in the form of a moderated conversation.

ASA Awards Ceremony and Presidential Address
Sunday, August 12, 4:30-6:15 PM [Details]

Presider: Bonnie Thornton Dill, University of Maryland

Moment of Remembrance

Award Ceremony

Presider: Bruce Western, Princeton University

2007 Dissertation Award
2007 Jessie Bernard Award
2007 Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award
2007 Award for Public Understanding of Sociology
2007 Excellence in the Reporting of Social Issues
2007 Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology
2007 Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award
2007 Distinguished Book Award
2007 W.E.B. Dubois Award for Distinguished Scholarship

Presidential Address

Presider: Bonnie Thornton Dill, University of Maryland

Presidential Address: Frances Fox Piven, Graduate Center,
City University of New York

The Erosion and Rebirth of American Democracy
Monday, August 13, 12:30 – 2:15 PM [Details]

Organizer: Magali Sarfatti Larson, Temple University

Presider: Frances Fox Piven, City University of New York

Panel: Joel Rogers, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange
Patricia Williams, Columbia Law School

The corruption of American democracy, as well as its rebirth, has deep structural and cultural causes. In a situation of entrenched and growing economic and social inequality, the cultural trends are so deep that they may well constitute cognitive structures. Moreover, the American electoral system has been corrupted by the injection of tremendous amounts of money into the campaigns; in many respects, it has always been un-democratic by its very structure and regulations. The role of money is closely linked to the importance of television and the latter, in turn, to another danger for democracy: the weakening of a free press through economic dependency and self-censorship. Thus, the corruption of democracy is centered on three intertwined factors: Money, Media and Manipulation. The speakers will make a cogent diagnosis of the corruption of American democracy and identify the points of resistance to the lethal risks to which it is exposed.

For more information about this session and the speakers, view the following article published in ASA Footnotes (March 2007): The Erosion and Rebirth of American Democracy by Magali Sarfatti Larson, Temple University

The Future of American Politics
Monday, August 13, 8:00 – 9:30 PM [Details]

Organizer: Frances Fox Piven, City University of New York

Presider: Peter Dreier, Occidental College

Speakers: Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Michigan)
Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bait and Switch and
Nickel and Dimed

This evening plenary is a dialogue on the next steps in American politics, in the Congress, and in the movements, featuring John Conyers, veteran member of Congress, stalwart and courageous progressive, and now chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Barbara Ehrenreich, pundit and humorist, and author of the best-seller Nickled and Dimed, and the much praised Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy.