The Chinese Sociological Review invites papers for a special issue on the theme ““Aging in Context: The Life Course, Neighborhoods, and Social Networks.” The issue will be dedicated to advancing theoretical and empirical discussions at the intersection of sociology and social gerontology, with a particular focus on Chinese societies. Editors are also interested in studies that adopt a global and comparative perspective or offer multi-disciplinary approaches. Research that employs innovative social science methods is preferred. Submissions should combine robust empirical methodologies with sociological theory to deepen our understanding of individual aging, population dynamics, and social inequalities. The abstract deadline is March 15, 2025, with full-length papers due on July 31, 2025. Full information about this special issue, including topic of interest, can be found here.
Research in the Sociology of Work invites papers for the upcoming special issue on the theme “Work, Rest, and Play: Examining Work and Labour Relations in Arts, Sports, and Entertainment.” Papers should explore any topic related to work in the fields of arts, entertainment, or sport and may be empirical or conceptual papers. The deadline has been extended to March 15, 2025. To read the complete call for papers, including a list of possible topics, visit the website.
Frontiers in Reproductive Healthcare seeks submissions of original research for the Research Topic "Bridging the Gap: Improving Reproductive Healthcare for Patients with Disabilities." The goal of this Research Topic is to tackle the complexities and challenges posed by ableism and systemic inequalities in order to foster the development of inclusive healthcare models that are sensitive to the unique needs of patients with disabilities. Research that investigates the effectiveness of various interventions, explores the intersectionality of disability with gender and sexuality, and offers solutions to improve educational practices among healthcare providers is particularly encouraged. The manuscript submission deadline is April 7, 2025. For more information, visit the website.
European Sociological Review invites submissions for the special issue “Education and Social Mobility: Celebrating Richard Breen’s Contribution to Sociology.” Editors welcome original theoretically driven empirical research papers that advance the understanding of education and social mobility. While especially interested in studies that directly engage with themes central to Breen's work, editors also encourage contributions from the broader fields of social stratification and mobility, demography, or sociological methodology. The submission deadline is June 15, 2025. For more information, click here.
The 2025 International Society for Justice Research biennial conference will take place on the theme “Justice at the Intersections” in Seattle, June 30-July 3, 2025. The organizers seek papers, posters, and panels for all justice-related work that explore justice processes across various contexts, emphasizing the intersecting impacts of racism, sexism, environmental degradation, colonialism, and violent conflict on marginalized communities. Visit the website for details. The deadline for submission is March 1, 2025.
The Twenty-Fifth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations will be held on the theme “Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity: Navigating Intercultural Leadership” on June 11-13, 2025, in Cyprus and online. It seeks papers on the following topics: identity and belonging; education and learning in worlds of differences; organizational diversity; and community diversity and governance. The deadline is March 11, 2025. For more information, visit the website.
The Power of Marxist Thought conference will be held at York University in Toronto, September 26–27, 2025, and aims to assess the impact and importance of Marxism in the context of the wider intellectual realm, and how central theory is to its very existence. It seeks papers by scholars from across disciplines, including but not limited to anthropology, economics, human geography, political science, social psychology, sociology and others. Papers should demonstrate the intellectual power of Marxist thought, especially in relation to the serious problems and issues facing humanity. Abstracts are due March 15, 2025. Read the full call for papers here.
The Sixteenth International Conference on Sport and Society will be held on the theme "Global Sports Local Cultures" on July 2-4, 2025, in Australia and online. It seeks papers on the following topics: sporting cultures and identities; sport and health; sports education; and sports management and commercialization. The submission deadline is April 2, 2025. For more information, visit the website.
The Thirty-Second International Conference on Learning will be held on the theme "Human Learning and Machine Learning—Challenges and Opportunities for Artificial Intelligence in Education" on July 8-10, 2025, in Granada, Spain and online. It seeks papers on the following topics: pedagogy and curriculum; assessment and evaluation; educational organization and leadership; early childhood learning; learning in higher education; adult, community, and professional learning; learner diversity and identities; technologies in learning; literacies learning; and science, mathematics, and technology learning. The deadline is April 8, 2025. For more information, visit the website.
The Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute will bring together promising early-career scholars (graduate students, postdocs, and faculty) for several weeks of serious interdisciplinary exploration. Those interested in the origins, nature, and future of intelligences—regardless of discipline—are invited to apply. The 2025 theme is “AI and the Natural World”—in other words, how AI can inform our understanding of living systems (e.g., animals, plants, ecosystems) and how living systems can inspire new directions in AI—but work does not need to connect with this theme. The program takes place in St. Andrews, Scotland, July 6-27, 2025. Application review begins March 1, 2025, and will continue until all spots are filled. Find out more on the website.
The Summer Institute on Longitudinal Data Analysis at the Methodology Center at Purdue is now accepting applications. The program will take place July 13–18, 2025, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. This intensive week-long program will offer in-depth training on publicly available longitudinal data sources and advanced longitudinal data analysis techniques. Applicants should have a strong background in quantitative methods but a need for additional training in longitudinal data analysis. We welcome applications from graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and industry researchers. Most selected attendees will receive tuition waivers and additional travel funds are available (if applicable). The application deadline is March 15, 2025. Read more on the website.
The Urban Ethnography Lab at the University of Texas at Austin is offering a four-day intensive workshop, covering various dimensions of ethnographic research methods and offering participants the chance to discuss their projects with Ethnography Lab faculty. The deadline to apply is April 23, 2025. Workshop information, including a detailed schedule, and the full call for applications are available on the website.
The History & Political Economy Project invites applications from PhD students and early-career scholars for our 2025 summer research grant. This program will support awardees to undertake research in summer 2025 on topics related to our mission to understand how neoliberalism has been developed, implemented, and contested around the world. Grants are $3,000-$4,000 each. The field of study is open, but methodologies and research questions should be explicitly historical. Eligible expenses include travel and accommodation costs for archival or other historical research work; digitization and transcription costs; hiring of local researchers; or similar activities. Applications are due March 9, 2025. For details, visit the website.
The Inaugural HBCU Prison Education Summit will take place April 4-6, 2025, at Bowie State University (MD). The summit’s theme, “Building the Prison-to-HBCU Pipeline,” focuses on expanding higher education access for justice-impacted individuals and strengthening HBCU-led prison education initiatives. Through workshops, panels, and networking opportunities, the program aims to mobilize sociologists, educators, and policymakers to address systemic inequalities in education and incarceration. Find out more about the summit here.
The 10th Biennial Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy will be hosted by Georgia Tech and provide a forum to present and discuss high quality empirical research by about 300 scholars representing more than 30 countries that focus on the challenges and trends associated with science and innovation policy and processes. Spanning two and a half days—May 14-16, 2025—the conference will include plenary sessions reflecting different facets of the science and innovation system, presentations of well-developed empirical research, and an early career poster session. Find out more on the website.
Sandra L. Barnes, Brown University, had her documentary on religion, spirituality, and sexuality—Four Voices: Journeys—nominated for two Emmy Awards by the Nashville/Midsouth Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Documentary- Cultural and Writer-Long Form Content).
Annabel Ipsen, University of Oklahoma, received an American Association of University Women Fellowship for 2024-25.
Shaul Kelner, Vanderbilt University, received the 74th National Jewish Book Award: American Jewish Studies Celebrate 350 Award for their book A Cold War Exodus: How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews (NYU Press 2024).
Prema Kurien, Syracuse University, has been named the Daicoff Faculty Scholar at the Maxwell School in recognition of overall excellence in research and teaching. She received an honorable mention for the 2024 Social Science Caucus Paper Award (Association for Asian American Studies) for her article “The Racial Paradigm and Dalit Anti-Caste Activism in the U.S.” (Social Problems, 2023. 70(3): 717-734). She also received the Jack Shand Research Grant (2024–2026) from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion for her project “When Hindu Nationalism Shapes U.S. Politics.”
Joshua Lew McDermott, Southeastern Louisiana University, received a Fulbright Grant to conduct research on college-educated informal workers in Sierra Leone.
Hatim Rahman, Northwestern University, received the 2024 John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association “for outstanding contributions to research that address industrial relations/employment problems of international significance, among early career scholars who received their PhD within the past 10 years.”
César F. Rosado Marzán, University of Iowa, received a University of Iowa "Books Ends" grant to organize a workshop focused on his manuscript, tentatively titled A Baseline of Decency: The Moral Economy of Alt-Labor and Worker Centers.
Andrew A. Beveridge, Queens College and Graduate Center, The City University of New York (Retired), was quoted in the January 22, 2025, article "Trump and Republicans Aim to Update Census for Political Advantage" in TIME.
Ruth Braunstein, University of Connecticut, was quoted in the January 30, 2025, article "'Load the Muskets': An Emergent Catholic Right's Hopes for The White House to the Vatican" in USA Today.
Victor Tan Chen, Virginia Commonwealth University, was a guest on the January 24, 2025, episode of With Good Reason titled "Precarious Work" and on the January 26, 2025, episode of Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien titled “Improving the Labor Market for Workers.”
Michael Dreiling, University of Oregon, was quoted in the February 10, 2025, article "'A Chilling Effect': UO Students Rally Against Code-of-Conduct, Free Speech Policies" in the Eugene Register-Guard.
Barry Eidlin, McGill University, authored the January 27, 2025, article "Why the Union Hate, Amazon? What’s Really Behind the Closing of Quebec Operations" in The Globe and Mail.
Nora Gross, Barnard College, was interviewed about her book, Brothers in Grief: The Hidden Toll of Gun Violence on Black Boys and Their Schools (University of Chicago Press 2024), for the December 23, 2024, article “‘Brothers in Grief’ Explores the Toll of Gun Violence on Philadelphia Youth” in the Trace and had her book featured in the January 13, 2025, podcast on the New Books Network.
Brooke Harrington, Dartmouth College, was quoted in the January 16, 2025, article "As Biden Warns of an 'Oligarchy,' Trump Will Be Flanked by Tech Billionaires at His Inauguration" from the Associated Press.
Grace Kao, Yale University, authored the February 18, 2025, opinion piece "US Blocks Words, Targets Sociology, Society" in the Korea Herald.
Brian James McCabe, Georgetown University was quoted in the February 3, 2025, article "With Home Prices and Mortgage Rates High, Many Families Find the American Dream Out of Reach" from the Associated Press.
Caleb Scoville, Tufts University, was quoted in the January 24, 2025, article "Here’s How a Tiny Fish Became Trump’s Favorite Weapon in His Crusade Against California" in the Sacramento Bee.
Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University, Civil Repair (Polity 2025).
Eitan Y. Alimi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Relation-Building and Contained Radicalization in the Gaza Pullout Campaign (Cambridge University Press 2024).
Babak Amini, University of British Columbia, The Making of Council Democracy: State Transformation and Radical Possibilities (Routledge 2025).
Natalie B. Aviles, University of Virginia, Science and Policy Innovation in the U.S. National Cancer Institute (Columbia University Press 2024).
Stephen R. Barnard, Butler University, Hacking Hybrid Media: Power and Practice in an Age of Manipulation (Oxford University Press 2024).
Thomas D. Beamish, University of California-Davis, After Tragedy Strikes: Why Claims of Trauma and Loss Promote Public Outrage and Foster Political Polarization (University of California Press 2024).
William I. Brustein, West Virginia University (Retired), Antisemitism Without Jews in Germany, France and the U.S.: Phantom Enemies (Palgrave Macmillan 2024).
Barbara H. Chasin, Montclair State University, Inequality and Violence in the United States: Casualties of Capitalism, 3rd Edition (Rowman and Littlefield 2025).
Matt Dawson, University of Glasgow, G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (Palgrave Macmillan 2024).
Margot Dazey, CNRS, Respectable Muslims: Morals and Manners of Minority Citizens in France (Cambridge University Press 2024).
Claire Laurier DeCoteau, University of Illinois-Chicago, Emergency: COVID-19 and the Uneven Valuation of Life (University of Chicago Press 2024).
Diana Graizbord, University of Georgia, Indicators of Democracy: The Politics and Promise of Evaluation Expertise in Mexico (Stanford University Press 2024).
Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Challenging Inequality: Variation across Postindustrial Societies (University of Chicago Press 2024).
David Jancsics, San Diego State University, Sociology of Corruption: Patterns of Illegal Association in Hungary (Cornell University Press 2024).
Shaul Kelner, Vanderbilt University, A Cold War Exodus: How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews (New York University Press 2024).
Yan Long, University of California-Berkeley, Authoritarian Absorption: The Transnational Remaking of Epidemic Politics in China (Oxford University Press 2024).
Michael A. McCarthy, University of California, Santa Cruz, The Master’s Tools: How Finance Wrecked Democracy (and a Radical Plan to Rebuild It) (Verso Books 2025).
Michael A. Messner, University of Southern California (Retired), The High School: Sports, Spirit, and Citizens, 1903-2024 (Rutgers University Press 2025).
Douglas L. Murray, Colorado State University (Retired), We Can Change the World: Tales from a Generation’s Quest for Peace and Justice (Ideas into Books Westview 2024).
Ingrid A. Nelson, Bowdoin College, Yet Another Costume Party Debacle: Why Racial Ignorance Persists on Elite College Campuses (University of Chicago Press 2024).
Shiri Noy, Denison University, Project Management for Researchers: A Practical, Stress-Free Guide to Getting Organized (University of Michigan Press 2024).
Francesca Polletta and Edwin Amenta, University of California-Irvine, Changing Minds: Social Movements’ Cultural Impacts (Russell Sage Foundation 2025).
Hatim Rahman, Northwestern University, Inside the Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control Workers (University of California Press 2024).
Michael Ryan, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and Helen M. Rizzo, American University in Cairo, Eds., Sexuality in the Middle East and North Africa: Contemporary Issues and Challenges (Syracuse University Press 2024).
Ofer Sharone, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, The Stigma Trap: College Educated, Experienced, and Long-Term Unemployed (Oxford University Press 2024).
Chana Teeger, London School of Economics, Distancing the Past: Racism as History in South African Schools (Columbia University Press 2024).
Jacquelien van Stekelenburg, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and Bert Klandermans, VU University (Retired), A Social Psychology of Protest: Individuals in Action (Cambridge University Press 2023).
Tongyu Wu, Zhejiang University, Play to Submission: Gaming Capitalism in a Tech Firm (Temple University Press 2024).
1948-2025
On January 4, 2025, the Sociology and Anthropology Department and Providence College lost an esteemed and talented colleague and administrator. Lena joined the department as an assistant professor of sociology in September 1974. A graduate of Notre Dame University in Indiana and the University of Connecticut where he earned his doctorate in sociology, Lena became a valued teacher, colleague, and friend to many during his years as a full-time faculty member, rising to the rank of professor of sociology during his teaching career.
A gentle man and balanced thinker, Lena routinely impressed colleagues with his thoughtful comments during department meetings or when asked for his opinion during conversations with colleagues both inside and outside the department. He always greeted others on campus with a smile and his full attention.
Lena developed a routine of arriving very early on campus, even before colleagues who taught 8:30 a.m. classes. One day, just after the sun rose, he was chased by a coyote in the parking lot! He loved Providence College (PC) and teaching his students. In addition to Introduction to Sociology, Lena developed and taught the courses Sociology of Organizations and Sociology of Medicine on a regular basis. In addition to teaching PC undergraduates, Lena also taught nursing students from nearby Fatima Hospital in North Providence.
Lena also made many contributions outside of the Sociology and Anthropology Department, primarily through his work on college committees and in the Faculty Senate. As a Faculty Senate member, and later as its president, Lena was always the person who could remember past legislation.
In 2004, Lena was appointed Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. Subsequently, he was appointed as the first, and longest-serving Provost at Providence College. Hugh retired as Provost Emerita in 2020 and spent two years involved in a leadership program at his beloved Alma Mater, Notre Dame. Upon his return to Rhode Island, Lena was seen from time to time on campus where he enjoyed interacting with former colleagues in the Emeriti Suite and going for lunch at nearby restaurants with other retired faculty.
Lena will be missed by his colleagues in the Sociology and Anthropology Department and by many other members of the Providence College community.
Eric Hirsch and Josephine Ruggiero (Emeritus), Providence College
1948-2024
Robert Zussman died from lung cancer on November 27, 2024, at his home in Northampton, MA. He engaged many of us in sociology, whether as friend, teacher, editor, interrogator, or intellectual assailant. With his wit and keen powers of observation, he forced us to think about the world around us, which is never quite as it seems. His sociological imagination was vivid and relentless.
After receiving his PhD from Columbia University in 1982, Zussman taught there for five years. He taught at SUNY Stony Brook, 1987-1997, after which he moved to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where his wife Naomi Gerstel had been teaching for 20 years. He retired in 2014.
Zussman was the author and editor of several books. He authored the prize-winning Mechanics of the Middle Class: Work and Politics Among American Engineers (University of California Press 1985), about the political views of engineers, and Intensive Care: Medical Ethics and the Medical Profession (University of Chicago Press 1994), on ethical dilemmas and decisions in intensive care units, as well as several articles on what he called “autobiographical occasions,” when people are called upon to sum up their lives and accomplishments. He coedited Narrative Sociology (Vanderbilt University Press 2019) with Leslie Irvine and Jennifer Pierce and Public Sociology: Fifteen Eminent Sociologists Debate Politics and the Profession in the Twenty-first Century (University of California Press 2007) with Dan Clawson, Joya Misra, Naomi Gerstel, Randall Stokes, Douglas L. Anderton, and Michael Burawoy.
As a lifelong Yankees fan, it is fitting that Zussman’s last book, Yankelytics (self-published), a combination of memoir, social science, and statistics, was published online just before his death. For better or worse, he lived long enough to see the Yankees’ “worst inning ever,” in the fifth and final game of the 2024 World Series.
Zussman was an active member of the American Sociological Association as well as the Eastern Sociological Society, for which he served as president from 2011-2012. He was a member and chair of the ASA Publications Committee, 2009-2012, and, along with several University of Massachusetts colleagues, edited the ASA Rose Series in Sociology monographs for five years. Outside the ASA, he was editor of Qualitative Sociology, 1999-2004, providing close guidance and editing to many grateful authors. He was unusually generous in the unsung role of manuscript reviewer; Christine Williams wrote to me, “Receiving a review from Robert is like having the very best dinner party conversation: provocative, challenging, and fun. I laugh when I read his reviews! He brought humanity to an inhumane process. Robert taught many of us how to be better writers and better reviewers, and in this unsung way, vastly improved sociology.”
Zussman was not an easy-going, affable type (he liked “curmudgeonly”), so friendship with him felt precious and profound. He was always honest, sometimes awkwardly so. He was calm and gentle, even if his arguments managed to perturb others. He took nothing for granted.
He was keen on the limits of social scientific methods. “Beware of small sample sizes” was one of his favorite aphorisms, although he also saw the potential arrogance of large samples. “It depends” was another of his go-to observations that for him summed up sociology.
Zussman loved to travel and brought a characteristically quirky approach to it. He loved going far away, the more flights required the better, especially if frequent flyer miles were involved. He treasured beaches with cows on them; he liked saying “Chiang Mai” and “Hampi.” Domestic travel was a means to embrace weird popular culture; he loved amusement parks, circus museums, the Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta, and the mermaids of Weeki Wachee (Florida). His favorite ride at Disneyworld was Spiderman, and he could never resist greasy, all-you-can-eat buffets.
After years of worsening COPD, Zussman was diagnosed with lung cancer in late May 2024. The mass was already large, and doctors told him he had a few days to a few weeks to live. Never one to take doctors’ opinions as the final word, he survived, albeit bedridden, for another five months. His concise last words: “Enough said.”
James M. Jasper (Emeritus), Graduate Center of the City University of New York
