Special Sessions

Anti-Blackness Beyond U.S. and European Narrative I: Organizations, Institutions, and Immigration Policies

This panel features scholarship that explores the features and consequences of anti-Blackness outside of a Western context. Past research has largely focused on anti-Blackness within the U.S. and Europe, partially as a consequence of the centrality of European institutions and people in promoting the dehumanization of African-descended people through the institution of chattel slavery. However, despite the extensive research on anti-Blackness, approaches to race from transnational and global perspectives, particularly beyond Western contexts, have been relatively understudied. This represents a severe blind spot within the sociology of race and ethnicity, especially given that different societies often have unique contours of racial inequality and meaning. This panel welcomes scholarship on blackness and its various manifestations across Latin America and the Asia-Pacific, anti-Black policies and practices that adversely affect those in the new Black diaspora, and theories of antiblackness and its implications beyond a Western context. We encourage researchers from all empirical and theoretical traditions who focus on institutions and contemporary immigration/integration policies and their connections to blackness, broadly conceived.

Anti-Blackness Beyond U.S. and European Narratives II: Culture and Media

It has been widely argued that Black popular culture is the foundation of almost all American popular culture. From the earliest periods of mass culture – when Blues, Jazz, and the Harlem Renaissance loomed large – to the contemporary era, many of the most notable American cultural exports have drawn inspiration from various corners of the US Black community. With technological advances and the expansion of global capital, Black culture has transcended national borders to become a global symbol of urban youth culture in virtually every corner of the world. However, despite the global influence of Black culture in entertainment and media over the past few decades, anti-Blackness and the dehumanization of Black people remain pervasive. Black culture is often consumed or appropriated within these systems – with or without the presence of Black people – and whiteness is often constructed as the antithesis of blackness. What does it mean when such ideas travel freely and transform rapidly in countries without broad acknowledgement of the troubling history behind them? This panel invites papers that explore various forms of anti-Blackness and the racialization of Black culture and people within culture and media in understudied regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Rather than focusing on anti-Blackness and racism through the conventional Black–white dichotomy dominating the field that emphasizes U.S. and European discourses, we seek contributions from scholars who engage with these issues through theoretical frameworks and empirical data that move beyond traditional understandings.

Bridging Scholarship and Struggle: The Long Arc of Community-Engaged Sociology

Community-engaged scholarship (CES), that is, research conducted in deep collaboration with communities striving for social justice, offers a powerful alternative to extractive or top-down approaches to social inquiry. Grounded in collaboration, accountability, and shared purpose, CES positions sociologists as co-creators of knowledge and agents of change. Though historically undervalued in the discipline, this approach has deep roots in American Sociology and is gaining renewed recognition, as reflected in the ASA Council’s recent adoption of guidelines for including community-engaged scholarship in tenure and promotion cases. Building on this momentum, this session examines how CES is reshaping the field by advancing equity-oriented research, democratizing knowledge production, and strengthening communities’ capacities to challenge systemic oppression. Panelists will highlight action-based research that links sociological inquiry to transformative equity-oriented policy and institutional change. The session aligns with the annual meeting’s theme of solutions-oriented sociology that responds to the pressing challenges facing both the academy and democracy at large.

Cross-Institutional Perspectives on Drug Testing and Bodily Surveillance 

Drug testing has become a standard practice in virtually every institutional field, including criminal justice, healthcare, employment, education, athletics, family and social services, and public benefits/welfare. Yet, despite its widespread use and significant potential consequences, very little research has systematically examined drug testing as a social practice that cuts across traditional institutional boundaries. This panel brings together researchers examining drug testing and other intimate forms of biochemical surveillance to facilitate a conversation about the cross-institutional dynamics of these shared technologies and practices. Presentations will address the institutional histories, practices, organizational and material configurations, subjects, scientific and technological dynamics, industry/markets, and/or consequences of drug testing in various institutional fields and, in particular, those using cross-institutional approaches and perspectives.

Data for the Public

As the world becomes increasingly data-driven, the role of public access to data grows ever more critical. The session “Data for the Public” seeks to delve into the opportunities and challenges associated with democratizing data access for societal benefit.

This session will explore how sociologists can contribute to making data more accessible and understandable to the public, empowering individuals and communities to participate in informed decision-making processes. Discussions will cover the ethical considerations of data transparency, the development of open data platforms, and the role of public sociology in interpreting complex datasets for broader audiences.

Attendees will gain valuable insights from case studies showcasing successful public data initiatives and collaborative efforts between sociologists, policymakers, and community organizations. Participants will also discuss best practices for ensuring data equity and fostering a culture of data literacy, ultimately aiming to enhance public engagement and trust in data-driven insights.

Join us to examine how sociologists can effectively bridge the gap between data and the public, ensuring that data serves as a powerful tool for social empowerment and positive change.

Denial, Carcerality, Feeling: The Structure of Anti-transgender Politics             

This talk presents a “social autopsy” of the current backlash against transgender rights in the United States. It traces the move from a politics defined by transphobia to a state of transantagonism, from fear and discomfort with gender diversity, to outrage and social violence against transgender people. This move is defined by four discrete social transitions. Drawing from work by sociologists, philosophers, psychologists and legal theorists, we outline the normative, factual, carcereal and affective aims of today’s anti-gender politics.

Emotions, Recognition, Symbolic Politics and Support for the Radical Right

This panel brings together experts who are studying the emotional appeal of the radical right in various contexts and from different disciplinary perspectives. A myriad of emotions have been linked to this phenomenon, including nostalgia, racial resentment, loss of status, humiliation, feeling displaced, and deservingness. Affective polarization happens on the left and the right, while many stay away from politics because they associate it with toxicity, drama, corruption, and fear. Participants will provide a brief diagnostic before exchanging about the kinds of interventions that social scientists can make as we face the mounting influence of the radical right.

Enhancing Social Connection and Cognition to Improve Mental Health 

Diminished social connections and cognitive functioning are both cause and consequence of serious mental illness. Whether reflecting abuse, neglect, trauma, social stigma, or neurological conditions, diminished social connections and cognitive functioning increase the risk of developing serious mental illness and decrease the odds of recovery. These challenges are the primary cause of diminished community functioning for people diagnosed with schizophrenia and major depression, rather than the psychotic and affective symptoms that are, respectively, their diagnostic hallmarks. Nor do the psychotropic medications prescribed for these diagnoses help to restore social and cognitive functioning. Instead, randomized clinical trials have identified interventions that engage participants in social activities and cognitive exercises as the key to improving social and cognitive functioning. Each panelist presents related research from this sociological perspective. Laura Golden presents a qualitative analysis of participant experience in year-long psychosocial interventions involving weekly group sessions, drawing on intensive interviews of randomly selected participants within the first and last months of each group. Brea Perry presents research on the interrelated roles of personal social networks, biomarkers, social psychology, and social inequality in mental illness and substance use disorders. Dawn Robinson presents research on the production, conservation, and alteration of macro-level social structures during face-to-face interaction, using theories of identity and emotion that model the link between structure, culture, and individual social action and experience. Russell Schutt reviews process, outcomes, and theoretical implications from a cluster-randomized comparative effectiveness trial of two interventions that used structured group engagement and cognitive remediation to enhance social and community functioning among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses. Russell Schutt will serve as the session chair and Bernice Pescosolido as the discussant.

Far-Right Extremism Inside the Government  

The research in this panel explores the mechanisms and impacts of far-right infiltration of governmental institutions at both the national and local levels. It highlights how extremist ideologies, movements, and constituencies influence governments through overt and covert means. Direct infiltration occurs when individuals with far-right views secure positions of power or when far-right social movements form alliances with elected officials, enabling them to influence policy decisions from within. Indirect infiltration involves strategic efforts to sway public opinion and policy through external channels such as lobbying, think tanks, and media engagement. By examining cases from the U.S. and other countries, the panel provides a thorough analysis of how far-right ideologies are shaping contemporary governance. This reveals a troubling trend of democratic backsliding and legislative actions aimed at many aspects of citizens’ public and private lives, including family and childbirth, education and academic freedom, and undermining initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, the research in this panel demonstrates how far right governments and populists globally attack gender and sexuality as a primary playbook strategy to present a liberal/progressive left as dangerous or degenerate, winning voters by positioning the right as defenders of tradition, safety, and countering decadence. This panel will conclude with a discussion on policies and proactive measures to safeguard democratic institutions from extremist influences, ensuring that multi-racial democracy and gender equality persist in the 21st century.

From Central America to the United States: New Pathways and Patterns of Integration   

The past few years have witnessed new patterns of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border:  immigrants crossing the border are not only Mexicans but increasingly more from other Central American countries such as Guatemala, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, and Colombia.  What is also surprising is that there is a new trend of Chinese immigration to the United States via Central America.   This thematic session aims to addresses two questions.  First, what are the driving forces behind the new patterns of immigration from Central America to the United States? Second, what are the emerging patterns of integration and challenges for immigrants coming from Central America in the current political landscape?

Immigration and Higher Education in a Changing Political Landscape 

Hailed as the great equalizer and foundation of better social and economic opportunities for generations, access to higher education in the United States is becoming increasingly out of reach in the current fraught political environment for a growing number of immigrants. Immigrant students and their families face mounting challenges as a growing number of states limit access to in-state tuition, financial aid, visas, and even the ability to attend universities and colleges at all. These changes in the context of heightened immigration enforcement actions resulting from the federal executive order that rescinded the protected status of higher education campuses places undue burden on immigrant students. This panel will discuss the impacts of these changes and what supports could best protect and promote the success of immigrant students and faculty.

Measuring Labor Market Discrimination: Methodological Advances across Multiple Dimensions of Inequality

Discrimination in the labor market remains a major source of inequality across societies. Individuals may experience exclusion or disadvantage based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, health status, disability, or the intersection of these and other identities. Understanding how discrimination operates—and how it is perceived and reported—requires methodological innovation and theoretical sensitivity.

This session brings together research that investigates labor market discrimination using a variety of empirical strategies, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches. We particularly welcome contributions that explore how survey instruments, experimental designs, qualitative interviews, and digital ethnography can be used to capture both the prevalence and lived experience of discrimination.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

• Advances in survey-based measurement of employment discrimination;
• Experimental and audit studies simulating hiring, promotion, or workplace dynamics;
• The role of self-identification and categorization in shaping perceived discrimination;
• Longitudinal trends and evolving forms of labor market exclusion;
• Qualitative studies capturing the meanings and narratives of workplace discrimination;
• Digital ethnographies exploring bias and inequality in online labor platforms, recruitment systems, or professional networks.

By emphasizing methodological pluralism, this session seeks to foster a dialogue between researchers using diverse tools to investigate a shared concern: how discrimination shapes access to work, career trajectories, and economic opportunity.

Military Service and Reintegration into Civilian Life

Sociologists frequently examine group-specific life course outcomes. For example, individuals with military backgrounds experience overall trajectories different from the general population.  The relationship between military service and subsequent outcomes is complex.  While many veterans experience improvements (e.g., in wages and occupations), others face challenges, and the factors shaping civilian reintegration remain poorly understood. Due to recent data collection and integration efforts, social scientists can now conduct analyses at a completely different scale and with contemporary samples/respondents. The papers in this session will examine patterns related to a range of outcomes (health, family dynamics, educational, and occupational). To that end, this session showcases findings using a variety of secondary data sources (from e.g., Federal Statistical Research Data Centers), as well as original quantitative and qualitative data collection projects and analyses.

Race, Trust, and Education in Polarizing Times  

Trust is a crucial component of social life and has long been of interest to sociologists. Indeed, there is a substantial sociological literature on trust, with ongoing interest in how it is influenced by sociodemographic correlates and how it influences societies, institutions, organizations, health, politics, and other areas. However, sociological attention to trust in schools has waned in recent years. At a time when federal support for public education is dangerously low, trust in others continues to decline, and concerns about school quality, racial inequality, and access to high quality education for all are mounting, the lack of sociological studies on education and trust is both surprising and troubling. This panel brings together a diverse group of sociologists studying trust in schools and the relationship between education and trust to highlight the importance of these lines of inquiry and stimulate additional research in this area.

Reimagining the Future of Debt Relief    

This session will explore how scholars continue to reimagine solutions to the problem of debt. Over the past 50 years, household debt has increased dramatically and embedded itself in a wide range of likely and unlikely areas of social and public life, from consumer and student debt to carceral and work-related debt traps. In response to debts growing pervasiveness, several debt relief movements and solutions have emerged. These range from formalizing grassroots lending practices to debt cancellation and abolition. This panel features scholars committed to studying debt and debt relief who will take stock of the progress of these movements and solutions so far and share their visions for the future.

Research Funding Crises and the Future of the University

This panel explores the central questions facing universities and research sponsors at a time when long-standing relations of dependence between the academy, industry, and government are in crisis. Panelists will apply their expertise to explore everything from micro-level questions of how research collaborations are shifting to macro-level concerns about the changing role institutions play in shaping the political economy of research and development. In the process, the panel will consider what the future may hold for how universities balance their research activities with other dimensions of their mission, such as education, training, and employment.

Resisting Censorship: Perspectives on the Future of Sociological Pedagogy

On October 16, 1963, James Baldwin told a group of New York City educators: “We are in a revolutionary situation […] To any citizen of the world who figures himself (sic) as responsible—and particularly those of you who deal with the minds and hearts of young people—must be prepared to ‘go for broke.’ In this current moment, sociologists are enmeshed in another revolutionary situation – evidenced by the mounting and innumerable attacks on higher education as a site of both learning and what Harney and Moten call “study.” In solidarity with President Shelley J. Correll’s theme of “Disrupting the Status Quo: Putting Sociology to Work for a More Equitable Society,” this invited session brings together some of the discipline’s very best critical pedagogues for a critical and timely conversation about the role of teaching in a larger disciplinary effort towards not just imagining but creating a more just global society. Panelists will offer their experiential insights into how they contend with topics such as government censorship, campus and community activism, funding cuts, enrollment challenges, and more.

Sexualities and Liminal Spaces

Scholars offer different lenses articulating racial entanglements and sexuality, with a particular eye towards the liminal or overlapping spaces, locations, and/or identities that individuals or groups occupy in connection with sexuality. Topics explored include an intersectional history of prisons and prison experiences; the erotica of social difference and the ways identities are expressed through sexualities; liminal spaces in underground economies as sites for the development of community among Black queer women in the mid-twentieth century; and global and transnational thinking about the intersection of sexuality, race, and empire. When taken together, the conversations generated will point to ways interrelated histories can reshape our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality.

Targeted: Protecting and Defending Sociologists in Politicized Times       

In recent years, sociologists have increasingly found themselves at the center of political and ideological attacks. From smear campaigns to institutional pressure and public discrediting, scholars working on race, gender, inequality, climate, and social justice are frequently targeted by actors seeking to delegitimize their work and undermine trust in social science. These attacks have real consequences—not only for individual researchers’ safety, careers, and well-being, but also for the broader integrity and public value of sociology as a field. This session brings together scholars and advocates to examine political and cultural attacks on sociologists; the emotional, professional, and epistemic harms experienced by targeted individuals; the chilling effects on research, teaching, and public engagement; and most importantly, strategies for protection, resistance, and solidarity.

Technocracies: The Challenges and Opportunities of Tech Professionals on the Front Lines of Social Change 

Tech professionals wield unusual power to shape the lives and opportunity structure through their work. There is also little political appetite for regulation of tech advancements. In what ways do postindustrial societies resemble technocracies? What are the consequences of heading further in that direction? What are the risks, potential opportunities, and policy implications of having tech at the helm of changes in social life?

The Dangers of Defining Sociology Too Narrowly   

In a fraught socio-political environment of anti-DEI initiatives and efforts to restrict the teaching of sociology in particular states and locales, US-centric, narrow definitions of “sociology” tend to sideline more global, transnational, interdisciplinary, and feminist/queer perspectives. This panel will critically reflect on the potential dangers and harms of this tendency, including the field’s limited influence in shaping policies and public understanding and the marginalization of scholars who are taught that their research is not sufficiently sociological.

The Politics of Not-Knowing: Theorizing Denial and Ignorance in a Reactionary Age

In an era marked by intellectual repression, political backlash, and technological acceleration, the sociology of denial and ignorance offer vital tools for understanding how knowledge is ignored, resisted, distorted, or strategically obscured. This session brings together scholars examining the social production of not-knowing in a reactionary age – how institutions, ideologies, and technologies contribute to the active denial of inconvenient truths. From anti-critical race theory (CRT) legislation and the erasure of histories of inequality, to governments manufacturing uncertainty, to climate change denial and the delegitimization of science, theories of denial and ignorance help interrogate the forces shaping what is not known and why. The session aims to advance theoretical and empirical insights into how knowledge is policed, how ignorance is cultivated, how denial is produced and maintained, and how sociologists can critically engage with the contested boundaries of public understanding.

The Power of Story: Integrating Narrative into Sociological Research 

Sociological research often emphasizes data, metrics, and analysis—but stories are powerful tools for illuminating social realities and connecting with broader audiences. This panel features sociologists who are incorporating storytelling into their research to convey complexity, highlight lived experiences, and deepen public engagement. Panelists will discuss the role of narrative in qualitative and mixed-methods research, the ethical considerations of representing others’ stories, and strategies for balancing analytical rigor with compelling storytelling. The session invites reflection on how narrative can enhance the impact and accessibility of sociological work.

The Social Life of Not Knowing: Advancing a Sociology of Denial and Ignorance

Rather than conceptualizing the absence of knowledge as neutral or accidental, the sociology of denial and ignorance view not-knowing as pervasive and a fundamental social phenomenon. From climate denial and historical amnesia to white ignorance and willful unseeing, this area of inquiry asks: How is ignorance socially constructed? What is left out, dismissed, or buried in dominant narratives? What power dynamics are at play in what is remembered, forgotten, or deliberately obscured? This session will examine how denial and not-knowing operate not only in individuals, but also within institutions and collective memory, often reinforcing systems of domination and preventing social change. It will delve into the mechanisms through which ignorance is produced and sustained and discuss the kinds of research questions and empirical methods needed to advance the field.

Trans Politics & Health  

Panelists in this session reveal ways scholarly research can contribute to better societal understandings about the emergence, institutionalization, and transformation of gender and sexual categories, with a particular eye towards the engagement of marginalized people in politics and decision-making about their lives. Their research offers analyses of gender identity measurement over time, and the ways health care industries as well as reproductive justice organizations engage with trans and intersex adults. These topics lead to a consideration of social actors’ management of stigma and discrimination processes, as well as ways individuals find joy as they seek to overcome oppression.

‘When temperatures rise, workers do too!’ How labour movements are responding to climate change and emerging environmental hazards  

What role are contemporary trade unions playing in building an economy that provides good jobs and a healthy environment?

Social movement scholars have theorized that because trade unions can legitimately claim to represent working-class interests, they are the most potent vehicle to compel government and industry to meaningfully respond to the climate crisis. Unlike mainstream environmental groups, trade unions are designed in principle with democratic channels for workers to voice their concerns, contribute to broader policy change, and significantly disrupt the status quo through actions such as general strikes. Yet significant barriers exist to this equation, including declining unionization rates, political polarization, the legal repression of labour militancy, and longstanding tensions between environmentalists and workers in extractive industries.

In this thematic session, we present emerging research on how workers and their institutions (including trade unions and ‘alt-labour’ groups) are responding to environmental threats such as climate change, extreme heat, and toxic exposures.

What social movement tactics have workers across the world drawn upon to confront environmental hazards in the workplace and beyond? How have they addressed barriers to solidarity, including limited class consciousness and the politicization of differences across race, gender, ethnicity, and immigration status?

We anticipate that this session will advance innovative empirical and theoretical contributions on the intersection of efforts to address workers’ material needs on a changing planet.”

Writing for the Public

By writing for public audiences, sociologists have the opportunity to share relevant insights from research, bring context to contemporary issues, inform policy decisions, and highlight the value of sociology and social science research more generally. In this session, panelists will discuss their experiences writing for public audiences and offer strategies for identifying writing opportunities, for writing in ways that resonate, and for navigating the risks and challenges involved.