Alford A. Young, Jr., and Jessica Calarco were recently elected President and Vice President of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Their three-year terms began in September 2025, when they started their service as President-Elect and Vice President-Elect.
Young is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, the Edgar G. Epps Collegiate Professor of Sociology, and the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Sociology, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Calarco is a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“It is my great pleasure to serve as President of the American Sociological Association for the 2026-2027 academic year,” Young said. “This is a critical time for sociologists to galvanize defense and support of the important work that we do.”
“We live in a time of extreme societal challenges and enduring social problems,” he added. “Yet, many struggle to apprehend the utility of our discipline. Hence, the primary task of sociologists is to remain steadfast in bringing forth knowledge and understanding of the power and possibilities of the discipline. As president, I pledge to help ASA reach diverse audiences to enhance the sharing of information, ideas, and insights about the process of understanding what sociological insights can do. I aspire to support the association’s efforts to promote greater recognition of the societal value of sociology and enhance sociologists’ professional well-being.”
Likewise, Calarco was enthusiastic about her leadership role.
“We are in a moment where sociology is needed more than ever and where scientific research, higher education, and democratic principles are all facing political and ideological attacks. As VP-elect, I am honored to have the opportunity to assist Dr. Young and the ASA team in leading the organization through this challenging moment. We are stronger together than on our own, and my aim is to help members navigate risks while continuing to carry out and champion the essential work of sociology,” she said.
Young will be the 118th president of ASA. He and Calarco will succeed Shelley J. Correll, Stanford University, and Victor E. Ray, University of Iowa, respectively, in September 2026.
Getting to Know Alford A. Young, Jr.
Young’s research focuses on race and individuals’ experiences at work, both inside and outside of academia. He uses ethnographic interviewing as his primary data collection method. His principal scholarly objective has been to explore how the social experiences of African Americans shape the emergence of what sociologist Erving Goffman referred to as “schemata of interpretation.” These schemata include worldviews, belief systems, and ideologies. Here, his work has centered on exploring the connections between the social location of individuals (i.e., differences in types of residential experiences, work histories, schooling experiences, etc.) and the content of their worldviews and belief systems about mobility, the world of work, and other social issues and conditions.
Young has published numerous articles in journals including the Annual Review of Sociology, Sociological Quarterly, Work and Occupations, Sociological Theory, Scholarship of Multicultural Teaching and Learning, Symbolic Interaction, and City & Community. He has authored three books: From the Edge of the Ghetto: African Americans and the World of Work (Rowman and Littlefield 2020), The Minds of Marginalized Black Men: Making Sense of Mobility, Opportunity, and Future Life Chances (Princeton University Press 2004), Are Black Men Doomed? (Polity Press 2018). In addition, he is the co-author of The Souls of W.E.B. Du Bois (Paradigm Publishers 2006) with Elizabeth Higginbotham, Charles Lemert, Manning Marable, and Jerry Gafio Watts.
Young serves on the Board of Directors, Ann Arbor (Michigan) YMCA (2007–present), was the Founding Director of the Scholars Network on Masculinity and the Well-Being of African American Men (2008–present); and was President of the Association of Black Sociologists (2022–2023). He has held several positions at ASA, including Chair of the ASA Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities (2024–present); Chair of the Distinguished Scholarly Book Award Selection Committee (2021–2022); Member of two Annual Meeting Program Committees (2019 and 2018); Member of the Committee on Committees (2006–2008); and Member of the Committee on the Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities (2005–2008).
Young served as the Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan from 2010 to 2017 and from 2021 to 2023. He received his PhD and MA in sociology from the University of Chicago, and his BA in sociology, psychology, and Afro-American studies from Wesleyan University.
Getting to Know Jessica Calarco
Calarco’s research focuses on education, families, and health decision-making. She is interested in the structures of power and privilege that maintain socioeconomic, racial, and gender inequalities in these settings, as well as the role that qualitative methods can play in uncovering these mechanisms. In much of her work, Calarco employs ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews to reveal the origins and consequences of social class differences in interactions among students, teachers, and parents.
Calarco’s latest book, Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net (Portfolio/Penguin 2024), reveals how society has forced women to function as America’s social safety net, how the weight of that responsibility affects women, and why so many Americans believe the myth that women are doing just fine. The book combines historical and policy analyses with original survey data and vivid portraits drawn from over 400 hours of interviews with families from a diverse range of backgrounds.
As an active public scholar, Calarco strives to make sociological insights accessible and relevant to broad audiences. She not only publishes in leading sociology and interdisciplinary journals but also writes for high-profile media outlets—including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, Inside Higher Ed, CNN, and NBC News—and offers workshops related to her research and teaching, including workshops aimed at promoting equity and empathy in college and graduate education.
Calarco’s first book, Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School (Oxford 2018), received the 2020 ASA Section on the Sociology of Education’s Pierre Bourdieu Award for the Best Book in Sociology of Education. Building on this research and on her work teaching and mentoring students in higher education, Calarco also published A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum (Princeton University Press 2020). Her book Qualitative Literacy: A Guide to Evaluating Ethnographic and Interview Research (University of California 2022), coauthored with Mario Luis Small, received the 2023 ASA Section on Methodology’s Outstanding Publication Award.
Additional awards Calarco has received from ASA are the 2018 Section on Children and Youth Distinguished Early Career Award, the 2017 Section on the Sociology of Education’s Doris Entwisle Early Career Award, and the 2011 Section on the Sociology of Education David Lee Stevenson Graduate Student Paper Award for “Can You Help Me Get Ahead?: Social Class Differences in Elementary Students’ Efforts to Negotiate Opportunities for Learning.”
Calarco has held several leadership positions at ASA, including Secretary-Treasurer of the Section on Methodology (2023-present), ASA Council Member (2020-2023), Chair of the Dissertation Award Committee (2021-2022), and Council Member of the Sociology of Family Section (2019-2022). She currently serves as Deputy Editor of Sociology of Education. Calarco is a Fellow of the Roosevelt Institute and has been on the Board of Directors of the Council on Contemporary Families since 2020.
Calarco received a PhD in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in sociology and education from Brown University.