Calls for Papers: Publications
Social Movement Studies invites submissions for a special issue titled “Artificially Enabled Social Change? Opportunities and Challenges of (Generative) Artificial Intelligence for Activists and Movement Organizations.” This issue aims to explore the nexus between (G)AI and grassroots political mobilization and participation from different disciplinary perspectives in diverse parts of the world and through different methods. To read the full call for papers, including a list of possible topics, visit the webpage. Submit a 500-word abstract by June 15, 2025. Full papers are due November 15, 2025.
Sociological Forum is accepting papers for a special issue on the theme “Authoritarianism, Resistance, Coloniality: Lessons from the Global South.” Editors invite submissions that highlight theories and knowledges from the Global South and/or colonized subjects that help one better understand and theorize issues—including but not limited to the competing political and socio-economic systems we live in, authoritarianism, attacks on trans rights, political economies of dissent, feminisms, empire, white supremacy, state violence, gender and sexualities, racial capitalism, and environmental devastation. Read the full call for papers here. Submit extended abstracts (2-3 pages) by August 5, 2025.
Calls for Papers: Conferences
The Fifteenth International Conference on Food Studies will be held on the theme “Fed Up: Learning from the Past, Imagining New Futures” on October 8-10, 2025, in South Africa and online. This research network is brought together around a common interest to explore new possibilities for sustainable food production and human nutrition, and the associated impacts of food systems on culture. It seeks papers on the following themes: Food Production and Sustainability; Food, Nutrition, and Health; and Food Politics, Policies, and Cultures. The deadline is July 8, 2025. For more information, visit the website.
The Fifteenth Interdisciplinary Conference on Aging & Social Change will be held on the theme “Aging, Intergenerational Solidarity and the Polycrisis” on October 22-24, 2025, in Sweden and online. The conference is a forum for discussion of challenges and opportunities for a rapidly growing segment of the population worldwide. It seeks papers on the following themes: Economic and Demographic Perspectives on Aging; Public Policy and Public Perspectives on Aging; Medical Perspectives on Aging, Health, Wellness; and Social and Cultural Perspectives on Aging. The deadline is July 22, 2025. For more information, visit the website.
The Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities, & Nations will be held on the theme “The Social Impacts of Geopolitics: Interventions to Strengthen Humanity” on May 27-29, 2026, in México City and online. This research network is brought together by a shared interest in human differences and diversity, and their varied manifestations in organizations, communities, and nations. It seeks papers on the following themes: Identity and Belonging, Education and Learning in Worlds of Differences, Organizational Diversity, and Community Diversity and Governance. The deadline is February 27, 2026. Visit the website for more information.
The Twenty-First International Conference on the Arts in Society will be held on the theme “Modeling Life Systems: Art, Algorithms, Ecologies” on June 10-12, 2026, in Greece and online. The conference offers an interdisciplinary forum to discuss the role of the arts in society and seeks papers on the following themes: Pedagogies of the Arts; Arts Histories and Theories; New Media, Technology, and the Arts; and the Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life. The deadline is March 10, 2026. Find out more on the website.
Call for Submissions
The Political Economy of Work Junior Scholars Workshop will be held in New York City, at Columbia University on December 5-6, 2025. Organized by the Labor Lab at the Center for Political Economy at Columbia University and the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, participants will receive feedback on their scholarship from a senior scholar in the field, comments from fellow junior scholars, and advice about career development. Submit a one-page abstract with contact information (name, institution, discipline, position, email and phone) by September 15, 2025. For complete details, visit the website.
Events
The 7th International Association of Strikes and Social Conflicts (IASSC) Conference will be held on the theme “Strikes and Social Conflicts in Hostile Environments” on September 5-6, 2025, at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. While workers and other subordinate groups are always operating under conditions that limit their range of action, there are historical periods and geographical spaces in which the environment is especially hostile to collective action from below. The premise of this conference is that we have entered one of these especially hostile periods on a global scale. As such, there is an urgent need to examine and draw lessons from instances in which subordinated groups navigated through, organized in, protested against, and at times, successfully transformed the “hostile environments” in which they were embedded. Read more about the program here.
The 20th Anniversary of the De Jong Lectureship Series will be held at Pennsylvania State University on October 23, 2025. Shelley Clark, McGill University; Samuel Perry, University of Oklahoma; and Nancy Luke, Penn State, will speak on the theme “The Underpinnings and Limits of Pronatalism,” exploring the cultural, political, and economic forces driving pronatalist ideologies, as well as their societal implications and limitations. Register here.
The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and Religious Research Association’s 2025 Annual Meeting will be held on the theme “Religion Matters” in Minneapolis, October 31-November 2, 2025. The meeting provides scholars from across the social and behavioral sciences the opportunity to present their research, network with other scholars, meet with acquisitions editors from major publishing houses, and become familiar with current research. A typical annual meeting includes three plenary sessions, several receptions, and approximately 450 papers in 140 sessions over the course of three days. To find out more and to register, visit the website.
Accomplishments
Steven E. Barkan, University of Maine (retired), received the 2025 Social Justice Award from the Textbook and Academic Authors Association for his substantial contributions to authoring or educating academic authors in social justice, human rights, and/or diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The following are recipients of the Law and Society Association’s 2025 Annual Awards: Elizabeth Chiarello, Washington University in St. Louis (Herbert Jacob Book Prize for Policing Patients); Faith M. Deckard, University of California-Los Angeles (Dissertation Prize Honorable Mention for “Bonded: Bail Agents, Families, and the Management of Risk”); Mirian G. Martinez-Aranda, University of California-Irvine (Article Prize for “Precarious Legal Patchworking: Detained Immigrants’ Access to Justice”); Robert L. Nelson, Northwestern University (Harry J. Kalven, Jr. Prize); Roberta S. Pamplona, University of Toronto (Graduate Student Paper Prize for “Reframing Feminist Ideas, Challenging State Incorporation: Activism Against Violence and the Feminicidio Law in Brazil”); and Susan S. Silbey, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ronald Pipkin Service Award).
Douglas Massey, Princeton University, has received the 2025 Princess of Asturias Prize for Social Sciences for his significant contributions in areas such as international migration, residential segregation, and social stratification.
Stephen J. Morewitz, San Jose State University (SJSU) received two 2024 SJSU Annual Authors, Inventors, and Artists Awards—one for coediting the Handbook of Understanding Terrorism. Forensic Social Sciences Case Studies (Springer 2024) and one for publishing Klinische und Psychologische Perspektiven des Foulspiels (Springer 2024).
In the News
Musa al-Gharbi, Stony Brook University, was quoted in the June 3, 2025, article “Off-Campus Conservative-Backed Institute Says It Fills a Void at Harvard” in the New York Times.
Mark Chaves, Duke University, was quoted in the June 3, 2025, article “Special Report: Amid Decline, Clergy Reimagine a Future Through Connection” in Religion Unplugged.
Rodney D. Coates, Miami University-Ohio, authored the May 29, 2025, editorial “Beyond the Backlash: What Evidence Shows About the Economics and DEI” in the Conversation.
Philip N. Cohen, University of Maryland-College Park, was quoted in the May 26, 2025, article “US Children of Divorce Have Reduced Earnings, Increased Chances of Teen Births and Jail, Study Says” from the Associated Press.
Erin Gaede, University of Wisconsin-Madison, was quoted in the June 4, 2025, piece “Rising Housing Costs Are Forcing Some Wisconsinites to Delay Medical Care, New Report Says” from Wisconsin Public Radio.
Kristen S. Harknett, University of California-San Francisco, was quoted in the June 2, 2025, article “Politics Is Job Hopping Bad for the Careers of Gen Zers? We Asked Experts for Their Insight” in Teen Vogue.
Diana Kendall, Baylor University (retired), was quoted in the May 26, 2025, article “Members Only: A New Trump Club, Ned’s Club and the Enduring Old Guard” in the New York Times.
Chris Knoester, Ohio State University, was quoted in the June 4, 2025, article “Parents Invest So Much in Youth Sports. Then Came Trump,” in the Washington Post.
Kenneth H. Kolb, Furman University, was quoted in the June 4, 2025, article “Trump Ratchets Up Steel Tariffs to 50%” on AOL.
Laura K. Nelson, University of British Columbia, was quoted in the June 1, 2025, article “ChatGPT Is Making Us Weird” in Business Insider.
Greggor Mattson, Oberlin College and Conservatory, had new research profiled in the June 4, 2025, article “7 Revealing Findings from a First-of-Its-Kind Map and Analysis of American LGBTQ Bars” from Uncloseted Media.
Michelle S. Phelps, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, was quoted in the June 2, 2025, article “Will State-Mandated Police Reform for Minneapolis Make a Difference after Federal Consent Decree Was Quashed?” in MinnPost.
Jennifer Reich, University of Colorado-Denver, was featured on the June 2, 2025, segment on NPR’s Morning Edition, “Miracle Balm or Cow Pie? What’s Behind the Beef Tallow Skincare Trend.”
Benjamin Shestakofsky, University of Pennsylvania, had his book, Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, Inequality (University of California 2024), profiled in the June 3, 2025, piece “Books on Startups, Founders, Investors” on Practical Ecommerce.
Amy L. Stone, Trinity University, was quoted in the May 26, 2025, article “From Spanish Town Parade to White Light Night, Some of Baton Rouge’s Favorites Are Tied to LGBT History” in the Advocate.
New Books
Brent Z. Kaup, William & Mary, and Kelly F. Austin, Lehigh University, The Pathogens of Finance: How Capitalism Breeds Vector-Borne Disease (University of California Press 2025).
Rahim Kurwa, University of Illinois-Chicago, Indefensible Spaces: Policing and the Struggle for Housing (University of California Press 2025).
Stephen J. Morewitz, San Jose State University, Handbook of Understanding Terrorism. Forensic Social Sciences Case Studies (Springer Nature 2024), and Klinische und Psychologische Perspektiven des Foulspiels (Springer International Publishing 2024).
Annette Nierobisz, Carleton College, and Dana Sawchuk, Wilfrid Laurier University, American Idle: Later-Career Job Loss in a Neoliberal Era (Rutgers University Press 2025).
Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Singapore Management University, Stuck at Home: Pandemic Immobilities in the Nation of Emigration (Stanford University Press 2025).
Jessica Vasquez-Tokos, University of Oregon, Burdens of Belonging: Race in an Unequal Nation (New York University Press 2025).
Tongyu Wu, Zhejiang University, Play to Submission: Gaming Capitalism in a Tech Firm (Temple University Press 2024).
Thomas J. Scheff, professor emeritus at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB), passed away on May 23, 2025, at the age of 95. He received his PhD in sociology from the University of California-Berkeley and taught in the UCSB Department of Sociology, 1963-1991, serving as Chair from 1969-70. Scheff received the 2000 ASA Section on the Sociology of Emotions’ Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2003 ASA Section on Peace, War and Social Conflict’s Robin Williams Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship, Teaching, and Service. You can read his full obituary here.