Looking Forward to the 2009
Annual Meeting in San Francisco
Local Flavor: Alternative Agriculture and Food Justice in the San Francisco Bay Area
Over the past four decades, a growing movement of farmers, chefs, and citizens has worked to alter the ways we produce, distribute, and consume food. Critical of an industrial agribusiness system dominated by transnational corporations and dependent on chemical inputs, this movement seeks to promote organic farming and local food distribution. Proponents believe that an alternative agriculture in which consumers know "where our food comes from," to use an often iterated refrain, can contribute to environmental sustainability, social justice, and vibrant, civically engaged communities.
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Brown, Donato, Isaac and McCammon Are Incoming Editors
of American Sociological Review
Tony N. Brown, Katharine M. Donato, Larry W. Isaac, and Holly J. McCammon, all of Vanderbilt University, will be the next editors of ASA’s American Sociological Review (ASR), the flagship journal of the Association. Their three-year term begins in January 2010 and follows the editorship of Randy Hodson and Vincent J. Roscigno.
Assessing History in the Making
The American economy is in the midst of a crisis of historic proportions. The bursting of the housing bubble and the ensuing collapse of the financial markets have wreaked havoc on the labor market. The economy has faced the loss of 5.1 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, with almost two-thirds of the decrease coming in the last five months. The unemployment rate stands at 8.5 percent, 13.2 million Americans are unemployed, and nearly one in four of the unemployed have been looking for work for at least six months. Job losses that were once concentrated in manufacturing and construction have spread to all sectors of the economy. Rising unemployment means rising demand for government services, while state and local governments are in the red.
Obituaries
Carla Beth Howery
1950-2009
Carla Beth Howery, long time (14 years) Deputy Executive Officer of the American Sociological Association (ASA) died on March 31, 2009 at her home in Takoma Park, MD, at age 58. She spent more than a quarter of a century serving sociologists, students, and society through her work at the ASA.
Diverse Research Workforce
Is Key to Health of Nation’s
Science Enterprise*
On March 12, the Collaborative for Enhancing Diversity in Science (CEDS), with 60 organizations spanning the spectrum of science fields and education levels, held a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill, titled Building a Diverse Scientific Workforce: Collaboration for Competitive and Healthy Nation, to discuss the necessity and accompanying challenges of increasing the ethnic and racial diversity of America’s scientific workforce. ASA is a founding member of CEDS (see www.cossa.org/diversity/diversity.html for background).
