Debates en Sociología seeks multidisciplinary empirical and theoretical works using varied methodologies and conceptual approaches. It accepts research papers, essays, book reviews in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The topics included in its permanent call for papers are sociology, politics, ecology, communication, social sciences in general, and others. Accepted manuscripts will be published in the Varia section of the journal. The next submission deadline is July 30, 2022. Read author guidelines here.
Symbolic Interaction (SI) seeks papers for its special issue “Forgotten Interactionists of Color: Past and Present,” highlighting the marginalization of scholars within the tradition based on their race, and the difficulties that minority scholars still face. Editors are also interested in submissions that combine other perspectives, viewpoints, or those that point out the limits of the perspective. This issue is intended to be critical of SI and its history—but editors also hope to inject some optimism about the future and sociology in general. Please contact editors Julien Grayer and Chris Conner if you plan on submitting. The submission deadline is July 31, 2022. Author guidelines can be found here.
Frontiers, a leading open access publisher and open science platform, seeks articles on the psychological and social consequences of community disasters, with special attention to the coronavirus pandemic. What factors contribute to poor outcomes, especially organizational or social factors (race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, minority status, etc.), that impact or contribute to health disparities? Manuscripts that present original research, systematic review, community case study, hypothesis and theory, clinical, or methodological innovations are welcome. Manuscripts from psychology, sociology, anthropology, geography, public health, and medicine are also welcome. Abstracts are also welcome if you want feedback before submitting a manuscript. The deadline for manuscript submission is August 4, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Journal of Elder Policy seeks papers for its upcoming issue on “Technology: An Underutilized Late-Life Resource” that address policy challenges and implications related to technology use and older adults. It welcomes both empirical and conceptual papers from diverse disciplines with a preference for pieces that employ policy approaches. Send abstracts (500 words) to Managing Assistant Editor Kaitlyn Langendoerfer by August 15, 2022. Read the complete call for papers here.
All Our Yesterdays: Disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology, edited by Alexandra F. Morris and Hannah Vogel for the series Routledge Studies in Ancient Disabilities, invites contributions from scholars, students, Egyptologists, disabled people/museum professionals, and university educators, to bring critical perspectives and approaches for the forthcoming volume. The book aims to critically investigate the often overlooked histories of disability in ancient Egypt and the discipline of Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology. Abstracts are due August 31, 2022. Visit this website for more information.
Sociology and Space seeks contributions to the journal’s special issue triggered by the war in Ukraine. Deeply aware of the emotional dimension of the experience that the war in Ukraine has caused globally and sympathizing with all the victims, the editors (Mirko Bilandžić, University of Zagreb; and Ankica Marinović, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb) are also aware that the causes of war shall never be understood without research and analyses tackling it from various positions: military, geopolitical, economic, sociological, psychological, or diplomatic. We shall never understand the tragedy in Ukraine without exploring historical archive documents, demographic movements, the political context, social dynamics, religion and science, culture, education, and technology. Submission information may be found on the website. Interested authors should email an abstract of up to 500 words and a CV on one page. The deadline is September 1, 2022.
Ethnic and Racial Studies (ERS) is saving space for a guest-edited special issue that includes early career researchers within the ASA Section on International Migration. Regarding topics, the call for the special issue is open, though ERS is particularly interested in special issues focusing on areas of the Global South. Proposals are fully elaborated documents including contributors, content, and timeline. For more information on special issue proposal guidelines, visit the website. Questions regarding proposal development or submission can be directed to John Solomos. Proposals will be considered in October.
Debates en Sociología seeks multidisciplinary empirical and theoretical works using varied methodologies and conceptual approaches. It accepts research papers, essays, book reviews in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The topics included in its permanent call for papers are sociology, politics, ecology, communication, social sciences in general, and others. Accepted manuscripts will be published in the Varia section of the journal. The next submission deadline is July 30, 2022. Read author guidelines here.
Symbolic Interaction (SI) seeks papers for its special issue “Forgotten Interactionists of Color: Past and Present,” highlighting the marginalization of scholars within the tradition based on their race, and the difficulties that minority scholars still face. Editors are also interested in submissions that combine other perspectives, viewpoints, or those that point out the limits of the perspective. This issue is intended to be critical of SI and its history—but editors also hope to inject some optimism about the future and sociology in general. Please contact editors Julien Grayer and Chris Conner if you plan on submitting. The submission deadline is July 31, 2022. Author guidelines can be found here.
Frontiers, a leading open access publisher and open science platform, seeks articles on the psychological and social consequences of community disasters, with special attention to the coronavirus pandemic. What factors contribute to poor outcomes, especially organizational or social factors (race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, minority status, etc.), that impact or contribute to health disparities? Manuscripts that present original research, systematic review, community case study, hypothesis and theory, clinical, or methodological innovations are welcome. Manuscripts from psychology, sociology, anthropology, geography, public health, and medicine are also welcome. Abstracts are also welcome if you want feedback before submitting a manuscript. The deadline for manuscript submission is August 4, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Journal of Elder Policy seeks papers for its upcoming issue on “Technology: An Underutilized Late-Life Resource” that address policy challenges and implications related to technology use and older adults. It welcomes both empirical and conceptual papers from diverse disciplines with a preference for pieces that employ policy approaches. Send abstracts (500 words) to Managing Assistant Editor Kaitlyn Langendoerfer by August 15, 2022. Read the complete call for papers here.
All Our Yesterdays: Disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology, edited by Alexandra F. Morris and Hannah Vogel for the series Routledge Studies in Ancient Disabilities, invites contributions from scholars, students, Egyptologists, disabled people/museum professionals, and university educators, to bring critical perspectives and approaches for the forthcoming volume. The book aims to critically investigate the often overlooked histories of disability in ancient Egypt and the discipline of Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology. Abstracts are due August 31, 2022. Visit this website for more information.
Sociology and Space seeks contributions to the journal’s special issue triggered by the war in Ukraine. Deeply aware of the emotional dimension of the experience that the war in Ukraine has caused globally and sympathizing with all the victims, the editors (Mirko Bilandžić, University of Zagreb; and Ankica Marinović, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb) are also aware that the causes of war shall never be understood without research and analyses tackling it from various positions: military, geopolitical, economic, sociological, psychological, or diplomatic. We shall never understand the tragedy in Ukraine without exploring historical archive documents, demographic movements, the political context, social dynamics, religion and science, culture, education, and technology. Submission information may be found on the website. Interested authors should email an abstract of up to 500 words and a CV on one page. The deadline is September 1, 2022.
Ethnic and Racial Studies (ERS) is saving space for a guest-edited special issue that includes early career researchers within the ASA Section on International Migration. Regarding topics, the call for the special issue is open, though ERS is particularly interested in special issues focusing on areas of the Global South. Proposals are fully elaborated documents including contributors, content, and timeline. For more information on special issue proposal guidelines, visit the website. Questions regarding proposal development or submission can be directed to John Solomos. Proposals will be considered in October.
Debates en Sociología seeks multidisciplinary empirical and theoretical works using varied methodologies and conceptual approaches. It accepts research papers, essays, book reviews in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The topics included in its permanent call for papers are sociology, politics, ecology, communication, social sciences in general, and others. Accepted manuscripts will be published in the Varia section of the journal. The next submission deadline is July 30, 2022. Read author guidelines here.
Symbolic Interaction (SI) seeks papers for its special issue “Forgotten Interactionists of Color: Past and Present,” highlighting the marginalization of scholars within the tradition based on their race, and the difficulties that minority scholars still face. Editors are also interested in submissions that combine other perspectives, viewpoints, or those that point out the limits of the perspective. This issue is intended to be critical of SI and its history—but editors also hope to inject some optimism about the future and sociology in general. Please contact editors Julien Grayer and Chris Conner if you plan on submitting. The submission deadline is July 31, 2022. Author guidelines can be found here.
Frontiers, a leading open access publisher and open science platform, seeks articles on the psychological and social consequences of community disasters, with special attention to the coronavirus pandemic. What factors contribute to poor outcomes, especially organizational or social factors (race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, minority status, etc.), that impact or contribute to health disparities? Manuscripts that present original research, systematic review, community case study, hypothesis and theory, clinical, or methodological innovations are welcome. Manuscripts from psychology, sociology, anthropology, geography, public health, and medicine are also welcome. Abstracts are also welcome if you want feedback before submitting a manuscript. The deadline for manuscript submission is August 4, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Journal of Elder Policy seeks papers for its upcoming issue on “Technology: An Underutilized Late-Life Resource” that address policy challenges and implications related to technology use and older adults. It welcomes both empirical and conceptual papers from diverse disciplines with a preference for pieces that employ policy approaches. Send abstracts (500 words) to Managing Assistant Editor Kaitlyn Langendoerfer by August 15, 2022. Read the complete call for papers here.
All Our Yesterdays: Disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology, edited by Alexandra F. Morris and Hannah Vogel for the series Routledge Studies in Ancient Disabilities, invites contributions from scholars, students, Egyptologists, disabled people/museum professionals, and university educators, to bring critical perspectives and approaches for the forthcoming volume. The book aims to critically investigate the often overlooked histories of disability in ancient Egypt and the discipline of Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology. Abstracts are due August 31, 2022. Visit this website for more information.
Sociology and Space seeks contributions to the journal’s special issue triggered by the war in Ukraine. Deeply aware of the emotional dimension of the experience that the war in Ukraine has caused globally and sympathizing with all the victims, the editors (Mirko Bilandžić, University of Zagreb; and Ankica Marinović, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb) are also aware that the causes of war shall never be understood without research and analyses tackling it from various positions: military, geopolitical, economic, sociological, psychological, or diplomatic. We shall never understand the tragedy in Ukraine without exploring historical archive documents, demographic movements, the political context, social dynamics, religion and science, culture, education, and technology. Submission information may be found on the website. Interested authors should email an abstract of up to 500 words and a CV on one page. The deadline is September 1, 2022.
Ethnic and Racial Studies (ERS) is saving space for a guest-edited special issue that includes early career researchers within the ASA Section on International Migration. Regarding topics, the call for the special issue is open, though ERS is particularly interested in special issues focusing on areas of the Global South. Proposals are fully elaborated documents including contributors, content, and timeline. For more information on special issue proposal guidelines, visit the website. Questions regarding proposal development or submission can be directed to John Solomos. Proposals will be considered in October.
Navigating Uncertain Futures: Social Engagement and Transformative Change in Global Socio-Ecological Systems will be held virtually, October 14–15, 2022. Offered jointly by the Research Committee on Environment and Society in the International Sociological Association and the Section on Environmental Sociology in the American Sociological Association, this special virtual conference will support global dialogues among scholars in environmental sociology on the most pressing issues for our discipline and our planet: how to navigate climate futures. Organizers are currently soliciting the members of both organizations to consider submitting abstracts for oral presentations in this special event and are particularly interested in the participation of emerging scholars and scholars living and conducting research in the Global South. The abstract submission deadline is July 30, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research is accepting abstracts for its EAPS Working Group on Register-Based Fertility Research, meeting in Rostock, Germany, December 15–16, 2022. Register and other administrative data are core data sources of demographic and sociological research on contemporary fertility. Currently, the use of register data for the purposes of fertility research remains largely focused on the Nordic countries, but these data are becoming increasingly accessible to researchers across other European countries and beyond. The working group aims at supporting this momentum of change, that is facilitating the use of existing and emerging register data sources for the purpose of studying fertility. If you are interested in participating in the meeting, please send an abstract of 200 words of your proposed talk to [email protected] by August 21, 2022. Read more about the working group here.
The Twenty-third International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations, will be held on the theme “Whose Accountability Revolution? Priorities, Incentive Structures, Organization Cultures” in Toronto, Canada, on June 22–23, 2023. The Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations Research Network is brought together by a shared interest in human differences and diversity and their varied manifestations in organizations, communities, and nations. Proposals are invited on several themes, including identity and belonging, education and learning in worlds of differences, organizational diversity, and community diversity and governance. The deadline is August 22, 2022. For more information about the conference, visit the website.
The Information, Medium & Society: Twenty-first International Conference on Publishing Studies, will be held on the theme “Social Narrative Makers: Storytellers, Researchers, Publishers, Platforms” in Paris on June 30, 2023. The Information, Medium & Society Publishing Studies Research Network is brought together by a shared interest in investigating publishing practices as distinctive modes of social knowledge production. Proposals are invited on several themes, including informational foundations, mediums of disruption, and social history and impacts. The deadline is August 30, 2022. For more information about the conference, visit the website.
The Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society will be held on the theme “New Aesthetic Expressions: The Social Role of Art” in Kraków, Poland, July 5–7, 2023. The Arts in Society Research Network offers an interdisciplinary forum for discussion of the role of the arts in society. It is a place for critical engagement, examination and experimentation, developing ideas that connect the arts to their contexts in the world—on stage, in studios and theaters, in classrooms, in museums and galleries, and on the streets and in communities. Proposals are invited on several themes, including pedagogies of the arts, arts histories and theories, new media technology, and the arts in social, political, and community life. The deadline is September 5, 2022. For more information about the conference, visit the website.
The Thirtieth International Conference on Learning will be held on the theme “Considering Educational Change: Perspectives on Neoliberalism, Digitalization, and Post-Pandemic Policies” in São Paulo, Brazil, July 12–14, 2023. The Learner Research Network is brought together around a common concern for learning in all its sites, formal and informal, and at all levels, from early childhood, to schools, colleges and universities, and adult, community and workplace education. Proposals are invited on several themes. The deadline is September 12, 2022. For more information about the conference, visit the website.
The Im/Migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative invites scholars from the social sciences and humanities to submit their research to the conference Im/migrant Well-Being: A Nexus for Research and Policy to be held February 17–18, 2023, in St. Petersburg, FL. Potential research topics could include, but are not limited to: social well-being, such as studies of social activities, work, or access to social resources; relational well-being, such as studies of families, friendships, or support networks; emotional well-being, such as studies of life dis/satisfaction, emotions, or resilience; psychological well-being, including studies of identity, safety, mental health, or uncertainty; physical well-being, such as studies of stress, dietary and activity habits, or access to medical interventions; economic well-being that centers im/migrants themselves and/or their families, such as access to legal representation, health, food, and housing; and the intersections of some or all of these forms of well-being as they relate to state violence, such as im/migrant detainment, forced expulsion, and raids. Submissions are due September 30, 2022. If you have questions concerning the conference, email [email protected]. The submission form is on the website.
Women on the Move, a new transdisciplinary series from Manchester University Press on gender and migration, invites book proposals. The series focuses on unveiling the presence and multiplicity of experiences of women in migration processes. It bridges the gap between historical and contemporary approaches and aims to publish books on women’s migration from a wide variety of perspectives, time frames and geographical outlooks, with a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. More information about the series and about submitting a proposal are available here. The deadline is ongoing.
The American Institute of Indian Studies announces its 2022 fellowship competition and invites applications from scholars who wish to conduct their research in India. Junior fellowships are awarded to PhD candidates to conduct research for their dissertations in India for up to eleven months. Senior fellowships are awarded to scholars who hold the PhD degree for up to nine months of research in India. The application deadline is November 15, 2022. Applications can be downloaded from the website. Inquiries should be directed to 773-702-8638 or [email protected].
The Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability will be held on the theme “Decentering Sustainability: Towards Local Solutions for Global Environmental Problems” in Ljubljana, Slovenia, February 1–3, 2023. The On Sustainability Research Network is brought together by a common concern for sustainability in a holistic perspective, where environmental, cultural, economic, and social concerns intersect. The registration deadline is January 1, 2023. For more information, visit the website.
Barbara Combs has joined the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kennesaw State University as chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice.
Frank R. Edwards, Rutgers University, and Theresa Rocha Beardall, University of Washington, received the Law and Society Association’s 2022 John Hope Franklin Prize for their paper “Abolition, Settler Colonialism, and the Persistent Threat of Indian Child Welfare,” an empirical study of forced separation of Native children and the failed legacy of the landmark Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.
Britany Gatewood, Albany State University, was appointed by the American Council of Learned Societies as one of its Leading Edge Fellows, supporting outstanding early career PhDs in the humanities and interpretive social sciences as they work with social justice organizations in communities across the United States.
Michael Mendez, University of California-Irvine, was named a 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
Elizabeth A. Mertz, University of California-San Francisco, received the Law and Society Association’s 2022 Stan Wheeler Mentorship Award and its Harry J. Kalven, Jr. Prize for empirical scholarship and the advancement of research in law.
Steven F. Messner, University at Albany-State University New York, received the 2021 Edwin H. Sutherland Award from the American Society of Criminology at the recent meeting in Chicago.
Reuben Jonathan Miller, University of Chicago and the American Bar Foundation, received the Law and Society Association’s 2022 Herbert Jacob Book Prize for his book, Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration (Little, Brown and Company 2022).
Silvia Pedraza, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, was elected to faculty governance as Chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs.
William Pridemore, SUNY-Albany, has been elected a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology. He will be inducted in November.
Liliana V. Rodriguez, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, received a Career Enhancement Fellowship from the Institute for Citizens and Scholars.
Karen A. Cerulo, Rutgers University, and Janet M. Ruane, Montclair State University, authored three media pieces on their new book Dreams of a Lifetime: How Who We Are Shapes How We Imagine Our Future (Princeton University Press 2022): “How We Dream of our Future: Seven Misconceptions We Hold” on May 18, 2022, on the Psychology Today blog; “The Crises Keep Coming, But Americans Haven’t Lost Their Ability To Dream” in the May 23, 2022, online edition of the Chicago Tribune; and “How Your Class, Race and Gender Influence Your Dreams of the Future” on June 8, 2022, in the Conversation.
Elizabeth Chiarello, Saint Louis University, authored the article “Missouri’s Quack COVID Drug Shield Law Just the Latest Way to Interfere with Doctors” in the June 12, 2022, edition of the Kansas City Star.
Angie Chung, SUNY-Albany, was interviewed for a two-part series on May 9, 2022, and May 14, 2022, titled “Culture in the Crosshairs: Countering a Surge of Hate” on WNYT News Channel 13 on the topic of anti-Asian violence.
Mindy L. Fried, Arbor Consulting Partners, released a podcast about caregiving, The Shape of Care.
Kathleen Gerson, New York University, was quoted in the June 27, 2022, article “Gen Z: The Workers Who Want It All” in the London Daily.
Jason Houle, Dartmouth College; Louise Seamster, University of Iowa; and Charlie Eaton, University of California-Merced, were either quoted or had work referenced in the May 31, 2022, article “Canceling Student Debt Could Help Close the Wealth Gap Between White and Black Americans” on FiveThirtyEight.
Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann, University of Notre Dame, authored the May 24, 2022, article “Access to Health Care Means Access to Abortion: How the UK and US Compare” in Everyday Society.
Tey Meadow, Columbia University, was quoted in the article “Many Young Adults Now Identify as Transgender or Nonbinary as Social Media Helps More People Come Out” appearing in the June 13, 2022, online edition of USA Today.
Natalie Milan and Kaylee T. Matheny, Stanford University; and Ilana M. Horwitz, Tulane University, authored the June 22, 2022, opinion piece "The Motherhood Penalty Begins in College" on Inside Higher Ed online.
Amanda Miller and Elizabeth Ziff, University of Indianapolis, authored the article "Weak Sex Education Leaves Young Men Vulnerable to Financial Exploitation" in the June 2, 2022, online edition of the Chicago Tribune.
Sara Moore, Salem State University, authored the column "We Deserve More than What the Supreme Court Offers," in the June 27, 2022, online edition of the Salem News. The article also quotes Jean Stevenson, University of Colorado-Boulder.
Victoria Reyes, University of California-Riverside, authored the op-ed “I’m a Product of Rape. Here’s Why I Support Abortion Rights” in the June 12, 2022, issue of the L.A. Times.
Patrick Sharkey, Princeton University, authored the article “How Long Are Americans Sad and Angry about Mass Shootings? Four Days.” in the May 26, 2022, edition of the Washington Post.
Esther Sullivan, University of Colorado-Denver, was quoted in the article “‘We’re All Afraid’: Massive Rent Increases Hit Mobile Homes” in the June 6, 2022, edition of the Washington Post.
Rawan Arar, University of Washington; David Scott FitzGerald, University of California-San Diego, The Refugee System: A Sociological Approach (Polity Press 2022).
Adrienne Lee Atterberry, SUNY-New Paltz; Derrace Garfield McCallum, Aichi University (Japan); Siqi Tu, New York University-Shanghai; Amy Lutz, Syracuse University, Children and Youths’ Migration in a Global Landscape (Emerald Publishing Limited 2022).
Colin J. Beck, Pomona College; Mlada Bukovansky, Smith College; Erica Chenoweth, Harvard University; George Lawson, Australian National University; Sharon Erickson Nepstad, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque; and Daniel P. Ritter, Stockholm University, On Revolutions: Unruly Politics in the Contemporary World (Oxford University Press 2022).
Sarah C. Bishop, CUNY-Baruch College, A Story to Save Your Life: Communication and Culture in Migrants’ Search for Asylum (Columbia University Press 2022).
Karen A. Cerulo, Rutgers University-New Brunswick; and Janet M. Ruane, Montclair State University, Dreams of a Lifetime: How Who We Are Shapes How We Imagine Our Future (Princeton University Press 2022).
Nancy Foner, CUNY-Hunter College, One Quarter of the Nation: Immigration and the Transformation of America (Princeton University Press 2022).
Heba Gowayed, Boston University, Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential (Princeton University Press 2022).
Sarah Hupp Williamson, University of West Georgia, Human Trafficking in the Era of Global Migration: Unraveling the Impact of Neoliberal Economic Policy (Bristol University Press 2022).
Lane Kenworthy, University of California-San Diego, Would Democratic Socialism Be Better? (Oxford University Press 2022).
Minjeong Kim, San Diego State University; Hyeyoung Woo, Portland State University, Redefining Multicultural Families in South Korea (Rutgers University Press 2022).
Peter Taylor Klein, Bard College, Flooded: Development, Democracy, and Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam (Rutgers University Press 2022).
Hagen Koo, University of Hawaii, Privilege and Anxiety: The Korean Middle Class in the Global Era (Cornell University Press 2022).
Andrea M. Leverentz, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Intersecting Lives: How Place Shapes Reentry (University of California Press 2022).
Stephanie Ann Malin, Colorado State University; and Meghan Elizabeth Kallman, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Building Something Better: Environmental Crises and the Promise of Community Change (Rutgers University Press 2022).
Lucjan Miś, Jagiellonian University (Poland), Social Problems in European Union Countries: From the 2004 Enlargement to Brexit. A Comparative Approach (Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied 2021).
Emily Navarro, Elmhurst College, Unaccompanied: The Plight of Immigrant Youth at the Border (NYU Press 2022).
Victoria Reyes, University of California-Riverside, Academic Outsider: Stories of Exclusion and Hope (Stanford University Press 2022)
Leland T. Saito, University of Southern California, Building Downtown Los Angeles: The Politics of Race and Place in Urban America (Stanford University Press 2022).
Helmut Staubmann, University of Innsbruck (Austria), Sociology in a New Key. Essays in Social Theory and Aesthetic (Springer 2022).
Angie Ngọc Trần, California State University-Monterey Bay, Ethnic Dissent and Empowerment: Economic Migration between Vietnam and Malaysia (University of Illinois Press 2022).
Roberta Villalón, St. John's University, Migration, Health, and Inequalities: Critical Activist Research across Ecuadorean Borders (Bristol University Press 2022).
Rachael A. Woldoff, West Virginia University; Robert C. Litchfield, Washington and Jefferson College, Digital Nomads: In Search of Freedom, Community, and Meaningful Work in the New Economy (Oxford University Press 2022).
Graves Edwards Enck passed away on Thursday, June 2, 2022, after a long, courageous battle with cancer. Enck earned several degrees, including a BA from the University of North Texas, a MDiv from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Yale University. He taught in the Department of Sociology at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) from 1974 to 2022, and received several awards, including most recently the University Distinguished Advising Award (2002) and the University College Advising Award (2003). To read the complete obituary, click here.
Grant Walter Shoffstall, 44, died on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. A native of Effingham, IL, Shoffstall received his BA and MA in sociology from Illinois State University, and his PhD in sociology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. One of the world’s experts on the cryonics movement, he taught classes at Illinois Wesleyan, University of Illinois, and Williams College, before joining the sociology department at Rowan University. Shoffstall’s work documented the movements in which technology begins to function as a religion, arguing in his recent work for Nova Religio that sociologists of science and technology were going to have to learn from the sociologists of religion. His full obituary can be read here.
Dorothy E. Smith, the renowned sociological thinker, feminist critic, teacher, and mentor died on Friday, June 3, 2022. Smith was one of the first women to earn a PhD at the University of California-Berkeley, in 1962. She taught at the University of British Columbia; the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto; and after retirement, at the University of Victoria. Her first book was The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology (Northeastern University Press 1987) and her most recent was Simply Institutional Ethnography: Creating a Sociology for People (University of Toronto Press 2022), coauthored with the late Alison Griffith. Smith received the American Sociological Association’s Jessie Bernard Award in 1993 and its W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award in 1999. Smith was honored with many other accolades from universities and professional organizations throughout the world, and in 2019 she received the Order of Canada for her contributions to society.
C. Milton Coughenour
1926–2022
Charles Milton Coughenour, professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, passed away on January 26, 2022, in Lexington, KY. Born March 9, 1926, he grew up on the family farm in Kansas. After graduating from the University of Kansas, Coughenour earned his PhD in rural sociology from the University of Missouri in 1953. Known as “Milt,” Coughenour broke new ground in rural sociology throughout his career. Guiding the development of countless graduate students, he was a supportive and inspiring advisor to students and a generous mentor to young faculty, including by establishing the Dr. and Mrs. C. Milton Coughenour Professorship of Rural Sociology at the University of Kentucky.
Coughenour’s professional life exemplified that of an engaged applied researcher and teacher. His remarkable scholarly career included the publication of 31 journal articles and book chapters, more than 30 numbered research bulletins and proceedings chapters, and countless papers presented at professional meetings.
Over the years, Coughenour served in numerous professional and university leadership roles. From 1982–1983, he served as president of the Rural Sociological Society (RSS), and he received the RSS Award for Excellence in Research in 1991. In 2012, the RSS awarded Coughenour its highest award, Distinguished Rural Sociologist.
Coughenour’s research was foundational to the sociology of agriculture, and his scholarly work illustrates the interpretive value of a sociological lens on both persistence and change in agricultural systems. As noted by Lois Wright Morton in her history of the study of agriculture and conservation written for the 75th anniversary of the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS), Coughenour was one of the first to ask why and how farmers made their production decisions.
From the beginning, Coughenour’s research explored farmers’ views on soil-building and how these were influenced by characteristics of their operations, their values and beliefs, and the knowledge they constructed with trusted others. He brought new ways to understand and demonstrate the similarities in how farmers approached their decisions. Coughenour’s respect for the practicality of farmers and their families, their commitment to the farm enterprise and the land, was a thread throughout his research in the U.S., the Sudan, and Australia.
As a young rural sociologist, he focused on the diffusion of agricultural innovations, in particular focusing on conservation practices in U.S. agriculture. In the 1960s, Coughenour was a member of the Subcommittee for the Study of Diffusion of Farm Practices, which was part of the North Central Rural Sociology Committee sponsored by the Farm Foundation. Mixing survey research and qualitative skills, Coughenour discovered patterns among Kentucky farmers’ attitudes and behaviors as they struggled to balance business with conserving their most precious natural resource—the soil.
In the 1980s, Coughenour was one of the social scientists participating in the multidisciplinary INTSORMIL Collaborative Research Support Program, a nonprofit international agricultural development organization of the United States Agency for International Development focused on developing new technologies to improve sorghum, pearl millet, and other grains. This initiative produced significant international analyses of the opportunities and challenges of the diffusion of innovations by demonstrating how the innovations must fit within the sociocultural context of the farm family to be fully adopted.
Coughenour guided many of the next generation of rural sociologists. He shared his ideas and patiently supported younger colleagues as their scholarship matured. Quite simply, he was a kind mentor and colleague. He sought every opportunity to share his appreciation for the adaptability and resilience of farm families with others by offering access to his data, interviews, and observations. Rural sociology and the sociology of agriculture owes much to the insights C. Milton Coughenour, and many of us owe a debt to his guidance and support of our own careers.
Lori Garkovich, University of Kentucky; Louis Swanson, Colorado State University; and Julie N. Zimmerman, University of Kentucky
