The Sociology Studies of Children and Youth Book Series invites paper contributions for its upcoming volume titled Uprooted! The Wellbeing and Social Integration of Migrant Children and Youth. This peer-reviewed, annual volume invites research from different contexts and regions, and from varied methodological and theoretical orientations. This collection will feature articles providing empirical insights about migration for children. Papers from every region of the world are welcome. Topics may include how children and/or youth perceive migration, the root causes of migration, children and/or youth as internal, rural-urban, circular, forced, or international migrants, the social integration and acceptance of children and/or youth migrants, and children's/youth's rights in migration contexts. Read the full call for papers here. Submit full paper (4,000-8,000 words) and abstract by July 1, 2024, to Loretta Bass.
The Sociological Quarterly seeks submissions for a special issue on the theme “Sociological Perspectives on Queer Nightlife.” This issue will engage in a vibrant, interdisciplinary conversation exploring queer nightlife from any subfield of sociology. What can sociologists say about queer nightlife that other fields overlook or omit? How does queer nightlife speak to core concerns of sociology as a discipline? Editors encourage submissions from scholars of all demographic backgrounds, nationalities, gender identities, sexual orientations, career stages, theoretical traditions, and methodological approaches. Papers may be empirical, applied, or theoretical. Submit a title and abstract (250-400 words) by July 1, 2024. Complete manuscript drafts due by October 15, 2024. Read the full call for papers here.
The Advances in Gender Research Book Series seeks proposals for chapters for its upcoming volume, The Construction and Deconstruction of Gender and Power. Editors are particularly interested in proposals that examine the role of power in current social issues affecting American society, such as legislative attempts to control gendered bodies, limit gender education, and prescribe gender normality. They also welcome proposals that analyze social movements, including feminism, father’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Additionally, editors encourage proposals that focus on gender empowerment, domestic violence, and the intersection of gender and coloniality. Proposals for original work should be a minimum of 500 words in length and include theoretical frameworks, research methods, and sources of data. Proposals are due by July 15, 2024. Completed drafts of invited chapters are due by November 18, 2024 . Final versions of the chapters are due by March 15, 2025. For the complete call for papers, please email editors Marcia Texler Segal and Vasilikie (Vicky) Demos.
The Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion seeks submissions for an upcoming volume on the theme “Religion and Non-Religion in Family Life.” This volume aims to contribute to a more profound understanding of the relationship between family dynamics, its role in transmitting religion and non-religion, and contemporary religious change. It invites contributions with a wide range of theories and methods. Proposals of 400 words are due July 31, 2024 . To read the full call for papers, including a list of possible topics, visit the website.
The British Journal of Industrial Relations invites contributions to a special issue on the theme “Technological Change, Power, and Work,” with a focus on comparative perspectives of Europe and North America (specifically the United States and Canada). It is especially interested in rich empirical contributions that carefully study the processes and dynamics underpinning the social embeddedness of new and old technologies within (and across) contemporary workplaces and sectors. Interested contributors should submit a long abstract (max. 1,000 words, excluding references) by July 31, 2024. The deadline for submission of full papers is February 28, 2025. Read the full call for papers here.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal seeks submissions for an upcoming issue on the theme "The Backlash Against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs." Potential paper topics could include common misunderstandings about the goals of DEI programs and misconceptions about DEI programs noted in the popular press. The submission deadline is February 14, 2025. To read the full call for papers, including a list of possible topics, visit the website.
The Critical Race Theory Book Series from University of California Press seeks submissions that break new ground on critical race theory. Its aim is to develop a global, interdisciplinary, multiracial, and accessible series of books that reveals how racial subordination and white supremacy are embedded in U.S. life and law. It is looking for manuscripts that offer concise and cross-cutting tools for scholars, students, and informed racial justice readers that focus on areas such as education, housing, voting, economic opportunity, health and reproductive justice, immigration, policing, foreign relations, and more. Read the complete call on the website. The deadline is ongoing.
The Society for Applied Anthropology invites abstracts for sessions, papers, posters, and videos for its 85th Annual Meeting in Portland, OR, March 25-29, 2025, which will be held on the theme “Revitalizing Applied Anthropology.” The meeting offers researchers, practitioners, and students from diverse disciplines and organizations the opportunity to discuss their work and consider how it can contribute to a better future and provides a fertile venue in which to trade ideas, methods, and practical solutions. The deadline for abstract submission is October 15, 2024. For additional information on the theme, abstract submission requirements, and the meeting, please visit the website.
The Twenty-First International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability will be held on the theme "Sustainable Development for a Dynamic Planet: Lessons, Priorities, and Solutions" on January 23-25, 2025, in Miami and online. It seeks papers on the following themes: ecological realities; participatory process; economic, social, and cultural context; and education, assessment, and policy. The submission deadline is October 23, 2024. For more information, visit the website.
The Fifteenth International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society will be held on the theme “Fragile Meanings: Vulnerability in the Study of Religions and Spirituality” on June 19-20, 2025, in Rome and online. It seeks papers on the following themes: religious foundations; religious community and socialization; religious commonalities and differences; and the politics of religion. The submission deadline is March 19, 2025. For more information, visit the website.
The American Institute of Indian Studies announces its 2024 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 11 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, 2024. Applications can be downloaded from the website.
The Swedish Excellence Centre for Computational Social Science invites applications for its Visiting Fellows Program. Supported by a grant from the Swedish Research Council, the program offers a vibrant and collaborative research community and access to the Swedish Excellence Centre’s research infrastructure, including data and support. Junior fellows (postdocs, assistant professors) and senior fellows (full professors) worldwide may apply. For junior fellows, the program offers employment for 6–24 months. For senior fellows, the program offers travel, accommodation, and an honorarium for up to three months (longer stays are also possible). Find out more on the website. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.
The International Conference for Computational Social Science (IC2S2) will be held at the University of Pennsylvania, July 18-20, 2024. IC2S2 has emerged as the dominant conference at the intersection of social and computational science, bringing together researchers from around the world in economics, sociology, political science, psychology, cognitive science, management, computer science, statistics, and the full range of natural and applied sciences committed to understanding the social world through large-scale data and computation. The conference will feature research and researchers from around the world, across a broad range of relevant fields, and working on all areas of computational social science to advance its many frontiers. To find out more and register, visit the website.
Penn State’s 19th Annual De Jong Lecture in Social Demography will be held October 15, 2024. Associate Professor of Economics Dean Spears from the University of Texas-Austin will present, “The World’s Population May Peak in Your Lifetime. What Happens Next?” Ashton Verdery and Megan Sweeney will participate as discussants. The lecture will be held on the University Park campus and will be livestreamed. The event is free, but online registration is required to attend in person or livestream the event. Read more about the lecture on the website.
Katherine Jensen, University of Wisconsin-Madison, received a 2024 Roberto Reis First Book Award Honorable Mention from the Brazilian Studies Association for her book The Color of Asylum: The Racial Politics of Safe Haven in Brazil (University of Chicago Press 2023).
Natasha Quadlin, University of California-Los Angeles, has been selected for the William T. Grant Scholars Class of 2029. She will investigate inequalities in childhood vision loss in the Navajo Nation and identify ways to improve childhood vision health for Navajo youth.
Alexandrea Ravenelle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received a Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award from the CUNY Graduate Center. This award honors alumni who have graduated in the last 10 years and have achieved notable success and distinction in their careers.
David Michael Arditi, University of Texas-Arlington, authored the May 24, 2024, article" Why the US Government Is Trying to Break up Live Nation Entertainment–a Music Industry Scholar Explains" in the Conversation.
Karida Brown, Emory University, authored the May 28, 2024, opinion piece "When Desegregation Came to Harlan County, KY: An Oral History" in the Washington Post.
Deborah Carr, Boston University, authored the May 22, 2024, article "Heat Waves Can Be Deadly for Older Adults: An Aging Global Population and Rising Temperatures Mean Millions Are at Risk" in the Conversation.
Caitlyn Collins, Washington University in St. Louis, and Jessica Calarco, University of Wisconsin-Madison, we quoted in the May 29, 2024, article “I’m a Millennial Mom. Why Are World Leaders Looking at Me to Fix the Birth-Rate Problem?” in MarketWatch.
Christopher T. Conner, University of Missouri-Columbia, authored the May 28, 2024, article "What QAnon Supporters, Butthole Sunners and New Age Spiritualists Have in Common" in the Conversation.
Justin Farrell and Steven Ring, Yale University, authored the May 25, 2024, article "America’s Trails Are a Wonder, and They Need Our Help" in the New York Times.
Alexandre Frenette, Vanderbilt University, was quoted in the April 29, 2024, article “America’s Retirement Dream Is Dying” in Newsweek.
Amin Ghaziani, University of British Columbia, received coverage of his new book, Long Live Queer Nightlife (Princeton University Press 2024) in the May 30, 2024, article “The State of the Gay Bar” in the Nation.
Eric Hirsch, Providence College, was quoted in the May 24, 2024, piece "Why Homelessness Advocates in RI Are Watching a U.S. Supreme Court Case " on the Public's Radio.
Tamara Kay, Anna Calasanti, and Susan Ostermann, University of Notre Dame, authored the May 24, 2024, opinion piece "Medical Fraud at Crisis Pregnancy Centers Should Make Us Rethink Policy" in the Chicago Tribune.
Dustin Kidd, Temple University, was quoted in the May 13, 2024, article "They’re Members of an Elite Squad: Prime-Time Drama Super Fans" in the New York Times.
Danielle J. Lindemann, Lehigh University, was quoted in the May 29, 2024, article "Confessions of an Undercover Bravoholic" in Jenny.
Michael McQuarrie, Arizona State University, was quoted in the May 26, 2024, article "‘No Justice, No Streets’: 4 Years after Murder, George Floyd Square Stands in Protest" in the Alberta Lea Tribune.
Anthony Ocampo, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, was quoted in the May 30, 2024, article "20 Years On, William Hung Looks Back on 'American Idol' Audition with No Regrets" on NBC News.
Michelle S. Phelps, University of Minnesota, was interviewed about her new book for the May 22, 2024, segment “‘The Minneapolis Reckoning:’ New Book Traces the City’s Journey to the Brink of Police Reform” on MPR with Angela Davis and authored the May 24, 2024, article “The Minneapolis Police Department Is Dismantling Itself“ in the New Republic.
Alexandrea Ravenelle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was a guest on the May 5, 2024, episode of Jill Cody’s Be Bold America! podcast.
Jake Rosenfeld, Washington University in St. Louis, was quoted in the May 27, 2024, article "The Delivery Business Shows Why Unions Are Struggling to Expand" in the New York Times.
Scott Schieman and Daniel Hill, University of Toronto, authored the May 27, 2024, article "Is Work Ethic What It Used to Be? Survey Finds Disconnect Between Perception and Reality" in the Globe and Mail.
Ofer Sharone, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, was quoted in the May 29, 2024, article "A CEO’s Post Praising Older Workers Goes Viral" in Next Avenue.
Megan Thiele Strong, San Jose State University, authored the May 24, 2024, opinion piece “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Eyelashes Comment Was Racist” in the Mercury News and the May 30, 2024, opinion piece "It’s Not Just Harrison Butker. Benedictine College Perpetuates Traditional Roles" in the Chicago Tribune.
Jessica Calarco, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net (Penguin Random House 2024).
Lynette J. Chua, National University of Singapore, and Mark Fathi Massound, University of California-Santa Cruz, Out of Place: Fieldwork and Positionality in Law and Society (Cambridge University Press 2024).
Michael O. Emerson, University of Illinois-Chicago, and Glenn E. Bracey III, Villanova University, The Religion of Whiteness: How Racism Distorts Christian Faith (Oxford University Press 2024).
Margaret A. Hagerman, Mississippi State University, Children of a Troubled Time: Growing up with Racism in Trump’s America (New York University Press 2024).
Onoso Imoagene, New York University Abu Dhabi, Structured Luck: Downstream Effects of the U.S. Diversity Visa Program (Russell Sage Foundation 2024).
James R. Jones III, Rutgers University-Newark, The Last Plantation: Racism and Resistance in the Halls of Congress (Princeton University Press 2024).
David Luke, University of Michigan-Flint, Affirmative Action and Black Student Success: The Pursuit of a “Critical Mass” at Historically White Universities (Routledge 2024).
Seungsook Moon, Vassar College, Civic Activism in South Korea: Intertwining of Democracy and Neoliberalism (Columbia University Press 2024).
Michelle S. Phelps, University of Minnesota, The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America (Princeton University Press 2024).
Allison Pugh, University of Virginia, The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World (Princeton University Press 2024).
Nicholas Hoover Wilson, Stony Brook University, and Damon Mayrl, Colby College, Eds., After Positivism: New Approaches to Comparison in Historical Sociology (Columbia University Press 2024).
1945-2024
Peter F. Conrad died in his home in Lincoln, MA, on March 3, 2024. He was 78 years old and had been living with Parkinson's Disease for several years. Conrad received his PhD in sociology from Boston University in 1976 and joined the Brandeis University Department of Sociology in 1979. He was Brandeis University’s Harry Coplan Professor of Social Sciences and professor emeritus of the Department of Sociology.
Conrad wrote or edited 16 books and monographs, with his dissertation being the basis of his first book, Identifying Hyperactive Children: The Medicalization of Deviant Behavior (DC Health 1976). In The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders (Johns Hopkins University Press 2007), Conrad synthesized the medicalization research he had worked on for three decades. His books with Joseph Schneider—Having Epilepsy: The Experience and Control of Illness (Temple University Press 1983) and Deviance and Medicalization: From Badness to Sickness (Temple University Press 1992)—are essential texts, and his reader, Sociology of Health and Illness: Critical Perspectives (St. Martin’s Press 1981), coedited with Rochelle Kern, is now in its tenth edition. Conrad also coedited with Chloe Bird and Allen Fremont the Handbook of Medical Sociology, 5th Edition (Prentice Hall 2000), transforming it into an up-to-date, creative, intellectual contribution.
As a leading scholar in the experience of illness, Conrad’s work on hyperkinesis and epilepsy are widely cited as core articles in that field. His approximately 120 articles have appeared in prominent journals in medical sociology and related fields, including the Journal of Health and Social Behavior; Social Science & Medicine; Social Problems; Hastings Center Report; Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry; and the American Journal of Sociology. Conrad also served as coeditor of Qualitative Sociology (1982-87), and sat on the editorial boards of several journals, including Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Sociological Quarterly, Sociology of Health and Illness, the American Sociologist and Health.
Conrad was one of the discipline’s fundamental theorists and researchers of medicalization and illness experience, and he spent several years studying corporate health promotion as an extension of medicalization. Conrad also took up the issue of increased prescribing of psychotropic drugs to children and was one of the pioneers in sociological analysis of genetic issues, creating a body of work that spurred medical sociologists to take up varied research on genetics. More recently, Conrad started a project on the experience and management of Parkinson’s Disease, an interest that arose from his own diagnosis in 2014.
In service to the profession, Conrad excelled. He co-organized an amazing working conference in 1999, “Medical Sociology Toward the Millenium: Continuity and Change in Health and Medicine,” which brought together approximately 150 sociologists—primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom, but also from other countries—and led to a series of other such conferences. He also served as chair of the American Sociological Association’s Medical Sociology Section (1988-1989) and was the recipient of the American Sociological Association Section on Medical Sociology’s 2004 Leo G. Reeder Award.
Conrad was a devoted teacher and a great mentor to his students and to many faculty members. He built the interdisciplinary program Health: Science, Society, and Policy and was so satisfied as he led it to become the largest major at Brandeis University. He retired from teaching in 2017.
In all these areas, Conrad conducted himself with deep attention, a friendly smile, warm encouragement, and both intellectual and personal respect for others. He leaves behind his wife, Ylisabyth Bradshaw; daughter, Rya Conrad-Bradshaw; son, Jared Conrad-Bradshaw; and grandchildren, Rafi, Sela, and Avi.
Phil Brown, Northeastern University
1946-2024
The Jane Addams Research Center in Saint Joseph, Michigan, announces with sorrow the unexpected death at age 77 of its internationally celebrated founder and executive director, Mary Jo Deegan. Born in Chicago in 1946, she became an authority on the Hull-House settlement and the Chicago school of sociology. Deegan was a prolific chronicler of Edith Abbott, Jane Addams, W.E.B. DuBois, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Annie Marion MacLean, Harriet Martineau, George Herbert Mead, Robert Park, Elsie Clews Parsons, Anna Garlin Spencer, Ellen Gates Starr, Jessie Taft, Amos Griswold Warner, Fannie Barrier Williams, and myriad others.
Deegan received the American Sociological Association (ASA) Section on the History of Sociology and Social Thought Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 as well as the Section’s Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award in 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2009. She also received the ASA Section on Peace, War and Social Conflict’s Robin Williams Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship, Teaching, and Service in 2008. The Mary Jo Deegan Project, based in Spain, continues her work among Spanish-speaking sociologists.
Initially trained in chemistry and mathematics (Western Michigan University, 1969), Deegan turned, after a physically disabling accident, to medical sociology, disability studies, qualitative methods, phenomenology, social theory, symbolic interaction, archival investigation, and disciplinary history. She earned her MA in sociology at Western Michigan University (1971) and her PhD at the University of Chicago (1975). Her mentors included Odin Anderson, Mircea Eliade, Erving Goffman, Irving Louis Horowitz, Morris Janowitz, Victor Lidz, Cora Bagley Marrett, Talcott Parsons, Victor Turner, Morton Wagonfeld, and Gibson Winter. After teaching at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for 40 years, Deegan became professor emerita of sociology in 2015.
Best known for her groundbreaking study of sociologist Jane Addams, Deegan also explicated the intersecting constellations of men and women associated with Hull-House and probed the institutional relationships between Hull-House, the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom, the University of Chicago, the American Sociological Association, and other organizations. She was impressed by the theories of George Herbert Mead and produced three volumes exploring Mead’s ideas regarding social psychology, education, and war. Likewise, her three coedited volumes of works by Charlotte Perkins Gilman placed Gilman’s ideas squarely within the realm of sociological discourse. Deegan also attended to African American thinkers, of which her volume on Fannie Barrier Williams is an instructive example.
Deegan engaged the world of popular culture with personal and professional joie de vivre. Her avocations included reading science fiction and mystery novels, collecting and selling costume jewelry, and dancing to live reggae bands. She was devoted to her four pet dogs, all lovingly named after sociologists. Living in Nebraska from 1975 to 2015, she escaped to her beloved Lake Michigan cottage almost every summer, allowing her to conduct archival research at the University of Chicago, enjoy Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts, and repeatedly visit the Art Institute of Chicago. She was an active traveler, with sustained visits to Germany, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and shorter visits to Austria, Belgium, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, Scotland, and Switzerland. Deegan officially became an Irish citizen in 2003.
An unflinching and egalitarian feminist, Deegan’s stinging analyses of the core codes of inequality (sex and class) and repression (bureaucracy and time) that structure American ritual dramas and quotidian social interactions made her anathema to chauvinists, racists, capitalists, university administrators, and Big Red sports fans alike. Deegan’s books are found in libraries worldwide, and many shorter writings are available via the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Digital Commons website. Her file cabinets currently brim with yet to be completed projects awaiting posthumous attention. Deegan is survived by two older sisters and her sociologist-geographer life-partner, Michael R. Hill. She died peacefully and unexpectedly of natural causes in early 2024 while gazing at the woods just outside her Lake Michigan cottage.
Michael R. Hill, Jane Addams Research Center
1958-2024
Kathleen Lowney passed away on January 8, 2024, after a short illness at the age of 65. Lowney obtained her PhD in religion and society from Drew University in 1986 and taught at Valdosta State University (VSU) from 1987 until her retirement in 2018. Retirement did not mean that she stopped working. She continued by contributing to her blog Pedagogical Thoughts, created in 2016 and in which she described herself as “A veteran professor, learning about teaching one day at a time.” Known as Kathe to her friends, she also created a professional editing business, helping PhD students craft their dissertations, among other editing tasks.
During her time at VSU, Lowney wrote four books and 41 journal and book chapter articles. Of her research, she said, “I am a sociologist of religion by training, but whose research has taken me into the worlds of professional wrestling, kudzu as a social problem, adolescent Satanism, religion on talk shows, and so on. But always, I come back to thinking and writing about the scholarship of teaching and learning.”
Lowney’s contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning included serving as the editor of the American Sociology Association (ASA) journal, Teaching Sociology, from 2010 to 2014. She was the driving force behind instituting a Teaching and Learning Center at VSU that helped faculty improve their teaching. About the establishment of this center Lowney said: “Teaching students is great, and I love it, but helping others to find their teaching style so that they can go and impact other students is, in a way, even more near and dear to my heart.” In addition, Lowney and I coauthored the book, In the Trenches: Teaching and Learning Sociology (W.W. Norton & Company 2014), one of the first books written specifically to help sociologists teach.
Lowney’s outstanding achievement in the art and science of teaching is reflected in her many awards. In 2011 she received both the Valdosta State University (VSU) College of Arts and Sciences’ Excellence in Teaching Award and VSU’s university-wide Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2012, she received the Felton Jenkins Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award for excellence in teaching in the University System of Georgia. In 2014, she received the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award from ASA, its highest pedagogical award. In 2015, she received the ASA Teaching and Learning Section’s Hans O. Mauksch Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Sociology. In 2016, she received the Georgia Sociological Association’s Sociologist of the Year Award, and in 2019, she received the ASA Teaching and Learning Section’s Scholarly Contributions to Teaching and Learning Award.
Lowney had a profound impact on many of us. Adam Albrite, one of her former students said, “Her passion for teaching and commitment to excellence were as contagious as the common cold.” I was one of Lowney’s friends, first drawn to her because of her kindness. Later I became one of her coauthors, drawn by her expertise and the sheer joy of being in her presence. Her infectious laugh and warm, caring support were inspirational. She is sorely missed by her husband VSU Emeritus Professor Frank Flaherty; sisters Mary Faure, Debra Hofbauer, and Pat Jennings; and her family, friends, colleagues, and former students.
Maxine P. Atkinson, North Carolina State University
1940-2024
Hugh P. Whitt, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), passed away on February 4, 2024. His theoretical and empirical work in criminology and sociology influenced generations of scholars. He was also a warm and welcoming person who devoted much of his time to mentoring, teaching, and bettering his community.
Whitt earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his master’s and doctorate in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After earning his doctorate, Whitt spent time as an assistant professor at UNL, Fisk University, and Vanderbilt University. He then returned to UNL, where he received tenure and eventually promotion to full professor. At UNL, he taught courses covering an array of sociological topics—crime and delinquency, theory, methods, statistics, race, urbanicity, religion, sports, social movements, and others.
Whitt’s early research focused on religion, including work on religion and migration and religion and political tolerance. (My first introduction to his work was his 1977 article with Hart Nelson on moral traditionalism and tolerance of atheists.) While continuing to do work on religion, much of his research in the latter half of the 1970s and in the 1980s focused on mental health. Whitt then transitioned to doing work on crime and delinquency, though here too, religion continued to play a role. He wrote several influential articles on crime and violence in 1990s, and he coauthored the award-winning book The Currents of Lethal Violence: An Integrated Model of Suicide and Homicide (SUNY Press 1994) with N. Prabha Unnithan, Lin Huff-Corzine, and Jay Corzine.
Throughout his career, Whitt’s work incorporated cutting-edge methodologies while also maintaining a strong connection to classical and contemporary sociological theories. Exemplifying this approach, he capped off his career with an article in the American Journal of Sociology on suicide and crime in nineteenth-century France. Whitt used spatial regression analyses (self-taught, I believe) that connected historical records on crime and violence to regional attributes and neighboring regional influences. He tied this to theories of regional violence and Durkheim’s work on suicide in the article “The Civilizing Process and Its Discontents: Suicide and Crimes against Persons in France, 1825–1830” (American Journal of Sociology July 2010). It is one of the most quintessentially sociological articles I have ever read, clearly connecting community attributes and regional cultures to the behavior of individuals.
Whitt received the Bobbs-Merrill Award in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967 and the Distinguished Book Award from the Mid-South Sociological Association in 1995. Probably more important to him were the numerous mentoring and teaching awards he received throughout his career. For instance, Whitt received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Arts and Sciences in 1990 and, along with other members of the sociology department, he was presented with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s University-wide Award for Outstanding Departmental Teaching in 1996. Whitt was also acknowledged for his teaching contributions by the UNL Parents Association and the UNL Teaching Council on three separate occasions.
In addition to his research, Whitt published fiction, predominantly novels about Sherlock Holmes. He was also a huge baseball fan. As one might expect of someone with his statistical bent, he was strongly focused on sabermetrics, or the use of statistics to assess and compare players and teams. Most importantly, Whitt was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. He took a genuine interest in every student, colleague, and member of the staff. He was always happy to talk—about research, teaching, fiction, baseball, or whatever was on your mind. What I will most remember about Whitt is that he was more generous with his time than any other academic I have known, and for that I will always be grateful.
Philip Schwadel, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
