February 2022 Issue
- Calls for Papers: Publications
- Calls for Papers: Conferences
- Calls for Proposals
- Mentoring Institute, Summer Institute, and Visiting Scholar Program
- Events
- Funding
- Accomplishments
- In the News
- New Books
- Obituaries
Calls for Papers: Publications
Social Inclusion has extended its call for papers on the topic of “Wealth Stratification and the Insurance Function of Wealth.” Submit abstracts by March 15, 2022. For more information on the theme and additional deadlines, visit the website.
Class, Status, and Party: How COVID-19 is Impacting Political Dynamics, Social Inequality, and the Wellbeing of Americans, a new volume to be published by Lexington Books, is seeking manuscripts from a wide range of social scientists on several topics, including: What have been the social or political impacts of COVID-19? How can political and social theory explain COVID-19 outcomes? What sorts of methods should we use to discover the impact of COVID-19 on communities? Brief biographical information, your proposed title, and a 500-word abstract of proposed content are due by March 31, 2022. Email the volume’s editor, Geoffrey L. Wood, for complete submission guidelines and a list of deadlines.
The Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research book series is seeking research for two upcoming volumes. The first volume, “Conjugal Trajectories: Relationship Beginnings, Change, and Dissolutions,” will delve into relationship formation and change over time. This volume is being edited by Ana Josefina Cuevas Hernández of the University of Colima, and Sampson Lee Blair of the State University of New York-Buffalo. The second volume, “Resilience and Familism: The Dynamic Nature of Families in the Philippines,” focuses upon the ever-changing structures and norms within Filipino families. This volume is being edited by Clarence M. Batan of the University of Santo Tomas (Manila), Sampson Lee Blair of the State University of New York, and Veronica L. Gregorio of the National University of Singapore. The submission deadline for both of these volumes is April 15, 2022. Additional information about the book series can be found here.
The International Journal on Responsibility (IJR), an international, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal housed at James Madison University, is seeking submissions for a special issue on miscarriages of justice. The journal focuses on theoretical, practical, and methodological issues related to the concept of responsibility, and it seeks to answer: “Who or what is responsible to do what for whom?” With this question in mind, this special issue will center on the complex nuances associated with responsibility for producing and rectifying erroneous outcomes in the criminal justice system. The deadline to submit a manuscript for consideration is May 1, 2022. For submission guidelines, email guest editor Heather L. Scheuerman. You can find more about the journal here.
Social Problems is seeking submissions on the theme of “Racism of Omission.” This call for papers inverts the logic of studying racism as solely an intentional (or explicit) act of exclusion by examining racism as an act of omission or choosing not to act, or acting in a racially habituated fashion without thought or explicit intent. The deadline for submitting papers is May 20, 2022. For detailed information about the topic and submission guidelines, contact any of the editors: Victor Ray, Rory Kramer, and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva.
The International Journal of Missing Persons is an official journal of San Jose State University and the Forensic Social Sciences Association (FSSA). It encourages professionals as well as academic researchers to submit material for publication with a view to advancing knowledge, disseminating good practice, and fostering the scientific study of missing persons. All topics relating to missing persons are welcome, particularly those assessing how research can be applied both strategically and at ground level and to improve policy and practice. For more information, visit the website.
The Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies publishes timely research focused on identifiable and pragmatic social, cultural, and political issues of relevance to transgender people, both at the individual and collective level. It welcomes research from diverse theoretical and methodological approaches and from all contextual areas. You can find full manuscript submission guidelines here. Direct all inquiries about submissions to the editor, Thomas J. Billard.
Calls for Papers: Conferences
The 8th International Conference on Computational Social Science is seeking submissions of ongoing research, including: work that advances methods and approaches for computational social science; data-driven work that describes and discovers social, economic, and cultural phenomena or explains and estimates relations among them; and theoretical work that generates new insights, connections, and frameworks for computational social science research. The conference will take place at the University of Chicago, July 19–22, 2022. Abstracts must be submitted by February 25, 2022. More information on the conference and full submission guidelines can be found at ic2s2.org.
The 16th Junior Theorists Symposium (JTS) invites submissions of précis for the annual symposium, which will be held in person on August 4, 2022, prior to the ASA 2022 Annual Meeting. The JTS is a conference featuring the work of up-and-coming sociologists, sponsored in part by ASA’s Theory Section. We invite all ABD graduate students, recent PhDs, postdocs, and assistant professors who received their PhDs from 2018 onward to submit up to a three-page précis (800–1000 words). The précis should include the key theoretical contribution of the paper and a general outline of the argument. Successful précis from last year’s symposium can be viewed here. For more information on submission guidelines, contact Tara Gonsalves (University of California-Berkeley) and Davon Norris (The Ohio State University) at [email protected]. The deadline is February 25, 2022, and information about symposium sessions can be found on the website.
The Twenty-second International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations will be held on the theme of “Rethinking the Local: Who, How, Why?” and will take place at the University of Curaçao in Willemstad, Curaçao, June 2–4, 2022. The Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations Research Network is brought together by a shared interest in human differences and diversity, and their varied manifestations in organizations, communities, and nations. The network invites proposals on several themes. The proposal deadline is March 2, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Twelfth International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society will be held on the theme of “Traveling Texts: From Traditions to Religions” and will take place at the University of Córdoba in Córdoba, Spain, June 9–10, 2022. The conference will explore the relationship between religion in society and the changing nature of spirituality and invites proposals on several themes. The proposal deadline is March 9, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Eighteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society will be held on the theme of “Trust, Surveillance, Democracy” and will take place at the National Changhua University of Education, Changhua City, Taiwan, April 15–16, 2022. The conference will explore the complex and subtle relationships between technology, knowledge, and society, and invites proposals on several themes. The proposal deadline is March 15, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Twenty-third International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations will be held on the theme of “Rethinking Organizational Resilience” and will take place at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, January 19–20, 2023. The Organization Studies Research Network comes together around a common concern for, and a shared interest in exploring new possibilities in knowledge, culture, and change management, within the broader context of the nature and future of organizations and their impact on society. The conference invites proposals on several themes. The proposal deadline is March 19, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) is accepting abstracts for the 2022 Add Health Users Conference. Submissions are due by March 21, 2022. Abstracts may be submitted through the abstract form located on the conference website. For more information and suggested topics, view the full Call for Papers.
The Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability will be held on the theme of “Decentering Sustainability: Towards Local Solutions for Global Environmental Problems” and will take place at the University of Ljubljana 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 network invites proposals on several themes. The proposal deadline is April 1, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society will be held on the theme of “History/Histories: From the Limits of Representation to the Boundaries of Narrative” and will take place at San Jorge University in Zaragoza, Spain, July 4–6, 2022. 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, on the streets, and in communities. The network invites proposals on several themes. The proposal deadline is April 4, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
Calls for Proposals
The 2022 National Humanities Conference seeks proposals. The conference will be held November 10–13, 2022, in Los Angeles, in collaboration with California Humanities. Cohosted by the National Humanities Alliance and the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the National Humanities Conference brings together representatives from colleges, universities, state humanities councils, cultural institutions, and other community-based organizations to explore approaches to deepening the public’s engagement with the humanities. To learn more about this year’s theme, “Energy in Motion,” and how to submit a session proposal, please explore the full CFP. The deadline for proposal submission is April 1, 2022.
The Criminology Explains … book series, published by the University of California Press, invites proposals for future volumes. Each volume in this series of coursebooks provides a concise, targeted overview of criminology theories as applied to specific criminal justice-related subjects. The goal is to bring to life for students the relationships among theory, research, and policy. More information about the book series, possible topics, and easy-to-follow proposal guidelines and a manuscript template are on the website. Proposals accepted on an ongoing basis.
Mentoring Institute, Summer Institute, and Visiting Scholar Program
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty and the University of California, Davis’s Center for Poverty and Inequality Research invite applications for the 2022 National Research Center on Poverty and Economic Mobility Early-Career Mentoring Institute (ECMI). This week-long convening, to be held June 6–10, 2022, in Davis, CA, will provide valuable mentoring and career development opportunities to poverty and social mobility scholars who are in the early stages of their research careers and who have the potential for leadership in supporting members of populations that are underrepresented among academic researchers. In addition, ECMI participants will receive guidance on writing a research grant proposal that will be eligible for consideration to receive one of two $25,000 research grants on policy relevant human services research on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Applications are due February 18, 2022. For more information and to apply, visit the ECMI webpage. Inquiries about the Institute and application process should be directed to Jacob Hibel.
The Russell Sage Foundation 2022 Summer Institute in Migration Research Methods is now accepting applications. The Summer Institute is planned for in-person instruction at the University of California-Berkeley, July 25–August 2, 2022. This year’s SI will focus on understanding and modelling migrant flows, with particular attention to forced and climate migration, as well as their intersections with health and development. The application deadline is March 1, 2022. Find out more on the website.
The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) Visiting Scholar Program is accepting applications for a unique opportunity for junior and senior scholars to spend a year (or a semester) in residence at RSF in New York City pursuing research examining essential questions on social, economic, and political life in the U.S. The program fosters the exchange of ideas in a vibrant interdisciplinary environment and promotes multidisciplinary collaborations. Applications for the 2023–2024 academic year will be accepted until June 28, 2022. Visit the website for more information about the program, including eligibility requirements and application guidelines.
Events
The South Carolina Sociological Association 2022 Annual Meeting, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC, will be held February 25–26, 2022. The theme is “Paying Sociology Forward: Lessons We Want Others to (Un)Learn.” For more information, visit the SCSA website.
The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) will hold its 82nd annual meeting March 22–26, 2022, in Salt Lake City, UT. 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. SfAA members come from a host of disciplines—anthropology, geography, sociology, economics, business, planning, medicine, nursing, law, and more. The annual meeting provides a fertile venue for trading ideas, methods, and practical solutions, as well as an opportunity to enter the lifeworlds of other professionals. For information, visit the SfAA website.
The Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) will hold its 93rd annual meeting April 7–10, 2022, in Sacramento, CA. The theme of the meeting is “Telling Our Stories: Collective Memory and Narratives of Race, Gender, and Community Identity.” The study of collective memory is an interdisciplinary and intersectional nexus of several disciplines. As sociologists, how do we use the canon of our discipline, the theories that engage our discipline into that of memory, and the collective consciousness of our society? Pending status of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference is planned to have both in-person and virtual components. For more information, visit PSA website.
The 2022 Social Science Education Consortium International Conference on the theme of “Moving Beyond a Single Story” will be held in Dublin, Ireland, June 21–26, 2022. For schedule and registration information, visit the website.
The International Jacques Ellul Society will be holding its North American conference, “The Arts, Culture, and the Environment in a Technological Society: Revisiting Jacques Ellul,” on July 8–9, 2022, at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The conference encompasses scholarly work on the interrelation among the three zones (art, technology, the environment); works of and commentaries on art and literature responding in various ways to technology and to the environmental crisis; and essays on Ellul, his thought and influence, as well as on similar thinkers (descendants, related thinkers, opposed thinkers). More information about the conference can be found on the website.
The Twenty-ninth International Conference on Learning, on the theme of “Intercultural Learning in Plurilingual Contexts” will be held at the University of Valencia in Valencia, Spain, July 13–15, 2022. 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. More information can be found on the website.
The Fifteenth Global Studies Conference will be held on the theme of “What to Make of Crises: Emerging Methods, Principles, Actions” at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens—School of Philosophy in Athens, Greece, July 21–23, 2022. The Global Studies Research Network is devoted to mapping and interpreting past and emerging trends and patterns in globalization. More information can be found on the website.
The Seventeenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences will be held on the theme of “At the Crossroads of Paradigms: Considering Heterodoxy in the Social Sciences” at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens—School of Philosophy in Athens, Greece, July 21–23, 2022. The Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Research Network is brought together by a common interest in disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, within and across the various social sciences, and between the social, natural, and applied sciences. More information can be found on the website.
The Seventh International Conference on Communication and Media Studies will be held on the theme of “Democratic Disorder: Disinformation, the Media and Crisis in a Time of Change” at NIU Galway in Ireland on August 25–26, 2022. The Communication and Media Studies Research Network offers an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of the role of the media and communications in society. More information can be found on the website.
The 4th Annual Conference on Experimental Sociology (ACES) will take place at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, August 31–September 2, 2022. In this fourth edition, ACES opens its doors to a broader audience interested in cutting-edge approaches in experimental sociology, including survey, laboratory, field and online experiments. ACES aims to promote the use of the gold standard of scientific inquiry in sociology as well as the critical discussion of its limitations. For more information, visit the website.
The Twelfth International Conference on Health, Wellness, and Society will be held on the theme of “Government and Society Collaborations: Responding to Pandemics” at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, September 8–9, 2022. The Health, Wellness, and Society Research Network is brought together by a common concern in the fields of human health and wellness, and in particular their social interconnections and implications. More information can be found on the website.
Funding
The Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana (USI) invites applications for a Research Travel Grant to fund research at the Communal Studies Collection at USI’s David L. Rice Library. Applicants may be graduate students or established scholars in the U.S. or abroad from any discipline that involves the study of communalism (such as history, English, anthropology, economics, sociology, etc.). The grant will fund research up to $2,000 and applications are due by March 1, 2022. For more information, visit the website.
The Russell Sage Foundation announces it new Dissertation Research Grants program to support innovative and high-quality dissertation research projects that address questions relevant to RSF’s priority areas: behavioral science and decision-making in context; the future of work; race, ethnicity and immigration; immigration and immigrant integration; and social, political, and economic inequality. Proposed projects must be closely aligned with the funding priorities listed on the RSF website for any of these areas, contribute to RSF’s mission to improve social and living conditions in the U.S., and demonstrate appropriate use of relevant theory, innovative data, rigorous research methods, and measures. Applications are due by March 1, 2022. Read the full description of the dissertation research grants program, including information on how to apply, on the website.
The American Philosophical Society is accepting new applications for the Phillips Fund for Native American Research. Information and application instructions can be accessed on the website. The deadline is March 1, 2022. Direct questions to Linda Musumeci, director of grants and fellowships.
The Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology recognizes students in the social sciences who incorporate visual analysis in their work. The contest is open worldwide to undergraduate and graduate students (majoring in any social science). It is named for Rachel Dorothy Tanur (1958–2002), an urban planner and lawyer who cared deeply about people and their lives and was an acute observer of living conditions and human relationships. The 2022 Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize is now open for applications. Entries for the 2022 competition must be received by March 1, 2022. For more information and to apply, visit racheltanurmemorialprize.org.
The Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana invites submissions for its prize competition for the best undergraduate and graduate student papers on historic or contemporary communal groups, intentional communities, and utopias. Submissions are due by April 1, 2022, and may come from any academic discipline and should be focused on a topic clearly related to contemporary or historic communal groups or utopias. For more information, visit the website.
Accomplishments
Bridget Goosby, University of Texas-Austin, and Julia McQuillan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Stephen J. Morewitz, San Jose State University, is Founding Editor-in-Chief with Karen Shalev-Greene of the International Journal of Missing Persons.
Anthony J. Spires, University of Melbourne (Australia), and colleagues were awarded a $250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to investigate local responses to Chinese infrastructure development projects in Indonesia. Spires and colleagues were also awarded a grant for $90,000 AUD from the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations to develop a platform for Chinese students to discuss their experiences of living and studying in Australia.
In the News
Stephen J. Morewitz, San Jose State University, was interviewed for the article “America’s Public Servants are Being Terrorized with Death Threats. The ‘Emotional Toll’ is Lasting.” in the October 31, 2021 edition of USA Today.
Pamela Oliver, University of Wisconsin-Madison, was featured in a January 25, 2022 piece by WalletHub on states with the highest wealth gaps by race/ethnicity.
Samuel L. Perry, University of Oklahoma, wrote the op-ed “Even after Capitol Riot, Violence Isn’t the only Way Christian Nationalism Endangers Democracy,” in the January 6, 2022 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune.
“The Holocaust: Remembrance, Respect, and Resilience,” a free online educational resource spearheaded by Michael Polgar, Pennsylvania State University, was highlighted in the January 13, 2022 edition of the Texas Jewish Post.
Emily Smith-Greenaway, University of Southern California, commented for the December 14, 2021 piece “Kids Who Lost Parents to COVID-19 Describe ‘Emptiness’ They Feel this Holiday Season,” from ABC News.
Anthony J. Spires, University of Melbourne (Australia), contributed to the article “What Future for International NGOs in China,” in the November 24, 2021 edition of the ChinaFile and to the article “As Amnesty Joins Groups Quitting Hong Kong, NGOs Worry their Funding, Activities May Cross ‘Red Lines’ of National Security Law,” in the October 30, 2021 edition of the South China Morning Post.
Gregory Squires, George Washington University, authored an opinion letter appearing in the February 1, 2022, print edition of the Wall Street Journal under the title “Racial Preferences at the Supreme Court and in the Academy” in which he responded to the editorial “Race, Harvard, and the Supreme Court” from January 25, 2022.
New Books
Pamela R. Bennett, University of Maryland-Baltimore County; Amy Lutz, Syracuse University; and Lakshmi Jayaram, University of South Florida, Parenting in Privilege or Peril: How Social Inequality Enables or Derails the American Dream (Teachers College Press, 2021).
Levon Chorbajian, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Ed., Power and Inequality: Critical Readings for a New Era (Routledge, 2022).
Emily Erikson, Yale University, Trade and Nation: How Companies and Politics Reshaped Economic Thought (Columbia University Press, 2021).
Nancy Foner, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center, One Quarter of the Nation: Immigration and the Transformation of America (Princeton University Press, 2022).
Joanne W. Golann, Vanderbilt University, Scripting the Moves: Culture and Control in a “No Excuses” Charter School (Princeton University Press, 2021).
Kenneth A. Gould and Tammy L. Lewis, CUNY-Brooklyn, Ten Lessons in Introductory Sociology, 3rd Edition (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Spencer Headworth, Purdue University, Policing Welfare: Punitive Adversarialism in Public Assistance (University of Chicago Press, 2021).
Anthony E. Healy, Emory University, School Choice, Race and Social Anxiety: Exploring French Middle-Class Parental Risks (Routledge, 2021).
Joseph C. Hermanowicz, University of Georgia, Ed., Challenges to Academic Freedom (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021).
Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania, Listening to People: A Practical Guide to Interviewing, Participant Observation, Data Analysis, and Writing It All Up (University of Chicago Press, 2021).
Gianluca Manzo, Sorbonne University, Ed., Research Handbook on Analytical Sociology (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021).
Philip R. Newman and Barbara M. Newman, Theories of Adolescent Development (Academic Press, 2020).
Celine-Marie Pascale, American University, Living on the Edge: When Hard Times Become a Way of Life (Polity, 2021).
Anju Mary Paul, Yale-NUS College, Asian Scientists on the Move: Changing Science in a Changing Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
Phyllis Rippey, University of Ottawa, Breastfeeding and the Pursuit of Happiness (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021).
Donald Spivey, University of Miami, Racism, Activism, and Integrity in College Football: The Bates Must Play Movement (Carolina Academic Press, 2021).
Steve Steele, Anne Arundel Community College (retired), AnnMarie Scarisbrick-Hauser, Bill Hauser, University of Akron, Seeking Social Solutions: Applying Sociology to the 21st Century (Kindle, 2021).
Brock Ternes, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Groundwater Citizenship: Well Owners, Environmentalism, and the Depletion of the High Plains Aquifer (Lexington Books, 2022).
Murray Webster Jr. and Lisa Slattery Walker (Ed.), University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Unequals: The Power of Status and Expectations in our Social Lives (Oxford University Press, 2022)
Obituaries
1922–2021
Donald “Don” Auster, professor emeritus of sociology at St. Lawrence University, passed away on December 6, 2021, at the age of 99. Auster volunteered for the U.S. Army during World War II and spent three years in Bermuda as a medic, an experience that led to a lifelong interest in medicine. When Auster returned home, he learned of the GI Bill and used it to pursue a college education. He received his bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University in 1949. His passion for sociology led him to pursue graduate work in sociology at Columbia University, where Professor Robert Merton told already anxious graduate students that every paper should be a “polished gem.” Auster received a master’s degree in sociology from Columbia University in 1951 and PhD in sociology from Indiana University in 1959.
After teaching for a year at the Indiana University Jeffersonville Extension Center, Auster joined the St. Lawrence University (SLU) faculty in 1957 and retired from SLU in 1987. During his three decades at SLU, Auster was the author of more than 30 published articles and scholarly papers. His early study of newspaper comic strips, which focused on Little Orphan Annie as a form of propaganda, was published in Social Problems (1954) and was later selected for inclusion in Sociology: The Progress of a Decade (Prentice Hall, 1961), a collection that editors Seymour Martin Lipset and Neil Smelser called “the most innovative research studies of the 1950–1960 period.” In addition, the American Petroleum Institute provided a grant for his research on the effects of industrial films on attitudes towards business.
Auster’s next large project was a study of men in nursing, supported by a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Public Health Service. This was one of the groundbreaking studies of that time of men in female-dominated occupations. The final report, Men Who Enter Nursing: A Sociological Analysis (U.S. Public Health Service, 1970), was coauthored with his wife, Nancy Auster, an economist. His research on men in nursing, for which he was awarded the Frank P. Piskor Faculty Lectureship in 1982, also yielded an article published in the Sociology of Work and Occupations.
Auster was an innovative teacher, feminist, and early supporter of gender equality. He pioneered the development of courses on what is now referred to as the sociology of gender and delved into the dynamics of gender and work. In addition, his scholarly interests shifted toward women choosing male-dominated occupations, and in the early 1980s he coauthored, with one of his daughters, a review of the literature on that topic. Throughout his career, he actively mentored students and even published an article, “Mentors and Protégés: Power Dependent Dyads,” in Sociological Inquiry. One of his students referred to him as “Dr. Don,” both respecting the boundary between them while honoring the huge impact he had on her. He brought optimism and insights and offered a refreshing and wise perspective on life. Auster encouraged students to embrace their full potential and gave them the confidence to pursue their dreams, and they continued to stay in touch and visit him long after his retirement.
Auster also actively supported his wife, Nancy, in her career in academia. His interminable curiosity and sociological lens on the world enabled by being in academia was embraced by both of his daughters, who completed PhDs in sociology and became professors, and by his four granddaughters, who have degrees and careers in social science-related fields.
Although Auster will be forever missed, he will be admired for his accomplishments and zest for life. Moreover, his students and colleagues at St. Lawrence University as well as his family members are forever grateful for the impact he had on their careers and lives.
Donald Auster’s complete obituary can be found here.
Carol J. Auster, Franklin & Marshall College and Ellen R. Auster, York University—Donald Auster’s daughters
Harley L. Browning
1927–2021
Harley L. Browning passed away at his home in Boulder, CO, on June 21, 2021, at the age of 94. Surviving him are his wife, Waltraut Feindt Browning (Waldi); two sons, Erik and Tulio; five grandchildren; and his twin brother, Clyde.
Browning was born in Akron, OH, on April 28, 1927. After receiving his BA degree from Kent State University in 1949, he began his graduate training at the University of California, Berkeley in the early 1950s, earning his PhD degree under Kingsley Davis in 1962. His dissertation, “Urbanization in Mexico,” laid the foundation for a long‐term research agenda about migration and urban development in Latin America. At Berkeley, Browning met his future wife, Waldi, who also became a lifelong friend to many dozens of colleagues and graduate students and their spouses.
After joining the sociology faculty at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in 1962, Browning became director of the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center (PRC) from the mid-1960s to 1977. During his more than 30 years at UT until his retirement in 1993, Browning forged institutional and training legacies through his leadership of the PRC; skillful recruitment and training of several generations of Latin American demographers; and his role recruiting and mentoring assistant professors. Under Browning’s direction, the PRC was the first social science population center to be awarded core support funding from the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The PRC remains today as one of the leading centers for demographic research in the world.
During his tenure at UT, Browning inspired a generation of Latin American demographers through his research on internal migration, urbanization, and the structural transformation of employment. With students Jorge Balán and Elizabeth Jelin, Browning pioneered a life history approach to internal migration. Their groundbreaking monograph, Men in a Developing Society: Geographic and Social Mobility in Monterrey, Mexico (University of Texas Press, 1973) set the direction for a considerable body of work on internal and international migration by contextualizing migration decision‐making against social and family circumstances.
Browning was one of the first demographers to appreciate the social significance of life expectancy and its implications for the timing and sequencing of major life events that define the transition to adulthood. During the latter years of his career, Browning was in the vanguard in recognizing the broad social implications of the structural transformation of employment. With his student Joachim Singelmann, he developed an industry classification scheme that considered the differentiation of services and identified their functions and differential growth rates in the course of development.
Through decades of working with students, colleagues, and a broad network of collaborators, Browning was a central figure building the field of Latin American demography. Today, many of the best‐known demographers of Latin America are either Browning ‘s students or collaborators, and most are affiliates of, or visitors to, the Population Research Center.
Browning was the quintessential mentor. He regularly met with junior faculty, routinely provided probing comments on manuscripts, reviewed course syllabi, and offered objective feedback on teaching. For graduate students, Browning humanized the arduous training process with home-cooked dinners at “the Waldheim” (the Browning’s beautiful home on Pecos St.) prior to extended discussions of manuscripts, theses, or dissertation chapters. He never missed a deadline for a letter of recommendation and generously shared books from his personal library.
Harley Browning redefined academic selflessness and humility; he cultivated trust, admiration, and gratitude among his students and colleagues. Collectively and individually, we stand in his debt, and mourn his passing.
Marta Tienda, Princeton University; Dudley L. Poston, Jr., Texas A&M University; Joachim Singelmann, University of Texas-San Antonio
Trevor J. Pinch
1952–2021
Trevor Pinch, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University, died on December 16, 2021, after living with cancer for over four years. Pinch also held an appointment in sociology at Cornell, and his research and teaching crossed many disciplinary boundaries.
Pinch was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in England. After receiving a bachelor of science degree in physics from Imperial College London, he pursued an interest in the sociology of science, receiving his PhD in 1982 from the University of Bath, where he began a long-term collaboration with his dissertation adviser, Harry Collins, which continued through many books and articles. After receiving his PhD, Pinch worked as a lecturer and senior lecturer in sociology at the University of York, before moving to the U.S. to take a position at Cornell in 1990 when the new Department of Science & Technology Studies (S&TS) was being formed.
As a central member of S&TS for the next 31 years, Pinch served as department chair and director of graduate studies for much of that time. While acquiring international recognition for his research, he also was an active and revered teacher of large undergraduate courses and mentor of numerous PhD students in S&TS, sociology, and other graduate fields at Cornell. Many of his students went on to have careers in sociology, science & technology studies, history, communication and information science, and other fields at major universities.
Pinch loved and excelled at teaching. Despite having been diagnosed with metastatic cancer in 2017 and undergoing repeated and debilitating treatments in hopes of arresting it, he maintained his teaching activities to the very end. Testimonies given by his former students in the weeks following his death were uniform in praising the way he inspired them with his broad and multifaceted knowledge, while conveying his advice with kindness and humility.
Pinch’s research was grounded in sociology but made a remarkable variety of contributions to the social sciences and humanities. His initial research drew upon his physics background in a study of activities and controversies in the field of solar neutrino research and made a timely and important contribution to the social constructionist approach that was becoming prominent in the sociology of science in the early 1980s. At the time, sociologists and social historians had begun to use ethnographic and archival research to investigate the intertwining of social and technical activities in historical and contemporary scientific fields. Pinch’s books and articles drew upon Thomas Kuhn’s history of the natural sciences and demonstrated the depth to which communal affiliations and rivalries pervade scientific discourse and practice.
Although his contributions to sociology of science were substantial, Pinch is best known for his work in developing a social constructionist treatment of technology. His edited volume (with Wiebe Bijker and Thomas P. Hughes), The Social Construction of Technological Systems (MIT Press 1987) was an immense success for establishing a framework for conceptually and methodologically integrating science studies with historical and social studies of technology. Their book was a major landmark for establishing the field of STS (an acronym conveniently covering both science, technology, and society and the Department of Science & Technology Studies).
In the final two decades of his life, Pinch became prominent in yet another novel transdisciplinary area in the humanities and social sciences: sound studies, a field encompassing such topics as the history of musical instruments, the urban “soundscape,” the use of sound as a method of observation, and controversies surrounding cochlear implants. His most notable contribution to sound studies was the book Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer (Harvard University Press 2002), coauthored with Frank Trocco. At the same time, he also played the synthesizer (including one that he had assembled himself in his youth) and performed with James Spitznagel in a duo fittingly named The Electric Golem.
Pinch served as president (2012–13) of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) and received numerous awards and honors. These included the John Desmond Bernal Prize (2018) for career achievement from the 4S, and the Robert K. Merton Book Award (1994) from the Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association for his book, The Golem: What Everyone Should Know about Science (Cambridge University Press 1993) coauthored with Harry Collins. Despite his many accolades, he conducted himself with colleagues and students in an unassuming, friendly, and generous way.
Pinch is survived by his spouse, Christine Leuenberger, and their two daughters, Benika and Annika Pinch.
Michael Lynch, Cornell University
William F. Stinner
1938–2021
William F. Stinner was born in Allentown, PA, to German immigrants. Much of his research and life reflected that Allentown beginning. Known as “Bill” throughout his life, Stinner served in the U.S. Navy in the late 1950s and later moved on to a successful career as a researcher, mentor, and teacher. After completing his undergraduate coursework, Stinner married Carol McKewen in 1961; they shared life together until her passing in 2017.
Stinner began his academic career by earning a BA from Columbia University, followed by MA and PhD degrees from Pennsylvania State University. He came to Utah State University (USU) in 1973, following several terms teaching at Penn State, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the University of the Philippines Population Institute. He maintained a distinguished career at USU and served as the director of USU’s Yun Kim Population Research Laboratory. Upon his retirement from USU in 2000, Stinner worked for several years at the Utah Department of Health.
Stinner played a central role in demographic and human ecological research—nationally and internationally. In graduate school and throughout his illustrious career, his research contributed significantly to the understanding of populations and cultures in Asia, Latin America, and the U.S. He was among the first to identify issues that subsequently became important lines of demographic inquiry. His first article, published with his mentor Gordon De Jong in 1969 in Demography, provided significant ecological insights on pushes and pulls for Black migration in the South and became a standard on the subject. His groundbreaking research on parental preferences for sons or daughters noted that many parents prefer a balance of female and male children, as opposed to just one sex.
Stinner was among the first to examine the relationship of disability to population factors, and his work on Mormons in Utah provided insights on minority populations throughout the world. His publications, including the books Return Migration and Remittances: Developing a Caribbean Perspective (Smithsonian Institution 1983) with Klaus De Albuquerque and Roy S. Bryce-Laport and Community, Society and Migration: Noneconomic Migration in America (University Press of America 1982) with Patrick Jobes and John Wardwell, as well as the full volume of a special edition of Western Sociological Review on sociology of the life course he edited with Brian L. Pitcher, all provided unique insights into community and population. Stinner was truly renowned internationally and domestically for his numerous contributions to sociological and human ecological demography
Stinner’s role in directing major National Institutes of Health projects brought national and international attention to the sociology program at USU and supported many students. He provided superb leadership to the Population Research Laboratory. Further, he was critical to the founding of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee on the sociology of population (RC41) and was the RC41’s second president. He supervised numerous students to successful degree completion and many achieved their first scholarly publications with Stinner as their mentor. The respect, appreciation, and loyalty shown for him are remarkable. Indeed, upon hearing of Stinner’s passing, one student commented, “Dr. Stinner always inspired me to work harder.” Such admiration from students is undoubtedly the most cherished compensation a professor can hope to receive.
William F. Stinner was in all respects an outstanding scholar, distinguished researcher, important teacher and mentor, and a beloved husband and uncle. His colleagues and students missed him upon his retirement and, with his family, we mourn the loss of his powerful and collaborative intellect and his friendship.
E. Helen Berry, Utah State University; Dudley L. Poston Jr, Texas A&M University; Michael B. Toney, Utah State University; Sojung Lim, Utah State University
Ira M. Wasserman
1935–2021
Ira M. Wasserman passed away at age 85 on June 7, 2021. Wasserman was born during the Great Depression on December 20, 1935, in Carbondale, PA. His early educational journey was characterized by science. After receiving two degrees in physics—a BS from Penn State in 1958 and an MS from the University of Minnesota in 1960—he worked five years as a project engineer for Bendix Corporation. Wasserman earned his second master’s degree, this time in mathematics, from the New School for Social Research in 1966 and earned his PhD in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1971. He held appointments at Eastern Michigan University, Portland State University, and the University of Alberta. The latter was during a sabbatical in the early 1990s, and Wasserman talked very fondly of his time there. He retired from Eastern in 2004 and ultimately moved from Ann Arbor to Traverse City, MI, where he and his wife, Carole, bought a beautiful home on a small lake.
Wasserman’s eclectic research portfolio encompassed over 50 articles, published in social science journals such as the American Sociological Review, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Communication, and Social Forces. Over the five decades of his sociological research journey, he contributed to research streams including those on suicide, homicide, presidential elections, social gerontology, alcohol consumption, life satisfaction, and collective violence. His analysis of elderly suicide, including age-period-cohort models, was funded by the National Institute on Aging. A Social Forces article showed that world war lowered suicide not through social integration, as assumed by Émile Durkheim, but through lowering alcohol consumption and unemployment. An article in the American Sociological Review was the first to demonstrate that widely publicized suicide stories involving celebrities were the most apt to trigger copycat-oriented suicides among the vulnerable. According to Web of Science, this article ranks 18th of the 1,390 suicide articles published in sociological journals.
Wasserman introduced the econometric almon distributed lag model to sociology in the 1980s. His portfolio of research also includes cross-national predictors of the degree of liberalism in abortion and contraceptive laws in up to 77 nations in a paper published in Social Indicators Research. Two of Wasserman’s articles in Social Science Quarterly (SSQ) on patterns in internet use have become citation classics (among the top 1 percent in citations of more than 6,000 articles ever published in SSQ). His book, How the American Media Packaged Lynching 1850-1940: Constructing the Meaning of Social Events (Edwin Mellen Press 2006), uncovered patterns in media coverage in more than 1,000 acts of lynching.
Steven Stack, retired professor from Wayne State University, and Wasserman coauthored more than a dozen papers and also had the same birthday, sharing an annual free birthday meal at a generous Ann Arbor restaurant. Stack also recalls that Wasserman “held a reserved position at the table for the monthly poker game that I hosted for 20 years. Ira’s math background gave him an edge,” although the stakes were kept low. Ira helped to invent many new poker games including Stock Market Crash Guts, a tribute to his interest in historical events.”
Liqun Cao, professor at Ontario Tech University, remembers meeting Wasserman when he went to Eastern Michigan University for the campus interview in 1993. “After I was hired at Eastern, we became colleagues until his retirement. Usually, Ira was the first person to arrive at the office and the last to leave. We shared common interests in poker games and in the stock market. His best stock pick in life was Cisco. In the heydays, you would hear his shouting in the hallway when there was nobody else around, ‘Cisco (price) will go to the moon!’”
Frank Trovato, professor at the University of Alberta, recalls getting to know Wasserman during his sabbatical visit to the University of Alberta in the early 1990s. “Ira was a fine scholar who made important contributions to sociological analysis. I will always remember Ira for his uplifting sense of humor, kindness, and unwavering collegial support. He was a great friend and colleague.”
We miss him. A personal obituary is available here.
Steven Stack, Wayne State University (retired); Liqun Cao, Ontario Tech University; and Frank Trovato, University of Alberta
Charles V. Willie
1927–2022
Charles Vert Willie, sociologist and the Charles William Eliot Professor of Education, Emeritus at Harvard University and former Boston School Desegregation Master, died January 11, 2022, at age 94. Willie was most recently a resident of Brighton, MA, after relocating from Concord, MA, where he had lived for 44 years.
Born at home in Dallas, TX, on October 8, 1927, Willie, a grandson of enslaved people, was the third child of five to Louis James Willie and Carrie (Sykes) Willie. His father earned only an eighth-grade education and made a living as a Pullman porter. Willie’s mother graduated from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. As a teacher, she home-schooled their children until they were old enough to ride in the back of streetcars to the city’s segregated schools, but she was barred from working as a married woman in the segregated school system of Dallas. Education was a priority in the Willie family: all five children were able to go to college and attend graduate school.
Willie earned a B.A. from Morehouse College in 1948, where he was elected class president and became a mentee of its president, the renowned educator Benjamin E. Mays. A member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, his class included young men who would become extraordinary leaders, including fellow sociology major Martin Luther King Jr. After earning a master’s degree in sociology at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) in 1949, Willie was awarded a doctorate in sociology in 1957 from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Willie taught at Syracuse University from 1950 to 1974, rising from graduate student lecturer to chair of the sociology department and eventually vice president for student affairs. He was Syracuse’s first Black tenured faculty member. Willie took a leave of absence from Syracuse at the invitation of Robert F. Kennedy to direct the research arm of Washington Action for Youth, a crime prevention and youth intervention program sponsored by President John F. Kennedy’s Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime. Willie remembered RFK saying to him, “Some may consider this an opportunity, but it’s likely that you’ll understand it as an obligation.”
Willie returned to Syracuse in the mid-1960s, during which time he brought Martin Luther King Jr. to speak twice at the university. In 1966–67, Willie took another leave from Syracuse at the invitation of Harvard Medical School, where he taught and conducted research in its department of psychiatry as part of the Laboratory of Community Psychiatry and at the Episcopal Divinity School. In 1974, Willie left Syracuse to accept a tenured position as professor of education and urban studies at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.
His areas of research included desegregation, higher education, public health, race relations, urban community problems, and family life. He published more than 100 articles and 35 books, including A New Look at Black Families, which had six editions, two of which were coauthored with Richard J. Reddick. Other books include Race Mixing in the Public Schools (Praeger Publishers 1973) with Jerome Beker, Black Colleges in America: Challenge, Development, Survival (Teachers College Press, 1978) with Ronald R. Edmonds, The Ivory and Ebony Towers: Race Relations and Higher Education (Lexington Books 1981); School Desegregation Plans that Work (ABC-CLIO, 1984); Five Black Scholars: An Analysis of Family Life, Education, and Career (University Press of America, 1986); Mental Health, Racism, and Sexism (Routledge 1995); Controlled Choice: A New Approach to Desegregated Education and School Improvement (Education Alliance Press, 1996) with Michael J. Alves, and Grassroots Social Action: Lessons in People Power Movements (Rowman & Littlefield 1998) with Steven P. Ridini and David A. Willard. Willie formally retired from Harvard in 1999 but continued to teach part time for another decade.
Willie received honorary doctoral degrees from 15 colleges and universities, including Berkeley Divinity School—the Episcopal Seminary at Yale (1972), the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (1974), Rhode Island College (1983), Morehouse College (1983), Johnson C. Smith University (1991), Syracuse University (1992), Framingham State University (1992), Franklin Pierce University (1996), Wentworth Institute of Technology (1996), Haverford College (2000), the Episcopal Divinity School (2004), Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (2005), Emerson College (2008), Morgan State University (2013), and Beacon College (2019). Morehouse College awarded him the Bennie Service Award (1994), and Syracuse University awarded Willie its George Arents Pioneer Medal (2000) and later honored him with the Chancellor’s Citation Lifetime Achievement Award (2017).
Willie led a richly rewarding life beyond his academic achievements. As the vice president of the House of Deputies in the Episcopal Church USA, he preached the sermon for the ordination of the first 11 women priests in the Episcopal Church. The service was held at the Church of the Advocate, Philadelphia, PA, on July 29, 1974. Although Willie anticipated becoming the first Black president of the House of Deputies, he resigned his position in protest when the House of Bishops refused to recognize the ordination of women. In the 10th anniversary issue of Ms. Magazine (August 1982), the editors celebrated Willie as a “male hero,” for his contribution to the recognition of women priests in the Episcopal Church.
When Willie and his family moved to Massachusetts in the early 1970s, Boston was wracked by tension and violence over white residents’ resistance to school desegregation. The judge overseeing the case, Arthur W. Garrity, asked Willie to serve as one of four court-appointed masters to bring Boston’s landmark school desegregation case to a just conclusion. Several years later, Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn, a former student of Willie’s, invited him to develop a desegregation plan for the city. The plan, which Willie cocreated with Michael Alves, became known as “Controlled Choice” and was used in Boston and Cambridge for decades. Based on his experience in Boston, Willie was asked to serve as a consultant and expert witness for major school desegregation cases in Hartford, CT; Dallas and Houston, TX; Denver, CO; Kansas City, MO; Little Rock, AR; Milwaukee, WI; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA; St. Louis, MO; St. Lucie and Lee Counties, FL; and Boston, Somerville, Cambridge, and Brockton, MA.
President Jimmy Carter appointed Willie to the President’s Commission on Mental Health. Over a long and storied career, Willie joined the Board of Directors of the Social Science Research Council; the Fetzer Institute; the Dana McLean Greely Foundation for Peace and Justice; Museum of Science, Boston; and the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health; as well as serving as chair of the Board of Directors for the Judge Baker Children’s Center and as a member of the technical advisory board of the Maurice Falk Medical Fund for 30 years (1969–99). He served as vice president of the American Sociological Association in 1997 and president of the Eastern Sociological Society, 1974–75. The American Sociological Association awarded Willie its Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award in 1994 and its W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award in 2005. Willie also received the ASA Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology’s William Foote Whyte Distinguished Career Award in 2004. The American Association of Blacks in Higher Education honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. The Eastern Sociological Society honored him with its Merit Award in 2006 and established the annual Charles V. Willie Minority Graduate Student Award in his honor.
An applied sociologist, Willie not only taught and conducted research but also applied what he learned in his work with others. For many years he gave an annual lecture and led a conversation about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X with those incarcerated at the Concord (MA) prison. And he hosted Inner City Beat, a national public affairs weekly television program on the Monitor Channel, 1991–92. Considering himself a lifelong learner, Willie followed the teachings of his classmate Martin Luther King Jr., the theologians Howard Thurman and Martin Buber, and the anticolonialist Mahatma Gandhi. He strove to bring the ideals of justice, equity, empathy, and reconciliation to every conflict he faced. He uncovered the best in everyone, understanding that, no matter how intransigent the conflict, resolution required neither the annihilation nor the humiliation of opposing sides. Following those principles allowed Willie to build strong professional and personal bonds; he leaves behind a broad and diverse community of those who were touched by his grace.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years Mary Sue (Conklin) Willie; daughter Sarah Willie-LeBreton (Jonathan LeBreton) of Media, PA; son Martin Willie (Jayme) of Denver, CO; son James Willie (Susan) of Takoma Park, MD; grandchildren Jeremy-Nathaniel Willie LeBreton, Susannah James Willie, and Addison Jean Willie; sister Mary Gauthier of Syracuse, NY; in-laws Betsy and David Bueschel of Evanston, IL; nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and nephews, cousins, and a large and loving extended family. He was predeceased by three brothers, Louis James Willie II of Alabama; Joseph Rutherford Willie of Texas; and Alfred Noble Willie, most recently of New Jersey. Willie will be interred at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, MA, in a private burial service. A spring memorial service is planned. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Charles V. Willie’s name to Good Shepherd Community Care Hospice, the hospice organization of your choice, or the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Sarah Willie-LeBreton, Willie’s daughter, Swarthmore College
