Culture, Politics and the Production of Disease: African Cases and Controversies

Sociological insights have traditionally been brought to understand the larger causes, consequences and societal response to health, illness and healing. This session examines critical global problems of health with new and classic sociological vision.

Organizer: Bernice Pescosolido, Indiana University
Panel: Victor Agadjanian, Arizona State University
Ann Swidler, University of California, Berkeley
David R. Williams, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Deepening Democracy through Faith-Based Citizen Activism: Strengths, Critiques, Alternatives

A vigorous “public sociology” session focusing on the relationship between academic work and practical political work. Scholars will briefly present how they hope to impact the self-understanding and practice of organizing for social justice; practitioners will respond with critique, self-critique, or reports on how scholarly writing has influenced their own practice.

Organizer: Richard Wood, University of New Mexico
Panel: Marshall Ganz, Harvard University
Omar McRoberts, University of Chicago
Janice Fine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scott Reed, Pacific Institute for Community Organization

Envisioning Real Utopias

The idea of “envisioning real utopias” combines normative discussions of emancipatory alternatives to existing social arrangements with the pragmatic investigations of institutional feasibility. This session will first lay out the rationale for such an intellectual endeavor and then explore a range of more specific topics: participatory democracy, feminist visions in pre-WWI Britain, and youth empowerment.

Organizer: Erik Olin Wright, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Archon Fong, Harvard University
Sheila Rowbotham, Manchester University
Carmen Sirianni, Brandeis University
Discussion: Maurice Zeitlin, University of California, Los Angeles

Berkeley's Betrayal: Wages and Working Conditions at Cal

The panelists will discuss their collaborative research on the wages and working conditions of clerical and service workers at UC Berkeley. They will also explore the opportunities and challenges of engaging in a "public sociology" intended to galvanize and inform public debate on campus work conditions.

Organizer: Ofer Sharone, University of California, Berkeley
Panel: Barbara Ehrenreich, author
Gretchen Purser, University of California, Berkeley
Amy Schalet, University of California, San Francisco

Human Rights as Public Sociology (co-sponsored with International Human Rights Funders Group)

The moderator will interview a panel of sociologists who work on human rights, asking them how they frame issues, what policies are most effective, and the role of professional sociologists as agents of social change. The audience will be encouraged to comment on the issues and raise further questions throughout.

Organizer: Mona Younis, Human Rights Advocate
Presider: Ron Aminzade, University of Minnesota
Panel: Patrick Ball, The Benetech Initiative
Myra Gomez, Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions, Geneva
Eduardo Gonzalez Cueva, International Center for Transitional Justice
Jim Ron, McGill University
Sylvia Tamale, Makerere University

Is Parental Leave Good or Bad for Gender Equality?

Feminists disagree about whether the cause of gender equality is helped or harmed by policies (public or employer) that let parents take some months or years of leave for child rearing. Also at issue is whether parental leave or child care are more important policy priorities. Janet Gornick and Barbara Bergmann take differing views on this issue. The debate will be moderated by another expert in this area, Nancy Folbre.

Organizer: Paula England, Northwestern University
Presider: Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Panel: Janet Gornick, Baruch College, City University of New York
Barbara Bergmann, American University

Public Sociology in Practice: Internationalizing American Sociology through Community Action Research

This informal participatory session features community based research practitioners from a variety of fields and field locations. The presider will frame the discussion, then the panelists will engage with the audience, each responding to questions that fall within their experiential areas, focusing on memorable pitfalls and best practices as we learn how to put public social science into practice.

Organizer: Adam Flint, Hartwick College
Panel: Jennifer Bickham Mendez, College of William and Mary
Bob Edwards, East Carolina University
Michael Foley, Catholic University of America
Randy Stoecker, University of Toledo
Alicia Swords, Cornell University
Millie Thayer, University of Massachusettes, Amherst
Clare Weber, California State University, Dominguez Hills

Sociologizing School Policy: The Public Sociology of Education

Education has been an area in which sociologists have forcefully spoken to public issues. This panel will address some prominent policy interventions by educational sociologists -- analyzing the sources, methods, audiences, and impacts of those interventions – and forecast what are the key areas for future public sociology in education.

Organizer: Kevin Dougherty, Teachers College, Columbia University
Panel: Jomills Braddock, University of Miami
Amy Stuart Wells, Columbia University
Sylvia Hurtado, University of Michigan
Discussion: Jeannie Oakes, University of California, Los Angeles

Stratification Theory and Its Contribution to a Public Understanding of Inequality

Ebbs and flows of inequality affect the quality of social life. Academic sociology has addressed this link since the earliest days of the discipline, but our message is seldom heard outside professional settings. Four leading academics will discuss what they would tell the world about the importance of inequality to education, the labor market, prisons, and public policy and reflect on the obstacles they face in getting that message across.

Organizer: Michael Hout, University of California, Berkeley
Panel: Robert M. Hauser, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Martina Morris, University of Washington
Bruce Western, Princeton University
Susan Mayer, University of Chicago

The End of Welfare as We Knew It: What Now?

This session will feature scholars from the major ongoing studies of the impact of welfare reform. Research findings will be reported for three crucial outcomes of low income families and children: work and economic well-being; marriage and cohabitation, and child well-being. The discussant will then address the salience and implications of such findings within a broad perspective of social policy, work, and family. The audience will be encouraged to participate in open discussion and exchange.

Organizer: Sheldon Danziger, University of Michigan; and Kathleen Mullan Harris, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Panel: Sandra K. Danziger, University of Michigan
Kathryn Edin, Northwestern University
Andy Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University
Discussion: Robin Rogers-Dillon, Queens College/CUNY

Transnational Environmental Struggles and Our Role as Political Actors

How can we contribute to transnational debates and political struggles over environments and nature? Panelists will draw from their own rich experiences as public scholars engaged in policy, activism, and/or critical debate, to help us understand what is at stake, what publics are often ignored in scholarship, and how we can contribute to social and environmental justice.

Organizer: Michael Goldman, University of Illinois, Urbana
Panel: Michael Watts, University of California, Berkeley
Nancy Peluso, University of California, Berkeley
Frederick Buttel, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Discussion: Anuradha Mittal, Food First: Institute for Food and Development Policy, Oakland, CA

Uneven Development and Inequality: What Difference Have Public Policies Made?

The spatial and temporal unevenness of capitalist development has been one of the most powerful forces shaping inequality nationally and internationally. Whether and how public policies can accentuate or moderate such unevenness and its impact on inequality remains a controversial issue. Panelists will deal with the issue from the standpoint of their respective research programs.

Organizer: Giovanni Arrighi, Johns Hopkins University
Presider: Kathleen Schwartzman, University of Arizona
Panel: David Harvey, Graduate Center, City University of New York
Alejandro Portes, Princeton University
Robert Brenner, University of California, Los Angeles
Discussion: Giovanni Arrighi, Johns Hopkins University

Unfinished Business: Fifty Years after Brown v. Board of Education

May 17, 2004, marked the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board, which struck down the racially “separate but equal” doctrine and promised equality for all. A landmark case in constitutional law, civil rights, and education, Brown illustrated the roles that children, parents, lawyers, judges, social scientists, and public intellectuals played. It had a ripple effect beyond race and education and expanded rights to diverse groups in the U.S. as well as human rights internationally. The 2003 Supreme Court decision on Michigan protected Brown’s promise and allowed that university administrators may use affirmative action for diversity. What is the unfinished business of Brown and where do we go from here? Distinguished panelists address past, present, and future challenges and opportunities.

Organizer: Bernice McNair Barnett, University of Illinois, Urbana
Panel: Nancy Cantor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Joe R. Feagin, Texas A&M University
Judge Julius Chambers
Thomas Pettigrew, University of California, Santa Cruz

Which Box Should Be Checked and Why Does It Matter?: The Consequences of Racial Classification in the U.S. and Brazil

Scholars address key questions regarding the politics of racial/ethnic classification including: With the ability to check multiple “racial boxes” in the U.S. Census, will the U.S. move closer to the Brazilian racial classification system? How do the racial classifications systems in the U.S. and Brazil affect race-based social policies?

Organizer: Verna Keith, Arizona State University
Panel: David Harris, Cornell University.
Michael Omi, University of California, Berkeley
Edward Telles, University of California, Los Angeles