Section Mini-Conferences

CFP: CAPITALISM, THE POLITICS OF INEQUALITY, AND HISTORICAL CHANGE

Columbia University New York City August 14, 2013

The Comparative and Historical Sociology and Political Sociology sections of the ASA announce a special mini-conference on "Capitalism, the Politics of Inequality, and Historical Change" to be held in New York City on August 14, following the annual ASA meeting at Columbia University. Building on this year's ASA's theme of "Interrogating Inequality," we invite paper submissions, which examine historical and contemporary processes of capitalist growth and expansion that heighten or attenuate various forms of inequality, including national, regional, ethno-racial, class, and gender. We are particularly interested in research that explores the political and historical bases.

Please submit papers by May 15, 2013 to the appropriate session organizer listed below. We expect submissions to be competitive. We will notify submitters of the status of their submissions by June 15th, 2013. Further details on registration and venue are forthcoming.

POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY SECTION-SPONSORED SESSIONS

Capitalism, Poverty, and New Social Movements (Plenary Session)

With the financial crisis, poverty skyrocketed, financial stability decreased, capitalism was questioned, and new social movements emerged. The downturn in the economy reverberated across nations and citizens responded with anger, frustration, and disbelief. In this session, we will explore the nexus of capitalism, poverty, and new social movements – both now and in the past, as well as locally and globally. How have elements of capitalism and poverty helped to spur social movements? And, what impact have these social movements had on outcomes? Please send submissions to Kathleen M. Fallon at kathleen.fallon@mcgill.ca

Violence, the State, and the New Economy

Weber conceived of the state as that entity which holds a monopoly on the use of legitimate violence. Yet what constitutes legitimate violence, and who can wield it, remains highly contested in modern societies. Indeed, states' laws, criminal systems, gender regulations, and economic policies regularly influence how non-state actors wield violence, and determine the degrees of legitimacy conferred on those violent actors, be they guerrilla armies, spousal abusers, or drug traffickers. Papers in this section may examine how violence, broadly defined—political, organized, domestic, criminal, or otherwise—affects states or economies, or how states and economies structure violence wielded by non-state actors. Please send submissions to Jocelyn Viterna at jviterna@wjh.harvard.edu

Identities, Citizenship, and Political Transformation

As sociologists engage new theoretical perspectives on the concept of 'citizenship,' the world has been rocked by movements for political transformation, running from Arab Spring, to the TEA Party and Occupy actions in the U.S., to both anti-immigrant and anti-austerity populisms currently in Greece and other parts of the EU. How are cultural and national identities constituted by citizenship regimes, and how are these threatened and reinforced during moments of mass collective action? How are neo-liberal governance structures shaping both movements and the understandings of citizenship? We welcome papers illuminating these concepts as they examining the complexity of current political action and protests. Please send submissions to Rhys Williams at rwilliams7@luc.edu.

Markets and Democracy

The relationship between markets and democracy is a classic preoccupation of political sociologists. Does the development of a market economy lead to democratization? Or do markets produce inequalities that undermine political equality? Can a democracy govern effectively for economic growth in the long run? Or does democratic rule undermine market freedoms? We welcome papers that shed new light on these classic questions, as well as papers that address such contemporary concerns as the development of markets for democratic deliberation; the relationship between financial markets and democracy; and the use of prediction markets to forecast the outcomes of democratic elections. Please send submissions to Isaac Martin at iwmartin@ucsd.edu.

Corporations and Responsibility

The renegotiation of relationships between corporations, states, and civil societies has helped to generate and institutionalize new practices in which firms make efforts to partner with social movement groups, improve their sustainability, and engage in general practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This session will investigate such discourses and practices to reveal how they are linked to the changing dynamics of local, national, and global politics and governance. How, for example, is CSR related to strategies of corporate political influence? How are the “private politics” of the firm embedded within the politics of national states and transnational governance regimes? What role are social movements playing in the politics of corporate responsibility? Please send submissions to Edward Walker at walker@soc.ucla.edu.

Junior Political Sociologists: Emerging Directions in Political Sociology

We invite extended abstracts of no more that four pages from graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, especially abstracts that show innovative and critical engagement with political theory and politics. Abstracts should be sent to Victoria Gonzalez at vigonzalez424@gmail.com and Sourabh Singh at ssingh@sociology.rutgers.edu.

COMPARATIVE-HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY SECTION-SPONSORED SESSIONS

War and Political Order

One of the main concerns of "classic" historical sociology from Hintze to Tilly was the relationship between fiscal extraction and political centralization. Yet since WWII large- scale political conflict has faded from the core zones of the modern world. What are the causes and consequences of this shift? Papers dealing with any aspect of this transformation (cultural, economic, political or otherwise) are welcome. Please send abstracts to Dylan Riley at riley@berkeley.edu.

The US State in Comparative and Historical Perspective

The US is often seen as an exceptional political structure; a federal system stretching across a vast continent and integrated more through "courts and parties" than centralized political bureaucracies. Clearly however this has been one of the most powerful political units in history, both in terms of its ability to project military influence, and repress threats from below. What is the secret of its success? How exceptional is the US state? What are the relevant units to which it should be compared? Questions attempting to discuss the US case in a comparative way along of these dimensions or others are welcome. Please send abstracts to Dylan Riley at riley@berkeley.edu.

Capitalism, States, and Transformations in Global Perspective

Comparative historical sociology and political sociology has long focused on international or national processes, but another strand of research and theory has focused on transnational and global processes and structures. This session welcomes papers that discuss capitalism, states, and/or social transformations on spatial scales that traverse, transgress or flow across national boundaries. Papers that are explicit on and help illuminate how to do global and transnational study from a comparative-historical perspective or which offer up theories and approaches for doing so are especially welcome. Please send abstracts to Nitsan Chorev at nitsan_chorev@brown.edu.

The Imperial and Colonial Dimensions of Capitalism and Inequalities

In much of the world, capitalism and inequality have both shaped and been structured by imperialism and colonialism. This session welcomes papers that address these relationships. Topics might include but are not restricted to the legacies of colonialism upon economies, social structures, gender relations, or cultures in postcolonial societies; the dynamic relationships between capital accumulation and imperialism; and the impact of imperialism abroad upon domestic economies, social structures, or social transformations in the metropole. Please send abstracts to Julian Go at juliango@bu.edu.

Junior Comparative Historical Sociologists: Emerging Directions in Historical Comparative Sociology

We invite extended abstracts of no more that four pages from graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, especially abstracts that show innovative and critical engagement with historical evidence (whether primary or secondary). Abstracts should be sent to Christopher Muller (muller@fas.harvard.edu) and Nicholas Hoover Wilson (n.wilson@yale.edu).

2009 CHS Mini-Conference

"Comparing Past and Present"
Sponsored by the Comparative and Historical Sociology Section of the ASA
Berkeley, California
August 12, 2009

8:00 – 8:50 am: Breakfast
Lippman Room, Barrows Hall, 8th Floor

9:00 – 10:50 am: Opening Plenary, "Past and Present: Using Theory"
Lippman Room, Barrows Hall, 8th Floor

John R. Hall, UC Davis
“Apocalypse in the Long Run: Reflections on Huge Comparisons in the Study of Modernity”

Edgar Kiser, University of Washington
“Relationships between the Past and Present: A Typology and Analysis”

Jeffery M. Paige, University of Michigan
“Rethinking Revolution in Evo Morales's Bolivia”

Discussant: Margaret Somers, University of Michigan
Presider: Jack Goldstone, George Mason University

11:00 am – 12:50 pm: Morning Breakout Sessions

Economic Systems (Organizers: Rebecca Jean Emigh, Greta Krippner)
IRLE Director’s Room, 2521 Channing Way, #5555

Rebecca Jean Emigh, UCLA
“Transitions to Capitalism - Past and Present”

Fred Block, UC Davis
“Crisis and Renewal: The Outlines of a 21st Century New Deal”

Monica Prasad, Northwestern University
“Bryan’s Revenge: The Credit/Welfare State Tradeoff and the Crises of 2008-2009”

Carlos H. Waisman, UC San Diego
“Reconsidering Transitions to Market Capitalism: Institutional Transfers and the Capitalist Class”

Discussant: Marion Fourcade, UC Berkeley
Presider: Emily Erikson, UMASS

Immigration (Organizers: Mara Loveman, David Cook-Martin)
IGS Harris Room, 119 Moses Hall

Susan Bibler Coutin, UC Irvine
“Falling Outside: Lawyering, Central Americans, and the Boundaries of Political Asylum”

Ernesto Castañeda, Columbia University
“Immigrant Political Voice in a Comparative Perspective: New York, Paris and Barcelona”

David Cook-Martin, Grinnell College and David Fitzgerald, UC San Diego
“Liberalism and the Limits of Inclusion: Racialized Preferences in Immigration Laws of the Americas, 1850-2000”

Discussant: Catherine Lee, Rutgers
Presider: Mara Loveman, University of Wisconsin

Collective Action (Organizers: Jeff Broadbent, Jeff Goodwin)
Lippman Room, Barrows Hall, 8th Floor

Jeff Goodwin, New York University and Gabriel Hetland, UC Berkeley
“The Strange Disappearance of Capitalism from Social Movement Studies.”

Joel Stillerman, Grand Valley State University and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
“Conflict Zones: Space, Time and Metalworkers´ Protest in Chile, 1945-2005”

Jeffrey Haydu and David Kadanoff, UC San Diego
“Political Consumerism, New and Old”

Discussant: Ivan Ermakoff, University of Wisconsin
Presider: Ellen Reese, UC Riverside

Religion (Organizers: Philip Gorski, Geneviève Zubrzycki)
IIS, 223 Moses Hall

Ateþ Altinordu, Yale University
“Comparing the Past and Present of Religious Politics: Political Catholicism and Political Islam in Comparison”

Christopher Pieper and Michael P. Young, UT-Austin
“Two Centuries of Evangelical and Catholic Activism in The United States: What the 19th and 20th Centuries May Tell Us about the 21st”

Nathan Wright, Bryn Mawr College
“Reflections on Religious Change and Persistence from the Mormon Story”

Discussant: Penny Edgell, University Of Minnesota
Presider: Amy Kate Bailey, Princeton University

Gender (Organizers: Nicola Beisel, Kathleen Blee)
Barrows Hall 402

Nicola Beisel, Northwestern University and Sarah Lipton-Lubet
“Appropriating Auschwitz: The Holocaust as Analogy and Provocation in the Pro-Life Movement”

Arlene Stein, Rutgers University
“Our Holocaust: Feminism, Therapeutic Culture, and the Identity Politics of the ‘Second Generation’”

Kathleen M. Blee, University of Pittsburgh
“Gendering Right-Wing Extremism: Past and Present”

Discussant: Brian Donovan, University of Kansas
Presider: Nancy Whittier, Smith College

1:00 – 1:50 pm: Lunch
Lippman Room, Barrows Hall, 8th Floor

2:00 – 3:50 pm: Afternoon Breakout Sessions

Empires (Organizers: Richard Lachmann, Julian Go, George Steinmetz)
IRLE Director’s Room, 2521 Channing Way, #5555

Julian Go, Boston University
“‘New’ Imperialisms: The British and US Empires in Comparison”

Krishan Kumar, University of Virginia
“Empire and Metropolis: The Impact of the British Empire on British Society”

Paul Frymer, Princeton University
“Race, Class and the Building of an American Empire, 1789-1860”

Discussant: George Steinmetz, New School for Social Research
Presider: Richard Lachmann, SUNY Albany

Rights (Organizer: Rebecca Jean Emigh)
IIS, 223 Moses Hall

Alena Alamgir, Rutgers University
“Bureaucratic Disgruntling and Intimate Interventions: Vietnamese Trainees and Temporary Workers in (the Care of) State-Socialist Czechoslovakia”

Ben Herzog, Yale University
“Dual Citizenship and the Revocation of Citizenship”

Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Mareike Gronwald, University of Mannheim
“The Changing Public-Private Pension Mix in Europe: From Path Dependence to Path Departure”

Discussant: Lyn Spillman, Notre Dame
Presider: Victoria Johnson, University of Michigan

States (Organizers: Dylan Riley, Nitsan Chorev)
IGS Harris Room, 119 Moses Hall

Dan Slater, University of Chicago
“State Power and Staying Power: Institutional Origins and Durable Authoritarianism in Malaysia and Singapore”

Jeffrey Broadbent, University of Minnesota, Jun Jin Yu-Ju Chien, University of Minnesota, and EunHye Yoo, University of Minnesota
“Culture and Authoritarian Logic: Regime Response to Environmental Activism in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China”

Dorith Geva, University of Chicago
“The Sleeping Giant: Selective Service, Breadwinning, and the American State”

Discussant: Ann Orloff, Northwestern
Presider: Marc Steinberg, Smith College

Technologies of Power (Organizer: Rebecca Jean Emigh)
Lippman Room, Barrows Hall, 8th Floor

Erin Murphy, University of Illinois
“Water Torture and the United States: Comparing Debates from the Philippine-American War with the War on Terror”

Adrienne Redd, Arcadia University
“Social Effects of Instantaneous Communication: Parallels between Internet-based Communications and Telegraphy”

Dylan Riley, UC Berkeley and Patricia Ahmed, University of Kentucky, Lexington
“The Limits of State Power: Censuses in Comparative and Historical Perspective”

Discussant: Mitchell L. Stevens, Stanford University
Presider: Elizabeth Popp Berman, SUNY-Albany

4:00 – 5:50 pm: Closing Plenary, "Past and Present: Methods and Models"
Lippman Room, Barrows Hall, 8th Floor

James Mahoney, Northwestern University
“Comparative-Historical Analysis: Generalizing Past the Past”

Andreas Wimmer and Yuval Feinstein, UCLA
“Nationalism’s Rise to Power Across the World: An Event History Analysis of Nation-State Formation, 1816-2001”

Isaac Reed, University of Colorado and Julia Adams, Yale University
“Culture in the Transitions to Modernity: Seven Sociological Models”

Discussant: Richard Biernacki, UC San Diego
Presider: Jeffrey Olick, University of Virginia

6:00 pm: Closing Reception
Lippman Room, Barrows Hall, 8th Floor