Society for the Study of Social Problems Community Research and Development Division Fall Newsletter December 1, 2015 ________________ In this issue: 1. Welcome from the Chair 2. 2016 Meeting Announcement 3. 2015 Meeting Call for Papers 4. CRD Award Opportunities 5. Division Spotlight - José Muñoz 6. SSSP CRD Member Accomplishments 7. Job Announcements Welcome from the Chair by Jess Lucero, Utah State University Dear Community Research and Development Members, I hope that this newsletter finds you well as many of us near the end of the Fall semester. I am thrilled to serve as the incoming Chair of the Community Research and Development Division. Each year I am invigorated by the activist scholarship of our Division, and I look forward to working alongside all of you for the next two years. I want to extend sincere thanks to Tamara Leech, the outgoing Chair, for steering our Division with such competence and for equipping me with the tools I need to do the same. Thanks to our graduate student Newsletter Editor, Rahim Kurwa, this newsletter will detail the activities of our community of scholars, teachers, practitioners, and students. We’ll also learn more about a member who is new to the Division (José Muńoz) in our Division Member Spotlight. We look forward to spotlighting more of you in upcoming newsletters. As we approach the deadline for 2016 Annual Meeting submissions (January 31, 2016), I want to call your attention to our Division’s sponsored and co-sponsored sessions. Additionally, I want to highlight our 2016 Student Paper Award and our inaugural Community Partner Paper Award (http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/pageid/1703). Please share these calls widely and invite your students to submit their work and consider submitting your own community-engaged work for our newest award. I hope to see many of you submit your work for the Annual Meeting in Seattle, and I look forward to learning from you and leaving another conference invigorated by your dedication and passion. Warmest regards, Jess Lucero Assistant Professor of Social Work Department of Sociology, Social Work & Anthropology, Utah State University Globalizing Social Problems 2016 Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Meeting In the mid-twentieth century, the SSSP was established to apply sociological theory, methods and research in the study of social problems. Its proponents were leading voices for applying the sociological imagination to relevant issues in our society, challenging our discipline, as Alfred McClung Lee did, to broaden the answer to the question, “Sociology for whom?” The point was to develop a diversity of approaches, often boldly cutting across disciplinary boundaries and frequently empowering previously marginalized voices, which would integrate a variety of techniques of data collection and analysis and conceptual innovation in the service of understanding and potentially “solving” real-life social issues, and perhaps discomfiting some power-holders and disturbing the status quo along the way. This vision still inspires us today. Sociology in the US was a thriving enterprise at the time. And the SSSP founders were forward looking, challenging sociology and social science to “do better” by pushing it to fully embrace social justice. But, from our vantage point in a new millennium, the sociology of that era (including that of our SSSP progenitors) seems surprisingly insular: The vast majority of the research in books and journals and the teaching in classrooms focused on the United States or, occasionally, other “advanced” societies. Indeed, the idea of “society” itself was primarily identified with the nation – and the implicit assumption was that even large-scale social change was largely explained by the unfolding process of “modernization” that was inherently national in character. There were some prophets even then: C. Wright Mills’ famous exposition of the “sociological imagination” (in his 1959 book) highlighted the central role of comparative and historical perspectives in our discipline, but his was a veritable “voice in the wilderness.” The critical turn in the 1960s and 1970s (whose leaders often strongly identified with the SSSP) not only brought a new focus to issues of race, class and gender, but also reinvigorated comparative and historical analysis. This led to a major “paradigm shift” in macro-structural research and cross-national studies, initially toward global political economy/world-system analysis, and later toward other forms of global sociology, including the world society/neo-institutional approach, and a blossoming interest in migration and various transnationalisms, etc. Today, there is a broad consensus that we live in a world dominated by “globalization” (though, of course, there is much less agreement on precisely what that means). A robust field of current research directly focuses on understanding global political economy, world cultural influences, and the ubiquity and importance of international networks. A special issue of our journal devoted to “Globalization and Social Problems” in 2001 and the subsequent founding and rapid growth of the SSSP Global Division marked the rising interest in global/international issues within our society. This work is diverse and includes studies on changing international divisions of labor; the transnational nature of race, class and gender hierarchies; population dynamics and migratory flows across the entire earth; the unequal spread of science, technology and innovation; and the worldwide dynamic of today’s ecological crisis, among others. Clearly, the 2016 SSSP conference should be a platform to discuss these obviously “global” social problems – they are among the world’s most pressing. Indeed, arriving at some sort of “solution” to vexing issues like world climate change, intensifying global inequality, and the threat of war in an era of weapons of mass destruction are imperative for the survival of humanity on this planet. But I hope this theme is not limited to a few explicitly global/comparative sessions or papers, or the work of some of us who specialize in this sort of research. My view, perhaps in the tradition of SSSP, is a much more “radical” one than that! While I know that many of my colleagues, in their narrow silos of specialization probably don’t spend much time considering this, in fact, I would argue that ALL of the social problems we study today, in fact, are impacted by various global forces. Virtually every subfield and nearly all research – including that which seems to have much more narrow geographic or institutional foci – can be enriched by “bringing the global in,” and locating the specific sociological facts in term of their places in a matrix of various worldwide vectors of global influence, flows, and structures. Inequalities of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation/identity, aging, health, labor, and class in this country (and around the world) are increasingly and inexorably connected to worldwide currents; institutions like schools, the family, the criminal justice system, workplaces and neighborhoods are also rapidly “globalizing.” If we “leave this out,” our work will be not only scientifically “incomplete,” but also less likely to be relevant for formulating strategies for social change. I challenge all of you to bring a “global imagination” to your analysis to complement our sociological one: To remain relevant in our 21st century world – and honor the best traditions of SSSP – this is an imperative, not an option! It is very appropriate that this particular conference will occur in Seattle. Not only was this the flash-point of massive demonstrations against the World Trade Organization in 2001 (bringing together, in the famous parlance, “turtles and teamsters” as well as an international cast of feminists and people of color: all in a protest against global capitalism). The city is also a key node geographically positioned on the Pacific Rim and, increasingly is at the center of dynamic networks of world trade, commerce, communication, migration, and technological change. It is a place where there is much inequality and many social problems, but also a vibrant social activist community. What a marvelous venue to discuss globalizing social problems! Consider yourself invited! David A. Smith, SSSP President University of California, Irvine Community Research Division Sponsored Sessions: Community Engaged Research and Teaching Sponsored by: Community Research and Development Contact: Muñoz, José A. [ munoz@csusb.edu ] Civic Participation and Political Empowerment in U.S. and Global Contexts Sponsored by: Community Research and Development Contact: Sullivan, Felicia M. [ felicia.sullivan@tufts.edu ] The Built Environment and Community Well-being Sponsored by: Community Research and Development Contact: Rich, Meghan Ashlin [ meghan.rich@scranton.edu ] and Cabrera, Joseph F. [ jcabrera@laverne.edu ] The Struggle for Space and the Right to the City: Gentrification, Housing Rights, Public Space Sponsored by: Community Research and Development, Conflict, Social Action, and Change, Poverty, Class, and Inequality Contact: Dassopoulos, Andrea [ dassopou@unlv.nevada.edu ] Disability and Community Sponsored by: Community Research and Development, Disability, Environment and Technology Contact: Landes, Scott [ scott.landes@unf.edu ] Head Start to Higher Education: Addressing Familial Poverty Sponsored by: Community Research and Development, Educational Problems Poverty, Class, and Inequality Contact: Green, Autumn R. [ agreen@endicott.edu ], Katz, Sheila M. [ smkatz@uh.edu ] Housing, Homelessness, and Health Sponsored by: Community Research and Development, Health, Health Policy, & Health Services Contact: Ruel, Erin [ eruel@gsu.edu ] Scholarship Grounded in the Community-Scholarship, Activism, and Community Research Sponsored by: Community Research and Development, Institutional Ethnography Contact: Ridzi, Frank [ ridzifm@lemoyne.edu ] Race and Refugees Sponsored by: Community Research and Development, Racial and Ethnic Minorities Contact: Lucero, Jessica L. [ jessica.lucero@usu.edu ] Community Research Division Award Opportunities: STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION The Community Research and Development Division announces its 2016 Graduate Student Paper Competition. Paper topics can focus on various aspects of the community, including its capacity, development, renewal, and its relationship with other social issues or problems. Qualitative and quantitative empirical analyses, applied research and theoretical papers are welcome. To be eligible for submission, a paper must not be published nor accepted for publication. Papers must be student-authored; they may be authored by a single student or co-authored by more than one student, but may not be co-authored by a faculty member or other non-student. Papers must not exceed 25 double-spaced pages (including all notes, references, and tables), and should include a brief abstract. To be eligible for the award, the author(s) must make a commitment to present the paper at a session during the 2016 SSSP Annual Meeting in Seattle. To be considered, submit (a) a copy of the manuscript, (b) a cover letter specifying that the paper is to be considered in the Community Research and Development Division Graduate Student Paper Competition, and (c) a letter from each author’s advisor certifying the person’s status as a student and including some brief comments about the research. All materials must be submitted electronically to the Annual Meeting call for papers on the SSSP conference website by January 31, 2016 and also sent to the Committee Chair, Dr. David Harker at David.Harker@ColoradoCollege.edu . Please note that students may only submit to one division. The winner will receive a $100 cash award, a one-year membership to SSSP, conference registration fees, and a plaque of recognition at the conference awards ceremony. COMMUNITY PARTNER PAPER AWARD The Community Research and Development Division announces its inaugural 2016 Community Partner Paper Competition. Consistent with our division’s mission, this paper award is intended to recognize rigorous academic work that has practical implications for members of marginalized communities and specifically, to celebrate community-engaged work. Paper topics can focus on various social issues and problems related to community, such as the causes and consequences of communities’ exclusion or marginalization from processes and resources, the capacities and strengths of communities and community movements, and the development and changes within communities. Qualitative and quantitative empirical analyses, applied research and theoretical papers are welcome. To be eligible for submission, a paper must not be published or accepted for publication. Papers must be coauthored with a community partner; they may be coauthored by more than one faculty member and/or student, but must include at least one community partner. Community partners are characterized by any community-based entity that is outside of the academy. Papers must not exceed 25 double-spaced pages (including all notes, references, and tables), and should include a brief abstract. To be eligible for the award, the author(s) must make a commitment to present the paper at a session during the 2016 SSSP Annual Meeting in Seattle. To be considered, submit (a) a copy of the manuscript, (b) a cover letter specifying that the paper is to be considered in the Community Research and Development Division Community Partner Paper Competition, and (c) a brief letter from the community partner commenting on his or her role in the paper. All materials must be submitted electronically to the Annual Meeting call for papers on the SSSP conference website by January 31, 2016 and also sent to the Committee Chair, Dr. Beth Merenstein at merensteinb@mail.ccsu.edu. Fall 2015 Division Member Spotlight José Muñoz, California State University - San Bernardino José Muñoz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at California State University, San Bernardino. His research areas include Latin American migration to the U.S., Globalization, Social Movements, Community Based Research, and Public Health. Tell us more about your path to becoming a professor. The short answer is that it’s been a long road. The tough part is that I graduated in 2008, right when the economy crashed. So I hit the market when the jobs were starting to be peeled away. The call for applicants at CSUSB felt like it was tailored to me. It basically asked for someone doing similar kinds of work that I was doing for the ten years prior - globalization, theory, and research methods. Once I actually made the short list, I felt pretty confident. It felt really good to be in a position where everything I’d been doing for the past ten years worked out. I’m in my fifth year, now. Your research is on Latino immigrant civic and political participation. How did you come to this research agenda? I think in terms of my social movement research, I think I’ve always been interested in movements within Latin America, and Latin American politics. Once I took a class on social movements, I saw the possibility of studying this sociologically. Are there any particular driving factors that inform your work? The common theme in my work is looking at some area in the political process, or in political participation. What I explore is how members of a society engage in the civic and political process in some way. I’ve always studied some aspect of that participation - social movements, campaign processes, migrant civic engagement. What are you looking forward to working on next? In the future, I hope to get involved with evaluation research, and I eventually want to publish in evaluation research and community based research journals. So for example, this past year I was an AEA (American Evaluation Association) fellow, where we looked at cultural competency models in health care. It’s difficult for me to say right now how to make those connections, but I do plan to stick with evaluation research as one of the lines of study that I’m engaged in. I’m part of the first cohort of the Annie E Casey LEEAD program which is training fellows in evaluation research. How do you feel SSSP fits your work and goals as a faculty member? Well, I started to look at SSSP for a research project that was outside of what I normally do. It involved looking at a community based organization, but the project had to do with HIV-Aids research, and I was looking for a venue where I could present this kind of work. Exploring the program last year, I saw that there was a commitment to exploring community based research. I liked the opportunity to think about community based research in this setting. So I thought SSSP was perfect for this work. Let’s talk about how social justice fits into your experience of being a faculty member. Apart from being academics, writers, researchers, we’re also academic workers. And I think a lot of us don’t think of ourselves that way. And I think that’s an opportunity to connect a lot of us to social justice. Many of us get caught up with the research side but we forget the other things that can bring better meaning to the work that we do here. If we can push for better treatment of academics then this also helps out our students. Do you have advice for graduate students and younger faculty? For graduate students, I think this is an interesting area to get into. As a graduate student you need to make connections with people who understand what you’re doing. Are you spinning this work into a dissertation or publication? Are you going to SSSP on a regular basis and making those connections on a regular basis? Are you going to those meetings where community based research is being presented? For new faculty, I think if you're doing community based research, you want to be prepared to explain to your faculty and dean why this is important research. There’s going to be a point where you’re asked, what are you doing with this? You want to be able to find a way to present your work. You need to have a plan to show your work through publishing, presenting, and getting grants. SSSP CRD Member Accomplishments: Publications Gill, Duane, L.A. Ritchie, J.S. Picou, J. Langhinrichsen-Rohling, M.A. Long, and J.W. Shenesey (2014). “The Exxon and BP Oil Spills: A Comparison of Psychosocial Impacts.” Natural Hazards 74(3): 1911-1932. Gregory D. Squires and Dominic Moulden. 2015. “Equitable Development and the Call for Community in Washington DC,” Social Policy 45 (2): 43-45. Jackson, S., D'Amato, D., Currier, J., Wood, A. (2015, November). Health-Related Behaviors in Veterans with PTSD: The Role of Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping Strategies. Poster to be presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jones, Antwan, Gregory D. Squires, and Cynthia Ronzio. 2015 “Foreclosure is Not an Equal Opportunity Stressor: How Inequality Fuels the Adverse Health Implications of the Nation’s Financial Crisis,” Journal of Urban Affairs 37(5), 505–529. Kurwa, Rahim. 2015. ”De-segregation without Integration: Examining the Outcomes of Section 8 Housing Voucher Movement in Los Angeles County.” Forthcoming, City and Community Lucero, J. L. (2015). “Engaging Undergraduate Social Work Students in Community-Based Research: Developing Research Skills through Hands-On Learning” Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly. Nicholls, Keith, J. Steven Picou, Joycelyn Curtis, and Janel A. Lowman (2015). “The Utility of Community Health Workers in Disaster Preparedness, Recovery, and Resiliency.” Journal of Applied Social Science. DOI: 10.1177/1936724415587046. Scyphers, S. B., J. S. Picou, R. D. Brumbaugh, and S. P. Powers (2014). Integrating societal perspectives and values for improved stewardship of a coastal ecosystem engineer. Ecology and Society 19(3): 38. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-06835-190338 Silverman, R.M, Patterson, K.L., Yin, L. and Wu, L. (2015) Neighborhood characteristics and the location of HUD subsidized housing in shrinking cities: An analysis to inform anchor-based urban revitalization strategies. Community Development, Online First. Wood, A., McCormick, W., Currier, J. (2015, November). Interpersonal Aggression and Coping Styles in Military Veterans with PTSD. Poster to be presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, New Orleans, Louisiana. Awards University of South Alabama Board of Trustees has awarded Coastal Resource and Resiliency Center Director, Dr. Steven Picou, the title of "Distinguished Professor of Sociology." He is the first faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences to be awarded this prestigious honor. Job Announcements Assistant Professor in Human Services Department of Health & Community Studies Western Washington University https://jobs.wwu.edu/JobPosting.aspx?JPID=6562 Assistant Professor of Criminology- Tenure Track Department of Anthropology, Criminology and Sociology Le Moyne College Contact: Diann Darmody-Ferris: darmoddl@lemoyne.edu Assistant Professor of Sociology University of Maine Department of Sociology Contact: Steven Barkan: steven.barkan@umit.maine.edu Assistant/Associate Professor University of Massachusetts Boston Department of Global Inclusion and Social Development Contact: Gillian MacNaughton: gillian.macnaughton@umb.edu