SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS: FAMILY DIVISION NEWSLETTER summer 2012 Editor: Laura Simon, M.A. University of Nebraska – Lincoln INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the Desk of Our Division Chair 1 Graduate Student Paper Winner 2 Our Joys, Accomplishments and Announcements 2 Annual Meeting Information 2-3 From the Desk of Our Division Chair Dear Friends and Colleagues, I hope that this edition of our newsletter finds you settled in to your summer routine. With any luck, you’re getting plenty of rest and relaxation, time to spend with those you love, and perhaps you’re even being productive in your scholarship and activism! As you know, an exciting conference awaits us in Denver, Colorado. The preliminary program is now available on the SSSP website for your viewing pleasure. You can also find an “at-a-glance” list of Family Division Activities. Besides our usual reception and paper sessions, the family division has a special addition to our conference activities. We are going where the Family Division has never gone before (at least to my knowledge) — we will be engaging in a service activity with families in the local Denver community! We are still in the process of planning the event, but I hope that you will start to get excited about this opportunity while you stay tuned for details. If you would like to serve on the planning committee—I mean be a part of the planning process (the word “committee” is pure profanity once the semester ends!) please send me an email to the address below. I would also like to give you an update on our 2012 Graduate Student Paper Competition. There were a number of great submissions, but judges’ final decisions are in. Congratulations to our first place winner, Abi Ocobock of the University of Chicago! You’ll get a chance to read more about Abi later in the newsletter. In closing, let me encourage you to continue to share information about your publications, promotions and other accomplishments with our division. We want to celebrate you and provide opportunities for the Family Division community to incorporate your work into the classroom, future research and activism. Let’s also keep one another informed about post docs, publication and grant opportunities, job openings, ect. You should also feel free to share your ideas for what you would like to see taking place in our division. You can do this by attending our division meeting during the annual meetings (Friday, August 17th 12:30- 2:10 pm, Mt. Columbia Room) or by sending me an email with your thoughts and suggestions at any time. Hope to See You in Denver! Ebonie Cunningham Stringer SSSP Family Division Chair e.cunninghamstringer@wingate.edu Graduate Student Paper Competition Winner Abi Ocobock is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Sociology department at the University of Chicago. Her dissertation study - "Gaining the Right to Marry: The Impact of Marriage as a New Institutional Context in the Lives of Gay Men and Lesbians" - is a mixed methods interview and questionnaire study with married and unmarried gay men and lesbians in Massachusetts and Michigan. It investigates how having access to legal marriage shapes the kind of relationship and family choices gay men and lesbians make, the meanings they attach to those choices, and its consequences for their personal, family and social relationships. Abi holds a B.A. in Politics from the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom) and an M.Sc in Comparative Social Policy from Oxford University. She also has an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. She will present her winning paper, “The Power and Limits of Marriage: Married Gay Men’s Family Relationships”, at the 2012 annual meeting in Denver. Our Joys, Accomplishments and Announcements Joys Congratulations to Laura Simon (Franzen)! She was wedded to Joel Franzen on July 13th. We wish her and her new spouse a lifetime of happiness! Publications 2012. Cunningham Stringer, Ebonie. “Mothering While Imprisoned”: The Effects of Family and Child Dynamics on Mothering Attitudes. ” Family Relations 61(2): 313-326. 2011. Gillespie, Michael D. “Capital Accumulation and Family Economy Deterioration: Historical Contingencies and the “Great Recession” of the United States.” World Review of Political Economy 2(3): 406-440. Blog and Radio Show Peggy Wireman will be hosting an internet radio show that will include discussions on working women, women’s jobs and what women really need. Information about the shows can be found on her blog http://connectingdots.us/?page_id=10. Peggy also invites suggestions for speakers, she can be contacted via e-mail at Wireman1234@sbcglobal.net. Previous discussions about myths about women that drive our national policies can be found in Chapter 2 of her book, “Connecting the Dots: Government, Community and Family”. In addition, Chapter 6 of her book was cited by the head of the Wisconsin chapter of the National Association of Social Workers as a must read on race. You can view selections from this book and an additional e-book, “The Community Action Guide”, via Google books or Transaction Publishers. Society for the Study of Social Problems 2012 Annual Meeting “The Art of Activism” August 16-18, 2012 The Grand Hyatt Denver Hotel Denver, Colorado Family Division 2012 Meeting Activities At-A-Glance Family Division Reception Thursday, August 16 from 6:30pm – 7:30pm Rooms: Mount Evans A & B (AT) Family Division Annual Business Meeting Friday. August 17 from 12:30 PM - 2:10 pm Room: Mt. Columbia Family Sponsored and Co-Sponsored Sessions Session 24: Children, Families, and Health Room: Longs Peak (AT) Organizer & Presider: Laura E. Simon, University of Nebraska – Lincoln Session 46: Jobs, Families, and Communities Room: Mt. Harvard (GH) Organizers: Ted M. Brimeyer, Georgia Southern University April M. Schueths, Georgia Southern University Presider: April M. Schueths, Georgia Southern University Papers: Session 69: Care Work in the Home Room: Mt. Harvard (GH) Organizers & Presiders: Ebonie L. Cunningham Stringer, Wingate University Laura Lorenz, Brandeis University Discussant: Ebonie L. Cunningham Stringer, Wingate University Session 100: Family and the Economy Room: Pikes Peak (AT) Organizer & Presider: Ebonie L. Cunningham Stringer, Wingate University Session 115: Queer Families Room: Mt. Columbia (GH) Organizer & Presider: Elisabeth A. Sheff, Georgia State University Discussant: Chandra Denise Ward, Georgia State University Session 126: Family Formation: Co-Parenting and Contemporary Family Forms Room: Mt. Columbia (GH) Organizer & Presider: Megan Reid, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. SPECIAL Session 131: Student Award Winning Papers IV Winner of the Family Division’s Student Paper Competition Will Present Room: Mt. Yale (GH) Paper: “The Power and Limits of Marriage: Married Gay Men’s Family Relationships” Abi Ocobock, University of Chicago, THEMATIC Session 137: Global Families and the Art of Research and Activism Room: Mt. Columbia (GH) Organizer & Presider: Nancy J. Mezey, Monmouth University