Labor Studies Division
Fall 2019 Newsletter
Jacqueline Zalewski, Chair
Todd Vachon, Vice Chair
Melanie Borstad, Newsletter Editor



A NOTE FROM THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR


Hello, fellow labor scholars!  We are very excited to be leading the Labor Studies Division of the SSSP for the next two years! I am Jacqueline Zalewski, Professor of Sociology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, a public (and unionized) university.  I am Todd Vachon, a postdoc in the Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University, and chair of our postdoc bargaining committee (AAUP-AFT).  In this first division newsletter of our term, we want to take a moment to thank Jill Niebrugge-Brantley for her past leadership as Division Chair of Labor Studies and for her tutelage to us in the Chair transition prior to and at the 2019 SSSP conference. We also want to thank all of you who took time to send us news about your own work, upcoming conferences, and job postings to include in this newsletter.  

This newsletter comes on the heels of a very successful conference in New York City, which we have been informed, had the third highest attendance for a SSSP conference ever! The Labor Studies sessions, including panels on sustainability and green jobs, work and family, organizing labor, teacher mobilization, disability and labor, power effects in labor relations, and the future of work, were also very well attended. The dialogue among labor scholars in each of our sessions was very engaging, and Ð as is synonymous with SSSP Ð scholars young and older were highly supportive of each other. We are now looking forward to the 2020 SSSP conference, which will be held from August 7th through the 9th in San Francisco, with the theme of ÒBringing the Hope Back In: Sociological Imagination and Dreaming Transformation.Ó Please read the call for papers for Labor Studies sessions below and consider submitting your scholarly work to one of them before the deadline of January 31. Faculty mentors of graduate students doing work in the Braverman tradition, please encourage your students to apply to the Labor Studies student paper competition before January 31. The call and instructions for this award are below as well.

As Chair and Vice Chair of the Labor Studies Division for SSSP, we have several goals for the division over the next two years. The first is to increase participation by division members in the work of the division. One simple thing each of us can do in this regard is to register to attend the annual conference and, while there, attend the Labor Studies Division business meeting. It is in this meeting where the session themes for the following year are brainstormed. The more members that attend, the more terrific ideas can be considered, including themes that might better highlight the subject of your own research or that of others that may not have been reflected in sessions of previous years. This past year, we had just two Labor Studies Division members attend the business meeting in addition to the past and present officers. We had a great dialogue nonetheless and brainstormed some terrific session titles for 2020, including many that elicited ÒoohsÓ and ahhsÓ from our fellow division chairs at the program meeting. However, with more participation, we can come up with even more great sessions for future years and continue to build a vibrant community of labor scholars who can hopefully see SSSP as an intellectual home for our important work that is often overlooked at other professional conferences. We will be sharing more details about the location and time for the 2020 division business meeting as the conference gets closer and we hope that you will join us!

Second, we want to foster engagement and mutual support among Labor Studies Division members. For starters, we want to encourage members to ÒlikeÓ the Labor Studies Division Facebook group and then to consider posting your scholarly and social justice news there.  Also, if you have pictures from the SSSP 2019 Conference or Labor Studies Division sessions, please post them as well!  PLEASE visit us, like the page, and share Labor Studies Division member news on Facebook!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/sssplaborstudies/

On a related note, SSSP membership renewal time is near, so please be sure to renew your Society membership as well as your Labor Studies division membership.

We wish everyone a good holiday and winter break.  Please read the call for papers for our Labor Studies Division sessions at the 2020 SSSP conference and consider submitting a paper proposal to one of them by the January 31, 2020 deadline.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline M. Zalewski and Todd E. Vachon





EDITORIAL SEARCH Ð CALL FOR APPLICATION

Social Problems
The Editorial and Publications Committee of the Society for the Study of Social Problems is soliciting applications for the position of Editor of the SocietyÕs Journal, Social Problems.
Please see the SSSP homepage for further information. All eligible are strongly encouraged to apply to this important position.

Call for Applications for the next Social ProblemsÊEditor:Ê
https://www.sssp1.org/file/Announcements/Editor_Social_Problems.pdf

     STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION
Deadline: 1/31/20
One of the most important activities of the Labor Studies DivisionÊis to recognize and support the work of graduate students. As part of that commitment the Division annually awards a prize to the best student paper of the year. The Award consists of a $200 cash prize, a plaque, membership dues, and conference registration. The award will be conferred in San Francisco at the annual SSSP meeting in August 2020.
As in the past, we are soliciting graduate student papers that build on the legacy of the late Harry Braverman. BravermanÕs work on labor processes, his concern with the growth of large corporations, and how machinery would transform and alter work and the role of workers is as relevant today as it was when he was writing.
The Braverman tradition includes work in a variety of areas, including (but not limited to): labor process studies, critical organization studies, research on the intersections of gender, race, and class at work, technical and organizational change and its impact on work culture, labor movements and resistance in the workplace, critical perspectives on labor markets and occupational transformation. Papers co-authored with faculty members will not be accepted. Single authored papers by graduate students and papers co-authored by graduate students are welcome.
All papers will be evaluated by three Labor Studies Division scholars who serve on the awards committee. E-mail your paper and a short letter of submission identifying your graduate program to Eli Wilson, erwilson18@unm.edu by the January 31st deadline. In addition, authors are required to submit their papers through the annual meeting Call for Papers online system. Please note that students may only submit to one division paper competition. 
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM MEMBERS


Corey Dolgon continues to offer his singing labor education performances in ÒIn Search of One Big Union: Folksongs and the U.S. Labor Movement.Ó For more information or to schedule a performance, please contact Corey at: cdolgon@stonehill.edu 

Corey Dolgon, a Ph.D in American Culture and Sociology Professor has been performing Òsinging lecturesÓ for almost two decades. Focusing on the role that folksongs play in the U.S. labor movement, CoreyÕs words and music bring both history and theory to life. He is a long-time labor activist and community organizer and has used folk songs to build solidarity on the line and engage students in the classroom. This singing lecture covers labor history from a multicultural perspective and examines the function of folk songs in workersÕ lives, labor, and organizing. The lecture can be tailored for specific needs and time periods, but generally runs about an hour to an hour and a half depending on format. Corey is very adept at gaining audience participation and provides an object lesson in how the collective acts of singing can enhance the feelings of solidarity and create new possibilities for collective identities. 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS BY DIVISION MEMBERS

Isaac, Larry, Anna Jacobs, Jaime Kucinskas, and Allison McGrath. ÒSocial Movement Schools: Sites for Consciousness Transformation, Training, and Prefigurative Social Development.ÓSocial Movement StudiesÊ(Fall, 2019 online; forthcoming in spring 2020).

Jacobs, Anna, and Larry Isaac. ÒGender Composition in Contentious Collective Action: ÔGirl StrikersÕ in Gilded Age AmericaÑHarmful, Helpful, or Both?ÓÊSocial Science HistoryÊ(Winter, 2019).
Ê
Perrucci, Robert, Carolyn Cummings Perrucci, and Mangala Subramaniam, ÒPublication in Four Sociology Journals, 1960-2010: The Role of Discipline Demographics and Journal Mission,Ó Sociological Focus, Vol. 52, Issue 3 (2019): 171-185[1].

Vachon, Todd E., Gerry Hudson, Judy Leblanc, and Soni Saket. 2019. ÒHow Workers Can Demand Climate Justice: A Bargaining for the Common Good Approach to the Climate Crisis.Ó The American Prospect, September 2, 2019.

Wilson, Eli R. 2019. ÒManaging Portfolio Lives: Flexibility and Privilege Amongst Upscale Restaurant Workers in Los AngelesÓ Qualitative Sociology.

Wilson, Eli R. 2019. ÒTip Work: Examining the Relational Dynamics of Tipping Beyond the Service Counter.Ó Symbolic Interaction. DOI: 10.1002/SYMB.413.


Job Opportunities

Faculty Positions in Labor and Employment Relations, Assistant and Associate Professor School of Labor and Employment Relations, Penn State 

The School of Labor and Employment Relations (LER) at The Pennsylvania State University invites applications for multiple tenured faculty appointments in labor and employment relations at the Assistant Professor and Associate Professor ranks to begin August 2020. The School of LER is a growing, dynamic program that wishes to strengthen its already strong faculty. Specific expertise in workplace diversity, labor and employment law, work and gender, and work, family, and society would be considered an asset, as would the ability and willingness to teach research methods or statistics. Applicants from all labor and employment relations-related areas of interest are encouraged to apply. Applicants for the Associate Professor position should possess a terminal degree (Ph.D.) in industrial/employment relations, sociology, or a related field or a J.D. and have a record of demonstrated excellence as a scholar and teacher; ability to secure external funding will also be considered for candidates at this rank. Candidates for the Assistant Professor rank must have completed all requirements for the terminal degree in industrial/employment relations, sociology, or a related field or a J.D. by the appointment date and possess significant research potential. The School of Labor and Employment Relations is a growing multidisciplinary program with strong residential B.A. and B.S. in Labor and Employment Relations (LER), M.S. in Human Resources and Employment Relations (HRER), and M.P.S. in Labor and Global Workers' Rights (LGWR) programs. We also offer several online undergraduate degrees, as well as the leading online HRER Master's program in the nation. In addition, we offer a newly established Doctoral Minor. We value a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds relevant to understanding the dynamics involving employees and workers in organizational, societal, and global contexts and strive for a collaborative, respectful, and multi-disciplinary environment. Penn State is regularly ranked among the top universities in the world. The University Park campus is located in a beautiful setting in State College, PA which regularly appears on lists of the best college towns in the US. It has a top-ranked school district and is also consistently ranked among the nation's safest and most livable cities by a variety of organizations and publications. Candidates must submit a letter of application, a curriculum vita, and the names of three potential reference; however, letters of reference will only be sought from finalists for the position. Review of applications will begin October 1, 2019 and continue until the position is filled.

Apply online at https://apptrkr.com/1644669 

Researcher/Senior Researcher, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research invites Ph.D. researchers in sociology, public policy, economics, political science or a related field to apply for a full-time research position.

Recent Ph.Ds. may apply for a Researcher position, and those with at least 5 years of experience and an established publication record in peer-reviewed journals may apply for a Senior Researcher position. The Institute is searching for candidates who have demonstrated strong analytical skills, excellent oral and written communication skills for both academic and lay audiences, and a strong interest in addressing policy-relevant issues.  The Institute offers competitive salaries and benefits. The Institute is an equal opportunity employer.  

Interested applicants should submit a letter of introduction, curriculum vitae, and two research papers to hr@upjohn.org 


Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut

The Department of Sociology at the University of Connecticut invites applications at the rank of Assistant Professor with expertise in and a willingness to teach both undergraduate and graduate courses in social theory. Substantive area is open.

The Department of Sociology has 28 faculty members whose research expertise include gender and sexuality, race, racism, and ethnicity, stratification, social movements, human rights, urban, and culture. Other key strengths for the department include globalization, migration, demography, and work. We have approximately 200 undergraduate majors and 38 graduate students.

The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to research and scholarship through extramural funding (in disciplines where applicable), high quality publications, impact as measured through citations, performances and exhibits (in disciplines where applicable), and national recognition as through honorific awards. In the area of teaching, the successful candidate will share a deep commitment to effective instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels, development of innovative courses and mentoring of students in research, outreach and professional development. Successful candidates will also be expected to broaden participation among members of under-represented groups; demonstrate through their research, teaching, and/or public engagement the richness of diversity in the learning experience; integrate multicultural experiences into instructional methods and research tools; and provide leadership in developing pedagogical techniques designed to meet the needs of diverse learning styles and intellectual interests.

Use this link https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/14941 to be redirected to Academic Jobs Online to complete your application. 










CONFERENCES AND CALLS FOR PAPERS

72nd Annual Meeting of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA)
We invite you to participate at the LERA 72nd Annual Meeting, June 13-16, 2020 in Portland, OR. The program committee is currently accepting session ideas, with a deadline of November 15, 2019.

The theme is ÒSocial, Economic, and Environmental Sustainability and the World of WorkÓ. The over-arching goal for the program is to bring labor and employment relations experts from all industries and perspectives together to discuss best practices and challenges we are currently facing, and to connect with thought-leaders to improve work environments for everyone.

LERA's Annual Meeting program has branched into new formats, including: skill-building workshops, hands-on case studies workshops, point/counterpoint debates, and more, and a well-balanced session is designed to discuss a topic from multiple perspectives: labor, management, and neutral.

For complete details, please refer to the official Call for Proposals released by the committee: https://lera.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/meetings/72nd-Anl-Mtg/72nd-LERA-Call.pdf 

Call for proposals webpage: https://lera.memberclicks.net/72nd-lera-call 
Submission form: https://lera.memberclicks.net/72nd-lera-call#Submit 
Meeting home: https://lera.memberclicks.net/72nd-lera-anl-mtg 


The 38th International Labour Process Conference 2020 ÒCritical Differences at WorkÓ

15-17th April 2020 - Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
More information here: https://www.ilpc.org.uk/ 








SSSP LABOR STUDIES DIVISION
2020 CONFERENCE SESSIONS
CALL FOR PROPOSALS

LABOR IN THE GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN (Regular Session) 
Co-sponsored with Global Division
Organizer: Melanie Borstad, Melanie.borstad@gmail.com


Global networks of raw materials acquisition, manufacturing, and distribution create the landscape for competitive markets in modernity. Shifts in political and economic world power affect workers participation and autonomy in global supply chains. Income inequality is exacerbated on a global scale through the interdependence of the global labor market. Rising tensions in free trade agreements contribute to this precarious employment throughout core, semi-periphery, and periphery nations amongst periods of decreased trade volumes. How have changes in consumer and corporate demands shaped a new international division of labor? How has economic growth in semi-periphery nations produced new markets in periphery nations? Have there been improvements or declines in transnational corporationsÕ labor practices? What are ways in which organizations or nations are either upholding better standards or combating unjust labor practices? Papers in this session should aim to approach the topic of global supply chains from the perspective of the laborer and/or the impact macro-level decision-making has upon labor market outcomes. A broad investigation of global economic relations and employment conditions both domestic and international are also welcome in this paper session. Research conducted in the interaction of labor and globalization is multi-faceted and complex, allowing a rich discussion to generate from the inclusion of a wide array of levels of analysis and theoretical frameworks. 



GENDER AND WORK (Regular Session)
Co-sponsored with Gender Division and Family Division 
Organizer: Lisa Huebner, lhuebner@wcupa.edu

The relationship between gender and labor is multifaceted with clear implications for theory and praxis. Gender is analyzed several different ways: 1.) Identity, whether one is cisgender, transgender, a man, a woman, or non-binary; 2.) Ideology that informs how we make sense of other social ideologies and institutions, i.e. masculinities, femininities and how these are dominant, subordinate, toxic, normed, and/or resistant; 3.) Performance, i.e. how individuals enact gender ideologies. Scholars analyze any of these in relation to social ideologies, institutions, and power and much of gender scholarship is intersectional, in that it examines phenomena as simultaneously constructed by other identity-based categories: i.e. race, class, ability, sexuality, and nationality. Gender informs the production, consumption, meaning, value, and experience of labor in microscopic and macroscopic ways. How does gender inform what ÒcountsÓ as labor and what does not? How does gender shape the workforce, the job market, and the economy? How does gender analyses explain labor exploitation, but also help us imagine potential for labor equality, solidarity and activism? To examine the relationship between gender and labor, this session seeks papers that cover a wide range of topics including those that analyze the experiences of workers in a wide range of fields; how gender shapes labor participation, recruitment, retention, and advancement; work/life/family balance; wage disparities and other inequalities; and labor activism and solidarity. 


THE MISMATCHED WORKER (Critical Dialogue Session) 
Co-sponsored with Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division
Organizer: Ted Brimeyer, tbrimeyer@georgiasouthern.edu

Ideally, individualsÕ employment opportunities match their needs; needs that include mentally engaging work, enough income to afford the necessities of life, reasonable commutes, time to take care of personal needs, and opportunities to enjoy meaningful time with family and friends.Ê Unfortunately, for many workers, actual work experiences pale in comparison to the ideal. In The Mismatched Worker, Arne Kalleberg (2007) analyzed seven mismatches that workers could face.Ê These include skills mismatches (overqualification or underqualification), geographical mismatches, temporal mismatches (overworking or underworking), earnings mismatches, and work-family mismatches.Ê In this critical dialogue session, we seek both qualitative and quantitative research broadly focused on employee-employer mismatches. Research can address, but is not limited to, how workers (and employers) deal with mismatches - whether successfully or unsuccessfully, how workplaces are reducing or intensifying mismatches, how certain types of mismatches affect different groups of workers, policies that have impacted (positively or negatively) workers opportunities to deal with mismatches, or even other types of employer-employee mismatches that researchers have yet to address.ÊÊ


THE GREEN NEW DEAL (Thematic Regular Session) 
Co-sponsored with Environment and Technology Division
Organizers: Todd Vachon, todd.vachon@rutgers.edu
	         Alexis Econie, econie@wisc.edu 

On November 13, 2018, more than 200 youth activists flooded House Minority Leader Nancy PelosiÕs office to demand the U.S. government establishÊa Òselect committee to develop legislation for a total economic mobilization to transition our country toward a 100 percent renewable energy economyÑas the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] has tasked every nation to do.Ó Joined by Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the protestors were demanding a ÒGreen New DealÓ to address the growing crises of climate change and runaway inequality in America. ÒI just want to let you all know how proud I am of each and every single one of you for putting yourselves and your bodies and everything on the line to make sure that we save our planet, our generation, and our future. It's so incredibly 


important,Ó Ocasio-CortezÊtoldÊthe crowd of activists, 51 of whom were arrested for unlawfully demonstrating at Pelosi's office.

Three months after the youth sit-in at PelosiÕs office, on February 7, 2019, Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced House Resolution 109 ÒRecognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal.Ó The resolution called for a 10-year national mobilization to Òachieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers.Ó While the resolution is a vision piece rather than actual legislation, it stands out from previous climate mitigation plans brought before Congress because of its inclusion of broader social concerns including income inequality, racial justice, universal access to healthcare and education, and workersÕ rights, including the creation of Òhigh-quality union jobs that pay prevailing wages, hire local workers, offer training and advancement opportunities, and guarantee wage and benefit parity for workers affected by the transition.Ó It also calls for the inclusion of workers and communities in the process of developing climate change mitigation plans: Òthe Green New Deal must be developed through transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society groups, academia, and businesses.Ó  

In the eight months since it was unveiled, the Green New Deal (GND) has reinvigorated discussions about climate change and inequality in America and has inspired a wave of energetic organizing activity by youth groups, progressive labor organizations, and environmentalists alike. By uniting a broad set of social and economic concerns with efforts to address climate change, the GND marks a sharp deviation away from previous neoliberal, market-oriented approaches to the climate crisis. It also corresponds with a resurgence of grand visioning and sweeping proposals for large-scale transformational change by the American left in recent years. How might big ideas such as the Green New Deal inspire real change and help to solve the dual crises of climate change and inequality? Can it reinvigorate democracy and civic participation by a largely apathetic citizenry? What strategies are climate activists pursuing to make the GND a reality? What are the political dynamics within labor organizations and environmental justice organizations concerning the GND? What might concrete GND policies look like? What historical lessons can be learned from the original New Deal? These are the types of questions that will be considered in the panel ÒThe Green New Deal: Envisioning Transformational ChangeÓ at the SSSP Annual Meeting in San Francisco, August 2020. 

If you are a researcher investigating questions related to the Green New Deal, climate change, inequality, or transformational change more broadly, then this is the panel for you! 




ASPIRATIONAL LABOR: UNPAID LABOR TOWARD FUTURE WORK (Thematic Regular Session) 
Organizer: Devika Narayan, naray116@umn.edu

From households to digital platforms, the sites of unpaid labor are numerous. Value-creating acts performed outside the wage relation (or at least not fully captured by it), have long been subject to sociological analysis. Internet platforms rely on unpaid, expressive and creative work performed by users. Value is produced by a network effect where free usage and increasing participation escalates the value of the platform. Neoliberal individualism and the rise of an entrepreneurial self, the ubiquity of social media, and large-scale data commodification, are of particular interest. However, scholarship that is not directly focused on the digital economy is also welcome. Workers, after all, engage in entrepreneurial, free work in online and offline worlds. The instantiations of unpaid work are abundant and are informed by racialized, gendered, and class-based structures. We see this as a broad opportunity to revive and extend debates on unpaid labor within labor studies and the sociology of work and invite submissions that employ a range of theoretical frames. For instant, feminist theories, critical data studies, Marxian analyses, and media and cultural studies offer rich insights into how value is commodified and captured outside the domain of an explicit employment contract. Topics might include, but are not limited, to: 1) affective labor and care work 2) creative and cognitive labor 3) Datafication and platform labor 4) aspirational and entrepreneurial labor.Ê


PRECARITY (Regular Session) 
Organizer: Jacqueline M. Zalewski, jzalewski@wcupa.edu

Academics have described the macro-structural factors contributing to the expanding precarity in work and many jobs. Corresponding factors usually identified for the expanding yet disparate reach of precarious work include neoliberalist political and economic policies, digital technologies, and globalization.  In their editorial introduction to Precarious Work (2018), Kalleberg and Vallas discuss several gaps in our scholarly understanding of work and job precarity. These areas are especially suited for new scholarly insights involving current empirical research and theory, and would be highlights in the Labor Studies conference session on ÒPrecarity.Ó Definitional issues, including new and reliable ways of measuring precarious work in its various forms and its characteristic effects, represents one gap. The material and social effects of precarious work on specific populations, the experience, and meaning of precarity represents a second area in need of new research and theory.  And how people, groups, and society respond to the spread of precarity in work and jobs is a third area of social justice oriented research and theory in need of scholarly attention.  If you are engaged in scholarship that addresses these areas, or others of special importance to understanding it, consider submitting a paper to this session addressing work and job ÒPrecarity.Ó  



THE FUTURE OF WORK AND WORKERS (Critical Dialogue Session) 
Organizer: Chris Wellin, cwellin@ilstu.edu

This critical dialogue on The Future of Work and Workers welcomes a broad array of topics and analytical frames. Among those we regard as relevant are: 1) dynamic change within existing occupations, based on technology (e.g., automation), new regulatory demands, or on newer regimes of control, supervision or accountability such as "evidence-based practice" or "new public management; 2) emergence of new occupations, services, or work-roles, which are likely to expand in the future; 3) documenting and reflecting critically on sectors of work that have not had well-defined career lines, credentialing, or bases of compensation, including but not confined to the non-profit sector and the informal economy; 4) accounts of the changing place(s) and meaning(s) of work (emotional, temporal, personal), against the backdrop of the erosion of the "stable employment" model that was established along with the post WWII social contract involving stronger union representation and employee benefit packages. 5)Ê A final and related theme concerns the barriers and prospects for collective action among workers, especially in sectors of employment that lack a history of unionization.Ê


Other SSSP Conference Sessions Labor Studies is Co-sponsoring include:

Care Economy, Care Work, and Disability in the Workplace (Regular Session) 
Co-sponsored with Health, Health Policy and Health Services Division
Co-organizers: Kathleen Abrahamson, kaabraha@purdue.edu
      Andrew Tatch, ajt277@msstate.edu 

Pathways to Reentry (Critical Dialogues Session) 
Co-sponsored with Drinking and Drugs Division, Crime and Juvenile Delinquency Division, and Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division 
Organizer: Robert Peralta, rp32@uakron.edu 

Labor and Precarity in Higher Education (Regular Session) 
Co-sponsored with Education Problems Division 
Organizer: Andrew Baird, Andrew.baird@cnu.edu 



PLEASE SEND US YOUR UPDATES FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER. WE LOVE RECOGNIZING OUR MEMBERSÕ ACHIEVEMENTS!!




[1]I have emailed Carolyn to clarify the journal title.



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