Society for the Study of Social Problems Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Summer 2008 Thoughts from the New Chair: Dear Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Members: My parents were Italian peasant immigrants from the mountains of Southern Italy who came to the United States in the early part of the 20th century. My father, like so many of the Southern Italian men at that time, was recruited for his labor. He was lied to about the terms and conditions associated with his trip, his work, his tools, his housing, and his pay. Basically, as the old song goes, he soon owed his soul to the company store; forcing him and many others like him, to become union organizers. He ended up working in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania for 40 years and died of black lung disease. Neither of my parents had any formal education at all (not even first grade), and my mother didn't own a pair of shoes until she was married at 21. Yet, despite the poor conditions of my family background, I was very fortunate to be able to complete a Ph.D. in Sociology from Southern Illinois University, and go on to become a full professor and dean within a well-respected large state university. I have no illusions about how my success came about. My education as a sociologist and my many years of teaching Sociology (particularly Social Problems) have kept me well-informed about the social forces that allowed me to be who I am. Likewise, I have learned about the important social forces that have kept success, or even a modest living, from many others. Those of us whose lives are notably more comfortable than the lives of our parents can fool ourselves into thinking that life in general has improved and that the world is a better place today than the world of young immigrants in the early part of the 20th century. As we look at the evidence, however, we must conclude that such is not really the case. Poverty, inequality, and the slave trade are greater now than ever before. Not only are people starving to death around the globe, more people each day have no water to drink. It doesn't take a sociologist to know such devastation is happening, but it does take a critical social science analysis to understand why these problems persist and worsen - and what possible solutions might be implemented to make positive social change occur. This is the challenge we face as a division: to find ways in which we can make information about the causes of poverty, inequality, and classism known to all; and to find ways in which we can craft, promote, and advance, solutions to the problems of poverty, inequality, and classism. I see myself as a facilitator of ideas during my term as chair of this division. Any suggestions you have for moving forward toward addressing the above challenge will be appreciated and shared with others. Please feel free to email me with any ideas you might have: john.alessio@mnsu.edu. I look forward to working with you in the coming months, and I also look forward to meeting you at the annual conference. Best Regards, John C. Alessio, Professor and Dean Minnesota State University, Mankato +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Congratulations to PCI Division Award Winners! This year the division will honor Keith M. Kilty, Professor Emeritus in the college of social work at Ohio State University, with the Michael Harrington Award for his service to the division and SSSP and his contributions to the study of poverty, class, and inequality. For over thirty years, he has been an active member of SSSP, serving as vice president and PCI division chair. In addition to his own extensive scholarship on poverty, class, and inequality, he co-founded with Elizabeth A. Segal, the Journal of Poverty: Innovations on Social, Political, and Economic Inequalities, and has served as a mentor for PCI division members over the years. Nicole Esparza will receive the PCI Division Student Paper Award for her paper, "Space and Inequality: The Geographic Concentration of Homeless Services." She is currently a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Care Policy at Harvard and recently defended her dissertation at Princeton on how interorganizational dynamics and social and political context affect the distribution of homeless services. In the fall 2009, Dr. Esparza will be joining the faculty of the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. She will be presenting her paper at a special session on Friday, August 1st, 4:30 p.m. - 6:10 p.m. in the Franklin Room. Both division awards will be presented at the SSSP Awards Banquet on Friday, August 1st, 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Speak Out! SSSP Call for Resolutions ... Resolutions are the Society for the Study of Social Problem's (SSSP) way to make political and social statements to the wider public. There are many salient issues that can be informed by our work on inequalities. Does your research lend itself to a timely policy initiative? Is there a current event about which you believe SSSP should make an informed public statement? SSSP would like for each Special Problems Division to present resolutions for consideration at the 2008 meeting in preparation for a media strategy to make them available to the press in an expedient manner. Therefore, your ideas for resolutions are needed before the meeting in Boston. On the SSSP website, you can find examples of past resolutions to help get your started: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/189. When you write a resolution, please be sure to suggest who should receive the resolution (e.g., members of congress; specific corporations, etc.); send complete resolutions and/or ideas for resolutions to brooke.kelly@uncp.edu. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AIDS Fundraiser/PCI Division Reception Please consider attending the Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Reception, co-sponsored with many other divisions, at 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 31st in the Plaza Ballroom. The AIDS Fundraiser will take place in the same suite from 9-11 p.m. on Thursday, July 31st. Only $15 - and for a wonderful reason. New members and students receive a complementary ticket with meeting registration. Getting involved with a division is a great way to become more involved with SSSP. At this meeting you will have the opportunity to meet the new division chair, John Alessio, and the student paper competition winner, Nicole Esparza, discuss and propose sessions for next year's meeting (which you can organize and chair, if interested), discuss resolutions, become a reviewer for and/or organize the division's paper competition, or just meet other members and get acquainted. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ JOIN IN - Opportunities to Get Involved Whether you are a seasoned member, new member, or just curious, please consider attending the division gathering for Poverty, Class, and Inequality. Join us on Friday, August 1st, at 12:30 p.m. in the Georgian Room. Getting involved with a division is a great way to become more involved with SSSP. At this meeting you will have the opportunity to meet the new division chair, John Alessio, and the student paper competition winner, Nicole Esparza, discuss and propose sessions for next year's meeting (which you can organize and chair, if interested), discuss resolutions, become a reviewer for and/or organize the division's paper competition, or just meet other members and get acquainted. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thoughts from the Outgoing Chair Dear Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Members, I hope you are having a relaxing and productive summer. In this newsletter you will find important information about our upcoming meeting in Boston, some of our division members' recent accomplishments, several opportunities to get more involved in the PCI division, and award announcements. This year, SSSP will be meeting at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, July 31st-August 2nd. Please make sure you have registered for the meeting and made reservations at the conference hotel. For a preliminary program and registration information visit the SSSP website, http://www.sssp1.org/. If you are unable to attend this year's meeting, but you have ideas about resolutions, sessions for next year, or other feedback, please send them to me (brooke.kelly@uncp.edu) before the meeting so that your ideas can be considered. My term as chair will end at the meeting in Boston, at which time John Alessio will take over as the new Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Chair. I have enjoyed my term as chair. It has given me the opportunity to get more involved with SSSP and to meet and work with some wonderful people. Thanks to everyone who has worked on newsletters, awards committees, and organized and participated in sessions. Please continue to stay involved. I know I will be leaving the division in good hands with John Alessio as the new division chair and Margaret Scarsdale as the new newsletter editor. Both bring knowledge and enthusiasm that will benefit the division. Please welcome and congratulate them both! The PCI division will be giving two awards at the meeting this year. For his service and dedication to the division and SSSP and his contribution to the study of poverty, class, and inequality over the years, the PCI division will recognize Keith M. Kilty, Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University, with the Michael Harrington Award. As the winner of the PCI student paper competition, Nicole Esparza will present her paper with other division winners at a special session on Friday, August 4th at 4:30pm (see below for details). Congratulations to Keith and Nicole for their accomplishments and contributions! Please enjoy the rest of this newsletter, and do not forget to attend some of the great PCI sessions and to take advantage of some of the other opportunities to become more involved. I look forward to seeing you in Boston. Sincerely, E. Brooke Kelly Division Chair 2006-2008 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SSSP Thematic Session for 2008 Crossing Your OWN Borders: Theorizing Across Substantive Sections of SSSP Organizers: Mitch Berbrier University of Alabama in Huntsville mitch.berbrier@uah.edu Michelle Corbin University of Maryland mcorbin@socy.umd.edu Within our discipline, angst is almost ritually expressed about the sectioning of sociology into Divisions (in SSSP) and the dividing of sociology into Sections (in ASA). We thereby request theoretically orientated papers that explicitly run against these trends, crossing those intellectual borders. We imagine that these papers would creatively engage in two or more theories or orientations that are ordinarily confined within substantive areas. Our hope is that such cross-fertilization can yield interaction, discussion, and contestation which may in turn yield advances in social problems theory. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CROSSING BORDERS: ACTIVIST SCHOLARSHIP, GLOBALIZATION, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE The Program Committee is sponsoring two working sessions in which representatives from activist organizations and conference attendees brainstorm to map participatory research agenda. SSSP member: Organizer: Charlotte Ryan UMASS-Lowell & Media Research Action Project E-mail: charlotte_ryan@uml.edu Session 39: Border Crossing: A Working Session on Immigration Research Thursday, July 31st 4:30 p.m. - 6:10 p.m. Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers - Lexington Room Immigrant rights organizations will pose outstanding issues/research questions that affect their organizing. After presentations, small groups will brainstorm solutions. We will post resulting conversation and proposals on digital newsletters. Session 84: Title: Border Crossing: A Working Session on Economic Justice Research Friday, August 1st: 4:30 p.m. - 6:10 p.m. Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers - Hancock Room +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SESSION SCHEDULE FOR THE 2008 SSSP MEETING Thursday, July 31st, 10:30 a.m. - 12:10 p.m. Session 19: Boundaries of Race, Ethnicity, and Class: Inclusion and Exclusion in Health Room: White Hill Sponsors: Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division Organizer: Emily Ihara, George Mason University Presider: Robert Leibson Hawkins, New York University "Theorizing Population Health Interventions: Agency, Structure and Racial Inequalities in Health," Amy Schulz, University of Michigan School of Public Health and Valerie Haines, University of Calgary "Theoretical and Policy Approaches to the Down Low," John Barnshaw, University of Delaware "Examination of the Intersection of Race, Class and Gender in the Delivery of Health Care: Inequities in Aboriginal Access to Culturally Safe Mental Health and Addictions Services," Victoria Smye, UBC School of Nursing, Barbara Keith, Vancouver Coastal Health and Annette Browne, UBC School of Nursing "Assessing Knowledge of Prostate Cancer in an African American Community," Elinor Schoenfeld, Stony Brook University, Linda E. Francis, University of Akron and Antonio DeGrasse, Stony Brook University "Lost in the Mountains: An Examination of Latino Health Issues in Rural America," Cameron Lippard and Caroline Atwell, Appalachian State University +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Friday, August 1st, 8:00 a.m. - 9:40 a.m. Session 46: Images and Perceptions of Inequality Room: Charles River Sponsor: Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Organizer, Presider & Discussant: Ira Silver, Framingham State College "The Color of Affirmative Action: What Public Responses to Affirmative Action Policies Tell Us about Racial Ideologies in the U.S.," Belisa Gonzalez, Ithaca College and Kathryn Sweeney, Emory University "Impoverished near Harvard Yard: Past and Present Perspectives on Neighborhood Poverty in the Midst of Affluence," Katarzyna (Kasia) Skuratowicz, University of Maryland and Janelle Dance, University of Nebraska "Slacking and Sufficing in the Suburbs: Or, Why Many Members of the US Middle Class are not Worrying about Globalization and Inequality (Even If They Should Be)," Michele L. Rossi, University of California, Berkeley "How the Underclass Concept Has Distorted Perceptions of the Black Poor," Algernon Austin, Economic Policy Institute +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Friday, August 1st, 4:30 p.m. - 6:10 p.m. Session 82: Food and Inequality Room: Constitution Sponsors: Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Organizer, Presider & Discussant: E. Brooke Kelly, University of North Carolina at Pembroke "Community Food Systems and the Politics of Inclusion," Raven Bruno and Leslie Hossfeld, University of North Carolina at Wilmington "Buying Authenticity," Barbara Katz Rothman, City University of New York "Peanut Panic: The Social Construction of a Public Health Phenomenon," Miranda R. Waggoner, Brandeis University +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Friday, August 1st, 4:30 p.m. - 6:10 p.m. Session 88: Katrina: Social Justice Room: Stuart Sponsors: Drinking and Drugs Division Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Organizer & Presider: Bruce D. Johnson, National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. "High Risk Drug Use by Hispanic Immigrants in New Orleans," Avelardo Valdez and Alice Cepeda, University of Houston "Hurricane Katrina's Legacy of Political Alienation among Youth," Matthew Cardinale, Georgia State University "Reformulation of Illegal Drug Markets in New Orleans after the Disaster," Eloise Dunlap and Bruce D. Johnson, National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. "How Much Did Illicit Users Change after Hurricane Katrina?" Bruce D. Johnson and Eloise Dunlap, National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. and Daniel Leal-Diaz, Fordham University School of Social Work "Post-Katrina New Orleans Seek Real Relief and Just Recovery," A. Kathryn Stout, Southern University at New Orleans +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Saturday, August 2nd, 8:30 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. Session 96: Homelessness Room: Holmes Sponsors: Family Division Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Organizer & Presider: Bart Miles, Wayne State University "The Effects of Runaway and Homeless Episodes on Educational Outcomes of Youth," Yumiko Aratani and Janice Cooper, Columbia University/NCCP "Homeless but Housed: Reflections from the Tent," Sondra Fogel, University of South Florida "Criminal Perpetration and Homelessness," Amy Donley, University of Central Florida "Low Demand Housing Models and Addiction: Measuring Outcomes of the Chronically Homeless," Christie Sennott, University of Colorado at Boulder "Transitioning Out: Qualitative Interviews with Chronically Homeless, Dually Diagnosed Residents of a Safe Haven Shelter," Sara Plachta-Elliott, Brandeis University, Alisa Lincoln, Northeastern University and Lisa Gentry, Boston University +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Saturday, August 2nd, 8:30 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. Session 102: What Are We Going to Do about It? Addressing the Structural Underpinnings of Poverty Room: White Hill Sponsors: Conflict, Social Action, and Change Division Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Organizer & Presider: Anne Statham, University of Southern Indiana "A Case Study of the Working Poor Single Mother Experience: An Analysis of the Structure versus Agency Discourse," Sandra Barnes, Case Western Reserve University "But Who Will Watch the Children? State and Local Campaigns to Improve Child Care Policies," Ellen Reese, University of California, Riverside "Discrimination in Immigrant Rental Housing: A Paired-Testing Study," Stephen Sills and Elizabeth Blake, University of North Carolina at Greensboro "New Avenues of Research for Urban Ethnographies," Brian Miller, University of Notre Dame +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Saturday, August 2nd, 2:30 p.m. - 4:10 p.m. Session 131: Inequalities: Constructing and Resisting Identities Room: Hancock Sponsor: Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Organizers: Yvonne Luna, Northern Arizona University; Jennifer Wesely, University of North Florida Presider: Jennifer Wesely, University of North Florida "Poor Disabled Mothers: Straddling Borders, Shifting Boundaries and Everyday Resistance," Shawn Cassiman, University of Dayton "Crossing Virtual Borders: Constructing and Resisting Identities in Online Communities," Melinda Messineo, Amanda Zimmerman, Caroline Ahls, Travis Schilla, Kenneth Greimann and Amanda Ostoich, Ball State University "The Identity of Rappers 50 Cent and Kanye West through Lyrical Narrative," Ginger Jacobson, University of South Florida "From the Inside Out: Efforts by Homeless Women to Disrupt Cycles of Crime and Violence," Jennifer Wesely, University of North Florida and Jim Wright, University of Central Florida "Resistance as Survival and Well Being: The Lived Experience of Single Mothers on Welfare," Yvonne Luna, Northern Arizona University +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Saturday, August 2nd, 4:30 p.m. - 6:10 p.m. Session 143: Working Poor in the Global Economy Room: Newbury Sponsors: Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Sociology and Social Welfare Division Organizer, Presider & Discussant: Sondra Fogel, University of South Florida "ETIC and TANF Participation Among Young Adult Low-income Families," Richard Caputo, Yeshiva University "Working Poor Fathers," Joyce Bialik, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, 1st place Winner of the Sociology and Social Welfare Division's Student Paper Competition "The Value of Hard Work: Low Wage Labor and the Construction of Work as a Moral Virtue," Alecea Standlee, Syracuse University "Language and Undocumented Immigration as a Social Problem: Pre- and Post 9/11," Caitlin E. Slodden, Brandeis University +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MEMBER PUBLICATIONS: Deborah Thorne (Ohio University): "Personal Bankruptcy and the Credit Report: Conflicting Mechanisms of Social Mobility"; Journal of Poverty (2007) "Managing the Stigma of Personal Bankruptcy"; Sociological Focus (2006). "The Failure of Bankruptcy's Fresh Start"; Cornell Law Review (2006). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Politics and Neoliberalism: Structure, Process and Outcome, Research in Political Sociology, Volume 16 (2007). Elsevier Press: Oxford, UK. Edited by Harland Prechel, Texas A&M University +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "It's like a family: Caring labor, exploitation and race in the long term care industry. Gender and Society. Volume 21, 6 (2007). Lisa Dodson and Rebekah M. Zincavage. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Work - Family Policies and Poverty for Partnered and Single Women in Europe and North America." Gender and Society, Joya Misra, Stephanie Moller, and Michelle J. Budig. Volume 21, 804-807 (2007). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Social class is dead. Long live social class! Stereotype threat among low-socioeconomic status individuals." Social Justice Research, Volume 20, 418-432 (2007). Spencer, B. & Castano, E. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Social Justice 2008: Thought-Provoking Images as a Catalyst for Change. Foreword by Margaret Scarsdale, Northeastern University. 978-0-9788372-0-4 www,amazon.com +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Engaged Sociologist: Connecting the Classroom to the Community, Second Edition brings the "public sociology" movement into the classroom, as it teaches students to use the tools of sociology to become effective participants in our democratic society. Through exercises and projects, authors Kathleen Odell Korgen and Jonathan M. White encourage students to practice the application of these tools in order to get both hands-on training in sociology and experience with civic engagement in their communities. It is a low-cost ($29.95) book that can be used either as a primary or supplementary text for courses in Introductory Sociology, Principles of Sociology, Social Problems, Applied Sociology, and many more. Publication Date: 8-5-2008. To order a complimentary examination copy, go to https://secure.pineforge.com/ICFRProduct.nav?_requestid=24754 Kathleen Korgen, William Paterson University Jonathan M. White, Bridgewater College +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Excellent Resource for Unemployment Figures If you are in need of unemployment figures for a lecture or a research project, check out the website of the National Jobs for All Coalition (njfac.org), under "Unemployment Rate." Every month the coalition offers the "official unemployment rate" (5.5% in May) and the rates for such groups as teenagers and Hispanics and African Americans. More importantly, the coalition recalculates a more realistic unemployment rate by including part-timers who want full-time jobs and people who want work but had not looked for it because they didn't expect to find any, or weren't able to work for a variety of reasons, such as lack of child care or transportation. Using that method, the coalition's estimate of national unemployment for May 2008, was 11.6%, more than twice the official rate. There is no mystery to the data that goes into the revised unemployment rate. It is from the monthly household survey the government uses for much of its employment data. If you want to get serious, you can read (and print a nice .pdf file) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' "Employment Situation: May 2008." There is much that is valuable for those of us who think the highly publicized unemployment rates underestimate the real joblessness. In fact, even the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes its own amplified versions of unemployment called "Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization" (which came in at 9.7% for May of 2008, also much higher than official rate). This last figure, not surprisingly, is not well publicized by the bureau or the media. Frank Stricker, Professor of History, Labor and Interdisciplinary Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Dr. Stricker is also the author of a new book: Why Americans Lost the War on Poverty - and How to Win It. http://uncpress.unc.edu/books/T-7915.html. "Stricker provides a very comprehensive and fair review of this time [the 1960s and the War on Poverty] and the legislation." -- Dr. David Wagner, Professor, University of Southern Maine +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ C. Emory Burton, author of The Poverty Debate (Greenwood Press, 1992), has completed an introductory sociology textbook and is hoping to find a publisher. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The True Costs of Financial Struggles There is a growing body of empirical evidence about the overwhelming and unprecedented financial struggles that households in America are facing. Few social problems are as timely, consequential, or widespread as "money problems." Given that, I want to encourage members of SSSP to consider the following list of possible research topics for either yourselves, your graduate students, or even undergraduate students. § consumer debt, particularly credit cards § student loans § home foreclosures § predatory lending § payday loans § car title loans § consumer bankruptcy § credit reports and FICO (credit) scores § subprime lending Fundamentally, all of these issues are about social inequality, social mobility, and wealth. Moreover, the financial pains associated with our consumer society are, unfortunately, plentiful-thus, there is much data out there just waiting to be collected. If anyone would like to chat about researching any of the above issues, please feel free to contact me at thorned@ohio.edu. Deborah Thorne, Assistant Professor Department of Sociology and Anthropology Ohio University 740-593-1367 (office) 740-593-1365 (fax) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ How Physical Appearance Shapes Discrimination Two books by sociologist Bonnie Berry address social inequality mainly as addressed in terms of discrimination against physical appearance. Appearance bias, as both books discuss, are grounded largely in terms of other (more familiar) forms of bias, such as socioeconomic, gender, racial, and age bias. Praise is high for both: "A fascinating and authoritative account of looks-based judgments and discriminations. Beauty Bias should be required reading for everyone who has a stake in how they (and how we) look - that is, for everyone." -- Susan Schweik, Associate Professor, University of California at Berkeley Reviewers have this to say about "The Power of Looks - Social Stratification of Physical Appearance. "Tackling an issue that is timely and controversial, Berry analyzes the way in which beauty and appearance affect all aspects of our lives ... A superb read." -- Angela Hattery, Wake Forest University TO ORDER: Beauty Bias, Available Now, 0-275-99012-5 www.greenwood.com The Power of Looks, July 2008, 978-0-7546-4758-4 www.ashgate.com +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On the Margins - Struggles In the Everyday Life of the Poor David Wagner explores the lives of poor people during the three decades after the Civil War, using a unique treasure of biographies of people who were (at one point in time) inmates in a large almshouse, combined with genealogical and other official records to follow their later lives. Ordinary People develops a more fluid picture of "poverty" as people's lives change over the course of time. The voices of the inmates of the infamous Massachusetts State Almshouse at Tewksbury resonate in remarkable ways today, helping us to understand that many individuals living in poverty make inventive, bold moves to escape it. David Wagner is Professor of Social Work and Sociology at the University of Southern Maine and author of five previous books including the C. Wright Mills award-winning Checkerboard Square: Culture and Resistance in a Homeless Community and most recently The Poorhouse: America's Forgotten Institution. "The poor are absent from our history books. David Wagner presents them to us in vivid Dickensian portraits as human beings to whom attention must be paid. He is writing about the poor in the late nineteenth century, but inevitably we are reminded of the invisible poor in our midst today. An important contribution to the social history of our country." -Howard Zinn "David Wagner has written a wonderful book. By focusing close on particular lives, he gives us a uniquely intimate and specific insight into the lives of these poor and marginal people of the late nineteenth century. And he also shows us that they were more than just victims, but people who asserted themselves and often managed to build their own lives. -Frances Fox Piven, author of Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America Available at: www.paradigmpublishers.com +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Watch for the upcoming Asian American Federation's report on poverty among NYC Asian Americans! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Seeking Urban Sociologist Northeastern University, Boston, MA The Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University announces a tenure-track opening for an urban sociologist, beginning in the Fall of 2009. A PhD in sociology is required at the time of appointment. We prefer candidates at the advanced Assistant Professor rank, although applications will also be considered at the Associate level with tenure. We are especially keen to consider applicants with expertise in quantitative research methods; applicants whose knowledge extends to such areas of concentration as race and ethnicity, globalization, or social inequality are also eagerly sought. Northeastern University is a large, private institution located in the heart of Boston and whose institutional mission has urban engagement at its core. The Department is a strong and growing unit with a well-established PhD program, whose faculty are committed to excellence in research, teaching, and critical scholarship. The Department hosts multiple Centers and enjoys numerous interdisciplinary linkages, prominent among which is the Center for Urban and Regional Policy. Women and members of historically excluded groups are especially encouraged to apply. Applicants should send application letters, a c.v., writing samples, and three letters of reference to: Barry Bluestone, Urban Sociology Search Committee, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, 500 Holmes Hall, Northeastern University, Boston MA 02115. Review of applications will begin September 1, 2008 and continue until the position is filled.