THIS ISSUE'S MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR - 1 ANNUAL MEETING SESSIONS - 6 GUEST FEATURE: PAULSON - 3 GRADUATE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT- 7 FEATURED CALL FOR CHAIR NOMINEES - 5 CONTENT MESSAGE FROM Multiply again the stress, anxiety, THE CHAIR and loss from ongoing disasters stemming from climate change CLARE CANNON including Hurricanes Ida and Henry, flooding across the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS Northeast, Midwest, Tennessee and the South, and rampant wildfires and drought across the Dear E&T Community, And, if you are anything like me, West. We are living and working to the continued disruptions and fear educate future generations, I write to you amid the ongoing where there was to be an end in conduct life-altering research, and COVID-19 pandemic with sight has only increased the stress continue to support and advance devastating surges across the and anxiety of living and working the functioning of our institutions U.S. and the globe. Probably through the pandemic. in these extraordinary times under many of us thought, with the impossible circumstances. vaccine development and Such stress and anxiety are even dissemination this Spring, that further compounded as many of We are not where we thought we we would be in a safer place us return to the classroom for the would be. come fall and on more familiar first time in more than 1.5 years terrain. amidst the latest surge. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SSSP Environment & Technology, Fall 2021 Newsletter 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 And all I can really think to say is that we as a community are here for one another; that we acknowledge the difficulties, the pain, the stress, and the triumphs; that at some point the pandemic will end. Now more than ever the theme of next year’s annual meeting – The Sociological Reimagination: From moments to momentum – is more relevant than ever. In the spirit of this theme, I hope each of you can take a moment of reflection or celebration for making it through so far. Take care, Clare E. B. Cannon 2022 BRENT K. MARSHALL GRADUATE STUDENT PAPER AWARD The Environment and Technology Division is pleased to announce its 2021 Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award. This award honors the late Brent Marshall’s (1965-2008) personal and professional commitment to the Division and encouragement of student engagement in academic scholarship and research. Papers will be considered in the areas of environmental sociology, including, but not limited to political economy of the environment, global environmental issues, social movements and the environment, technology and society, natural disasters and society, and risk perception. The winner of the Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award will receive a plaque, a complimentary SSSP student membership, SSSP conference registration, and a cash award. To be eligible, the paper must meet the following criteria: 1) the paper must have been written in 2020; 2) the paper must be authored by one or more students and not co-authored by faculty or a colleague who is not a student; 3) manuscripts should be limited to fewer than 10,000 words (inclusive of notes, references, and tables) and 4) the paper must not be published or accepted for publication. Students should send their submissions to each member of the award committee: June Jeon (jjeon24@wisc.edu), Victor Perez, (victorp@udel.edu), and Ben Manski (bmanski@gmu.edu). Please note that students may submit to only one Division for a student paper award. Authors should ensure that they receive a confirmation of receipt for their submission. In order to be considered for the Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award, applicants are required to submit their papers through the Annual Meeting Call for Papers. The extended deadline is 1/31/22. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Clare Cannon (cebcannon@ucdavis.edu). SSSP Environment & Technology, Fall 2021 Newsletter 2 WHY NOT US, TOO? MENTAL HEALTH FOR ACADEMICS WHO CARE TOO MUCH NELS PAULSON ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT I am now a middle-aged man. That Mental health is firmly headed much is true. These decades have toward the “we do care about this” culminated in knee surgeries, a camp and away from the “toughen We worked on that presentation penchant for beer and bourbon, and up and stop whining” norm. But do together. We sat in our room a lot of time playing the role of That you need to be the GOAT to push full of books, nostalgic family Guy to the public. These façades- back? pictures, dimly lit seated areas, attempting to present myself as and a coffee table with a half- smart and charming- and a As academics, we are expected to finished puzzle of indigenous disregard for healthy life choices publish extraordinary scholarship if people’s original places. As we have taken a toll. Perhaps some of our hopes of a job (or tenure) are to discussed that presentation, I you resonate with this, and perhaps be realized. Beyond that, most of us was left wondering about my some are in the middle of wrecking really do care. This is especially in own colleagues. SSSP truly has your body and mind and soul. Either SSSP, where we expect praxis to be righteous goals and people who way, we have a collective problem at the core of why we research what care to do good. But how many with authenticity, I believe, and we we do. But what do we lose with of us are burned out trying to need to recognize a way forward. such pressure? What do we miss out play the game, perhaps trying to on doing? What should we ask for, posture or grind our way into a Simone Biles bravely stepped aside and from whom? space that is quite difficult to when she experienced the “twisties” pursue as a career? How many at the Olympics. This was My wife is a physician - an of us let that puzzle honoring extraordinary. She is indisputably exceptional rural internal medicine indigenous people sit the Greatest Of All Time (i.e. The hospitalist. This pandemic has been unfinished on that table for GOAT) in gymnastics and was brutal to health care personnel, and months in order to trudge expected to dominate in Tokyo. it’s getting worse as I write this on through the academic She observed, rightly, that no matter the Ides of September. She gave a landscape? the pressure on her to bring home presentation to the Wisconsin the expected gold medals, her safety Chapter of the American College of must come first. Similarly, Naomi Physicians (ACP) last week on mental health. In it, she highlighted But how many of us are Osaka bravely stood up this summer to the powers and norms in tennis the institutional changes that need burned out trying to play (in France and England of all places) to be made to help reduce the the game, perhaps trying to massive burnout among physicians. when her anxiety was supercharged posture or grind our way by expectations and media While far from the norm yet, ACP and health care institutions are at into a space that is quite commitments. These athletes emphasized “It’s okay to not be okay” least recognizing they will continue difficult to pursue as a in a very prominent manner. to lose quality labor unless their career? mental health is prioritized. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 SSSP Environment & Technology, Fall 2021 Newsletter 3 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 In Environment & Technology, I’m finally at a point in my life many of us identify injustices where I have enough comfort that afflict our social world. with myself to say how much I Thank you for your dedication to don’t know the answers to making our world a better those questions. Thank God for place. Your gifts are truly that, as middle age and bad amazing. That said, we must decisions have forced me to ask ourselves what our calling become comfortable with who I has become in our lives. What am, step back, and stop should it look like? And, in a projecting some kind of idyllic space that is increasingly filled image to the world. As a with positions of tenuous consequence, I feel my stability and adjunct status, how scholarship is finally going to be much do we need to expand worthwhile, perhaps even more the space within it to include than I pretended it was before. more solid careers and support More importantly, I am a better for those people? What would teacher, and I spend a lot more that look like, and what kind of time with my kids now. I have world could that help build? some semblance of what the What would it look like for your podcast hosts and self-help institution to prioritize mental books call “balance”. health for your department? My hope is we can take this fall Maybe these questions are too to reflect on what we are now big within this one corner of seeing normalized by the academia. But if we - among GOATs regarding mental health. the more privileged in the world Perhaps, in doing so, we may - cannot ask them, then who take heed from those can? That is what I kept coming reflections and not merely take back to, as I helped my partner note for the sake of scholarship. with her presentation. Doctors, of all people, are somewhat like Cheers. the superstar athletes - they have the benefit of power and Perhaps, in doing so, we influence in society. Of course, we are not physicians or Simone may take heed from those Biles, but don’t we have a reflections and not platform, too? If we ask these merely take note for the questions, could we normalize sake of scholarship. doing so for our colleagues who feel disempowered or disenfranchised? SSSP Environment & Technology, Fall 2021 Newsletter 4 SSSP E&T SOLICITING CHAIR NOMINATIONS FOR ELECTION THIS FALL Accepting nominations for the next Chair of E&T! This term will run from 2023-2025. Self-nominations are welcomed and encouraged. Nominees must be current division members to accept the nomination. To nominate, send an email to the Chair, Clare Cannon, (cebcannon@ucdavis.edu) with the subject line: SSSP E&T Chair Nomination with your name, title, affiliation and email address. Nominations are due by October 11th 5 pm PST. For more information on the Chair’s roles and responsibilities, please visit this website. There must be at least two nominees for each division office. Graduate students are eligible to run for and occupy the Chair position. Once nominated the SSSP Home Office will reach out to each nominee and ask candidates to complete an online candidate form which includes biographical information that appears on the ballot under his, her, or their name. Candidates will be given two weeks to complete this task. If a candidate fails to submit this information in a timely manner, his, her, or their name will appear on the ballot with the following notation: Candidate did not provide biographical information. The SSSP Home Office will run the election via email. All SSSP members are eligible to vote. For more information on the election process please visit this website. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Clare Cannon (cebcannon@ucdavis.edu). SEARCH FOR THE NEXT SSSP EXECUTIVE OFFICER The Society for the Study of Social Problems seeks applications for the position of Executive Officer to begin at the conclusion of the Society’s August 2022 Annual Meeting. Interested SSSP members in good standing may apply. Applications must be sent to the SSSP’s Administrative Officer and Meeting Manager, Michele Koontz (mkoontz3@utk.edu). Applications received by December 15, 2021 will receive full consideration. If you or your division members have questions about the position, please contact Dr. Gillian Niebrugge-Brantley, Chair, Permanent Organization and Strategic Planning Committee (niebran@attglobal.net) and/or Michele Koontz (mkoontz3@utk.edu). As a social justice organization, the SSSP seeks a diverse applicant pool for the position. Applicants must be a current member of the Society. You can find the posting here. SSSP Environment & Technology, Fall 2021 Newsletter 5 2022 ANNUAL MEETING ENVIRONMENT & TECHNOLOGY SESSIONS AUGUST 5-7, 2022 SSSP ANNUAL MEETING LOS ANGELES, CA SESSION TITLE: RACE, ETHNICITY, INDIGENEITY: NEW APPROACHES TO THE ENVIRONMENT ORGANIZER: MARKO SALVAGGIO, TULANE UNIVERSITY SESSION TITLE: REIMAGINING THE RURAL: QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY ORGANIZER: CLARE CANNON, UC DAVIS SESSION TITLE: ENVIRONMENTALLY JUST FUTURES: NEW AVENUES OF JUSTICE TO CONSIDER ORGANIZER: ALEX MCINTURFF, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SESSION TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM ORGANIZER: ANGUS NURSE, NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY SESSION TITLE: SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE & RACE IN A CHANGING CLIMATE ORGANIZERS: GREER HAMILTON, BOSTON UNIVERSITY; CLARE CANNON, UC DAVIS SESSION TITLE: INSTITUTIONAL COMPLEXITIES AND RESPONSES TO CRISES ORGANIZER: JUNE JEON, CHUNGNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (CNU), SOUTH KOREA SESSION TITLE: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM & SOCIAL CHANGE ORGANIZERS: LAUREN EASTWOOD, SUNY COLLEGE AT PLATTSBURGH; KELSEY RYAN-SIMKINS, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY SESSION TITLE: TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF WORK AND WORKERS ORGANIZERS: ALEXIS ECONIE, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON; TODD VACHON, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SESSION TITLE: REIMAGINING HEALTH CARE: EXPLORATIONS IN TELEHEALTH, TECHNOLOGY, AND INEQUALITY ORGANIZER: NELS PAULSON, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT SESSION TITLE: DISABILITY, TECHNOLOGY, & ACCESSIBILITY ORGANIZER: LAURA MAULDIN, UNIVERSITY OF CONNETICUT SSSP Environment & Technology, Fall 2021 Newsletter 6 GRADUATE MEET THE NEW GRADUATE STUDENT STUDENT NEWSLETTER EDITOR Spotlight EMILY BURKE PH.D. STUDENT IN SOCIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON It's great to be here! I am a first year Ph.D. student in the joint Sociology and Community & Environmental Sociology program at University of Wisconsin- Madison. I just moved to Madison after graduating with a B.S. in Sociology from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. My research interests are broadly environmental sociology, climate change communications, and denialism. I am interested in the ways that science is understood and interpreted in the context of social issues like climate change, and have found that a particularly fascinating way to study this is as it intersects with religion. During my time at Creighton, I worked on an interdisciplinary project that assessed U.S. Catholic bishops' engagement with climate change, or lack thereof. For this project my co-authors and I compiled a unique dataset of over 12,000 columns written by bishops to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the treatment of climate change by Catholic leaders relative to other social issuses. This article has been accepted by the interdisciplinary environmental science journal Environmental Research Letters. With this same dataset of 12,000+ bishops' columns, I am working on my own independent project that asks whether and how U.S. Catholic bishops engage in climate change denial. Using an existing framework of literal and ideological denialism, I find that the bishops do in fact engage in denialism. With this evidence, I explore the ways that, due to their leadership role in the church, this denial may be inhibiting the mobilization of broader Catholic climate action. Outside of my academic interests, I love spending time outside, thrifting, and coffee. As an undergraduate, I was a leader of the fossil fuel divestment student movement that successfully pressured Creighton University's administration and Board of Trustees to commit to full divestment last December. I am a first-generation college student, native of Milwaukee, and a houseplant enthusiast. I look forward to my role as the new E&T Newsletter Editor and getting to know this community! To have your or your student's work featured, contact Emily at eeburke3@wisc.edu SSSP Environment SSSP Technology, Fall Environment && Technology, Spring 2019 2021 Newsletter Newsletter 76 LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU NEXT YEAR! In his widely acclaimed book In many ways, the 2022 Capitalism in the 21st Century, meeting is a new beginning. Thomas Piketty contends that in COVID recently has dominated order to address one of this century’s the social landscape, but we greatest threats - growing inequality now hope to enter a post- – more than economists are required pandemic world. It is a world in at the “solutions table”. This which a virus exacerbated and expanded solutions table is exposed the issues and necessary if policy solutions to problems that we all know inequities, inequalities, and injustices need to be fixed. It is a world in are to be based on a deeper and which some communities are more nuanced understanding of the far more broken than before the social world in all its dimensions. pandemic, and where the And who better to provide such endemic inequities and NOREEN M. SUGRUE descriptions and prescriptive policy injustices have been laid bare SSSP PRESIDENT actions than sociologists, especially for all to see. (2021-2022) those of us in SSSP? Recently, we have experienced However, we also must recognize In 2001, Robert Perrucci articulated a moments that vividly illustrated that as sociologists we will not be vision of SSSP and its membership the inequities and injustices we spontaneously invited to the whereby both become know all too well. The examples solutions table. In order to secure a consequential actors in public also are all too familiar: COVID, seat at that table, we must deploy discussions and policy debates. Two gun violence, attacks on the our research findings along salient decades later, the work and activism rights of women and LGBTQIA avenues of public discussion and of SSSP and its members is needed persons, anti-Semitism, debate. We are called to translate more than ever. structural racism, inhumane our research findings into concrete treatment of immigrants, Our entry into a post-pandemic prescriptions for change, and refugees, and asylum seekers, as world provides us with an thereby infuse the public process well as inequitable access to opportunity to recalibrate our with the results of our research. But health care, poverty, the killings priorities as scholars, policy analysts, sitting at the solutions table is one of George Floyd, Adam Toledo, teachers, and activists. We are being thing; we also must ensure that we and countless other Blacks and given an opportunity to embrace have a suitable microphone in order Latinos at the hands of law this period, with a clear sense of to amplify our voice. Our unique enforcement, and climate needed pathways toward change. voice can illuminate the issues and change, in addition to the ever Addressing and redressing today’s problems, as well as provide growing inter- and intra- problems requires the full and solutions aimed at both rectifying country inequities. central participation of SSSP problems and guiding the members. SSSP scholars, be they in reimagination of how a more the academy, government, or the equitable social order can be CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 private sector, are uniquely qualified achieved. We seek our seat and our to play a formative role in defining, microphone not for our own careers designing, and implementing the but rather for the sake of the country Find this message and more policies required for a new and the world. information on the SSSP main beginning, a new hope, and a new website. and fairer social order. SSSP Environment SSSP Technology, Fall Environment && Technology, Spring 2019 2021 Newsletter Newsletter 86 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Our experiences with these moments and our entry into the post-pandemic world provide us with an opportunity to 72ND ANNUAL MEETING OF recalibrate our priorities as scholars, policy THE SOCIETY FOR THE analysts, teachers, and activists. As we enter STUDY OF SOCIAL this period, there is a clear sense that this is PROBLEMS the time for change. There is a willingness on the part of many, particularly younger people, to realign our priorities and social THE SOCIOLOGICAL REIMAGINATION: FROM MOMENTS TO MOMENTUM structures, re-prioritize how we spend resources, re-define what it means to WHEN: AUGUST 5-7, 2022 identify a society as just, re-distribute goods and services with a commitment to equity, WHERE: OMNI LOS ANGELES HOTEL AT and re-evaluate our programs and policies CALIFORNIA PLAZA, LOS ANGELES through an intersectional lens. THE 2022 CALL FOR PAPERS WILL BE I invite each of you to join us in Los Angeles IN MID-OCTOBER. – the city of angels – in order to further a MORE INFORMATION HERE. dialogue aimed at social change and action rooted in data and theory. The 2022 meeting also provides opportunities to define, energize, and commit to concrete social actions and policy work. "IT IS THE TIME TO TURN THE MULTIPLE MOMENTS ON OUR SOCIAL LANDSCAPE INTO MOMENTUM – MOMENTUM FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, MOMENTUM FOR CHANGE, MOMENTUM FOR SSSP SCHOLARS TO MOVE FROM ANALYSIS TO ACTION, AND MOMENTUM TO MAKE SSSP NOT SIMPLY THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS, BUT ALSO INTO A SOCIETY THAT DESIGNS SOLUTIONS." - NOREEN M. SUGRUE, SSSP PRESIDENT SSSP Environment SSSP Technology, Fall Environment && Technology, Spring 2019 2021 Newsletter Newsletter 96