SSSP 2026 Annual Meeting
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Board of Directors Meeting, 2026-27
Room: Minetta
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 066: Class Across the Lifecourse: Birth, Health, Aging, Death
Room: Belasco
Sponsor: Poverty, Class, and Inequality
Organizer &
Presider: Nicole Kraus, West Texas A&M University
Description: This session focuses on the intersection of class and demographics ranging from the beginning to the end of the lifecourse.
Papers:
“Conditional Mobility and Global Class Reproduction: The Case of International Students,” Geeti Anwar, University of South Florida
“Gender in Emerging Adulthood: Perceptions and Experiences of Masculinity and Femininity in Oklahoma,” Afra Sayara Rahman, Michigan State University
“Long-Term Health Consequences of Gang Life,” Avelardo Valdez, Arizona State University
“Socioeconomic, Urbanicity, and Intersectional Inequalities in Sexually Transmitted Infections among Adults with Substance Use Disorder: Evidence from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health,” Carol A. Lee, The University of Texas at Arlington
“The Influence of Childhood Residential Instability and Neighborhood Quality on Teen Parenthood,” Anna Maria Santiago and Iris Margetis, Michigan State University
“Who Gets Heard Later in Life? Access, Aging, and the Experiences of Older Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Adults,” Ashley Butler and Sara Terrana, Adelphi University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
THEMATIC
Session 067: Resisting Colonization of the Family
Room: Broadway I
Sponsors: Family, Aging, and Youth
Gender, Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities
Organizer &
Presider: Ami MH Frost, University of Oklahoma
Description: The day-to-day work of living within a family system often shields individuals from recognizing the influence of colonization in their midst. Yet rather than existing outside the family, colonizing forces are exerted both on and within family life. This session explores the gendered objectification, commodification, and financialization of families through divisions of unpaid and paid labor, processes of gender socialization and rejection, concerted cultivation, and care work. The politicization and control of bodies, sexual behavior, gendered roles, and related dynamics are often socialized and enacted within families, yet families can also serve as sites of resistance to these forces.
Papers:
“Beyond Core and Balance: How Families Frame Fun in Contemporary Parenting Culture,” Julie A. Mikles-Schluterman and David Ward, Arkansas Tech University
“‘She Might Wear Her Jordans Better Than Me!’: Masculine Embodiment and Negotiation in Mixed-Gender Masculine-Masculine Relationships,” Isabel F. Levin, Brown University and Kathryne M. Young, The George Washington University
“Growing Up Too Early and the Burden of Policing: Unpacking Adultification, Police Encounters, and Legitimacy in Low-Income Black Communities,” Abass Muhammed, University of Delaware
“Interraciality as a Family Affair: An Intersectional Analysis of East Asian Immigrant Families’ Responses to East Asian–Black Unions,” Olivia Y. Hu, University of Pennsylvania
“‘Family Authority, Formation, and Cohesion’: The Heritage Foundation’s Patriarchal Agenda,” Brandie S. Pugh, Faith Burrill and Ansley Shamblin, West Virginia University and Ava Carcirieri, Delaware Alliance Against Sexual Violence
“A Paradox of Power: White Women, Traditionalism, and Political Agency in the American New Right, 1950s – 2000s,” Evangeline McDonald, University of West Georgia
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
THEMATIC
Session 068: No Man Behind the Curtain: The Post-Modern Imperial Power
Room: Broadway II
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizers: Alexandrea Ravenelle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Barbara Katz Rothman, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Presider: Barbara Katz Rothman, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Discussant: Alexandrea Ravenelle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Description: The forces of colonization in the current era go beyond the classic Empire, with its image of a single emperor as ruler. Profit, Domination and Coercion, as our meeting theme stresses, cover more and more arenas of life, from the very gates of life itself, birth and death colonized by Biomedical Industries, to our daily work, our education, our values coming under the colonizing forces of the new post-industrial world. This thematic will address these processes and how they are shaping the world in which we live
Papers:
“THE BIOMEDICAL EMPIRE: Bringing Medical Sociology into the Contemporary World, Studying the Gates of Life,” Barbara Katz Rothman, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“Human Capitalization of Children and Financialization of Parenting,” Nina Bandelj, University of California, Irvine
“Polyemployment and the Fragmentation of the Lifeworld When Meaning is Split Across Gigs,” Alexandrea Ravenelle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Strong Ties or Strong Arms?: Vulnerability, Coercion, and Profits in Multi-Level Marketing Work,” Nicole Christine Muffitt, University of Illinois Chicago
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
THEMATIC
Session 069: People Have the Power?: Community Power and Community Decision-making
Room: Broadway III
Sponsor: Community, Research, and Practice
Organizer: Sarah E. Stanlick, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Presider &
Discussant: Paul Draus, University of Michigan–Dearborn
Description: The papers in this session explore how power operates at the community level, who represents a community, and how communities build the power to influence decision-making. The communities examined in these studies vary and include coalitions, neighborhoods, schools, cities, and other collective groups. All serve as sites of contested power and exemplify communities’ recognition of, and responses to, social problems.
Papers:
“‘If You Put It on a Map, It Means a Lot More’: Place-Based Youth Participatory Action Research at an Urban High School,” Lauren E. Ashby, Syracuse University
“Community Power in Brooklyn: A Half-Century of the Good, Bad, and U,” Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College, CUNY and Judith N. DeSena, St. John's University
“Putting It All on the Map: A Community Storytelling Project in Detroit,” Paul Draus, University of Michigan–Dearborn
“The People’s Purse: Building Trust and Community through Participatory Budgeting,” Brittany Keegan, Virginia Commonwealth University - L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Victor Tan Chen, Virginia Commonwealth University and Matthew Slaats, Richmond City Council
“Toward Community-Led Redevelopment: The Kingsbridge Armory Campaign and Reconfiguration of Urban Governance,” Gladys Chiku Mbugua, Fordham University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 070: Racial Politics and Resistance in the Midst of Settler Colonialism I
Room: Manhattan
Sponsors: Conflict, Social Action, and Change
Critical Race and Ethnic Study
Organizers: Foroogh Mohammadi, Acadia University
Sara Tehrani, University of Central Florida
Presider: Sara Tehrani, University of Central Florida
Description: Only recently have Ethnic and Racial Studies and Indigenous Studies engaged in sustained dialogue about how the racial state has functioned as a settler colonial state. This session examines how historical and contemporary racial politics and social movements confront and resist the intertwined structures of settler colonialism and racial capitalism. It highlights the work of racialized movements in exposing, challenging, and disrupting ongoing colonial violence, racialized dispossession, and carceral regimes.
Papers:
“Filling the ‘Hollow’ of Chineseness: Feeling Ethnic Identity through Practice,” Charlotte Wang, Columbia University, Winner of the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Division’s Student Paper Competition
“U.S. Panethnicity and Its Effect on Political Alignments of Latino/as and Asian Americans,” Christine M. Capili, University of La Verne
“Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School Report: A Case Study in Sexual and Gender-Specific Violence and Targeted Destruction of Indigenous Kinship Systems,” Deanne L. Grant, Fort Lewis College
“Slow Violence, Uncare, and the Nantucket Wampanoag,” Stephanie A. Bohon and Shaylee Hodges, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
“Revolutionary Melancholia toward Reclaiming Life: Fanon’s Politics of Endurance and the Practice of Sumud in Palestine,” Uzma H. Chowdhury, Teachers College, Columbia University
“Role Collapse: The Israeli Settler–State Compact and Pathways to Hybrid Domination in the Occupied West Bank,” Joseph Rafael Kaplan Weinger, University of California, Los Angeles, Winner of the Conflict, Social Action, and Change Division’s Student Paper Competition
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 071: Social Problems Theory: Past to Present
Room: Melville
Sponsor: Social Problems Theory
Organizer, Presider &
Discussant: Joshua H. Stout, Illinois State University
Description: This panel brings together social problems theory scholars to reflect on the history, evolution, and current state of this theoretical tradition. The Social Problems Theory Division Outstanding Book Award winner will also participate, highlighting their contributions and future directions in social problems theory.
Panelists:
Joel Best, University of Delaware
R.J. Maratea, Saint Francis College
David C. Lane, Illinois State University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
THEMATIC
Session 072: Colonization, Inequality, and the Changing Classroom
Room: Palace
Sponsor: Teaching Social Problems
Organizers: Morena Tartari, Northumbria University
Laurie J. Linhart, Des Moines Area Community College
Presider: Laurie J. Linhart, Des Moines Area Community College
Description: This session examines how educational institutions and classroom practices are shaped by broader structures of inequality and power. While traditional discussions of colonization in education focus on historical and epistemic domination, the papers in this session extend the concept to examine multiple expressions of structural inequality in education – from racialization and spatial segregation in schooling to policy reforms that structurally exclude adult learners and the growing influence of artificial intelligence in the classroom. At the same time, several contributions explore pedagogical strategies aimed at fostering more ethical, supportive, and critically engaged learning environments. Together these papers illuminate the dialectic between educational systems that reproduce social problems and the pedagogical practices that work to disrupt them.
Papers:
“Local School Zoning as a Spatialized Form of Social Reproduction,” Karen Manges Douglas and Rin Ferraro, Sam Houston State University
“The Straining of Comprehensive Student Support in Scottish Further Education: A Primary Barrier to Retention under Austerity,” Ema Inoue, Osaka University of Economics
“Mind the Gap: A Critical Analysis of the Relationship between Racialization, Poor Mental Health, and Academic Performance in K-12,” Taylor J. Hall, Wilkes University
“The Impact of Timing of Expanded Adverse Childhood Experience Exposure on Academic Performance in a Sample of Child Protective Service–Involved Youth,” Rashad Freeman, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington
“The Art of Gentle Teaching: Establishing Rigorous Learning Environments with Care and Compassion,” Stephanie M. Baran, Xavier University of Louisiana
“The Colonization of Our Lifeworld (the Classroom),” Gillian Niebrugge Brantley and Patricia Lengermann, The George Washington University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 073: Mass Incarceration and Perpetual Punishment III
Room: Plymouth
Sponsor: Crime and Justice
Organizer &
Presider: Kristen M. Budd, The Sentencing Project
Description: This series on mass incarceration examines the intersection of mass incarceration and the U.S. criminal legal system’s overreliance on perpetual punishment. Perpetual punishment is broadly defined to include the pains of incarceration, extreme sentencing, denials of legal relief, and other collateral consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. This session focuses on the socioeconomic drivers and consequences of punishment, the criminal legal system, and mass incarceration.
Papers:
“Declining Incarceration: Examining the Socioeconomic, Political, and Policy Drivers of Black and White Male Incarceration Rates,” Gift Onwuadiamu, University of Delaware
“Partner Incarceration and Women’s Income Packaging,” Tanajia D. Moye-Green, Stanford University
“Poverty Penalty: How the Cash Bail System Consistently Violates the 14th Amendment,” Nyra Thakkar, Cambridge Centre for International Research
“Social Workers with Criminal Records and Their Navigation of the Social Work Licensure Process,” Ke’Ana Robinson, Philadelphia Mental Health Care Corporation-Family Training and Advocacy Center, Margo Campbell, Widener University and Casey Bohrman, West Chester University
“The Cost of Freedom: Financial Precarity following Long-Term Imprisonment,” Kristen M. Budd, The Sentencing Project
“The Greatest Show on the Dirt: The McAlester, Oklahoma, Prison Rodeo as Punishment and Performance in the Making of Carceral Spectacle,” Maggie León-Corwin, The University of Oklahoma and Michelle L. Estes, Rowan University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session 074: Disability, Mental Health, and Society
Room: Belasco
Sponsor: Disability, Mental Wellness, and Social Justice
Organizer: Melinda Leigh Maconi, Moffitt Cancer Center
Presiders: Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
Rebecca Qin, University of British Columbia
Description: How do individuals experience, create, and challenge identities of disability and mental illness? How do communities come together to understand, support, advocate for, and research disability and mental health? This session explores the policies, institutions, and organizations that shape individual and community experiences of disability and mental health, and how they are changing. It invites a wide spectrum of papers that develop sociological understandings of disability and mental health.
Papers:
“Embodied Insights: Sensitive Practices for Trauma-Informed Research,” Lauren M. Fishel, The University of Oklahoma
“From Peace of Mind to Peace of Being: Operationalizing Inner Peace for Empirical Research,” Joann Xi, University of Akron and Robert L. Peralta, The University of Akron
“Health-Related Visual Social Science: A Methodological Examination of Visual Participatory and Autoethnographic Projects and Experiences,” Luc Pauwels, University of Antwerp
“Named, Blamed, and Maimed: Special Education, Surveillance, and the Regulation of Queer Black and Latine Boys in New York City,” Jocardo Edward Ralston, University of Pennsylvania
“Resisting the ‘Managing-Away’ of Disability: (Dis)Appearing Stories of Voice and Silence in Workplace Accommodations,” Justin Chen, University of Toronto
“The Use of Serious Games in Elementary Schools to Improve Executive Functioning among Autistic Children,” Aisha Maryam Ahmed, Ontario Tech University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session 075: New Directions in Social Problems Theory
Room: Broadway I
Sponsor: Social Problems Theory
Organizer &
Presider: Clara Mey, University of Delaware
Description: This session explores new trends and developments in social problems theory.
Papers:
“Rebranding Restriction and Surveillance: Noom as a Case Study of the Cultural Politics of the Body,” Sydney Dyck and Clara Mey, University of Delaware
“Using Culture in Everyday Life,” Amir B. Marvasti, Penn State Altoona
“Cruel and Usual: Recursive Racial Cruelty at the U.S. Immigration Court,” Nabila N. Islam, Brown University
“Genocide Denial and Narrative Affordances,” Lois Presser, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
“A Framework for Ongoing Settler Colonialism Rooted in Indigenous Sociology,” Melissa Horner-Petrone, University of Missouri, Winner of the Social Problems Theory Division’s Student Paper Competition
“Repowering: An Indigenous-Centered Theoretical Elaboration of Empowerment Theory,” Stephen Silva-Brave, The University of Texas at Arlington
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
SPECIAL
Session 076: Author Meets Critics: Indefensible Spaces: Policing and the Struggle for Housing by Rahim Kurwa, University of California Press, 2025
Room: Broadway II
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizer &
Presider: Theresa Ysabel Rocha Beardall, University of Washington
Description: Indefensible Spaces: Policing and the Struggle for Housing offers a vivid case study of the national crisis of the policing of housing, told through a history of struggle over Los Angeles’ northernmost outpost, the Antelope Valley. It opens on a place of refuge, exchange, and experimentation, then follows its postwar turn toward segregation and militarization. It centers Black residents who fought back by building Sun Village, an all-Black town and hub for civil rights organizing. After the civil rights revolution, the valley defended itself as a white space, using policing for racialized eviction and exclusion through sweeps, citations, and landlord pressure. In the early 2000s, displaced tenants organized, stayed housed, and forced change through abolitionist struggle for housing justice.
Author:
Rahim Kurwa, University of Illinois Chicago
Critics:
Louise Seamster, University of Iowa
Zawadi Rucks-Ahidiana, University at Albany
Chris Herring, University of California, Los Angeles
Frank Edwards, Rutgers University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 077: Rural Spaces and Services I
Room: Broadway III
Sponsors: Community, Research, and Practice
Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare
Sport, Leisure, and the Body
Organizers: Michael O. Johnston, William Penn University
Linda Lobao, The Ohio State University
Presider &
Discussant: Linda Lobao, The Ohio State University
Description: This thematic session examines the challenges and opportunities shaping rural communities. Rural areas face persistent inequalities, limited resources, and structural barriers across health, education, housing, and social services. At the same time, they foster resilience, care, and solidarity that warrant sociological attention. Presentations explore structural constraints and opportunities within rural environments, analyze how policies and politics shape service delivery, and consider how residents navigate and resist systems of support. Drawing on sociology, social work, and social welfare, the session highlights rural life as essential for understanding broader issues of justice, equity, and social well-being, emphasizing both constraint and creativity in these communities.
Papers:
“Beyond Little House on the Prairie: How the Myth of ‘Real America’ Shapes Rural Broadband Policy and Digital Inequality,” Jonathan Andrew Kraus, West Texas A&M University
“Implementing a Child Welfare Intervention in Two Rural Communities,” Miriam J. Landsman, University of Iowa
“Our School, Our Community, Our Future,” Casey T. Jakubowski, Utica University
“Rural Evictions in North Carolina: Analyzing Hotspots of Housing Precarity,” Daniel J. Rose, Rachel A. Midgett, Richard G. Moye and Tangela G. Towns, Winston-Salem State University
“We Built This City: Reimagining Rural Space Through Urban Performances of Joy and Resistance,” Michael O. Johnston, William Penn University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session 078: The Colonisation of Environmental Protection
Room: Manhattan
Sponsor: Environment and Technology
Organizer: Angus A. Nurse, Anglia Ruskin University
Presiders: Angus A. Nurse, Anglia Ruskin University
Tanesha A. Thomas, Montclair State University
Description: This session welcomes papers that explore colonial-era patterns of exploitation and the extent to which neoliberal thinking has shaped the management, protection, and exploitation of natural resources and Indigenous lands. The session considers how free-market thinking and an anthropocentric approach to environmental resources may weaken environmental protections to favor particular interests, markets, or sectors. We also welcome papers that examine varied conceptions of colonization and contemporary debates about the challenges of maintaining and strengthening environmental protection.
Papers:
“Neoliberalism and Environmental Degradation: Unveiling the Paradox of Progress,” Tanjida Islam, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
“Data Centers and the Politics of Place: Coalition-Building and Local Resistance in the U.S. South,” Emily McKendry-Smith, Neema Noori and Andy Walter, University of West Georgia
“A New Century, an Old Problem: A Nationwide Intersectional Analysis of Landfills across the United States,” Clare E. B. Cannon, University of California, Davis
“Social Capital and Household Preparedness: Unequal Perceptions of Extreme Weather Risk,” Kamala Shrestha, Oklahoma State University
“The Challenge of Waste Disposal Management and Its Alteration through Appropriate Disposal Mechanisms: An Explanation from a Sociological Perspective,” Lini Baruah, Tezpur University
“Using an EcoSociological Imagination to Learn How to Move from a Consumer to a Conserver Way of Life,” Andrew Plotkin, Palm Beach State College and Sociological Imagination Movement
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session 079: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: New Trends in Global Migrations and (Im)mobilities in Anti-immigration Contexts
Room: Melville
Sponsor: Global
Organizer &
Presider/Discussant: Beatriz Padilla, University of South Florida
Description: This session focuses on recent migration flows and diverse forms of mobility and immobility unfolding globally amid rising anti-immigration discourses and reactions against migrants. We invite presentations examining different world regions, including both the Global North and the Global South.
Papers:
“Affective Survival in Motion: Gendered Migration from Russia and Belarus to Latin America after 2020-2022,” Viktoryia Sliaptsova, University of South Florida
“From Education to Exploitation: Precarious Realities of Bangladeshi Students Abroad in a Migration-Development Context,” Mehnaz Parvin, Florida Atlantic University
“Living on the Edge of Belonging: Racialization, Poverty, and Migrant Lifeworlds in Urban Turkey,” Begüm Ergün, Boston University
“Racial Capitalism, Immigrant Healthcare Access, and the Global Color Line,” Tiffany D. Joseph, Northeastern University and Meredith Van Natta, University of California, Merced
“The Embodied Experience of Crossing and Surviving the Darien Gap,” Monica Salmon Gomez, The New School for Social Research
“Ukrainian War Refugees in Poland,” Nicole Kraus, West Texas A&M University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 080: The Border Crossed Me: Shifting Lifeworlds of Immigration
Room: Plymouth
Sponsors: Crime and Justice
Critical Race and Ethnic Study
Labor Studies
Law and Society
Organizers: Miltonette Olivia Craig, Sam Houston State University
Rafia Javaid Mallick, Georgia State University
Foroogh Mohammadi, Acadia University
Presider: Rafia Javaid Mallick, Georgia State University
Description: This session critically examines the lived experiences of immigrants navigating the profound social and psychological shifts precipitated by global migration. Moving beyond traditional narratives, we explore the idea that immigrants are not merely crossing borders; rather, borders—in their legal, social, and cultural forms—actively cross and reconstitute their lives. Presentations explore themes of racialization, belonging, and identity formation within transnational social fields. We investigate how immigrants and their descendants negotiate power, agency, and resistance within these contested spaces, offering a nuanced analysis of the constantly evolving lifeworlds shaped by the relentless movement of political and social borders.
Papers:
“Between Home and Host: Precarity and Psychological Well-Being in the Lifeworlds of African Immigrants,” Deborah Omontese, University of South Florida
“Fugitivity as Resistance: Precarious Futures and Mystical Belonging among UndocuAsian Students,” Siyue Lena Wang, University of California, Los Angeles
“Latin American Experiences in the NYC Migrant Crisis,” Edwin Grimsley, Felicia Arriaga, Masooma Amin, Daisy Flores and Nishanthini Mahendran, Baruch College, CUNY
“Managing Risk: Legal Intermediaries and Racialization of Immigration Enforcement,” Fadilat Olasupo, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
“Marginal Sovereignty: A Case for Tribal Nations as Borderlands,” Jesús Ayala-Candia, University of California, San Diego
“The Lived Experience of New Americans in Brookings, South Dakota: A Transcendental Phenomenology,” Doriane E. Paso, North Dakota State University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 081: Community Approaches to Mental Health: Educators, Policy-Makers Activists, and Social Identities
Room: Belasco
Sponsor: Disability, Mental Wellness, and Social Justice
Organizer: Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
Presiders: Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
Rebecca Qin, University of British Columbia
Discussant: Keith R. Johnson, Independent Scholar
Description: How do activists, communities, experts, and researchers come together to understand, support, frame, and advocate for community mental health and disability? Disabled bodies and people experiencing mental illness have long been marginalized and continue to be controlled and disenfranchised. However, people with disabilities and mental illness, along with community leaders, have organized and fought for their rights to exist and thrive within society. These efforts take many forms, including traditional protests, internet activism, artistic expression, organizational work, and policy advocacy. This session explores the innovative ways disability and mental health activists, their communities, organizations, and researchers collaborate to address complex community challenges.
Papers:
“‘Hope Is Our Guiding Light’: How Social Workers Experience Hope in Their Practice,” Alison Fedoris Leslie, Widener University
“Bridges Through Wellness: Inclusive Mental Health Education for International Students and People with Disabilities,” Natasha I. Kabir, Community School; and Bosch Alumni Regional Coordinator, South Asia
“Repowering Indigenous Knowledges in Colonial Spaces,” Stephen Silva-Brave, The University of Texas at Arlington
“SafeSport: Is It Really Keeping Athletes Safe?” Sophia Hodowanec, West Virginia University
“When Policy Enters the Home: Dependent Visas and the Colonization of Everyday Life among South Asian Migrant Spouses,” Melicha Rahaman, The University of Texas at El Paso
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 082: How Institutional/Systemic Factors Impact Family, Health & Well-Being
Room: Broadway I
Sponsors: Health, Health Policy, and Health Services
Institutional Ethnography
Organizer &
Presider: Hans-Peter de Ruiter, Minnesota State University
Description: This session explores how institutions extend their reach into the lifeworlds of individuals and communities, shaping the rhythms of daily life in ways that often remain hidden. By mapping these processes, we uncover how policies, organizational practices, and global systems influence personal choices, relationships, and opportunities. Drawing on examples from diverse contexts, the session highlights both the subtle and overt ways institutions colonize lived experience, and considers how approaches such as Institutional Ethnography (IE) can make these dynamics visible and open pathways for change.
Papers:
“‘Reading for Social Organization’ in Music Students’ Health Research: What Institutional Ethnography Makes Visible,” Jeffrey Sabo, University of Ottawa, Winner of the Institutional Ethnography Division’s Student Paper Competition
“An Institutional Ethnography of Graduate Student Enrollment and Retention,” Fredricka R. Saunders, Laura J. Parson, Isaac Mensah, Doriane E. Paso and Francisca Dadzie Nyarko, North Dakota State University
“Disappearing by Design: The Disabling Politics of Homelessness,” Brenna E. Jones, Illinois State University
“Making the Model Work for All: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Hospital-at-Home Programs,” Nels R. Paulson, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Andrew D.A. Marshall and David M. Levine, Harvard Medical School
“Mental Health of U.S. Return Migrants to Mexico City,” Esmeralda Ramirez, The University of Texas at Austin, Alice Cepeda, Arizona State University, Jessica Frankeberger, Arizone State University, Kathryn Nowotny, University of Miami, Nefertari Rincon-Guerra and Avelardo Valdez, Arizona State University
“When Policy Meets Practice: How Healthcare Systems Shape Nursing Clinical Care Leaders’ Work,” Emily S. Johnson and Laura J. Parson, North Dakota State University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 083: Rural Spaces and Services II
Room: Broadway III
Sponsors: Community, Research, and Practice
Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare
Sport, Leisure, and the Body
Organizers: Linda Lobao, The Ohio State University
Michael O. Johnston, William Penn University
Presider &
Discussant: Michael O. Johnston, William Penn University
Description: This thematic session examines the challenges and opportunities shaping rural communities. Rural areas face persistent inequalities, limited resources, and structural barriers across health, education, housing, and social services. At the same time, they foster resilience, care, and solidarity that warrant sociological attention. Presentations explore structural constraints and opportunities within rural environments, analyze how policies and politics shape service delivery, and consider how residents navigate and resist systems of support. Drawing on sociology, social work, and social welfare, the session highlights rural life as essential for understanding broader issues of justice, equity, and social well-being, emphasizing both constraint and creativity in these communities.
Papers:
“A New Rurality: Rethinking Health Systems, Environment, and Everyday Life in North Louisiana,” Carlos N. Chapman II and Junior R. Hopwood, Grambling State University
“Digital Market Access, Unequal Services: How Platform Rules Shape Farmers’ Net Returns and Risk,” Qingze Zhu, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“Masculinity, Structural Precarity, and the Erosion of Rural Support Systems: Dairy Farm Consolidation and Mental Health in Rural New York,” Conor Hammersley, New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health; Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety
“Understanding Immigrant Bargains at the Margins of the State,” Akanne S. Torres Beltran, The Ohio State University
“Variations in the Local Welfare State: Social and Public Service Paths across U.S. Rural and Urban Communities,” Paige Kelly, The Pennsylvania State University and Linda Lobao, The Ohio State University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
Session 084: Racial Politics and Resistance in the Midst of Settler Colonialism II
Room: Manhattan
Sponsors: Conflict, Social Action, and Change
Critical Race and Ethnic Study
Organizers: Sara Tehrani, University of Central Florida
Foroogh Mohammadi, Acadia University
Presider &
Discussant: Sara Tehrani, University of Central Florida
Description: Only recently have Ethnic and Racial Studies and Indigenous Studies begun to engage in systematic dialogue about how the racial state has long functioned as a settler colonial state. This session explores how both historical and contemporary racial politics and social movements confront and resist the intertwined structures of settler colonialism and racial capitalism. It highlights the work of racialized social movements in exposing, challenging, and disrupting ongoing colonial violence, racialized dispossession, and carceral regimes.
Papers:
“A Place Called Liberty: Education,” Rodney D. Coates, Miami University
“Living the Contradictions: International Students’ Experiences of Shifting Immigration Policies in Canada,” Isla Parker, Acadia University
“The Threat Is Internal: Emotional Segregation and Racist Targeting of Faculty by Faculty in Higher Education,” Angie Beeman, Baruch College, CUNY
“Nullifying Sanity: How Prominent Think Tanks Oppose Social Activism through Racialized Framing,” Annie Jones, Ricardo Garcia-Rivera and J. Scott Carter, University of Central Florida
“Bounded Belonging: Discrimination and the Limits of Social Networks,” Rafia Javaid Mallick and Deirdre Oakley, Georgia State University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 085: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: American Colonization of the Sociological Imagination: The Intersection of Colonization and PCI
Room: Melville
Sponsor: Poverty, Class, and Inequality
Organizer &
Presider/Discussant: Nicole Kraus, West Texas A&M University
Description: This session examines how American hegemonic dominance has shaped the broader sociological imagination. It asks how scholars might move beyond U.S.-centric frameworks without marginalizing non-American research and considers how these questions intersect with scholarship on poverty, class, and inequality.
Papers:
“‘Comfort Woman’ as a Form of Collective Rape: Theorizing Maria Rosa Henson’s ‘Story on Prostitution and Slavery under the Japanese Military’,” Raisa L. Ty, University of the Philippines Diliman and University of Eastern Philippines
“Beyond the ‘Leaky Pipeline’: Domesticated Sponsored Mobility of Credentialed Daughters in South Korea, 1950s–1980s,” HongJin Jo, The University of Chicago
“Creating Panethnicity: Latino/a and Asian American Identity and Attachment in the United States,” Christine M. Capili, University of La Verne
“The Institutional Production of Housing Instability: Neighborhood Exposure to Intensive Low-Level Policing and Extractive Landlord Practices,” Aaron Stagoff-Belfort, The University of Chicago
“Why So Angry: A Redux: Understanding Resentment among Majority Populations,” Jeffry A. Will, University of North Florida Center for Community Initiatives
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
Session 086: WORKS IN PROGRESS: "Bring Your Own Brilliance”: Sharing Our Ideas That Have Been Successful in Teaching
Room: Palace
Sponsors: Educational Problems
Teaching Social Problems
Organizers: Janelle M. Pham, Oglethorpe University
Jacqueline M. Zalewski, West Chester University
Presider: Janelle M. Pham, Oglethorpe University
Description: In this session, presenters are invited to share their most innovative and successful teaching strategies, techniques, and ideas. Participants may offer insights, experiences, and best practices that have enhanced learning in higher education classrooms. Presenters may showcase unique approaches, including engaging pedagogical methods, creative uses of technology, strategies for fostering inclusivity and supporting student well-being, and writing practices that strengthen course content. This session provides an opportunity to learn from one another and to build a collective resource for teaching excellence. Participants may include seasoned educators and junior scholars who wish to share their experiences.
Papers:
“Demonstrating the Practical Value of Sociology through Applied Research and Career Preparation,” Melissa A. Alvare, Monmouth University
“Laughing to Learn: Inclusive Humor as a Teaching Strategy in Higher Education,” Monnica Gavin, Clark State College
“Self-Coding: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Developing Critical Praxis,” Lesley N. Siegel, West Chester University of Pennsylvania and Kristina M. Valtierra, Colorado College
“Sociological Pedagogy in the Age of ChatGPT: Critical Thinking and Curriculum in Transformation,” Martin Jacinto, California State University, Chico and Jess Lee, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
“Teaching Ethics,” Stephani Williams, Northern Arizona University
“The Sociological Top 100: Using Music Videos as Entry Points to Sociology,” Claire M. Reardon, University of Kentucky
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
Session 087: Gender and Violence: Structural Issues
Room: Plymouth
Sponsors: Crime and Justice
Gender, Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities
Law and Society
Organizer: Lloyd Klein, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY
Presider: Cory Rowe, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY
Description: This session examines strain and the formation of values—such as gender norms, attitudes toward pornography, and perspectives on feminism—at the intersection of gender and violence. Presentations draw on theoretical and empirical approaches to analyze how social stressors, gendered expectations, and ideological frameworks shape experiences of victimization, emotional responses, and patterns of violence.
Papers:
“An Application of General Strain Theory and Feminist Theory Examining the Relationship between Sexual Victimization, Negative Emotions, and Violent Crime in Early Adulthood,” Alennys Gabriella Taveras Seda, University of Central Florida and Abigail A. Fagan, University of Florida
“Gender? Responsivity: An Argument for Incorporating a Multilevel Framework,” Mackenzie Niness, University of Delaware
“Abolition Feminism: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice,” Clarissa M. Punla, University of California, Irvine
“Stress, Depression, and Gendered Vulnerability in Young Women’s Sexual Decision-Making,” Tania Ravaei, Indiana University Bloomington
“Radicalization, Masculinity, and Adolescent Violence: A Case Study of ‘Adolescence’,” Lydia M. Ryan, The George Washington University
“Target and Perpetrator Behavior Indices: A New Framework for Assessing Pornography’s Relationship to Gender-Based Violence,” Mara I. Hernandez Estrada, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Jennifer A. Johnson, Virginia Tech, Ana C. Gómez-Ugarte, Insad.mx, Sarah Aadahl, Virginia Tech, Ana J. Bridges, University of Arkansas, Fernanda Conde, National Autonomous University of Mexico, José Luis Palma, Insad.mx, Matthew B. Ezzell, James Madison University and Chyng F. Sun, New York University
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Council of Division Chairpersons and Program Co-Chairs, 2026-27
Room: Minetta
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
White Anti-Racist Sociologists - Meeting
Room: Palace
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 088: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Mapping Colonization of Lifeworlds: "How Institutions Invade Daily Life"
Room: Melville
Sponsors: Global
Institutional Ethnography
Organizers: Lauren Eastwood, State University of New York, Plattsburgh
Brenda Solomon, University of Vermont
Presider/Discussant: Brenda Solomon, University of Vermont
Description: This session examines how powerful institutions shape and colonize everyday life across the globe. By tracing how rules, policies, and systems embed themselves into daily routines, the session explores how these “invasions” influence personal experiences, limit choices, and transform the ways people live, work, and relate to one another.
Papers:
“‘We Work for the Elderly, Not the Form!’: Institutional Ethnography as a Decolonizing Practice for Indigenous Care,” Frank Ty Wang, National Chengchi University
“Institutional Ethnography of the Promotion and Tenure Processes in Higher Education,” Laura J. Parson, North Dakota State University
“Mapping Policy Lifeworlds: Sexual Citizenship in Transnational Feminist Perspective,” Nancy Naples, University of Connecticut
“Mapping Policy Lifeworlds: The Daily Life of ‘the Environment’ Subsumed under UN Discourses,” Lauren Eastwood, State University of New York, Plattsburgh
“Reflections on Institutional Capture: Intentional and Unintentional,” Paul Luken, University of West Georgia
“The Ship and Her Captain: Discursive Formations of Global White Space(s),” Samantha M. Frisk, University of Connecticut
Date: Sunday, August 9
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Session 089: Gender and Violence: Institutional Perspectives
Room: Plymouth
Sponsors: Crime and Justice
Gender, Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities
Law and Society
Organizer &
Presider: Lloyd Klein, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY
Description: This session examines gender and violence across a range of institutional settings, focusing on social and policy issues related to the military, the January 6 insurrection, human trafficking, immigration, prisons, and the legal system. Presentations analyze how institutions structure gendered power, shape public narratives, and produce or contest forms of violence within political, legal, and carceral contexts.
Papers:
“Gender as a Determinant of Views toward Violence among U.S. Capitol Riots Participants,” Stephen J. Morewitz, San Jose State University; Forensic Social Sciences Association
“The Grip of Instability: How Political Repression Fuels Human Trafficking—An Empirical Analysis and Call to Action,” Tarekegn Tamiru Woldesenbet, GAGE University College
“Making an American Martyr: Anti-Immigration Co-option of White Women’s Death,” Emma-Claire LaSaine, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“‘Thank You for Your Cervix’: Online Reactions to Women in the Military,” Hannah M. Galicia, Texas Woman's University
“Shelter from the Storm: Sexual Violence against Women and the Impact of the Legal System,” Lloyd Klein, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY
“The Coercive and Transformative Potential of Gendered Care Work among Incarcerated People,” Lauren Hagani, The University of Chicago
