SSSP 2025 Annual Meeting
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Board of Directors Meeting, 2025-26
Room: Chicago Room
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 063: Breaking Free from Liberal White Supremacy to a Radical Feminist Collective: The Journey towards Building Intentional Community-Based, Insurgent Spaces in Sociology
Room: Crystal Room
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizer &
Presider: Assata Zerai, The University of New Mexico
Description: In 2024, scholars of color and their white accomplices left a feminist organization that had become increasingly exclusionary and unwelcoming, despite its leadership professing a commitment to intersectional feminism. Born out of a need for a space where radical, marginalized scholars could grow and support one another, the Radical Feminist Collective (RFC) was conceived as a non-hierarchical organization intentionally building community with non-academics. In this session, founding members of the RFC reflect on our first year growing pains. We hope to share some successful strategies for building more radical, insurgent spaces both in and outside of academia, particularly as it comes to uplifting and protecting one another as we continue to challenge the status quo in these times of crises.
Panelists:
Roberta Villalon, St. John’s University
Ranita Ray, The University of New Mexico
Florence Emily Castillo, Texas Christian University
Beatriz Padilla, University of South Florida
Brittany Battle, Wake Forest University
Pedrom Nasiri, University of Calgary
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 064: New Directions in Institutional Ethnography
Room: Indiana Room
Sponsor: Institutional Ethnography
Organizer: Katherine E. Koralesky, University of British Columbia
Presider &
Discussant: Emily C. Schubert, North Dakota State University
Description: This session features papers that are using Institutional Ethnography in new ways.
Papers:
“Exceptional Spaces: Diverse Learning Environments in a Public High School,” Karlyn J. Gorski, The University of Chicago
“Exploring the Experiences of Charge Nurses: An Institutional Ethnography,” Emily C. Schubert, North Dakota State University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
THEMATIC
Session 065: Environmental Activism as a Form of Insurgency
Room: Kimball Room
Sponsor: Environment and Technology
Organizer, Presider &
Discussant: Angus A. Nurse, Anglia Ruskin University
Description: This session explores the insurgent nature of environmental activism. We invited papers that consider activism as challenging ideologies and practices that suppress or deny access to environmental justice, those that view activism as promoting social justice and directly confronting environmental harms committed by powerful actors and endemic to neoliberal market perspectives.
The session invites a critical discussion of the nature of environmental activism, its limitations, enforced constraints and why activism is as important now as it ever has been when powerful interests seek to exploit natural resources and roll back environmental governance and regulation.
Papers:
“Organizing against Mining Companies during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Frames, Tactics and the Digital Divide in Southern Mexico,” Alessandro Morosin, University of La Verne and James Everett Hein, National University of Singapore
“Resisting Transnational Corporations: Lesotho and Kerala’s Water Battles through a Critical Environmental Justice Lens,” Joshua Cafferty, Utah Tech University
“The Brothers: A Case Study of Environmental Justice Activism,” Tanesha A. Thomas, Montclair State University
“Can Permaculture Offer a Transformative Climate Adaptation? Perspectives of Ecological Civic Initiatives in Turkey,” Nahide Konak, Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University, Cihan Ertan, Duzce University, Ali Babahan and Mehmet Veysel Elgin, Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University
“Slow Activism and the Criminalization of Contemporary Environmental Protest,” Angus A. Nurse, Anglia Ruskin University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 066: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: How to Teach Social Change in the Classroom
Room: Wabash Room
Sponsors: Community, Research, and Practice
Teaching Social Problems
Organizers: Paul J. Draus, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Perri S. Leviss, Rhode Island College
Presider/Discussant: Paul J. Draus, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Description: This session considers a range of approaches for engaging students in active learning about social change, through capstone experiences, service-learning partnerships, use of historic maps, incorporation of open sources materials, and interactive dialogue.
Papers:
“A Matter of Social Justice: Developing, Improving, and Promoting Open Educational Resources,” Pattie Thomas, College of Southern Nevada
“Advocating for Social Change: Teaching Op-ed Writing in the Classroom,” Jennifer Roebuck Bulanda, Miami University
“Mapping Liberation,” Adriana Leela Bohm, Delaware County Community College
“Participatory Action and Community-based Research and Social Change: Examples from a Capstone Experience,” Chris R. Wellin, Illinois State University
“Prison Education through a Great Lakes Prism,” Xavier Perez, DePaul University and Paul J. Draus, University of Michigan-Dearborn
“Social Justice Advocacy with Community Partners,” Helen Rosenberg, University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Anne Statham, University of Southern Indiana
“Teaching Social Change by Uncovering Hidden Histories: Reflections on a Social Work Course Redesign,” Sasha K. Kindred and Finn McLafferty Bell, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 067: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Insurgent Transnational Feminism and the Question of Empire
Room: Wilson Room
Sponsor: Gender, Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities
Organizer &
Presider/Discussant: Pallavi Banerjee, University of Calgary
Description: This session brings together scholars and practitioners to engage in critical dialogue about empire, colonialism, and resistance to these systems of power and oppression through intersectional and southern insurgent feminism.
Papers:
“Art as Armor: Trans* Youth Resilience and Empowerment in Texas,” Nicole M. Butkovich Kraus and Shanna Peeples, West Texas A&M University
“Countering Hegemonic Frames of Doing Gender: How Immigrant Siblings of Color Center Deep Care in Predominantly White Institutional Spaces,” Megha Sanyal, University of Calgary
“Misogyny in Disguise, New Faces of Gheyrat (Honor) in Iranian Instagram,” Saman Seyfi, The University of Oklahoma
“Sweet Temptations & Silent Struggles: Unveiling the Impact of Islamophobia and Colonialism among Malian Feminists,” Kadidja Diaby, Kennesaw State University
“Witches, Women and Violence: An In-depth Qualitative Study on Witch-hunting among the Rabhas in Assam, India,” Meghna Dutta, Wayne State University
“Beyond Dress, Sarees & Hijabs: Unlocking the Social Constraints on Clothing Choices Experienced by Muslim Women in Bangladesh,” Saifa Tazrin, University of Georgia
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
THEMATIC
Session 068: Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare Institution Perspectives in Response to Recent or Current Crises I
Room: Buckingham Room
Sponsor: Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare
Organizers: Miriam J. Landsman, The University of Iowa
Erica FS Jablonski, University of New Hampshire
Presider: Miriam J. Landsman, The University of Iowa
Description: This is the first of a two part session. Social Work, and Social Welfare Institution Perspectives in Response to Crises Session I will focus on responses to work, the workforce and financial challenges.
Papers:
“Confronting Crisis in the Rural Social Work Workforce,” Miriam J. Landsman, The University of Iowa
“Crisis and Subjective Status Injustice: A Tale of Two Crises,” Jón Gunnar Bernburg and Thoroddur Bjarnason, University of Iceland
“In the Works: The Impact of Race/Ethnicity on Local Referral Unions’ Job Allocations,” Noemi Rivera Acevedo, Texas A&M University
“Medical Praxis: Strategies for Reforming Racial-ethnic and Gender Disparities in American Patient Care,” Taylor D. Sumpter, University of Miami
“On Plastic and Paternalism: How People Who Use Drugs Negotiate Electronic Benefit Transfer Systems in Los Angeles,” Allison Laing, The University of British Columbia, Anthony DiMario, University of California, San Francisco and Lindsey Richardson, The University of British Columbia
“Tangible and Intangible Informal Welfare and Psychological Well-being amidst Precarious Retirement Plans among Low-income Informal Workers in Ghana,” Padmore Adusei Amoah, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 069: PAPERS IN THE ROUND: Problems in Schools
Room: Price Room
Sponsor: Educational Problems
Organizer: Linda M. Waldron, Christopher Newport University
Description: This roundtable explores social problems in the U.S. school system, focusing on how bias and discrimination against students based on race, ethnicity, social class, citizenship and/or disability manifests itself in disproportionate disciplinary practices, harmful seclusion, and negative educational outcomes. These papers consider how parents, counselors, and educators navigate unequal educational policies and advocate for social support and social change to help improve the lives of children.
Roundtable #1 Title: Problems in Schools
Presider:
Linda M. Waldron, Christopher Newport University
Papers:
“Systemic Processes of Regulation Influencing the US Education System: Hindering Outcomes for Low-income Students and Students of Color,” Lauri T. Klump, Illinois State University
“Accessing Whiteness: The Process through Which Black/White Multiracial Youth and Their White Parents Navigate the Education System,” Alizé B. Hill, The University of Chicago
“Comparison of Bias-based Bullying and Non-bias-based Bullying: Prevalence Rates, Impacts on Students, and the Buffering Role of Social Support,” Zehra Sahin Ilkorkor, Virginia Commonwealth University, Honorable Mention of the Educational Problems Division’s Student Paper Competition
“The Cost of Challenging School Seclusion and Restraint Practices for Parents of Black and White Children with Disabilities,” Charles Bell, Illinois State University
“The Role of School Type in Counselors’ Knowledge about Newly Implemented Tuition Equity Policy for Undocumented Students in Massachusetts,” Alessandra Bazo Vienrich and Alexis Rei, Rhode Island College
“Threats to Thriving: Black Boys, Maternal Resistance, and the Racialized Homeschooling Terrain,” Moriah Lynn Johnson, Loyola University Chicago
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM
Session 070: Social Movements for Legal Change
Room: Spire Parlor
Sponsor: Law and Society
Organizer: Michael Branch, Hartwick College
Presider: To Be Determined, TBD
Description: This session will explore the broad relationship between law, collective social action, social movements, and legislative changes.
Papers:
“‘Almost Everyone Here is Blowing Smoke’: Resisting Eco-fascism and Developing a More Resilient Politics of Concern in the Wake of the 2025 Vistra Chemical Fire,” Kristin J. Wilson, Cabrillo College
“‘Terrorized by…Administrative Proceedings’: Fraternity Brothers, Police Officers, and the Delegitimization of Institutional Accountability Processes,” Anna K. Wood, University of Michigan and Anna D. Fox, The University of Chicago
“Gangism: The Religious Framework of Gangs,” Robert Northman, Portland State University
“Racial Attitudes and Contemporary Protest Criminalization: Analyzing Trends in U.S. Legislation from 2017 to 2024,” Stephanie V. Ha, University of Delaware
“Tensions of Expertise and Law: Advocating for Domestic Violence Victim-survivors with Traumatic Brain Injury,” Kathryn Henne, The Australian National University and Arizona State University
“The Bantasm of ‘Gender’: Exploring the Phantasmatic Quality of Gender in Book Banning,” Alex Niner, University of California, Irvine
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session 071: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Critical Reflections on Mutual Aid and Anticapitalist Approaches to Community and Care
Room: Crystal Room
Sponsors: Community, Research, and Practice
Conflict, Social Action, and Change
Health, Health Policy, and Health Services
Poverty, Class, and Inequality
Organizers &
Presiders/Discussants: Andrew Schoeneman, University of Richmond
Bob Spires, University of Richmond
Gabby Gomez, Oklahoma State University
Description: This session encourages researchers, scholars, social workers, organizational leaders, and community organizers of all backgrounds and professional settings to bring together a diverse collection of works on mutual aid, anticapitalist, and other alternatives to dominant community organizing models. Through a collective dialogue catalyzed by a diverse group of presenters reflecting on, developing, and employing alternatives to the dominant models of community change, sessions organizers aim to create a collaborative session drawing from not-for-profit, nongovernmental, community activist, social movement, and social work practice across a number of areas (e.g., health, poverty, housing, criminal justice, disabilities, etc.), including those from global/international experiences and perspectives.
Papers:
“‘Neighbors Helping Neighbors’: The Culture of Unhoused Mutual Aid in Los Angeles, CA,” Nicolas Gutierrez III, University of Southern California
“‘The Need Was F*cking Endless’: A Study of the Minneapolis Sanctuary Movement,” Bethany Jo Murray, University of California, Los Angeles
“Engaging in and Bridging Groups within Localized Civic Association: Navigating Heterogeneity in ‘Semi-Acquaintance’ Society,” Beichen Fang, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
“Healthcare Access and Utilization among Migrant Women in Urban Slum Communities: A Case Study of Ayobo Community in Lagos State, Nigeria,” Rowland Edet, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nwafor Juliet, Heriot-Watt University
“Mutual Aid as Love-in-Action: Revolutionary Counterpower through ‘Affective Infrastructure’,” Hillary Lazar, University of Pittsburgh
“Radical Care and the Dilemma of Compliance: How State Power Shapes Mutual Aid Praxis,” Ami Olson Campbell, Boston College
“Young Adults’ Prioritization of Needs in Third Places,” Denae J. Cook and Danielle Littman, University of Utah
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session 072: Intersectionality in Action: Bridging Mental Health and Social Problems Theory to Address Complex Social Issues
Room: Indiana Room
Sponsors: Disability, Mental Wellness, and Social Justice
Social Problems Theory
Organizers &
Presiders: Joshua H. Stout, Illinois State University
Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
Discussant: Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
Description: Mental health is a complex social problem that cuts across structural conditions, intersecting identities, and societal and institutional expectations, norms, and responses. This session delves into the challenges of theorizing and understanding these complex factors. Papers in this session explore the experiences of communities across citizenship status, ethnic identities, language, vocation, and access to services. Through understanding mental health as a multifaceted social problem, this session will provide direction for more effective interventions and advocacy strategies.
Papers:
“High Utilizers of Services: Medical Problem, Moral Failing, or Due to Structural Conditions?” Stacey L. Barrenger, Northeast Ohio Medical University and Leslie L. Wood, Kent State University; Northeast Ohio Medical University
“Navigating Uncertainty: The Impact of COVID-19 on International Students’ Mental Health, Career Preparedness, and Migration Plans,” Eugena Kwon, Trent University
“The Kids Are Not Alright: How Florida’s Government Creates Family Trauma,” Alayne Unterberger, Florida Institute for Community Studies
“The Paradox of Work: Exploring the Emotional and Bodily Dimensions of Intersectional Capitalism among Latinx Immigrants in the U.S.,” Bianca Ruiz-Negrón, Alejandra G. Lemus, Susana Echeverri Herrera and Alejandro Tovar, The University of New Mexico, Aurora Arreola, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, Julia M. Hess and Jessica R. Goodkind, The University of New Mexico
“Stigmatization in the Pre-Death Interactions of Family and Friends Bereaved by a Drug-Related Death,” Joshua H. Stout, Illinois State University and Benjamin Fleury-Steiner, University of Delaware
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 073: Teaching Social Problems in a Time of Crises: Challenges and Opportunities
Room: Kimball Room
Sponsor: Teaching Social Problems
Organizers: Jennifer Roebuck Bulanda, Miami University
Amani M. Awwad, SUNY Canton
Presider: Jennifer Roebuck Bulanda, Miami University
Discussant: Amani M. Awwad, SUNY Canton
Description: This session will explore both the challenges and opportunities associated with teaching about a variety of social problems in today's world. Papers will explore specific strategies and approaches to engaging students in the classroom.
Papers:
“Exploring the Impact of Innovative Use of Technology on Student Learning Outcomes in Non-traditional Learning Platforms,” Stephanie L. Compton, Junior R. Hopwood and Carlos N. Chapman II, Grambling State University
“Gender in a Red State: Experiences of University Faculty and Non-binary and Trans Students,” Kasey Ragan and Sully Snook, St. Edward's University
“Students Get Talking: Dialogue as a Strategy for Teaching about Social Issues,” Melanie E.L. Bush, Adelphi University
“Teaching Resources,” Luis F. Nuno, California State University, Los Angeles
“Teaching with Care Under Crisis: Values-Based Pedagogy in Two Higher Education Classrooms in Fall 2024,” Uzma Chowdhury, Teachers College at Columbia University and Anna K. Wood, University of Michigan
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 074: Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare Institution Perspectives in Response to Recent or Current Crises II
Room: Buckingham Room
Sponsor: Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare
Organizers: Erica FS Jablonski, University of New Hampshire
Miriam J. Landsman, The University of Iowa
Presider: Erica FS Jablonski, University of New Hampshire
Description: This second session of Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare Institution Perspectives in Response to Recent or Current Crises will focus on nonprofit organizations as well as responses to housing challenges.
Papers:
“Change a Tire, Change a Life: The Impact of Bicycle Ownership on the Lives of People Experiencing Housing Insecurity,” Deborah McCarthy Auriffeille, College of Charleston and Sylvie Baele, Second Chance Bikes, College of Charleston
“Medicalization of Homelessness among Social Welfare Service Providers,” Trey Santorine, University of Miami
“Racial Philanthropy: Charting Racial Capitalism Relations in Civil Society,” Snehalatha Gantla, Brandeis University
“Feminist Collective Action and Institutional Change: A Case Study of Women against Rape,” Navada M. Hessler, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
“Model of Leadership in Welfare Industry: Abdul Sattar Edhi a Successful Role Model,” Faryal Razzaq, Karachi School of Business & Leadership
“Different Organizational Responses to the Care Crisis,” Erica FS Jablonski, University of New Hampshire
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session 075: Works-in-Progress
Room: Price Room
Sponsor: Family, Aging, and Youth
Organizer: Aida Villanueva, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Description: This roundtable of Works-in-Progress is sponsored by the Family, Aging, and Youth division. It features a diverse set of papers addressing topics such as union formation and dating; youth under the carceral system; attitudes toward reproductive health; culture capital, education, and attitudes toward feminism over the life course.
Roundtable #1 Title: Family, Aging, and Youth: Roundtable 1
Presider:
Betsy J. Miller, Marquette University
Papers:
“Cultural Capital and Postsecondary Enrollment: Findings from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009,” Jessica Creasy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
“Education’s Effect on Feminist Attitudes,” Lindsey Kausmeyer, Wilkes University
“Negotiating Reproductive Realities: Findings from a Community-engaged Study of Asian American Young Adults,” Paige Logan Prater, University of California, San Francisco
“The Significance of Early ‘Significant Others’: How Family Members and Childhood Friends Influence East Asian Women’s Romantic Lives,” Olivia Y. Hu, University of Pennsylvania
“What Does it Mean to be Called ‘Delinquent’? Negotiating Master Narratives in Re-entry from Juvenile Incarceration,” Betsy J. Miller and Ed de St. Aubin, Marquette University
Roundtable #2 Title: Family, Aging, and Youth: Roundtable 2
Presider:
Yu-Ri Kim, University of Iowa
Papers:
“‘Just Pay the Fine’: Benevolent Ageism as an Illegitimate Opportunity Structure of Older Adults’ Dance Clubs in South Korea,” Yu-Ri Kim, University of Iowa
“Changing Perceptions of Parenthood in Iceland,” Asdis Arnalds and Sigrún Ólafsdóttir, University of Iceland
“Rejecting the Medicated State: From Medications to Marijuana,” Loren Beard, The University of Chicago
“Rethinking the American Dream: Exploring Motivations for Different Pathways to Adulthood,” Kea Saper, University of California, San Diego
“Slovakian Migration in the Aftermath of the Velvet Revolution: A Qualitative Study Exploring Gender Relations through Migration to the United States,” Taylor A. Kanuk, Illinois State University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session 076: Performing Reflections: Art-based Praxis as a Resource for Self-reflection
Room: Spire Parlor
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizer &
Discussant: Assata Zerai, The University of New Mexico
Performers: Luthando Ngazile Ngema, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Ongezwa Nomthokozisi Mbele, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Pumela Push Nqelenga, University of Cape Town
Siphiwe Maneano Motloung, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Description: Recent literature in decolonial feminism has begun to address the experiences of Black female academics within a complex and changing higher education landscape. These issues are rarely examined through the arts despite their unique potential to explore and tackle academic life's subtleties. The authors, four female academics, created and delivered a dramatic performance that renews theoretical and practical understandings of coloniality and decoloniality. This presentation will engage in post-performance reflections and dialogues based on the performances at symposia in 2023-2024. We will, therefore, provide evidence of arts-based praxis as a significant process of reflecting on ‘difficult’ institutional issues, highlighting the deleterious effects of the absence of ‘care’ in the academy and the importance of feminist decoloniality as care.
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
Session 077: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Handbook of Social Justice, edited by Former SSSP President Corey Dolgon
Room: Crystal Room
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizer &
Presider: Corey Dolgon, Stonehill College
Description: This session presents contributors to a new book from Oxford University Press entitled: A Handbook of Sociology for Social Justice. We’ll cover myriad ways that sociologists conduct and produce research guided by struggles against inequality and structures of oppression. Contributors present theoretical pieces promoting the democratization of knowledge production and the political vitality of emergent collaborative research with and from communities in struggle. The book also features case studies among youth in South America and South Africa, farmers and land rights activists in Southeast Asia, and anti-poverty, anti-racist and pro-LGBTQ organizations throughout the U.S. Presenters will briefly describe their work and the potential for sociologists work to inform and partake in present and future radical struggles for justice.
Panelists:
Mary Romero, Professor Emerita, Arizona State University
Melinda Messineo, Ball State University
daniel olmos, California State University, Northridge
Anthony Jerald Jackson, Bowie State University
Ali Meghji, University of Cambridge
Masonya J. Bennett, Kennesaw State University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 078: Collective Healing: Insurgent Strategies for Community Wellness and Social Justice Movements
Room: Indiana Room
Sponsor: Disability, Mental Wellness, and Social Justice
Organizers: Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
Melinda Leigh Maconi, Moffitt Cancer Center
Rebecca Siqi Qin, University of British Columbia
Presider: Melinda Leigh Maconi, Moffitt Cancer Center
Discussant: Rebecca Siqi Qin, University of British Columbia
Description: This session explores how collective approaches to wellness can empower communities and create transformative change in societal structures. Papers in this session turn the lens on community organizing – how do groups undertake and negotiate collective action in movements for improving community wellness and healing, including in difficult social contexts, diverse circumstances, across generational understandings, and when collective action itself takes a toll on mental wellbeing? Engaging with a breadth of empirical cases, papers in this session discuss the meanings and strategies of communities participating in social action for collective healing.
Papers:
“Settlers on a Journey: Collective Healing from the Trauma of Residential Schools in Canada,” Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
“Disability in Prison Newsletters: The Voices of Incarcerated People,” Margaret E. Buckridge, University of California, Irvine
“The Kids Aren’t Alright: Introduction of Disability Justice Principles to Radicalized American Youth,” Maeve Jillian King, Georgia Southern University
“Rest as Resistance: Instagram, Black Women, and the Politics of Disengagement,” Jacqueline Johnson, Adelphi University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 079: Youth in Crisis
Room: Kimball Room
Sponsor: Family, Aging, and Youth
Organizer &
Presider: Rin Ferraro, The University of Oklahoma
Description: This session explores the needs, perspectives, and experiences of youth experiencing a variety of crises and challenges.
Papers:
“Cumulative Effects of Household and Residential Instability on Adolescent Parenting: Evidence from Norway,” Anna Maria Santiago, Michigan State University and Kristin Aarland, Oslo Metropolitan University
“Examining Future Orientations of Youth Involved in the Child Welfare System,” Rin Ferraro, The University of Oklahoma
“Family Related Correlates of Risky Sexual Behaviors of Undergraduate Male Adolescents in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria,” Macellina Yinyinade Ijadunola, Obafemi Awolowo University
“University Students’ Perspectives on Dating Violence in Turkey,” Fatime Güneş, Anadolu University
“Unsafe, Excluded, and Different: Youth with IDD Experiencing Homelessness in the Classroom,” Christina R. Luzius-Vanin, Ann Fudge Schormans, Bridget Marsdin and Stephanie Baker Collins, McMaster University
“Youth Homelessness in Utah: Needs Assessment of the Mountain Lands and Balance of State Continuums of Care (CoCs),” Danielle Littman and Denae J. Cook, University of Utah
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 080: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Right to Resist II - Insurgent Counter-Hegemony and Agency of the Unapologetic, Emancipatory, Revolutionary, and Transformative Kinds
Room: Wabash Room
Sponsors: Conflict, Social Action, and Change
Critical Race and Ethnic Study
Organizers: C. Michael Awsumb, Northwest Missouri State University
Watoii Rabii, Oakland University
Presider/Discussant: C. Michael Awsumb, Northwest Missouri State University
Description: The second of two sessions exploring themes around the framing of resistance, particularly the notion that resistance should be orderly and easily ignored. This session interrogates the political and symbolic struggles against state, institutional and interpersonal violence, like racism, war, genocide, structural violence and the implicit demand that those who are oppressed suffer quietly and gratefully. The session concept is engaging the question of “who gets to determine the “right” or “acceptable” way to resist your oppressor?
Papers:
“Social Change through Social Media: How Iranian X Users Mobilize Action to Challenge Death Sentences,” Foroogh Mohammadi, Acadia University and Pouya Morshedi, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador
“Luigi Mangione and the Propaganda of the Deed--a Case Study in the Right to Resist,” Gillian Niebrugge-Brantley, Patricia Lengermann and Lauren Rosenkrantz, The George Washington University
“Radical Resistance and the Tyranny of Destructive Leadership: A Sociopsychological Analysis of the Luigi Mangione Case and the Ensuing Public Response,” Dino Vicencio, Pepperdine University
““If I Want to Kill You, Then I Should Be More Mature:“ Risk, Resistance, and Counterinsurgent Maturity,” Sophia Lindner, Yale University
“Writers against Cop Cities: Recentering Protesters and Challenging Dominant Narratives as a Cultural Process,” Jadelynn C. Zhang, Emory University
“From Cellphone Recording to Protective Monitoring: Witnessing as Resistance,” Brandon Alston, The Ohio State University
“LGBTQ+SEA: Experiences of First and Second Generation Queer and Trans Southeast Asians in the Absence of an Ethnic Core,” Jasmine S. Buenviaje, SUNY Oneonta
“Dissent, Transgress, Subvert: Transformative Potential of Expressive, Performative, and Participatory Art in Resistance to Crimes of the Powerful,” C. Michael Awsumb, Northwest Missouri State University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
SPECIAL
Session 081: Navigating Existence as an Insurgent Scholar: Work, Engagement, and Activism
Room: Wilson Room
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizer &
Presider: Assata Zerai, The University of New Mexico
Description: Panelists will share their experiences as insurgent scholars balancing: 1. the academic job market, as applicants and as search committee members; 2. promotional pathways; and 3. commitments to activism. We will also address the unique challenges of navigating academia as insurgent sociologists with intersecting minoritized identities; and those related to anti-DEI, anti-LGBTQIA+, and anti-reproductive justice legislation that has spurred outmigration of academics to more friendly environments to live and work. Panelists will discuss ways to overcome these obstacles. We invite attendees who are considering careers either within or outside of academia alongside those who are willing to share their experiences as scholar activists. Scholars seeking positions and those who wish to support early career insurgent social scientists are encouraged to attend.
Panelists:
Elroi J. Windsor, University of West Georgia
Tsedale Melaku, City University of New York
Evangela Q. Oates, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Brittany Battle, Wake Forest University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
Session 082: Victimization and Victims
Room: Buckingham Room
Sponsor: Crime and Justice
Organizer, Presider &
Discussant: Stephanie Bonnes, University of New Haven
Description: This session explores victimization and victims across a variety of spaces including victimization in war, social conflict, the workplace, and within interpersonal relationships.
Papers:
“Crime Victim Voyeurism,” Karen G. Weiss, West Virginia University
“Deserving Victims in a Collective Crisis: U.S. News Representations of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” Sara Tehrani and Shannon K. Carter, University of Central Florida
“Disaggregating Civilian and Combatant Deaths in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Anneliese Schenk-Day and Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira, The Ohio State University and Trey Billing, Armed Conflict Location and Event Data
“From Microaggressions to Discrimination: A Study on Non-religious Identities and Victimization in Four Countries,” Morena Tartari, Northumbria University
“Military Conflict, Displaced Aggression, and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Victimization in Post-war America,” Jack Mitchel Mills, Florida State University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 083: Law in/as Crisis: Contemporary Problems
Room: Spire Parlor
Sponsor: Law and Society
Organizers: Michael Branch, Hartwick College
Jacinta Gau, University of Central Florida
Presider: To Be Determined, TBD
Description: This session explores how legal systems respond to and perpetuate crises in the modern world. Reflection on the ways in which legal frameworks are often at the center of societal upheaval, panelists in this session will examine the intersections of law, power, and emergency, questioning whether legal structures mitigate or exacerbate crises.
Papers:
“Cheating Disability: The Politics of Surviving Social Security Disability Benefits,” Sarah J. Malone, University of Illinois Chicago
“Internalized Change or Forced Coercion,” Mary Elizabeth Underwood Hood, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
“New Deal or No Deal? Dual Labor Regimes and American Subnational Governance of Work,” Chris Rhomberg, Fordham University, Laura C. Bucci, Saint Joseph's University and Todd Vachon, Rutgers University
“Strategizing Gender: Experiences of Transmasculine Folk with Police and Security Forces in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires,” Francis J. Fabre, The University of Chicago
“Strong Protections v Weak Tenants: Investigating ‘Law in Action’ with Low-income Renters in Oakland, CA,” Iris H. Zhang, Stanford University
“Unraveling the Complex Surveillance Tapestry of Homelessness in South and Middle Georgia,” Rafia Javaid Mallick and Munirat Sanmori, Georgia State University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Council of Division Chairpersons and Program Chair, 2025-26
Room: Chicago Room
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Session 084: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Sociologists as Workers and Political Actors in Today’s Multiracial and Multigendered Working Class Struggle
Room: Crystal Room
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizer &
Presider/Discussant: Walda Katz-Fishman, League of Revolutionaries for a New America and Howard University
Description: The university is a microcosm of society. Its purpose is to produce the next generation of workers and to reproduce the existing class relations. Crises within the corporate university are part of global capitalist crises. Sociologists, as workers, face deteriorating economic working conditions, an attack on tenure, and increasing censorship and repression in relation to teaching, research, and political expression. Ironically, sociology has contributed to invisibilizing the concept of working class. Is the resolution to the crises we are experiencing located in becoming more professionalized, more accepting of our exploitation and oppression as workers or should we be organizing collectively as a front of today’s multiracial and multigendered working class struggle? What could this look like?
Papers:
“Consciousness, Vision, & Strategy: Black Women Fighting beyond Survival,” Nicole Rousseau and Brittney Autry, Purdue University Northwest
“Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: The Betrayals of the Academic ‘Working Class’,” Olivia Perlow, Northeastern Illinois University and Sheldon Applewhite, Borough of Manhattan Community College
“Finding Love in the Swamp: Solidarity and Identity in the M(or)ass Struggle,” Corey Dolgon, Stonehill College
“The Possibility of Black Sociology,” Johnny Eric Williams, Trinity College
“Sociology as a Suspect Discipline: Lessons from Post-Soviet Societies,” Leontina Hormel, University of Idaho
“Wokeness as Revolutionary Praxis in the Academy and Beyond: Exploring Anti-Wokeness and Anti-Marxist Propaganda as Hegemonic Social Control,” Zoe Spencer-Harris, Virginia State University
“Revolutionary Praxis behind the Wall: The Struggle of a Black Sociologist in Prison Education at an HBCU,” Anthony Jerald Jackson, Bowie State University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Session 085: Technology, Surveillance and Access to Health Services
Room: Indiana Room
Sponsors: Health, Health Policy, and Health Services
Social Problems Theory
Organizer &
Presider: Yuying Shen, Norfolk State University
Description: This session will explore the use - and developments of - technology in healthcare, surveillance of patients and medical providers, and access to services across healthcare services.
Papers:
“Promoting Digital Skills for Health Equity in Digital Era,” Yuying Shen, Norfolk State University
“Commercial Sex Trafficking Dynamics in South Asia,” Natasha Israt Kabir, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
“Foreign Experts, Local Problems: Tracing the Transnational Movement and Application of Medical Expertise in Cambodian Nongovernmental Organizations,” Derek Richardson, Indiana University Bloomington
“Negotiating Silicocratic Biomedicalization: Healthcare, Market, and the Emergence of Biomedical-AI Dual Experts in South Korea,” June Jeon and Kwang Hyuck Jung, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology
“Self-care in Response to Care Scarcity and Systemic Marginalization: Challenging the Narrative in AMR Policy,” Agata Pacho, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
“Examining the Eco-gender Gap: Emotion and Gender in Environmental Concern Research,” Helen E. Wilds, University of Tennessee
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 086: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: The Everyday Work of Abolition
Room: Kimball Room
Sponsors: Community, Research, and Practice
Institutional Ethnography
Organizers: Keisha M. Muia, Portland State University
Jayne Malenfant, McGill University
Presider/Discussant: Jayne Malenfant, McGill University
Description: This session will explore abolition and focus on institutional ethnography and other critical approaches to research and action.
Papers:
“Abolitionist Struggle in Practice: The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and the Fight to End Prison Slavery in Minnesota,” Isabella Irtifa, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
“Creating Spaces Where We Can Breathe: Abolitionist-decolonial Environmental Justice Praxis,” Ki'Amber Thompson, University of California, Santa Cruz
“Humanizing, Relational, and Everyday Approaches to Advocacy and Abolitionist Praxis,” Libby Vigil, The University of New Mexico
“Prairieland Solidarity Committee: The Early Days of an Abolitionist Organization against a Texas Immigrant Prison,” Luis A. Romero, Texas Christian University
“The Everyday Work of Abolition as a Determinant of Health,” Colin Hastings, University of Waterloo, Jeffrey Ansloos and rosalind hampton, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 087: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Resistance on College Campuses
Room: Wabash Room
Sponsors: Critical Race and Ethnic Study
Global
Organizer &
Presider/Discussant: Amani M. Awwad, SUNY Canton
Description: This session will focus on the history of resistance on college campuses. The focus will be on how such activity was received by the college administration, law enforcement, and party politics. Further exploration of the political, economic, social, and ideological implications of how the state, local and federal government agencies dealt/deal with such resistance movement on college campuses.
Papers:
“New Social Geographies of Solidarity: Student Protests and Political Consciousnesses,” Jason C. Mueller, Kennesaw State University
“From Campus to Battlefield: Policing Empires and the Disruption of Student Protests,” Kariar Al-Naiem, University of California, Irvine
“The U.S Media v. Universities: A Comparative Critical Discourse Analysis of Pro-Palestine Student Protests,” Reese Castro, DePaul University
“‘Where’s Nancy?’ Theorizing Suggestive Violence,” Liz Wilcox, Boston College
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
SPECIAL
Session 088: Publishing Tips from the Editors of Social Problems
Room: Wilson Room
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizer &
Presider: Andrew S. Fullerton, Oklahoma State University
Description: The publishing process can be confusing at times even for the seasoned scholar. In this session, the co-editors of Social Problems share their experiences as editors, authors, and reviewers and discuss the process of publishing in the journal.
Panelists:
Kelley Sittner, Oklahoma State University
Andrew S. Fullerton, Oklahoma State University
Michael A. Long, Oklahoma State University
Rachel M. Schmitz, Oklahoma State University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 089: Community-Based Solutions to Criminal Justice Problems
Room: Buckingham Room
Sponsor: Crime and Justice
Organizers &
Presiders: Stephani Williams, Northern Arizona University
Shaneya Nyasia Simmelkjaer, Syracuse University
Description: This session will explore the formal and informal mechanisms by which communities organize and/or respond to criminal justice problems that are either created by or remain unsolved by traditional criminal-legal institutions.
Papers:
“Making Communities Safe and Strong: Neighbors and Police Collaboration,” Natasha C. Pratt-Harris, Morgan State University, James J. Nolan and Henry H. Brownstein, West Virginia University
“PIC, CIT, EDPRT, Social Workers…Why Mental Health Crisis Teams Dominated by Police Fail in Rochester, NY,” Ted Forsyth, Syracuse University
“The Diffusion of Policing Alternatives in U.S. Cities after the George Floyd Protests,” Aaron Stagoff-Belfort and Robert Vargas, The University of Chicago and Angela Zorro-Medina, University of Toronto
“Police Abolition as Community Practice: Lessons from an Applied Project,” Luis Alberto Fernandez, Northern Arizona University
“Purposeful Living Units Serve (PLUS): Rehabilitation and Servant Leadership in the Indiana Department of Correction’s Intra-prison Programming,” Peper E. Rivers, Indiana University
“Disturbed Topsoil: The Disappeared, Immeasurable Resistance, and Mexico’s Social Fabric,” Pedro J. Gonazales, Northern Arizona University
Date: Sunday, August 10
Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Feminist Collective Meeting
Room: Spire Parlor
