SSSP 2026 Annual Meeting
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Program Chair(s), 2025-26 & 2026-27 (Closed Meeting)
Room: Minetta
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Educational Problems
Room: Ambassador III
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Family, Aging, and Youth
Room: Ambassador III
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Global
Room: Ambassador III
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Poverty, Class, and Inequality
Room: Ambassador III
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Session 018: Masculinities & Political Power
Room: Ambassador I
Sponsor: Gender, Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities
Organizer: Kat Fuller, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Presider: Jillian Sunderland, University of Toronto
Description: This session explores the dynamic interplay among masculinities, male supremacy, politics, and social structures, highlighting how gender norms both shape and are shaped by contemporary social issues. Presentations examine how constructions of masculinity intersect with political ideology, expertise, health discourse, and institutional power.
Papers:
“Masculinity after Hegemony: Gender in the Interregnum,” Jillian Sunderland, University of Toronto
“Disorganized Loneliness: A Technofascist Framework,” Liz Wilcox, Boston College
“Illegitimate Expertise: Stigmatized Knowledge and Masculinity among Doomsday Preppers,” Jonathan Nathaniel Redman, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and Saverio Michael Roscigno, University of California, Irvine
“‘It’s Misogyny, Not a Diagnosis’: Reddit Discourse on Boys’ Mental Health and Masculinity in Netflix’s Adolescence,” Esmeralda Ramirez and Spenser Dill, The University of Texas at Austin, Jessica Frankeberger, Arizone State University and Manuel A. Ocasio, Tulane University School of Medicine
“Why Would I? Men’s Views of Novel Male Contraception,” Isaac E. Montalvo, University of Central Florida
“Women in Policing: The Trinidad and Tobago Gender Experience,” Karen Lancaster-Ellis, The University of the West Indies
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 019: All the Feels: Emotions as Acts of Resistance
Room: Ambassador II
Sponsors: Social Problems Theory
Sport, Leisure, and the Body
Organizers: Michael O. Johnston, William Penn University
Joshua H. Stout, Illinois State University
Presider: Michael O. Johnston, William Penn University
Discussant: Joshua H. Stout, Illinois State University
Description: Emotions in sport, leisure, and bodily performance are more than entertainment. They are social forces that challenge domination, subvert authority, and reclaim joy. From locker rooms to stadiums, emotions have long resisted the corporatization and bureaucratization of play. Athletes, fans, comedians, and participants use feeling to confront racism, sexism, ableism, and political control. This session invites papers exploring emotions as lifeworld practices that resist colonization, whether through stand-up, memes, digital critique, community theater, or parody leagues that disrupt gender norms. We welcome work that examines feeling and performance as embodied resistance, a tool for solidarity, and a medium for reimagining the social, political, and economic conditions of sport and leisure.
Papers:
“A ‘Spoonful of Sugar’: Comedy, Connection, and LGBTQ+ Social Change,” Lisa M. Stulberg, New York University
“Doing the Work: How Frontline Mental Health Social Workers Make Meaning of Their Roles and Effectiveness in NYC Nonprofit Agencies,” Sabrina Hathweh-Stellwag, Adelphi University
“Social Exclusion and Institutional Management of Marginalized Athletes,” Vanchna Singh Parihar, Women and Child Development Department (WCD), Government of Madhya Pradesh and Mahesh Shukla, Government Thakur Ranmat Singh College of Excellence
“Sociological Perspectives of Sports and Politics,” Sanjay Tewari, Indian Sociological Society and Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
“Sportive Spirit: A Way of Life for Encountering Social Problems in Contemporary Society,” gurusamy sellamuthu, Gandhigram Rural University
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Session 020: Caregivers, Care Recipients, and Health
Room: Minskoff
Sponsors: Health, Health Policy, and Health Services
Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare
Organizers: William D. Cabin, New York University School of Social Work
Erica FS Jablonski, University of New Hampshire
Presider: Erica FS Jablonski, University of New Hampshire
Description: This session focuses on research examining the nature of, or alternatives to, current policies and practices governing formal and informal caregiving for individuals with health concerns. Presentations may address any jurisdictional level (national, state, or local) and may either analyze the impact of existing policies or practices on health outcomes or evaluate alternative approaches aimed at improving caregiving and health.
Papers:
“Care as a Gift: The Double Grammar of Interdependence in Personal Assistance Services in Korea,” Junghun Oh, Kyung Hee University
“Disruptive Illness, Care, and Coping in Cities of the Global South,” Sanjana Santosh, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
“Diverse Forms of Caregiving through Homeshare Programs with Older Adults,” Angela K. Perone, University of California Berkeley, Molly Calhoun, California State University, Chico, Susanna R. Curry, California State University, Sacramento, Leyi Zhou, Army Kieu Vi Ton Nu and Caitlin Subijanto, University of California Berkeley School of Social Welfare
“The Policies, Politics, and Contradictions of the Financialization of Care,” Robyn R. Rowe, The Graduate Center, CUNY and Hunter College, CUNY
“Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care among Older Immigrants: Evidence from the National Health Interview Survey, 2020–2023,” Momna Rani, University of North Texas
“Caregiving Datasets and Access Issues for an Independent Scholar,” Erica FS Jablonski, University of New Hampshire
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
SPECIAL
Session 021: Navigating Graduate School: Stress, Support, and Student Well-Being
Room: Palace
Sponsor: Program Committee
Organizer &
Presider: Zehra Sahin Ilkorkor, Virginia Commonwealth University
Description: This panel brings together graduate students from diverse backgrounds to explore the unique challenges and stressors they encounter during their academic journey. Panelists will discuss a range of factors that contribute to graduate student stress, including navigating relationships with supervisors, maintaining work-life balance, overcoming cultural and institutional barriers, and managing financial pressures. By sharing personal experiences and strategies for self-care, this panel aims to foster a supportive dialogue and provide practical insights for sustaining well-being throughout graduate education.
Panelists:
Rafia Javaid Mallick, Georgia State University
Zehra Sahin Ilkorkor, Virginia Commonwealth University
Anna K. Wood, University of Michigan
Stephen Silva-Brave, The University of Texas at Arlington
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Session 022: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Teaching and Engaging with Reparations and Restorative Justice
Room: Pearl
Sponsors: Community, Research, and Practice
Critical Race and Ethnic Study
Organizers &
Presiders/Discussants: Sarah E. Stanlick, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Marta M. Maldonado, Oregon State University
Description: In the current political context, pressures to erase marginalized histories and to ban the teaching of colonial, racialized, gendered, and classed histories—and their profound legacies and ongoing consequences—continue to mount. This session invites critical pedagogical interventions, analytical works, and case studies that center reparations as an ongoing political and practical necessity for reckoning with and addressing the impacts of historical and systemic harms.
Papers:
“Exploring the Efficacy of Support for Entrepreneurship in Detroit’s Motor City Match Program,” Marya R. Sosulski and Randi Mae Clayton-Ames, Michigan State University School of Social Work and Nathaniel G. Nowsch, Michigan State University
“Grassroots Agency: Community-Embedded Efforts to Address Urban Violence,” Cheryl A. Hyde, Temple University
“Teaching Ethnic Studies during a Complex Time: K-12 Ethnic Studies Educators in California,” Angeles Rubi Castorena, University of California, Irvine
“Wounded Healers: Community Resilience and Laughter Yoga in Rwanda and Detroit,” Paul Draus, University of Michigan–Dearborn
“Countermapping the City: Engaging Narrative and Visual Praxis for Urban Epistemic Justice,” Alexa Cinque, The University of Chicago
“Nothing about Us without Us? Allyship, Collective Identity, and Leadership in the Movement to Abolish Life without Parole Sentencing,” Kelsey Weymouth-Little, University of California, Irvine, Honorable Mention of the Conflict, Social Action, & Change Division’s Student Paper Competition
Date: Friday, August 7
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM
THEMATIC
Session 023: Beyond Therapeutic Regimes: Critiquing Traditional Medical and Criminal Legal Responses
Room: Plymouth
Sponsors: Crime and Justice
Disability, Mental Wellness, and Social Justice
Law and Society
Organizers: Peper E. Rivers, Indiana University
Stephani Williams, Northern Arizona University
Melinda Leigh Maconi, Moffitt Cancer Center
Presider: Peper E. Rivers, Indiana University
Description: Medical and legal systems have long relied on one another to manage populations deemed mentally ill, yet this interdependence produces outcomes far more complex than a simple medicalization-versus-criminalization binary. This session examines how therapeutic and punitive logics intertwine in practice, revealing institutional structures that perpetuate or obscure the challenges facing people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and criminal legal system involvement. The session also explores new directions in the study of drug use. Papers examine implementation strategies for community-based interventions and present collaborative research models that center the expertise of people who use drugs. Collectively, these contributions challenge us to move beyond false binaries, recognize carcerality wherever it operates, and imagine alternatives grounded in autonomy and meaningful community participation.
Papers:
“Beyond Criminalization versus Medicalization: Reconceptualizing the Criminalization of Mental Illness,” Mariya A. Khan, University of Illinois Chicago
“‘Artificial Motivation’: Civil Commitment, Rehabilitation, and the Cultural Production of Addiction as Legal Pathology (1961–1971),” Peper E. Rivers, Indiana University
“Identifying Implementation Strategies to Support Programming That Addresses Criminal Risk Factors for People with Serious Mental Illness within Community Behavioral Health Service Settings,” Natalie Bonfine, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Amy Blank Wilson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Faith Scanlon, Massachusetts General Hospital - Harvard Medical School, Anna Parisi, George Mason University, Jonathan Phillips, University of Minnesota, Robert D. Morgan, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Jamie Swaine and Caroline Ginley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Socioecological Correlates of Prison-Based MOUD Initiation among Persons with Opioid Use Disorder,” Carrie B. Oser, Marisa Booty and Maria Rockett, University of Kentucky
“Pursuing Legitimacy through Criminalization: A General Systems Theory Analysis of Behavioral Health System Response to Familiar Faces,” Leslie L. Wood, York Technical College, Stacey L. Barrenger and Shiah Kleinman, Northeast Ohio Medical University
“Doing Community-Based Research for Real,” Hiawatha Collins, Terrell Jones, Tom Blazsek and William Almodovar, Peer Network of New York, David Frank, Alex S. Bennett and Holly Hagan, New York University
