Sociologists to Explore Culture, Inequalities, and Social Inclusion at Annual Meeting in Montreal

American Sociological Association Annual Meeting Press Registration Now Open

 

Newswise — MONTREAL—More than 5,500 sociologists will convene in Montreal this August to explore scientific research relating to social inequality and many other topics, as part of the American Sociological Association’s 112th Annual Meeting. This year’s theme, “Culture, Inequalities, and Social Inclusion across the Globe,” draws attention to the nexus of culture, inequalities, and group boundaries in order to promote greater social inclusion and resilience, collective well-being, and solidarity in Canada, the United States, and globally.

The conference will feature approximately 600 sessions and more than 3,000 studies covering such subjects as immigration, gender, culture, education, politics, sex, health, children, religion, same-sex marriage, bullying, work, race, relationships, family, criminal justice, consumerism, food, technology, disability, development, substance abuse, environment, and an abundance of others. Given the diverse range of topics that will be covered, ASA’s Annual Meeting will provide a wealth of information for journalists assigned to nearly any beat.

WHAT: The American Sociological Association’s 112th Annual Meeting: “Culture, Inequalities, and Social Inclusion across the Globe”

WHEN:  August 12–August 15, 2017

WHERE: Palais des Congrès de Montréal (1001 Place Jean Paul Riopelle, Montreal, QC, H2Z 1H5), Press Office is Room 449.

REGISTRATION: Complimentary media registration is now open. Download the press policy and registration form online at http://bit.ly/2u5a2aX.

PROGRAM: A searchable preliminary program is available at http://bit.ly/2sXJq7S. The preliminary program is also available in PDF form at http://bit.ly/2sXJq7S.   

SESSION HIGHLIGHTS: 

August 12, 10:30 am–12:10 pm, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Level 5, 513C

From the rise of #BlackLivesMatter to the spread of alt-right memes like "Pepe," the ubiquity of digital media technologies has significant implications for social movements. This open session welcomes papers that offer sociological insights into the ways these technologies reconfigure our understanding of social movements.

August 12, 4:30–6:10 pm, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Level 5, 513D

In countries like Canada and the United States, which accept hundreds of thousands of newcomers a year, immigration policy shapes the material and symbolic inclusion or exclusion of a significant proportion of the general population. This material inclusion/exclusion (e.g. through the awarding of a particular legal status - or no status at all) and symbolic inclusion/exclusion (e.g. through positive or negative racialization) can, in turn, have a long-term effect on social inequality. This panel examines multiple ways in which immigration policy in the United States has shaped immigrant inclusion and exclusion from 1965 to present. These include: the restrictive policy devices created in the 1965 Immigration Act; the interpretive practices engaged in by bureaucrats charged with implementing refugee resettlement policy; the role of temporary labor policies in shaping the welfare reliance of immigrant groups; and the contemporary emergence of an all-encompassing enforcement apparatus.

August 13, 8:30–10:10 am Palais des congrès de Montréal, Level 5, 513E

This session focuses on stratification in criminal participation and criminal justice outcomes, with a particular emphasis on decision-making, broadly defined. We encourage submissions that address decision-making and discretion at all phases of the criminal justice system (e.g., policing, sentencing, incarceration, re-entry), as well as among individuals contemplating or engaged in criminal activity.

August 14, 10:30 am–12:10 pm, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Level 5, 518B

This session reflects on challenges posed by the U.S. election and related political developments in Europe, such as the ‘Brexit’ referendum in the UK. Papers discuss how we can understand the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, and what sense social scientists in particular can make of the political events that are now shaping political and social life in the US, the UK, and elsewhere. They examine the dimensions of sociology to which the election result calls attention – for example, populism, nationalism, inequality, anti-elite politics, migration, finance, and expertise – as well as considering the broader global patterns in which Donald Trump’s election appears to fit. This session brings together some of the authors contributing to a special issue of The British Journal of Sociology to be published in Fall 2017, to be edited by Nigel Dodd, Michele Lamont, and Mike Savage.

August 15, 8:30–10:10 am, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Level 5, 511E

This session will examine climate change and climate action in the Post-COP21 era. It will examine how regime shifts have affected policies, practices, attitudes and protest around climate change as well as public participation and perception of environment and environmentalism. Papers will explore whether new directions of policy and action have affected broader cultural norms and attitudes towards the environment and, conversely, how those have influenced political actors ranging from protesters to policy makers and states. The social, cultural and political dynamics of climate change are riddled with tensions and contradictions. While international climate policy-making summits often fail to make significant progress, many cities and sub national states as well as mobilized citizens are taking action toward mitigation and adaptation. Despite increasingly stern warnings of irreversible ecological change, polar sea ice melts, circumpolar nations look at these transformed environments as potential new resource frontiers for oil and minerals. Despite the evidence, but climate skeptics continue to receive media attention that is disproportionate to their standing within the scientific community. This session will explore a diverse range of topics related to the sociology of climate change, including: climate change adaptation and mitigation, media representations and climate discourse, public opinion and behavior, and protest around social inequality and climate justice.

August 15, 8:30–10:10 am, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Level 5, 515C

This panel considers the relationship between citizen sense-making processes and political behavior in the context of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Papers analyze young voters' understandings of incivility, protest, and participation, Tea Party members' reluctant support for Trump, and audiences' interpretations of political legitimacy at Clinton and Trump rallies.

August 15, 10:30 am–12:10 pm, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Level 5, 512H

Despite progress around the globe, sexuality continues to be criminalized, and as a result is often used as a justification for systematic marginalization and violence against people engaged in stigmatized sexual behavior. This session grapples with the intricate ways that sexuality is criminalized and policed by various agents of the state and other social institutions. The papers in this session focus on the discursive production and effects of the category of the “sexually violent predator” (SVP) created within law and forensic psychology; intersectional and transnational analyses of the criminalization of HIV; the criminalization of LGBTQ Youth and homelessness; and the ways sexual intimacy and family life are policed by states through their regulation of polygamy.

 

CONTACT: Johanna Olexy, ASA Senior Communications Associate, [email protected], (202) 247-9873

 

About the American Sociological Association

The American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society.