CfP: Special Issue on the Black Lives Movement

CfP: Special Issue on the Black Lives Movement

Mobilization would like to produce a special issue on the Black Lives Movement. We are looking for papers that are about the 2014-2020 movement or that can put this protest wave into a broader context that includes prior organizing and protests. Papers can be empirical or theoretical and cover a wide range of topics related to the protest wave, BLM, allied or counter-movements generally. We are looking for qualitative or quantitative descriptive papers as well as papers that develop some theoretical angle on events. We invite submissions grounded in activist perspectives as well as those grounded in scholarly traditions. We are open to considering innovative approaches such as those that include visual, oral or digital components as supplements to printed materials.

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Going on the job market?

Are you going on the sociology job market this year? Do you have students who are going on the market? The CBSM Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA) is publishing a special issue of Critical Mass to highlight the accomplishments of junior social movements scholars. The issue will be published in early August. 

To publish your profile, please provide the following:

  • Photograph (optional) 
  • Current affiliation 
  • List of up to 10 representative publications (including forthcoming publications and works in progress) in ASA or APA format
  • 200-word candidate statement in 1st person 
  • Website and email address

Please send all materials to Critical Mass co-editors Stacy Williams and Daniel McClymonds at cbsmnews@gmail.com by July 31, 2020.

In Solidarity and Support of Black Lives

In Solidarity and Support of Black Lives

The Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section (CBSM) of the American Sociological Association joins academic communities across the country in expressing outrage at the murder of George Floyd and countless other Black, Brown, and Indigenous people who have lost their lives as a result of systemically racist policing in the United States. As sociologists, researcher-activists, educators, and community members, we join those around the nation in bearing witness to the racial injustices that have led to this moment. The CBSM recognizes the recent uprisings as expressions of deep-seated pain, anger, and frustration on behalf of those whose lives have been harmed, and often shortened, through systemic racism.

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Juneteenth solidarity with Black Lives Matter

Juneteenth solidarity with Black Lives Matter

  • A statement by Dr. Tina Fetner, President of the Canadian Sociological Association, Chair of the Sociology Department at McMaster University, and Chair of the Collective Behavior and Social Movements section of the American Sociological Association.

“On this Juneteenth holiday, marking the end of slavery in the United States, protesters in support of Black Lives Matter are rising up across the nation to protest police violence against Black people. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd – as well as Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Reed, and so many other Black and Brown people killed by police violence – we stand at a crossroads in which collective action has the potential to produce real social change. I stand with protesters on the streets, as well as the many more who support this movement from their homes. I have made a donation to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, and if you are interested in joining me in donating, here is a list of protestor bail funds that you might consider. Let us all sit with this moment to consider what changes we have the power to produce, and focus our energies on those areas.”

Chair’s Message

Chair’s Message

Tina Fetner, CBSM Section Chair, Professor of Sociology, McMaster University

  • from CriticalMass Bulletin, Volume 45(1) Spring 2020: The newsletter of the Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements, American Sociological Association

In the face of an ongoing global pandemic, the ASA 2020 annual meeting has been cancelled. What to do in its wake is an open question. The ASA has been contacting presenters with options to participate in an online meeting; I’m sure you have received their email. They encourage each of us to make our own choices about whether they have the capacity to develop and deliver a presentation. 

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Congratulations to these newly elected officers of the CBSM

Congratulations to these newly elected officers of the CBSM

  • Chair-Elect: Rory McVeigh, University of Notre Dame
  • Council Member:  Kelsy Kretschmer, Oregon State University
  • Council Member:  Joshua Bloom, University of Pittsburgh
  • Mentoring Committee: Edward Flores, University of California, Merced
  • Workshop Committee: E. Colin Ruggero, Community College of Philadelphia
  • Nominations Committee: Amanda Pullum, CSU Monterey Bay
  • Publications Committee: Megan E. Brooker, University of Kansas
  • Membership, Diversity, and Inclusion: Hajar Yazdiha, University of Southern California
Solidarity’s Place in History: An Evaluation after 40 Years

Solidarity’s Place in History: An Evaluation after 40 Years

A Call for Papers

Mobilization’s European office is assisting the sponsorship of a conference on Solidarity’s legacy at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, June 4-5, 2020. Solidarity’s nonviolent challenge to Soviet-style communism was mass-based, strategic, and enduring. It was the key link in the chain of events that ended Europe’s post-war division. We call for papers that analyze Solidarity’s historical, cultural, social, theoretical, and spiritual legacies. Accepted papers will be organized according to three themes: Solidarity’s place in the Cold War, its place in the social sciences, and its ideological heritage. Send abstracts and 100-word bio to the coordinator, Krzysztof.Brzechczyn@ipn.gov.pl by March 31.

Open call for Contributions to the Research Handbook on Law, Movements, and Social Change

Open call for Contributions to the Research Handbook on Law, Movements, and Social Change

Part of the Research Handbooks in Law & Society Series by Edward Elgar Publishing, edited by Austin Sarat and Rosemary Hunter

  • Editors:  Steve Boutcher (UMass Amherst), Corey Shdaimah (U of Maryland), and Michael Yarbrough (CUNY-John Jay)
  • Confirmed contributors: Lynette Chua, Ching-Fang Hsu, Salman Hussain, Filiz Kahramann, Tshepo Madlingozi, Michael McCann, Sindiso Mnisi Weeks, Anne Revillard, Atef Said, Mihaela Serban, Rachel Seoighe, Danish Sheikh, Farrah Tek, Viviane Weitzner

In these unsettled times, the study of law and social movements provides an ideal lens for rethinking fundamental questions about the relationship between law and power. This Handbook takes up that challenge, using this historical moment as an opportunity to frame a new, more global and dynamic phase of law and social movement studies.

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Chair’s Message

Chair’s Message

Tina Fetner, McMaster University

How are we supposed to teach our courses, complete our studies and write up our findings when so much collective action and social change is going on all around us? Impeachment hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives. Climate strikes mobilizing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators around the world. White nationalists and other right-wing extremists gathering strength in online forums. As scholars of collective behavior and social movements, we may have trouble catching our breath at times, but at least we will never be bored.

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