Considering Contention in Trumptimes

By David S. Meyer, University of California, Irvine

For those of us who study protest movements, to paraphrase Dickens, the Trump presidency represents both the best of times and the worst of times. For scholars of political contention, Trump’s election immediately presents an upsurge of activism across many social movements that offer us massive amounts of empirical material and no shortage of analytical challenges. Like the paleontologist visiting Jurassic Park, those of us who write about movements can watch our preferred theories of contention being shredded—or not—in real time. Public attention to protest has also surged, and journalists, activists, and neighbors are more likely to express interest in the stuff that occupies our imagination most of the time. Regular people are paying attention!

The sense of urgency and possibility is exhilarating, but there is a downside: I have to live here. Donald Trump represents an urgent and unusual threat to democratic institutions in general, and in particular, a direct threat to the pursuit of science and the institutions which support it.

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100 Days of #Resistance and Still Counting: Innovating How We Study Protest

By Dana R. Fisher, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the US, protests and demonstrations have become relatively commonplace around the United States:  hundreds of thousands marched in pussy hats on the day after the inauguration; thousands stood in airports to show support for an America that is open to immigrants; tens of thousands of people marched (some sporting brain hats) to support science; hundreds of thousands circled the White House to show concern for climate change and the ways the new Administration is quickly undoing all political progress the previous administration made; and the town hall meetings of members of Congress have been flooded with attendees who want their elected officials to represent their interests.  In other words, the election of Donald Trump has been a veritable shot in the arm to democracy in America.  People are no longer bowling alone, they are marching and yelling together.

Since the inauguration, I have fielded research teams to survey participants at the large-scale protest events taking place in Washington, DC.  So far, we have collected data at the Women’s March, the March for Science, and the People’s Climate March that coincided with Trump’s 100th day in office.  Like my previous work, which surveyed a random sample of participants at large-scale protest events around various issues over the past 17 years, the research team at these events has administered a short anonymous survey to learn who is participating, what motivates them to participate, how civically engaged they are, how connected they are to the respective march’s organizational coalitions, and what are their demographics.  Unlike my previous work, where we administered a two-sided one-page paper survey with clipboards and ballpoint pens, however, I recently decided to innovate the data collection process.

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Message from the Chair: Protest, Elections, Media, and Inequality

By Kenneth (Andy) Andrews, CBSM Section Chair, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

We have arrived at a moment where protest and efforts to understand protest are everywhere. I am certain you are familiar with the broad contours of recent protest. The Crowd Counting Consortium documented 653 protests as part of the Women’s March on January 22nd and over four million participants. In subsequent weeks, there have been hundreds of protest events across an incredible array of issues and locales. Both established groups like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood and new ones like Indivisible have jumped into the fray. Trump provides a singular and unifying target for activism related to immigration, healthcare, gender, LGBT rights, abortion rights, racial justice, and on and on. Perhaps the best recent parallel is the way Obama provided a focal point for right wing activists and conservatives over the prior eight years.

Thinking about this moment, I recalled a conversation I had with Anthony (Tony) Oberschall several years ago. Tony described the politically and intellectually charged environment when he first started working on social movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s where seemingly every day was marked by events on college campuses, throughout the U.S., and across the globe that spoke to the emerging theoretical debates and perspectives being developed. Importantly, these debates were not contained by or within the boundaries of our subfield. We seem to be in the midst of a similar moment.

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Call for Award Nominations 2017

Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Mayer N. Zald Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Student Paper Award

Anyone without a PhD in 2016 is considered a student, and any paper (published or unpublished) written in 2016 by a student or students (i.e., no PhD coauthors) is eligible.  A previously submitted paper may be resubmitted only if significantly revised.  Authors may submit their own work, or nominations may be made by section members. No lengthy nominating letters please, and please send all questions to the committee chair.  $500 will be awarded.  Send a copy of the paper electronically to each of the committee members by March 1, 2017.

 

Mayer Zald Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award Committee:  

Jennifer Earl (Chair), jenniferearl@email.arizona.edu

Ziad Munson, munson@lehigh.edu

Lee Ann Banaszak, lab14@psu.edu

Marcos Perez, meperez@colby.edu

Han Zhang, hz2@Princeton.EDU

 

Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award

Articles and chapters from edited books with publication dates of 2016 are eligible. Authors may submit their own work, or nominations may be made by section members.  No lengthy nominating letters please, and please send all questions to the committee chair.  Send a copy of the article electronically to each member of the prize committee by March 1, 2017:

 

Best Published Article Award Committee:

Belinda Robnett (Chair), brobnett@uci.edu

John Krinsky, jkrinsky.ccny@gmail.com

Edward Walker, walker@soc.ucla.edu

Bogdan Vasi, ion-vasi@uiowa.edu

 

Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Charles Tilly Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award

Section members, authors, or publishers may nominate books with publication dates of 2016. Authors may submit their own work, or nominations may be made by section members or publishers.  No lengthy nominating letters please, and please send all questions to the committee chair.  Send or have publishers send a copy of the book to each member of the prize committee by March 1, 2017:

 

Charles Tilly Award for Best Book Committee: 

Kenneth (Andy) Andrews, (Chair), kta1@email.unc.edu, (Department of Sociology, CB 3210, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599)

Neal Caren, neal.caren@unc.edu; (Department of Sociology, CB 3210, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599)

Elizabeth Borland, borland@tcnj.edu, (Social Sciences Building 317, The College of New Jersey, 2000 Pennington Rd., Ewing, NJ 08628)

Daniel Schlozman, daniel.schlozman@jhu.edu, (Johns Hopkins University, Mergenthaler Hall 278, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218)

 

Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Dissertation Award

Any doctoral dissertation completed (i.e. successfully submitted, defended, and approved) in calendar year 2016 is eligible. Only nominations from the student’s dissertation chair or co-chair will be accepted. Nomination letters should not exceed two typed pages in length. The nomination letter should be accompanied by the dissertation in electronic form. Please direct all questions to the committee chair. $1,000 will be awarded. Send a copy of the nomination letter and dissertation to each of the committee members by March 1, 2017:

 

Outstanding Dissertation Award:

Lyndi Hewitt (Chair), lhewitt@unca.edu

Joshua Bloom, joshuabloom@pitt.edu

Daniel Escher, danielescher@gmail.com

Application Deadline for Young Scholars Conference, January 10!

Event hosted by the Center for the Study of Social Movements, University of Notre Dame March 31, 2017.

In conjunction with the presentation of the John D. McCarthy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Scholarship in Social Movements, The Center for the Study of Social Movements at Notre Dame will be hosting the eighth annual “Young Scholars” Conference the day before the McCarthy Award events. The recipient of the McCarthy Award, David Meyer, will be in attendance and other senior scholars visiting Notre Dame for the award presentation will serve as discussants for the conference.

We would like to invite 12 advanced graduate students and early-career faculty to present a work solidly in-progress at the conference, enjoy an opportunity to discuss their work with some of the leading scholars in the field, and meet others in the new cohort of social movement scholars. Conference attendees will also be invited to the McCarthy Award Lecture and the award banquet on April 1, 2017. The Center will pay for meals, up to three nights lodging, and contribute up to $500 toward travel expenses for each of the conference attendees.

The Center will select invitees from all nominations received by January 10, 2017. Nominations will be accepted for ABD graduate students and those who have held their Ph.D.s less than two years. Nominations must be written by the nominee’s faculty dissertation advisor (or a suitable substitute intimately familiar with the nominee’s research, if the advisor is unavailable). Nominations should include:

A letter of nomination.
2. The CV of the nominee.
3. A one-page abstract of the work to be presented.

Nominations should be sent via email to Rory McVeigh, Director of the Center for the Study of Social Movements, rmcveigh@nd.edu.

2017 McCarthy Award Winner!

The Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame is very pleased to announce that the winner of the 2017 John D. McCarthy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Scholarship of Social Movements and Collective Behavior is David Meyer of the University of California at Irvine. The award not only recognizes David’s extraordinary achievements in research, but also the role that he has played in mentoring successive generations of scholars.

David has authored or edited six books and published well over 100 articles, book reviews, and reports that have shaped our thinking about social movements and contentious politics for several decades.   Those who nominated him for the award also emphasized his tireless work as a conscientious mentor. Indeed, a group of his current and former students praised him for the attention he has given to their developing work while also characterizing him as a “constant cheerleader” who is “fully invested in supporting young scholars.”

This year’s award ceremony will be held on April 1, 2017 on the Notre Dame campus. David will be giving a public lecture prior to the award banquet. At the banquet, several of his friends, colleagues and former students will be on hand to offer reflections on his work and influence on the field.

In conjunction with the presentation of the McCarthy Award, the Center for the Study of Social Movements will also be hosting the eight annual Young Scholars in Social Movements Conference on March 31, 2017. Advanced graduate students and recently minted PhD’s will be invited to present their work and receive feedback from the McCarthy Award winner and a distinguished panel of senior scholars in the field. A call for nominations for the Young Scholars Conference will be issued in a separate announcement.

We hope that many of you will mark your calendars and plan to join us for these events. Please be on the lookout for more information in the coming days and weeks—including instructions on how to apply for the Young Scholars Conference. We will distribute the news on the CBSM listserv and also post the news on our Center’s website http://nd.edu/~cssm/

CFP: Diversity and Social Justice in Higher Education

Call for Submissions

Spring 2017 Special Issue: Diversity and Social Justice in Higher Education

This special issue of the Humboldt Journal of Social Relations (HJSR) captures work and experiences in higher education as they relate to changes and challenges around diversifying U.S. college campuses. Race, class, gender, sexuality, able-bodiedness and citizenship shape contemporary conversations about campus climate, curricular content, organizational structures, decision making and the disparate impacts of related policy changes or stagnation. These conversations shape the everyday experiences of faculty and staff, and are ultimately linked to student success.

Submissions are due on October 31, 2016.

Manuscript Submission instructions, and more information, available at the HJSR web site.http://www.humboldt.edu/hjsr/

Authorship: All authors are encouraged to collaborate with others inside or outside academia. Interdisciplinary submissions are welcome.

Co-Editors:

Meredith Conover-Williams, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, Humboldt State University

Joshua S. Smith, Department of Sociology, Humboldt State University

Managing Editors:

Jennifer Miles and Heather Clark, Department of Sociology, Humboldt State University

The Humboldt Journal of Social Relations (HJSR) is a peer reviewed free online journal housed in the Department of Sociology at Humboldt State University. This internationally recognized journal produces annual themed spring editions around current issues and topics. While the articles primarily draw authors from the social sciences, we have also facilitated interdisciplinary collaborations among authors from the arts, humanities, natural sciences & the social sciences. For more information about HJSR, see the journal web site: http://www.humboldt.edu/hjsr/

CFP: Foodways and Inequality: Toward a Sociology of Food Culture and Movements

Call for Papers
Humanity & Society Special
Issue: “Foodways and Inequality: Toward a Sociology of Food Culture and Movements”
Guest Editors: Kaitland M. Byrd (Virginia Tech) and W. Carson Byrd (University of Louisville)

Foodways exist as key sources of cultural capital, and the rising quest for distinction within foodways has led to the proliferation of restaurants and chefs claiming authenticity (Johnson and Baumann 2010). Although the cultural dimension of foodways dominates the literature there is also extensive research on the prevalence of hunger and obesity throughout the United States (Poppendieck 1999, 2011). While a definition of foodways can vary between scholars and academic disciplines, we define foodways as the choices and meanings behind what people eat. Using this conceptualization we can gain a better understanding of how sociological perspectives can elucidate connections between people and food such as the formation of varying food movements, differing forms of inequality, the politics that infiltrate foodways and craft the connection between what people eat, and how people identify themselves through the consumption of specific foodways and food products (e.g., southern barbeque). The sociological study of foodways provides insight into broader processes such as how inequality functions around social movements, the connection between identity, memory, and consumption, and the politics behind the production and consumption of cultural products fundamental for survival. While a multitude of studies have examined the role of foodways in creating cultural distinctions and exploring the increasing problem of hunger, there is a lack of research focusing on the sociological implications of foodways and food movements. The extant focus on food insecurity and elite consumption is too narrow of a lens of social inequality – leaving a large portion of society unexamined. This special issue seeks to remedy this scenario.

The underlying goal of this proposed issue is to highlight research on foodways and inequality grounded in sociological theories emphasizing the breadth of food as an important facet of everyday life across multiple research areas. The scholarship we will include examine various relationships among foodways, food movements, and social inequality. These areas will include, but are not limited to the following areas of research:

  • Social inequality in/and food movements
  • The effects of food movements on local/global foodways
  • Comparisons of the prevalence of food movements across place, gender, and race
  • Comparative research on how alternative foodways (e.g. Indigenous) negotiate external pressures from food movements and initiatives
  • Farming efforts to preserve non-GMO seeds and farming practices
  • Theoretical contributions to understanding foodways and food movements sociologically
  • Comparative research on food movements as social movements both locally and globally
  • Farmer’s markets as sites of alternative food movements and perpetuating sites of inequality
  • Identity politics and food

Please submit abstracts (preferably as Microsoft Word documents), no longer than 500 words, to Kaitland M. Byrd (kmp009@vt.edu) or W. Carson Byrd (wcarson.byrd@louisville.edu) by August 1, 2016. Contributors should note that this call is open and competitive. Additionally, submitted papers must be based on original material not under consideration by any other journal or publication outlet. Authors will be notified of the editors’ decisions no later than September 1, 2016. Papers accepted for further consideration for inclusion in this special issue will go through the same review process as normal journal submissions. The invited papers will be due to the editors by November 1, 2016.

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