We asked a handful of scholars what they’re reading these days. Pick up one of these great works while enjoying a “break” between semesters!
Author: Sarah Mosseri
Meet your Council: Josh Seim and Benjamin Shestakofsky
Josh Seim and Benjamin Shestakofsky are the 2017-2018 OOW Council Student Representatives. Learn more about their research and ties to the subfield below.
1) Where did your interests in organizations, occupations, and work originate? How have you found concepts and theories from this scholarship useful in your work?
Josh Seim: I’m broadly interested in how the poor are processed, regulated, or “governed” across a number of institutions. My first research project brought me into a penitentiary in Oregon where I was set on explicating the aspirations and actions of soon-to-be-released prisoners. There, I quickly realized that I would need to account for the internal organization of the facility if I hoped to make sense of what previous scholars described as a “perplexing optimism” among prisoners approaching the gate. I drew on the Gresham Sykes’ Society of Captives, Donald Clemmer’s The Prison Community, and other texts to examine my interview transcripts and field notes. While these books are not usually claimed by organizational sociology, they motivated me to consider how penal domination, a basic organizational feature of the prison, shaped inmate subjectivity.
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Labor and Labor Movements ASA Panels of Interest
OOW members are encouraged to submit to the following sections organized by the Labor and Labor Movements Section:
Race and labor and the 50th anniversary of the Memphis Strike
In February 1968, 1,300 black Memphis sanitation workers struck for safer jobs, better pay, and union recognition, carrying signs that said “I am a man”. Rev. Martin Luther King visited Memphis repeatedly to support the strike, and on one of those visits, on April 4, 1968, he was assassinated. Despite vicious union-busting by the city government, the workers went on to win the strike.
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Time-limited Open Access to Chapter within New Volume on Precarious Work
OOW members will be interested in the just-published volume, Precarious Work, edited by Arne Kalleberg and Steven Vallas. Published under the auspices of Research in the Sociology of Work, the volume contains 16 original chapters on various facets of precarious (or non-standard) employment. Contributors include prominent scholars in many fields, addressing the precarization of work in Europe, the United States, and the developing world. Readers will benefit from open access to one of the volume’s chapters in particular: the article by Sharon Zukin and Max Papadanotakis, “Hackathons as Cooptation Ritual: Socializing Workers and Institutionalizing Innovation in the ‘New’ Economy.” The link to use is here and here: https://www.book2look.com/book/4F8kzkJuje. Readers can access the abstracts for all the volume’s papers here and here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/book/10.1108/S0277-2833201731
Gender, Professions and Organizations Writing Workshop
The 14th semi-annual Gender, Professions, and Organizations Writing Workshop will take place from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on Thursday, January 25th 2018 – the day of the opening reception for the Sociologists for Women in Society winter meetings in Atlanta, Georgia.
The workshop was originally intended for sociologists who are doing research on gender and academic careers, scientific workplace organizations, organizational transformations to promote gender equality, etc. It has been broadened to include gender, professional work, and organizational change. The purpose of the workshop is to learn about the range of work attendees are doing, to facilitate collaboration and to set aside time for writing.
We encourage new and returning participants. If you’ve never come, welcome, and if you have, welcome back! If it turns out that you can’t come, please let one of us know; conversely, if you know of someone who has been considering joining us, encourage contacting one of us a.s.a.p. We will make a reservation for lunch for the full group; while this is an enjoyable part of the day, participants may opt to use the hour and a half for other activities.
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Call for Abstracts: The Sociology of International Organizations
Planned Preconference to the ASA Annual Meeting:
“Feeling Race—An Invitation to Explore Racialized Emotions”
August 10, 2018
Pre-conference Theme
At a time when globalization is increasingly contested in practice and scholarship, the rise of anti-globalization forces has cast the spotlight on the successes, failures and limitations of international organizations (IOs), ubiquitous actors which structure the institutional environment underpinning world economic, environmental and social affairs.
Political science has dominated the study of IOs. Yet, in recent years, a distinctive sociology of international organizations is emerging. It crosses over such diverse subfields as global and transnational sociology, economic sociology, sociologies of law and culture, organizations and professions. It variously focuses on markets and rights, health and finance, terrorism and development, among many other issues. Its theoretical and methodological variants reflect wider orientations in our discipline. Despite the promise of this diversity, however, strands of work on IOs in sociology have not adequately been brought into productive conversation with each other.
This year’s Annual Meeting theme “Feeling Race—An Invitation to Explore Racialized Emotions” offers opportunities to expand the sociology of international organizations in new directions. Neither in political science nor sociology has adequate attention been given to the structures of domination and race that permeate the transnational and global. Further, while emotion is salient in the decision-making and implementation of global governance, it has been little explored. Yet, it might offer a powerful sociological counterpoint to the rational actor, rational design and international political economy theories so prominent in political science and international relations.
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Job Posting: TT Position at Elmhurst College
Elmhurst College invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor in Sociology with focus in gender, inequality, and/or social work. Secondary areas in human services, youth populations, special needs populations, and/or families is a plus. The new faculty member will also contribute to the social work program and coordinate student internships. Main teaching responsibilities include Sex and Gender, Social Inequality, the half-credit Capstone Seminar, and other courses based on interest and expertise. The teaching load is six full-credit courses per year.
Minimum Qualifications:
Evidence of outstanding teaching or teaching potential is essential. Candidates should have a commitment to creating inclusive learning environments for a diverse student body. A PhD in Sociology or closely related field is required by September 1, 2018.
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Call for Applications: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at The Clayman Institute for Gender Research
The Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University offers a two-year postdoctoral fellowship that focuses on the Institute’s current theme, “Beyond the Stalled Revolution: Reinvigorating Gender Equality in the Twenty-first Century.” Recent Ph.D.’s in all disciplines of the humanities and social sciences whose research centers feminist, women’s or gender studies are eligible. We encourage scholars with a strong interest in interdisciplinary methods to apply. While in residence at the Institute, Postdoctoral Scholars are expected to participate in Clayman Institute activities throughout the academic year in addition to pursuing their own research. Our application will be available to access October 1, 2017 through January 11, 2018.
Clayman Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Application
Application Opens – Oct 1, 2017
Application Deadline – January 11, 2018 midnight PST
For questions about the postdoctoral fellowship application, please see the Application Details.
Technology Management Program Seeks Ph.D. Applicants
The Technology Management Program (TMP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara is looking for highly qualified prospective doctoral students who have an interest in technology and work, technology’s implications for society, innovation, and the management of engineers and scientists. We are open to students with a range of backgrounds including all of the social sciences, engineering, the physical sciences, and management. TMP is methodologically and substantively eclectic. We are interested in students who wish to pursue ethnography, survey research, big data analysis and experimental research. UCSB has few disciplinary boundaries, so students can construct their program in ways that suit their interests and abilities. Our aim is to produce a cadre of scholars who can address thorny problems concerning the impact of technology on work and society, the management of technical and scientific personnel, and the sociological and psychological dynamics of innovation.
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The Working-Class Studies Association Seeking Nominations for Awards
The WCSA is pleased to invite nominations (including self-nominations) for awards covering the year of 2017.
Award categories are:
- Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing: Published books of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and other genres
- C.L.R. James Award for Published Books for Academic or General Audiences
- Russo & Linkon Award for Published Article or Essay for Academic or General Audiences
- Studs Terkel Award for Media and Journalism: Single published articles or series, broadcast media, multimedia, and film
- Constance Coiner Award for Best Dissertation: Completed dissertations only
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Organizations, Occupations and Work 