Summer 2024 Gender, Professions, and Organizations Writing Workshop at ASA Annual Meeting

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Register now for the 23rd semi-annual Gender, Professions, and Organizations writing workshop at the ASA annual meeting (Friday, August 9th) by signing up here: https://forms.gle/Ghe1LP7SQExAQwaq9. 

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

The 23rd semi-annual Gender, Professions, and Organizations Writing Workshop is back this summer from 9 am to 5 pm on Friday, August 9, 2024 – the day of pre-conference activities for the ASA annual meeting in Montreal. Originally a workgroup of sociologists studying gender and academic careers, scientific organizations, and organizational transformations to promote gender equality, the workshop has grown to now include scholars of gender, professions, and organizations more broadly. Our aims are to learn about the range of work of attendees, facilitate collaboration, build community across career stages, and most importantly to dedicate time for writing. This is an opportunity to write, network, and collaborate. We encourage new and returning participants. If you’ve never come, welcome, and if you have, welcome back! 

As a group, we will discuss our current research projects. This exercise provides useful information to explore potential collaborations throughout the day. There will be designated blocks of independent, quiet writing time. You may use this time any way you wish: brainstorm a new paper, put finishing touches on a manuscript, work with collaborators, or analyze data. There will be separate, designated spaces for conversations around research and collaboration.

 The full-day workshop is organized as two standalone sessions, each with time for introductions and time for writing. We will take a lunch break in between the two sessions. At the end of the day, we come together for a discussion of what we have accomplished and our future plans. Participants are welcome to join for the morning, afternoon, or both. 

Anyone attending ASA is welcome to join the workshop; however space is limited. We will start a waitlist based on registration order if necessary. The workshop begins early on the 9th, so we recommend arriving in Montreal on the 8th.

Your ASA meeting fee will cover the room cost for the workshop. Participants should bring their own laptop computers (and maybe an extension cord) and snacks to share, as we do not have extra funding. 

Please contact one of the current co-organizers with any questions. Register by July 26th, using this form https://forms.gle/Ghe1LP7SQExAQwaq9. 

Kristen McNeill (kristen.mcneill@graduateinstitute.ch, Assistant Professor, Geneva Graduate Institute)


Former organizers: Sharla Alegria, Melissa Abad, Ethel Mickey, Elizabeta Shifrin, Rodica Lisnic, Kathrin Zippel, Laura Kramer, Christina Falci, Laura Hirshfield, Julia McQuillan, Enobong Hannah (Anna) Branch, Shauna Morimoto, Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

New Publications

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James Jones. 2024. Racism and Resistance in the Halls of Congress. Princeton University Press

Racism continues to infuse Congress’s daily practice of lawmaking and shape who obtains congressional employment. In this timely and provocative book, James Jones reveals how and why many who work in Congress call it the “Last Plantation.” He shows that even as the civil rights movement gained momentum in the 1960s and antidiscrimination laws were implemented across the nation, Congress remained exempt from federal workplace protections for decades. These exemptions institutionalized inequality in the congressional workplace well into the twenty-first century. Combining groundbreaking research and compelling firsthand accounts from scores of congressional staffers, Jones uncovers the hidden dynamics of power, privilege, and resistance in Congress. He reveals how failures of racial representation among congressional staffers reverberate throughout the American political system and demonstrates how the absence of diverse perspectives hampers the creation of just legislation. Centering the experiences of Black workers within this complex landscape, he provides valuable insights into the problems they face, the barriers that hinder their progress, and the ways they contest entrenched inequality.

Collins, Caitlyn, Megan Tobias Neely, and Shamus R. Khan. 2024. “‘Which Cases Do I Need?’ Constructing Cases and Observations in Qualitative Research.” Annual Review of Sociology.

This methodological review starts one step before Small’s classic account of how many cases a scholar needs. We ask, “Which cases do I need?” We argue that a core feature of most qualitative research is case construction, which we define as the delineation of a social category of inquiry. We outline how qualitative researchers construct cases and observations and discuss how these choices impact data collection, analysis, and argumentation. In particular, we examine how case construction and the subsequent logic of crafting observations within cases have consequences for conceptual generalizability, as distinct from empirical generalizability. Drawing from the practice of qualitative work, we outline seven questions qualitative researchers often answer to construct cases and observations. Better understanding and articulating the logic of constructing cases and observations is useful for both qualitative scholars embarking on research and those who read and evaluate their work.

Harland Prechel’s Normalized Financial Wrongdoing: How Re-Regulating Markets Created Risks and Fostered Inequality received the 2023 Midwest Sociological Society Book Award.

In Normalized Financial Wrongdoing (Stanford University Press) , Harland Prechel examines how social structural arrangements that extended corporate property rights and increased managerial control opened the door for misconduct that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis and historically high levels of inequality. Beginning his analysis with the financialization of the home-mortgage market in the 1930s, Prechel shows how pervasive these arrangements had become by the end of the century, when the banks created political coalition with other economic sectors and developed strategies to participate in financial markets. The book examines political and legal landscapes in which corporations are embedded to answer two questions: First, how did banks and financial firms transition from being providers of capital to financial market actors in their own right? Second, how did new organizational structures cause market participants to engage in high-risk activities?

Seppo Poutanen and Anne Kovalainen. 2023. Skills, Creativity and Innovation in the Digital Platform Era Analyzing the New Reality of Professions and Entrepreneurship. Routledge.

The book addresses several questions of the complex relationship between professions and technology.

Several interdisciplinary questions on professions, expertise and new powerful forms in economy have risen to the forefront in recent years in social sciences and humanities, neighboring disciplines such as business studies included. Professions and professional expert work as part of the traditional, constitutive societal powers, entrepreneurship as a new emerging power in societies and economies, and finally, digitalization and digital platforms possessing an inevitable transformative force globally have all been researched and addressed, but almost always entirely separately, as the disciplinary boundaries still govern the intellectual endeavors. The present book is intended as an intellectual contribution to disentangle and tie these three major topics together.

One of the most noteworthy global aspects in current societies is indeed the intensifying presence of technology, to the extent that we can talk about the omnipotence of technologies, a kind of technological imperative that prevails in society. This omnipotence, a new type of technological imperative emerges in the working lives of practicing professionals from medical doctors to lawyers and from teachers to preachers. Technological development through algorithmic decision-making and machine learning has introduced permeable processes through which technology has entered most professions and professional work, even if the ‘core’ of the professional identity would not have technology as part of it. Much as in our everyday life, where technologies govern and shape our consumption of goods and services, the societal and economic fabric is technologically impregnated.

Digital platforms have quickly become the key enablers of not only scaling up businesses but also creating new activities in societies, and managing practically all spheres of human life. Conditions and prospects for doing work are changing with the new technologies, and equally so for entrepreneurs and professionals. Platforms as enablers inevitably lead to new questions concerning organizing of work. How do technologies transform expertise within professions? Do algorithms require new types of professions, and if so, is this development visible already, are few of the key questions we explore in the book.

New Publication: “Engineering Inequality”

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Sigrid Luhr. (2024). “Engineering Inequality: Informal Coaching, Glass Walls, and Social Closure in Silicon Valley.” American Journal of Sociology 129(5): 1409-1446. https://doi.org/10.1086/729506

Despite the rise of women’s labor force participation over the last 60 years, the technology industry remains highly segregated by gender. Engineers often think of their work as purely technical. Yet this study highlights the importance of social relationships for career advancement. Drawing on interviews with tech workers, the author traces the unequal career trajectories of men and women. She finds that men without computer science or engineering degrees are informally coached to learn technical skills from their coworkers and transition from nontechnical to technical roles. Women, however, are excluded from these coaching opportunities and steered out of technical roles, effectively barring them from some of the most lucrative positions in the tech industry. These findings highlight new social closure mechanisms that reproduce gender inequality and question whether the educational pipeline can adequately explain women’s underrepresentation in technical roles.

Post-Doc Opportunity:  The Strong Communities Lab in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin 

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The Strong Communities Lab in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin has an opening for a 1-year, renewable, post-doctoral researcher beginning in August 2024. 

The Strong Communities Lab investigates the role of nonprofit organizations and government programs in strengthening civic infrastructure in the United States. Ongoing Strong Communities projects include examining the role of nonprofits in confronting social problems such as violence against women or the opioid crisis in the United States; how nonprofits tackle issues of social, racial, and LGBTQ+ justice; and the impact of AmeriCorps Seniors funding on organizational sustainability; among other topics. Projects are mixed-method, use novel administrative data, and incorporate natural language processing. The postdoctoral researcher will collaborate on multiple research projects related to nonprofits, civil society, and strong communities, and work under the supervision of Director Pamela Paxton. 

Postdoctoral Scholar Activities 

• Project research involving quantitative data tasks including data collection, extraction, coding, and analysis. 

• Publish manuscripts and articles based on analyses. 

• Oversee lab management and graduate research assistants. 

• Provide mentoring to graduate students interested in research field. 

Required Qualifications 

• A completed PhD received no more than three years prior to the start date in sociology, nonprofit administration, political science, or related disciplines. 

• Strong verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to work in a team environment, participate actively, and motivate others. 

• Excellent time management skills and ability to work independently. 

• Experience managing and analyzing quantitative data using sophisticated statistical or computer programming techniques, proficiency in R or Stata, and ability to apply rigorous data analysis techniques to real-world problems. 

This position is currently funded for at least 2 years from start date and may therefore be renewed after the first year based upon availability of funding, work performance, and progress toward research goals. The salary for this position will be $70,000+, depending on qualifications. Review of applications will begin on April 1, 2024 and will continue until the position is filled. 

For more information and to apply please visit: 

https://utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UTstaff/job/UT-MAIN-CAMPUS/Postdoctoral-Researcher_R_00032249

Required Materials 

• Cover letter / letter of interest 

• CV that includes the names and contact information for 3 references 

• Research statement 

• Writing sample 

Call for Papers: British Journal of Industrial Relations Special Issue—Technological Change, Power and Work

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Aim and Scope

This British Journal of Industrial Relations Special Issue invites contributions that apply comparative perspectives on Technological Change, Power, and Work, with a focus on Europe and North America (specifically the USA and Canada). The Special Issue is based upon two workshop sessions organized by Valeria Pulignano (KU Leuven) and Chris Tilly (UCLA) at the ILERA/LERA World Congress26- 30 June 2024.

Research in sociology and political economy from socio-economic and socio-political traditions on industrial relations and work have broadly investigated the challenges posed by technological change in workplaces, sectors, and countries alike. These topics have been the subject of great interest within the tradition of labour, industrial, and employment relations studies, especially since the work of Braverman (1974). In contrast to the dominant functionalist view, which simplifies and limits the understanding of technical development by assuming that a society’s technology only advances based on its internal efficiency-driven logic (Dunlop, 1958), while also influencing the development of social structure and cultural values to make all industrial societies more similar (Kerr et al., 1973[1960]), studies in the tradition of labour process theories, industrial sociology, and political economy have widely acknowledged that ‘technology is not deterministic and neutral’ (Bélanger and Edwards, 2007: 717), and that industrial relations institutions can play a key role in mediating the effects of such technology. At the same time, these studies have appreciated that technology can ‘offer a more or less favourable ground for job autonomy, control over work, and power’ (Bélanger, 2006: 336) by demonstrating how patterns of management control, worker effort and workplace conflict are tied to the labour process (e.g., Burawoy, 1985), and how much of this control is exercised through the ‘technical and the human organization of work’ (Thompson, 1989: 19). In so doing, these studies have facilitated a deeper understanding of the workers’ experiences of autonomy and the alienating conditions of their work (Blauner, 1964). Such perspectives, therefore, have the potential to explain how the design and implementation of a given technology is likely to shape the balance of power, coercion and legitimation used by management to govern labour in a way that reflects the social context (and the nature of the employment relationship) in which technologies are embedded.

The role of technology is especially topical in our current time of digital transformation that is (re)shaping the traditional way work is organized, the employment relationship is governed, and labour is monitored within (and across) different workplaces, industries, and countries. These changes will doubtless produce new ways of working that in turn potentially reconfigure existing ‘occupations’ by fostering the emergence of new ‘digital talents’, the regulation and governance of which will be informed both by old and new ideas of power and work.

We invite contributions that explore both the theoretical and empirical aspects of different and emerging technologies that are currently transforming workplaces, including both traditional technological tools

like automation and new ones like digitalization, robotization and AI, with particular attention to the technologies affecting frontline workers. Our main focus is on understanding how these technologies are socially integrated within particular sectors and workplaces. We need to consider the power dynamics that drive how work is reorganized and assess their effects on labour, such as work intensification, industrial democracy, and workers’ autonomy and discretion in the workplace. Power is a central interest, and we welcome articles that explore the power of employers, forms of individual and collective resistance and influence by workers and trade unions to negotiate technological change, and interventions by states at both national and supra-national levels. We welcome articles that explore the opportunities and resources available for organised labour to mobilise in countering some of the more deleterious effects of technological change. We also welcome analyses that seek to understand the ways race, gender, immigration status and other demographic and identity attributes affect experiences of, and responses to, the use of these emerging technologies. Accordingly, the Special Issue invites contributions that limit attention to frontline workers in Europe, the USA, and Canada in order to facilitate comparison of these changes across jobs that are at least somewhat similar and economies with relatively similar levels of wealth but very distinct sets of institutions. To further facilitate comparison, we are specifically seeking theoretically driven, empirically rich and policy relevant articles.

We are especially interested in rich empirical contributions that carefully study the processes and dynamics underpinning the social embeddedness of new and old technologies within (and across) contemporary workplaces and sectors. This can involve examining the ideational perspectives and viewpoints. IR literature has widely illustrated how ideas can function as instruments to mobilize and garner public support for the less privileged individuals or groups without established institutional authority (Frege, 2005; Hauptmeier and Heery, 2014; Morgan and Hauptmeier, 2021). We are also interested in theoretical contributions that enable us to advance toward a coherent framework of how and when power dynamics around work matter for identified outcomes around technology at work.

Brief outline of process

Interested contributors will first submit a long abstract (max. 1,000 words, excluding references). The abstract should clearly outline the research question(s) or purpose of the proposed paper, as well as how the paper advances the study of technological change, power, and work in the field of employment and industrial relations. Include a brief description of the empirical analysis used and/or an illustration of the theoretical model to be developed. The deadline for submitting the long abstract is the end of July 2024.

Long abstracts should be sent via email to the Guest Editor (peter.turnbull@bristol.ac.uk). The Guest Editor will evaluate the abstracts and invite full papers from a subset of authors. The deadline for submission of full papers will be 28 February 2025. All full papers will undergo double-blind review. Based on the blind reviews and editors’ choice, a subset of invited papers will be selected for the Special Issue.

Abstracts are due by 31 July 2024.

Complete papers will be due by 28 February 2025.

OOW Virtual Panel on Technology and Work, Occupations, and Inequality

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Join our lively discussion of directions for sociological work on prescient topics like AI, work automation, surveillance,  digitization, algorithmic management, and platform work, as well as on the implications for inequality along lines of  class, race/ethnicity, and gender.  

DATE: Thursday, May 2, 2024 

TIME: 10am-11am EST 

Please contact the moderator for the Zoom link at argun@ku.edu. 

PANELISTS:  

Dr. Ya-Wen Lei, Harvard University. Her recent research focuses on work automation and augmentation, and on techno-state  capitalism. Dr. Lei’s scholarship spans across political sociology, sociology work and labor, economic sociology, and science and  technology studies. She is the lead of author of “Automation and Augmentation: AI, Robots, and Work,” Annual Review of Sociology (2024) and the author of “Delivering Solidarity: Platform Architecture and Collective Contention in China’s Platform Economy,”  American Sociological Review (2021), “Upgrading China through Automation: Manufacturers, Workers and the Techno Developmental State,” Work, Employment and Society (2022), and The Gilded Cage: Technology, Development, and State  Capitalism in China (Princeton University Press, 2023).  

Dr. Karen Levy, Cornell University. She researches how law and technology interact to regulate social life, with particular focus on  social and organizational aspects of surveillance. Much of Dr. Levy’s research analyzes the uses of monitoring for social control in  various contexts, from long-haul trucking to intimate relationships. She is also interested in how data collection uniquely impacts,  and is contested by, marginalized populations. She is the author of Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace  

Surveillance (Princeton University Press, 2023) and “Privacy Threats in Intimate Relationships,” Journal of Cybersecurity (2020)  

Dr. Lindsey Cameron, University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on how algorithmic management is changing the modern  workplace, with an emphasis on the gig economy. Professor Cameron has an on-going, seven-year ethnography of the largest  sector of the gig economy, the ride-hailing industry, examining how algorithmic management changes managerial control. She is  the author of “The Making of the ‘Good Bad’ Job: How Algorithmic Management Repurposes Workplace Consent through Constant  and Confined Choice,” Administrative Science Quarterly (2024), and “’Making out’ While Driving: Relational and Efficiency Games  in the Gig Economy,” Organization Science (2022). 

Dr. Benjamin Shestakofsky, University of Pennsylvania. His research centers on the relationship between work, technology, organizations, and political economy. Some of his recent projects examine the hidden workers who support AI systems, the governance of digital platforms, and how venture capital affects organizational culture and change in the tech industry. He is the author of Behind the Startup How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality (University of California Press, 2024), and co-author of “Making Platforms Work: Relationship Labor and the Management of Publics,” Theory and Society (2020). 

Moderated by Dr. Argun Saatcioglu, University of Kansas

Upcoming!: THE NORTHEASTERN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH CONFERENCE ON ORGANIZATION SCIENCES, April 3.

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The annual Northeastern University Qualitative Research Conference will be held virtually on April 3, 2024, from 10am to 1pm EST! The conference is free of charge. Register here.

The aim of the conference is to build a global community of qualitative scholars in order to advance qualitative methods and develop junior scholars. To do so, we have invited a group of amazing qualitative scholars to discuss the following topics: 
 
1) “The dos and don’ts of mixed methods”

Panelists: Kim Elsbach (UC Davis), Siobhan O’Mahony (Boston University), Michael Pratt (Boston College), Aruna Ranganathan (UC Berkeley)

2) “Sharing best practices in qualitative Research: Recommendations from the experts in the field.”

Panelists: Tima Bansal (Ivey), Christine Beckman (University of Southern California), Lindsey Cameron (Wharton), Matthew Grimes (University of Cambridge)

3) Plenary remarks: Kisha Lashley (University of Virgina)

New Book: “Long Live Queer Nightlife” by Amin Ghaziani

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It’s closing time for an alarming number of gay bars in cities around the globe—but it’s definitely not the last dance.

In this exhilarating journey into underground parties, pulsating with life and limitless possibility, Amin Ghaziani unveils the unexpected revolution revitalizing urban nightlife. Far from the gay bar with its largely white, gay male clientele, here is a dazzling scene of secret parties—club nights—wherein culture creatives, many of whom are queer, trans, and racial minorities, reclaim the night in the name of those too long left out. Episodic, nomadic, and radically inclusive, club nights are refashioning the organizational format of queer nightlife as a field in boundlessly imaginative and powerfully defiant ways. Drawing on Ghaziani’s immersive encounters at underground parties in London and more than one hundred riveting interviews with everyone from bar owners to party producers, revelers to rabble-rousers, Long Live Queer Nightlife showcases a spectacular, if seldom-seen, vision of a queer world shimmering with self-empowerment, inventiveness, and joy.

Order the book here: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691253855/long-live-queer-nightlife

New Book: “Behind the Startup-How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality” by Benjamin Shestakofsky

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This systematic analysis of everyday life inside a tech startup dissects the logic of venture capital and its consequences for entrepreneurs, workers, and societies.

https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520395039/behind-the-startup

In recent years, dreams about our technological future have soured as digital platforms have undermined privacy, eroded labor rights, and weakened democratic discourse. In light of the negative consequences of innovation, some blame harmful algorithms or greedy CEOs. Behind the Startup focuses instead on the role of capital and the influence of financiers. Drawing on nineteen months of participant-observation research inside a successful Silicon Valley startup, this book examines how the company was organized to meet the needs of the venture capital investors who funded it.

Investors push startups to scale as quickly as possible to inflate the value of their asset. Benjamin Shestakofsky shows how these demands create organizational problems that managers solve by combining high-tech systems with low-wage human labor. With its focus on the financialization of innovation, Behind the Startup explains how the gains generated by these companies are funneled into the pockets of a small cadre of elite investors and entrepreneurs. To promote innovation that benefits the many rather than the few, Shestakofsky compellingly argues that we must focus less on fixing the technology and more on changing the financial infrastructure that supports it.

New Book: “The Interloper: Lessons from Resistance in the Field” by Michel Anteby

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Michel Anteby. 2024. The Interloper: Lessons from Resistance in the Field, Princeton University Press.

https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691255378/the-interloper

Resistance is the bane of all field researchers, who are often viewed as interlopers when they enter a community and start asking questions. People obstruct investigations and hide evidence. They shelve complaints, silence dissent, and even forget their own past and deny having done so. How can we learn about a community when its members resist so strongly? The answer is that the resistance itself is sometimes the key. In The Interloper, Michel Anteby explains how community members often disclose more than intended when they close ranks and create obstacles. He draws insights from diverse stories of resistance by uncooperative participants—from Nazi rocket scientists and Harvard professors to Disney union busters and people who secure cadavers for medical school dissection—to reveal how field resistance manifests itself and how researchers can learn from it. He argues that many forms of resistance are retrospectively telling, and that these forms are the routine products, not by-products, of the field. That means that resistance mechanisms are not only indicative of something else happening; instead, they often are the very data points that can shed light on how participants make sense of their worlds.