Copenhagen Business School invites applications for two open positions in Organization Theory in the Department of Organization. The open positions include a two-year postdoc (with an optional additional third year of teaching) and a three-year assistant professor (with six months of teaching) on Jane Bjørn Vedel’s research program on how large-scale funding impacts organizational forms in higher education.
The successful candidates will work with her team in a collaborative project that aims at generating novel insights on a topic of significant societal importance and publishing them in high-impact journals within Organization and Management Theory. She is looking for candidates who can move to Copenhagen, have good qualitative skills, and who want to join her team in elucidating some of the main drivers of organizational change in academia.
Start date September 1, 2024, and deadline is January 29, 2024.
Socio-Economic Review Cafe: The Financialization of Households
Featuring a conversation with SER authors Marek Mikuš (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology), and Xiaojing Wang and Anne-Marie Ward (both of Ulster University)
Join us for a discussion of how the state and the financial economy are implicated in contemporary household finance. Bobek, Mikuš, and Sokol, in “Making sense of the financialization of households,” review the state-of-the-art literature on this topic and argue that household participation in the financial economy constitutes “a systematic transfer of value from the bottom of society to the top.” Wang and Ward advance a policy proposal for resolving household overindebtedness in their paper “Socio-economic framework for the design of national household insolvency systems,” that takes into account variations in political orientations to indebtedness and levels of social insurance provisions between countries.
Come and join us to discuss how socioeconomic research on household financialization can inform policy solutions for its negative consequences. The event will take place on Wednesday, January 24th, at 9AM PST/12PM EST/6PM CET. Register at this link!
As with all SER Cafe events, we will facilitate a dynamic conversation with the authors. No lengthy talks. Our authors look forward to your questions and comments.
We Thought It Would Be Heaven: Refugees in an Unequal America reveals how organizational obstacles block access to valuable resources for recently resettled refugee families in the United States. This vibrant ethnography brings into focus the many complex organizations that refugee families (like all families) juggle in their day-to-day lives—workplaces, schools, financial institutions, and social service programs. These organizations are interconnected but not coordinated and are rife with hurdles and errors. Seemingly small organizational errors—missing a deadline, mistaking a rule, or misplacing a form—can tangle processes into “knots.” These minor mistakes grind systems to a halt, creating catastrophes as food stamps are cut off, educational opportunities are missed, and benefits are not accessed. Echoing Charles Perrow’s work on “normal accidents” in high-risk technology organizations, Sackett and Lareau find that the complexity, scrutiny, and necessity of proving deservedness increase the likelihood of errors and snags in procedures. Moreover, as refugee families navigate a complex web of social service organizations, problems in one arena can reverberate, creating new challenges in other institutions. By revealing the organizational obstacle course these newcomer families faced, We Thought It Would Be Heaven illuminates key mechanisms of inequality in America.
Big societal challenges such as the climate crisis, proliferating democracy deficits, intensifying casualisation and digitalisation of work and widening inequalities require rethinking the ways we organise to achieve change. Professions and professional organizations have often challenged established bureaucratic was of organizing and have provided alternatives such as partnerships and collegial forms, aiming to maintain high degrees of autonomy. In this stream, we invite you to think about organising beyond hierarchies in professional settings in the public, private or civil sectors and to ponder with us how alternative forms of organising might challenge or affirm the status quo, lead to or stagnate progress, advance or hinder equalities.
Due: Tuesday, January 9, 2024, 23:59:59 CET [Central European Time]
In this sub-theme we take an eco-systems approach to studying shifting state-organization-profession-user (inter)dependencies and their consequences on policy, organization and practice levels. We seek to contribute to the reinvention of professionalism as an increasingly political and economic endeavour, discussing (amongst others) the micro-political practices of priority setting, data-driven surveillance and modelling, economic rationing and repair work, as well as the (conflicting) valuations and accountability regimes these involve. At the same time, we acknowledge that the micro-political dynamics of organising professional work are both constitutive of and framed by wider institutional, ideological and macro-political rationalities.
We invite contributions that address the following themes and questions, but we are also interested in related contributions exploring a new politics of professionalism under pressure:
What new risks and uncertainties in the organization of expert work and the provision of health and welfare services are emerging in the ‘after-crisis’, and how do they exacerbate and/or create new pressures on professionals and professionalism?
What new (inter)dependencies emerge between state-level actors, organizations, professionals, and service users in times of uncertainty, scarcity and austerity and with what kinds of precariousness?
Technological innovations and new forms of knowledge create new possibilities, affordances, and challenges. How do professionals and organizations signal and respond to these developments, and how do they shape professionalism as a social and lived phenomenon?
How can this emerging set of questions around the micro, meso and macro politics and practices of professionalism be theorized as ‘professionalism under pressure’ in times of uncertainty and precariousness?
Short papers should focus on the main ideas of the paper, this means, they should explain the purpose of the paper, theoretical background, the research gap that is addressed, the approach taken, the methods of analysis (in empirical papers), main findings, and contributions. In addition, it is useful to indicate clearly how the paper links with the sub-theme and the overall theme of the Colloquium, although not all papers need to focus on the overall theme. Creativity, innovativeness, theoretical grounding, and critical thinking are typical characteristics of EGOS papers.
Your short paper should comprise 3,000 words (incl. references, appendices and other material). Please take note of the Guidelines and criteria for the submission of short papers at EGOS Colloquia.
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland is looking to fill the position of a full professor of sociology with a focus on “micro-organizational sociology” (100%) starting February 1, 2025.
You are responsible for the area of organizational sociology that relates to processes of organizing. In teaching and research, you will contribute to the conceptual-theoretical and empirical development of the field. In your empirical work you approach processes of organizing within and between organizations from a sociological perspective.
The University of Lucerne explicitly encourages qualified female scientists to apply.
A growing literature highlights the experiences of first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students on college campuses. However, these studies often conflate the positions of middle- and upper-class students. Using interviews with undergraduates at one elite institution, the author shows how upper-middle-class students responded to upward and downward cross-class encounters. Perceiving a status threat from above, students responded to interactions with rich peers through stereotypical denigration. Yet prolonged exposure to the rich resulted in another tactic, selective legitimation, which maintained that wealthy individuals who performed “awareness” could be morally rehabilitated. Encounters with FGLI classmates led respondents to view themselves as lucky or “privileged” for having escaped hardship, leading to rituals of deference aimed at muting the salience of class difference. Finally, despite their heightened recognition of class inequality, respondents drew equivalences between the problems of rich and poor students, ultimately denying the relevance of privilege in determining individual worth.
The Program Committee has put together a terrific set of sessions for next summer’s ASA meeting in Montreal (see the listing below). Thanks go to committee chair (and section Chair-Elect) Sarah Thebaud and members Daniel Hirschman, James Chu, Mariana Craciun, Tracey Adams, Laura Adler, Josh Seim, Katherine Weisshaar, Minjae Kim, Maria Charles, Megan Tobias Neely, and Tiffany Chow, for all the work involved in what promises to be a very exciting program.
Submissions for the annual meeting are now open! The deadline is February 26, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. In addition to paper/extended abstract submissions, proposals will be accepted for courses, workshops, preconferences, the Sociology in Practice Settings Symposium, and the Teaching and Learning Symposium. Details on the submission process may be found here, the listing of section sessions is here, and the online portal is available here.
Due to possible significant delays in processing, be sure to get started on obtaining/renewing your passport and other travel documents now. Review the Canada Border Services Agency web page for information about required travel documentation.
The Membership Committee is planning a series of informal book/article discussions for the winter and spring, with the first one slated for mid-January. Details were not quite ready by press time, so keep an eye out for an update shortly. Thanks to committee chair Laura Doering and members Julie Kmec, Argun Saatcioglu, and Jonathan Horowitz for their terrific work.
We’re always interested in announcing opportunities and showcasing the activities and accomplishments of section members. Send job and postdoc announcements, calls for papers, new books and articles, and other noteworthy events to me (please put “OOW NEWS” in the subject line) or for more immediate posting to the section website and blog, to oow.section.asa@gmail.com.
We invite paper submissions under the broad topic of organizations, including studies that assess their structures, norms, policies, and practices, as well as the environments in which they operate.
(Session Organizer) Daniel Hirschman, Cornell University; (Session Organizer) James Y. Chu, Columbia University
Professional and Expert Work
Papers in this session will focus on the topic of professional and expert work.
(Session Organizer) Mariana Craciun, Tulane University; (Session Organizer) Tracey Adams, Western University
The Changing Nature of Work
Papers in this session will focus on topics relating to contemporary changes and challenges in work and labor markets, such as the rise of remote work, AI, climate change, and precarious work.
(Session Organizer) Laura Adler, Yale University; (Session Organizer) Josh Seim, Boston College
Work and Labor Processes
Papers in this session will focus on work and labor processes.
(Session Organizer) Katherine Weisshaar, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; (Session Organizer) Minjae Kim, Rice University
Workplace and Occupational Inequality
Papers in this session will focus on workplace and occupational inequality.
(Session Organizer) Maria Charles, University of California-Santa Barbara; (Session Organizer) Megan Tobias Neely, Copenhagen Business School; (Session Organizer) Tiffany Y. Chow
Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Refereed Roundtables
(Session Organizer) Sarah Thebaud, University of California-Santa Barbara
ASA NEWS
Send Nominations for 2024 ASA Awards
Honor your colleagues by submitting nominations for ASA awards. Click on the links below to read the award calls. The deadline for nominations is January 1, 2024.
The Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites applications for a Senior Full Professor to fill the William Burwell Harrison Distinguished Professorship of Sociology. We seek applications from scholars specializing in any area of Sociology who exhibit a record of strong and innovative research and excellence in teaching. Applications from scholars studying immigration, work or inequality are especially welcome. Candidates’ work should align with our departmental mission and values as outlined on our website.
The following information applies to applications for the 2024-25 cohort of postdoctoral fellows. The application cycle for this cohort will open on November 16, 2023 and will close on January 15, 2024.
The Digital Civil Society Lab brings promising new scholars to Stanford University for 1 year appointments (renewable once, for a total of two years) as postdoctoral fellows. Each fellow will be primarily affiliated with the Digital Civil Society Lab, and potentially cross-affiliated with a department or school at Stanford University depending on the fellow’s specific disciplinary focus.
The annual fellowship stipend is $75,000 plus the standard benefits that postdoctoral fellows at Stanford University receive, including health insurance and travel funds. The fellowship program falls under U.S. Immigration J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa activities.
The start date of the fellowship will be September 2024, unless otherwise agreed. To assume a postdoctoral fellowship, scholars must have a PhD in hand by July 1, 2024. We cannot consider applications from scholars who earned a PhD earlier than September 1, 2021.
We encourage applications from candidates representing a broad range of disciplines including the social sciences, humanities, law, computer science and engineering.
Call for submissions: SASE Network H: Markets, Firms and Institutions
2024 SASE conference in Limerick, 27-29 June 2024
Deadline: 19 January 2024
Network H focuses on the interrelationships between markets, firms, and institutions. We welcome a wide range of theoretical perspectives (e.g. political economy, economic sociology, management studies, neo-institutionalism, and comparative institutional analysis).
Welcome topics include but are not limited to: financial systems and financialization; markets and marketization; strategy, corporate governance, employment relations, and the labor process; varieties of capitalism and growth models/accumulation regimes; institutions and institutional change; internationalization and regional integration.
Network H will be organizing 2 virtual sessions in the week prior to the conference, for those who cannot be present in Limerick. No hybrid option is possible. There are limited virtual spots available, and this option is only meant for those who would not be able to attend the conference at all otherwise. These sessions will be included in the program, and those presenting virtually will be required to pay SASE membership (but not registration fees).
SASE accepts 2 types of submissions: abstracts and panels. There are three possible types of panels you can submit – a pre-formed panel with multiple paper presentations, a roundtable discussion panel, or a Book Salon (see here for some examples; these panels include a book author and 2-4 discussants).
Call for submissions: SASE Network D: Professions and Professionals in a globalizing world
2024 SASE conference in Limerick, 27-29 June 2024
Deadline for abstracts: 19 January 2024
Network organisers: Tracey Adams, James Faulconbridge, Elizabeth Gorman, Sigrid Quack and Len Seabrooke
Professions and professionals have long had a central role in economy and society, and in the current era they remain as central as ever. In particular, professions and professionals play a central role in addressing some of the key socio-economic concerns of our time, from climate change to corporate governance, ageing populations to trade regulation. There are, however, some distinctive features of the contemporary role of professions and professionals compared to earlier eras. The meaning of the term profession and professional has evolved. Alongside the ‘traditional’ professions such as accountancy, architecture, law and medicine, a series of ‘new’ professions and professionals have emerged, such as management consultancy and project management, that rely on discourses of expertise, ethics and client service to carve out a role in markets and legitimise claims to a role in issues ‘old’ professions also claim jurisdiction over. Professionals frequently work in large, often multinational organizations that they shape with discourses and identities while being at the same time inserted in new forms of division of labour with other occupational groups. Professions and professionals increasingly operate in and form transnational regimes, and practice in and exert influence through large and global professional service firms but also non-professional organizations as diverse as charities, lobby groups and non-governmental organizations. They also form compacts with corporations, states, and inter-governmental organizations to advance one-another’s interests. Hence, change, re-scaling, redefinition, and re-organization are core themes at the heart of work on professions and professionals.
We invite papers that cover the full spectrum of empirical and theoretical topics relevant to professions and professionals. Previous conferences have included papers from intellectual traditions and disciplines including sociology, political science, economics, geography, anthropology and management studies.
We also invite submissions of full panel sessions (with already identified papers/speakers) on a defined professions related topic.
Subtheme 71: ” The Impact of Organizational Practices on Workplace Diversity and Inequality “
We would like to bring to your attention the colloquium on “The Impact of Organizational Practices on Workplace Diversity and Inequality,” which we are convening as part of the European Group of Organization Studies’ (EGOS) 40th annual conference in Milan, Italy. The conference will take place on July 4-6, 2024.
Our purpose is to bring together a group of researchers who share a concern for advancing our knowledge of the mechanisms through which organizations influence diversity and inequality in the labor market. We welcome papers from different disciplines and at all levels of analysis.
If you are interested, we encourage you to submit a short paper (3,000 words) before January 9th, 2024. You can access the call for papers here:
If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact us
Best regards,
Emilio J. Castilla (MIT)
Isabel Fernandez-Mateo (London Business School)
NEW ARTICLES
Jablonski, E. S., Phillips, K. G., & Henly, M. (forthcoming). “Employment Barriers Experienced at Different Job Acquisition Stages by People With and Without Disabilities.” Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Organizations, Occupations and Work 