Berlin Summer School

The summer school aims at supporting young researchers by strengthening their ability in linking theory and empirical research. The two-week program creates an excellent basis for the development of their current research designs.

In the first week, we address the key methodological challenges of concept-building, causation/explanation, and micro-macro linkage that occur in almost all research efforts. We strive for a clarification of the epistemological foundations underlying methodological paradigms. In the second week, these methodological considerations are applied to central empirical fields of research in political science, sociology, and other related disciplines. In this second part of the program, participants are assigned to four thematic groups according to their own research topics. The thematic areas covered are: “External Governance, Inter-regionalism, and Domestic Change”, “Citizenship, Migration, and Identities”, “Social Struggle and Globalization”, and “Democracy at the Crossroads”.

The international summer school is open to 50 PhD candidates, advanced master students, and young postdocs. The call for applications is currently open. Applications can be submitted online via the application form on the summer school webpage until March 31, 2017.

Bergen Summer Research School

‘Migration and the (Inter-)National Order of Things. Law, state practices and resistance’, June 12-22 2017.

This interdisciplinary PhD course aims to deepen the understanding of the politics of protection and control of contemporary migration. It asks: How are migrants given different bureaucratic and legal identities (e.g. refugees, stateless persons, irregular migrants) and what are the consequences of such distinctions and labels? What protection does international law and humanitarian institutions offer to different categories of people? What are the spatial, temporal and gendered implications of the protection and control practices aimed at migrants? And, how are the legal and bureaucratic identities, and institutions of migration control, challenged by migrants themselves?

This course is one of six parallel courses in 2017, spanning disciplines within health, humanities, and social sciences. In addition to the courses, there will be a series of joint sessions about research tools for PhD candidates, but also plenary sessions with keynotes, debates, and an excursion.

For more information and for applications, please visit the summer school website.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL NOMINEES MUST BE REGISTERED MEMBERS OF THE ASA TO BE CONSIDERED FOR SECTION AWARDS

Political Sociology Section Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship (Book) Award

Deadline: 3/15/2017

This award is given annually to the outstanding recent book in political sociology (we will not consider edited books for this award). To be eligible, the book must have a 2016 copyright date. The selection committee encourages self-nominations or suggestions of work by others. Nominations from publishers will not be accepted. To nominate a book for this award: 1) send a short letter (via e-mail) nominating the book to each committee member below and 2) have a copy of the book sent to each committee member, at the addresses below. Winners will be notified and announced prior to the ASA meetings allowing presses to advertise the prize-winning book. The deadline for nominations is March 15, 2017.

Committee

Dana Fisher, Chair, University of Maryland, drfisher@umd.edu
2112 Parren Mitchell Art-Sociology Building, 3834 Campus Drive, College Park, MD 20742

Elizabeth Popp Berman, University at Albany, epberman@albany.edu
Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY 12222

Elizabeth Holzer, University of Connecticut, Elizabeth.holzer@uconn.edu
Sociology Dept & Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut, 344 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT 06269

Rima Wilkes, University of British Columbia, wilkesr@mail.ubc.ca
Sociology, 6303 NW Marine Drive, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada

Political Sociology Section Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship (Article or Book Chapter) Award

Deadline: 3/15/2017

This award is offered annually for the outstanding recently published article or chapter in political sociology. To be eligible, submissions must have a 2016 publication date. The selection committee encourages either self-nominations or suggestions of work by others. (Please note that each author may have only one article nominated.) A brief nomination letter and a copy of the article or chapter should be sent to each selection committee member at the e-mail address below.

The deadline for nominations is March 15, 2017.

Committee

Amy Binder, Chair, University of California, San Diego, abinder@ucsd.edu

Sandra Levitsky, University of Michigan, slevitsk@umich.edu

Nina Eliasoph, University of Southern California, eliasoph@usc.edu

Carly Elizabeth Schall, IUPUI, cschall@iupui.edu

Political Sociology Section Best Graduate Student Paper Award

Deadline: 3/15/2017

This award is offered annually for the best graduate student paper in political sociology. Persons who were graduate students at any time during calendar year 2016 are invited to submit published or unpublished papers for this award. To be eligible, papers must be either single authored or co-authored by two or more graduate students. Articles co-authored (and/or subsequently published jointly) by a faculty and a student are not eligible. Please note that each author may have only one article nominated. A brief nomination letter and a copy of the article or chapter should be sent to each selection committee member at the e-mail addresses below. The deadline for nominations is March 15, 2017.

Committee

G. Cristina Mora, Chair, University of California, Berkeley, gcristinamora2@gmail.com

Jennifer Hsu, University of Alberta, jhsu@ualberta.ca

Bin Xu, Emory University, bin.xu@emory.edu

Cristina Lacomba, Harvard University, cristina_fernandez-gutierrez@gse.harvard.edu

On March 18th, 2017, Saint Anselm College will host the third academic symposium in its American Election series. This year’s conference, entitled Broken: Barriers, Parties and the Conventional Wisdom in 2016 will explore the dynamics of the 2016 elections, including trends at the national and state levels, focusing on how this election broke new ground and turned the convention wisdom on its head. Papers are welcome exploring a wide range of topics connected to the 2016 elections, including proposals in the areas of campaigns and elections, candidates, foreign and domestic policy and the election, the role of faith, race, and gender in electoral politics, political party dynamics, and elections at the state level. The conference will be held at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, which has served as ground zero for New Hampshire’s first-in-the nation primary. The symposium format is designed to facilitate feedback and discussion; therefore participants are expected to attend the full day of sessions.

Selected papers presented at the conference will serve as drafts of chapters in a proposed edited volume. Papers that will to be considered for the volume should use the following format: 1) What is the conventional wisdom on the topic, and 2) Did the conventional wisdom hold in 2016? Papers selected for the volume will be limited to 5,000 words, and must use Chicago style formatting (with in-text/parenthetical citations).

Proposals of not more than 250 words must be submitted by December 15th, 2016, to ensure full consideration. Please submit proposals to Dr. Tauna Sisco, at tsisco@anselm.edu. Further details about the conference, including registration fees, accommodations, and a tentative schedule of events, will be available on the conference website as details are announced. The website can be found at: http://www.anselm.edu/Institutes-Centers-and-the-Arts/NH-Institute-of-Politics/Programs/American-Elections-Conference-.htm

An International, Interdisciplinary Conference sponsored by the World Society Foundation May 11-13, 2017, Barcelona, Spain, http://globalinequalitiesconference.weebly.com/

How can development occur in the face of mounting global inequalities and the rapid depletion of the world’s resource base? Innovative approaches are needed to better understand recent trends in the distribution of wealth, income and opportunities in the capitalist world economy, and more fully comprehend the availability, use, and governance of resources. Original ideas are equally needed to gain insights into the transformative politics that might help to address the tensions and possible trade-offs between inequality reduction and sustainability.

Co-organized by the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), the World Society Foundation (WSF), the Sociology of Development Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA), and the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD), this conference invites scholars, practitioners and policy-makers to explore new directions for analyzing these pressing challenges and identify the kinds of institutions, policies, and collective action that are (or would be) necessary for achieving the reduction of global inequalities in a sustainable manner.

Confirmed keynoters include Catherine Boone (LSE), Melani Cammett (Harvard), Patrick Heller (Brown), Sam Hickey (Manchester), Timur Kuran (Duke), Branko Milanovic (CUNY), and Maristella Svampa (CONICET).

The WSF provides 30 travel grants to participants for cover their travel and accommodation costs. These grants are given on a competetive basis for the strongest paper submissions, though with a preference for graduate students, and scholars and policymakers working at institutions in the Global South.

The organizing committee will develop sessions based on the pool of submissions it receives and group related papers into thematically connected panels.