Southern Sociological Society
2027 Annual Meeting
CALL FOR PAPERS
Submission Due Date: October 2, 2026
Interdisciplinary Sociology: The Bridge to Engagement
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans Marriott Warehouse Arts District Hotel
April 14-17, 2027
President
Marni Brown, Georgia Gwinnett College
Program Chairs
Marisela Martinez-Cola, Morehouse College
Dresden Lackey, Wofford College
As sociologists and social scientists, we study trends and patterns, social behavior, problems, and institutions. Over the years, our SSS meetings have covered an array of important and pressing sociological topics, methodological practices, new theoretical approaches, and engaged in teaching and learning approaches. The 2027 SSS meeting will explore how sociologists participate in interdisciplinary practice. This could look like integrating sociology with interdisciplinary studies, merging programs to form interdisciplinary departments, working on multidisciplinary projects and grants, or engaging in interdisciplinary teaching practices.
The social sciences, including sociology, have become more interdisciplinary. At a time when higher education and disciplines like sociology remain under threat, it is vital to highlight our role in interdisciplinary efforts. This meeting theme is about bridging topics across disciplines. For example, if you study food apartheid and insecurity, sociologists, anthropologists, health scientists, and public health experts are needed to understand and address the issues that cause such depravity for communities. Black maternal health requires experts from public health, medicine, sociology, and education. Racial and gender pay gaps in sports are not just a sociological issue, but can also be studied by exercise scientists, public health and legal experts, as well as economists. Together, we can develop solutions from a variety of perspectives and explore many other kinds of questions that require an understanding of human behavior and social institutions.
Don’t get me wrong, I love what we do as sociologists, but it is important to see how our interdisciplinary paths work together. I work in an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary department and spend most of my time teaching and working with colleagues from a range of disciplines (Anthropology, Religion, Philosophy, Social Work, Gender Studies, and Health Sciences). Many of us have come to work in interdisciplinary departments, and I want the 2027 meeting to address what interdisciplinary sociology looks like; this is important, as it is the future of sociology and many aspects of higher education.
- For those of us not working in higher ed (teaching, research, admin), what is the application of interdisciplinary sociology in the real world?
- Teaching Sociology with interdisciplinarity in mind
- Including study abroad and international travel
- Work in interdisciplinary departments
- Doing interdisciplinary research
- Talking and presenting to interdisciplinary audiences
- What have been the strengths and what have been the challenges of this kind of work?
For many of us, attending the Southern Sociological Society meetings is where we share our work, talk with colleagues and friends, be part of communities, and learn from one another. Now more than ever, we need community. And community that is not just sociologists, but for and with our interdisciplinary siblings. We are fortunate to find ourselves meeting in NOLA again, a city that has been kind to SSS in years past. Welcome Back!
Submission Details
The SSS annual meeting is constructed entirely out of member submissions. Submissions are considered from the breadth and depth of the discipline, regardless of the theme of the 2027 Annual Conference. There are six submission types: individual papers, poster presentations, full session proposals, flash talks, roundtables, and special sessions.
To submit to SSS 2027, please visit our membership portal.
Important notes:
- The information submitted through the portal will appear exactly as entered (including capitalization) by the submitter. Therefore, enter your paper title, author names, and affiliations as you wish to appear in the program. Also, time slots are limited; thus, participants may serve in no more than two presentation roles (e.g., author of a paper, panel participant, workshop leader, poster presenter, etc.). There are no restrictions on the number of times a participant may serve as a session presider or discussant.
- Please also consider the ways your work might fit into interdisciplinary conversation or analysis. One of the goals of this meeting is the interdisciplinary analysis of sociological work. Please consider how your research or presentation might contribute to this goal. You may also include a sentence or two in your abstract to indicate its connection to the program goal.
- New In 2026! – Interdisciplinary Coffee Hour: There will also be opportunities for informal, interdisciplinary collaborative conversations during our Interdisciplinary Coffee Hour each morning of the meeting. These informal coffee talks will allow attendees to chat about ideas in a relaxed setting, with no pressure to continue the conversation beyond the meeting. Instead, we encourage members to use this time to connect with others on a specific topic. Attendees are welcome to submit conversation topic ideas to the program chairs in advance. Examples of such conversation topics include body and gender, food and culture, aesthetics and aging, migration, sports and leisure, or environmental disasters. These interdisciplinary conversations could be more formally organized, but this must be communicated to a program chair committee person by the submission deadline.
- Individual Papers: You may submit extended abstracts of individual papers for potential inclusion in a regular paper session. These abstracts will be organized into sessions by members of the Program Committee based on common themes. All regular paper submissions should include: (a) the title of the paper, (b) names, affiliations, and contact information for each author, and (c) an extended abstract. Extended abstracts should be approximately 300-450 (max. 450) words and organized with the suggested three section headings: Objectives, Methods, and Findings. See helpful hints on writing extended abstracts here.
- Poster Presentations: You may submit abstracts for inclusion in a poster session. All poster submissions should include: (a) the title of the paper, (b) names, affiliations, and contact information for each author, and (c) an extended abstract. Extended abstracts should be approximately 300-450 words (max. 450) and organized with the suggested three section headings: Objectives, Methods, and Findings. See helpful hints on writing extended abstracts here. Posters should display relevant information in a way that is accessible (readable from a distance of six feet) and visually appealing. SSS provides easels, clips, and backing boards. Your poster should not exceed the size of the foam backing board (30” x 40”).
- Full Session Proposals: All full session proposals must include an abstract (max. 450 words) detailing the theme of the proposed session. This should include a brief description of the session’s potential broad appeal and/or its connections to the 2027 meeting theme, Interdisciplinary Sociology: The Bridge to Engagement, if relevant. All areas of sociology and related disciplines, such as Anthropology, History, Public Health, Social Work, Family Sciences, Political Science, and beyond, are welcome! If the session is submitted on behalf of an SSS Committee (or multiple committees), include this information in the session title. Additionally, you must include full details for all participants, including the submission title, submission type, abstract, three keywords, name, institution, email address, and position. Participants include the presider and organizer, the presenters or panelists, and the discussant, if applicable.
If you want to submit a full session proposal but do not have all the presenters, we can help you. Once you submit your full session proposal, please reach out to the Program Co-Chairs to ask SSS to send an email to recruit on your behalf. We will send out your request in a “Sessions Seeking Papers” email, which will be updated and subsequently circulated as a weekly digest. Also, for those of you looking for sessions to join, please email the person organizing it (their information will be included in the weekly digest). The organizer will notify you if they plan to add you to their session, and if so, will request your submission title, abstract, three keywords, name, institution, email address, and position. They will then submit the full session for all participants.
- Roundtables: You may submit extended abstracts of individual presentations for potential inclusion in a roundtable session. These abstracts will be organized into tables by members of the Program Committee based on common themes. All roundtable submissions should include: (a) the title of the paper, (b) names, affiliations, and contact information for each author, and (c) an extended abstract. Extended abstracts should be approximately 300-450 (max. 450) words and organized with the suggested three section headings: Objectives, Methods, and Findings. See helpful hints on writing extended abstracts here.
- Special Sessions: Members can submit ideas for a range of other special sessions, including workshops, mini-conferences, and Author-Meets-Curious-Readers (AMCR), among others. AMCR sessions spotlight books with broad enthusiasm across the SSS membership. AMCRs may be self-nominated and should include three to four potential ‘curious readers.’ Especially encouraged is an interdisciplinary panel of readers to discuss the work through different disciplinary lenses, regardless of whether the book itself is sociological or otherwise. Proposals for workshops on topics such as social change, pedagogy, methodology, networking, and publishing will also be considered. Proposals for AMCRs and workshop sessions should be sent directly to the program co-chairs for consideration and follow the guidelines described above under Full Session Proposals. We encourage AMCRs by scholars in various fields, both as authors and panelists; we are eager to feature scholars engaged in interdisciplinary work.
Submission Due Date: Friday, October 2, 2026
Submission and Registration Procedures
Anyone attending the meeting or listed in the program must be a current dues-paying member of SSS (except undergraduate observers and presenting undergraduate affiliates of SSS Departmental Members). All program participants (presenters, presiders, discussants, panelists, etc.) must also be registered for the annual meeting. Please note that attendees of the 2027 Annual Conference are strongly encouraged to pre-register for SSS 2027 by March 1, 2027.
Those who register after this date will pay increased on-site registration fees. You may
Join/renew your SSS membership, submit abstracts, and pre-register for the 2027 Annual Conference from our website: https://www.southernsociologicalsociety.org/.
Submission Steps:
- To make your submission, please use this link – 2027 Submission Link. You can also go to the SSS website, and click on the “Membership” tab, and then click on
- Once you enter, you may need to update your membership or profile information. Please take a moment to do so, or you may skip this step.
- As you will see on the left side of the portal, is a menu. Click on “Submit or Edit a Paper/Session.”
- Now that you are in the system, select whether you are submitting a “presentation” or a “session.” Most participants submit individual presentations.
- Click “+Add New” to begin the submission process.
- Please make sure to fill out all the fields provided so that the program committee can make the best decisions for your inclusion in sessions and the conference.
- As noted above, please also make sure to provide correct information, including appropriate spelling and grammar, for your titles, names, and affiliations. Being accurate helps the program committee ensure your information is correct in the final program.
Hotel Information
This year’s annual meeting will be held at the New Orleans Marriott Warehouse Arts District Hotel located at 859 Convention Center Boulevard, New Orleans, LA. You can go ahead and secure your SSS discounted reservation using this link. Our rate is $259/night, and this rate will increase after 5 p.m. on March 16, 2027. If you have questions about accommodation, please call the hotel at (504) 613-2859.
Transportation Information
If you plan to fly into New Orleans for the conference, you should book your airfare to the Louis Armstrong International Airport. There are taxi and ride-share options to accommodate your travel to and from the hotel, as well as seeing the rest of the Big Easy!
Anti-Harassment Policy
Our Annual Meeting is convened for professional development and scholarly educational interchange in the spirit of free inquiry and free expression. Harassment of colleagues, students, hotel staff, or other conference participants undermines the principle of equity at the heart of these professional fora. It is inconsistent with the principles of free inquiry and free expression. Please review our anti-harassment policy and meet our anti-harassment advocates here.
Please direct questions about the 2027 Annual Conference program to the program co-chairs (Drs. Dresden Lackey or Marisela Martinez-Cola).
Questions regarding membership or registration should be directed to:
webmaster@southernsociologicalsociety.org.