This is the first of our weekly digests of Sessions Seeking Papers for the SSS 2025 meeting. With the meeting’s theme “Sociology of the Future and the Future of Sociology,” President Dawn Robinson invites us to consider “how sociology can help us understand how to adapt, resist, and thrive in the face of this changing social landscape. We will look ahead and inward at the future of sociology as a discipline, a practice, and a profession. Presidential panels will focus on the future of sociological research, the future of sociology as a discipline, and the future of higher education. We invite thematic submissions on the future of … everything!”
You can read more about the theme and conference on our website. As our meetings assemble sessions and papers across the breadth and depth of sociology, Sessions Seeking Papers can be, but do not need to be, related to this year’s theme.
Sessions Seeking Papers (as of September 23, 2024)
Submit a Session Seeking Papers using this form. We encourage members to submit their SSPs by Sunday of each week to appear in the following week’s digest. Our weekly digests will continue until October 22nd. For any individual submissions to SSS 2025, please click here.
Contextualizing Menopause: Sociocultural Variation in the Menopausal Experiences of Women in the United States
Menopause is marked by a natural transition in female reproductive function. This transition can be summarized as the onset of declining ovary function (perimenopause) to the eventual biological cessation of reproduction (menopause/post-menopause). Recent data reveal great variation in women’s menopausal outcomes, specifically worse vasomotor symptoms (e.g., hot flashes/night sweats/sleep disturbances) and other health related outcomes for women of color, as compared to their white counterparts. Unfortunately, few studies have addressed the ways in which culture and various social factors underlie the journey through menopause. This session seeks to advance the knowledge in this area by recognizing and discussing these differences. By acknowledging the cultural and social variation in experience, we can work to ensure that all women receive the support and care they need during this significant life transition.
If you are interested in participating in this session, please submit your information by October 11th to Brandy H. Wallace (bhwalla@umbc.edu).
Diasporic Womanist Sociology Mini Conference
Theme: A Decolonial, Anti-racist Reclaiming of Our Souls, Our Priorities, And Our Time for Community-Facing Dialogue, Survival Scholarship, and Activism
Organizers: Dr. Sancha Medwinter, Dr. Tannuja Rozario, and Monisha Issano Jackson
We seek submissions for our 4th consecutive Diasporic Womanist Sociology mini-conference. Embracing a womanist epistemology, we welcome all mediums of knowledge (papers, essays, poetry, art, prose, spoken word etc.). We are interested in works that articulate decolonial, antiracist, and transnational womanist and/or feminist theory, method, praxis and/or pedagogy. For example, we are interested in critical scholarship on coloniality and neocolonialism, white supremacy, US hegemony, global racial capitalism, military occupation, cultural imperialism, and epistemic violence amongst other topics. We draw on and expand existing theories, politics and praxis of internationalist and decolonial scholars who exist in and bridge liminal spaces between the Global South and Global North such as Audre Lorde, Chandra Mohanty, Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Joy James, Lila Abu-Lughod, and Maria Lugones. In recognizing the continued need for members of Global South diasporas and other thinkers who are committed to internationalist understandings, we continue to carve out an emancipatory space within Sociology where we can articulate collaborative struggles and prioritize whole communities inside and beyond US borders. We advance a womanist framework that articulates women’s oppression, resistance, and survival as inextricably tied to the oppression, resistance, and survival of their families and communities. Therefore, we prioritize community-facing dialogue with and work against oppression alongside women, men, and gender-expansive community members as self- and community- affirming work that matters and work that counts. All paper submissions should go to the co-organizers of Special Session: Diasporic Womanist Sociology using this Google Form, https://forms.gle/orZMw9E1AixcSUg38 by October 24th. We will notify you of your acceptance as we receive them. Your submissions should include: submission title, abstract, three key words, name, institution, email, and position. Your abstracts should be approximately 300-450 (max. 450) words. Accepted submissions will be uploaded as full panels to the SSS portal on your behalf and you will receive an email confirmation from SSS. If you submit to the google form after our October 31st due date, also submit your paper to the SSS portal and ensure you write your title as “DW mini conference: [your title].” Please also notify us via email that you have done so. This will be the only way that we can track your submission and tag it to our mini conference. Submit early to go through the more streamlined process and increase your chances of acceptance. Contact Monisha Jackson, mjackson181@gsu.edu with any questions.
Work Values in Comparative Perspectives
Around the globe, work-related values and orientations have been undergoing significant changes. In the US, terms such as “quiet quitting” and “the great resignation” point to a trend of growing detachment from work. In China, more and more people refuse to join the rat race at work but choose to “lay flat” instead. This session aims to bring together new theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence on such emerging trends around the world.
If you are interested in participating in this session, please submit your information by October 20th to Yang Cao (yangcao@charlotte.edu).
Memorialization and Racist Violence
This panel will bring together scholars whose work broadly engages with debates surrounding public memorialization and racist violence. This can include, but is not limited to, theoretical and empirical work discussing the broad relationship between past violence, its memory in the present, and the legacy or effects it continues to have on society. Last year we had two panels, one focusing on memorials/monuments broadly and one more squarely on legacies of racist violence of all kinds (e.g., slavery, sundown towns, lynching, the KKK). We are particularly interested in receiving submissions from students and young scholars as we aim to expand engagement with this sub-area, but we, of course, welcome seasoned scholars to submit as well if they have work that fits the topic.
If you are interested in participating in this session, please submit your information in a Word document by Monday, October 30, if not sooner, to Heather A. O’Connell (hoconnell@lsu.edu) or Sarah N. Gaby (gabys@uncw.edu). In your document please include: 1. Each author’s name, affiliation, position, and email address 2. Title of the paper 3. Three keywords 4. Extended abstract (400-450 words) – Please note that the SSS guidelines suggest, if applicable, that the abstract should be organized with the following section headings: Objectives, Methods, and Findings.
Social Determinants of Mental Health Across the Life Course
This session invites papers that address social determinants of mental health at different points in the life course. Research that addresses how early life circumstance and events influence later life mental wellbeing is encouraged. The objective of this session is to highlight sociological work on mental health, illness and wellbeing.
All 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 400-450 (max. 450) words and organized with the suggested three section headings: Objectives, Methods, and Findings. These section headings may not apply to all submissions, so authors may modify as needed. Please submit materials by October 25, 2024, via email to Margaret Ralston (mr1636@msstate.edu).
The Effect of Redevelopment and Gentrification on Low-Income Populations
This session examines how gentrification and/or redevelopment in cities affects people’s lives, housing opportunities, and jobs; particularly focusing on low-income populations. Papers are welcomed that explores redevelopment’s effects on homelessness, social services, housing availability, or employment opportunities (or lack thereof). Papers can be qualitative or quantitative, theoretical or applied. For full consideration, please send an extended abstract with the title, research question, or questions, and findings to Stephanie Southworth at ssouthwor@coastal.edu by October 20th, 2024. Submissions should include your contact information and affiliation.
Climate Crisis and Our Future
The impacts of the climate crisis are already here and they promise to redefine our future in complicated ways. Social science brings a critical perspective which can help us understand, among other things, denialism, inaction, and differential vulnerabilities/resiliencies to the climate crisis. This session is seeking papers which deal with questions of how social science can tackle the escalating climate crisis. Submissions may cover any aspect of the climate crisis, from analysis of climate-related impacts to solutions ranging from mitigation to adaptation. Submissions related to climate activism are also welcome, including papers about resistance to the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, including coal mining, fracking, pipelines, etc. Submissions which are future-oriented, or deal directly with questions of the future, are encouraged, but please do consider submitting even if your paper is not specifically “future-oriented”. If you are interested in participating in this session, please submit your information in a Word document to Cameron Baller (crballer1@vt.edu) by November 1st. You should include (1) the title of the paper, (2) each author’s name, affiliation, position, and email address, and (3) an extended abstract (max. 450 words).
Creative Sociology as a Tool for Exploring Modern Masculinities
There is growing recognition that creative writing in all forms serves as a medium through which sociologists can effectively demonstrate the sociological imagination. In this session, we will explore the marriage between sociology and creative writing to highlight the importance of a more personal and nuanced understanding of masculinity. As such, we welcome proposals from sociologists who embrace creative writing as a tool for exploring masculine identities and the evolution of masculinity over time.
Submissions may include a wide range of existing or original works, such as short fiction, poetry, music, or creative non-fiction; however, all works should be framed using sociological theory and research regarding the socialization into and performance of gender. Subtopics related to masculinity may include (but are certainly not limited to) mental and physical health, parent-child relationships, family and work dynamics, spirituality, or leisure time. In line with this year’s SSS theme regarding the future of our discipline, we strongly encourage proposals that highlight the importance of creative scholarship or other activities for reaching audiences outside of the academy.
If you are interested in participating in this paper session, please submit the following information to Lisa Winters (lwinters@coastal.edu) by October 28th, 2024: 1) the submission title, 2) a 300-400 word abstract, and 3) the names, affiliations, and contact information for all authors.
Race and Romantic Relationships
How do our social hierarchies, and in particular race and racism, impact the lived experiences of people navigating romantic relationships? Intimate relationships can serve as a microcosm to the larger social world. How does systemic oppression impact romantic relationship formation and experiences, and what is the role of intersecting social identities in navigating these dynamics?
If you are interested in participating in this session, please submit your information by October 18th to Vanessa Gonlin (vgonlin@uga.edu).