Spring 2012 Society for the Study of Social Problems: Community Research and Development In this issue: Message from the Division Chair From the Blogosphere Book Review: The New Jim Crow Winner 2012 Graduate Student Paper Competition Member News: Books, Articles, Dissertations, New Research Projects Announcements and Opportunities Message from the Division Chair Shelley McDonough Kimelberg, Northeastern University Greetings, members and friends of the Community Research and Development Division of SSSP! In this edition of the CRD newsletter, you'll find several calls for papers, a book review, and lots of news and updates from CRD members. Be sure to also check out the winner (and honorable mention) from the 2012 graduate student paper competition! We received numerous excellent submissions, so it was a difficult decision. Congratulations are due to all. As the academic year winds down, I want to remind you to start planning for the annual meeting in Denver (August 16-18). The registration deadline for program participants is May 31, 2012! Many thanks to all who contributed content for the newsletter. If you have suggestions or ideas for future newsletters, please email me at: s.kimelberg@neu.edu 2012 Annual Meeting Paper Sessions Division Sessions 1. Anti-Immigrant Sentiment, Social Movements, and the Shifting Boundaries of Community 2. Non-profits, Community Organizations, and Activism: Seeking Change in Local Communities (THEMATIC) 3. Papers in the Round: Communities as the Focus of Social Inquiry Co-sponsored Sessions 4. Schools, Community, and Inequality 5. Gentrification and Urban Redevelopment: Conflict, Opportunity, and Inequality 6. Segregated Communities: Questions, Trends, and Policies 7. Community Gardens, Parks, and Public Places: Inclusion and Exclusion and the Meaning of Space 8. Social Media, Flash Mobs, and the Relationship between Technology and Community 9. Revisiting the Economic Crisis: Housing, Employment, and Crime 10. Elder-Friendly Communities, Housing Policy, and Community Development Resources From the Blogosphere a selection of interesting finds This Big City http://thisbigcity.net/ "This Big City is an award winning sustainable cities blog exploring innovations in urban design, architecture, culture, technology, transport and the bicycle. Founded in September 2009 by Joe Peach, This Big City now publishes content from writers and organizations all over the world." Sociological Images http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/ "Sociological Images: Seeing is Believing is designed to encourage all kinds of people to exercise and develop their sociological imagination by presenting brief sociological discussions of compelling and timely imagery that spans the breadth of sociological inquiry." relationships. The building of such connections, we believe, will strengthen the struggle to understand and transform inner cities and the metropolitan regions of which they are a part." Book Review The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander Reviewed by Jessica M. Fitzpatrick, SUNY at Buffalo Michelle Alexander makes a convincing argument in The New Jim Crow (The New Press, 2012) that a caste system divided by race is ever-present in the US today. Alexander, a civil rights attorney and law professor, examines mass incarceration, comparing it to slavery and the Jim Crow laws of the past. She demonstrates that facially neutral policies, specifically in regards to the War on Drugs, are insidious and perhaps more dangerous because the underlying racism is not obvious. Alexander provides a historical overview of racially-motivated laws in this country, beginning with pre-slavery times, and continuing through slavery, emancipation, and Reconstruction. While acknowledging progress, she is quick to point out the backlash that also occurred. This backlash was often legal, or legalized, as the black codes, vagrancy laws, and convict laws that led to the Jim Crow era demonstrate. The prison population not only increased dramatically during Jim Crow, but also became younger and blacker. By the end of the 1940's several institutions, along with the general public, began to question to legitimacy of Jim Crow, culminating in the Civil Rights Movement. Given that blatant discrimination on the basis of skin color was no longer socially acceptable in the post-Civil Rights era, any future institutionalized backlash would need to be much more collusive. The War on Drugs, according to Alexander, provided the perfect opportunity to maintain the racial status quo. Despite equal or higher rates of drug use and sales by whites, blacks have been disproportionately targeted in the criminal justice system. Discriminatory treatment has been demonstrated at every step in the criminal justice process: arrest, legal representation, and sentencing. Even more devastating is the fact that the Supreme Court has continuously erred on the side of the legal process, essentially ignoring clear patterns of constitutional rights violations such as search and seizures and racial profiling. Alexander's first-hand knowledge as a lawyer helps the reader understand how the legal process operates in practice, not just 'on the books.' She is also able to provide a wealth of court case examples of the misapplication of justice regarding these issues. While some estimate that up to 75% of young black males will serve prison time (pages 6-7), and many are being monitored by probation or parole, Alexander notes that many will continue to be legally discriminated against throughout their lives because of their 'felon' status. She contends that this felon status is equivalent to Jim Crow laws. She provides a convincing comparative analysis of Jim Crow laws and the consequences of being labeled a felon, pointing out similarities and explaining how the differences do not diminish her thesis. Yet, there are some points that the author could have expanded on to strengthen the argument. First, Alexander briefly mentions a similarity between convict leasing post-Civil War and prison work today: both provide a pool of black men to perform low-wage labor. This is an important parallel, but one that she does not fully explore. Second, her discussion of the history of US drug laws is somewhat thin. For over 100 years, the government has created laws restricting certain drugs in order to specifically target one or more racial/ethnic groups. Including a brief summary of this history would have placed the recent War on Drugs in a larger and important context. Third, Alexander mentions unequal and inadequate educational systems throughout the book, but never pauses to delve into the critical questions of where education is lacking, why it is lacking, and how educational disadvantage leads directly to mass incarceration. Each of these areas would have lent additional support for her overall claims. A bigger weakness of the book is Alexander's failure to disentangle the impacts of race and class. She states it would be impossible to completely control for race, because our country's history of racism has structured so many societal institutions. At one point she simply encourages the reader to rely on "common sense" (page 103). She attempts to address class head-on, but not until the end of the fifth chapter. A direct analysis of class at the beginning of the book would leave less room for questions at various points throughout the book. There were also times when Alexander pieces history together, hinting that the government had the foresight to set things into motion at just the right time. For example, she implies that after Jim Crow ended, people hoping to maintain a racial caste system gathered together to figure out the next grand scheme to keep black men out of mainstream society. While it is hard to quibble with the consequences she notes in the book, some may take issue with the suggestion that anyone had the ability to predict that the War on Drugs would be an effective mechanism of racial control. She mentions that as inner-city economies began to decline, the War on Drugs was implemented - as if the perfect storm was created in that moment. I'm not sold on this. A few years later as unemployment increased, crack appeared. It is implied that much of this was intentional, and while hindsight provides us with some interesting coincidences, it may be harder to convince all readers that they were the result of an orchestrated master plan. There are times when the book is quite repetitive. The chapters often seem to weave together and there is not a distinct separation between each of them. A benefit of this structure, however, is that a single chapter could serve as required reading for a course, and it would effectively provide a reasonable summary of the entire book while expanding on a few specific points. The New Jim Crow would be a great addition to many undergraduate sociology courses. It is relevant to studies of stratification, race, crime, law, and drugs. Some social psychology concepts and the influence of media are incorporated throughout the book, and could provide clear examples of these approaches. Anyone interested in law and society, the War on Drugs, racial stratification, and the perpetuation of urban poverty would enjoy this book. While much of the information is not new, the way that Alexander presents it allows for a comprehensive analysis of racial disparities in our current criminal justice system. As the book concludes: Jim Crow is alive and well, albeit in a different, less readily visible form. 2012 Graduate Student Paper Competition Congratulations to the winners! Winner Lindsay Owens, Stanford University Getting a Workout: Mortgage Modification, Social Class, and Shifting Financial Institutions The housing crisis of the "Great Recession" has left millions of homeowners with mortgages they can no longer afford. I combine in-depth interviews with homeowners at risk of foreclosure with an institutional ethnography of a foreclosure prevention help center in "Santa Victoria" to examine how homeowners try to avoid foreclosure. I find that working class homeowners, located in the neighborhoods, social networks and occupations at the epicenter of the economic downturn, reached out to peers in similar circumstances. Middle class homeowners, who were relatively isolated from peers in similar circumstances and ashamed of their financial troubles, relied on impersonal sources of information. The working class strategy was not only more efficient, it also resulted in three pieces of valuable information the middle class strategy did not obtain: servicers work with delinquent borrowers first; third-parties offering foreclosure prevention services for upfront fees are scams; and, the probability of procuring a mortgage workout is slim. Though this information did not guarantee success, it did convey tangible financial and social advantages. Honorable Mention Anjanette Chan Tack, University of Chicago The Geography of Retail Inequality: Race, Class, Stasis, and Change in Access to Supermarkets across Chicago's Neighborhoods, 1970-2000 The study of neighborhood effects has recently taken an organizational turn, with increasing interest in assessing the role that organizational amenities play as mediators between neighborhood characteristics and individual outcomes. These studies are grounded in two theories - Wilson's (1987) "declining significance of race" model and Massey and Denton's (1993) "residential segregation" thesis - that make competing claims about the role of race and class composition in determining a neighborhood's access to desirable social goods. Although these theories are explicitly spatial, they have rarely been tested using spatial methods. This paper uses the case of Chicago to trace the changing demographics of access to supermarkets - an essential, daily-use, desirable social good - using an original data-set of address-specific grocery store locations gathered over four decades, between 1970 and 2000. The analysis is the first to use spatial measures and methods to appraise the relative explanatory merits of Wilson (1987) and Massey and Denton (1993)'s theories as applied to organizational amenities. Member News New Books: Democracy Deferred: Civic Leadership after 9/11. (2012). By David W. Woods. Palgrave Macmillan. $85. On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists deliberately flew two jumbo jets into the two main towers of the World Trade Center, which in turn motivated a group of middle class professional planners, sociologists, architects to invest their time and expertise in developing a civic renewal social movement to give a voice to ordinary citizens in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. In addition to strengthening the spirits and hopes for the future of all involved, they believed that such a citizen role would contribute significant benefits to redesigning the physical and social architecture of the World Trade Center's "16-acres and beyond." These civic renewal leaders were highly successful in meeting their goals during the first year after 9/11. However, in subsequent years, they turned their attention to providing more technical advice to government officials and away from engaging the wider public. Thus, the potential opportunity to institutionalize these practices of participatory democracy was deferred to other times and places. The successes and failures of these middle class professional leaders in raising and gaining a hearing for the voices of ordinary citizens have taught and will continue to teach important lessons for other civic renewal efforts, in times of crisis and in ordinary times. Democracy Deferred contributes to our understanding of the successes and limitations of middle class leaders of civic renewal coalitions in influencing powerful decision-makers in civic renewal processes, as well as our understanding of the motivations of such leaders and the challenges they face in expanding such opportunities for democratic participation to diverse others. More info at: http://us.macmillan.com/democracydeferred/DavidWWoods Social Problems: An Advocate Group Approach. (2012). By Sara Towe Horsfall. Westview Press. $37. It is unique in several ways. First, I incorporate material from several other areas, such as social change, groups, social movements, Secondly, I include advocate groups in the discussion of all the problems addressed, which makes it very current and contemporary. Solutions to each problem are addressed by means of advocate groups, as well. This gives students a lot of material for discussion and exploration. I have abandoned the traditional organization of problems by means of sociological areas. Instead each problem is included on its own basis. And there is quite a lot of theory which prefaces the study of problems. All in all, I think this presentation of the subject gives social problems a place of its own in the collection of sociological areas of study. More info at: http://www.westviewpress.com/Horsfall/ Where the Waters Divide: Neoliberalism, White Privilege, and Environmental Racism in Canada. (2012). By Michael Mascarenhas. Lexington Books. $60.   This timely and important scholarship advances an empirical understanding of Canada's contemporary "Indian" problem. Where the Waters Divide is one of the few book monographs that analyze how contemporary neoliberal reforms (in the manner of de-regulation, austerity measures, common sense policies, privatization, etc.) are woven through and shape contemporary racial inequality in Canadian society. Using recent controversies in drinking water contamination and solid waste and sewage pollution, Where the Waters Divide illustrates in concrete ways how cherished notions of liberalism and common sense reform-neoliberalism-also constitute a particular form of racial oppression and white privilege. More info at: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739168271 New Articles: Dolgon, Corey W. "Human Rights and Teaching and Learning in Sociology" in The Handbook of Sociology and Human Rights, edited by David Brunsma, Keri Iyall Smith and Brian Gran. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Press, 2012.  Morton, Mavis, Dolgon, Corey, Maher, and James Pennell. "Civic Engagement and Public Sociology: Two "Movements" in Search of a Mission," Journal of Applied Social Science, Volume 6, Number 1, Spring, 2012.  Also available as a podcast at http://jax.sagepub.com/content/6/1/5/suppl/DC1. New Dissertations: Titilayo Avotunde was awarded the PhD degree at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The doctoral thesis on temporary-returned migrants relied on qualitative and quantitative data to explore the nexus between south-south migration and quality of life development for migrants, their households, places of origin and destination. Her current work and future contribution to knowledge will stress a critical understanding between migration theories and practices, and micro and macro development of quality of life, especially in the southern part of the globe. Sarah Mayorga, of Duke University, recently defended her dissertation titled "Preserving the White Picket Fence: Interracial Conduct in an Integrated Neighborhood."  Her dissertation identifies and deconstructs the interracial codes of conduct produced and enacted by three distinct racial-ethnic communities in an integrated neighborhood. Her analysis of Creekridge Park is based on data collected via in-depth interviews, a neighborhood survey, and participant observation.  By addressing the particularities of an integrated neighborhood, this project augments traditional index-based studies of segregation research and examines how the concept of social distance can explain the quantity and quality of encounters between Black, White, and Latino/a residents. She also evaluates the social environment of an integrated neighborhood by documenting and questioning the attitudes, behaviors, and relationships of neighborhood residents. Finally, she analyzes the data using modified grounded theory, an iterative process that uses data and existing theory to develop conceptual models. Overall, the project emphasizes the importance of race as a social marker of status, privilege, and marginalization; the limits of diversity as an emancipating ideology; and the importance of power as a conceptual tool in analyses of White and nonwhite experiences in integrated settings. Beginning in the fall, Dr. Mayorga will be an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of Cincinnati. Deborah V. Svoboda defended her dissertation, "An Intrinsic Case Study of a Domestic Violence Organization's Promotion of Economic Justice for Survivors", at the University of Maryland School of Social Work in April 2012. The dissertation chair was Professor and Ph.D. Program Director, Dr. Donna Harrington, and members Drs. Shamita DasDasgupta, Deborah Gioia, Michael Reisch, and Susan J. Roll. The case study involved qualitative methods to examine the efforts by one East Coast domestic violence organization to address economic abuse of survivors, to support their economic well-being, and to promote economic justice. Upon graduation from UMB, Deborah Svoboda will be joining the faculty of Eastern Washington University as an Assistant Professor of Social Work beginning the fall of 2012. New Research Project: Christopher T. Conner, Ph.D. Student at the University of Nevada Las Vegas will begin a new study "Situating the Electric Daisy Carnival." He will analyze the economic impact, taking into account social impacts, of event based tourism.  He is casting a critical eye to the types of jobs event based tourism creates and analyzing whether they can create sustainable economies. Announcements and Opportunities Call for Proposals: 42nd Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association Urban Communication Foundation White Paper Project The Urban Communication Foundation (UCF) has been a leader in promoting scholarship in this general area. The Foundation has funded dozens of research projects and acknowledged dozens of scholars that have advanced the field of study. We now seek to extend this influence by focusing in on particular issues or areas of research. As such, we will be soliciting public research reports on issues that have a direct bearing on public policy and/or the everyday life for people within cities. The UCF is proud to announce the first call for research reports on the topic of Digital Networks and Urban Public Space. Interested researchers should submit a proposal outlining the research problem and how it intersects with established urban questions or problems that have yet to be adequately addressed. Topics might include but are not limited to: How urban architecture can use digital scaffolding to enhance public spaces How Federal or municipal communication policies can positively impact municipal governments or civic life The relationship between open data, communication infrastructures, and better government Communication technology-focused citizen engagement How digital networks alter sense of place and change the shape and role of cities For more information visit: http://urbanaffairsassociation.org/2012/03/15/urban-communication-foundation-white-paper-project/ Call for Proposals: Urban Studies Foundation and Urban Studies Journal Seminar Series Competition The Urban Studies Foundation and the Urban Studies Journal Ltd are pleased to announce that they are funding the second round of a competition to host an urban research seminar series. Submissions are invited for seminar or conference events to be held during the 12 months following the closing date for applications (15th of June, 2012). The seminars should be academically excellent, international events that will produce demonstrable academic outputs. They will advance knowledge in any area of urban studies' definition of relevant research areas in the Urban Studies journal rules for article submission. The Urban Studies Journal Limited will fund up to £20,000 of reasonable costs and expenses for the running of the event. A panel of senior editors of the Urban Studies journal will select the best application for the competition and disseminate the outcome within six weeks of the closing date. Last year we funded two seminar series competitions but anticipate funding one this year. Please see further details (attached) on the rules, criteria and purpose of the seminar series competition, as well as the application form template. For further information please contact us at the dedicated email for the seminar series competition at the Urban Studies journal socpol-usjseminarseries@glasgow.ac.uk Call for Papers: Special issue Causal thinking and ethnographic research The American Journal of Sociology is accepting submissions for a special issue entitled "Causal Thinking and Ethnographic Research." Submissions are open to all, including those who previously submitted to the March 2012 conference on this topic, as well as those who neither submitted to nor participated in that event. Only completed work can be considered, and publication will be adjudicated through peer review. Papers may be empirical or theoretical in nature.  Is counterfactual thinking useful to ethnographers?  Does ethnographic research help identify its flaws?  Are the deductive methods underlying QCA appropriate to a research endeavor primarily driven by induction and abduction?  Do mechanism-based explanations simply push the difficulties of causal inference deeper?  What approaches to inference in ethnographic research would constitute a better alternative?  Papers addressing these or any other questions concerning explanation, processes, or inference in ethnographic research, broadly defined, may be submitted. Candidate submissions must be uploaded at the AJS online portal (https://www.editorialmanager.com/ucp-ajs/) and interest in the special issue must be stated in the submission cover letter. Authors whose papers are considered unsuited will be promptly notified of this fact. While timing of the special issue is necessarily fluid, our target publication date is July 2013 (vol. 119, no. 1). The call for papers will close on June 30, 2012: no papers received after that date will be considered for the special issue. Publication decisions should be made by the end of December 2012. This issue is under the direction of a guest editor (Mario Small), but all inquiries should be directed to AJS@press.uchicago.edu. Call for Papers: The Rutgers Journal of Sociology: Emerging Areas in Sociological Inquiry The Rutgers Journal of Sociology: Emerging Areas in Sociological Inquiry provides a forum for graduate students and junior faculty to present well-researched and theoretically compelling review articles on an annual topic in sociology. Each volume features comprehensive commentary on emerging areas of sociological interest. These are critical evaluations of current research synthesized into cohesive articles about the state of the art in the discipline. Works that highlight the cutting edge of the field, either in terms of theoretical, methodological, or topical areas, are privileged. See http://sociology.rutgers.edu/rjs.html. Call for Proposals: Rutledge International Handbook of Race, Class, and Gender Routledge International Handbook of Race, Class and Gender invites chapter proposals for original essays that chronicle the history, impact, growth, and consequences of race, gender, and class studies from a multidisciplinary approach. Scholars in a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, health history, legal studies, political science, public health, social policy, sociology, and women's and feminist studies, are encouraged to submit a proposal. The editor encourages theoretical or applied original works that provide conceptualizations and substantive overviews of the intersection of race, class, and gender; major contributions to the field; race, class, gender, nation and migration; race, class, gender, and sexualities; and contemporary trends in the intersection of race, class, and gender, including an exploration of how race, class and gender create social change globally. Submissions must be original works of 4500-5000 words, including references. Submissions should adhere to ASA Style. Deadline: September 1, 2012. Contact Shirley A. Jackson at jacksons1@southernct.edu. Call for Applications: Urban Photography Summer School 2012 Goldsmiths, University of London Designed for photographers, artists and urbanists whose work addresses notions of urban space and culture the international Summer School provides a highly intensive two week practical and theoretical training in key aspects of urban visual practice. The course aims to offer participants a wide range of relevant skills resulting in the production of a photography portfolio drawn from London's urban environments combined with a collective final exhibition. The programme has been developed in collaboration with Urban Encounters and the Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR). The course will be taught by tutors from Goldsmith's Sociology Department and the international MA in Photography and Urban Cultures. The programme draws on the advanced theoretical, research and practical image-making specialisms of key practitioners in the field. Summer School tutors include: Paul Halliday (MA in Photography and Urban Cultures Convener), Beatriz Véliz Argueta (Coordinator/Goldsmiths), Les Back (Goldsmiths), Caroline Knowles (CUCR Director), Mandy Lee Jandrell (Goldsmiths), Peter Coles (Oxford/ Goldsmiths), Alex Rhys-Taylor (Goldsmiths), Manuel Vazquez (Goldsmiths), Michael Wayne Plant (Goldsmiths), Laura Cuch (Goldsmiths) and Jasmine Cheng (Goldsmiths). The programme will explore how the practice of urban image making informs the development of a reflexive and critical research perspective and will include assignments and guided fieldtrips focusing on (1) urban landscape, (2) street photography and (3) material objects.   Application deadline: June 3rd, 2012 For more information: www.gold.ac.uk/cucr/summer%20school/ Past Conference: A Beautiful Struggle: Transformative Black Studies in Shifting Political Landscapes The Department of African American Studies at Northwestern University was pleased to host, "A Beautiful Struggle: Transformative Black Studies in Shifting Political Landscapes-A Summit of Doctoral Programs."  The event took place April 12-14, 2012 at the Orrington Hotel, adjacent to the Northwestern University campus. Participants at the conference discussed the past contributions, current questions, and future directions of African American Studies and the state of doctoral education in the field. The conference featured keynote addresses by Jonathan Holloway, Professor of African American Studies, History, and American Studies  at Yale University; Darlene Clark Hine, Board of Trustees Professor of African American Studies and History at Northwestern University; and Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. The dissertating graduate students of Northwestern's African American Studies Department also presented at this event.   Conference website: http://www.afam2012.northwestern.edu/ Society for the Study of Social Problems 62nd Annual Meeting August 16-18, 2012 The Grand Hyatt Denver Hotel Denver, CO DID YOU KNOW? Program planning for the 2013 annual meeting will take place during the 2012 annual meeting in Denver. If you have a suggestion for a regular paper session or roundtable, or would like to organize a session for next year? meeting, please contact Shelley Kimelberg at s.kimelberg@neu.edu About the Community Research and Development Division: The CRD Division's mission is to provide opportunities for scholars, researchers, students, activists, and others to share and discuss their scholarship and experiences in a supportive setting. In order to further the goal of a just world the Division seeks to integrate the theory, empirical findings, and practice of both scholars/researchers and grassroots activists. We're on the Web! See us at: http://www.sssp1.org