MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Dear Social Problems Theory Division Members, I am truly honored to be your new Division Chair. For the past decade, SSSP and this division have been my academic home. I look forward to continuing to expand our division, for our works as social problems scholars continues to become more and more necessary. I would also like the thank Mike Adorjan, for his leadership and service to the division as Division Chair over the last two years. This newsletter will provide a recap of our 2024 division award winners announced at our Annual Meeting in Montreal and detail our upcoming meeting in Chicago in August 2025. I want to start by recognizing our 2024 division award winners. Congratulations Eden Nay, Oklahoma State University for winning the Outstanding Student Paper Award (see p. X), and Dr. Asia Friedman, University of Delaware for winning the Outstanding Book Award (see p. X). Below you will find our divisions call for papers for our 2025 awards, which include the Outstanding Student Paper Award and the Outstanding Scholarship Award (see p. X). Our time together in Montreal was an absolute blast Ğ thank you to everyone who attended our sessions, and to our members who helped organize and chair! An overview of the sessions from our 2024 meeting can be found on page X. The submission portal for our 2025 annual meeting in Chicago is not open Ğ page X details our division sponsored and cosponsored sessions. Please submit your papers for presentation by January 31st. Thank you to all who have volunteered to chair/organize these sessions. We have some exciting panels and sessions planned! Please send me (jhstout@ilstu.edu) recent works and publications to include in our Spring newsletter and share with our members. I look forward to working with you all over the next two years! Joshua H. Stout Illinois State University Joshua H. Stout Social Problems Theory Division Chair 2024-2026 Department of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State University IN THIS ISSUE: Page 2: 2024 Outstanding Book Award Page 3: 2024 Outstanding Student Paper Award Page 4: 2025 Annual Meeting Theme Page 5: 2025 Call for Papers Page 6: Division-sponsored Sessions & Recent Member Publications Editors: Joshua H. Stout SSSP THEORY DIVISION OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARD This year we recognized outstanding books published by our members. It's my sincere pleasure to announce this year's outstanding book award goes to Dr. Asia Friedman forÊ Mammography Wars: Analyzing attention in cultural and medical disputes, published by Rutgers University Press!Ê ÊÊÊ Committee members noted Dr. Friedman's book is Òpoetic,Ó and Òa masterfully woven together,Ó collection of multiple types of data. One member commented Òthis is a book I want to discuss with my reading group or organize reading circles around.Ó?Others depicted the book as a Òpowerful examination of experts and the politicized notions of medical care,Ó noting Òwhile the focus of this book was on mammography, it also has deep implications for the debates around medical conditions that also affect men, such as a prostate cancer.ÓÊ Overall, the committee argued that the book challenges readers to grapple with new theory to understand a well-developed and institutionalized social problem. Despite this institutionalization, there is widespread disagreement between experts, and this lack of consensus further complicates how people understand and receive care from medical professionals. Most importantly, the development of concepts like attention?and inattention provides a new analytical lens to examine the debates around social problems. Congratulations on your impactful book Dr. Friedman!Ê Thank you to our award subcommittee who reviewed nominations this year, for taking the time to review this important work, as well as all the other submissions we received this year. David Lane chaired the committee with members Kemi Johnson Pratt and Keith Johnson. Thank you David, Kemi and Keith!Ê Asia Friedman is an Associate Professor and the Associate Chair of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at University of Delaware, with a joint appointment in WomenÕs and Gender Studies. Her research has primarily focused on developing a body of research unified around her interest in theorizing the cognitive and sensory mechanisms of the social construction process, which she has explored in the areas of gender, race, the body, medicine, and sociological theory. Her first book, Blind to Sameness: Sexpectations and the Social Construction of Male and Female Bodies (University of Chicago Press, 2013), which won the 2016 Distinguished Book Award from the Sex and Gender Section of the American Sociological Association, examines the cultural-cognitive and sensory processes underlying the social construction of the body.?In her recently published second book, Mammography Wars: Analyzing Attention in Cultural and Medical Disputes (Rutgers 2023), she maps the patterns of thought that organize cultural and medical conflicts over mammography screening. She also recently published the co-edited book, Interpreting the Body: Between Meaning and Materiality (Bristol University Press, 2023), and is the co-editor of the journal, Sociological Theory. Her articles have appeared in a wide range of sociological journals including Qualitative Sociology, Sociological Quarterly, Cultural Sociology, Symbolic Interaction, and Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics.Ê SSSP THEORY DIVISION OUTSTANDING STUDENT PAPER AWARD While the award ceremony has come and gone, I would like to again recognize the winner and honorable mention for our Outstanding Student Paper Award. The 2024 winner is Eden Nay for their paper The Normate Circle and the Biopolitics of Trans Stigma. Our honourable mention was given to Andrew Shapiro for his paper Hurt People Hurt People: Theorizing liminal complicity in the reproduction of inequality Ê Thank you to the theory division subcommittee who reviewed the submissions this year for the outstanding student paper award. This yearÕs committee was chaired by Faryal Razzaq, and Morena Tartari and me served as members. Eden Nay (they/them) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. They focus on applications of queer disability studies to social science, specifically critical social theory and quantitative research. With a background in social work, Eden holds strong justice- and community-orientations in their academic practiceÑfrom teaching to researching to writing.Ê Andrew J. Shapiro is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology, Critical Theory, and Women's and Gender Studies at the Graduate Center, CUNY. His research investigates the structural and psychic forces that perpetuate and counteract systems of inequality. His dissertation, "Hurt People Hurt People," interrogates Jewish and LGBTQ movement histories to illuminate how social mobility for some so often reproduces inequality for others. He teaches the sociology of race, class, gender, and sexuality at Hunter College.ÊHis work, titled ÒOn PowerÕs Doorstep: Gays, Jews, and Liminal Complicity in Reproducing Masculine Domination," was recently published inÊMen and Masculinities. 2025 ANNUAL MEETING 2025 CALL FOR PAPERS Student Paper Competition Deadline: 1/31/25 TheÊSocial Problems Theory DivisionÊinvites papers for its annual Student Paper Award Competition. To be eligible, papers must: (a)Ê be authored or co-authored by students currently enrolled in a graduate program, (b)Ê make an original and innovative contribution to the theoretical understanding of social problems, (c)Ê not have been accepted for publication, (d)Ê may not be co-authored by a faculty member or other non-student, and (e)Ê be submitted through the annual meetingÊCall for PapersÊprocess as a condition for consideration, preferably to a Social Problems Theory Division session. Self-nominations are welcome. Manuscripts should be limited to fewer than 10,000 words, including references. The winner will receive membership dues, annual meeting registration, a plaque, and $200 honorarium. The winner will also be invited to present their paper at the 2025 SSSP Annual Meeting. Please also note that students may only submit a paper for consideration to one SSSP Division. A paper submitted to multiple divisions will not receive consideration for the Social Problems Theory Division Award. Please send all questions and submissions to: Joshua Stout, Chair, Social Problems Theory Division:Êjhstout@ilstu.edu. Outstanding Article Award Deadline: 2/15/25 TheÊSocial Problems Theory DivisionÊrequests nominations for its Outstanding Article Award. The Division welcomes articles that critique or advance the ongoing scholarly dialogue about social problems theorizing. More information regarding the DivisionÕs vision can be accessed through ourÊMission Statement. Eligible articles must have been published between January 1, 2023ĞFebruary 15, 2025. Single or multiple-authored articles will be accepted. Authors are encouraged to nominate their own work. Nominees must be members of SSSP. Please send all questions and submissions to: Joshua Stout, Chair, Social Problems Theory Division,?jhstout@ilstu.edu. 2025 Annual Meeting Call for Papers Deadline: 1/31/25 To present your research, respond to the Call for Papers by submitting an extended abstract or paper online. The Call for Papers is posted in the fall before the annual meeting. The deadline for submissions is January 31. The session organizers and the Program Committee work collaboratively to place submissions in appropriate sessions. In addition to presenting papers, consider serving as an presider or discussant. See descriptions below: Presider:ÊPresiders ensure that sessions run smoothly. Presiders make sure that session participants stay within their allotted time. Sessions last 1 hour and 40 minutes, unless noted otherwise. Presiders should alert the session participants to how long they will have to present their papers and make sure they provide materials to discussants (if applicable) prior to the annual meeting. Presiders should remember to leave time for questions and answers at the end of the session. We recommend that presiders bring index cards to sessions that indicate how much longer the session participant has left within their allotted time (i.e., cards that read 5 minutes, 2 minutes, and 0 minutes. To encourage broad participation during the open discussion period, presiders should be careful not to let an audience member excessively monopolize the time by essentially making their own ad hoc presentation. Discussant:ÊDiscussants should remember that their tasks are both to reflect on the papers or summaries they should have received prior to the session, and to lead the subsequent discussion by raising interesting points or asking questions gleaned from the presentations. It would be a good idea for each discussant to contact their presenters to make sure they receive some written material prior to the conference, so they have more time to prepare their remarks. 2025 SESSIONS SPONSORED BY THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS THEORY DIVISION Session # Session Title Sponsor(s) Organizers 3 CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Transformative Justice: Theory and Research in Pursuit of Emancipatory Power, Agency, Community, and Peacemaking-THEMATIC 1. Community, Research, and Practice 2. Conflict, Social Action, and Change 3. Global 4. Social Problems Theory Schšpf, Caroline M. Êcaroline.schoepf@gmail.com 16 Social Problems Theory and Decarceration/Abolitionist Movements in Prison Studies 1. Crime and Justice 2. Social Problems Theory Adorjan, Michael madorjan@ucalgary.ca 51 Technology, Surveillance and Access to Health Services 1. Health, Health Policy, and Health Services 2. Social Problems Theory Shen, Yuying yshen@nsu.eduÊ 63 Insurgent Sociological Theory-THEMATIC 1. Social Problems Theory Stout, Joshua H.Ê jhstout@ilstu.edu 64 New Directions in Social Problems Theory 1. Social Problems Theory Mey, ClaraÊ csmey@me.com 65 Intersectionality in Action: Bridging Mental Health and Social Problems Theory to Address Complex Social Issues 1. Disability, Mental Wellness, and Social Justice 2. Social Problems Theory Stout, Joshua H. jhstout@ilstu.edu Ivanova, Lily lily.ivanova@gmail.com (co-organizers) 66 CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Teaching Social Problems and Theory: The Present and Future of Textbooks 1. Social Problems Theory 2. Teaching Social Problems Thomas, PattieÊ pattie.thomas@csn.eduÊ Click here for detailed session descriptions RECENT MEMBER PUBLICATIONS BOOKS: Ê Burns, Stacy and Mark Peyrot. 2022. Social Problems and Social Control in Criminal Justice: Lynne Rienner Publishers Ê Esparza, Louis. 2023. Fields of Fire: Emancipation and Resistance in Colombia: Lexington Books Mayorga, Sarah. 2023. Urban Specters: The Everyday Harms of Racial Capitalism: The University of North Carolina Press Ê Malton, Jordanna. 2022. A Man among Other Men: The Crisis of Black Masculinity in Racial Capitalism: Cornell University Press Ê Barbara Combs. 2022. Bodies Out of Place: Theorizing Anti-blackness in U.S. Society: University of Georgia Press Ê Wallace, Derron. 2023. The Culture Trap: Oxford University Press ARTICLES: Bryant, Jesse Callahan, and Justin Farrell. 2024. ÒConservatism, the Far Right, and the Environment.Ó Annual Review of Sociology?50. doi: 10.1146/annurev-soc-083023-035225.Ê 4