SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WELFARE DIVISION NEWSLETTER, July 2011 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Dear Collegues & Friends, This is the first newletter for this division since 2008. I took over mid-term in January 2010 as Chair and it feels like I’ve just begun and yet here I am, at the end of my term. So, this newsletter is my first and last. At the same time as I am sending greetings and biding you adieu, I am introducing the encumbent Chair for 2011 -2013, Dr. Joyce Bialik, to you. Please join me in welcoming Joyce, who will assume her role as Chair at the SSW Division meeting during the 2011 Annual Meeting of the SSSP. The SSW division meeting is open to all SSW members and all are welcome! The theme of the 2012 Annual Meeting is the “Art of Activisim.” Joyce and I welcome your ideas and session proposals for next years meeting in Denver, Colorado. I look forward to meeting you at the SSW co-sponsored RECEPTION, Friday, August 19th from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. See you all in Las Vegas, Tracy Dr. Tracy Peressini, Chair (2009-2011) Tracy Peressini, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Sociology, Social Development Studies and Social Work, and the Director of the Centre for Research on Social and Community Development, Renison University College at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Peressini has carried out research in the areas of social inequality, social stratification, poverty, homelessness, immigrant households, family violence, drinking problems and the elderly. She is currently finishing a longitudinal study of sole-support parents on welfare (2000-2011). She has received research grants and funding for such projects: Strategies for Effective Collaborations in the Human Services, Suburban Homelessness: A Study of Non-Inner City Homeless, Surveying the Homeless in Service Unintensive Areas, Factors Related to the Economic Integration of Immigrant Households into Canadian Society, and Poverty in the 21st Century. Her current research interests include inequality, poverty, homelessness, social and welfare policy, and social problems. Dr. Peressini has authored and co-authored research reports and articles on Canadian poverty, homelessness, survey and sampling methods with hidden populations, addictions, and family violence. 2012 Annual Meeting Program Theme: The Art of Activism: “Art and activism both: emerge out of creative, passionate impulses; involve transgression, challenging conventions, and making meaning in ways that are emotionally evocative and intellectually provocative; have the potential to transform worldviews, social practices, and power dynamics.” Wendy Simonds, SSSP President Dr. Joyce Bialik, Chair (2011-2013) Joyce Bialik is a social worker, social activist, and scholar. Her fields of practice are workforce development and public assistance, and she is a member of several social action groups that lobby on behalf of working class and impoverished New York City residents. She also has an interest in international social welfare, and currently is working on an article about gender issues in Africa. Before joining academia as a sociology and social work professor, she worked for several New York City agencies as a researcher, manager, and policy practitioner. She is looking forward to the opportunity to serve as Division chair and would like to see greater communication and participation across the Division. She hopes to meet you this August in Las Vegas, and along with Tracy Peressini is seeking your ideas for sessions at our 2012 conference. Regarding the Art of Activism, she writes, it is interesting to compare the art of activism from the era of civil rights to social action today. Last summer I took advantage of SSSP’s conference location in Atlanta. I visited the King Center where the strategies of activism were graphically shown. What was clear was MLK’s emergence from a sheltered child of Christian Ministers to a national movement leader working strategically with others, ready to risk imprisonment and even death on behalf of the movement. Upon returning to New York City, I joined a group of local housing activists. Here the strategy was not to invite imprisonment. The attention and sympathy of the public was sought by having a demonstration in a crowded public space to the music of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra (http://band.rudemechanicalorchestra.org). The action ended with organizers sleeping outdoors to demonstrate the lack of affordable housing. In the above example of art and activism in New York City the associated institution is the housing industry. What institution(s) and artful activism can you describe that we can share with others in our 2012 session(s)? How if at all have our methods and actions changed over time? What sociological constructs emerges as we consider these actions? These are some questions that come to mind as I think about our Division’s contribution to next year’s conference. Dr. Bialik’s Contact Information: BIALIK@YU.EDU Columbia University School of Social Work 1255 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027 Telephone: (212) 851-2300 Attention SSW Division Members Please Join Us for The Next SOCIOLOGY & SOCIAL WELFARE DIVISION MEETING Saturday, August 20th, 2011 12:30 – 2:10 p.m. ROOM: TONOPAH ALL ARE WELCOME SSW DIVISION – THEMATIC SESSION: August 20, 2:30-4:10 pm, Room: Parlor C Deconstructing Homelessness – Contested Territories, Social Services and Public Policy. (Session 68) Papers: Heterogeneity of the homeless: Findings from an evaluation of Chicago’s Housing First System, Christine George and Susan F. Grossman, Loyola University Chicago and Michael R. Sosin, University of Chicago An Exploratory Investigation of Landlord-Client Relationships in the Hospital to Housing Program, Lucas S. Sharma, Dennis P. Watson and Christine George, Loyola University Chicago The Social Construction of the ‘Homeless Family in the Context of Service Delivery, Annette Tézli, University of Calgary Making Sense of Need: Organizational Constructions of Homelessness and Solutions, Leslie Martin, University of Mary Washington Authenticity and Reification: Case for a Structural Intersectionalities Approach to Homelessness, Alex Otieno and Anabel L. Genevitz, Arcadia University SSW Co-Sponsored Sessions Session 52: Juvenile & Other Speciality Courts, August 20th, 8:00 – 9:40 a.m. Room: Cooper (with Law & Society): Papers: Legal, Penal, and Therapeutic Consciousness: Experiencing Drug Court, Michael A. Smyth and Alex Skitolsky, Susquehanna University; Kafkaesque social justice: A Tribute to Paul K. Longmore, Thomas P. Horejes, Gallaudet University; Examining Disparities in Mental Health Court Completion, Bradley Ray and Cindy Brooks Dollar, North Carolina State University ; A Study of Mental Health Courts in Illinois: Variability in Program Structures, Roles, and Outcomes, Arthur J. Lurigio and Monte Staton, Loyola University Chicago Session 92: Neightborhoods and Neighborhood Effects, August 21, 8:30-10:10 a.m. Room: Parlor C (with Community Research & Development). Papers: ‘I Would be Like a Grain of Salt in a Pepper Shaker’: Exploring Neighborhood Preferences among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics, Cassi A. Meyerhoffer, State University of New York at Buffalo; Neighborhood Risk and Protective Factors for Teenage Childbearing and Fathering among Latino and AfricanAmerican Youth: An Examination of the Magnitude and Timing of Neighborhood Effects, Jessica L. Lucero, Wayne State University, Anna M. Santiago, Case Western Reserve University and George C. Galster, Wayne State University ; Socioeconomic Class and Predatory ‘Fringe Banking’: Payday Lending Locations and Neighborhood Characteristics, Tami L. Smith and Andrew L. Spivak, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; The Social Reproduction of Neighborhood Context, Aaron J. Howell, University of Cincinnati; Social Isolation of Seniors: Is there an effect on neighborhood youth outcomes, Tara L. Hobson-Prater, IUPUI Session 110: Law and Domestic Abuse, August 21, 10:30-12:10 p.m. Room: Cooper (with Crime & Juvenile Delinquency; Family; Law & Society). Papers: Influence of Age at first Marriage, Marriage Pattern on Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria, Adenike Titilayo-Ayotunde, Primary Health Care Dept., Community Health Unit, Lagos State Local Government Service Commission, Lagos, Nigeria and Ayotunde Titilayo, Demography and Social Statistics Dept., Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria; Listening to Victims of Domestic Violence: Practitioner’s Photo-Narratives of Vicarious Trauma and Self-Care, Lisa Frohmann, University of Illinois at Chicago; Impact of Perpetrator Gender on Police Responses to Violence in Intimate Relationships, Roger M. Kernsmith, Eastern Michigan University and Poco D. Kernsmith, Wayne State University; Domestic Violence Court Judges’ Use of Discretion in Granting Petitioners’ Request for Restraining Orders Related to Parent-Child Abductions, Stephen J. Morewitz, San Jose State University and Lloyd Klein, Saint Francis College Session 114 (Round Table): Addressing Inequality: Building Bridges Between Sociology and Social Work, August 21st, 12:30-2:10 p.m. Room: Elko (with Poverty, Class & Inequality). Description: This panel will explore how building bridges between social work and sociology may be one path to building service sociology. Panellist’s will share their personal experiences bridging the two disciplines, doing direct service work as sociologists, and navigating institutional divides. We hope to generate a conversation about the challenges and opportunities of balancing applied service and academia, and dual disciplinary identities. Panelists: Alice Gates, University of Portland; Elizabeth Marie Armstrong, University of Michigan; Nancy A. Naples, University of Connecticut; Shawn A. Cassiman, University of Dayton Session 125: Global Citizenship & Equity, August 21st, 2:30-4:10 p.m Room: Elko (with Poverty, Class & Inequality). Papers: Activation Policies and Social Experiments: The Israeli Case Study, Orit Fisher and Jill Quadagno, Florida State University; ‘Welfare Queens’ and ‘Anchor Babies’: An Intersectional Analysis of Race, Gender, Class, Nationality and Motherhood, Tiffany Taylor, Kent State University (Kent) and Katrina Bloch, Kent State University(Stark); The Connections of Shopping and Responsible Citizenship: Communitarian Ideology and the Citizen-Consumer Hybrid, Michael A. Haedicke, Drake University; Governance as Development: Reviewing the Trail to Governmentality, Salik H. Farooqi, The University of Michigan; Girls Rights: An Insight Into the United Nations, Hara Bastas, University of Cincinnati Session 135: Ethnic Identity and Indiqenous People’s Human Rights, August 21st, 4:30-6:10 p.m. Room: Elko (with Poverty, Class & Inequality). Papers: Learning to Learn from the Voice of the Other, William Paul Simmons, Arizona State University; Indigenous Peoples: The Language of Resistance, Shari L. Valentine, Texas A&M University; Multiculturalism or Assimilation: Mexican Americans in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Ramon S. Guerra, University of Texas (Pan American); Immigration and Inclusion: Examination of a Community in Transition, Shauna Morimoto, University of Arkansas; Telling or Selling Our Stories? Making Indigenous Women’s Craftwork Profitable, Frank T.Y. Wang, National Cheng Chi University. STUDENT PAPER AWARD WINNERS 2010 Award Winner: Public Space is Not so Public: Voice, Action & Power in the Homelessness Discourse by Olivia R. Hetzler, Ph.D. (C) Department of Sociology Universty of Missouri-Columbia OLIVIA HETZLER is currently a PhD candidate in the Sociology Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Here paper was taken from part of her master's thesis entitled: "Politics of Homelessness: Hidden Motivations for Criminalizing the Homeless." Her research focuses on the structural inequalities that produce homelessness, as well as interests in the structure and agency of place and space, family, and gender. Previously working in social work, she continues to be active in the community through volunteer work for domestic abuse survivors, low income families, and local homelessness relief organizations. Presented at the 2010 SSSP Annual Conference. Atlanta, GA, August 14th, 2010. 2011 Award Winner: Human Rights vs. Neoliberalism: Welfare State Spending as Institutionalization of Human Rights Norms in 18 Latin American Nations, 1980-2008 by K. Russell Sheikka, Pepper Institute of Aging and Social Policy, Florida State University Please join me in congratulating Rusty and attend a presentation of his award winning paper at the 2011 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. Session 101: Student Award Winning Papers III: August 21st, 8:30-1010 p.m. Room: Studio 2 CALL FOR PAPERS 2012 ANNUAL MEETING The Art of Activism Art and activism both: Emerge out of creative, passionate impulses; Involve transgression, challenging conventions, and making meaning in ways that are emotionally evocative and intellectually provocative; Have the potential to transform worldviews, social practices, and power dynamics; Have the ability to impel momentous connections between the many people who rail against multiple machines in pursuit of a variety of forms of social justice. Let us consider art and activism – and our role as practitioners in both cultural arenas. See you in Denver! Wendy Simmonds, SSSP President Please send any ideas or proposals for a session to, or if you would like to volunteer to be presider or session organizer, please contact: tracy.peressini@uwaterloo.ca THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS 62ND ANNUAL MEETING, AUGUST 16-18, 2012 THE GRAND HYATT DENVER HOTEL DENVER, COLORADO