Michéle Lamont (Harvard) organized an informative session titled “Stigmatization and Discrimination”, in which she, Graziella Moraes D. Silva (The Graduate Institute, Geneva),  Jessica S. Wellburn (University of Iowa), and Joshua Guetzkow (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) discussed findings from their book Getting Respect: Responding to Stigma and Discrimination in the United States, Brazil, and Israel. Throughout the session, presenters discussed how cultural context shapes perceptions of and responses to stigmatization and discrimination. Continue reading Conference Report: Stigmatization and Discrimination

In a paper session organized, and presided, by Ronald Jacobs (Univ. of Albany), cultural sociologists reflected on the events leading up to the 2016 US Presidential election, and the aftermath. In particular, the talks consider the intersection of meaning and power, politics and media. Continue reading Conference Report: Culture & the 2016 Presidential Election

It has now been several months since our annual conference. The semester is well underway, and we are all very busy with our teaching and research. But I look back fondly at the five days we had in Montreal, thinking about culture in one of North America’s most beautiful cities. I enjoyed my walk down the hill every morning to the Palais des Congres, and I enjoyed my excursions into the city. Above all, though, I enjoyed my time inside the conference venue, talking with my colleagues and listening to dozens of fascinating papers. Continue reading Letter From the Chair, Fall 2017