Culture, Organizations, and Politics Workshop: The Workshop is the primary activity organized by the Center for Culture, Organizations, and Politics at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE). The Workshop has been in existence since 1996 and is organized by Professor Fligstein, Director of the Center. The Workshop meets biweekly and is composed of mostly graduate students and faculty in Sociology. Over the years it has drawn on students and faculty from Political Science, the Business School, and Law and Society, as well as visitors from the U.S. and abroad. The Workshop discusses individual scholars’ work in progress. Papers will be distributed beforehand, and the session will involve no formal presentations by the papers’ authors but will instead involve free-flowing and open discussion. Almost all of the presenters in the workshop are students. This workshop gives students an opportunity to get feedback on their papers to prepare them for publication. Around 150 papers presented at the Workshop have been published since the Workshop started.
The principal theme of the workshop is theoretical, not substantive. Papers in the Workshop focus attention on how social fields (defined as social arenas where actors gather, know one another and engage in interaction under a set of rules) come into existence, engage in piecemeal social change and are transformed. Work is theoretically and empirically eclectic. As such, over the years, we have read papers in a large number of fields in sociology including the sociology of work, political sociology, social movements, sociology of science, economic sociology, globalization, education, race, gender, and law. The theme of culture, organization, and politics reflect the broad theoretical issues raised by the creation of fields.
Culture is used to define the ways we perceive ourselves and the system of power in which we are embedded. Formal organizations are the primary vehicle by which fields are propagated. The formal politics of law and society impinge on most aspects of modern life including who gets to be an actor and what forms of organizing are possible. The informal politics of organizational life pervades social growth within and across organizations. Together, culture, society, and politics are the building blocks that produce fields that work to both enable and constrain people.
Dates/Time/Location:
Currently, there are no workshops scheduled, but plans for future workshops are forthcoming.
Contact Professor Neil Fligstein at fligst@berkeley.edu to be added to the list or you have an inquiry requesting this workshop.
Gender/Sexuality Workshop: In the Gender/Sexuality workshop, we take a broad view of the study of gender and sexuality, placing it into conversation with studies of race and ethnicity, immigration, religion, labor, work, development, social theory, crime and punishment, culture, aging and the life course, social movements, education, medicine, and other subfields. The group was formed by sociology graduate students in 2009 to create a space to discuss graduate student and faculty work on gender and sexuality in the department as well as to support and connect students. We meet several times throughout the semester to workshop papers and read books of interest.
We meet at the beginning of the semester to see who wants to present work and to decide on a schedule collectively. For each session, we have one or two people perform their work and assign a discussant to provide thorough feedback, although everyone is expected to have read the work before we meet. Although it is okay if participants have to miss a couple of sessions, we appreciate it if people come to as many sessions as they can, particularly during semesters that they are presenting work. Meets regularly throughout the semester.
Dates/Time/ Location:
Currently, there are no workshops scheduled, but plans for future workshops are forthcoming.
If you would like to participate, contact one of the three grad student organizers who will add you to the mailing list and send you the zoom link: Rae Willis-Conger (rebeca_willisconger@berkeley.edu), Payal Hathi (phathi@berkeley.edu), Paul Salamanca (salamanca@berkeley.edu)
Job Market Workshop: These workshops for Sociology grad students are held throughout the academic year. All students who are considering entering the job market should attend the spring workshop (introduction to the job market), which will show them how to find job openings, prepare application materials, and request and submit letters of recommendation. All students who are on the job market should attend the fall workshops (the job talk, the campus visit, negotiating the job offer), which collectively will reveal how the job market process works post-application.
Currently, there are no workshops scheduled, but plans for future workshops are forthcoming.
Contact Assistant Professor Robert Braun at robert.braun@berkeley.edu
Public Sociology Workshop: In the Public Sociology workshop hosted by the Berkeley Journal of Sociology (BJS), we seek to create a supportive community for writing and publishing public sociology. The goal here is to extend beyond the internal academic debates of the sociological discipline and translate academic research into forms that are accessible to wider publics. We will meet several times throughout the semester to workshop a wide variety of mediums in the spirit of public-facing sociology. In this workshop, we encourage papers, essays, photo-journals, interviews, videos, appropriate fieldnotes, and other creative outlets. We will also invite guest speakers who practice public sociology (e.g. editors of The Society Pages and Contexts, public policy makers, public science writers/creatives, social activists). Participants in this workshop are encouraged to have their work featured in the Berkeley Journal of Sociology, whether in print or online.
Currently, there are no workshops scheduled, but plans for future workshops are forthcoming.
Contact: Tiffany Hamidjaja (tiffanyhamidjaja@berkeley.edu
Race/Ethnicity and Inequality (REIW) Workshop: REIW is a student-led workshop in which members share research in progress on topics related to race/ethnicity and inequality. This workshop has included work related to race theory, empirical work on racial/ethnic disparities in the U.S. and internationally, and work on inequality more broadly (for example, related to housing, education, or incarceration). We welcome both qualitative and quantitative work and read papers at all stages, from paper proposals to MA papers to dissertation chapters and R&Rs. Participants circulate their work a week before the meeting, and we have an informal discussion about the article, with an eye to whatever type of feedback the presenter would find most useful. We do not have formal presentations or a discussant. Non-presenters are always welcome to attend, and all presenters are asked to participate throughout the semester to offer feedback to all other presenters. Non-presenting participants may participate in the meetings according to their schedule/interest, but presenters are asked to attend regularly. As a student-led workshop, formal enrollment is not required.
REIW Fall 2024 Dates:
Wednesday, August 28, 2024, 3 - 4 pm
Wednesday, September 18, 2024, 3 - 4 pm
Wednesday, October 9, 2024, 3 - 4 pm
Wednesday, October 30, 2024, 3 - 4 pm
Wednesday, November 20, 2024, 3 - pm
Location: TBD
Contact graduate student Steven Herrera Tenorio (rsherreratenorio@berkeley.edu