News

In Working for Respect, Adam Reich and Peter Bearman examine how workers make sense of their jobs at places like Walmart in order to consider the nature of contemporary low-wage work, as well as the obstacles and opportunities such workplaces present as sites of struggle for social and economic justice. They describe the life experiences that lead workers to Walmart and analyze the dynamics of the shop floor. 

Congratulations to Paco on this timely publication offering a careful look at Tijuana's housing abandoment  crisis. Through a mixed-methods investigation, he explores the variation in explanations for housing abandonment. 

Tey Meadow, Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, wrote an article featured on The Atlantic that explores "desistance" and other loaded language commonly used when discussing the experiences of trans teens. Click here to read the full article.

Several Columbia Sociology professors and graduate students have recently received prestigious awards and honors for their influential research and groundbreaking contributions to the field. See below for a full list of awardees.

 

• Maria Abascal won the Louis Wirth Best Article Award from International Migration Section for “Tu Casa, Mi Casa: Naturalization and Belonging Among Latino Immigrants,” International Migration Review 51 (2):291-322. 2017.
•  Andreas Wimmer will be honored with the Distinguished Career Award from International Migration Section
• A group of Columbia sociologists won the Distinguished Article Award from the American Sociological Association's Religion Section for, Hoffman, Mark Anthony, Jean-Phillipe Cointet, Philipp Brandt, Newton Key, and Peter Bearman. "The (Protestant) Bible, the (printed) sermon, and the word (s): The semantic structure of the Conformist and Dissenting Bible, 1660–1780." Poetics (2017).
• Mignon Moore & Shamus Khan were elected to the Sociological Research Association
• Mignon Moore was elected to the ASA Committee on Committees
• Tey Meadow was elected chair of the ASA sexualities section
• Yao Lu received the best article award from the section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements for, Lu, Yao, and Ran Tao. "Organizational Structure and Collective Action: Lineage Networks, Semiautonomous Civic Associations, and Collective Resistance in Rural China." American Journal of Sociology 122.6 (2017): 1726-1774.
• Shamus Khan won the Hans L. Zetterberg Prize
• Jennifer Lee’s book, The Asian American Achievement Paradox has been chosen as this year’s honorable mention recipient for the Outstanding Book Award by the Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section
• Anthony Urena was awarded an Honorable Mention for the Martin P. Levine Memorial Dissertation Award from the Sexualities section for his dissertation research: “From Risk to Reality: Race, Class, and HIV in an Age of Uncertainty.” 

Professor Shamus Khan at Columbia University is awarded the prize for his outstanding contributions to the study of elites. By turning our gaze towards the elite, Khan refers to classic sociology as well as contributes to the reinvigoration of research on stratification and inequality. Khan shows how the US elite functions, how it reproduces, and its role in modern society. Elite education has been central in his works. In addition, Khan studies the role of elites in the sphere of art. Read more about the award

Sociologist Jennifer Lee wrote an op-ed in The Conversation about the challenges faced by census officials and policy makers in attempting to collect data on Asian-American immigrant populations from varied countries of origin. See more here.

Sociologist Jennifer Lee published a paper in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science on the challenges of tracking immigration across different Asian American communities as a result of varied migration histories and socioeconomic profiles. Access the article here.

Sociologist Maria Abascal has been awarded a Provost Office's Junior Faculty Grant for Spring 2018 for her project entitled Trust, Cooperation, and Collective Action in Diverse Communities. See the full list of awardees here.

In recognition and honor of his life, work, and legacy, Columbia GSAS has announced the Devon T. Wade Mentorship and Service Award, to be given annually to a doctoral student who embodies the spirit and ethos of Dr. Devon Tyrone Wade, who posthumously received his PhD yesterday from the Department of Sociology. To learn more about Dr. Wade and the award, see the official GSAS press release.

Dora Arenas, the administrative assistant for the Sociology Department at Columbia University, has been awarded the Chinweike Okegbe Service Award for her decades of impeccable support and guidance. She has been crucial to the success of faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate majors alike. Dora Arenas has served the department for over 30 years and has overseen generations of scholars and students of Sociology.

Sociologist Van Tran was interviewed for a piece on gentrification in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood published in the LA Times.

Sociologist and Department Chair Shamus Khan will deliver a master class on May 8th at the Columbia Global Center Santiago on "The Political and Economic Power of the Elites".

For more, view the event page.

Van Tran has been selected as a recipient of the Presidential Teaching Award. This is the highest teaching honor awarded at Columbia (Van was selected from among over 900 nominations), and Van will be recognized at Commencement for his extraordinary accomplishments as a teacher, mentor, and for bringing his scholarship to a broad public. 
 

Sociologist Herbert Gans published a featured essay with the American Sociological Association entitled "Sociology and Journalism: A Comparative Analysis".