Cynthia Fuchs Epstein the City of Brotherly (And Sisterly) Society, Especially in the Current Political Love Welcomed an Onslaught of More Climate
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VOLUME 33 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 NUMBER 7 th Profile of the ASA President. The ASA Celebrates Its 100 Birthday Pushing Social Boundaries: in the Nation’s Birthplace Cynthia Fuchs Epstein The City of Brotherly (and sisterly) society, especially in the current political Love welcomed an onslaught of more climate. by Judith Lorber, Graduate School Cynthia’s father graduated from than 5000 sociologists to the 2005 The political undertones of the theme and Brooklyn College, Stuyvesant High School and had one American Sociological Association were reflected in two of the plenary City University of New York year of college, where he became a Annual Meeting. The centennial meeting sessions. The first discussed the impor- socialist. He outgrew some of his early proved to be busy, successful, and tant shifts in the political terrain of the In 1976, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein and idealism about the possibility of creating historical for being the second largest nation—most notably a new surge Rose Laub Coser were in England an egalitarian society, but he was an meeting in ASA history and only the rightward in our major political institu- organizing an international conference untiring worker in the reform wing of second to top 5,000 registrants. This tions—in the 21st century. The session, on women elites at King’s College, the Democratic Party until his death at number is quite an improvement over which featured distinguished historian Cambridge. Because they also shared a the age of 91. the 115 attendees at the inaugural ASA Dan T. Carter, two well-known legal love of gourmet food, they thought they Cynthia participated in a Zionist meeting. scholars (Lani Guinier and Gerald might also consider writing a cookbook youth group that subscribed to the Not only was the meeting a record- Torres), and Thomas Frank, author of – Fast, Easy, and Healthy Food for Women socialist ideals of the Israeli kibbutz, breaker for attendance, but also for What’s the Matter with Kansas?, explored Revolutionaries. The pressures of which also had the idealistic goal (not being the busiest ASA meeting— what “competing explanations and assembling an international group of always achieved) of gender equality. measured by the number of sessions. For comparative perspectives” might be scholars to speak about women in elite Cynthia’s parents sent her to Antioch the first time the number of sessions brought to bear to better understand occupations in Eastern and College in Ohio, a place topped 600. Much of the credit is due to these developments. The last plenary on Western Europe and Israel known for its liberal politics. the meeting’s program—developed by the shifting political terrain featured interfered and they never During slavery, it was a President Troy Duster and the 2005 political analyst Kevin Phillips, author of got beyond the title. Instead refuge on the Underground Program Committee—the 2005 ASA Wealth and Democracy, and contributions they co-edited the papers Railroad that sent runaway Council, session organizers and partici- from Patricia Hill Collins and Arlie for a book Access to Power: slaves to non-slave territories. pants, and the ASA staff. Hochschild who added a socio-historical Cross-National Studies on Antioch was an early innova- The eventful meeting and the large context. Women and Elites, published tor in student participation in attendance would point to a rising As part of the centennial celebration, in 1981. That glint of ironic the running of the college and significance of sociology but that was the the 2005 Program Committee created a humor is evident in also had a co-op work debatable subject of Duster’s theme, Subcommittee on the ASA Centennial Cynthia’s slight smile in her Cynthia Fuchs Epstein program for students. “Comparative Perspectives, Competing with ASA Vice President Caroline Persell 1955 senior yearbook Politics was very much at Explanations: Accounting for the Rising (New York University) as chair. This picture at Antioch College; the forefront during the early and Declining Significance of Sociology.” subcommittee, in collaboration with the her revolutionary determination is also 1950s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy The importance of this theme was to Section on the History of Sociology, evident in her no-nonsense gaze. sent his supporters in the Ohio congress reflect, on the centennial of the associa- selected more than 20 session topics, In her essay for a book about her delegation to locate and harass left- tion, as to what sociology’s role is in plus several films, for the 2005 Annual experiences at Antioch, Courses in leaning faculty members, some of whose Meeting Courage, Cynthia says that she learned careers were entirely destroyed. Being program to that “knowledge for its own sake is good exposed to the consequences of labeling commemorate but requires probing questions and rigor and categories, Cynthia became inter- ASA’s centen- in pursuing answers, and one must ested in the ways in which marks of nial year. These always be asking the question, knowl- status shape popular and social scientific sessions looked edge for what?” Scholarship and thinking. at 100 years of political activism were to become the Her “progressive” education from various two prongs of her professional career. grade school through college and her sociology topics forward-looking family fostered her such as gender, Early Influences: Politics abilities, but once she graduated, she ran into the sexism of the fifties, which health policy, As a student in college, and even provided few professional opportunities and disability, before, Cynthia was aware of the for women. After spending several and sociologi- processes that defined groups of people frustrating years in a dead-end job in a cal landmarks as “other.” Her grandfather was an non-profit charitable organization whose through the last uneducated shoemaker in Poland at the executives were women volunteers, 100 years. Also time of Russian pogroms against Jews. Cynthia put her skepticism to the task of appropriate for The family emigrated to the United the centennial, States in stages, and grew up in the back the local of their father’s shop on the lower East See Epstein, page 7 arrangements Side of New York City. committee The Annual Meeting plenaries were well attended, with crowds filling the Loews Millennium room. The Centennial meeting was only the second Annual See Annual, Meeting to top 5,000 registrants, making it the second largest meeting ever. page 6 On Hurricanes and Sociology In the tragic wakes of both Hurricane Rita and Hurri- Going to be in Washington, DC, cane Katrina, ASA has assembled useful resources for members, the press, researchers, policymakers, and the in late October? public. A September 13 note sent to all the ASA Mark your calendar . you are invited . to the ASA Centennial membership from ASA President Cynthia Fuchs Reception & Research Exhibition on Capitol Hill (in the Rayburn Epstein described some of the then-already-develop- House Office Bldg., Room B338-B339), on October 25, 2005, 5-7pm. ing and now ongoing efforts by the ASA staff and ASA members and leadership. You can find an updated, The science community including key national science policy decision annotated list of these activities on ASA’s website at <www.asanet.org/ makers will attend the commemoration, and Members of Congress will page.ww?section=ExecOffice&name=Hurricane+Katrina>. As this issue cap it off with comments. ASA leadership welcomes all to come learn goes to press, we are developing a list of ASA members in the affected areas about the range of sociological research, teaching, and practice through and will post that on the website. Existing resources include, for example, a small representative set of posters from government agencies, indi- Epstein’s letter to the membership, information on what ASA members are vidual scholars/researchers, DC-area academic sociology departments, doing or have done to assist victims, a list of sociologist disaster researchers and the social science community. Come celebrate at this commemora- with expertise in a wide range of related matters who can speak with the tion of the Association’s 100th anniversary. RSVP to ASA’s Public press, links to donation and volunteer opportunity websites, teaching re- Affairs Office at [email protected]. sources, research funding opportunities, and more. PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 2 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 FOOTNOTES The Executive Officer’s Column In This Issue . Minority Research Training Milestones With outstanding peer reviews, the ASA application to continue our Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) has been funded for three additional years at $1.37-million by the Na- tional Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Receipt of this grant extends the 31-year history of NIMH support of minority fellows, and establishes NIDA as a new supporter of the ASA training efforts. Immigration Policy It is a notable endorsement of this program’s long, successful record. ASA Congressional Fellow describes status of current national legislation. A Proud History 3 Many sociologists of color have been supported during their doctoral training by the MFP, one of the very few training programs of its size run by a professional association. The MFP was established in 1974 under a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research- New Minority Fellows training grant (T-32) mechanism through the Division of Mental Disorders, Behavioral Research, and AIDS (DMDBA) within NIMH. When ASA submitted our five-year ASA announces new NIMH/NIDA competitive renewal application to NIMH and NIDA in 2004, federal research agencies training fellows. were on the threshold of a government-wide self-examination of how to proceed with fulfilling congressional mandates to ensure more minorities are trained in essential 4 mental health and drug abuse research fields and how to balance those national needs within a less-than-nurturing political climate.