2014 Annual Meeting Final Program
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IN RECOGNITION OF PAST AND PRESENT SERVICE PRESIDENTS OF SSSP, 1952-2016 Ernest W. Burgess 1952-1953 Stanton Wheeler 1974-1975 Pamela A. Roby 1996-1997 Alfred McClung Lee 1953-1954 S. M. Miller 1975-1976 Beth B. Hess 1997-1998 Herbert Blumer 1954-1955 Bernard Beck 1976-1977 Evelyn Nakano Glenn 1998-1999 Arnold M. Rose 1955-1956 Jacqueline Wiseman 1977-1978 Robert Perrucci 1999-2000 Mabel Elliot 1956-1957 John I. Kitsuse 1978-1979 John F. Galliher 2000-2001 Byron Fox 1957-1958 Frances Fox Piven 1979-1980 Joel Best 2001-2002 Richard Schermerhorn 1958-1959 James E. Blackwell 1980-1981 Nancy C. Jurik 2002-2003 Alfred R. Lindesmith 1959-1960 Egon Bittner 1981-1982 Kathleen J. Ferraro 2003-2004 Alvin W. Gouldner 1960-1961 Helena Z. Lopata 1982-1983 Gary Alan Fine 2004-2005 Marshall B. Clinard 1961-1962 Louis Kriesberg 1983-1984 Claire M. Renzetti 2005-2006 Marvin B. Sussman 1962-1963 Joan W. Moore 1984-1985 Valerie Jenness 2006-2007 Jessie Bernard 1963-1964 Rodolfo Alvarez 1985-1986 Nancy A. Naples 2007-2008 Irwin Deutscher 1964-1965 Arlene Kaplan Daniels 1986-1987 Steven E. Barkan 2008-2009 Howard S. Becker 1965-1966 Doris Y. Wilkinson 1987-1988 JoAnn L. Miller 2009-2010 Melvin Tumin 1966-1967 Joseph R. Gusfield 1988-1989 A. Javier Treviño 2010-2011 Lewis Coser 1967-1968 Murray Straus 1989-1990 Wendy Simonds 2011-2012 Albert J. Reiss, Jr. 1968-1969 James A. Geschwender 1990-1991 R.A. Dello Buono 2012-2013 Raymond W. Mack 1969-1970 Stephen J. Pfohl 1991-1992 Anna Maria Santiago 2013-2014 Kai Erikson 1970-1971 William Chambliss 1992-1993 Marlese Durr 2014-2015 Albert K. Cohen 1971-1972 Barbara Katz Rothman 1993-1994 David A. Smith 2015-2016 Edwin M. Lemert 1972-1973 James D. Orcutt 1994-1995 Rose Coser 1973-1974 Peter Conrad 1995-1996 EDITORS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS, 1953-2017 Jerome Himmelhoch 1953-1958 Malcolm Spector 1981-1984 James A. Holstein 2002-2005 Erwin O. Smigel 1958-1961 James D. Orcutt 1984-1987 Amy S. Wharton 2005-2008 Howard S. Becker 1961-1965 Joseph Schneider 1987-1990 Ted Chiricos 2008-2011 Hyman Rodman 1965-1969 Merry Morash 1990-1993 Becky Pettit 2011-2014 David Gold 1969-1975 Robert Perrucci 1993-1996 Nilda Flores-Gonzalez 2014-2017 Arlene Kaplan Daniels 1975-1978 Joel Best 1996-1999 Pamela Anne Quiroz 2014-2017 Richard Colvard 1978-1981 David A. Smith 1999-2002 The Society for the Study of Social Problems 901 McClung Tower University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-0490 W: (865) 689-1531; F: (865) 689-1534 [email protected] www.sssp1.org FINAL PROGRAM The Society for the Study of Social Problems 64th Annual Meeting August 15-17, 2014 San Francisco Marriott Marquis 780 Mission Street 2014 Theme: Fifty Years Later: From a War on Poverty to a War on the Poor "This is America's opportunity to bridge the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. And the question is whether America will do it. There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is we now have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. But the real question is whether we have the will." - Martin Luther King, Jr., March 31, 1968 Anna Maria Santiago SSSP President 2013-2014 On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared unconditional war on poverty in America – a time in our history when the voices of individuals like Homer Bigart, Michael Harrington, John and Robert Kennedy moved the collective American social conscience to action against one of our most entrenched social problems. Yet, we have ample evidence five decades later that suggests that not only is the war far from over, the outcomes of our anti-poverty policies and programs have been mixed. Indeed, critics from both sides of the political aisle would argue today that “poverty won” with nearly 50 million Americans (almost one out of four of them children) living in poverty as of 2013. Indeed, the 2013 UNICEF report card on child well-being identifies the United States as having the second highest child poverty rate among the world’s most affluent countries. While the problem of poverty is not new, who constitutes the poor has changed dramatically since 1964. Today, fewer elderly citizens are poor while those of working age have increased dramatically, in part due to the influence of neoliberal policies on local, national, and global markets and the continued replacement of high-wage manufacturing jobs with low-wage service sector jobs. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the ranks of the new poor have grown to encompass the college educated, former middle class workers, suburbanites, and homeowners. However, what has remained consistent throughout the years is that poverty and inequality are most pronounced among minorities and women. Also changed since 1964 are the political and social contexts shaping our approaches to addressing poverty in America. As Martin Luther King Jr. asked 45 years ago, do we currently have the political and social will to end poverty? Today, the answer is emphatically “no.” The scholarly and policy discourse on poverty has receded almost to complete silence. Poverty was rarely mentioned during the 2012 Presidential campaigns with both parties directing their political rhetoric toward middle class America. Further, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was quoted in a recent blog by Jennifer Bendery (2013) as depicting the Congressional record on poverty as ‘missing in action.’ In many ways I wonder whether we have evolved from an unconditional war on poverty to a seemingly unconditional war on the poor. As Saul Friedman noted in a 2010 blog reminiscing about the War on Poverty, there has been a consistent “bipartisan gnawing away at anti-poverty programs” since 1970s that has decimated the social safety net for millions of poor American families. Today, this safety net is at risk of further shredding by the federal sequester as well as the political 1 gamesmanship targeting anti-poverty programs and scapegoating the poor. We again hear familiar rhetoric distinguishing between the deserving versus the undeserving poor; re-emphasizing individual failure over the failure of society as the primary reason for poverty. Moreover, despite nearly universal agreement amongst scholars and policymakers about viable remedies (e.g., job creation, asset building) as mechanisms to lift people out of poverty, we are currently living in a political and social milieu that lacks the political will to support this type of social action. As we convene our 2014 meetings in San Francisco, we invite scholar-activists and practitioners to once again look critically at the issue of poverty in America and beyond, examining the successes, failures and limitations associated with 50 years of anti-poverty strategies with fresh eyes. We are organizing panels, critical dialogues, workshops, thematic sessions and special events to examine new ways of confronting poverty. As scholars in pursuit of a just society, what do we have to offer at this time in our history to address one of the most, if not the most, pressing social problems that we face locally, nationally and globally? Who amongst us, might emerge as the contemporary voices stirring the collective American conscience to social action? Anna Maria Santiago, SSSP President Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences Case Western Reserve University 2014 Program Committee Kelly L. Patterson, Co-Chair, State University of New York at Buffalo Robert M. Silverman, Co-Chair, State University of New York at Buffalo Benigno E. Aguirre, University of Delaware Kathleen M. Blee, University of Pittsburgh Filomena M. Critelli, State University of New York at Buffalo Marlese Durr, Wright State University Jennifer Shea, San Francisco State University Gregory D. Squires, George Washington University On behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Michele Koontz, Administrative Officer & Meeting Manager, wishes to thank President Anna Maria Santiago; Program Committee Co-Chairs Kelly L. Patterson and Robert M. Silverman and their committee Benigno E. Aguirre, Kathleen M. Blee, Filomena M. Critelli, Marlese Durr, Jennifer Shea, and Gregory D. Squires; Local Arrangements Committee Chair Jennifer Shea and her committee Rebecca Wepsic Ancheta, J. Todd Ormsbee, and Geetan Virdi; Executive Officer Héctor L. Delgado; Information Technology Specialist Sharon Shumaker; Administrative Assistant Marisa Stone, and Graduate Research Associate and Webmaster Lisa East for their contributions to the program. Additional thanks to artist Judy Robitschek, robi-chex graphic design + production, who created the program cover and the computer sleeve design. A special thanks to President Anna Maria Santiago and anonymous donors for their financial contributions to program activities and to the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University; University at Buffalo, School of Architecture and Planning and the School of Social Work; Oxford University Press; and the University of California Press for their financial contributions. 2 PART I. Annual Meeting Information Annual Meeting Schedule Table of Contents 2014 Theme: Fifty Years Later: From a War on Poverty to a War on The official days of the 2014 SSSP Annual Meeting are Friday, the Poor .............................................................................................. 1 August 15 to Sunday, August 17. Program sessions are PART I. Annual Meeting Information ............................................... 3 scheduled on all three days of the meeting. Annual Meeting Schedule ...........................................................