April 1999 Number 4

VOLUME 27 APRIL 1999 NUMBER 4 Annual Meeting Special Event 1999 Annual Meeting Town Meeting with Kenneth Black Chicago Fourth in a series of articles in anticipation of the Prewitt on Census 2000 1999 ASA Annual Meeting in Chicago Bring a brown bag lunch to this by Mary Pattillo-Mccoy year’s Town Meeting on “Census and Northwestern University Consensus: Controversies in the 2000 Census” featuring Dr. Kenneth Prewitt, If only the winds had blown the Director of the U.S. Bureau of the great scholar and activist W.E.B. DuBois Census. Dr. Prewitt will open the westward, rather than east and south... session with a brief status report on the For with the noted exception of DuBois, well-being of the Census only nine nearly every classic contribution to the months out. A panel of sociologists sociological understanding of African will ask questions of Dr. Prewitt about American communities was influenced how to achieve a sound and scientifi- by Chicago as a “laboratory” in the true cally-accurate Census given the sense of the word—as a site for research, broader political climate that might training and theory building. While it is affect implementing the best Census plausible that my perspective is slanted plan possible. The full audience will by my own Chicago-based training and also be engaged in raising issues and Kenneth Prewitt empirical focus, “the list” overcomes probing questions to Dr. Prewitt. Every any such charge of subjectivity: E. “Where is this Black Chicago,” you attendee—as researcher and concerned and participate in an open and candid Franklin Frazier, Oliver Cromwell Cox, ask? Most of the famed streets of citizen—has a stake in a high-quality, discussion of where things stand. Mark Allison Davis, Charles S. Johnson, Chicago’s downtown are also direct accurate census. This is a special your calendar for Sunday, August 8 at Melville Herskovits, Horace Cayton and routes into Chicago’s black neighbor- opportunity to meet with Dr. Prewitt 12:30 p.m. ❑ St. Clair Drake were all at various times hoods. For example, going south on State connected with the city and its academic Street (two blocks west of the Hilton institutions. In addition, many impor- Chicago and Towers Hotel, headquarters tant works that appear not to be Chi- for the ASA Annual Meeting) leads you cago products in fact are. Gunnar through the gentrifying but still pre- Jonathan Turner is New Myrdal’s An American Dilemma, for dominantly black areas around the example, could not have been written Illinois Institute of Technology; past the Editor of Sociological Theory without collaboration and consultation physically imposing public housing with many of the Chicago scholars projects of Stateway Gardens and Robert by Randall Collins, named above. Because of their collective Taylor Homes; and all the way to the University of Pennsylvania attention to the Black Belts in both the owner-occupied bungalow homes of North and South, we have an enduring black Chatham. Along this one route can The appointment of Jonathan Turner historical record on which to build be seen the influence of various histori- as editor of Sociological Theory brings to the contemporary research. In particular, cal processes in the creation of Chicago’s position a sociologist who is as strongly sociological field research in Chicago black neighborhoods: Those closest to identified with the enterprise of theory in has as its foundation the meticulous downtown are currently experiencing sociology as anyone working today. maps, and quantitative and qualitative intense gentrification pressures, the It is almost literally true that “he wrote descriptions of the early-1900s black public housing symbolizes the segrega- the book” when it comes to contemporary community contained in E. Franklin tionist urban renewal activities of the sociological theory. Jon’s The Structure of Frazier’s The Negro Family in Chicago and 1960s, and the middle class neighbor- Sociological Theory, when it first appeared St. Clair Drake’s and Horace Cayton’s hoods further south represent post in the early 1970s, revamped the way we Black Metropolis. These texts are indis- World War II expansion of the Black Belt now look at the line-up of competing pensable guides to Black Chicago to this theoretical approaches. If one examines day. See Chicago, page 9 the older theory textbooks before that Jonathan Turner date, and compare them with those that came after Turner’s first appeared, one sees that he brought about a paradigm Jon’s own background was originally revolution in the way the lineup of in symbolic interactionism, which he New Forum at 1999 Annual Meeting significant theories are regarded. This was pursued both as an undergraduate at especially so in micro-sociology, where University of California-Santa Barbara Turner first laid out the general signifi- under the influence of Tom Shibutani, Special Roundtable on Future cance of the theoretical principles put and as a graduate student at Cornell forward in ethnomethodology, under Robin Williams (where Jon Directions in Sociology Goffmanian dramaturgy, and the succes- received his Ph.D. in 1968). After a brief June 1 Deadline sive developments of exchange theory/ period at University of Hawaii, where Proposals are sought for a special roundtable session on “New Directions in rational choice and of symbolic he sailed boats and got island fever, he Sociology: Looking to theFuture at Century’s End.” This unique session will interactionism. Jon began the effort to moved to University of California- be organized around important new theoretical and empirical issues and bring ethnomethodological principles into Riverside, where he has been since 1969. synthesis with mainstream micro-socio- He is now Distinguished Professor of cutting edge ideas for Sociology as it looks to the future. Speculative ideas, logical modelling of interaction, rather Sociology at UCR. He was formerly new directions, and challenging questions with respect to long-standing as than treating the movement as a flamboy- editor of Sociological Prespectives, the well as new areas are welcomed and encouraged. Please contribute to this ant but marginal sect. It is worth reflecting official journal of the Pacific Sociological collective effort to identify important trends and opportunities and break new on how instrumental he has been in Association. ground. Junior and senior scholars, new attendees and frequent participants bringing micro-sociology to its current Among other recognition by his are all encouraged to submit proposals. Send a 1-2 page abstract or discussion high standing among other areas of peers, Jon has been elected President of proposal to Felice J. Levine, Executive Officer, American Sociological Associa- theory, and in bringing into clear focus the the Pacific Sociological Association; tion, 1307 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005-4701; (202) key theoretical accomplishments and Chair of the ASA Theory Section; 638-0882 fax; e-mail [email protected]. All proposals must be challenges in each brand of micro- postmarked, faxed, or date-stamped no later than June 1, 1999. sociology. See Turner, page 9 PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 2 APRIL 1999 FOOTNOTES In This Issue . The Executive Officer’s Column Proposed Use of FOIA for Data Access Keep Your Letters Coming! From ASA Presidents to sociology graduate students, the response to the proposed revision of Circular A-110 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been impressive. By OMB’s April 5 deadline, there was an outpouring of letters from researchers working across subfields of Census Update sociology, study populations, and modes of data collection. In their own voice, each of these submissions powerfully conveyed both a commitment Kenneth Prewitt navigates to principles of data access and data sharing and concrete examples of 3 rough waters on Census 2000. how the proposed use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) would have adverse consequences for the research enterprise. For those unfamiliar with the details, last Fall a provision was attached to the 1999 Omnibus Spending Law (P. L. 105-277) which instructed OMB to revise Circular A-110 to ensure that all data ASA for Students produced with a Federal grant would be made available to the public through FOIA. (Circular A- 110, which has been in effect since 1976, governs the management of Federal grants by institutions Council approves Student of higher education, hospitals, and other nonprofit agencies.) At the 11th hour, the provision was attached to this appropriations bill without any public hearings, scrutiny, or comments. On January Forum to faciliate students’ 6, H.R. 88 was introduced to repeal this provision by Representative George Brown (D-CA), a key engagement in the ASA. supporter of science. On February 4, OMB issued a proposed revision and announced a 60-day comment period until April 5. 3 As is widely known throughout the research community, the proposed revision essentially treats all research data obtained through Federal support as if it were a Federal record (i.e., a document or Research Brief on record held by the Federal government) available to the public under FOIA. Even if data access requirements need to be strengthened, FOIA does not seem to be the appropriate framework for Minorities issuing such guidance. Moreover, the proposed revision is so broad and so vague that it presents dangers to science and the public good. Left unspecified, for example, is what data are covered, The ASA Research Program what constitutes publication, when data would be accessible, how confidentiality and privacy of reports data about the individuals would be protected, how the data would be obtained, and who would bear the cost. participation of minority Through recent Footnotes, the ASA homepage, and extensive e-mail lists and listservs, we briefed sociologists and other social scientists about these sociologists in the profession.

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