IN RECOGNITION OF PAST AND PRESENT SERVICE PRESIDENTS OF SSSP, 1952-2006 Ernest W. Burgess 1952-1953 Kai Erikson 1970-1971 Joseph R. Gusfield 1988-1989 Alfred McClung Lee 1953-1954 Albert K. Cohen 1971-1972 Murray Straus 1989-1990 Herbert Blumer 1954-1955 Edwin M. Lemert 1972-1973 James A. Geschwender 1990-1991 Arnold M. Rose 1955-1956 Rose Coser 1973-1974 Stephen J. Pfohl 1991-1992 Mabel Elliot 1956-1957 Stanton Wheeler 1974-1975 William Chambliss 1992-1993 Byron Fox 1957-1958 S. M. Miller 1975-1976 Barbara Katz Rothman 1993-1994 Richard Schermerhorn 1958-1959 Bernard Beck 1976-1977 James D. Orcutt 1994-1995 Alfred R. Lindesmith 1959-1960 Jacqueline Wiseman 1977-1978 Peter Conrad 1995-1996 Alvin W. Gouldner 1960-1961 John I. Kitsuse 1978-1979 Pamela A. Roby 1996-1997 Marshall B. Clinard 1961-1962 Frances Fox Piven 1979-1980 Beth B. Hess 1997-1998 Marvin B. Sussman 1962-1963 James E. Blackwell 1980-1981 Evelyn Nakano Glenn 1998-1999 Jessie Bernard 1963-1964 Egon Bittner 1981-1982 Robert Perrucci 1999-2000 Irwin Deutscher 1964-1965 Helena Z. Lopata 1982-1983 John F. Galliher 2000-2001 Howard S. Becker 1965-1966 Louis Kriesberg 1983-1984 Joel Best 2001-2002 Melvin Tumin 1966-1967 Joan W. Moore 1984-1985 Nancy C. Jurik 2002-2003 Lewis Coser 1967-1968 Rodolfo Alvarez 1985-1986 Kathleen J. Ferraro 2003-2004 Albert J. Reiss, Jr. 1968-1969 Arlene Kaplan Daniels 1986-1987 Gary Alan Fine 2004-2005 Raymond W. Mack 1969-1970 Doris Y. Wilkinson 1987-1988 Claire M. Renzetti 2005-2006 EDITORS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS, 1953-2008 Jerome Himmelhoch 1953-1958 Richard Colvard 1978-1981 Joel Best 1996-1999 Erwin O. Smigel 1958-1961 Malcolm Spector 1981-1984 David A. Smith 1999-2002 Howard S. Becker 1961-1965 James D. Orcutt 1984-1987 James A. Holstein 2002-2005 Hyman Rodman 1965-1969 Joseph Schneider 1987-1990 Amy S. Wharton 2005-2008 David Gold 1969-1975 Merry Morash 1990-1993 Arlene Kaplan Daniels 1975-1978 Robert Perrucci 1993-1996 The Society for the Study of Social Problems 901 McClung Tower University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-0490 work: (865) 974-3620; fax: (865) 689-1534 [email protected] http://www.sssp1.org (Printed in the USA) PRELIMINARY PROGRAM The Society for the Study of Social Problems 55th Annual Meeting August 12-14, 2005 Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1800 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA BLOWBACK: THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS Our world is crowded with activists – progressives, conservatives, libertarians, socialists, pragmatists, wise women, and fools – who present favored nostrums for how the world can become a better place and how intractable problems can be ameliorated. By necessity, when facing these challenges, we make assessments about what the future will be like under a set of conditions. We create a sociology of the future – sometimes incisive, sometimes wrong, and always incomplete. People extrapolate, theorize, and draw on their experiences. We link understandings of the past and present with beliefs about how situations change. Again and again we are surprised by the outcomes that our policies take. It is our responsibility to consider the unexpected and latent effects of our decisions – whether about war, economic policy, health care, or moral matters. Here, meeting in Philadelphia, the site of one of the greatest social experiments – the creation of the American polity - we recognize that this noble experiment produced outcomes that could have been little imagined in Independence Hall. However, surprising consequences appear in large and small packages. Today we discover many and complex reverberations of decisions leading to War in Iraq, Gay Marriage, Affirmative Action, Stem-cell Research, Punitive Drug Policies, Liberalized Divorces, and Anti-Terrorism policy. As scholars and as activists, we are obliged to analyze these effects, just as we have an obligation to point to the problems for which solutions were proposed. Social problems are chained in webs of consequences. In 1936 our great sociologist Robert Merton recognized that purposive action had unanticipated consequences. It is my challenge to the Society to stand on the shoulders of this giant to extend his vision and to proclaim his clarion call. Sometimes progressive solutions produce regressive effects, and on occasion regressive solutions may produce beneficial outcomes. The dynamics of social problems do not end when a law is passed, a ruling is made, or a proclamation announced. In choosing this topic, I am consciously returning to the creative insight of our great founder C. Wright Mills, who saw in the sociological imagination the obligation to explore the taken-for-granted truisms that are often passed off as eternal verities. Mills knew that our position as sociologists required that we strip away certainties – seeing the complexity of relations between individuals and social forces, and between present and future. The world is too wondrously complex for simple answers and facile solutions. Let us gather together in Philadelphia and describe the ways in which the social world has surprised, fooled, disturbed, and inspired us. The reality that the future is often a dark glass, must not mean that we should not peer through its partly opaque surface as diligently as we can. Gary Alan Fine, SSSP President, Northwestern University 2005 Program Committee Timothy Diamond, Co-Chair, Ryerson University PJ McGann, Co-Chair, University of Michigan Joshua Gamson, University of San Francisco Omar M. McRoberts, University of Chicago Mindy Stombler, Georgia State University 2 WELCOME TO PHILADELPHIA, TABLE OF CONTENTS THE “CITY THAT LOVES YOU BACK” Accessibility Services .............................. 3 That saying implies that you will fall in love with Philadelphia – and you will. This is a city of tremendous diversity and deep historical roots, a city AIDS Fundraiser and the Graduate Student and New Member with something for everyone. Most of the historical sites are within walking Reception ..................................... 5, 22 distance of the Crowne Plaza Hotel as are the major museums and shopping venues. Head south to Independence Hall, where on July 4, 1776, the Awards Banquet ............................. 5, 29, 44 Declaration of Independence was signed. This year Philadelphia is th Babysitting Services ................................ 4 celebrating the 300 birthday of Benjamin Franklin, so check with the hotel concierge for dates and times of special events – and don’t be surprised if Book Exhibit ..................................... 4 you see a guy that looks a lot like Franklin, dressed in period garb, wandering around the historic district talking with visitors. Just across from Business Meeting............................ 5, 10, 23 Independence Hall is the Liberty Bell pavilion, where you can see the Liberty Bell and its famous crack. This historic area is a great place for a C. Wright Mills Finalists - 2004 ...................... 22 walk; there are streets that look much the way they did 200 years ago, lovely parks, and blocks of historic houses and buildings. Committee and Divisional Business Meetings........... 10 Adjacent to the historic area is Old City with its multitude of ethnic Division-Sponsored Reception ....................... 22 restaurants and art galleries. But Philadelphia is a city of wonderful museums: the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Rodin Museum are next Editors of Social Problems, 1953-2008 .... inside front cover door to one another on the Ben Franklin Parkway. From the historic district or near the hotel, you can hop on one of Philly Phlash buses or a trolley for Film Exhibit.....................................6-7 a lift to the Parkway museums. And a short walk from both of these museums are two fantastic science museums: the Franklin Institute and the Getting to Philadelphia.............................3-4 Academy of Natural Sciences – favorites of kids (and kids-at-heart). Other museums you’ll want to visit are the Balch Museum for Ethnic Studies on Graduate Student Meeting with the Student Board S. 7th St., the African American Cultural Museum at 7th and Arch Sts., and Representatives ............................. 5, 10, 22 the National Museum of Jewish History on N. 5th St. One of my personal favorites, however, is the Eastern State Penitentiary at 22nd St. and Fairmont How to Make Hotel Reservations ..................... 3 Ave. I have taken the tour of this historic site numerous times and each time I have learned something new. You shouldn’t miss it. How to Register.............................. 3, 45-46 If you prefer not to go into a museum, but still want to check out some art, Index of Division Sessions........................... 9 just walk around downtown because Philadelphia boasts the most extensive display of public art of any U.S. city. Another sure bet is the Philadelphia Index of Participants.............................39-41 Zoo, 42 acres at Girard Ave. and 34th St., the first zoo in the United States. International Coalition Against Sexual Harassment .....42-43 Philadelphia is also a city of markets. One of the best is the Reading Listing of Officers and Committee Members............8-9 Terminal Market, a short walk from the hotel, where you can get Termini Brothers’ canoli as well as fresh produce and baked goods from Amish and Listing of Plenary, Thematic, and Special Sessions....... 11 Mennonite farmers from Lancaster County while also picking up funky jewelry, plants, clothes, and household items. And don’t miss the Italian th Mentoring Program ................................ 5 Market in South Philadelphia (9 St. from Wharton to Christian Sts.), the largest outdoor food market in the U.S. You can feast on a variety of Open Discussion of Resolutions Being Proposed to the SSSP cheese, pasta, and pastries. If you are feeling adventurous – and you don’t Board of Directors ........................... 4, 10, 19 care about your cholesterol level – stop by Geno’s and/or Pat’s Steaks for a genuine Philly cheesesteak. Be sure to order your cheesesteak “wid” – i.e., Parking Services................................... 4 with fried onions.