One upcoming highlight is the ASA annual meeting in IN THIS ISSUE New York. We have a fabulous regular program spread over a day and a half along with a day-long mini-conference to get everything started. Certainly, our five panels, roundtables, and mini- conference sessions will highlight the theoretical LETTER FROM THE ambition and CHAIR methodological range of our section. Dear Political Sociology On our section days our Section, program explores classic and new themes, cutting- Spring is a busy time of edge approaches, and year, with all of us juggling pressing issues. Our panels our varied responsibilities. cover ‘Sociological As we look forward to the Approaches to Corruption,’ end of the academic year, ‘Race, Sexuality and let me begin by thanking Gender in Politics,’ and all of the members who are ‘The Resurgence of With an op-ed by currently serving on our Political Parties in Political Jennifer Jones, author of section committees and/or Sociology.’ Our Open The Browning of the New Topics session includes have agreed to run for South, and Q&A with work on free elected office. The award Angela García, author of assembly, recalls, and committees especially have Legal Passing: Navigating voter opinions. Be sure to been hard at work and will Undocumented Life and announce winners soon. also note our invited panel Local Immigration Law 1 including Cedric de Leon, Joya Misra, Andy Clamo, and Stephanie Mudge who will discuss Innovations in Political Sociology, Old School vs New School. The Friday mini-conference, “States of Exception? Political Conflict, Cultural Change, and Democratic Threat in the 21st Century” includes twelve panels and a plenary session. I’d like to thank all our panel and mini-conference organizers for setting up such an outstanding set of conference activities. On Saturday night we can also look forward to our joint reception with Comparative and Historical Sociology and the Section on the Sociology of Human Rights. As you can see we have a vibrant and exciting lineup and I hope you can join us in New York for some section solidarity! I look forward to seeing you in New York. SECTION OFFICERS, 2018-19 Chair: Pamela M. Paxton, University of Texas, Austin Chair-Elect: Richard Lachmann, State University of New York, Albany Past Chair: Thomas Janoski, University of Kentucky Secretary-Treasurer: Stephanie Mudge, University of California, Davis Council: Jennifer YJ Hsu, University of Alberta 2019; G. Cristina Mora, University of California, Berkeley 2019; Hana Brown, Wake Forest University 2020; Cybelle Fox, University of California, Berkeley 2020; Rachel Best, University of Michigan 2021; David Brady, University of California, Riverside 2021. Newsletter Editors: Maria Akchurin, Tulane University; Sara Compion, Kean University; Nathan Katz, University of Missouri; Julia Miller, University of Kentucky; Joseph Sterphone, University of California, Santa Barbara Webmaster: Jennifer Dudley, University of Notre Dame 2 ASA 2019 Political Sociology Mini-Conference States of Exception? Political Conflict, Cultural Change, and Democratic Threat in the 21st Century Friday, August 9, 2019 Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY Organized by: Thomas Janoski, University of Kentucky Richard Lachmann, SUNY Albany Bart Bonikowski, Harvard University Carlos de la Torre, University of Kentucky Delia Baldassarri, New York University Co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology and the Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, Brooklyn College The mini-conference, organized by the Political Sociology section of the American Sociological Association, will consist of twelve regular panels and a plenary session on themes related to contemporary radical politics. The schedule below indicates the panel times and paper titles. A separate abstract listing contains each author and abstract in alphabetical order. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served at 6:30 pm, following the completion of the formal program. All attendees who wish to preregister, must do so by July 15. A $25 fee should be sent by PayPal to the section treasurer, Stephanie Mudge ([email protected]). On-site payment will also be available, but only by check or cash. If paying by PayPal, please be sure to choose the option “sending to a friend,” not “paying for an item or service,” to avoid a service charge. 9:30–10:50 am Panel 1 Panel 2 Panel 3 11:00 am–12:20 pm Panel 4 Panel 5 Panel 6 12:20–2:00 pm Lunch break (attendees should make their own plans) 2:00–3:20 pm Panel 7 Panel 8 Panel 9 3:30–4:50 pm Panel 10 Panel 11 Panel 12 5:00–6:30 pm Plenary Panel 6:30–7:30 pm Drinks and hors d’oeuvres Continued on p. 32 3 I N F O C U S : Contemporary U.S. Immigration Politics 21st Century To that end, I argue that there are two Immigration Politics: important overlooked pieces to this manufactured drama. First, despite all Re-Making Race from of Trump’s rhetoric, immigration the Ground Up politics are deeply local. While it is certainly the case that visa denials, conflict at the border, and The state of immigration politics today wall construction matter, immigration feels impossibly grim. Central politics are now much more likely to American asylum seekers are being unfold at the local level, to be shaped turned away and framed as criminals, by state and municipal policies, to be temporary protections for Haitians and enacted by partnerships with local law others are being rescinded, families enforcement, or to be prevented by are being separated with little sanctuary law (García 2019; Varsanyi oversight or protections for minors, 2010). municipalities that seek to enact sanctuary policies are being A young undocumented woman in Los threatened, immigrants from majority Angeles, for example, will have a very Muslim countries are being excluded different set of risks and opportunities through the Muslim Ban, Deferred attached to her status, than a young Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is undocumented woman in Atlanta. being attacked, billions of dollars are Currently, that young woman in L.A. is being diverted into a useless wall – the protected by Senate Bill 54, the list goes on. California Values Act, which extends non-cooperation mandates to the And yet, my work suggests that the entire state. She has several laws to current administration’s exclusionary protect her rights as a worker, agenda obscures important dynamics including the right to unionize, and that may lead not only to a better qualifies for in-state tuition, if she understanding of immigration politics, chooses to pursue higher education. but pathways to resistance. 4 A young undocumented woman in councils, and local organizers now play Atlanta, by contrast, is at risk for a pivotal role in the lives of deportation for any violation, immigrants, particularly the including a traffic stop, because the undocumented, in their midst. Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act, HB87, requires law Second, immigration politics today are enforcement to check the immigration about race. status of anyone who cannot provide ID, as well as statewide participation While the embeddedness of race in the in secure communities, which runs all production of immigration policy and arrested individuals through an ICE politics is by no means new (Glenn database. She would also have few 2002; Ngai 2004), this moment is workplace protections and struggle to important because it reframes our find work due to mandated e-verify thinking about how immigration use. Nor would she be likely to pursue advocacy groups build success. In my higher education, as undocumented work with Hana Brown, we find that students are banned from the state’s Black politicians highlight the top institutions and barred from importance of integrating immigrants paying in-state tuition at others. and resist punitive policy agendas These distinct regimes are also throughout the South by framing reinforced through interpersonal immigration politics as a race issue. relations, in which individuals in Traditional civil rights organizations punitive contexts are more likely to such as the NAACP have made feel emboldened to discriminate immigration a core policy issue. against all those they perceive to be Multiracial coalitions are popping up immigrants, creating a hostile climate around immigration and civil rights (Jones 2018). issues across the region (Brown et al. 2016). ...immigration politics I argue that these emergent coalitions today are about race. are due in part to shifting local political conditions that change the What this also implies is that like way local residents think about racial historical battles over marriage access, meanings and intergroup relationships, contraceptives, abortions, slavery, and producing positive relationships federalism, the devolution of between blacks and Latinxs, immigration politics to states changes perceptions of a shared racialized the locus of political action (Jones and status, and what I call minority linked Brown 2019). State legislatures, city fate (Jones 2019). Collectively, these 5 processes highlight the importance of Jones, Jennifer A. 2019. The Browning immigration practices and policies as of the New South. Chicago: University race-making and establish the of Chicago Press. importance of experiential conditions for political mobilization. Jones, Jennifer A. 2018. From Open Doors to Closed Gates: In other words, it is the widespread Intragenerational Reverse recognition of anti-immigrant politics Incorporation in New Immigrant as part of a broader racist agenda, that Destinations. International Migration seems to hold the most promise for Review. (Online September 25, 2018). sustainable alliances that successfully resist punitive policy regimes. Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. 2002. Unequal Mississippi has been most successful Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped in this regard, using its coalition of American Citizenship and Labor. immigrant activists in the Mississippi Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), union organizers, and the state’s black Jones, Jennifer A. and Hana Brown. caucus, to not only successfully stymie 2019.