The holidays are coming.  Members of the Labor section looking for gift ideas for children might enjoy this fairly comprehensive essay:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/20/1035323/-Stories-of-solidarity:-Childrens-books-about-labor-and-organizing?detail=hide

More generally, members can go to www.dailykos.com and click on the “Labor” bar at the top for a range of material about what’s happening to workers and unions; there are several posts each day.  Anyone can register at the site, then post a diary on the blog (and choose the tag “labor” so your diary shows up on the labor part of the site).  Daily Kos has about 600,000 readers a day; obviously, a small percentage of them will read any given diary, but there’s at least an opportunity to attract a significant audience.

Another good source for labor information is to register for Portside Labor, which sends out one story a day about events in the world of labor.  To register, go to:  http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Full disclosure:  my daughter, a sociologist, wrote the recommended essay, writes for Daily Kos and is its labor editor.

Dan Clawson, University of Massachusetts Amherst

On behalf of the Labor and Labor Movements Research Committee of the ISA (RC-44),  I would like to invite members of the ASA Labor Movements Section to submit abstracts to the 2nd International Forum of the International Sociological Association which will be held in Buenos Aires in August 2012 [ 2 weeks before the ASA meetings].

The list of sessions is attached.

To submit an abstract just go to http://www.isa-sociology.org/buenos-aires-2012/rc/rc.php?n=RC44 and click on the "On-Line Abstract Submission" button.

Abstracts are limited to 300 words so very little work is involved, but in order to preserve your possibility of joining labor sociologists from around the world in Buenos Aires next summer, you need to submit your abstract before December 15th.

                                                                                    Looking forward to seeing you in Buenos Aires! 

Peter Evans
Secretary and Program Coordinator
Research Committee on Labor Movements (RC-44)
pevans@berkeley.edu

SASE – Network Q: Asian Capitalisms

SASE’s 24th Annual Meeting, MIT, Cambridge (June 28-30, 2012)

Organizers: Sebastien Lechevalier (EHESS), Boy Lüthje (Frankfurt Institute of Social Research/East West Center), Cornelia Storz (Frankfurt University), Tobias ten Brink (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies)

In the debates in social, economic, and political sciences on the diversity of capitalism, Asian capitalisms have been under-researched. Theories and concepts of the comparative capitalism approach have still to be applied to Asia and tested within these specific institutional configurations. The very nature of capitalism, its internal diversity, and its pattern of institutional change are questions that are especially fascinating to analyze for Asia. More specifically, the apparent lack of coherence and immense heterogeneity of capitalist production, regulation and the related institution building in the case of China, the different speed of changes in Japan and Korea despite seemingly similar institutional arrangements, the specific institutional structures of city states as Hong Kong and Singapore, the rapid integration of different models and levels of economic development within the “China Circle”, particularly between the P. R. China and Taiwan, and the idiosyncratic industrial specialization in India based on textile, IT or services such as call centers require a renewed analysis of institutional comparative advantage, and of various modes of capitalist growth .

The network will focus on the five areas (a) De- or Re-industrialisation? , (b) Innovation, HRM and Knowledge Creation, (c) Beyond Market or State?, (d) The future of Asian Capitalism, and (e) Welfare, Inequalities, and institutional change. Moreover, we are planning to have a section for PhD candidates and an additional special section for papers that do not fit into one of these categories but are nonetheless interesting contributions.

Hence, the basic idea of this first area network within SASE is to make Asia a central field of investigation for theories of institutional change and diversity of capitalism. In doing so, we expect to promote a fruitful dialogue between Asia specialists on one hand, and comparative capitalism specialists, including those working on other regions, on the other. We welcome papers focusing on Asian capitalisms and papers adopting a comparative perspective with other capitalisms.

Important information:

• How to apply: www.sase.org (Please note that you do not have to be a member to submit a proposal. However, you do need to create a login).Deadline for applications: Jan 15th 2012 for abstracts, June 1st for completed paper.

• The network will run a prize for the best paper on Asian capitalisms (amount: Euro 1000).

• This network is supported by Fondation France-Japon de l’EHESS (http://ffj.ehess.fr/), which funds the best paper award, travel grants, and student stipends on a competitive basis.

• For further information please contact Sebastien Lechevalier (ffj@ehess.fr).

Dear Labor Section,
It's that time of year again. Nominations season. We are looking for nominations (including self nominations) for Chair Elect, Council, and Student Representative. Please email me carolinabm75@gmail.com, no later than December 1 with your nominations. The nominations committee needs to have a full slate to present to ASA by mid-December. We've had amazing section leadership since our inception. Let's keep up the tradition. All the best, Carolina
--
Carolina Bank Munoz
Associate Professor of Sociology
Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center-CUNY

Real Utopias: Emancipatory Projects, Institutional Designs, Possible Futures

All information is available for at the ASA website.
http://www.asanet.org/meetings/Call_for_Papers.cfm

Submission deadline is January 11, 2012.

CALL FOR AUTHORS: Sociology of Work: An Encyclopedia

We are inviting academic editorial contributors to Sociology of Work:
An Encyclopedia, a 2-volume library reference to be published in 2013 by SAGE Publications.

The simple act of going to work every day is an integral part of all societies across the globe; it is an ingrained social contract—we all work to survive. If we can’t work, psychologists have equated losing a job with the trauma of divorce or a family death, and enormous issues arise, from financial panic to sinking self-esteem. Through work, we build our self-identity, our lifestyle, and our aspirations. How did it come about that work dominates so many parts of our lives? This multi-disciplinary encyclopedia covers curricular subjects that answer that question, ranging from business and management to anthropology, sociology, social history, psychology, politics, economics, and health.
Distinguishing itself from the competition, this encyclopedia focuses on contemporary sociology and provides international coverage, comparing work in China to the United States, for example. The articles will be accompanied by pedagogical elements, including a Reader’s Guide, Chronology, Resource Guide, Glossary, Appendix, and thorough Index.

This comprehensive work will be marketed and sold to college, public, and academic libraries and includes some 400 articles, covering all aspects of the sociology of work and related disciplines in the social sciences, including terms and practices, biographies, and descriptions of work. We are now making assignments with a deadline of February 15, 2012.

Each article, ranging from 700 to 3,500 words, is signed by the contributor. The General Editor of the encyclopedia is Vicki Smith, Ph.D., University of California - Davis,  who will review all the articles for editorial content and academic consistency.

If you are interested in contributing to the encyclopedia, it can be a notable publication addition to your CV/resume and broaden your publishing credits. Payment for the articles are honoraria that range from a $50 book credit from Sage Publications for article submissions totaling 500 to 1,000 words up to a free copy of the encyclopedia for contributions totaling 10,000 words. More than this, your involvement can help assure that credible and detailed data, descriptions, and analysis are available to students of the sociology of work.

The article list, style guidelines, and sample article are attached for your review. Please select the unassigned articles that best suit your interests and expertise. Availability and assignment of articles will be confirmed upon receipt of your request.


If you would like to contribute to building a truly outstanding reference with Sociology of Work: An Encyclopedia, please contact me by the e-mail information below. Please provide a brief summary of your background in Work, Occupations, Organizations, and Employment issues.
Thanks for your time and interest.

Susan Moskowitz
Director, Author Management
Golson Media
work@golsonmedia.com

Sample Entry
Submission Guidelines
Headword List

Dear SASE Supporter,
We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting submissions for our 24th Annual Meeting, June 28-30, 2012 Cambridge, USA

Submissions may be made through our website, www.sase.org.
Submit papers or sessions at
www.sase.org

Deadline for all submissions, including applications for travel grants and student stipends: January 15, 2012
The 2012 conference aims to address issues raised by broad and pressing questions concerning global shifts. Within the well- established remit of SASE, participants are invited to submit theoretical and empirical contributions, at multiple levels of analysis from the local to the global, drawing from multi-disciplinary socio-economic frameworks.

President Mari Sako (Oxford University) and Program Director Richard Locke (MIT).

You can see the flyer for this here.

CALL FOR PAPERS
INSURGENCY AND RESISTANCE

The 34th Annual North American Labor History Conference

October 18-20, 2012

Wayne State University

Detroit, Michigan

The Program Committee of the North American Labor History Conference invites proposals for sessions, papers, and roundtables on “Insurgency and Resistance” for our thirty-fourth annual meeting.

Throughout history, workers have engaged in insurgency and resistance from factories to fields, from plantations to plants, from mines to mills, and in cities and in the countryside.  Power and authority have been contested on a variety of terrains, both inside and outside of traditional labor structures.

More recently, conflicts have erupted in Latin America, the Arab world, southern Europe, China, and across North America.

The program committee encourages submissions from international, comparative, and interdisciplinary perspectives.  We welcome the integration of public historians with community and labor activists, using a variety of formats (workshops, roundtable discussions, book talks, and multimedia presentations).  We encourage thematic sessions that cross borders, both disciplinary and geographical, especially those dealing with race, gender, class, and empire.

Please submit papers and panel proposals (including a 1 paragraph abstract and a brief vita or biographical statement for all participants) by March 23, 2012, to:

Professor Francis Shor, Coordinator
North American Labor History Conference
Department of History
Wayne State University
3094 Faculty Administration Building
Detroit, MI 48202

Phone: 313-577-2525; Fax: 313-577-6987
Email: nalhc@wayne.edu

To members of the Labor and Labor Movements Section:

As you may know, each year the section presents a Distinguished Scholarly Book Award in the Area of Labor or Labor Movements.  The Award Committee is beginning the selection process by inviting nominations from all section members.  The award honors a book as the best publication based on original research in the sociology of work, the labor process, the working class, labor unions, or working class movements. Books published in 2010 and 2011 are eligible.

The work of our committee depends in large part on the quality of the books nominated.  We hope you will take the time to nominate worthy candidates, as many as you like.  Please send the list of your nominees (or any questions) to me, by email: smckay@ucsc.edu . Include the publisher (if you have it) as well as the author and title of each book.  If you want to include a paragraph arguing for the worthiness of your choice, we would welcome the input, but please don’t feel that you need to make an argument.  If you send only the author and title, we will give the book full consideration.  Please send your nominations in as soon as you can, so we can contact publishers and begin reading nominated books.  The deadline for nominations is February 15th, 2012.  (But again, the earlier the better!).

 The winner and runners-up will be publicly announced at the ASA annual meeting in August 2012.

 Sincerely,

 Steve McKay

Chair, Distinguished Scholarly Book Award Committee

Section on Labor and Labor Movements
American Sociological Association