2025 Conference: Sydney / Gadigal, Australia and Zoom
The WCSA 2025 Conference, “Class and Social Justice” took place December 2nd-5th at the University Technology Sydney and on Zoom. View the presenter’s names, affiliations, and abstracts here in the finalized program here: WCSA 2025 Program
2024 Conference: Long Island, NY & Zoom
The WCSA 2024 Conference, “Class & Diversity,” took place Friday-Saturday, June 7-8 at SUNY Old Westbury, Long Island, New York and on Zoom, Thursday, June 6. View the presenter’s names, affiliations, and abstracts here: WCSA24 Abstracts. View the conference programs here: Zoom Program and the On-Ground Program
2023 Conference: Chicago, Illinois & Zoom
From June 15-17, 2023, WCSA held a Symposium on Class Cultures and a Leadership Retreat at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
The conference was co-sponsored by the UIC United Faculty union and the UIC History department. A parallel Zoom track with synchronous sessions was also offered. Here is the call for presentations, “WCSA 2023 Symposium & Leadership Retreat” and the program(s).
Our lunchtime plenary featured UIC United Faculty sharing their recent strike victory and how they used art in the struggle.
Speaker Therese Quinn opened the session with an discussion of the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, Stacy Davis Gates at their picket line.
“How We Union”
©2023 by Josh Radinsky, featuring Stacy Davis Gates
2022 Conference: Corvallis, Oregon & Zoom
In June 2022, the conference was held primarily at Oregon State University which also broadcast some panels via Zoom. This was the first Western U.S. conference, and the theme was Class Dynamics at Work. Click here to view the conference program. Watch a 1-minute video recap below.
Past WCSA Presidents Michelle Tokarczyk and Michael Zweig enjoy a meal and swap big ideas. OSU, Corvallis, Oregon, June 2022. Video produced by Madalyn Wright.
2021 Conference: Zoom & Youngstown, Ohio
In Spring 2021, WCSA held its first online Zoom conference and a smaller local one at the same time. The organizing committee worked transnationally and produced an interactive website and Zoom program that was well attended. Originally, the conference was planned to take place at Youngstown State University where the Center for Working-Class Studies was founded, and mark its 25th anniversary. However, only a small group was able to congregate at the Center due to the pandemic. The WCSA Zoom conference included participants from geographically distant locales due to the organizers work and easier access and lower cost to participate. The Conference theme was, Re-Placing Class: Community, Politics, Work, and Labor in a Changing World.
2019 Conference: Kent, England
In Fall 2019, the Conference was held at the University of Kent. This was the first time that the WCSA Conference was held outside of the US. See the Conference program and its fringe festival that included publicly oriented performance events. Here is the call for papers. The theme for 2019 was: Working-Class Studies: Beyond the Heartlands.
2018 Conference: Stony Brook, New York
2018 WCSA Conference, Class at the Border: Migration, Confinement, and Immobility hosted by the Center for the Study of Inequalities, Social Justice, and Policy at Stony Brook University.
2015 Conference: Georgetown, Washington DC
Conference 2003 Proceedings Fighting Inequality: A Joint Conference of the Labor and Working-Class History Association and the WCSA at Georgetown University