Working-Class Studies Association
The Working-Class Studies Association supports scholarship, teaching, and activism related to working-class life and cultures.
Debbie Warnock, PhD, WCSA member at Bennington College, will present on “Creating Communities of Support for First Generation, Low Income, and Working Class Students,” as part of American International College’s Lectures and Forums Series. The series is coordinated in part by WCSA member, and Associate Professor of History at AIC, Gary Jones.
The event will be October 22, 2019 at 11am in AIC’s Campus Center Auditorium, and is free and open to the public.
WCSA Working-Class Academics Chair, Debbie Warnock, is conducing a survey on low-income, first-generation, and working-class undergraduate students. See the information below if you’re interested:
Are you a first-generation college student? Are you from a low-income or working-class background? Would you like to volunteer to participate in a study about your experiences of class on campus?
In order gain insight into the experiences of low-income, first-generation, and working-class (LIFGWC) students, Dr. Debbie Warnock and student research assistants at Bennington College have developed a survey that asks about institutional supports on campus, as well as sources of informal support, such as relationships with faculty, staff, and fellow students from similar class backgrounds.
Participants will be contributing to our knowledge of the first-gen/low-income/working-class student experience on campus and can opt into a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card.
To participate, simply go to TINYURL.COM/CLASSONCAMPUS
Feel free to contact debbiewarnock@bennington.edu with any questions. Thanks!
Steering Committee:
· President: Cherie Rankin, Heartland Community College
· Past-President: Terry Easton, University of North Georgia
· President-Elect: Scott Henkel, University of Wyoming
· Secretary: Courtney Maloney, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
· Treasurer: Ken Estey, Brooklyn College
At-Large Members:
· Asia Muhammad, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
· Christine Walley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
· Nathaniel Heggins Bryant, California State University, Chico
· Megan Osborn, Virginia Commonwealth University
Elections Committee:
· Chair: Jeremy Baker, University of New Mexico & Columbus State Community College
· Past-Chair: Jackie Gabriel, Western State Colorado University
· Matti Ron, University of East Anglia
Working-Class Academics Section:
· Chair: Debbie Warnock, Bennington College
· Chair-Elect: Valerie Walkerdine, Cardiff University
· Past-Chair: Mara Fridell, University of Manitoba
This past spring, sociologists and members of the WCSA’s Working-Class Academics Section Allison L. Hurst, Colby R. King, Jenny Stuber, and Deborah M. Warnock proposed that the American Sociological Association (ASA) form an ASA status committee for first-generation and working-class people in sociology. The ASA responded enthusiastically, and has formed a 14-member Task Force chair by Vincent Roscigno of the Ohio State University.
Among other efforts, the Task Force is charged to “Solicit feedback from first-generation/working-class persons in sociology (at every level, from graduate student through full professor status) regarding issues or concerns related to their status within the profession,” and to “Make recommendations to ASA Council as to how the Association can best address the challenge of integrating this population into our discipline in a way that maximizes equity.”
WCSA members Allison L. Hurst, Deborah M. Warnock, and Colby R. King are among the Task Force members.
Class cultures were a hot topic at the American Sociological Association conference a couple of weeks ago, not just because Michele Lamont is the new ASA president and she made “Culture and Inequalities” the overall conference theme, but also because 3 Working-Class Studies Association members worked to increase awareness of WCSA and all of our opportunities among the sociologists.
Jessi Streib, Allison Hurst, and Betsy Leondar-Wright (and their publishers) gave out many copies of a Class Cultures Caucus flyer with information about WCSA and the newly formed Class Cultures Caucus.
These three also organized a get-together over dinner which was well-attended. Some WCSA members and attenders came (including Lisa McKenzie, Colby King, Debbie Warnock, Jenny Stuber), but also people new to our network, including Joan Williams, author of White Working Class.
In the spirit of WCSA Treasurer Ken Estey’s encouragement to “go forth and multiply,” participants went out and encouraged interested sociologists to get involved with WCSA! The organizers gathered a list of over 30 people newly interested in WCSA. Jessi shared an inspiring description at the dinner for how great the WCSA conferences are, and we hope we may see some new people come to Stony Brook next year as a result.
Besides info on the next WCSA conference, the journal, the blog, the Caucus, Working-Class Academics and Class Action, participants also shared a call for papers that other WCSA members might be interested in. This CfP is for a mini-conference on Class and Culture convened by Annette Lareau and Elliot Weininger at the Eastern Sociological Society in February in Baltimore.
The Class Cultures Caucus founders (Barb Jensen, Jack Metzgar and Jeff Torlina as well as sociologists Jessi, Allison, and Betsy ) will come be working on plans to encourage some of those new folks to get more involved with WCSA. In the meantime, please continue to encourage other folks to get more involved with WCSA.
