Conference 1999 Program
(click paper titles to view abstracts)

Friday, November 12, 1999

Allan Horwitz, Chair, Department of Sociology, Rutgers University

Karen A. Cerulo, Sociology Faculty, Rutgers University and Conference Organizer

Day 1’s sessions will “map the field” of Culture and Cognition, with each session exploring the conceptual building blocks of this emerging area of inquiry.

Signals and Interpretive Work: The Role of Culture in a Theory of Practical Action
Diane Vaughan, Boston College

Legitimation
Harrison C. White, Columbia University

The Elephant in the Room: Notes on the Social Organization of Denial
Eviatar Zerubavel, Rutgers University

Presider: Sarah Rosenfield, Rutgers University

Culture as Knowledge Level Dynamics
Kathleen Carley, Carnegie Mellon University

Aggregate Approaches to Beliefs and Social Cognitions
John Martin, Rutgers University

Presider: Rick Phillips, Rutgers University

Group 1: Cognitive Processes in Action, con’t.

This session explores various cognitive processes that enable and guide social behavior and interactions. Discussion leaders will briefly describe projects in which they have identified a) generalizable forms of thought and reasoning, b) the institutionalization of cognitive processes, and/or c) contexts in which forms of thought have been shown to influence behavioral patterns or structural configurations. Discussion leaders for this session include:

Commensuration: Using Numbers to Create Relationships Between Things
Wendy Espeland, Northwestern University

Contested Possibilities: Averted Lynchings in the Jim Crow South
Larry Griffin, Vanderbilt University

Mental Weighing and Identity Attribution
Jamie Mullaney, Rutgers University

Mental Leveling and the Construction of Parity in Competitive Settings
Kristen Purcell, Rutgers University

Magali Larson (Group Moderator)

Group 2: Meaning and Measurement

This session will encourage informal dialogue concerning the ways in which quantitatively oriented scholars can effectively study cultural meanings. Discussion leaders will briefly reflect on methods they have explored in their own research. These individuals include:

Quantitative Measurement and the Sociology of Knowledge
John Evans, UCLA

Modeling Sociocultural Dynamics: A Conjunctural Approach
Ann Mische, Rutgers University (Group Moderator)

Sociology and Historical Epistemology
Libby Schweber, Harvard University

What to do When It's Too Late to Change the Survey: Dealing with "Imperfect" Instruments in the Data Collection Process
Sylvia Fuller, Rutgers University

Group 3: Wrestling with the Macro-Micro Divide

This session addresses both problems and promising strategies that face those who attempt to cross macro-micro lines in their work. Discussion leaders include:

Framing and Social Structure
Paul McLean, Rutgers University (Group Moderator)

The Individual in Macrosociology
James Jasper

The Collective in the Individual and the Individual in the Collective
Matthew P. Lawson, The College of New Jersey

Global Capital: Relations of Place, Notions of Self
Eric Kaldor, Rutgers University

Thinking About Villains: Adolf Hitler and the Problem of “Sticky Reputations”
Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University

How Story Telling Can be Empowering
William Gamson, Boston College

Niche Narratives: Telling Stories and Claiming Space
John Mohr, University of California at Santa Barbara

Presider: Judith Gerson, Rutgers University

Group 1: Scripts and Repertoires

This session explores future directions in narrative and discourse research. Discussion leaders will briefly reflect on topics they have explored in their own work. The group will also address questions and issues that beckon greater scholarly attention. Discussion leaders include:

The Rest of the Story: The Social Patterns of Story Elaboration
Karen A. Cerulo, Rutgers University

Scripts and Institutional Change
Michele Dillon, Yale University

Sex Scandal Narratives and the Public-Private Divide
Joshua Gamson, Yale University

Rhetoric and the Cultural Meaning of Welfare Reform
Sharon Hays, University of Virginia

Discourse and Relative Identities
Bill Smith, Rutgers University (Group Moderator)

Group 2: Point Horizons

This session is designed to encourage informal dialogue concerning perspective, points of entry, and analytic frames. Using their work as examples, discussion leaders, will probe the ways in which these elements influence social actors’ views of the broader horizon. Discussion leaders include:

Insiders and Outsiders: Thoughts on the Politics of Classification in Art
Anne Bowler, University of Delaware

Morality And Emotions in the Cultural Construction of Selves
Diane Margolis, University of Connecticut

Perspectives on the "Unfinished Infant"
Nicki Isaacson, Rutgers University

Solitude as a New Sociological Frontier
Ira Cohen, Rutgers University (Group Moderator)

Group 3: Spatial and Temporal Boundaries

This session addresses the role of space and time in cultural research. Discussion leaders will reflect on the use of these concepts in their own work. The group also will explore futures challenges facing those concerned with such issues.

Disruptions of Place Attachment and Identity Discontinuity
Melinda Milligan, Tulane University

Temporality and Causality
Jeff Olick, Columbia University

Microscopic Worlds, Miasmatic Theories, and Myopic Vision: Changing Conceptions of Air and Social Space
Ruth Simpson, Rutgers University

What Do We Expect From Time and Space in Emergencies?
Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Swarthmore College

Identity As Distance
Richard Williams, Rutgers University (Group Moderator)

Autobiography in Time and Space
Robert Zussman, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Saturday, November 13, 1999

Day 2’s sessions illustrate the application of a Culture and Cognition perspective to other substantive fields within sociology.

The Concept of Mental Disorder: Intersection of Cognitive Universals and Cultural Particulars
Jerome C. Wakefield, Rutgers University

What Does Contemporary Ritual Require?
Carolyn Marvin, Annenberg School – University of Pennsylvania

Moral Inquiry in Cultural Sociology
Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University

Presider: Ellen Idler, Rutgers University

Dreams and the Interpretation of News
Joshua Meyrowitz, University of New Hampshire

Richness of Representation and Richness of Social Responses
Cliff Nass, Stanford University

Tracking Discourse
David Altheide, Arizona State University

Presider: Judith Friedman, Rutgers University

The Institutional Imaginary: Culture and Cognition, Passions and Interests
Craig Calhoun, New York University

Individualism Pro Tem: The Case Against Linear Models of Relational Development
Karen A. Cerulo, Rutgers University

Collective Memory in Cultures of Honor and Dignity: Judging the Past in Korea and the United States
Barry Schwartz, University of Georgia

Taking Culture Seriously In Economic Sociology
Viviana Zelizer, Princeton University

Presider: Shawna Hudson, Rutgers University

Group 1: Culture and the Study of Mental Health

This session will pursue informal discussion regarding the ways in which cultural perspectives can contribute to the study of mental health. Discussion leaders will briefly describe personal avenues of research. Then, the floor will be opened to general exchange. Discussion leaders include:

Eating Disorders and the DSM: How Classification Affects Treatment Decisions and Cultural Attitudes
Rachel Askew, Rutgers University

Research on Culture-Bound Syndromes: New Directions
Peter J. Guarnaccia, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research - Rutgers University

Normative Timing and Sequencing of Life Events: The Impact of Culture on Mental Health
Julie McLaughlin, Rutgers University

Emotional Culture, Gender, and Mental Disorder
Robin Simon, University of Iowa

The Cultural Construction of Mental Diseases
Allan Horwitz, Rutgers University (Group Moderator)

Group 2: Culture, Knowledge and Economic Structure

This session is designed to stimulate informal discussion regarding the ways in which cultural perspectives can contribute to the study of economic sociology. Discussion leaders will briefly describe personal avenues of research. Then, the floor will be opened to general exchange. Discussion leaders include:

Closing the Economy/Culture Gap: A Multinarrative 'Case'
József Böröcz, Rutgers University (Group Moderator)

From the Cognitive Ground Up: Classification and the Study of Workplace Behavior
Chris Nippert-Eng, Illinois Institute of Technology

Producing Human Capital: Cultural and Economic Value in the Humanities
Bethany Bryson, University of Virginia

National Politics, Market Economics: Problems of Definition
Russ Faeges, Notre Dame University

Market Action and Exchange Categories
Lyn Spillman, Notre Dame University

Rethinking Labor: New Technologies of Globalization
Aneesh, Rutgers University

Group 3: Media Visions and Social Life

This session extends the discussion generated in the formal panel on Culture, Cognition and the Media. Discussion leaders will explore the role of new technologies in changing perceptions of public and private domains, community, social connectedness, social status, etc. Discussion leaders include:

The Mind-to-Mind Connection: Are Technologically Mediated Social Bonds and Communities "Really" Real?
Mary Chayko, Rutgers University (Group Moderator)

The Visualization of Social Theory
Doug Harper, Duquesne University

A Social Cognition Approach to Understanding How Media Images of Crime and Violence Influence Social Perceptions and Judgment
L. J. Shrum, Rutgers University

What Cognition and Affect Can Tell Us About the Future of Television
Bob Kubey, Rutgers University

Karen A. Cerulo, Rutgers University

Myron J. Aronoff, Political Science, Rutgers University

Paul DiMaggio, Sociology and Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Michael Leyton, Psychology and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University

Eviatar Zerubavel, Sociology and Center for the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Culture, Rutgers University (Moderator)