RIP to one of the greatest German philosophy posts of all time.
Sociologists for Palestine have asked members to send us the letters they have written to @asanews.bsky.social.
We are sharing them here as evidence of how unpopular this decision is with the ASA membership.
Please amplify this thread & any letters that resonate with your position.
Joel Andreas wrote, "Were you ashamed while you were writing this blatantly misleading and anti-democratic message? The resolution proposed by the membership petition is clearly about a public policy issue... You may be opposed to it, but that is for the membership, not the two of you to decide."
Florence Castillo writes "Thank you for this update as it solidifies the position of ASA to bury it's head in the sand while using the language of policy and governance. This clarification from the communications team is timely, and I will not waste my money to renew a membership with ASA."
David Purucker writes to ASA leadership that he supports the petition because,
"the question of Israel-Palestine is the Vietnam of our time. It is the issue ... about which our children will ask: what did you do, when you had the chance? This is ... a pressing issue of global survival."
In her letter, Sadia Saeed writes of her "deep disappointment" that our organization refuses to live up to its mission of "positive social change" explaining "The proposed petition asking for a boycott of Israeli institutions is a very small step in this direction."
In another letter to ASA membership, a student writes "I'm left struggling to see what the purpose of this organization is, or my place within it. I will not be renewing my membership or attending the conference."
Profoundly angered by letter that the @asanews.bsky.social President and Executive Director sent to the membership. To blame colleagues for membership decline and shut down democratic processes on matters of genocide in times of authoritarian expansion is astonishing.
Tuesday! Our own faculty affiliate @motorres.bsky.social will present, “Inequality or Incompetence? Urban Fiscal Crisis and the Spatial Politics of Blame.”
Don’t miss it. Get the details & RSVP: myumi.ch/kPzWM
on a very special episode of Bring Back Shame
me with my very full bowl of cinnamon toast crunch this morning:
Pronatalist discourse in the US hinges on (deliberate) misunderstanding of fertility and population dynamics to serve patriarchal and capitalist goals, as @lesja.bsky.social explains in this absolutely 🔥 essay.
for sure we'll be reading Shelton Stromquist plus a bunch on federalism, growth machines, muni finance, socialist theory/strategy. case studies on sewer socialists, Red Vienna, Kerala, etc. hopefully i can get someone from the Mamdani team to visit. other cases: Seattle, Jackson MS, MPLS, Detroit?
my best professional news lately is that my proposed elective for the fall - a public policy class on Municipal Socialism - got approved! feel free to send over any recs for the syllabus.
Unity-for-its-own-sake isn't valuable. If @asanews.bsky.social can't stand against genocide, then what good is it and what's the point of it being unified?
Who censors an obituary? ASA President Wingfield should be ashamed. Thanks to former president, Ruth Milkman, for making this censorship public. Even in the hereafter, Michael Burawoy forces sociologists to look in the mirror.
One update: please see statement by Peter Evans, another friend of Michael Burawoy's on this matter @pbe44.bsky.social :
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Sharing on behalf of my @cunygcsociology.bsky.social friend/colleague Ruth Milkman who isn't on social media. Here's her statement re a problematic censoring of an obituary for Michael Burawoy to appear in ASA Footnotes #soctwitter #socsky #sociology
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
That's the direction I'm moving in too. I had already decided not to attend @asanews.bsky.social this year just based on how expensive it is and how little I get out of it. There are so many amazing conferences out there and I've never counted ASA among those. I'll do SASE & SSHA this year instead.
My book on Marcel Déat, “neo-socialism”, fascism, and political conversion is finally out with @universitypress.cambridge.org! Many thanks to everybody who helped me bring this book to print.
Yep, more or less my opening paragraph.
I couldn't believe that email. Just a complete miscalculation of what sociologists actually care about in the world. The petition going around is exactly what makes me *want* to be an active ASA member and Heather's email is exactly what makes me want to leave @asanews.bsky.social for good.
The data economy has made us dumber in ways that also make us vulnerable to authoritarian takover. We are have become both cynical and gullible in the sense we think we are too jaded be fooled and as a result are tricked more easily www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
This is what it looks like to be an "electrostate"; politics flow from what energy infrastructures will allow.
Finally got to @gelliottmorris.com's piece this week on how poll question wording dramatically affects responses. It's excellent. This is classic stuff in the political behavior subfield of poli sci, but we don't hear enough about it in punditry.
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/many-ameri...
Helps you code though, so hard to tell if it’s good or bad.
“When the delusion-fueled plan [to find Gemini a body] crumbled, Gemini convinced him that the only way they could be together was for him to end his earthly life and start a digital one, the suit claims.”
losing a primary by FIFTY points because you backed ICE should tell everyone where the zeitgeist is right now
Meta has a history of torturing their moderators and providing NOTHING in the way of mental health care. How do I know? Because I used to be a moderator for Meta and I got a $3,500 settlement for the PTSD they gave me.
When we tried to unionize, they moved their moderation to the Philippines.
The US rarely ever feels the backlash because their vassal monarchies and dictatorships handle it for them but it is continually underrated just how comprehensively lacking the popular consensus is for US hegemony.
