Alison Gerber

12/6: In Växjö, happily waiting out the storm at the CCS at Linnéuniversitetet. Heading next to Stockholm to talk on Monday, then points south. See you soon?

Hey Chicago: I’m leaving. Thanks so much to Johannes, Terence, and Fiona; Jennifer, Will, and Betty; Kellie and Hannah; and David and Margarita. Hope to see you all again soon!

That’s what you get for stealing.

11/18: On my way to Chicago, where I will be needing a lozenge come Thursday night. Will I be seeing you during SSHA, maybe at the session on “organizing symbolic power” at 8am Thursday? Too early? Maybe we can share lunch at the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago. Really, still too early for you, lazybones? Surely we can snack together at the Culture Workshop at Northwestern’s Department of Sociology. It’s not so far. Otherwise, hope to see you back at the Palmer House..

11/5: Thanks to Julia, Joe, Francesca, Roscoe, and Sarah for a great work/culture meeting in Charlottesville this weekend. Hope to deploy the laurel of shame / garland of champions again soon!

9/25: Just back from a long weekend in Minnesota with Venus DeMars. More to come soon. Until then, read/listen and watch:

A CFP for a mini-conference in Baltimore I’m part of. Send us yr papers by October 15.

Invisible Work in Visible Work

Mini-Conference, Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting

For the past fifty years, sociologists have stretched the boundaries of what is recognized as legitimate work. They have identified important “invisible” settings for work, such as the care, gift, shadow and domestic economies. However, as ever more activities have been reclassified as work, sociologists have become less attentive to what actually goes on in already well-recognized workplaces. We suggest renewed attention to less visible forms of cultural work in recognized work settings, such as classification and categorization; emotional and corporeal work; and boundary work. These subtle and symbolic activities manifest across recognized work settings and play important roles in social life. This mini-conference is designed to ask questions about such diffuse and ephemeral forms of work. We invite presentations that grapple with questions common to both visible and invisible work: What is good work? What makes work meaningful? How does working life affect broader cultural structures? How does cultural work affect institutional outcomes? How are reputations negotiated? What contributes to dignity and excellence in the work place? Please send abstracts to workslashculture@gmail.com by October 15, 2013. Contact Tom Crosbie (thomas.crosbie@yale.edu) with any queries.

We look forward to your paper proposals and to seeing you soon in Baltimore.

Sorcha Brophy
Phillipa Chong
Alison Gerber
Ben Snyder

On behalf of the Work/Culture Network, http://workculturesociology.blogspot.com

Because of this quote:

“One driver Masaru got to know well while photographing his truck told him, ‘At first, I never liked this job. But I had to love my job to live, so I started to decorate my truck.’”

Link.

8/22: Two down, two to go. See you in Lund or Växjö in the next few days?

Also, conference organizers the world over, I write to alert you to the skills of crack team Nanna, Gitte, and Trine over at NCCPR. Not only did they put together a great conference – good people, good panels, good keynotes, good meals, good party – but there were little coffee breaks with diversions like contemporary dance and violists playing Erik Satie. NCCPR wins.

8/1: August is high season. Sociology of Market Microstructure workshop in NY, ASA, Work/Culture meeting, NCCPR in Copenhagen, Malmö, seminar in Lund 8/23, AKK nätverksträff in Växjö 8/26. See you soon?