The link between urban unemployment and race, the social implications of the sexual harassment of women in public places and the nature of academics' social responsibilities will be among the topics explored in the conference "Sociology and Public Life," to be held Thursday and Friday, Oct. 9 and 10, in Rm. 211 of the Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the sociology department.
The conference will open at 4 p.m. on Thursday with two talks. "Sociology and the Public Intellectual" will be discussed by Herbert Gans of Columbia University, who is a past president of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Professor Gans has written about the struggles of ordinary people in such books as "Urban Villagers," "Popular Culture and High Culture" and "The War Against the Poor." The social responsibilities of academics will be explored in the talk "Sociology and the Politics of Social Justice" by Steven Seidman of the State University of New York at Albany. His works include "Contested Knowledge," "Social Postmodernism: Beyond Identity Politics" and "Queer Theory."
On Friday at 2:30 p.m., feminist scholar Carol Brooks Gardner of Indiana University at Indianapolis will present "Mean Streets: Gender and Public Harassment," examining the social implications of the verbal and physical sexual harassment directed at women in the public sphere.
Harvard University professor William Julius Wilson, who has studied the predicament of urban unemployment in black urban communities, will give the keynote address, "Jobless Ghettos: The Impact of the Disappearance of Work in Segregated Neighborhoods," at 4 p.m. A former ASA president and current member of the President's Commissions on White House Fellowships and on the National Medal of Science, Professor Wilson was dubbed as "one of America's 25 most influential people" in 1996 by Time magazine. His many books include "The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass and Public Policy" and "When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor."
A reception will follow each day's discussions. For additional information, contact Professor Joseph Soares, 432-3325.