2025 Conference

*Registration is open!* To register:

Conference Program: Click here to view the final conference program. 

Theme: “What Can We Do About It? Sociologists as Change Agents”

February 21 – 23, 2025
Asilomar, CA

Program Chair: Professor Kaylee T. Matheny, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy

Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Cynthia Coburn, Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University

Dr. Anna Haskins, Andrew V. Tackes Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame

Conference Description


Education literature “largely fails to acknowledge the normative foundation of many inequitable policies, and, as we have seen, it advises a neutral process of changing those policies that fails to confront those beliefs. But if reforms are not grounded in a critique of norms and politics, they will likely be disappointing” 

(Oakes et al., 2005, p. 298)

Sociologists excel at describing educational inequality. This has been true since the discipline’s inception: From Marx’s assessment of education as a tool for class reproduction to Du Bois’s evaluation of Black and White children’s unequal schooling experiences, we have long recognized how social inequalities are reflected and further entrenched in schools. Access to big data, advanced analytic techniques, and in-depth qualitative examinations have allowed us to identify and measure inequalities at an unprecedented scale and with substantial intimacy. 

But what can we do about it? 

Grassroots social movements and philanthropic foundations alike have begun to shift their aims from identifying unequal social outcomes to addressing them. Sociologists have some of the best theoretical and empirical tools to guide this process and excel at illuminating the stories of those most impacted, as SEA’s 2024 program made clear. Yet sociologists are underrepresented in policymaking, including in congressional testimonies and national media outlets, as Dominique Baker’s keynote from 2023 showed us. Given a broader stage, what might sociologists do about addressing inequality in education?

This call invites sociologists of education to submit proposals for research that extends beyond identifying inequality—unequal experiences; unequal outcomes—to identifying opportunities to address inequalities, broadly defined. This might include research such as the following:

  • Theoretical insights on social reproduction and subjugation, with implications for interventions or disruptions to education’s status quo
  • Causal analyses of interventions grounded in sociological theories 
  • Descriptive quantitative analyses or case studies highlighting the success and resilience of historically marginalized groups 
  • Counterstories challenging hegemonic ideas of interventions or problematizing interventions
  • Empirical papers with clear connections to specific policies or practices
  • Interdisciplinary, mixed-method, or cross-domain research that expands our imagination for what to do or how to do it  (e.g., incorporating insights from linguistics; examining the relationship between housing and education) 

This year, instead of leaving presentations daunted at the monumental tasks ahead, we hope you will feel some optimism for what is possible. 

The Sociology of Education Association (SEA) has invited proposals for its 2025 meeting that explore these issues in educational contexts and processes broadly defined. We are showcasing both theoretical and empirical contributions and encourage submissions that draw upon a wide array of data sources, levels of analysis, and methodologies. The Sociology of Education Association (SEA) will gather in person for its 53rd annual conference February 21-23, 2025. 

Frequently asked questions are located here

AWARDS

Travel Awards – Black Graduate Students

In 2020, the SEA board voted unanimously to support Black graduate students to attend future conferences as an act of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. As a result, we have a small number of travel awards available for Black graduate students. For more information, visit our online application HERE or type in this link: https://forms.gle/p45PnxJEmSLZ2oKs8 

Applications for travel funding were due 12/15/2024.

Call for Submissions – Outstanding Paper Awards

We are pleased to offer two outstanding paper awards! The first award is for a Graduate Student Outstanding Paper and the second is for a Post-PhD Outstanding Paper. The purpose of these awards is to celebrate two papers in the genre of sociology of education that we can have a brief talk about at the annual conference in February of each year. We look forward to recommending these papers (and the runners-up) over our listserv and social media. Submissions were due 12/1/2024. 

All candidate papers for the awards must: 

  1. Be in the genre of sociology of education (broadly defined) 
  2. Be complete papers (similar to submissions to a journal: abstract, intro, methods/data, results, discussion & conclusion, references)

The Graduate Student Outstanding Paper submission may be published or unpublished. If you were a graduate student at any time between December 1, 2023 and December 1, 2024, you may submit to this award. If your degree was conferred before December 1, 2023, please submit to the post-PhD paper award. Multi-authored papers are welcome, so long as the first author is a graduate student according to the guidelines listed here.

Post-PhD Outstanding Paper submissions must have been published (or accepted for publication) in a peer-reviewed journal between 1/1/2023 and 12/1/2024. 

A committee of SEA board members will evaluate all entries according to the following criteria: 

  • Content
  • Originality
  • Structure and organization
  • Importance/relevance of the work to the mission of the Sociology of Education Association: to advance the field of sociology of education; to foster intellectual exchange and social relationships among its members; and, to serve the professional and scientific needs of people engaged in the field of sociology of education. 

Submissions must be double-spaced and in PDF format. Authors will submit their paper HERE or type in this link: https://forms.gle/ywMmWdUScBgsaEfj7 

Image of the beach by Asilomar conference grounds, the location of the annual meeting of the Sociology of Education Association, taken by Sharon and Rick on Flickr.

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