Preliminary Schedule

(Please keep checking this page: Program Details, Participants, Talk Abstracts and Instructions for linking to conference related listserves will be added through October.)

Friday, November 12, 1999

8:30AM to 9:00AM: Registration

9:00AM to 9:20AM: Welcome and Orientation

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.

9:20AM to 10:40AM: Mapping the Field – Cognitive Processes in Action

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 Sociology of Denial.
Eviatar Zerubavel, Rutgers University

Presider: Sarah Rosenfield, Rutgers University

11:00AM to 12:00PM: Mapping the Field – Systems of Thought

Toward A New Art History.
Albert Bergesen, University of Arizona

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

Presider: Rick Phillips, Rutgers University

12:15PM to 1:30PM: Informal Discussion Sessions

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:

• Wendy Espeland (Northwestern University) speaking on: Commensuration
• Larry Griffin (Vanderbilt University) speaking on: Sequencing
• Magali Larson (University of Urbina, Italy) speaking on: Schematization (Group Moderator)
• Jamie Mullaney (Rutgers University) speaking on: Mental Weighing
• Kristen Purcell (Rutgers University) speaking on: Mental Leveling

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:

• Kathleen Carley (Carnegie Mellon University) speaking on: Cognitive Modeling
• Ann Mische (Rutgers University) speaking on: Lattice Models (Group Moderator)
• Libby Schweber (Harvard University) speaking on: Sociology and Historical Epistemology
• Sylvia Fuller (Rutgers University) speaking on: Data Collection Issues

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:

• Paul McLean (Rutgers University) speaking on: Framing and Social Structure (Group Moderator)
• James Jasper speaking on: The Individual in Macrosociology
• Matthew P. Lawson (The College of New Jersey) speaking on: Beliefs, Schemas, and Collective Expression
• Eric Kaldor (Rutgers University) speaking on: Global Capital: Relations of Place, Notions of Self

1:30PM to 2:45PM: Lunch

2:45PM to 4:05PM: Mapping the Field – Cognition and Discourse

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

Telling Stories and Claiming Space.
John Mohr, University of California at Santa Barbara

Presider: Judith Gerson, Rutgers University

4:20PM to 5:45PM: Informal Discussion Sessions

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:

• Karen Cerulo (Rutgers University) speaking on: Audience Elaboration
• Michele Dillon (Yale University) speaking on: Identity and Negotiation
• Joshua Gamson (Yale University) speaking on: Discourse and Sexual Scandal
• Sharon Hays (University of Virginia) speaking on: Rhetoric and the Cultural Meaning of Welfare
• Bill Smith (Rutgers University) speaking on: Discourse and Relative Identities (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:

• Anne Bowler (University of Delaware) speaking on: Insiders and Outsiders
• George Ritzer (University of Maryland) speaking on: Rationalization
• Nicki Isaacson (Rutgers University) speaking on: When Life Begins
• Ira Cohen (Rutgers University) speaking on: Social Interaction and Solitude (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.

• Melinda Milligan (Tulane University)
• Jeff Olick (Columbia University)
• Ruth Simpson (Rutgers University)
• Robin Wagner-Pacifici (Swarthmore College)
• Richard Williams (Rutgers University) (Group Moderator)
• 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.

8:30AM to 9:00AM: Coffee and Danish

9:00AM to 10:20AM: Mind, Body and Soul

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 Sociology
Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University

Presider: Ellen Idler, Rutgers University

10:40AM to 12:00PM: Culture, Cognition and the Media

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

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

Tracking Discourse
David Altheide, Arizona State University

Presider: Judith Friedman, Rutgers University

12:00PM to 1:10PM: Lunch

1:20PM to 3:00PM: Culture & Cognition in Comparative-Historical Work.

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: To Be Announced

3:15PM to 4:30PM: Informal Discussion Sessions

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:

• Rachel Askew (Rutgers University) speaking on: The Culture of Eating Disorders
• Peter Guarnaccia (Rutgers University) speaking on: Culture and Mental Illness
• Julie McLaughlin (Rutgers University) speaking on Temporality and Mental Disorder
• Robin Simon (University of Iowa) speaking on: Emotional Culture, Gender, and Mental Disorder
• Allan Horwitz (Rutgers University) speaking on: Classification and Mental Disorders (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:

• Jószef Böröcz (Rutgers University) speaking on: Economic Knowledge: Macro-Comparative Power Analysis (Group Moderator)
• Chris Nippert-Eng (Illinois Institute of Technology) speaking on: Organizational Culture
• Russ Faeges (Notre Dame University) speaking on: Economic Definitions
• Lyn Spillman (Notre Dame University) speaking on: Markets
• Aneesh (Rutgers University) speaking on: Globalization and Technology

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:

• Mary Chayko (Rutgers University) (Group Moderator)
• Doug Harper (Duquesne University)
• Shawna Hudson (Rutgers University)
• Bob Kubey (Rutgers University)
• Additional Speaker To Be Announced

4:40PM to 5:45PM: Wine and Cheese Reception

5:50PM to 6:00PM: Closing Remarks

Karen Cerulo, Rutgers University

6:00PM to 7:45PM: Culture and Cognition: Sociology and Beyond

• 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)