As the current chair of the Political Economy of the World-System (PEWS)
section of the American Sociological Association, I would like to strongly
urge any and all WSNers who are sociologists to make sure that they are
current section members. The PEWS section currently has 394 dues paying
members -- we need 400 members to insure that we will be able to
sponsor our usual three themed panels at next years ASA annual meeting in
Chicago.
Based on discussions at our section business meeting in San Francisco at
the 1998 ASA annual meeting, we have put together an exciting, topical,
program for next year. Our three themed panels will be:
1) "Gender and World-System Analysis: Alternative or Complementary
Research Programs," Nancy Forsythe (University of Maryland) and Beverly
Silver (Johns Hopkins University), organizers.
2) "East Asia: From Economic Miracle to Economic Crisis," David A. Smith
(UC-Irvine), organizer.
3) "Population Flows in a Changing World System: Global Cities and
Economic Regionalization," Patricia Fernandez-Kelly (Princeton
University), organizer (this panel is co-sponsored by the International
Migration section of ASA).
We will also have our regular open roundtable session, organized this
coming year by Peter Grimes (Johns Hopkins University) and Miles Simpson
(North Carolina Central University). They will be accepting papers on a
wide range of issues.
BUT: IF WE DO NOT GET ANOTHER 6 MEMBERS BY SEPTEMBER 30TH, ONE OF THESE
SESSIONS WILL HAVE TO BE CANCELLED!!!!
So I would strongly encourage anyone who has a strong interesting in
world-system analysis and is also a member of the ASA to QUICKLY send in
a section membership renewal form. If you don't have one handy they are
available on line at http://www.asanet.org (if you'd like to see our
PEWS section page add: /Sections/polecon.htm). Or you can e-mail the ASA
at Sections@asanet.org. Or you can call them at 202-833-3410, ext. 389.
Section membership is actually quite cheap: it is only $12 a year for
regular ASA members and $5 for students. With that membership you get our
PEWS NEWS newsletter that comes out four times a year -- soon there will
be listserve for section members, too. So, particularly if you are
already a member of ASA, this is a bargain!
Since time is getting VERY short and the ASA Offices sometimes are not
always the model of efficiency, I would strongly encourage anyone who
does decide to join to do so "electronically" via e-mail or FAX.
Sometimes applications that have been mailed (even a week or two ahead of
the deadline) have not been "counted."
Please feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions.
Thanks!
David A. Smith
UC-Irvine
Chair, PEWS Section