Celebrating PSA 90 Years: Presenting the Past and Present to Address the Challenges Facing Millennials in the Future

Abstract

Since its founding in 1929, the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) has undergone a variety of changes as it has adapted to shifts in society, developments in the discipline, and an increasingly diverse membership. The panelists in this session highlighted several ways in which the PSA has evolved over time and discussed a number of attempts to address the challenges facing millennials and millennial sociologists (the theme of the 90th Annual Meeting). Suggestions regarding ways in which the PSA can continue to offer support to this generation in the future were also discussed.

Keywords

Pacific Sociological Association millennials challenges

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Association of University Professors. 2018. “Background Facts on Contingent Faculty Positions.” Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://www.aaup.org/issues/contingency/background-facts).

American Sociological Association. 2018. “Task Force on Engaging Sociology.” Retrieved March 18, 2020 (http://www.asanet.org/about-asa/committees-and-task-forces/task-force-engaging-sociology).

American Sociological Association. 2020. “Career Center.” Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://www.asanet.org/career-center).

Association of American Colleges and Universities. 2014. “New Report Documents That Liberal Arts Disciplines Prepare Graduates for Long-term Professional Success.” Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://www.aacu.org/press/press-releases/new-report-documents-liberal-arts-disciplines-prepare-graduates-long-term).

BestWork, Inc. 2018. “The Ten Most Serious Problems Faced by Millennials.” Retrieved October 24, 2018 (https://bestworkinc.com/10-serious-problems-millennials-face/).

Bristow

Lora

. 2019a. “PSA 2019 Conference Satisfaction Survey.” The Pacific Sociologist 27(2): 8–17.

Bristow

Lora

. 2019b. “Reports for PSA Board and Members.” Retrieved January 24, 2020 (www.pacificsoc.org/9060).

Carter

Timothy L.

2008–2009. “Millennial Expectations, Constructivist Theory and Change in a Teacher Preparation Course.” SRATE Journal 18(1):25–31.

Dimock

Michael

. 2019. “Defining Generations: Where Millennials End and Generation Z Begins.” Retrieved January 24, 2020 (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/).

10.

Dorn

Dean S.

2004. Seventy-five Years of the Pacific Sociological Association. Sacramento, CA: Pacific Sociological Association.

11.

Dorn

Dean S.

2007. “Turning Fifty: Sociological Perspectives and the Pacific Sociological Association.” Sociological Perspectives 58(1):1–6.

12.

Ferber

Abby

. 2017. “Faculty under Attack.” Humboldt Journal of Social Relations 39(39):37–42.

13.

Flaherty

Colleen

. 2017. “Killing Tenure.” Inside Higher Ed, January 13. Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/01/13/legislation-two-states-seeks-eliminate-tenure-public-higher-education).

14.

Frey

William H.

2018. “The Millennial Generation: A Demographic Bridge to America’s Diverse Future.” Retrieved February 1, 2018 (https://www.brookings.edu/research/millennials/).

15.

Hart Research Associates. 2018. “Fulfilling the American Dream: Liberal Education and the Future of Work: Selected Findings from Online Surveys of Business Executives and Hiring Managers.” Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/LEAP/2018EmployerResearchReport.pdf).

16.

Jaschik

Scott

. 2019. “The Economic Gains (Yes, Gains) of a Liberal Arts Education.” Inside Higher Ed, February 15. Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/02/15/study-documents-economic-gains-liberal-arts-education).

17.

McFarland

Joel

Hussar

Bill

Wang

Xiaolei

Zhang

Jijun

Wang

Rathbun

Amy

Barmer

Amy

Cataldi

Emily Forrest

Mann

Farrah Bullock

. 2018. “ The Condition of Education .” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018144.pdf).

18.

Milkman

Ruth

. 2017. “A New Political Generation: Millennials and the Post-2008 Wave of Protest.” American Sociological Review 82(1):1–31.

19.

Nelson

Cary

. 2010. No University Is an Island: Saving Academic Freedom. New York: New York University Press.

20.

Newton

Derek

. 2018. “It’s Not Liberal Arts and Literature Majors Who Are Most Underemployed.” Forbes, May 31. Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2018/05/31/its-not-liberal-arts-and-literature-majors-who-are-most-underemployed/#37821cba11de).

21.

Orr

Amy J.

2019. “Teaching Sociology: The Precariousness of Academic Freedom.” Sociological Perspectives 62(1):5–22.

22.

Pacific Sociological Association. 2019. “Committee on Freedom of Research and Teaching.” Retrieved March 18, 2020 (http://pacificsoc.org/committees).

23.

Pew Research Center. 2014. “Political Polarization in the American Public.” Retrieved March 18, 2020 (http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/06/6-12-2014-Political-Polarization-Release.pdf).

24.

Pew Research Center. 2017. “Sharp Partisan Divisions in Views of National Institutions.” Retrieved March 18, 2020 (http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/07/11101505/07-10-17-Institutions-release.pdf).

25.

Prensky

Marc

. 2001. “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.” On Horizon 9(5):1–6.

26.

Risman

Barbara J.

2018. Where the Millennials Will Take Us: A New Generation Wrestles with the Gender Structure. New York: Oxford University Press.

27.

Rouse

Stella M.

Ross

Ashley D.

2018. The Politics of Millennials: Political Beliefs and Policy Preferences of America’s Most Diverse Generation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

28.

Sage Publications. 2020. “Sociological Perspectives.” Retrieved on March 24, 2020 from https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/sociological-perspectives/journal202165

29.

Short

James F.

2004. “Presentation at the Session ‘Reflections on the PSA from the 1960s and 70s.’” PSA Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA.

30.

Tiede

Hans-Joerg

. 2016. “Tenure and the University of Wisconsin System.” Academe 102(3):4–5.

31.

Twenge

Jean M.

2014. Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever before. First Atria Paperback ed. New York: Atria Paperback.

32.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. 2017a. “Table 325.92. Degrees in Economics, History, Political Science and Government, and Sociology Conferred by Postsecondary Institutions, by Level of Degree: Selected Years, 1949-50 through 2015-16.” Washington, DC: Digest of Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_325.92.asp).

33.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 2017b. “Table 316.80. Percentage of Degree-granting Postsecondary Institutions with a Tenure System and of Full-time Faculty with Tenure at These Institutions, by Control and Level of Institution and Selected Characteristics of Faculty: Selected Years, 1993-94 through 2016-2017.” Washington, DC: Digest of Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved March 18, 2020 (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_316.80.asp).