Future Directions in Socio-Economics 2022
One year ago, SASE decided to say goodbye to its pdf-based newsletter and launch a blog. Thus, Future Directions in Socio-Economics was born. Continuing the newsletter’s tradition, a group of graduate students and early-career scholars from both sides of the Atlantic edit the blog with the help of the SASE staff. Members of the editorial team rotate each year, primarily recruiting from the SASE Early Career Workshop participants.
The editorial team is as diverse as SASE itself, but we all share a commitment to the development and growth of socio-economics. Melike Arslan (Postdoctoral Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University) connects the sociology of expertise, organizations, and markets with the international political economy of laws and regulations. Javier Baquero (Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at the Autonomous University of Madrid) researches labor economics and its relationship with the education system. Ke Nie (Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at the University of California San Diego) is a mixed-method lover who studies cultural industries and cultural policies with a specific focus on music. Gabor Scheiring (Marie Curie Fellow at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi University) is the current chief editor, whose research addresses the political-economic determinants of inequality in health and wellbeing, and how these inequalities shape the evolution of democracy and capitalist diversity.
We have an ambitious agenda for the coming year. As the editors of this young but growing blog, we are dedicated to bringing attention to the works of young scholars and pulling new and often not well-understood topics in socio-economic research into the fold. We aim to move the blog forward by showcasing emerging topics in socio-economics, testing new venues for academic job market candidates, reviewing recent books on the cutting edge of socio-economic research, and profiling some of the leading figures in the socio-economics community through in-depth interviews. We aim to post updates on the blog at least once a month or more frequently. It is our hope that by outlining a more crystallized editorial policy, we will be able to provide a cornerstone for future editors to build on.
In the first regular post of this academic year, Javier will write about the upcoming SASE-RISE regional conference in December and the importance of this meeting in the field of socio-economics. In December, Gabor will review Isabella Weber’s much-discussed new book, How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate. We will kick off 2022 by interviewing the new leadership of SASE’s journal, Socio-Economic Review. Ke will discuss with the new Chief Editors, Dr. Akos Rona-Tas and Dr. Alya Guseva, about their view of the journal, where it is heading, and how to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
We have several other posts in the pipeline for next year. Among others, the blog’s previous chief editor, Laura Adler (Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Harvard University), will review Jake Rosenfled’s You’re Paid What You’re Worth: And Other Myths of the Modern Economy. Javier will look at the inequalities that university graduates find when entering the labor market. Gabor will write an essay about the social and political effects of deindustrialization. Melike will discuss how socio-economic research can investigate the “price-gouging” on hand sanitizers and medical masks during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ke will share his insights on how music regulations in China twist genre boundaries and facilitate cultural change.
Stay tuned, and do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or comments.