Philip S. Gorski is the Director of the Critical Realism Network and a professor of sociology and religious studies at Yale University. Gorski is comparative-historical sociologist who focuses on topics such as state-formation, nationalism, revolution, economic development and secularization with particular attention to the interaction of religion and politics. Other current interests include the philosophy and methodology of the social sciences and the nature and role of rationality in social life.

George Steinmetz is the Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Germanic Language and Literatures at the University of Michigan and a Corresponding Member of the Centre de Sociologie européenne in Paris, France.

Daniel Little is chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn. He serves as professor of philosophy at UM-Dearborn, as well as professor of sociology at UM-Ann Arbor, and as faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research and the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan.

Rani Lill Anjum is a research fellow at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Project Director of the NFR-funded research project ‘Causation, Complexity and Evidence in Health Sciences (CauseHealth)’. Her main research interests are causation, dispositions and conditionals.

John Mohr is a professor of sociology at University of California-Santa Barbara. Mohr’s primary interest is in the empirical study of meaning systems. His work seeks to bring together the theoretical concerns of post-structuralist semiotic theory with network based mathematical approaches to the analysis of relational systems.

Wendy Olsen is a professor of social statistics at the University of Manchester, England. Wendy Olsen’s research focuses on the sociology of economic life. She has interests in methodology cutting across the whole range from quantitatively based to qualitative research and discourse analysis. She specializes in the study of economic institutions from sociological and moral economy vantage points.

Seth Prins is a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia Univeristy. Prins is a psychiatric and social epidemiologist who studies the medicalization of crime, the criminalization of mental illness, and the effects of relational social processes such as class, race, and gender on mood disorders.

Frédéric Vandenberghe is a research professor in sociology at the Institute of Social and Political Studies, State University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Working at the intersection of philosophy and sociology, Vandenberghe’s main research interests are related to German social philosophy, Anglo-Saxon social theory, and French sociological theory.

Dave Elder-Vass is a reader in sociology at Loughborough University, England. He teaches sociology and digital economies and writes on social ontology and more recently on economic sociology, particularly the gift economy and the digital economy. His publications include The Causal Power of Social Structures (2010), The Reality of Social Construction (2012), and Profit and Gift in the Digital Economy (2016), all with Cambridge University Press.

Christopher Winship is the Diker-Tishman Professor of Sociology and Harvard Kennedy School of Government faculty member at Harvard University.

Alford A. Young, Jr. is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Department Chair of Sociology at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Professor Young has pursued research on low-income, urban-based African Americans, employees at an automobile manufacturing plant, African American scholars and intellectuals, and the classroom-based experiences of higher-education faculty as they pertain to diversity and multiculturalism.

Gary Alan Fine received his Ph. D. in Social Psychology from Harvard University and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Margaret Archer is a professor of sociology at Warwick University and a professor at l’Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. In April 2014, Archer was named by Pope Francis as President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Erik Olin Wright is a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Claire Laurier Decoteau is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she teaches courses in social theory, the sociology of knowledge, and health and medicine. She is also a research associate in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Timothy Rutzou is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Yale University working with Philip Gorski on the Human Flourishing and Critical Realism in the Social Sciences project. He is a philosopher and social theorist with a focus on ontology, continental philosophy, deconstruction, and realism.

Douglas Porpora is a professor of sociology in the Department of Culture and Communication at Drexel University and a senior advisor for the Critical Realism Network. He has published widely on social theory, political sociology, and religion.

9:00 – 10:30    Welcome and Opening Remarks                                            Room 513 AB (Theatre)

Philip Gorski and George Steinmetz

Chair: Douglas Porpora

10:30 – 10:45  Break

10:45 – 12:00 Session 1,2,3                                                                            Room 513 C, D, & E

12:00 – 1:00    Lunch

1:00 – 2:30      Plenary Session on Theory and Explanation After Positivism           Room 513 AB (Theatre)

Chair: Philip Gorski

1:00 – 1:30          Daniel Little

1:30 – 2:00          Rani Lill Anjum

2:00 – 2:30          Discussion

2:30 – 2:45      Break

2:45 – 4:00      Session 4,5,6                                                                            Room 513 C, D, & E

4:00 – 4:15      Break

4:15 – 5:30      Session 7,8,9                                                                            Room 513 C, D, & E

9:00 – 10:30    Plenary Session on Quantitative Post Positivist Social Science         Room 513 AB (Theatre)

Chair: Douglas Porpora

9:00 – 9:20          John Mohr

9:20 – 9:40          Wendy Olsen

9:40 – 10:00        Seth J. Prins

10:00 – 10:30      Discussion

10:30 – 10:45  Break

10:45 – 12:00  Session 1,2,3                                                                                           Room 513 C, D, & E

12:00 – 1:00    Lunch

1:00 – 2:15      Session 4,5,6                                                                                      Room 513 C, D, & E

2:15 – 2:30      Break

2:30 – 3:45      Session 7,8,9                                                                            Room 513 C, D, & E

3:45 – 4:00      Break

4:00 – 5:30      Plenary Session on Ethics and Values After Positivism             Room 513 AB (Theatre)

Chair: Claire Decoteau

4:00 – 4:20          Frederic Vandenberghe

4:20 – 4:40          Christopher Winship

4:40 – 5:00          Dave Elder-Vass

5:00 – 5:30          Discussion  

9:00 – 10:30    Plenary Session on Qualitative Post-Positivist Social Science           Room 513 AB (Theatre)

Chair: George Steinmetz

9:00 – 9:20          Alford Young

9:20 – 9:40          Gary Alan Fine

9:40 – 10:30        Discussion

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:00 Session 1,2,3                                                                            Room 513 C, D, & E

12:00 – 1:00    Lunch

1:00 – 2:15      Session 4,5,6

2:15 – 2:30      Break

2:30 – 4:00      Plenary Session: Utopian Social Science After Positivism           Room 513 AB (Theatre)

Chair: Philip Gorski

2:30 – 3:00          Erik Olin Wright

3:00 – 3:30          Margaret Archer

3:30 – 4:00          Discussion

4:00 – 4:15      Break

4:15 – 5:30      Closing Plenary Session: Beyond Positivism                              Room 513 AB (Theatre)

Chair: Philip Gorski

4:15 – 4:35          Doug Porpora

4:35 – 4:55          Claire Decoteau

4:55 – 5:15          Timothy Rutzou

Closing Remarks – Philip Gorski

There is no designated hotel for the Beyond Positivism Conference. Participants and attendees are responsible for securing their own accommodation. However, a limited number of rooms are available at Hotel Zero 1 (1 Boulevard René-Lévesque E, Montréal, QC H2X, Canada) which is located 8 mins from Palais des congrès de Montréal for the nights of August 7, 8, 9, and 10. Check-In time on Monday, August 7 is 3:00 pm EDT. Check-Out time is on Friday, August 11 at 12:00 pm EDT. The single queen room rate is $185 CAD plus taxes (continental breakfast is included). To receive the group rate, please call 514-871-9696 and mention the affiliation with Yale Sociology Conference. To download a map from Hotel Zero 1 to Palais des congrès de Montréal, click here: Hotel Zero to Palais des Congres in Montreal

Canadian law requires that all persons entering Canada carry both proof of citizenship and proof of identity. A valid U.S. passport, passport card, or NEXUS card satisfies these requirements for U.S. citizens. Please print a copy of the Canada Border Services Agency Letter of Recognition for Beyond Positivism Conference to present to customs on entry to Canada.

If you are staying in Montréal, Québec, Canada after the Beyond Positivism Conference to attend the American Sociological Association 2017 Annual Meeting, it is recommended for all attendees to print a copy of the Canada Border Services Agency Letter of Recognition to present to customs upon entry to Canada. If you are presenting at the Beyond Positivism Conference and require an invitation letter, contact the Project Manager, Laura Donnelly (laura.donnelly@yale.edu) no later than June 30, 2017.

Ground Transportation

Taxi service between Montréal–Trudeau Airport and downtown hotels is a fixed rate of $40 (CAD). Please see a dispatcher outside your arrival area. The American Sociological Association website recommends 25 minutes for travel between the airport and the downtown area during normal traffic conditions and up to 45 minutes during rush hour. Information on other transportation options is available on the Montréal–Trudeau access webpage.