Workshop: Bridging the Gap. A Mini-Conference on Race and the Environment: Philadephia, PA - August 10, 2018

少数民族学者对环境社会学研究的参与度较低，导致在研究主题和分析方法上存在潜在的偏见。讲习班将为学者和实践者提供一个论坛，讨论将推动一个理论上更健全、方法上更严谨的环境社会学的战略，力求克服在社会学和环境社会学分学科中推进种族和环境研究的体制和学科障碍。本次研讨会将汇集美国学者，分享利用传统环境社会学范围之外的理论框架的工作，以解决该子学科学术多样性的缺乏。本次研讨会与国家科学基金会2014-2018年战略计划中提出的包容性的核心价值和创新跨学科合作的战略目标是一致的。这两项倡议都力求增加代表性不足的群体对科学探究的参与。在过去的四十年中，美国社会学协会（ASA）环境社会学（ES）分会的会员人数稳步增长，2017年达到510名会员，略高于ASA所有52个分会的平均505名。然而，与ASA其他部门和协会整体相比，非裔美国人、西班牙裔/拉丁裔(a)和亚洲/亚裔美国学者在ES部门的比例非常低。2005年和2016年，不到5%的小组成员被认定为亚洲/亚裔美国人，2005年和2016年，大约2.5%的小组成员被认定为西班牙裔/拉丁裔(a)。自认为是非洲裔美国人的普通ES会员从2005年的零名增加到2016年的7名，现在占该分会会员的2.5%。该提案认为，环境社会学和环境社会学子领域缺乏多样性是缺乏与其他学科领域接触的结果。为期一天的讲习班将扩大这一分领域的理论和方法讨论范围，从而鼓励在科学方法和参与人口统计方面更大的多样性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Minority scholar participation in the study of environmental sociology is low, leading to potential biases in topics addressed and analytical approaches to them. The Workshop will provide a forum for scholars and practitioners to discuss strategies that would advance a more theoretically robust and methodologically rigorous environmental sociology that seeks to overcome institutional and disciplinary obstacles to advancing the study of race and the environment in sociology and in the sub-discipline of environmental sociology. This Workshop will bring together U.S.-based scholars to share work that draws on theoretical frameworks that are outside of the traditional purview of environmental sociology to address the lack of diversity in scholarship in the sub-discipline. This Workshop aligns well with the core value of inclusiveness and the strategic goal of innovative interdisciplinary collaboration outlined in the NSF Strategic Plan for 2014-2018. Both initiatives strive to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in scientific inquiry. Over the past four decades, membership in the Environmental Sociology (ES) section of the American Sociological Association (ASA) has steadily grown to reach 510 members in 2017, which is slightly higher than the section average of 505 for all 52 ASA sections. However, the percentage of African American, Hispanic/Latino(a), and Asian/Asian American scholars in the ES section is very low in comparison to other ASA sections and the association overall. Just under 5% of section members identified as Asian/Asian American in 2005 and 2016, and around 2.5% as Hispanic/Latino(a) in 2005 and 2016. Regular ES members who identify as African American increased from zero members in 2005 to seven in 2016, and now represent 2.5% of section membership. The proposal argues that the lack of diversity in ES and in the subfield of environmental sociology is a result of lack of engagement with other disciplinary fields. The one-day workshop will increase the range of theoretical and methodological discussion in the subfield, thus encouraging greater diversity in both scientific approaches as well as in the demographics of participation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.