Michael O. Johnston
@professorjohnst.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University | Host
at ๐ค https://tinyurl.com/2s45jnpn | ๐ฎ https://tinyurl.com/fadpfv5j | ๐ http://tinyurl.com/y3vw4q2m
Computer science
46%
Political science
20%
The Society for the Study of Social Problems | Home Page - SSSP
SSSP Home Page
www.sssp1.org
Please share this post and/or submit your abstract to the 2026 Annual Conference for the Society for the Study of Social Problems: www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/... 2/2
Rural Spaces & Services ๐พ
Rural communities face inequality and limited access to health, education, housing, and social services. It also generates resilience, care, and solidarity. We invite work on how rural residents navigate, resist, and reimagine systems of support. 1/2
Rural communities face inequality and limited access to health, education, housing, and social services. It also generates resilience, care, and solidarity. We invite work on how rural residents navigate, resist, and reimagine systems of support. 1/2
The Society for the Study of Social Problems | 2026 Call for Papers
Enter a page description here
www.sssp1.org
Please share this post and/or submit your abstract to the 2026 Annual Conference for the Society for the Study of Social Problems: www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/...
All the Feels: Emotions as Acts of Resistance ๐๏ธ
Emotions in sport, leisure, and performance arenโt just entertainmentโthey resist domination, reclaim joy, and disrupt power. From memes to parody leagues, we invite work on feeling as embodied, collective resistance.
Emotions in sport, leisure, and performance arenโt just entertainmentโthey resist domination, reclaim joy, and disrupt power. From memes to parody leagues, we invite work on feeling as embodied, collective resistance.
New ๐ in SOCI 311 Sociology of Marriage and Family. Pick a ๐บ series, movie, or commercials for a product and analyze scenes all semester using a sociology lens. Weekly ๐ build toward a 10 page final titled On the Big Screen. Media is data. Families are social institutions. Family members are agents.
Not just belief, but space, power, memory, and identity. Sometimes religion is loud and visible. Sometimes it is woven quietly into daily life. Sociology starts by paying attention. 3/3
Students examine how religion and nonreligion shape cities through buildings, public rituals, laws, symbols, and everyday interactions. 2/3
In Religion and Society, one of my core assignments is Religion in the City. 1/3
Here is an update of my 2025. Please feel free to read and share your updates with me.
I look forward to all of the new exciting things that are on the horizon for 2026. Happy New Year!
I look forward to all of the new exciting things that are on the horizon for 2026. Happy New Year!
This spring my students in SOCI 123 will be using memes & political cartoons as modern cultural artifacts that define social problems, moral boundaries, & common sense.
Sociology has always taken art seriously. Visual culture is where meaning is made and where power often hides in humor. 2/2
Sociology has always taken art seriously. Visual culture is where meaning is made and where power often hides in humor. 2/2
New assignment in SOCI 123 Sociology of Contemporary Issues - What do you meme?
๐ถ What do you mean? ๐ถ
No, I do not mean the Bieber song. 1/2
๐ถ What do you mean? ๐ถ
No, I do not mean the Bieber song. 1/2
My class schedule is no joke next semesterโฆ well, except that one class.
In SOCI 219 Sex and Gender in Society, weโre analyzing stand-up comedy sociologically.
The punch lines are data.
The laughs are data.
In SOCI 219 Sex and Gender in Society, weโre analyzing stand-up comedy sociologically.
The punch lines are data.
The laughs are data.
I think that the spring semester is going to be pointless for me. Pointless how? PowerPoint-less.
More audio/video, handouts, writing/drawing on the whiteboard, images, & videos
Fewer words on a projector for students to copy down. More looking up. More thinking together.
More audio/video, handouts, writing/drawing on the whiteboard, images, & videos
Fewer words on a projector for students to copy down. More looking up. More thinking together.
In terms of Stanley Milgram, I am thinking of his concept "Urban Overload" and his article that is titled "The Experience of Living in Cities".
I'm also thinking of Harold M. Proshansky's "The City and Self-Identity" and "Environmental Psychology and the Real World".
Some pieces of work that I am particularly thinking of are Roger G. Barker's "Behavioral Settings" and the Midwest Psychological Field Station that he and his wife developed in Oskaloosa, Kansas.
Any other sociologists discover the work of environmental psychologists (e.g., Roger Barker, Harold M. Proshansky, and Stanley Milgram) and think their research has something to offer sociology?
a young man wearing headphones and a hoodie is saying `` i wanna live in the dorms '' .
ALT: a young man wearing headphones and a hoodie is saying `` i wanna live in the dorms '' .
media.tenor.com
Iโm excited to share that my manuscript on student sense of home in college received a revise and resubmit from a top journal. I have never been more energized by reviewer feedback. The planned revisions will significantly strengthen the paper and deepen its impact on the field.
Club Rules: Symbolic Boundaries and the Making of a Regular at Mulliganโs - Michael O. Johnston, 2025
This ethnographic study examines how the identity of โregularโ is constructed, maintained, and sometimes denied at Mulliganโs, a small-town, golf-themed bar in ...
journals.sagepub.com
My most recent article #Club #Rules: #Symbolic #Boundaries and the Making of a #Regular at Mulliganโs is now available to read via Online First at Social Currents (the official journal for Southern Sociological Society).
Check it out here: journals.sagepub.com/eprint/ENGAY...
Check it out here: journals.sagepub.com/eprint/ENGAY...
Any of my followers read Donald A. Schรถn?
Some of his work was an extension of John Dewey's work on experiential education (with a particular focus on reflection - making a distinction between reflection "in action" and what he called reflection "on action").
Some of his work was an extension of John Dewey's work on experiential education (with a particular focus on reflection - making a distinction between reflection "in action" and what he called reflection "on action").
a man in a pink shirt holds a red cup in his hand
ALT: a man in a pink shirt holds a red cup in his hand
media.tenor.com
Excited that Becoming a Regular is conditionally accepted at Social Currents! This ethnography explores how barroom patrons earn & negotiate the informal status of โregularโ and what that means for identity, ritual, & belonging.
But then again, maybe I'm approaching this task wrong. There is plenty of research that is adjacent to this topic that I can use.
I'm currently stuck on finding research that has been conducted on student experience with college (or high school) hangouts (whether it be dorms OR someone's house). I'm interested in the experiences that students have in these social spaces and the value they place on them.
Who Cares? The Building Blocks for Communities of Care 4/4
Incubators of Care: Games, Gatherings, and Guided Encounters 3/4
Please consider submitting your paper to one of the two sessions that I'm organizing for the annual meeting. The titles for these two sessions are: "Incubators of Care: Games, Gatherings, and Guided Encounters" AND "Who Cares? The Building Blocks for Communities of Care". 2/4
2026 Annual Meeting
themss.org
2026 MSS Annual Meeting (March 26-29 in St. Louis, MO) - Call for Submissions (closes October 17, 2025) ๐ข๐ข themss.org/2026-annual-... ๐งต1/4
Day 1 of 16th year teaching Sociology at William Penn University. What a great feeling it was to be back on campus today!
Call for Papers
Weโre preparing an edited volume to extend the conversation from Home Cultures about the impact of #artificialintelligence on #homeculture.
Abstract deadline: Nov 28, 2025
๐ง abstracts to: Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. โ johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu
#CFP #AI #Sociology #Design
Weโre preparing an edited volume to extend the conversation from Home Cultures about the impact of #artificialintelligence on #homeculture.
Abstract deadline: Nov 28, 2025
๐ง abstracts to: Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. โ johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu
#CFP #AI #Sociology #Design
On Friday and Saturday I had the privilege to take part in #NewStudentOrientation where I shared info about the tech that students use at William Penn University. It was a great honor to meet all of these fine students before classes even begin. Here is the cover page for my presentation: