Dr. Earl Wright II, professor of sociology at Rhodes College, took office as president of the Southern Sociological Society at its annual conference held April 6-9 in Birmingham, AL. He will serve a one-year term that covers the 2022-2023 academic year.
Established in 1935, the Southern Sociological Society (SSS) promotes the development of sociology as a profession and scientific discipline by the maintenance of high academic professional and ethical standards, and by encouraging effective teaching of sociology, valid and reliable methods and research in the study of human society, diffusion of sociological knowledge and its application to societal problems, cooperation with related disciplines and groups, recruitment and training of sociologists, and development of sociology programs in educational and other agencies. SSS is currently the second largest professional organization of sociologists in the nation.
Wright’s primary research and teaching interests are the contributions of African Americans and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to American sociology. His groundbreaking research has altered understandings of the discipline’s origin and development and led to multiple revisions of introductory textbooks and substantive topical works. In 2016, the Southern Sociological Society presented him with the Charles S. Johnson Award for excellence in research on race and the South. Wright is author of Jim Crow Sociology: The Black and Southern Roots of American Sociology (University of Cincinnati Press, 2020) and is currently adapting the book into a documentary.
April 18, 2022