Our first activity is the Theory Section Joint reception with the Section on Comparative and Historical Sociology and the Section on Emotions, Friday, August 11, 6:30-8:15 p.m., Palais des Congrès.

2. Theory Section Mini-Conference: Theories on Process: Theorists in Progress
    Panel 1: The Production of Self
    Saturday, August 12, 8:30-10:10, Palais des Congrès

Organizer: Robin Stryker
Moderator: Robin Stryker

Panelist: Peter J. Burke, University of California, Riverside
Panelist: Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University
Panelist: Dawn T. Robinson, University of Georgia
Panelist: Sheldon Stryker, Indiana University

In this informal panel session, theorists from different cohorts and with different perspectives on self and identity will respond to moderator questions focused around the relationship between the theorists' life experiences and trajectories and the content of their theory building and research.

3. Theory Section Open Roundtables
    Saturday, August 12, 12:30-1:10, Palais des Congrès
    [Following our tradition, the Theory Section also will have its Council meeting at this time]

Roundtable Organizer: Joseph Gerteis, University of Minnesota

Participants:  Sophia Krzys Acord, University of Exeter "Beyond the "Tacit" Cultural Code: Interrogating the Aesthetic Experience in Contemporary Curatorial Practice" Roberta Villalon, University of Texas, August "Dysfunctional Colonization: Habermas, Merton and Argentina's Recent Crisis." Blane DaSilva, University of South Carolina, "Modeling Power: Connection Types in Network Exchange Research."

Leon H. Warshay, Wayne State University, "Reductionism versus Emergent Properties in Sociology and the Natural Sciences: An Empirical Study."

4. The Theory Section Business Meeting
    Saturday, August 12, 1:30-2:10 p.m., Palais des Congrès

Old-timers and newcomers alike, please attend!  By Theory Section by-laws and tradition, many of the Section's key committees for the year are voted or appointed at this time.  Volunteers encouraged!  Plus, the ASA tallies attendance at business meetings for an important indicator of section viability.

5. Theory Section Book Panel
    Saturday, August 12, 10:30-12:10, Palais des Congrès

The Politics of Method in the Human Sciences: Positivism and its Methodological Others, edited by George Steinmetz

Session Organizers: Julia Adams, Yale University, and George Steinmetz, University of Michigan
Session Presider: Marcel Fournier, Université de Montréal

Panelist : Axel P. Van Den Berg, McGill University
Panelist: Allan Megill, University of Virginia
Panelist: Yuval Peretz Yonay, University of Haifa
Panelist: Chandra Mukerji, University of California-Davis

6. Coser Award Lecture and Salon
    Saturday, August 12, 2:30-4:10, Palais des Congrès.
    The Coser Award Winner is Margaret Sommers, University of Michigan

Session Organizer: Robin Stryker, University of Minnesota
Session Presider: Andrew J. Perrin, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Panelist: Coser Award Winner, Margaret R. Somers, University of Michigan.

The first half of the session will be devoted to a formal lecture delivered by Peggy, who is the first winner of the newly established Coser Award.  During the second half of the session, Peggy will preside over an informal "salon discussion" among those in attendance.  Food and drink will be available to accompany the salon in honor of Peggy and the launch of the Coser Award.

7. Theory Section Mini-Conference: Theories on Process; Theorists in Progress
    Panel 2: Inequality Processes
    Sunday, August 13, 10:30-12:10, Palais des Congrès

Session Organizer: Robin Stryker, University of Minnesota
Session Moderator: Robin Stryker, University of Minnesota

Panelist: Douglas Hartmann, University of Minnesota
Panelist: Michele Lamont, Harvard University
Panelist: Cecilia Ridgeway, Stanford University
Panelist: Erik Olin Wright, University of Wisconsin

In this informal panel session, theorists of race, class and/or gender and other inequality process will respond to moderator questions about the relationship between the theorists' diverse life trajectories and experiences and the content of their theory building and research.

8. Theory Section Mini-Conference: Theories on Process; Theorists in Progress
    Panel 3:  Social Change
    Sunday, August 13, 12:30-2:10, Palais des Congès 

Session Organizer: Robin Stryker, University of Minnesota
Session Moderator: Robin Stryker, University of Minnesota

Panelist: Mounira Maya Charrad, University of Texas, Austin
Panelist: Jack Goldstone, George Mason University
Panelist: Kim Lane Scheppele, Princeton University
Panelist: Henry Walker, University of Arizona

In this informal panel session, theorists with diverse backgrounds who have developed different approaches to understanding and explaining social change will respond to moderator questions focused around the relationship between their life trajectories and the content of their theory building and research.