Pursuing Impact Scholarship: Approaches in Disrupting Authoritarianism, Disinformation, and Male Supremacism

Session Submission Type: Preconference

Description

In 2019, a group of emerging scholars in sociology and political science founded the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism to address a lack of scholarly attention to misogynist ideology and to connect research to action for gender justice. With three IRMS cofounders in attendance, the preconference will highlight the organization’s development as a model for engaged public scholarship and explore how we work with organizers, media, and communities. Discussion of our 2026 white paper will offer an example of solutions-focused research, which challenges dominant trends and offers new solutions for work around preventing violence and supremacism.


The theme of this year’s ASA resonates deeply with IRMS’s approach, centering historically marginalized voices in academia, advancing solutions-focused research, and investing in collaboration with and resources for social justice organizations, research nonprofits, engaged community members, and concerned media. As sociology thrives as a field that embraces interdisciplinary collaborations and collaboration outside of academia, the preconference brings together sociologists in conversation with scholars from other disciplines and researchers outside of academia. Presenters will pair their expertise with personal experiences navigating the desire to pursue impact research, especially for historically marginalized researchers such as women, trans people, and people of color who are challenging dominant academic paradigms.


IRMS was founded as a disruption of the status quo, and our goal for the preconference is to offer IRMS an example for sociologists seeking ways to rethink their approach to scholarship through both practical and strategic insights. Each session is organized with short presentations followed by extensive time for discussion, to encourage collaborative insights and idea generation from participants interested in their own connection to public sociology. We will complete the event with an hour put aside to discuss in the preconference community how to take the lessons learned into their own future practice.

Sub Unit

• Preconferences

Presenters

• Alex DiBranco, Institute for Research on Male Supremacism

• Chelsea Ebin, Drew University

• Pierce Alexander Dignam

• Robin O’Hanlon, CUNY-Graduate Center

• Nicole Iturriaga, University of California-Irvine

• Eli Erlick

• Ana Lopez Ricoy, University of California-San Diego

• Jennifer Pozner

• Aya Taveras

Session Organizer

• Alex DiBranco, Institute for Research on Male Supremacism