Juniors Carroll Martin, Alli VanKanewagon and Alyssa Morley presented a paper titled “Sociology: The Next Generation” at the Association for Humanist Sociology’s (AHS) annual conference in St. Louis on Nov. 2. They were accompanied by Tom Arcaro, professor of sociology and a past president of AHS.
Martin, VanKanewagon and Morley discussed the challenges sociologists face in their work, due to globalization and advances in technology. They wrote, “Globalization has entered society with force and sudden omnipotence. It cannot be ignored, and its impact on the future is hard to predict. We seek to understand how globalization has changed the nature of society.”
One particular aspect the students investigated was the Internet. Their paper focused on the ways the Internet is changing social interaction, especially through sites such as Facebook and Myspace.
Martin, VanKanewagon and Morley are sociology majors, anthropology minors and Elon College Fellows. In addition to their presentation at the conference, they attended a variety of sessions featuring the research of American and Canadian sociologists.