The theme for this year's meeting is "Science in Society, Society in Science: Toward a 21st Century Model for Social Scientific Research".  While the meeting will include presentations and speakers on many different topics, a number of events will focus on the tension between skepticism about science and expert knowledge and a desire to ground social policy in evidence about the critical social and environmental issues of our time.

 The RSS meetings have also traditionally been a vibrant forum for scholars from many different disciplines (not just sociology) who share an interest in rural people, places, and issues.  With growing interest in the conditions and drivers of change in rural places (particularly post-election), we want to encourage folks whose work focuses on any aspect of rural society, politics or culture to consider RSS as an outlet for their work. 

 Because of our location in Portland, we are also planning several sessions to explore what is distinctive about being 'rural' in the American West.

 The deadline for submission of short abstracts for oral or poster presentations is February 1st. Details are available here: http://www.ruralsociology.org/annual-meeting-home-page.