1. The Occlusion of Empire in the Reification of Race: A Postcolonial Critique of the American Sociology of Race • Julia Bates, Sacred Heart University.

2. The Old American State: The Spoils System & the Long U.S. Capitalist Transition • Jeffrey Broxmeyer, University of Toledo.

3. Mortgaging the Body: Capitalism, the Penitentiary, and the Decline of Debt Imprisonment • James Parisot, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

4. Towards a Developmental Model of Democratic Family Rights Policy Regimes: Tracing U.S. Federal Literacy Policy, 1968-1990 • Andrew Stein, Northwestern University.