PRSS Director Dorothy Roberts has been honored by the American Sociological Association (ASA) for her book Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families–And How Abolition Can Build a Safer World (Basic Books 2022). The ASA cited the “moral urgency and agenda-setting impact of this exceptional book” in announcing the award. Torn Apart (Basic Books 2022) "reveals that the child welfare system is better understood as a “family policing system” that collaborates with law enforcement and prisons to oppress Black communities. Child protection investigations ensnare a majority of Black children, putting their families under intense state surveillance and regulation. Black children are disproportionately likely to be torn from their families and placed in foster care, driving many to juvenile detention and imprisonment." Torn Apart was also one of the five finalists for the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) C. Wright Mills Award.
Founded in 1905, the ASA is a nonprofit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. These annual awards are the highest honor the ASA confers.
Congratulations Professor Roberts!