Encyclopedia of Sociology

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION AND OTHER SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS

1906 115

1909 187

1910 256

1911 357

1912 403

1913 621

1914 597

1915 751

1916 808

1917 817

1918 810

1919 870

1920 1,021

1921 923

1922 1,031

1923 1,141

1924 1,193

1925 1,086

1926 1,107

1927 1,140

1928 1,352

1929 1,530

1930 1,558

1931 1,567

1932 1,340

1933 1,149

1934 1,202

1935 1,141

1936 1,002

1937 1,006

1938 1,025

1939 999

1940 1,034

1941 1,030

1942 1,055

1943 1,082

1944 1,242

1945 1,242

1946 1,651

1947 2,057

1948 2,450

1949 2,673

1950 3,582

1951 3,875

1952 3,960

1953 4,027

1954 4,350

1955 4,450

1956 4,682

1957 5,233

1958 5,675

1959 6,323

1960 6,875

1961 7,306

1962 7,368

1963 7,542

1964 7,789

1965 8,892

1966 10,069

1967 11,445

1968 12,567

1969 13,485

1970 14,156

1971 14,827

1972 14,934

1973 14,398

1974 14,654

1975 13,798

1976 13,958

1977 13,755

1978 13,561

1979 13,208

1980 12,868

1981 12,599

1982 12,439

1983 11,600

1984 11,223

1985 11,485

1986 11,965

1987 12,370

1988 12,382

1989 12,666

1990 12,841

1991 13,021

1992 13,072

1993 13,057

1994 13,048

1995 13,254

1996 13,134

1997 13,082

1998 13,273

1999 13,056

ASA Official Membership Counts

1906–1999

Table 1

disillusionment that set in after the Vietnam War,
may have contributed both to a decline in student
enrollments in sociology courses and in ASA mem-
bership. The growth of the college student popula-
tion and some disillusionment with purely voca-
tional majors, as well as sociology’s intrinsic interest
to students, led to a gradual rise in membership in
the 1990s.

ASA membership trends can also be exam-
ined in the context of the availability of research
money. Postwar federal support for sociology grew
with the development of sponsored research and
the growth of research labs and centers on univer-
sity campuses. Coincident with an increase in ASA
membership, research funding from federal agen-
cies during the 1960s and 1970s grew steadily. In
the early 1980s, however (particularly in 1981 and
1982), cutbacks in research funding for the social
sciences were especially noticeable. In the 1990s,
major efforts to educate Congress on the impor-
tance of social science research won support for
sociology and the other social sciences. The result
has been a reversal of the negative trend and a slow
but steady improvement in funding, not only for
basic research but also in greater amounts for
research with an applied or policy orientation.

ASA SECTIONS, PUBLICATIONS, AND

PROGRAMS

The increase in the number of sections in the ASA

and of membership in them is another sign of

growth within the ssociation in the 1990s. Despite

a decline in overall ASA membership in the early

1980s, the number of sections increased from

nineteen in 1980 to twenty-six in 1989 and to

thirty-nine a decade later. The new sections repre-

sent some new fields of study (or at least a formal

nomenclature for these specialties) such as soci-

ology of emotions, sociology of culture, rational

choice, and sociology of sexualities. Furthermore,

this overall increase in sections was not achieved

by simply redistributing members already in sec-

tions but resulted from an actual growth in section

members from 8,000 to 11,000 to 19,000 in the

three time periods. More than half the ASA mem-

bers belong to at least one section; the modal

membership is in two sections. The ASA has learned

from other associations, such as psychology and

anthropology, about the possible pitfalls of sub-

groups within ‘‘the whole.’’ The ASA continues to

require members to belong to ASA as a condition

for joining a section, so that everyone has a con-

nection to the discipline at large as well as to their