Encyclopedia of Sociology

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION AND OTHER SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS

Regional Organization Founding Date # of Members (1999) Journal

Eastern Sociological Society 1930 1,000 Sociological Forum

Mid-South Sociological Association 1975 293 Sociological Spectrum

Midwest Sociological Society 1936 1,250 The Sociological Quarterly

New England Sociological Association 250 none

North Central Sociological Association 1925 442 Sociological Focus

Pacific Sociological Association 1929 1,350 Sociological Perspectives

Southern Sociological Society 1935 1,748 Social Forces

Southwestern Sociological Association 1923 507 Supports Social Science Quarterly

District of Columbia Sociological Society 1934 200 none

Regional Sociology Associations

Table 3

ALIGNED ASSOCIATIONS

Many of the aligned associations offer a small, vital
intellectual home for sociologists interested in a
particular specialty. Over time, a few of these
organizations have consciously decided to form a
section within the ASA. The various sociology of
religion groups did so recently, to have a ‘‘place’’
within the ASA as well as their own meeting and
publications. Many of the aligned groups have
members from many disciplines including sociology.

INTERDISCIPLINARY TIES

The most significant interdisciplinary organiza-
tion is the Consortium of Social Science Associa-
tions (COSSA), formed in 1980. The budget cut-
ting of the Reagan administration served as a
catalyst for the major social science associations to
establish this umbrella organization to lobby for
funding for social science research. In the 1980s
and 1990s, COSSA, with its own professional staff,
has become a well-respected voice on social sci-
ence policy, federal funding, and the professional
concerns of social scientists (e.g., data archiving,
confidentiality protection, and support for research
on controversial topics). COSSA is, of course, an
organization of organizations.

In 1997, the ASA offered membership dis-
counts with other societies, so that individuals
could join several of these groups. The interdisci-
plinary discounts now apply to: the American
Political Science Association, the American Educa-
tional Research Association, the Society for Re-
search in Child Development, and the Academy of
Management.

POLITICAL PRESSURES ON AND IN ASA:

FEMINISM AND ACTIVISM

Of the many aligned associations, two organiza-

tions provide association missions that the ASA

does not (or does not sufficiently) satisfy, and have

an agenda to change the ASA.

Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS),

founded in 1970, has had a two-pronged mission:

to use the tools and talents in sociology to improve

the lives of women in society; and secondly, to

enhance the participation, status, and professional

contributions of feminist sociologists. Most SWS

members are also ASA members. Originally named

the Women’s Caucus, the group’s 1970 statement

of demands summarized the gender issues in the

ASA quite clearly: ‘‘What we seek is effective and

dramatic action; an unbiased policy in the selec-

tion of stipend support of students; a concerted

commitment to the hiring and promotion of wom-

en sociologists to right the imbalance that is repre-

sented by the current situation in which 67 percent

of the women graduate students in this country do

not have a single woman sociology professor of

senior rank during the course of their graduate

training, and when we participate in an association

of sociologists in which NO woman will sit on the

1970 council, NO woman is included among the

associate editors of the American Sociological Re-

view, and NO woman sits on the thirteen member

committee on publications and nominations’’

(Roby, p. 24). Over time, as the founding mothers

of SWS moved through their career trajectories,

more and more SWS members became part of the

leadership of the ASA. In 2000, nine of twenty

ASA council members are women. Since its found-

ing, SWS has sought to pressure the ASA in more

feminist directions, and to supplement what the