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This article is a report on the status of minorities and women in sociology. In 1971, at the request of the American Sociological Council, participation by women and blacks in sociology was first assessed. That report affords a base for adding more data to assess the changes, if any, in the degree of participation by minority and women sociologists in the opportunity structure of the discipline. The concern with minorities in enlarged this year to include data on Asian Americans, Chicanos, American Indians, and Puerto Ricans, as well as with black sociologists. Along with women, these groups represent the focus of attention of two active committees formed by the ASA Council: the Committee on the Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession, and the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession. The level of response, along with problems of definition, involving comparability of categories, indicates that this report may best serve as a working paper suggesting questions for more refined research. Hopefully, also, it will stimulate cooperation between the ASA and all departments of sociology to develop more reliable and valid accounting procedures so that better data on minorities and women may be routinely collected in the future. This hope is based on the assumption that facts about the number of minorities and women in sociology will promote their participation and enhance the quality of the entire sociological enterprise.

The present article is by way of a report of a grant by the Russel Sage Foundation-not exactly an evaluation report, since the authors involvement in the event would make them suspect as judges, but rather a personal report of what occurred and the meaning that can, or should, be attached thereto. The Public Relations Committee appealed for cooperation from paper-readers, asking them in advance whether they would want a press interview in Miami. The paper by Robert Parke, Jr. and Paul Click, discussing the "marriage squeeze" resulting from the post-war baby boom, led all others in amount of space given to it. The American Sociological Association (ASA) therefore, both in its administration and in its membership, should have little concern for improving the "image" of sociology in the public eye, but it should have great concern for increasing the level of sociological information among persons outside, as well as within, colleges and universities. The fact is, however, the ASA structure has no device for handling communication with the public in more than fortuitous ways. As long as "press coverage" at conventions begins only a few weeks before the event and ends promptly at the last session, it is doubtful that success in this realm can ever be more than smooth public relations.

It has been common for studies presented as about American sociology as a whole to rely on data compiled from leading journals ( American Sociological Review [ASR] and American Journal of Sociology [AJS]), or about presidents of the American Sociological Association [ASA], to represent it. Clearly those are important, but neither can be regarded as providing a representative sample of American sociology. Recently, Stephen Turner has suggested that dominance in the ASA rests with a 'cartel' initially formed in graduate school, and that it favors work in a style associated with the leading journals. The adequacy of these ideas is examined in the light of available data on the last 20 years, which show that very few of the presidents were in the same graduate schools at the same time. All presidents have had distinguished academic records, but it is shown that their publication strategies have varied considerably. Some have had no ASR publications except their presidential addresses, while books and large numbers of other journals not normally mentioned in this context have figured in their contributions, as well as being more prominent in citations. It seems clear that articles in the leading journals have not been as closely tied to prestigious careers as has sometimes been suggested, and that if there is a cartel it has not included all the presidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about the 1971 annual meeting program, organized by American Sociological Association (ASA). ASA is 65 years old this year, but hardly ready for retirement and very much in the pink of condition at least as far as its internal affairs go. As of June, 1970 it had nearly 13,000 members distributed as follows in the various membership categories. The growth of ASA membership over the past decade has been spectacular: in 1960, it had less than 7,000 members: in 1965 there were approximately 9,000; today, the number is 13,000. It has almost doubled in the past decade and added two thirds of that growth in the past five years.

This article presents news briefs concerning the American Sociological Association (ASA), as of August 1972. The recent election has resulted in the following officers for 1973, Andrew Billingsley as chairman, Clark E. Vincent as chairman-elect; Alice S. Rossi as secretary, and Jesse Bernard, William F. Fenkel, Rose Somerville, Jacqueline Wiseman, Paul C. Glick and Constantina Safilios-Rothschild as members of the association's council. In its current revitalization, the Section has three efforts underway. First, under the chairmanship of Nancy St. John, a nominating committee has prepared election slates composed of persons in the field who can offer effective leadership for the Section during the next few years. Second, a three-part program has been prepared for Section Day on August 28, 1972, at the New Orleans, Louisiana meetings that includes a panel discussion of the sociology of classroom reform, organized by Sarane Boocock; a panel discussion of the sociology to the proposed National Institute of Education, organized by John Meyer. This program involves the Section in pressing matters of reform, where sociological perspectives have often been underutilized, as well as in expanding research of comparative analysis. Third, the chairman of the Section has concentrated his own efforts on the possibility of developing a special role for the Section as a bridge between the field of sociology and the National Institute of Education.

There is a lack of agreement about the precise responsibilities of journal editors and referees. As a result, the moral responsibility of providing authors with prompt evaluations of manuscripts has not been sufficiently recognized. Other norms and expectations-for example, not to pressure referees for prompt reviews because of their unpaid contribution to the profession-frequently outweigh the responsibility to report promptly to authors, and scientists and scholars justly complain of the inordinate amount of time taken for editorial decisions on journal manuscripts. Ways must be found to emphasize the responsibility of the editorial staff and eliminate those who do not maintain their responsibilities. To this end, a specific proposal has been made to encourage prompt reviews. This proposal is calculated to offset some of the conditions that encourage delays by referees in evaluating manuscripts. By promising not to send more than a specified number of manuscripts f or review, the editor discourages referees from holding back reviews in order to avoid receiving additional manuscripts too soon. By getting referees to sign an agreement to return manuscripts to the editorial office within a stated time, the review process is shortened and scientific and scholarly articles are published sooner. Contributors are encouraged to notify editors when they have not received decisions within a reasonable time. Not only scientists and scholars but science and scholarship suffer from too-long-delayed editorial decisions. Contributors, professional associations, editors, and referees must unite to break the pattern of delay and find ways to emphasize the moral responsibility for prompt decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PSA's shift to inclusion began in the 1990s as a response to the declining membership and the domination of the association by scholars from the Ivory Tower universities--those institutions focusing primarily upon research. Cracking the Ivory Tower refers to this inclusion which involved encouraging student participation; inviting faculty from teaching-focused colleges; expanding program topics on teaching or issues of gender, race, sexual orientation; hosting inclusive receptions; and electing some officers from non-elite schools. As inclusion has dramatically increased membership and promoted more representative participation, governance now faces new challenges, especially the executive director's workload. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1973 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA), the author attended a roundtable discussion chaired by Professor Robert Friedrichs. The whole meeting was devoted to discussing the possibility of sociologist B.F. Skinner's influence emerging in the U.S. sociology, a topic that Friedrichs had explored in a paper he delivered earlier at one of the ASA sessions. In reference to the Skinnerian influence on sociology, the author criticizes sociologist Donald Tarter's article published in the November 1973 issue of the periodical "The American Sociologist," which stated that Friedrichs' eminence in the discipline of sociology and the Skinnerian influence is justified. The author's intention is to point out that Tarter's article is at best naive as regards his misunderstanding of sociology and that the presuppositions underlying his argument suggest an ideological position that can only be repugnant to anyone committed to a society that is as free and open as possible. The author substantiates his indictments by first commenting on what he believes to be Tarter's sociological naivety on the basis of a passage in which Tarter writes "Behavioral complexities never before thought possible have emerged in the form of pigeons playing ping-pong or chimps breaking through the communication barrier to man."

This paper revisits research procedures used to collect and analyze data for Fifty Years of the Southern Sociological Society: Change and Continuity in a Professional Society (1988) to comment on methodological issues. The fifty years of change were conceptualized as having shifted the Southern Sociological Society from a disciplinary to a professional mode of organization. The shift occurred both from evolutionary processes and from deliberate revolutionary actions of officials and members. Data for the study came mainly from the Society’s Archives. It included personal accounts by presidents, secretary-treasurers’ and committee reports, annual programs and newsletters. Evolutionary processes of adapting the association to the growth of membership, to differentiation of fields of sociological study, along with the rationalization and formalization of the Society’s governance and operation, were extracted mainly from annual programs, the most continuous and objective body of archival information. Revolutionary changes, including adaptation to societal challenges including racial segregation, from the Society’s founding onward were inferred from personal accounts, committee reports, and newsletters, and were confirmed from interviews with long-standing members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a personal account of the attractions of the emerging movement and the distinctive feel of the Association for Humanist Sociology (AHS) conferences. The author relates that he was introduced to the AHS by the association's founders, Alfred McClung Lee and Elizabeth Bryant Lee. According to the author, Alfred's scholarly output, individually and with Betty, was prolific. It covered the areas of journalism, politics, and humanist sociology and was distinguished by the vigor and directness of its prose. The Fine Art of Propaganda, which they co-authored in the 1930s, presented a symbolic analysis of political messages that still contributes to media literacy. In the early days, there were three discernible subgroups within AHS. One group was focused on humanist theory, including marginal problem areas like sociology of emotions, death and dying, and the nature of meaning. Another group was Marxist. Over the years, participants also belonged to the ASA Marxist section and various socialist-oriented organizations. The third group consisted of people concerned with community organizing and applied sociology. Most were involved with local and national projects focused on social problems.

This paper describes the preconditions leading to the founding of the Association for Humanist Sociology (AHS) in 1976, with accounts and descriptions of its founding and early years. Existing records, interviews, and correspondence with key informants, including past-presidents, longtime members, and former members, were utilized in preparing this report on the origin and earliest days of the Association for Humanist Sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is taken from Chapter 6 of the publication A Lucky Journey: The Sociological Enterprise, 1931-1980, which reflects on the progress of the American Sociological Review (ASR) as a publication from 1958 to 1960. The local editorial staff of the publication began with a contingent of ten scholars. These ten scholars included representatives of various sub-fields in sociology and of related discipline as well as specialists on Soviet Russia, Africa, India and Japan. Most of the day-to-day labor on the Review was done by editorial secretary Betty Vogel, Michael Olmsted, and their nominal boss. Michael Olmsted was more than a first-rate book review editor, he evaluated papers in his special fields with sagacity and designed an attractive cover to replace what had long been the dismal front of the publication. Solicitation of papers by prominent sociologists helped to upgrade ASR as a scholarly journal. Another change was the introduction of a division of the Review on the Profession which included not merely the obituaries or communications pertaining to the sociological guild, but both solicited submitted articles on the occupation itself. This innovation, according to the author, was consistent with his own growing interest in the sociology of sociology.

The article presents a case study of the Association of Black Sociologists. This article is shaped also by the author's direct and active participation in Caucus of Black Sociologists as well as studies by him of black sociologists on two different occasions, 1968 and 1981. In the late 1960s black sociologists, as well as many other black professionals within larger professional bodies, perceived the necessity of organizing to achieve recognition and enhance opportunities. Tilman C. Cothran provided the initial leadership within the American Sociological Association (ASA). Dismayed at the absence of black participation in the annual programs of ASA, Cothran, then chairman of the department of sociology at Atlanta University and editor of Phylon, called together meetings of black sociologists at the annual meetings of ASA in 1968 in Boston and 1969 in San Francisco, to discuss their common problems and strategies for dealing with same. He also communicated in writing and in person with foundations about the lack of blacks in leadership roles within them as well as the paucity of monies directed to black sociologists for research.

This article presents an update on organizations related to sociology as of November 1972. The Institute for Community Development and the Center on Human Policy call for papers for the Third Annual Symposium on Current Issues in Community Psychology from April 12-14, 1973. Papers should relate to alternatives to total institutional structures for people of all ages having special needs, including the emotionally disturbed, retarded, delinquent and criminal. The Southern Anthropological Society announced the annual James Mooney Award of $1,000 for the book-length manuscript that best describes and interprets the people or culture of a distinctive New World population. The Institute for European Health Services Research was created at Leuven University in Belgium to contribute to the improvement of European health and other social welfare services through research and to organization financing and administration, and through the professional growth of those who develop and implement public welfare at all levels.

This section presents an overview of the 1972 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association which will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, from August 28-31, 1972. The Preliminary Program consists of 180 sessions, including six didactic seminars, requiring pre-registration, 42 regular seminars and 13 contributed paper sessions. The last two will be discussions only, papers should be read beforehand. In addition, 97 luncheon roundtable discussions have been scheduled. Forms for ordering papers, reserving tickets for luncheons, registering for the didactic seminars, making hotel reservations and pre-registering for the Meeting will be enclosed in the Preliminary Program. Section Programs will be interspersed with regular sessions throughout the four days of the Meeting. The Program will give full details on Section activities. A Dutch Treat Party will follow the Presidential Address. An additional social event is still in the planning stage, a jazz evening, when members of the Society of Musical Sociologists will join with some of the great local talent.

The article presents announcements related to the field of sociology. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) offers an annual prize, Socio-Psychological Prize, of $1,000 for a theoretical and experimental essay that furthers understanding of the psychological-social-cultural behavior of human beings. Entries should present a completed analysis of a problem, the relevant data, and an interpretation of the data in terms of the postulates with which the study began. The National Institute of Social and Behavioral Science will hold its regular sessions for contributed papers at the 137th annual meeting of the AAAS, December 26-31, 1970, in Chicago. The National Institute of Mental Health is accepting applications for a new one-year interdisciplinary graduate training program in sociology. The British Council for Rehabilitation of the Disabled announces that the Fourth International Study Course Seminar will take place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from June 28 to July 3, 1971. Peace Research Abstracts Journal is soliciting volunteers to replenish its pool of abstractors.

This article presents news briefs about U.S. minorities and women related to sociology as of November 1972. Fellowships (preferably in sociology) are available for 1973-1974 to Puerto Rican graduate students for research on social problems. Fellows are required to write a paper on research dealing with Puerto Ricans in the U.S. The U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities announces fellowships for historical social or cultural studies of U.S. ethnic minorities to young scholars and teachers who have just completed graduate work or professional training or expect to complete it before September 1973. The Council of the American Sociological Association has approved a recommendation of the Committee on the Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession instructing the executive Specialist to collect vitae of sociologists from minority groups who wish their vitae to be on file for professional and employment reference. Current records of various national and regional sociological organizations indicate that the following women sociologists have been elected to positions of top leadership: Mirra Komarovsky as president of the American Sociological Association; Dorothy K. Newman as president of the D.C. Sociological Society; and Gertrude J. Selznick as president of the Pacific Sociological Association.

This article announces the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 28-31, 1972. The Preliminary Program includes 176 sessions plus 97 luncheon round-tables. There are 949 listed participants laboring to produce some 515 papers. The most noteworthy among these papers is the Presidential Address of William J. Goode on the topic Force and Force-Threat in Human Society. Despite many requests, including those from Goode, the address will be delivered in the main ballroom of the Marriott Hotel and not in a back room of Galatoire's Restaurant.

The article presents information on various associations, agencies and institutions in the field of sociology. The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History will hold its 53rd annual meeting on October 3-6, 1968 at the New York Hilton Hotel. The Danish Institute will hold a seminar, "Social Denmark," on social welfare in Copenhagen, August 25-30, 1968. The seminar is intended for persons working in the administrative and practical field of social welfare and will be conducted in English. The Indian Sociological Society held its first conference since 1961 at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay, on October 14, 15, and 16, 1967. The Massachusetts Sociological Association was founded by 100 sociologists at Boston College on November 4, 1967 and will serve as a locus for the teaching and research concerns of sociologists throughout the commonwealth and for others seeking advice on community or state-wide problems. The National Institute of Social and Behavioral Science will hold its regular sessions for contributed papers at the 135th annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, December 26-31, 1968 in Dallas, Texas.

The article reports that the Committee on nominations wishes to present set its slate of nominees for the American Sociological Association, 1968-69. In an age of domestic and foreign tensions and crisis, successful social change is a crucial challenge and a welcome opportunity. The 1967 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science will be held between December 26-30, 1967, in the New York Hilton and Americana Hotels, New York. Four papers will address the question of what impact social science research has on policy. They will look not only at the deliberate and intended application of social science findings in reaching policy decisions, but at the unintended consequences of social science analysis and the dissemination of results on the data themselves and on the formulation and implementation of public policy. Participants will discuss the uses of social science in societal self-analysis and decision-making, some social consequences of research on education and on racial relations and the reconstruction of social realities in developing areas.

This article discusses the status of women and feminism in the Association for Humanist Sociology (AHS) in the U.S. from 1976 to 2002. The author's perspective is that of a feminist sociologist trained in the 1960s and 1970s, rooted in a radical feminism and embracing a transformational, international feminism. Women had constituted a minority in terms of numbers as well as intellectual recognition within the AHS. The author claims that according to his experience and that of other feminist involved in AHS, although the association had been from the beginning much more welcoming of women and their contributions than other sociological organizations, the relationship between feminism and humanist sociology has not always been an easy one. However, humanist sociology, as its is practiced in the AHS, has changed over time and has become increasingly accepting of feminism. The author attributes this to grassroots efforts among feminist members of the association to better integrate women and feminism, and the increasing numbers of women in the AHS, as well as a growing awareness among both humanist sociologists and feminists of the great human variety of positionalities, identities, and experiences.

This paper summarizes briefly the formal relationship between the American Sociological Association (ASA) and the seven regional sociological societies, suggests that little has resulted from the affiliation, and recommends (1) the ASA Committee on Regional Affairs be terminated, and (2) four other ways of linking the national and regional societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on sociology and the mass media. The typical processing of sociology is the inception of a problem, research, preparation and submission of results, evaluation of them by reviewers, publication, citation, replication and eventually, replacement. One of the latent consequences of good press coverage has been a high rate of feedback to the author in the form of mail and telephone requests, queries and rebuttals. These have been of four basic kinds such as collegial, clarifiers of the manners, entrepreneurs and celebrity seekers. Mass dissemination of sociology can have the consequences of aggravating an already ambiguous image, distortion of any given sociological paper and misrepresentation of the nature and scope of sociology as a discipline and profession. Consequently, it is time for the American Sociological Association to institutionalize procedures for the dissemination of sociology to the public. One of the proposals for consideration by the association are recognition that in order to obtain constitutionally defined objective to stimulate and improve research, instruction and discussion and to encourage cooperative relations among persons engaged in the scientific study of society, we must take the mass media into account.

This article discusses the American Sociological Association (ASA) as a portrait of organizational success and intellectual paralysis. There are many important things that the ASA does very well. Its conventions are now quite large and complicated, with more than 200 sessions and close to a thousand persons participating in the sessions. Planning for a convention starts four years in advance with the choice of a site, and program committees work hard for a year in setting up sessions and recruiting session organizers. The sessions have changed over the past few decades, as of 1981. In the early days, sessions were organized more casually, networks of acquaintances being used frequently as means to solicit papers for sessions. Now, participation has been placed on a more universalistic basis. More opportunities are provided for members to exchange ideas and information about work in progress through luncheon roundtables, workshops, and poster sessions. The ASA also is successful in publishing its journals and in running a monograph series. The journals do come out more or less on time and are delivered to the right addresses. If there is an establishment in the ASA, it is composed of persons who are well known, mainly through their scholarly works or other activities that bring them to the attention of the members. Although the ASA must be reckoned successful in a bureaucratic sense, it has not been successful in advancing the intellectual side of the discipline.

This article comments on the history and accomplishments of the American Sociological Association. The most astonishing activity of the ASA is an annual production, the extravaganza called the national meetings. In the 1940s and 1950s the national convention was sometimes criticized for being a market fair at which young academics were forced to kowtow to the mighty for jobs, rather than being able to take delight in truly intellectual discourse. Over the decades, the business meetings of the ASA have remained unchanged in one important way. They always have been poorly attended, except for a few times in the late 1960s. This intense apathy is characteristic of a well run learned society. First it shows the good sense of sociologists, for there is little worth capturing at the business meeting. Second, most of the time the Council and the national staff have succeeded in attaining harmony with the vibrations of their constituents, and thus, they often have made entirely independent decisions that pleased the others anyway. Even in the high drama of business meetings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it should be noted, established sociology was the main target. In response to the sociologist's usual preference for egalitarian policy, the 1960's charges of elitism, and the sheer growth of research money, the number of papers or presentations has grown, certainly faster than the membership.

Narrates how the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) was formed. Contributing factors which led to the formation of IVSA; Project journal of IVSA; Innovations made by IVSA to its journal; Two epistemological streams which contributed to the development of sociology; Fundamental assumption shared by historical relativism and interpretive or qualitative sociology.

Sociological associations in the U.S. are generally viewed as existing on two levels: national and regional. A third level, however, does exist: the intra-regional. Even though sociologists know very little about organizing at this level, intra-regional associations may become increasingly important to the discipline because of labor market pressures, broader participation in the profession by teaching sociologists, the influence of revenue sharing on research funding and the energy crisis. Intra-regional associations are frequently referred to as state associations; however, the data indicate the former classification is more valid. The purpose of this article is to describe the organization of sociology on the intra-regional level. How little sociologists know about this level was demonstrated early in the research. A roster of intra-regional associations was not available from the national or the regional levels. Consequently, a letter was sent to the sociology department chairman at a university in each state. A questionnaire was sent to each association and it was filled out by one or more current and/or recent officers. Attitudes expressed by the respondents should be considered their own and not representative of the total membership.

This article presents updates on the American Sociological Association (ASA) in the U.S. as of December 1972. Sociology of Education will sponsor a special session of contributed student papers at the 68th Annual Meeting of the ASA in New York City on August 27 to 30, 1973. Peter Blau, Ralph Turner, Roscoe Hinkle, Erving Goffman and Gerhard Lenski were elected as officers of the Theoretical Sociology Section of the ASA for the 1973 year.

This article presents the 1972 report of the Committee on Publications of the American Sociological Association. The committee met twice during the past year, the Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado on August 30, 1971 and in Washington D.C. on February 25, 1972. The following was accomplished. First, recommendations to the council were made for the appointment of new editors of the Journal of Health and Behavior, Sociology of Education, Sociometry, and the American Sociologist. Second, a considerable amount of time was devoted to the proposed merger of Socio-Log with the American Sociologist. The primary motive for this merger was the severe financial problems faced by the Association. Proposals were developed in Denver for an interim arrangement for one year. The committee will examine this arrangement after one year and make suggestions for a permanent policy. The committee also initiated a survey of the membership to determine their journal reading practices and preferences. Results of this survey will provide the committee with greater information as it examines the journal publication policies of the American Sociological Association.

This article presents the 1972 report of the membership committee of the American Sociological Association (ASA). As of May 1972, there are 14,934 members of the ASA, an increase of 349 over 1971. The following tables reflect various aspects of the membership growth during the past six years. The most noteworthy of these changes was that the Member category showed the largest increase, larger than any previous year, while all other membership categories showed a decrease. The recent changes in the classification of members has required that collapse of all categories Fellow and Active members into the present member category in order that the past membership figures will be comparable. The membership class of Foreign Associate was changed to International Associates, and certain students who became eligible for the Member classification remained in the student class if they continued as students but have rights of the Member class. The growth of the Association has certainly not been up to expectations. It has become increasingly apparent that an effective membership campaign must be at the grassroots level, i.e., regional and local contact with non-members, particularly to make membership information available to students.

This article presents a report of the editor of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, a scholarly journal published by the American Sociological Association, as of August 1972. It gives me great personal pleasure to turn over the journal to Jackie Jackson. Now that she has accepted the appointment as editor, I think I can admit publicly that I am delighted to give up the responsibility. I should note that the job is not as miserable as journal editors make it out to be when commiserating with each other at Publications Committee meetings. Much of the work really is done by other people, the associate editors and the editorial office staff. The job does have its distressing moments. In addition to fighting deadlines, careful copyediting and compulsive proofreading do not eliminate all typographical problems. Moreover, neither the associate editors, nor other who act as referees, nor the editor are infallible. Consequently, data analyzed by less than adequate procedures sometimes find their way into the journal. Even some articles with discrepancies between the findings reported and the inferences and conclusions that authors draw from their data creep into our pages. Finally, there are articles about which the assigned referees disagree, usually with apparently irreconcilable views about their worth. Sometimes such cases can be resolved by additional readers; sometimes it is simply necessary to make executive decisions.

This article reports on the four topics added to the 1972 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Marshall Sklare of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University will organize a session on the Sociological Study of Religion, co-sponsored by the association of the same name. J. H. Duthie of the University of Windsor will be responsible for a session on Sociology of Sport. T. R. Young and Timothy Lehmann of the University of Colorado are calling for papers on Conflict Methodology. The newly-formed section on Community is planning a session on this topic to be organized by Charles M. Bonjean of the University of Texas. Although the deadlines necessitate most of these sessions being comprised of solicited papers, you should feel free to contact any of the above named individuals if you are interested in participating.

In August 1974, the International Sociological Association (ISA) will hold its Eighth World Congress of Sociology in Toronto in Ontario, Canada, and thereby afford an accessible opportunity for many North American sociologists to participate. The reorganization of the International Sociological Association by its Council in 1970 at Varna, Bulgaria, during sessions of the Seventh World Congress of Sociology was desired to strengthen the autonomy and effectiveness of its thirty research committees. This should provide opportunity for greater involvement for individual sociologists, both in the periodic international meetings and in the ongoing work of the ISA. These organizational changes come at an appropriate period in that North American sociologists are now demonstrating a stronger interest in cross-national sociology. This article is designed to describe to the membership of the American Sociological Association the implications of the new format of the International Sociological Association for international intellectual cooperation.

The article presents news and announcements related to the field of sociology. The role of sections within the American Sociologist Association (ASA) have been under review by the Committee on Sections since its establishment in 1968. The Committee has recommended and the Council of the Association has approved a number of administrative and operational procedures related to the establishment and conduct of Sections. The purpose of Sections is to promote the common interests of Association members in specified areas of sociology. It is regarded as highly unlikely that Sections of small size could sustain active programs over a long period. Sections are constituent parts of the Association. While the Association is interested in encouraging them to develop their functions and activities as they wish, there are a number of areas in which sections are limited because they lack corporate status. The ASA Council has adopted a policy against Association sponsorship or administration of research or training projects unless major and direct interests of the discipline are involved.

The article discusses the failure of the Twelfth World Congress of Sociology in Madrid, Spain, from July 9-13, 1990. Even by the customary standards of the International Sociological Association, which are not high, the treatment received by participants was questionable. The housing arrangements had been entrusted to a private travel agency named Ibercolor. Foreign guests at the Congress were required to make hotel reservations several months in advance, with substantial deposits. Ibercolor received deposits from the majority of foreign guests but sent out no confirmations so that people had to stand in long, slow lines at the Congress headquarters to discover where one is supposed to stay. Many people found that they had been assigned to a hotel of a more expensive category than the one they had requested. They had no recourse since Ibercolor refused, to return deposits for any reason. Moreover, the special Congress rates arranged by Ibercolor turned out to be higher than the customary rates posted in each hotel room But the hotels refused to accept direct payment; guests were required to pay their hotel bills to Ibercolor, after another long wait in line.

The article presents various news and announcements, dealing with several educational programs, awards, fellowships et al, by different associations, institutions etc. of the U.S. The American Psychiatric Association has awarded Benjamin Pasamanick, Associate Commissioner of Research, New York State Department of Mental Hygiene, Professor Frank Scarpitti, Department of Sociology, Rutgers University, and Professor Simon Dinitz, Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, the $1500 Hofheimer Prize for Research for 1967, awarded in recognition of outstanding research related to psychiatry. The three investigators conducted a three-year experimental study in Louisville, Kentuky. The National Institute of Mental Health has established a new Center for Studies of Mental Health and Social Problems. The International Scientific Commission of the Family has founded in 1965 by the International Union of Family Organizations, is a new non-governmental association with U.N. consultative status.

This article reflects on the progress of the American Sociological Association (ASA) from 1905 to 1980. The author relates that when she took office elate in 1949, there were approximately 2,700 members on the Society's roles. Ten years later there were 7,000. With the Reorganization Committee of 1950 anticipating the potential, certain goals for the Association were set early in the decade. There were eight goals that the society was determined to accomplish. It is a matter of record that considerable progress was made during the decade of the 1950s in moving toward these goals especially the first six Constitutional changes were affected. membership participation was broadened. An executive office was organized. Several new publications were started. Membership services generally were expanded. All the annual meeting, over 300 papers were presented in 1960 in contrast to 77 in 1950. In two important respects, however, the mid-century ASA was somewhat less effective in performing its supportive role in expanding the uses of sociology and in aiding the development of the discipline. For example, responding to indications that sociologists were needed in a variety of practicing professions, ASA together with Russell Sage Foundation, undertook a series of bulletins on the fields of sociological application.

This article presents a commentary on a paper by Paul Kay in a previous issue of The American Sociologist which analyzed the growth of a mythical enthusiasm for nonacademic employment in anthropology and other disciplines in the U.S. Kay proposes three tests for labeling this as an ideology, that it is demonstrably false and it serves to maintain the status quo. According to the commenter, he has seen very little evidence that the field of sociology is suffused with a growing enthusiasm about prospects for jobs outside academia. The American Sociological Association's (ASA) Expanding Employment Opportunities Committee's attempts to define the problem and to suggest useful steps to be taken to deal with it have hardly struck fire either at the grays roots or at the ASA Council level. Skepticism has been expressed as to whether the problem of a declining academic job market is not simply temporary, and thus not deserving of curriculum revision, recruiting cutbacks or some other organized response. Kay defends his second point, that the belief is false, mainly by referring to the competitive disadvantage of anthropologists in seeking to supplant others now holding nonacademic jobs or when offering their services at the same time as others displaced by the same market forces.

This section presents news of sociology organizations in the U.S., as of May 1971. AAAS Socio-Psychological Prize announced the Arthur F. Bentley annual prize of $1,000 for a theoretical and experimental essay that furthers understanding of the psychological socio-cultural behavior of human beings. The prize is intended to encourage studies and analyses of social behavior based on explicitly stated assumptions or postulates leading to conclusions or deductions that were tested by systematic empirical research or to encourage in social inquiry the development and application of the kind of dependable methodology that has proved fruitful in natural sciences. On the other hand, the Alabama-Mississippi Sociological Association extended an invitation for membership to all sociologists, undergraduate and graduate students, and persons in allied fields in the two states. Meanwhile, Asian Forum is a quarterly journal providing a multi-disciplinary forum on development and interaction within and among Asian countries. Contributions dealing with Asian society and culture include articles, reviews, summaries of relevant dissertations, bibliographic essays, annotated bibliographies, and reports on projects and conferences.

The article presents news events of organizations related to the field of sociology. The Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists is open for membership to individuals and institution. The Caucus of Black Sociologists has elected several officers in the month of November 1970. The United Chapters of Alpha Kappa Delta, national sociology honor society, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their founding on September 2, 1970, at the Society's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Boston University, Department of Sociology has offered a Health Services Research Training Program to qualified PhD candidates. The Committee on International Exchange of Persons has announced that applications for Senior Fulbright-Hays awards for lecturing and research during 1972-73 in over 75 foreign countries will be accepted in the Spring of 1971. The Ford Foundation has announced a new program of fellowships to encourage scholarship in the field of ethnic studies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies of Developing Areas, is providing an opportunity for a small number of especially qualified persons to spend a year at M.I.T.

This article presents a calendar of forthcoming meetings related to sociology between November 1972 and April 1973, including the International Meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Caracas, Venezuela, from November 19-25, 1972.

This article features the 1972 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to be held in the Sheraton-Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., from December 26-31, 1972. Several sociologists will also participate in a session on "The Future of Collective Violence: Societal and International Perspectives," organized by Joseph Ben-Dak for the Section on Social and Economic Sciences. This Annual Meeting will also mark the point where James Coleman of Johns Hopkins University will succeed Daniel Moynihan as the elected chairman of Section K and Vice-President of AAAS.

This article discusses the extension of the appointment of University of North Carolina Professor David R. Heise as the Editor of "Sociological Methodology" for three years starting with the 1974 volume. "Sociological Methodology," an official publication of the American Sociological Association, published by Jossey-Bass Inc., is an annual volume that offers original chapters exploring new ventures to advance the knowledge of research methodology in various realms of sociological inquiry. In a statement of policy, Professor Heise offered the following challenge and invitation to potential contributors: "Sociological Methodology will continue to publish important papers in the established areas of quantitative analysis..." Currently, at North Carolina, David Heise is Director of the Quantitative Sociology and Theory Building Training Program. Before receiving both his MA and Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Chicago, he earned Bachelor's degrees in Journalism and in Mathematics at the University of Missouri. Professor Heise is a productive scholar with both substantive and methodological interests. Among his publications are numerous articles, three of which appeared in past volumes of "Sociological Methodology," and two monographs.

This article provides information on the report of the Section on Organizations and Occupations of the American Sociological Association (ASA) as of August 1, 1972. The Section sought to fill the void between Annual Meetings of the ASA in two ways. First, the Section Newsletter was expanded through the enthusiastic activities of secretary Marie Haug. Second, the Section activities were tied up with various regional sociological societies which meet in the spring. The most viable activity remains Section Day at the ASA meeting and the program committee gave momentum to the established idea of using Section Day to focus on research needs or opportunities rather than the reading of research papers. Finally, the membership continues to request that the Section sponsor regional workshops or dissertation prizes or other activities. In recognition of the fact that these cost money and that the Section dues go entirely to ASA for services provided. A referendum is being conducted about the possibility of an increase in Section dues. Final results of that referendum will be reported at the New Orleans, Louisiana meeting.

This section lists schedules of meetings of various sociological associations in the U.S. from June 1972 to April 1973.

This section provides information on the list of Censured Administration by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Censure is the Association's warning to the academic community that conditions which led to a major violation of academic freedom and tenure at an institution have not been corrected. Members of the Association frequently do not accept appointments at an institution as long as it remains on the list of Censured Administrations. In 1972, censure was voted on the administrations of Onondaga Community College, New York, Columbia College in Missouri, and Armstrong State College, Georgia. Censure was directed against the University of California Board of Regents as a result of the Angela Davis case at University of California at Los Angeles. Administrations continuing on censure include Alabama State University since 1962, South Dakota State University since 1962, Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in Mississippi since 1963 and Grove City College in Pennsylvania since 1963. The AAUP is the largest organization of college and university teachers and researchers in U.S. higher education. The association has over 91,000 members and 1,300 chapters at colleges and universities throughout the country.

This section presents an update on several sociological associations as of May 1, 1972. The Sociological Association of Australia and New Zealand (SAANZ) has begun publication of SAANZ Newsletter. Maine Sociological Society's officers are President Frank Branceley, Nasson College, and Secretary Madeleine Giguere of University of Maine. The District of Columbia Sociological Society's slate of officers are President Dorothy K. Newman, President-elect Gillian Lindt, Secretary John Pease and Treasurer Paul Peachey. The recipient of the 1972 Stuart A. Rice Merit Award is Irene B. Tauber of the District of Columbia Sociological Society. The Society for Cross-Cultural Research is soliciting membership of sociologists. Applications may be requested from James M. Schaefer, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana. The Clearinghouse and Laboratory for Census Data (CLCD) announces receipt of a grant from the National Science Foundation. CLCD is designed to assist researchers using census data.

The article presents information about various activities taking place in several organizations. According to a snippet, the American Society of Criminology is seeking broader membership and interaction with criminologists in Central and South America. Accordingly, its next annual meeting will be held in Caracas, Venezuela during the week beginning November 19, 1972. According to another snippet, the Medical Care section of the American Public Health Association (APHA) suggests that interested authors of papers for the next annual meeting of APHA may obtain standard abstract forms from Dr. D. Brian Heller, Research and Development, Blue Cross Association.

The article presents a report of the Section on Theoretical Sociology, a committee of the American Sociological Association of the U.S. The Section has confined its activities to the presentation of programs at the Annual Meeting. For the 1970 meetings John McKinney developed two sessions: one on "New Perspectives on Max Weber" was chaired by Talcott Parsons and involved the contributions of Benjamin Nelson, Vatro Murvar, Thomas Burger, and Vytautas Kavolis; the other on "Problems of the Interface Between Theory and Methodology" was chaired by John McKinney and consisted of presentations by Karl Schuessler, Edgar Borgatta, Norman Denzin, and Frank Young. For the 1971 meetings Peter Blau has organized two sessions. The first will be a panel discussion on "Contrasting Approaches to Social Theorizing." The other session comprises four invited papers on the general topic "Social Theory and Research." The contributors will be Richard Emerson, Hubert Blalock, Morris Zelditch, and Peter Park. The issue of what activities other than annual program sessions should be undertaken by the Section will in great likelihood rise again at the next Council Meeting and at the Business Meeting.

This article presents a commentary on a paper by Robert A. Stebbins in a previous issue of The American Sociologist which provided an account of professional and amateur sociology in the U.S. The British organization, Mass Observation existed in a relatively nonintrusive society with (as compared to the U.S.) greater concern for one's own and other people's privacy. Canada and Great Britain may in this respect have more built-in defenses against the risks of some kinds of amateur sociology that the U.S. would have. However, according to the commenter, Stebbins already anticipates this objection by requiring amateurs to be supervised and to start with a certain amount of instruction and proper cautionary comments. By engaging primarily in the use of unobtrusive measures and observations, the amateur will avoid the risks of harm to which Stebbins is already sensitive. The commenter relates that one of the public areas in which he has encouraged such unobtrusive observations is in churches, where the observer in outward appearance is similar to the congregation and hence not seen as an intruder. According to him, he has had a fair amount of experience with undergraduate amateurs of the sort described.