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This special issue of Information, Communication, and Society (ICS) is edited by the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology (CITAMS) section of the American Sociological Association and includes papers that were first presented at either the 2021 or 2022 ASA meetings or Media Sociology Symposia. For this special issue, an innovative editorial approach was taken that brought the editing process into a graduate classroom. That process is described below along with a brief introduction to themes of the selected articles. Key themes for this special issue include content analysis, ethics, privacy, new economy, and digital inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current period of disruptive social change is inextricably bound up with new means and modes of communication, information, and media streams. The Communication, Information Technologies & Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association (CITAMS) locates these factors at the center of our collective interests, investigating them through a plethora of methods, theories, and empirical cases. Each year, CITAMS runs a special issue in ICS showcasing select works presented at the previous year's American Sociological Association conference and the affiliated Media Sociology preconference. Papers in the 2022 CITAMS Special Issue reflect a social context defined by a prolonged global pandemic and wrought by democratic uncertainty. Across these social circumstances, technology and media loom large. Simultaneously, everyday life continues and classic CITAMS scholarship sustains relevance for the ways people interact, construct identity, consume, and mobilize. All of this and more are contained in the pages of this year's Special Issue, from which readers can get a sense of what CITAMS has to offer and consider how their own work may fit within the broad CITAMS umbrella. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including American Sociological Association awards, theorising sex and gender and the history focused on homosexuality and education.

In the curricula of colleges and universities in North America, the discipline of sociology is a relative newcomer. During scarcely more than a century since the founding of the first American degree programs in sociology, little agreement has emerged over what sociology actually is or does. Rather than regard this dizzying diversity as a source of confusion and consternation, though, might we ponder what would happen to us and our efforts if, instead, we were to view the many forms and aims of contemporary sociology as an irreplaceable advantage, and the practical pluralism that surrounds us in our work as a font of riches, embarrassing or not? Would not multiple visions thus be engaged at once? Could we not at last proceed, as the Beatles urged us, "all together now"? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers a look on the trends of environmental justice based on the presentations at the meeting of the American Sociological Association in Toronto, Canada, in 1997. Two generations of environmental justice inquiry; Details on the models, dimensions and variables involved in environmental justice; Theories involved in environmental justice; Conclusion.

This article reviews the history of the Communication and Information Technologies section of the American Sociological Association (CITASA), and discusses its current research emphases and future trajectory. Critically, the article argues that CITASA has become the preeminent point of reconnection between sociology and communication, allowing cross-pollination of ideas in the study of digital media, and increasingly in the study of media more broadly. The article also discusses contemporary research emphases involving computational and programming-intensive research, research on the use and effects of digital tools, and research on communication and media broadly understood. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this essay, I examine the role of teaching and learning in the culture of the regional association in American sociology. I analyze the programs of (1) the 2007 joint meeting of the North Central Sociological Association (NCSA) and the Midwest Sociological Society (MSS); (2) the 2007 annual meeting preliminary programs of the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS), the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA), and the Southern Sociological Society (SSS) along with the 2006 annual meeting programs of the MSS and NCSA, as well as the American Sociological Association (ASA); and (3) the 1991 NCSA and 1992 ASA annual meeting programs. I identify program trends with regard to teaching, professional development, under-graduate students, graduate students, and research on higher education. I conclude by identifying regional association annual meeting best practices regarding each of these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association curates a special issue highlighting sociological contributions to technology and media studies. That tradition continued in 2020, even as everything else changed. The articles included in this year's special issue were mostly written pre-Pandemic, yet their implications seem amplified by the current historical moment. With a globe gone remote, mediated communication rose from a specialist academic subject to an acute social consideration, intersecting with and illuminating basic sociological concerns about inequality, the nature of work, family life, and the compounding effects of race, class, gender, and sexuality as they interplay with social and material conditions. These topics are all reflected in the articles from this year's issue, now inflected with a post-Pandemic reality that shows insights from CITAMS are needed now, more than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Editors ofThe Sociological Quarterlyinvited the author to reflect on how Canada and the USA may differ, particularly as the American Sociological Association is meeting in Canada in August 2017. This article argues that, while the USA and Canada are in many ways alike, the fundamental ‘social contract’, defined here as the obligation of the state to its citizens, differs in Canada from that in the USA. It also focuses on the emphasis on accommodation of cultural differences and trust in governance institutions that are strongly held dimensions of Canadian society. The analysis uses the perspective of “possessive individualism”, articulated first by Canadian political scientist C. B. MacPherson, as a guide to understand the way that individual rights versus individual responsibilities are often understood differently in the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article outlines how sociologists can and do engage a range of general, nonacademic public audiences, organizations, and interests. It begins with a discussion and critique of the notion of public sociology that emerged from Michael Burawoy’s 2004 American Sociological Association (ASA) presidency and draws upon recent commentaries and classical theories to formulate a more pluralist vision of sociology’s publics. The article concludes by arguing that embracing a multidimensional vision of the relationships between sociology and its publics not only provides a foundation for better public engagement, but also can help renew and revitalize of sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social inventions are new ways of solving human problems. This article reports on an action research project designed to find social inventions to reduce structural lag in four programs that support the transition to adulthood of marginalized youth in Latin America. The investigators engaged youth and staff members in identifying important questions, collecting and interpreting data, and using findings to improve their practices. Their issues aligned with social setting features: activities, resources, roles, and norms. Among their social inventions were “the life project,” the role of mentor, youth responsibility, and new norms of reflection introduced by action research, which not only revealed social inventions but generated them as well. Interaction with external parties contributed to this process: the investigators, “local researchers” engaged as part of the project, participants in conferences convened for participants. Rather than recommending social inventions for adoption in other locations, we recommend using action research to generate local social inventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of recent debates on 'public criminology', this article chooses to focus on teaching as a way of reaching more publics. The various characteristics of a more public and engaged discipline are discussed and applied specifically to the teaching of criminology, including the relative merits and demerits of reorienting teaching in this way. Following on from this discussion, the article outlines some practical ways in which this vision can be realised. Given the many affinities between the Burawoyan concept of public '-ologies' and the scholarship of learning and teaching, an argument is advanced for teaching as one of the first steps towards the practice of a more public criminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his 2004 presidential address to the American Sociological Association, Michael Burawoy called for the creation of a public sociology that would be more relevant and useful to the people whom we study and with whom we work. This vision represents one of many responses to the growing chorus of critics who claim that higher education and the various disciplines that comprise it are out of date, out of touch, and are failing to address pressing societal issues. Seen in this light, public sociology is a laudable attempt to reinvigorate the discipline. But there are problems with Burawoy's formulation that prevent it from fulfilling this promise. In this article, we critically examine public sociology, and argue that a broader, alternative model of public scholarship-one that combines academic and civic benefits-will enable sociologists and other scholars to collaborate with the public in ways that more effectively address the intractable problems facing citizens and communities. This model has particular relevance to the theory and practice of community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This presidential address examines the "community college conundrum" within our discipline. Although it is reported that 44 percent of first-time undergraduate students attend community colleges, community college faculty are underrepresented in the American Sociological Association (ASA) and within our regional associations. This lack of participation has two roots: (1) our disciplinary lack of interest in studying community college education as a unit of analysis; and (2) the failure by sociologists to understand community college education as a social justice concern. Data for this study include an assessment of membership and participation in our disciplinary associations, content analysis of the journal Teaching Sociology, and a review of ASA syllabi sets. Findings reveal a common theme: community college sociologists are ignored and afforded a marginal status—a "less than" status—within our discipline. Recommendations include calling on the ASA and all sociologists to recognize the importance of community colleges in doing the work of "public sociology." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews web sites of several advocacy groups including the web site of the Urban Institute, located at http://www2.urban.org/advocacyresearch/ policy_studies.html; the American Political Science Association's Political Organizations and Parties Section's web site, located at http://www.apsanet. org/pop/; and the American Sociological Association's Section on Social Movements, located at http://www2.asanet.org/sectioncbsm/.

In this article, the authors discuss researcher Rob Kling in his early 1970s-1980s days, when the bright young computer scientist brought his knowledge of sociology to bear on understanding the organization of computing, work, and science. Kling was a key founder of social analyses of computing. He was a leader among that most rare of species, the sociologically acute computer scientist. Once upon a time, computer scientists and information systems specialists thought that they were value-free. They saw themselves as designing and operating optimal computer systems. Sociology, power, institutional interests had nothing to do with this, of course. Sociologists would immediately know that this is nonsense, but only a half-dozen sociologists took computing seriously in those days. Kling had the credibility as a computer scientist, and as a guy who took sociology seriously, he also had the tools. He was a card-carrying member of the organization American Sociological Association and active in its Communication and Information Technologies section. His early influential work emphasized organizational contexts for computer system design, and analyzed the social impacts of systems in such areas as government and electronic funds transfer.

This article presents the policy statement of the journal "International Studies in Sociology of Education." Contributors to the journal are reminded that the language and content of their articles should be non-discriminatory. In empirical reports the breakdown of the research sample should be clearly stated and acknowledged in the discussion. It is obviously important not to generalize from a single sex or racial group or from a heavily unbalanced sample to all children, youth, teachers or, for example, the working classes. Similarly, care must be taken to avoid language which is offensive. The notion of "men" as a generic term for human beings is also unacceptable. Language such as "the handicapped" or "the retarded" is disablist and can be replaced with "disabled people" and "people with leaning difficulties." Authors in Great Britain can consult the British Sociological Association's guidelines on non-sexist and non-racist language. Authors in the U.S. can consult the American Sociological Association's guidelines printed regularly in its journals, or the manual of the American Psychological Association.

In this article the focus is primarily on structural and contextual information about sociology graduate departments and programs, in an attempt to identify those circumstances associated with the production of large and small numbers of chairs. While the authors recognize the need for information on the personal and professional characteristics of the chairpersons themselves and the process of decision-making, the data on chair are limited. Indeed, the data analyzed come from one of the few sources, the series of volumes titled "The Guide to Graduate Departments," first produced by the American Sociological Association for 1965 and then for 1969, 1970, 1971-72, 1972-73 and each year since. Covering the nearly 250 graduate degree granting departments in the United States and Canada, the guides contain information pertaining to the range and types of programs offered, the number and types of students and the degrees granted. Most important, they include lists of faculty members, along with rank, substantive specialties and the year and institution granting the terminal degree.

Sociology has been perceived with ambivalence both by its own disciples/professors, practitioners. It is also perceived with ambivalence by the public it may try to serve: students, university administrators, faculty in other disciplines, government/business leaders and the general public. Sociology's foundations lie in the historical disjunctions of the 19th century and are grounded in the writings of various sociologists. The undergraduate program in sociology has been the subject of much attention in recent years. Ambivalence recently has been at the heart of graduate education in sociology. Much of the 1980s have been spent in ambivalence about the future of sociology: enrollments have been in a steep decline at the undergraduate level; sociology as discipline lost over 650 full-time positions in the period 1978-1985. Long before most other disciplines recognized that their undergraduate programs have been in trouble and in need of reform, the American Sociological Association had received two major grants to help launch its undergraduate teaching program. To conclude, the author suggests that the challenge to educate sociology to the students must be accepted to the fact that everybody has an individual and social at the same time.