What Matters in Sociology?

The article presents information two surveys on sociology. The first survey that was conducted in 1968 ported the ratings of fifty-three eminent sociologists, past presidents of the American Sociological Association (ASA), members and heads of standing committees of the Executive Council and advisory editors of the periodicals "American Sociological Review" (ASR) and the "American Journal of Sociology" (AJS) as to how much work was being done in the then thirty-eight official subfields in sociology and which three specialties they considered most important, least important, were currently concentrating on and would recommend to an able graduate student. In the second survey that was conducted in 1996, respondents were asked to evaluate all thirty-six of the current "official subfields" within sociology by the same criteria. During the survey, questionnaires were set to the current and immediate past officers of the American Sociological Association, members of the council, editors and advisory editors of the periodicals "American Sociological Review," "American Journal of Sociology," and "Contemporary Sociology," and to the heads of the leading sociology departments.