Organizational Directions: Setting a Course of Action for the Second Century of American Sociology

This is the final essay of a three-part perspective series commemorating ASA’s centennial year.

by Bruce Keith, United States Military Academy-West Point

I have shown in the two previous essays (Keith 2005a, 2005b) that regional associations are relevant to the discipline, particularly as a mechanism to ensure the presence of opportunities for professional development, recognition, and inclusion. Similarly, I have presented evidence that organizational differentiation has occurred over time among the national and regional associations, fragmenting the discipline into multiple, competing constituencies without the presence of an overarching integrative framework. I have suggested also that the observable shifts in organizational trajectories are intertwined inextricably with the discipline’s culture.

In light of this evidence, the discipline appears poised to pursue one of two directions: either it can promote a culture of science, which is likely to reinforce the organizational drift now apparent in the field, or it can modify disciplinary culture in ways that attend to professional coherence. If the discipline is to be competitive, its course of action must ensure its relevance to its purported constituents. Accordingly, to attain professional integration, the associations that buttress the discipline must routinely assess their constituencies’ needs to ensure alignment of organizational mission as well as the utility, content, and format of conference proceedings and publications.

Foundations

The ASA acknowledges its dedication to sociology’s advancement as a scientific discipline and profession and to the promotion of sociology for the good of society. The advancement of the discipline as a scientific field requires demonstrable evidence of cumulative knowledge; as a profession, the foundation of disciplinary knowledge ought to convey explicitly its contribution to society. As sociologists, we ought to possess a common understanding of the assumptions that direct the discipline toward discernable outcomes representative of either a science or profession. These assumptions ought to be linked to a foundation of demonstrable requisite knowledge and guided by leadership, drawn collectively from the membership, on the assessment and advancement of scholarship consistent with the discipline’s mission. Moreover, the discipline ought to remain cognizant of its graduates’ market outcomes. As Thomas Friedman (2005) demonstrates, the confluence of technology and information is rapidly transforming traditional labor markets through a greater reliance on global outsourcing of high-end research and design work. Ignorance of market shifts brought about by our failure to assess the linkages between curricular structures and job placement may undermine the relevance of our graduates’ credentials, our academic programs, and our discipline.

Teaching Integrates

I am encouraged by the efforts of the ASA’s Department Resources Group (DRG), which has enhanced the discipline’s awareness of program reviews and curricular coordination. These initiatives promote conversations on curricular content and core competencies that may bridge fragmentation now evident in the discipline. The assessments of graduates’ career outcomes will strengthen this initiative if connected to a process that links program reviews to constituencies’ needs and concerns. As a profession, the discipline of sociology ought to debate and advance the parameters that define the field, which are likely to strengthen its relevance and corresponding status in and beyond higher education.

Given the plethora of ways sociology contributes to and is used in public practice, our professional associations ought to engage practitioners from these various contexts. The North Central Sociological Association (NCSA) has placed an emphasis on teaching sociology. This is important because teaching the discipline to others is part of the way sociology is practiced. Similarly, the discipline benefits from thematic sessions at our professional conferences that document debates on the foundations of sociological knowledge and on various social problems.

Publishing Integrates

Our professional associations also promote disciplinary relevance through publication outlets. Noteworthy, therefore, is the finding that the journals of regional associations have a diminished impact on the discipline (Allen 2003). Perhaps the decline occurs because the regionals adopt the disciplinary focus on scientific production, thereby reinforcing a culture that may undermine the constituency they seek to support. Alternatively, the regionals might consider the feasibility of producing publication outlets more reflective of their constituency’s needs. While some will argue that this strategy risks institutional subscriptions that subsidize the association, a journal that does not reflect its constituency’s needs is of questionable value. A strong discipline ought to play a role in shaping and supporting the outlets through which publishers communicate the discipline’s message. While the American Sociological Review and American Journal of Sociology maintain consistently high impact scores (Allen 2003), editors of regional journals might consider alternative formats that speak directly to their constituencies. The ASA’s relatively new publication, Contexts, comes to mind as a successful deviation from the traditional outlet.

Additionally, professional associations ought to be proactive collectively in their involvement with one another. For example, the regionals might seek opportunities to visibly and formally promote their associations at the national conference. This might include promoting the region jointly with the ASA when the national conference is held in that locale. Similarly, all of the professional associations might seek to annually sponsor blocks of sessions in the ASA program that highlight a particular focus or constituency interest. A related approach is to develop joint meetings among the regionals. For example, in 2007 the Midwest Sociological Society and the NCSA will hold a fully integrated joint conference in Chicago that features two presidential addresses and two plenary speakers. This initiative, which will bring together upwards of 1,600 persons, promises to be one of the largest gatherings of sociologists in the United States that year. The size and scope of such meetings bodes well for the discipline.

As we consider plausible courses of action for American sociology during the 21st century, attention ought to underscore disciplinary relevance. I believe that sociology is more characteristic of a profession than a science; the associations organized to promote the field ought to be proactive collectively in their efforts to align disciplinary mission with professional practice. Discussions of disciplinary relevance will most certainly require action plans directed toward professional integration. The question at present is whether we care enough about our discipline to solidify its relevance throughout the 21st century. .

References

Allen, Michael P. 2003. “The ‘Core Influence’ of Journals in Sociology Revisited.” Footnotes 31:9 (December) p. 7.

Friedman, Thomas. 2005. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Keith, Bruce. 2005a. A Century of Motion: Disciplinary Culture and Organizational Drift in American Sociology. Footnotes 33:9 (December) p. 6.

Keith, Bruce. 2005b. A Century of Professional Organization in American Sociology. Footnotes 33:8 (November) p. 5.