New Data on Jobs in Sociology and Other Social Sciences

We are underway with our annual Job Bank study. This is a two-part study. First, we conduct an audit of all jobs advertised through the ASA in the previous calendar year. We look at the number and types of jobs being advertised, and compare this to previous years. In the second part of the study, we survey departments that advertised assistant and open rank faculty teaching positions to find out whether their searches yielded successful hires. Or, if not, then why not? (i.e. Was the position canceled? Was the search suspended? Is the offer still in negotiation? etc.) For findings from last year’s study, see “Moving Toward Recovery: Findings from the 2010 Job Bank Survey.”

This year, we compared jobs advertised through the ASA with those advertised through other social science associations. Results from the full study (we will not begin the survey until April) will be presented at the ASA Annual Meeting in August.

Looking for Data on Sociology?

Want to know how many bachelors degrees were awarded in sociology in 1990? Or maybe how sociology faculty salaries compare to political science? You can find this, and other data on sociology and social science degrees and enrollment, employment, funding, and sociology programs, as well as ASA membership on our Trend Data page. Links to similar datasets can be found on our Data Resources page.

Join the ASA Wikipedia Initiative (Updated 1/6/2012)

The ASA is calling on members to use the power of Wikipedia to represent the discipline of sociology as fully and as accurately as possible. Additionally, we seek to promote the free teaching of sociology worldwide.

The broad goals of the ASA Wikipedia Initiative are:

• Ensure that articles about sociological research, terminology, and theory are accurate, up-to-date, complete, and written in a style appropriate for the general public,
• Ensure that articles are based on independent reliable secondary sources
• To represent scientific controversies from a social science perspective, writing articles in a neutral style
• Improve and review articles to Good Article and Featured Article quality
• Assess sociology-related articles and tag them appropriately when there are problems

All ASA members are encouraged to participate by adding new entries and enhancing existing ones with more complete and accurate information with references. This is an especially exciting initiative for teachers and students who can make updating or creating Wikipedia entries part of coursework.

Such work can teach students:

• that even the simplest ideas are hard to communicate to general audiences
• the importance of logic, strength of argument, flow and clarity of writing, and citations of the appropriate literature
• the significance of accuracy in scientific writing

To get started, visit the ASA website.

Tutorials are available, introducing you to Wikipedia, its community, and editing process. There are also tools available to match ASA members and students to appropriate volunteer opportunities in Wikipedia, and easy ways to connect contributors to fellow volunteers and Wikipedia experts.

Feel free to download and distribute the ASA Wikipedia Initiative Information Flyer.