Category: PSA News

Sociological Perspectives, published by SAGE, announces a search for the journal’s next editor or co-editors. The PSA welcomes proposals from individuals, a team or a department.

The editor(s) will be responsible for soliciting, reviewing, and making final decisions on all submissions to the journal, and will manage all aspects of the publication and review process using the Manuscript Central electronic submission and review platform. The editor(s) will work with SAGE Publishing to ensure timely and accurate delivery of manuscripts for publication. 

The new editorial office must open by July 1, 2022, with the editor or co-editors officially starting their three-year term January 1, 2023. This editorial term is potentially renewable upon mutual agreement between the editor and the Pacific Sociological Association. 

The journal’s purpose is to advance research, theory, scholarship, and practice within sociology and related disciplines. Published six times a year, each issue of Sociological Perspectives offers 200 pages of timely articles spanning the breadth of sociological inquiry. Contributions by leading scholars typically address the ever-expanding body of knowledge about social processes related to economic, political, cultural and historical issues. SP’s Impact Factor (1.771) and ranking (85/149) in the 2020 Journal Citation Reports has climbed during the last few years. In 2020, the journal received 238 submissions and had an acceptance rate of 25%; total circulation was 11,637.

Applicants should have a strong publishing record, organizational and management experience, collaborative skills, and feel committed to PSA’s mission: to serve sociologists in the region by providing opportunities for networking and professional development designed to advance scholarly research, promote high-quality teaching and mentorship, and encourage applied sociology for the public good, through a professional community that reflects the diversity of our region and enhances the diversity of our discipline, committed to inclusivity and equity, promoting social justice by examining and challenging the structural and institutional barriers in our discipline, and building pathways for the next generation of sociologists. 

Applicants should reside in the western region served by the Pacific Sociological Association in the United States (i.e., Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington), Canada (i.e., British Columbia and Alberta), or Mexico (Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua). 

The handout “Professional Development: Thinking about Being an Editor? What You Need to Know”, from a panel presented at the PSA 2021 conference by current and former editors of various sociology journals (Christine Bose/Gender & Society; Carol Ward/Rural Sociology, Sociological Inquiry, and Family Perspectives; Hyeyoung Woo/Sociological Perspectives; and Allison Hurst), includes information that may be helpful.

Applicants should send a letter of interest which includes (1) a description of the proposed editorial team (Editor[s] and some vision of who the Managing Editor[s] will be) and a copy of their CVs, (2) a vision statement, describing why the editorship is desired, and goals/what they want to do with the journal, including any possible special issues, and (3) an outline of anticipated support from the Editor(s) institution(s), as well as what support is anticipated as needed from PSA. For example, PSA provides Sociological Perspectives with support for the managing editor, PSA travel costs, and coordination with SAGE. The journal editor’s host institution is also expected to provide support for the editor and the journal office, such as release time, tuition support as needed, dedicated office space, equipment, and supplies. 

Potential applicants may contact the Publications Committee Co-Chairs: Veronica Terriquez, University of California, Los Angeles, and Victoria Reyes, University of California, Riverside, at publications@pacificsoc.org to discuss PSA and institutional support in more detail and for any further questions, comments or requests for information.

Letters of Interest should be sent with “SP Letter of Interest” in the subject line to the Publications Committee email address, publications@pacificsoc.org, by November 1, 2021. The Publications Committee will invite a select number of letters of interest no later than December 1, 2021 to submit a full application by January 15, 2022. 

https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal/sociological-perspectives#description

 

Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Policy

Over the summer, members of the PSA Council (Board of Directors) collaborated to revise the PSA mission statement. The mission statement is important because it describes why PSA exists, and guides decision-making around what PSA does. The concern was to ensure that equity, diversity, inclusivity, and the promotion of social justice needed to be clearly stated as a core part of PSA’s mission. Here is the new PSA mission statement, adopted by Council on October 9, 2020:

The Pacific Sociological Association is committed to serving sociologists in our region–faculty, applied professionals, and students—by providing opportunities for networking and professional development designed to advance scholarly research, promote high-quality teaching and mentorship, and encourage applied sociology for the public good. We strive to create a professional community that reflects the diversity of our region and enhances the diversity of our discipline. We are committed to inclusivity and equity in our organization, to promoting social justice by examining and challenging the structural and institutional barriers in our discipline, and to building pathways for the next generation of sociologists.

The Pacific Sociological Association condemns racism, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy and its vestigial appendage, police brutality. We support the Black Lives Matter movement. As practitioners of a discipline that studies individuals in society and social institutions, we recognize and acknowledge that racism has multiple forms: individual, interpersonal, and socio-structural.  We are committed to anti-racism practices and social justice, and to ensuring social equity for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).  

We encourage the engagement of sociologists in areas of social justice and social responsibility. The Pacific Sociological Association continues to advocate for fairness, equity, justice, and community in our own organization, sociology as a discipline, the academy, and the broader society.  We must listen, learn, reflect, discuss, teach, research, and act in love, support, and community. The Pacific Sociological Association will continuously review our mission, programs, organizational structures and processes, and membership to enact our commitment to these principles.

adopted June 22, 2020 by the PSA Council (Board of Directors)

As sociologists, we share a commitment to the common good.  Across the nation, many of us have been deeply affected by blatant and subtle expressions of prejudice and discrimination. As such, the PSA members offer the following reaffirmation of our academic values:

• We reaffirm our democratic values and encourage vigorous discussion and debate in an atmosphere of mutual inquiry, critical dialogue, and respect for the dignity of all persons.
• As a professional society, we reaffirm our commitment to cultivating diversity, inclusion, and tolerance in our work, and call for all members to stand against hatred in any form.
• We reaffirm sociological teaching and praxis that model methods of civic engagement and respectful dialogue, and we support work that strives toward social justice.

We encourage our membership to continue building alliances towards these ends, and through our work we vow to uphold these values to sustain our hard-earned civil rights.