Chapter 2

The 1991–2002 Period:

Transformations and Innovations

1. INTRODUCTION

 Background and Context

The period from 1991 through 2002 was a time of major transformation at the American Sociological Association. During this period, ASA elaborated its mission as the national professional association for sociologists, honed its programmatic objectives, and clarified its organizational roles and structure. In large part, major changes emanated by design from strategic planning that took place at ASA in 1992 under the leadership of Felice J. Levine, the 11th Executive Officer.

Both the changes that took place and the process that produced them reflected a shift in how the Association did business—with Council focusing on setting policy and broad oversight functions and the professional staff assuming greater responsibility for implementing and achieving Council goals and framing issues that required policy guidance. Over time, this shift produced changes not only in how Council and the Executive Officer worked in collaboration, but also in how staff, committees, and tasks evolved in their functions. During this period, the ASA Council also enacted significant changes in the governance structure of the Association. All of these activities affected and altered ASA in dramatic ways.

Executive Officer Levine led a review of ASA’s operations and management in fall 1992, after a one-year period learning first-hand from staff and committees about priorities and challenges. During 1991 and 1992, Executive Office staff also completed a comprehensive Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new computer and software system based on considerable analysis of ASA’s work and goals. This examination of technological needs provided the framework for the review of organizational functions and goals known as the strategic plan. The result of this exercise, as set forth below, was presented by Secretary Arlene Kaplan Daniels and Levine to the Committee on the Executive Office and Budget (EOB) in December 1992, meeting with EOB’s unanimous and enthusiastic approval. In January 1993, the strategic plan was presented to Council, which also affirmed its support overall and through a series of actions related to specific programs.

In a February 1994 article in Footnotes , “Moving Forward for Sociology,” Levine summarized the results of the planning. She observed that, over its history, ASA had evolved from an association that, in addition to an annual meeting and a journal, performed secretariat functions (keeping records and sending out communications) to a complex organization that provided a wide range of services (a roster of journals, other publications, meetings, workshops, programs, representation of the discipline) to the membership. Like other scientific and professional societies, ASA was faced with the challenge of defining common objectives, shifting to deliberative planning, articulating goals and operating plans, reorienting resources around key goals, creating an effective organizational structure within the Executive Office, and taking steps (including through the use of technology) to produce business efficiencies and practices. The key objectives for ASA and the Executive Office were defined as “serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions and use of sociology to society.” Ultimately embraced as the ASA mission statement, they provided the framework for defining priorities, annual planning, and specifying six core programs for ASA: Academic and Professional Affairs, Minority Affairs, Applied Social Research and Social Policy (the Sydney S. Spivack Program), Research on the Discipline and Profession, Public Affairs, and Public Information.

They also led to other office improvements in the use of technology and the organization of human resources (e.g., establishment of a membership and customer service department). As reflected in the mission statement, the ASA of the 1990s positioned itself for systemic change to advance the discipline to supplant case-by-case strategies. A fundamental aspect of these changes was the Executive Office staff becoming more proactive in achieving the association’s goals. Testimonies, Congressional seminars, formal and informal meetings with research and science policy leaders, and the establishment of the Department Affiliates Program to facilitate work and communications with sociology department chairs were among the types of activities undertaken to help accomplish the objectives of ASA. The ASA homepage was initiated in 1995, and introduced significant new opportunities for publication, communication, and products and processes related to the Annual Meeting. Even the move of the ASA headquarters in 1998 from a four-story row house to one floor of a recently renovated office building enhanced the capacity of the Executive Office staff to work more efficiently and collaboratively on ASA functions and activities.

Other transformations to ASA systems and practices were guided or approved by Council: The role of the Committee on Freedom of Research and Teaching (COFRAT) was substantially altered in 1994; section finances, administration, and governance were reformed in 1997; the committee structure was dramatically changed in 1998; and the system of dues was essentially decoupled from journal subscriptions in 2001. A major revision of the Code of Ethics took place from 1994 to 1996 and was overwhelming adopted by the ASA membership in 1997. In 1999, Council approved the Guidelines for the ASA Publications Portfolio , publishing was considerably enhanced by innovative electronic publishing techniques, and a new ASA-wide journal ( Contexts ) and a first ever section journal ( City and Community ) were developed and launched.

Finally, although the goal of promoting diversity and inclusiveness in the profession and discipline had been key to ASA for many years, enhanced emphasis was placed on achieving diversity, especially for historically underrepresented groups. (For example, Minority Affairs became a designated programmatic area under the 1992 strategic plan.) In August 1995 and January 1996, Council reaffirmed through two resolutions its commitment to diversity and to the view that excellence and inclusiveness are complementary, not competitive goals. The two statements on diversity read as follows: Much of the vitality of ASA flows from its diverse membership. With this in mind, it is the policy of the ASA to include people of color, women, sociologists from smaller institutions or who work in government, business, or other applied settings, and international scholars in all of its programmatic activities and in the business of the Association.” (Adopted by Council, August 23–24, 1995) (ASA homepage)

The American Sociological Association, in its policies and programs, is committed to achieving diversity in the discipline, especially for historically underrepresented groups. The Association encourages a continued commitment to activities—whether through the Minority Affairs Program, Annual Meetings, sections, committees, or other initiatives—that work to accomplish this goal. The Association further commends the principle of diversity across the profession and to the nation.” (Adopted by Council, January 1996)

Changes in the American Sociological Association took place in the context of a political, social, and economic climate that might best be described as variable in its receptivity to sociology and the social sciences. This period was marked on the one hand by rescinding of the American Teenage Study by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1991 and threatened consolidation of sociology departments in Kentucky-wide institutions of higher education in 1993 and 1994, to the establishment of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health in 1995, and a marked improvement in the academic job market for sociologists observable in the late 1990s. And, while Clinton-era politics were generally friendlier to the concerns of the social sciences (the administration was data oriented and interested in research on issues ranging from the environment to race), there were still considerable challenges in the form of policies that could erode the capacity to do quality research (e.g., the Contract with America included proposed legislation to limit research, challenges to funding of social science programs at NSF). During this time, ASA situated itself to address problems and promote opportunities as was appropriate to changing conditions and circumstances.

A pivotal event at the beginning of the new century and millennium was the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, and the rising threats of new forms of terrorism around the world. These events have challenged sociologists and other social scientists to contribute their knowledge and expertise to public understanding of the causes and consequences of such incidences. ASA took immediate steps in 2001 and 2002 to post relevant social science information on the ASA website and to cosponsor a briefing on responses to disasters, risk, and threat, and the Association continues to engage substantially in such efforts (see also Chapter 3).

Revisiting Strategic Planning in 1998

In the summer of 1998, EOB revisited the issue of strategic planning for the ASA. The discussion that ensued is important, both from the perspective of “taking stock” of the programmatic work of the 1990s, as well as for the insights on the future of sociology and the ASA in the short- and long-term. EOB identified a number of challenges to the profession (which could have either positive or negative consequences), including: “demographic shifts in the profession, electronic communication and delivery of our work, international leadership in sociology, funding for research, interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary work, and de-professionalization of the academic enterprise. EOB identified the important thrusts for the Association: attention to responsible use of sociology in public policy, to undergraduate and graduate students and their training, to sociologists who are in non-sociology departments.” (EOB Minutes June 30–July 1, 1998)

EOB affirmed the importance of ongoing programs and the priorities for future work emphasized by Executive Officer Levine. David Featherman noted positively the transformation and development of programmatic activities over time, and also the use of external funding to develop the most successful programmatic activities. (Excluding awards to the MFP program, about $2 million in funding was awarded to ASA during the 1990s, including from the National Science Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and also smaller amounts from the MacArthur Foundation, the North-South Foundation, and the Soros Foundation.)

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