''Contexts'': ''Understanding People in their Social Worlds'' is a quarterly
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
academic journal
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...
and an official publication of the
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...
. It is designed to be a more accessible source of
sociological ideas and research and has been inspired by the movement towards
public sociology
Public sociology is a subfield of the wider sociological discipline that emphasizes expanding the disciplinary boundaries of sociology in order to engage with non-academic audiences. It is perhaps best understood as a ''style'' of sociology rath ...
.
Sections of the Journal
* Backpage
* Books
* Culture
* Feature
* From the Editors
* In brief
* Q&A
* Teaching and Learning
* Trends
* Viewpoints
History
The journal was established in 2002 by
Claude Fischer
Claude Serge Fischer (born January 9, 1948) is an American sociologist and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in urban sociology, research methods, and American socie ...
and is published by
SAGE Publications
SAGE Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York by Sara Miller McCune and now based in Newbury Park, California.
It publishes more than 1,000 journals, more than 800 books ...
; until 2011, it was published by the
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
. Fischer was succeeded by
Jeff Goodwin
Jeffrey Roger Goodwin (born January 28, 1958) is a professor of sociology at New York University. He holds a BA, MA (Sociology) and PhD (Sociology) from Harvard University.
His research interests include social movements, revolutions, poli ...
and
James M. Jasper
James Macdonald Jasper (born 1957) is a writer and sociologist who has taught Ph.D. students at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York since 2007. He is best known for his research and theories about cultur ...
, who edited the journal from 2005 to 2007, injecting a certain amount of controversial humor such as
New Yorker
New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to:
* A resident of the State of New York
** Demographics of New York (state)
* A resident of New York City
** List of people from New York City
* ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925
* ''The New ...
cartoons and a column written by "Harry Green" (actually Jasper) called "The Fool." The current editors are
Rashawn Ray (
University of Maryland-College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the Flagship un ...
) and
Fabio Rojas (
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
).
Former Editors
* 2002:
Claude Fischer
Claude Serge Fischer (born January 9, 1948) is an American sociologist and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in urban sociology, research methods, and American socie ...
* 2003: Fischer
* 2004: Fischer
* 2005:
Jeff Goodwin
Jeffrey Roger Goodwin (born January 28, 1958) is a professor of sociology at New York University. He holds a BA, MA (Sociology) and PhD (Sociology) from Harvard University.
His research interests include social movements, revolutions, poli ...
,
James M. Jasper
James Macdonald Jasper (born 1957) is a writer and sociologist who has taught Ph.D. students at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York since 2007. He is best known for his research and theories about cultur ...
* 2006: Goodwin, Jasper
* 2007: Goodwin, Jasper
* 2008: Doug Hartmann, Chris Uggen
* 2009: Hartmann, Uggen
* 2010: Hartmann, Uggen
* 2011: Hartmann, Uggen
* 2012: Jodi O'Brien, Arlene Stein
* 2013: O'Brien, Stein
* 2014: O'Brien, Stein
* 2015:
Philip N. Cohen
Philip N. Cohen is an American sociology, sociologist. He is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and director of SocArXiv, an open archive of the social sciences.
Early life
Cohen grew up in Ithaca, New York an ...
,
Syed Ali
* 2016: Cohen, Ali
* 2017: Cohen, Ali
* 2018:
Fabio Rojas,
Rashawn Ray
* 2019: Rojas, Ray
* 2020: Rojas, Ray
Characteristics
The journal differs from a typical academic journal as it is targeted more toward students and the general public. It is used widely in courses,, and a selection of its premier articles is available in book format through ''The Contexts Reader,'' published by
W. W. Norton & Company, now in its second edition.
The new editors have introduced a blog feature on the magazines website, Contexts.org.
New print issues are published quarterly in February (Winter), May (Spring), August (Summer) and November (Fall).
Awards
''Contexts'' won the Best Journal Award in the Social Sciences (2003) by Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the
Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
.
Notable Articles and Interviews
One of the most notable articles in ''Contexts'' is
Ann Morning
Ann Juanita Morning is an American sociologist and demographer whose research focuses on race. In particular, she has studied racial and ethnic classification on censuses worldwide, as well as beliefs about racial difference in the United States ...
's interview with
Rachel Doležal
Nkechi Amare Diallo (; born Rachel Anne Dolezal, November 12, 1977) () is an American former college instructor and activist known for identifying as a transracial black woman. In addition to claiming black ancestry, she also claimed Native Ame ...
. The interview has aired on many TV news networks, such as
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, over the possibility of a trans-racial identity.
The academic journal ranges in topics from
on disadvantaged students.
.