Contexts
Encyclopedia
Contexts, subtitled Understanding People in their Social Worlds, is an official publication of the American Sociological Association
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...

. The magazine is designed to be a more accessible source of sociological ideas and research, and it has been deeply inspired by the movement within the discipline of sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 towards public sociology
Public sociology
Public sociology is an approach to the discipline which seeks to transcend the academy and engage wider audiences. Rather than being defined by a particular method, theory, or set of political values, public sociology may be seen as a style of sociology, a way of writing and a form of intellectual...

. Founded in 2002, Contexts is a quarterly journal published for the American Sociological Association by SAGE Publications
SAGE Publications
SAGE is an independent academic publisher of books, journals, and electronic products in the humanities and social sciences and the scientific, technical, and medical fields. SAGE was founded in 1965 by George McCune and Sara Miller McCune. The company is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California,...

; until 2011, it was published by the University of California Press
University of California Press
University of California Press, also 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 books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...

. It is edited by a team in the sociology department at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

.

Berkeley sociology professor Claude Fischer founded the magazine in 2002. Jeff Goodwin
Jeff Goodwin
Jeff Goodwin is a professor of sociology at New York University. He holds a BA, MA and PhD from Harvard University.His research interests include visual sociology, social movements, revolutions, political violence, and terrorism...

 and James M. Jasper
James M. Jasper
James Macdonald Jasper is a writer and sociologist who has taught Ph.D. students at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York since 2007...

 edited it from 2005 to 2007, injecting a certain amount of controversial humor such as New Yorker cartoons and a column written by "Harry Green" (actually James M. Jasper
James M. Jasper
James Macdonald Jasper is a writer and sociologist who has taught Ph.D. students at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York since 2007...

) called "The Fool." It is currently edited by Doug Hartman and Chris Uggen, sociologists at the University of Minnesota.

The magazine differs from a typical academic journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...

, as it is targeted more toward students and the general public. It is used widely in courses, and has been excerpted in The Contexts Reader edited by Jeff Goodwin
Jeff Goodwin
Jeff Goodwin is a professor of sociology at New York University. He holds a BA, MA and PhD from Harvard University.His research interests include visual sociology, social movements, revolutions, political violence, and terrorism...

 and James M. Jasper
James M. Jasper
James Macdonald Jasper is a writer and sociologist who has taught Ph.D. students at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York since 2007...

. The Reader is also used in many undergraduate courses.

The ISSN is 1536-5042.

External links

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