''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 or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

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 fi ...

. 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 and is published by

SAGE Publications Sage Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent academic publishing company, founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller McCune and now based in the Newbury Park neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California. Sage ...

; 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 and James M. Jasper, who edited the journal from 2005 to 2007, injecting a certain amount of controversial humor such as New Yorker cartoons and a column written by "Harry Green" (actually Jasper) called "The Fool." The current editors are Seth Abrutyn (

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

) and Amin Ghaziani (

Former Editors

* 2002: Claude Fischer * 2003: Fischer * 2004: Fischer * 2005: Jeff Goodwin, James M. Jasper * 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, Syed Ali * 2016: Cohen, Ali * 2017: Cohen, Ali * 2018: Fabio Rojas, Rashawn Ray * 2019: Rojas, Ray * 2020: Rojas, Ray * 2021: Rojas, Ray * 2022: Rojas, Ray * 2023
Seth AbrutynAmin Ghaziani
(UBC) * 2024: Abrutyn, Ghaziani

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 commercial ...

Notable Articles and Interviews

One of the most notable articles in ''Contexts'' is Ann Morning's interview with Rachel Doležal. The interview has aired on many TV news networks, such as

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

, over the possibility of a trans-racial identity. The academic journal ranges in topics from

social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given socie ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, race,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's potential border wall, and ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

''. One of the board members for ''Contexts'', Tressie McMillan Cottom, appeared on

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

with Trevor Noah to discuss the impact of

for-profit higher education in the United States For-profit higher education in the United States refers to the commercialization and privatization of American higher education institutions. For-profit colleges in the United States, For-profit colleges have been the most recognizable for-profi ...

on disadvantaged students.

Abstracting and indexing

''Contexts'' is abstracted and indexed in SocINDEX and

Sociological Abstracts Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (later simply CSA) was a division of Cambridge Information Group and provider of online databases, based in Bethesda, Maryland, before merging with ProQuest of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2007. CSA hosted databases of ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.contexts.org/ Academic journals established in 2002 Sociology journals SAGE Publishing academic journals Quarterly journals English-language journals 2002 establishments in the United States Science education American Sociological Association academic journals