International Sociological Association - Activities

Activities

ISA's purpose is to "represent sociologists everywhere, regardless of their school of thought, scientific approaches or ideological opinion" and its objective is to "advance sociological knowledge throughout the world". To secure those goals, ISA's declares the support for the following activities in its statutes:

• "to secure and develop institutional and personal contacts between sociologists and other social scientists throughout the world;"
• "to encourage the international dissemination and exchange of information on developments in sociological knowledge;"
• "to facilitate and promote international research and training;"
• "to convene meetings and regularly scheduled world congresses;"
• "to promote publications which support its other activities."

ISA's formation, under UNESCO aegis, spurred the growth in the creation of various national sociological associations.

In 1952 ISA begun publishing an academic journal, Current Sociology. 1971 marked the introduction of the official newsletter, the ISA Bulletin. In 1986 ISA launched International Sociology, a peer-reviewed journal published six times annually and provided to all members. International Sociology also has a child publication, a bi-annual International Sociology Review of Books. Other ISA's publications include the book series Sage Studies in International Sociology Books and ISA Handbooks. It also has published its own code of ethics.

In recent years, ISA has also launched a number of online initiatives, such as an electronic newsletter (Global Dialogue), a blog a Facebook account and a series of videos (Public Sociology, Live, Journeys Through Sociology and Sociotube).

ISA also organizes a number of conferences In addition to the major World Congresses which take place every four years, ISA organizes a number of smaller, regional and thematic conferences.