Discipline Sociology Publisher SAGE Publications Frequency Quarterly | Language English Publication history 2002-present | |
Edited by Syed Ali, Philip N. Cohen | ||
Contexts: Understanding People in their Social Worlds is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal and an official publication of the American Sociological Association. It is designed to be a more accessible source of sociological ideas and research and has been inspired by the movement towards public sociology.
Contents
History
The journal was established in 2002 by Claude Fischer and is published by SAGE Publications; until 2011, it was published by the University of California Press. 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 Syed Ali and Philip N. Cohen.
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 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).
Abstracting and indexing
Contexts is abstracted and indexed in SocINDEX and Sociological Abstracts.