- Features: editors@contexts.org
- Mediations: culture@contexts.org
- Trends: trends@contexts.org
- Book Reviews: books@contexts.org
- Photo Essays: photos@contexts.org
- Pedagogies: classroom@contexts.org
Contexts
Published in Association with American Sociological Association
Other Titles in:
Sociology (General)
Sociology (General)
eISSN:
15376052 | ISSN:
15365042 | Current volume: 24 | Current issue: 3
Frequency: Quarterly
About Contexts
Contexts is a quarterly magazine that makes cutting-edge social research accessible to general readers. It's the public face of sociology. In Contexts, you'll find the best sociological ideas and research; fresh perspectives, clear, concise thinking, and jargon-free reporting; and a thought-provoking look at modern life. It includes feature articles, culture and book reviews, and photo essays, as well as analysis of the latest social science research.
Who Should Read Contexts?
- Anyone interested in sociological trends, social change, and the implications of sociological knowledge for policy and public debate
- Teachers, students, journalists, civil servants and policy makers seeking out important developments in social research
- Social and behavioral scientists interested in the cross-fertilization of ideas and creative new thinking
- All sociologists who wish to remain current and engaged with findings across the field
In each issue of Contexts you’ll find:
- The best sociological ideas and research
- Fresh perspectives, clear, concise thinking and jargon-free reporting
- A though-provoking look at modern life
Direct submissions and inquiries to the following:
Features: editors@contexts.org
Culture Reviews: culture@contexts.org
Trends: trends@contexts.org
Book Reviews: books@contexts.org
Photo Essays: photos@contexts.org
Policy Brief: policybrief@contexts.org
One Thing I Know: editors@contexts.org
The American Sociological Association (ASA), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to advancing sociology as a scientific discipline and profession serving the public good. With 12,000 members, ASA encompasses sociologists who are faculty members at colleges and universities, researchers, practitioners, and students. About 20 percent of the members work in government, business, or non-profit organizations. ASA hosts an annual meeting with more than 6,000 participants and publishes 14 professional journals and magazines.
As the national organization for sociologists, ASA, through its Executive Office, is well positioned to provide a unique set of services to its members and to promote the vitality, visibility, and diversity of the discipline. Working at the national and international levels, ASA aims to articulate policy and implement programs likely to have the broadest possible impact for sociology now and in the future.
 |  |  |  |  |  | |
 |  |  |  |  |  | |
 |  |
Who Should Read Contexts?
- Anyone interested in sociological trends, social change, and the implications of sociological knowledge for policy and public debate
- Teachers, students, journalists, civil servants and policy makers seeking out important developments in social research
- Social and behavioral scientists interested in the cross-fertilization of ideas and creative new thinking
- All sociologists who wish to remain current and engaged with findings across the field
In each issue of Contexts you’ll find:
- The best sociological ideas and research
- Fresh perspectives, clear, concise thinking and jargon-free reporting
- A though-provoking look at modern life
Editors
| Seth Abrutyn | University of British Columbia, Canada |
| Amin Ghaziani | University of British Columbia, Canada |
Editorial Board
| Syed Ali | Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus, USA |
| Orit Avishai | Fordham University, USA |
| Jack Barbalet | Australian Catholic University |
| Bertha Alicia Bermudez Tapia | New Mexico State University, USA |
| Wayne H. Brekhus | University of Missouri-Columbia, USA |
| Tristan Bridges | University of California-Santa Barbara, USA |
| Stephanie L. Canizales | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| Ryan Centner | London School of Economics, UK |
| Amanda Rachel Cheong | University of British Columbia, Canada |
| Christopher T. Conner | University of Missouri-Columbia, USA |
| Randol Contreras | University of California-Riverside, USA |
| Francesco Duina | Bates College, USA |
| Jan Arendt Fuhse | Humboldt Universitat Berlin, Germany |
| Neil Gong | University of California-San Diego, USA |
| Kyle Green | SUNY-Brockport, USA |
| Kenneth Hanson | University of Wyoming, USA |
| Melanie Heath | McMaster University, Canada |
| Yasmiyn Irizarry | University of Texas-Austin, USA |
| Andrew Jolivette | University of California-San Diego, USA |
| James R. Jones | Rutgers University-Newark, USA |
| Pei-Chia Lan | National Taiwan University |
| Joseph T. Lariscy | University of Memphis, USA |
| Damon Mayrl | Colby College, USA |
| Laura K. Nelson | University of British Columbia, Canada |
| Laura Beth Nielsen | Northwestern University, USA |
| Freeden Blume Oeur | Tufts University, USA |
| Raúl Pérez | University of La Verne, USA |
| Amelie Quesnel-Vallee | McGill University, Canada |
| Lindsey Richardson | University of British Columbia, Canada |
| Ashley C. Rondini | Franklin and Marshall College, USA |
| Zeinab F. Shuker | Sam Houston State University, USA |
| Alicia Smith-Tran | Oberlin College & Conservatory, USA |
| Casey Stockstill | Dartmouth College, USA |
| David Kyle Sutherland | Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, USA |
| Marshall A. Taylor | New Mexico State University, USA |
| Craig Upright | Winona State University, USA |
| Deadric T. Williams | University of Tennessee-Knoxville, USA |
| Jonathan R. Wynn | University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA |
Contributing to Contexts
Contexts, the public face of sociology, makes sociological ideas accessible to non-specialists. Our audience includes professional sociologists, university students, educated “lay” readers, policy professionals, activists and anyone else interested in contemporary social analysis. Published quarterly, the magazine includes feature articles as well as shorter pieces. We welcome contributions from social scientists and others who write incisively and accessibly, free of jargon and in an engaging style. Please download our submissions guidelines. Contexts accepts proposals for full-length features as well as for our departments: mediations, photo essays, pedagogies, trends, and book reviews. Please direct your submissions and inquiries to the following email addresses:
Please see our website for sample articles.
Letters to the Editor
We welcome your feedback! Please send all letters and comments to editor@contexts.org.
Photo/Image Submissions Information
We are always on the lookout for images for our front and back covers, and to accompany articles, essays and commentaries. Single images will be considered, as well as pairs, trios or sequences that represent related and contrasting elements. Most photographs and illustrations are printed in black and white, except for the front cover, which is in full color. If you would like to submit an image to Contexts, please contact: jen@contexts.org.
Guidelines for Contexts Photo Essay Submissions
- Please edit your images prior to submission
- Propose a selection of 8 to12 images that are placed into a suggested sequence
- Provide captions for each image (even if you envision a final piece without
captions) - Submit images via a website that can be reviewed online, or as high-resolution
files sent through the mail on CD or DVD - Include a written introduction to your images in either of the following ways:
- Summarize your project’s context, scope and sociological themes.
(Please do not send a related publication in lieu of your proposal). - Draft a short essay (up to 1000 words and written with contexts style
elements in mind) to accompany your visual essay
- Summarize your project’s context, scope and sociological themes.
- Include, if applicable, a separate file or album of additional (alternate) images for
consideration. These should also be captioned for the review process.
Permissions
Contributors are responsible for securing permission from individuals who own (or are identifiable in) the photographs and other images they submit to Contexts.
Recognition and Compensation
Copyright for images is retained by contributors. All photographs selected for publication in the journal will appear with full credit to the individuals who have provided them. Individuals whose work is published in Contexts will receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which their work appears. Unfortunately, Contexts cannot compensate contributors whose texts or images are selected for publication.
Author Guidelines
(Updated August 19, 2011)
Contexts makes sociological ideas accessible to non-specialists. Our audience includes professional sociologists, university students, educated “lay” readers, policy professionals, activists and anyone else interested in contemporary social analysis. We welcome contributions from social scientists and others who write incisively and accessibly, free of jargon and in an engaging style. Published quarterly, the magazine includes feature articles as well as shorter pieces.
Feature Articles (3,000 words maximum)
We are mainly interested in two types of pieces, though we would consider other interesting proposals:
a) Articles that use sociological analysis to deepen or challenge conventional knowledge about a subject. Some examples:
- How have Tea Party activists been represented by the media, and what do these images and news frames leave out, according to sociologists?
- What do members of youth subcultures do when they grow up?
b) Debates, controversies, or trends in the profession, particularly if they are relevant beyond sociology. This might include such topics as:
- Are college students getting dumber?
- Can social scientists be people of faith?
Shorter Pieces
In addition to Feature articles, Contexts includes shorter essays and reports on subjects related to media and culture, education, social trends, visual sociology and books. Descriptions and submission information for these shorter pieces is located under the Department headings below.
Elements of Contexts Style
Academic journals publish articles in which authors “tell,” or report on findings. Magazine writing invites authors to “show”—to describe, set scenes, and allow interviewees to speak for “themselves.” Contexts is a scholarly-journalistic hybrid; we encourage you submit writing that “shows” rather than “tells.” Imagine that a typical reader is your college-educated aunt, or a savvy college junior, and try to make the article compelling and accessible to her or him! Here are some further suggestions, particularly for feature articles:
1. Set the Scene. The first few paragraphs should draw the reader in, providing a sense of the context of the story—by focusing on a particular event or person, who is emblematic of the larger story.
2. Tell a Story. To the best of your ability, populate your prose with living, breathing characters.
3. Make your writing jargon free, active, and flowing. Sentences should be active rather than passive; sign-posting should be implicit rather than explicit. In other words, insure that readers can follow your argument without using such academic conventions of “Now I will argue… “.
4. Attribute your sources. Contexts does not use formal academic citation. Instead, use journalistic forms of attribution rather than citations, footnotes, or endnotes. For example: “As sociologist Cecilia Ridgeway argued in a 2001 article….” Conclude with a list of suggested articles or books for readers who wish to pursue the topic further.
A sample of Context-style writing is available on this website. For additional models of good writing on intellectual/social issues, check out the archives of the (now defunct) magazine Lingua Franca at http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/, as well as selected pieces in magazines such as the New Republic, Miller-McCune, and The Atlantic.
Proposal and Review Process for Unsolicited Articles
Stage One: Send a 2-page proposal that includes a 50-word summary of the main argument, and the first few paragraphs to: editors@contexts.org. The editorial team will review your proposal within 2-3 weeks to determine if we are interested in pursuing it. If so, we will invite you to submit a completed manuscript.
Stage Two: When we receive your full manuscript, we will first review it in-house to determine if it is ready for external review. If it we deem that it is, it will be reviewed by two to three experts in the field.
Stage Three: Based on the reviews and our own assessment of the manuscript, we will determine whether to accept or reject the manuscript, or to invite a revision and resubmission. Revised manuscripts will be sent for another round of external reviews contingent on editorial discretion.
Timeline: We aim to complete the external review process and issue a decision within three months of the original date of submission of a full manuscript. Accepted manuscripts will be edited and published within one year—usually sooner—depending on the number of manuscripts in process.
Departments
Proposals for shorter pieces should be sent to the appropriate editor as listed below.
New and Noteworthy
A grab-bag of news items and research of note--culled from journals, blogs, and other sources. If you have ideas for items, please send them to Jennifer Hemler at jhemler@sociology.rutgers.edu.
Trends
Editor: Thomas J. Linneman (trends@contexts.org). Offers insightful analyses of a wide variety of trends: public opinion, culture and politics, demography, and trends within the field of sociology. Our goal is expose subtle nuances within broader trends, allowing the reader to think about important trends in ways.
Photo Essays
Editor: Katie Hyde (photos@contexts.org). Photo essays offer a nuanced, visual exploration of a sociological theme. Framed by a written essay, as well as detailed captions, the sequence of images elicits and addresses questions about society.
Culture & Society
Editor: Kari Lerum (culture@contexts.org) The features in this department explore dynamic interactions between contemporary and global medias, cultures, politics, institutions, and identities. We especially welcome proposals that emphasize the reflexive impact of "new media" (digitized, interactive) and critical analyses of potentially democratizing medias (e.g.,Youtube, Facebook, Wikipedia), as well as sociological analyses of "traditional media" (e.g., television, film, newspapers, magazines, books).
Teaching
Editor: Gary Perry (classroom@contexts.org). This department focuses on critical issues in higher education, classroom instruction that is oriented to addressing students as citizens in a global environment. Features include: discussions of pedagogy, service learning, and community action research, among other topics.
Books
Editor: Arvind Rajagopal (books@contexts.org). We accept books for review and welcome potential reviewers to suggest books—barring any conflicts of interest. Reviews should be opinionated and critical, though not inflammatory. This section will include book essays, short reviews, and book features.
- Review essays that focus on 2-3 books on a particular theme (ala The New York Review of Books)— 2000 words maximum
- Short reviews of a single book. We especially encourage sociologists to review works of sociology and sociologists to review general interest books—500 words maximum.
- Book lists: “Breakthrough Books,” “Forgotten Classics,” “What They’re Reading,” and other lists. We are more than happy to receive suggestions of other lists you’d like to see in the magazine. For a sample, see:
http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/Special/books.9603.html
Back Page
First-person reflections on the profession, economics, culture, politics, and other subjects. Send ideas to: Jodi O’Brien at jobrien@contexts.org.