Message from the President

These are exciting times for the discipline of Sociology. Social change has speeded up apace, while deep elements of tradition survive. The 'social' is expanding, broadening the penetration of Sociology into contemporary public affairs. The sociological dimensions of climate change, or peace processes, or the credit crunch, for example, illustrate some the huge issues the discipline has to engage with, as the same time at which it continues to document and explain the dynamics of society, institutions and social relations.

The discipline of sociology needs The British Sociological Association. The Association represents and advances the interests of Sociology as a professional discipline and encourages its adoption as a way of thinking more generally. It is a network that links postgraduate members, sociologists working outside academia, journalists, policy-makers and senior members of the profession, amongst others, all with a common interest in applying the sociological imagination. The Association helps promote a wide range of activities and initiatives that both professionalizes and popularizes Sociology.

The Association also needs you. We are a member-based Association and our influence depends on us harnessing your interest and enthusiasm for Sociology and the sociological way of thinking.

So let me welcome you to the Association and its website. I hope you discover more about the Association here and are encouraged to lend us your support to help place Sociology at the centre of public debate.

John Brewer Professor John Brewer