Early American society
The pioneer of American sociology established the American Social Society at Johns Hopkins University at the end of 1905 (the English name at that time was American Social Society, and 1959 was changed to the current name of American Social Society, abbreviated as ASA), and the first annual meeting was held the following year.
At the end of 1905, about 50 people attended the inaugural meeting to elect the first president, vice president and secretary: the first president, lester ward, served for two years (1906, 1907), and Ward was 65 when he took office; There are two vice presidents, the first is william sumner and the second is Franklin Giddings, with a term of six years (1906-1911). The former was later elected as the second president (term 1908 and 1909). The secretary is Vidiz, who is also the earliest founder of the association. His term of office is four years (1906- 1909).
The system that the president is re-elected every two years was abolished after the fifth president. Vincent served as the sixth president from 19 16, with a one-year term and no possibility of re-election. The system of double pairs continues to 1957. Starting from 1958, Robert farris is the vice president. He was elected together with the President for a term of one year. The secretary has always been a person with a term of office ranging from one year to nine years, and now the term of office is three years.
Most of the early principals were controlled by the sociology departments of some powerful universities, and the dissatisfaction of other schools probably promoted the perfection of the nomination Committee. For example, during the ten years from 1924 to 1934, eight presidents of the Society were professors or graduates of the Department of Sociology of the University of Chicago: elwood (1924), Parker (1925) and Thomas (1927). Professor Bloom, the secretary of Reuters (1933) and Burgess (1934), and even1931935 also worked in the sociology department of the University of Chicago.
In this regard, scholars in the emerging sociology departments of other American universities became increasingly dissatisfied, so they began to lobby, hold meetings and discuss in private to change this dominance of the University of Chicago. This background can also be said to be the power of the times when the nomination Committee was established. 1933, the association revised its articles of association for the first time, and established that the nomination committee obtained nominees from all members. The principal of 1935 is Stuart Chapin, who graduated from Columbia University and was then the head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. It was also in this year that the opposition to the Chicago School reached its climax.
In this context, sociologists increasingly regard the presidency as a competition for power, rather than an award of honor and recognition of scholars' achievements. At the same time, scholars feel that society is deviating from the traditional academic research character.
The honorary nature of the presidency
The presidency was honorary from the beginning. For example, the first Professor Ward was called the "Aristotle" of the United States at that time, and his achievements and reputation were once comparable. It is also widely expected that he will become the first president at the age of 65. The first five presidents were the pillars and pioneers of the first generation of American sociologists. Many later people are familiar to us, such as robert parker, the founder of the Chicago School, and Mr. Fei Xiaotong, who was still reading Parker's notes in his later years. william ogburn's masterpiece Social Change was translated by Mr. Fei Xiaotong and published by the Commercial Press 1935.
Despite some twists and turns, the honorary nature of the president is still inherited as a social tradition. Most famous sociologists we can name have been elected presidents, such as Talcott Parsons, erving goffman, Robert Morton, lewis coser, James Coleman, Michael Borowy, Randall Collins and so on. Among Chinese sociologists in North America, so far, only Professor Nan Lin was the vice president in 2000.
Of course, not all great sociologists have served as presidents. For example, daniel bell, a famous social thinker who is world-famous for his works such as The Coming of Post-industrial Society, and Mills, the initiator of "Sociological Imagination", have never served as presidents or even vice presidents of social societies.
If sociologists regard the president of the American Social Society as a great honor, an excellent example is the election of Pi Triem Sorokin as the president. Sorokin, a Russian-born sociologist, ranks among the 20th century masters such as Bingler, Russell and Toynbee. He was the founder of the first sociology department in Russia and the sociology department of Harvard University in the United States, and served as the first dean. He has countless legendary experiences in his life, born in a poor peasant family and has no fixed place to live. 19 17 After the February Revolution, he served as the Secretary of the Prime Minister of the Interim Government. He was imprisoned twice, once in the prison of the czar and once in the prison of Lenin's government, and was expelled from Russia in 1922. 1930 worked in the sociology department of the university of Minnesota for six years, then went to Harvard, 1959 retired from Harvard. After retirement, because the research field turned to non-mainstream, it was gradually marginalized. At this time, many sociologists became more and more dissatisfied with the treatment of this master, so they launched a movement to elect him as the dean of sociology. At the age of seventy-six, Sorokin was successfully elected as the president of 1965 (the oldest president and the president who won a record number of votes) and died in 1968. In the article introducing him by the Sociological Society, it was the highest honor for the Society that he was elected as the president.
Criteria and procedures for being elected president
Since the position of very honorary president is so important, what are the criteria and procedures for being elected president? According to the standards of the Institute, all members except affiliated members are eligible to run for election. But there are actually more standard indicators. According to sociologists' research, the main indicators are academic output, such as the quality and quantity of published papers and works, the honors won, the experience of working in various institutions, the social impact of research results, academic reputation and popularity (the degree of activity and familiarity in institutions) and so on.
Introduction to Michelle lamont at Harvard University official website.
The election of the chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and members of the American Sociology Professional Committee shall be based on the constitution and articles of association of the society and other provisions of the Committee. In recent decades, the president and vice president have been elected one year in advance and served as elected president and vice president for one year, and then formally served for one year. For example, on 20 17, Professor Michelle lamont of Harvard University and Professor Catherine Ghersin of new york University, vice presidents, were elected on 20 15. Nominations will be started in March-April, 20 15, and voting will be issued before may, 0/5. Members will vote anonymously online for at least 30 days. Choose in June and July. The annual meeting of sociology in August generally begins to become the president-designate (vice-president-designate) at the end of the annual meeting (unless before the annual meeting in special circumstances), and becomes the full president after the annual meeting in August 20 16. A complete chairman becomes a past chairman, which means a chairman who just left office, but still serves as a member of the Committee for one year.
There are two ways to nominate candidates for president and vice president: one is that the nomination committee of the institute puts forward a list and gives it to the secretary, who contacts the nominees and asks them if they are willing to run for president or vice president. The Nomination Committee has eleven members, with the vice-chairman as the chairman, and the other ten members are also elected by universal suffrage. Nominations for members of the Nomination Committee are made by 12 ordinary members led by the Vice President-designate.
The other is petitioning, starting at 1973. For example, Sorokin mentioned above was initiated by other sociologists (of course, he can also be himself), found at least 100 members to sign for support (other members should have at least 50 signature supporters), submitted to the Committee, and then the Committee voted to decide the last two candidates (whether they are president, vice president, secretary or other Committee members). The specific method of deciding these two candidates remains to be studied.
Lamont, the current president, wrote to me that the Nomination Committee will comprehensively consider the above academic achievements and participation in the activities of the Institute, then nominate candidates, and then openly and anonymously vote online. If two people have the same number of votes, they will draw lots to decide who will be elected under fair conditions. The Nomination Committee has eleven members, with the vice-chairman as the chairman, and the other ten members are also elected by universal suffrage. Candidates for nominating members of the Committee are proposed by 12 ordinary members led by the vice-chairman-designate Online electronic voting began in 2004, and five years later, it was decided to officially run electronic voting in 2009. At the same time, if someone is willing to vote by mail, they can also get printed votes.
The president and vice-president, whether appointed, current or former, are all on the committee of the Institute. In other words, each chairman and vice-chairman has one year to prepare to succeed the full chairman, and then one year to cooperate with the current and elected chairmen and vice-chairmen in the Committee. In this way, every two consecutive terms have an overlapping time of two years, which is conducive to mentoring and stable succession. For example, the committee of the 20th 1 6-1 7 session consists of 20 members, including 6 chairmen and vice-chairmen of the 20th16, 20th17 and 20th18 sessions,1secretary and/kloc. These twelve members are also elected, and four members are replaced every year. So everyone's term of office is three years, and four people are replaced every year. In this way, there are at least 12 experienced members, accounting for more than half of the Committee, and seven or eight novices, accounting for less than half. This provides sufficient conditions and time for the continuity and stability of the transition.
According to the statistics of the last ten presidents, the average age of elected presidents is about 63 years old (ranging from 56 to 70 years old), which is about 4 years older than the previous ten presidents. A successful president cannot be a young man. The number of female presidents is absolutely dominant, with seven women in the last ten, which is the continuation of feminist achievements and the rise of female sociologists since the 1970s. The earliest headmistress was Professor Dorothy Thomas from 65438 to 0952. At the time of the presidential election, their universities were all famous schools, which was consistent with the situation of the top ten presidents. For example, the current president is from Harvard University, the vice president is from new york University, and the president-elect and vice president are from Duke University and the University of Minnesota respectively.
One of the new presidential candidates announced by official website of the American Social Society;
Marie Romeo