ASA Committee on Revising the Code of Ethics

Dear section members,

A New Committee to Consider Revisions to the ASA Code of Ethics

  At the annual meeting in San Francisco, the Executive Officer, Sally Hillsman, met with the Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) and suggested that it was time to revisit the Code of Ethics.  It has been more than fifteen years since any revisions have been made to the Code, and a great deal of change has taken place.  At the very least, social, regulatory, and technological advances have had striking impacts on the field.  Moreover, it is anticipated that the federal Department of Health and Human Services will soon announce changes to The Common Rule, which governs the vast majority of human subjects research efforts.

  To that end, an ASA committee has been formed to consider possible revisions.  All members are either current or former members of COPE.  It is chaired by Tom Van Valey, and the other members are Earl Babbie, Guillermina Jasso, John Kennedy, and Roberta Lessor.

  The committee is completely open to considering any topic or issue that might affect the Code.  In addition, we welcome suggestions of other members who could serve as resources with regard to specific issues.  To this end, the ASA has set up an email account for members and others to communicate with the committee.  It is COPE@asanet.org.  If your organization has a concern, a suggestion of a topic or a resource person, or even if someone wants to volunteer to help, simply send a message to that address.  You will be contacted by a committee member.

The ASA’s Code of Ethics

  Starting in 1971, the ASA has had a working Code of Ethics approved by its membership.  Since then, the ASA Code has been revised several times, most recently in 1997. Both the Code and the procedures for COPE - the ASA Committee on Professional Ethics (which is responsible for enforcing the Code) - can be found on the ASA website at www.asanet.org/about/ethics.cfm

-- 

Thomas L. Van Valey

Professor Emeritus

Department of Sociology

Western Michigan University

Care of

-- 

Robert Dingwall,PhD,FAcSS, HonMFPH

Dingwall Enterprises, 109 Bramcote Lane, Wollaton, Nottingham NG8 2NJ

Phone +44(0)115 928 1973 or (0)781 135 8678

Twitter @rwjdingwall

Call for Proposals Can Changing the Conversation Change the World?

Call for Proposals

Can Changing the Conversation Change the World?

Ethno/CA Section

ASA Annual Meeting 2016

Seattle

Proposals are invited for thematic sessions for ASA’s 2016 Annual Meeting: "Rethinking Social Movements: Can Changing the Conversation Change the World?"  This is a meeting-wide theme that should be of special interest to Ethno/CA and LSI scholars.

Background

The Ethno/CA section made a successful bid for a 2015 Thematic Session linking Garfinkel's work on Agnes to the ASA meeting theme of Sexualities and the Social World.  We think that the Ethno/CA section can make another strong bid for the 2016 theme, especially as it deals with the debates around language, power, and society that have been central points of controversy among our scholars for decades (think, e.g., the Schegloff/Billig debate in Discourse and Society 1997-99).

Specifics

The Annual Meeting will be held August 20-23, 2016, in Seattle, WA. Individuals are invited to submit proposals for complete invited sessions/panels for consideration. Thematic Session proposals are due by November 13, 2014.

The ideal proposal should enlist some fairly prominent people as speakers, perhaps within and without our immediate area of scholarship, and offer at least one slot to someone early in their career.  The ideal proposal might also deal in some way with diversity issues.

For the complete theme statement and instructions on submitting a session proposal, please visit the 2016 Annual Meeting member suggestions homepage.

http://www.asanet.org/meetings/member_suggestions.cfm

For further inquiries, please contact Ethno/CA  co-chairs Mardi Kidwell and Robert Dingwall.

Sincerely,

Mardi Kidwell and Robert Dingwall

Send inquiries to mkidwell@unh.edu