Sociologists enter the field for a variety of reasons. Some enjoy understanding more fully how societies interact with each other. Others focus on specific communities and how individuals within those societies come together to create their collective culture as it relates to things like family, religion, poverty – or lack thereof – and the legal system. However, one thing all of these individuals have in common is wanting to learn more about sociology. Fortunately, the Internet is full of interesting and useful online resources for sociologists.
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Foundation, which was founded in 1905, provides plenty of information for sociologists, especially those involved with the field in academic settings. People who join receive access to several ASA journals, which is included with their membership fees, while additional printed journals such as American Sociological Review and Social Psychology Quarterly may also be purchased by members. Also available on this website is information about funding opportunities and further links to help sociologists conduct research. Its Code of Ethics is referred to often by sociologists as well. Meanwhile, those looking to secure a position in the field will find its Job Bank especially useful.
Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology
The Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology is best known for the Journal of Applied Social Science, which has been one of sociology’s leading journals ever since it was first published more than 25 years ago. This organization also publishes Sociology at Work, its newsletter, which is available for free. The AACS provides plenty of other useful resources, including several that are designed primarily for teachers, as well. Information about credentialing is available too while those who want to attend the AACS Conference will find all of the details about that event on the organization’s website as well.
CIA’s World Factbook
This resource is invaluable for those looking for almanac-like information about societies throughout the world, and it is mostly unbiased despite being prepared for use by people working for the United States government. Its country comparisons section is especially useful for those wanting to compare the world’s nations in 79 different areas. One aspect of this resource that researchers especially appreciate is that it is in the public domain, meaning that it can be copied without restrictions and without permission from the CIA or anybody else.
Those interested in a physical form of the World Factbook may purchase one here; however, note that all of the information is available online free of charge, and the online information is updated about once a week. Of course, there are also benefits to having access to a physical copy.
Gallup, Inc.
This organization is best known for its research on a variety of sociological issues such as drug use, gender equality, healthcare, migration, race relations and religion. For example, one recent poll determined that those living in Utah had more positive views about the state of their local economy than anywhere else in the country while people in Illinois were the most negative about their state economy. The web page for that article also includes an interesting map that shows which states are most positive and which are least.
Although Gallup is based in the United States, its famous polls have been conducted in countries throughout the world.
International Sociological Association
The International Sociological Association, which is headquartered in Madrid, has served as an international sociological body since its founding in 1949. Its members reside and work in more than 100 countries. The organization’s website offers visitors its own Code of Ethics as well as links to a variety of sociological publications and a brief list of job openings. Its list of Books of the Century has proved especially useful and interesting to many sociologists.
A Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace
Michael Kearl, a professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, has created this interesting website, which is full of a “theater of ideas,” as he describes it. It includes data analyses, essays, links and viewpoints. Current sociology students often find its guide to writing a research paper especially useful. Meanwhile, all sociologists will appreciate the information available on this website, which is about topics as varied as demography, death, gerontology, inequality, marriage and race.
SocioSite
This website, which is hosted by the University of Amsterdam, provides a wealth of information for sociologists, not least of which are useful links upon useful links, which lead visitors to sociological data archives, newsletters, publishers and universities. In fact, the information found here on universities that provide sociology degrees has proven especially useful for those interested in studying this subject in their local countries or who want to head abroad for the next step of their education journey.
The Socjournal
This electronic journal is published quarterly and is edited by Athabasca University’s Dr. Mike Sosteric. Some of its more interesting posts are titled, “Care Bears vs. Transformers: Gender Stereotypes in Advertisements,” “Race: The World’s Deadliest Social Disease” and “The Ideology of Darwin.”
The journal was founded in 2010 and is designed to help advance scholarly publication into the modern online age in which pieces of writing can be published immediately instead of months later as is the case with traditional publications.
U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau provides a tremendous amount of statistical information, which is presented in lists, maps and tables, that sociologists find quite helpful and interesting. Information from the 2010 Census may be found here while many sociologists find the Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstracts especially useful. Unfortunately, the organization stopped that program in 2011, ending it with the 2012 edition, despite an outcry to reverse that decision. A significant amount of valuable information remains available online in editions published from the 1878 edition up to and including 2012, however, and plenty of information from 2013 until today may be found elsewhere on the Census Bureau’s website.
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization, which focuses on public health from an international standpoint, was founded in 1948, and its website provides visitors with a tremendous amount of information related to disease outbreaks and how governments have responded to those outbreaks. Employment information as it relates to disease control and prevention is available here as well. Its social determinants of health page speaks directly to the relationship between sociology and health and how one’s upbringing and social environments impacts how healthy they are as the WHO understands that improving the health of the world’s population is about much more than simply responding to outbreaks.
Fortunately, the Internet age has provided sociologists with quite a variety and depth of up-to-date information to help them understand how the world works and how to help improve it, and these websites are some of the best ones out there. It is also quite easy to head to one or several of these links and then be drawn in by the various useful links that those websites have provided, which is definitely a positive as good things result from people learning more about the world and how we interact with each other.