5 Professional Associations

Abstract

The professional associations, together with university departments, provide social infrastructure for such a phenomenon as an American sociology of religion and give it a stability that was never to be found from foundations, denominational research offices, or governmental research units. In the 1930s, Catholic sociologists perceived themselves to be out of place in American Sociological Society (ASS). ASS was characterized by a natural science model and by unacknowledged value positions. The American Catholic Sociological Society (ACSS) conventions included sessions on teaching sociology, both at the higher and secondary levels. The renaming of ACSS as the for the Sociology of Religion was reflected in Ralph Lane's presidential address of 1971. The first issue of the Review of Religious Research has the appearance of an off-set reproduction of a justified typescript. Correspondence from 1949 shows that discussions were occurring about founding an organization for the social scientific study of religion.Keywords: American Catholic Sociological Society; Association for the Sociology of Religion; Catholic sociologists; professional associations