The British Sociological Association—The First Fifteen Years

Abstract

Founded in 1951, largely on the initiative of a number of University professors from a variety of social sciences, the B.S.A. was conceived at the outset as a meeting place of the disciplines. Although a minority view in favour of sociology as a specialism and a profession was expressed at the very first Annual General Meeting, the original conception has prevailed for the greater part of the association's history hitherto. Only with the great expansion of University teaching in sociology in the 1960s and the general recognition of the subject generally has the alternative view obtained greater support. The Teacher's section is now a most effective pressure group within the association for the professional point of view, even though heterogeneity of outlook still characterizes the association.