Who should belong to the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP)?

The SSSP is an interdisciplinary community of scholars, practitioners, advocates, and students interested in the application of critical, scientific, and humanistic perspectives to the study of vital social problems. If you are involved in scholarship or action in pursuit of a just society nationally or internationally, you belong in the SSSP. You will meet others engaged in research to find the causes and consequences of social problems, as well as others seeking to apply existing scholarship to the formulation of social policies. Student members and newcomers are especially welcome.

SSSP members enjoy access to all issues from 1953-current of the Society’s flagship journal, Social Problems, one of the top social science journals in the country. Click to learn more.

Our Purpose

The SSSP's stated purpose is to promote and protect sociological research and teaching on significant problems of social life and, particularly, to encourage the work of young sociologists; to stimulate the application of scientific method and theory to the study of vital social problems; to encourage problem-centered social research; to foster cooperative relations among persons and organizations engaged in the application of scientific sociological findings to the formulation of social policies; to foster higher quality of life, social welfare, and positive social relations in society and the global community and to undertake any activity related thereto or necessary or desirable for the accomplishment of the foregoing purposes. Fulfilling this purpose requires both a strict adherence to the highest principles of academic freedom, freedom of speech, and due process, as stated in the AAUP’s 1940 statement on academic freedom and tenure and 2014 statement on academic freedom and electronic communications; and the protection of the right to engage in intellectual debates of all types without fear of censorship or retaliation.

Oxford University Press is proud to offer SSSP members a 25% discount across their wide range of titles! Click to save.

Additional Information

Additional information about the SSSP can be found in Marginality and Dissent in Twentieth-Century American Sociology: The Case of Elizabeth Briant Lee and Alfred McClung Lee by John F. Galliher and James M. Galliher, 1995, SUNY Press. 

Additional information about Elizabeth Briant Lee and Alfred McClung Lee, founders of SSSP, can be found courtesy of Harvard Square Library.