Who We Are
We are 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.
What Our Members Say
"I joined SSSP as a graduate student in the mid-1990s. A fellow student suggested that it was a more welcoming, less intimidating and elitist organization than ASA, and I immediately found that to be the case. But I quickly realized additional aspects of SSSP that appealed to me, primarily its more progressive and radical approach to sociology and its commitment to activism and praxis. I continue to value these characteristics of SSSP and believe that especially in this moment, we need to promote, communicate, and develop these values and practices as an organization, to expand our community to more fully embrace and engage activists and practitioners. While I value our academic and scholarly opportunities and contributions, I believe that in order to stand apart, SSSP can - and should - be so much more than a traditional professional organization. We need to seek pathways toward social justice and social change that take us beyond research and beyond academia. I know that many SSSP members whom I greatly admire and respect are engaged in this very work and I hope that we can continue to recruit and support members with the vision, creativity, passion, and commitment to take us toward this goal."
Sarah Jane Brubaker, Virginia Commonwealth University
SSSP President, 2025-2026
SSSP: 2019 Membership Survey Results Announced
Five years ago, the Board of Directors voted to conduct a membership survey every five years to assess how well the SSSP was meeting the needs of its members. Click here to view the cover letter written by Dr. Héctor L. Delgado, Executive Officer. Click here to view the results of the most recent survey. Please feel free to contact Dr. Delgado directly should you have any questions or concerns, hector.delgado49@gmail.com. If your concerns require anonymity or confidentiality, he is happy to provide both.
In Pursuit of Social Justice
SSSP 2021 Approved Resolutions
Resolutions constitute an important opportunity for our scholar-activist membership to analyze and offer their opinions on contemporary social problems that we believe the Society should address as a social justice organization. All SSSP members are invited to review the approved 2021 resolutions and participate in the resolutions process.
Click here to view the 2021 Approved Resolutions.
SSSP End Racism Statement
The Society for the Study of Social Problems wishes to join millions of Americans, especially communities of color, in condemning the murder of George Floyd by four police officers, sworn to serve and protect the citizens of this country. The impunity with which these officers took Mr. Floyd’s life serves as a reminder that we are all complicit if we do not do everything in our power to end the systematic oppression of people of color in the United States. What we witnessed was, for all intents and purposes, a lynching on national television. This incident, along with the recent murders of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Aubrey in separate incidents, adds evidence to the long and intertwined histories of state-sanctioned murder of black Americans, systemic racism against all people of color, and white supremacy. These systemic injustices are particularly tragic as they occur at a time when communities of color are disproportionately experiencing death and disease from the COVID-19 pandemic. We would be remiss as well not to express concern about the threat of using the armed forces of the United States against citizens of the United States on their own soil and by their own military. The overwhelming majority of protesters, from every ethnic and racial group, have engaged in peaceful protest and acts of civil disobedience, even in the face of excessive force by the police. Protesters are not the enemy. The enemy is racism, and we all have a responsibility to root it out wherever it is embedded.
