2020 Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology Membership Survey

The Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) was formed in 2005 by the merger of the Society for Applied Sociology and the Sociological Practice Association giving name recognition to both applied and clinical sociology, and a professional home for all sociological practitioners. In an effort to provide greater benefit and value to members, and to better meet the needs of its members, the AACS conducted a membership survey. On October 9, 2020, a membership survey was sent to AACS members to gather data. While the current survey results could have benefited from a greater response rate, the data gathered provides some degree of insight to members’ characteristics and attitudes toward the AACS. It is recommended that the AACS consider conducting future membership studies periodically to determine how to better meet member needs, and to estimate the value of AACS to its members.

Problems Of Improving The Effectiveness Of Applied Sociological Research

The article analyzes the problems of improving the effectiveness of applied sociological research. The scientific method that helps to ensure objectivity and consistency in the study of a social problem is considered. The directions, forms and prospects for the development and improvement of the effectiveness of applied sociology from a practical point of view are given.Intelligence research is the simplest type of applied sociological analysis. It solves problems that are very limited in their content, covers, as a rule, small study populations, and is based on a simplified program and concise methodological tools, which in applied sociology is understood as a package of documents specially developed for each study designed to collect primary sociological information, such as: an interview form, a mass or expert questionnaire, a card for recording the results of observation, studying documents; further: sampling projects, mathematical analysis of primary information, etc.A methodology for evaluating the social effectiveness of applied sociological research applied to any written results of scientific activity is proposed.

From the Guest Editors: Canadian Perspectives on and Applications of Applied Sociology

Public confidence and trust in higher education has declined (Johnson and Peifer 2017) and the future of the higher education sector has been questioned (AGB 2020). More specifically, the discipline of sociology is considered to be in “crisis” and applied sociological approaches are offered as a solution (Graizbord 2019; Weinstein 1997). The purpose of this introduction article as well as the broader special issue is to explore the nature and state of applied sociology in Canada. With a collection of seven articles authored by Canadian sociologists on topics including application research, reflections on process, and teaching practice, this special issue provides a platform to discuss and showcase the distinct nature and contributions of applied sociology in Canada as well as highlight the work of Canadian applied sociologists.

Why Berlin? Why Klezmer?

This book begins with an invocation of the sounds and significations that make up the complex of meanings of klezmer music in Berlin, as seen through a new jam session that began in the city in 2013. It underlines the importance of locating the music both historically and in its contemporary urban context—giving a brief but important sense of the past and present geographies of klezmer music, and also signaling exactly where and how the debate has significantly moved on from the anxieties of “virtual Judaism” and cultural appropriation. The chapter lays out the author’s methodology, as well as signposting certain theoretical frameworks that structure the narrative: the urban spatial critique of Lefebvre and de Certeau; British cultural studies work by Stuart Hall and others; the applied sociology of Adam Krims and Mark Granovetter; and the ethnomusicological framing of Mark Slobin and Martin Stokes. The chapter finishes with an appealing ethnographic snapshot of an evening of community music making, “the Night of the Singing Balconies”—an event that sums up several of the themes structuring this book. This collective concert is analyzed as a lively embodiment of contemporary Berlin performative culture: grassroots inclusivity; a firm belief in the power of enthusiasm over the necessity of talent; and a structural and ideological integration into the fabric of the city itself. The engaging observational style with which the Singing Balconies are described not only brings the night to life but also makes clear the book’s overall approach of ethnographic detail underpinned by solid theoretical framing.

Reflections on Embeddedness in an Applied Sociology Project in Ontario

The growth of precarious employment across Canada prompted sociologists and community researchers to understand the causes and consequences of insecure work. However, structural context often leads research organizations’ goals to conflict with those of its members. According to organizational theory, external pressures influence organizational goals and their approaches to problem solving. Thus, the purpose of this article is to illuminate some of the concrete ways that such pressures, known as embeddedness, help to shape research output. We draw on written reflective analyses of our experiences with embeddedness while working in the research organization Poverty and Employment Precarity in Niagara (PEPiN) to highlight the external factors which constrained our data analysis and our final report’s legislative and workplace policy recommendations for relieving the economic and family stresses associated with precarious work. We argue that embeddedness under neoliberal conditions limits the extent of structural critique that research organizations make of working conditions.

COMMON AND DIFFERENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN CLASSICAL UNIVERSITIES

The commonalities and differences between Ukraine and the United States have been studied. They compared their socio-cultural and economic "field" and proved that only in the United States were relatively favorable conditions for the emergence and strengthening of sociology as a science and as a university discipline, where there were mostly university professors and scientific schools organized by them. America has successfully used the human resources of Poland and other European countries for the development of applied sociology, and the reasons for the rise of the University of Chicago as the first "sociological capital" have been explained.

Factors of Trademark Confusion: Sociological Analysis

The aim of the present study is to provide a detailed list of factors influencing the probability of confus-ing similarity of trademarks. The identification of a set of such factors is a practically significant task of applied sociology of management, as it allows to make a comprehensive assessment of the views of the parties in disputes about the similarity of means of individualization based on the data of sociologi-cal expertise. Apart from that, the development of understanding of the phenomenon of confusing similarity is a topical theoretical problem in consum-er behavior research. The author supports the fac-tors analysis with a hypothetical description of the mechanism by means of which each factor contrib-utes to the resulting probability of confusing simi-larity of trademarks in consumer’s mind. The system of factors proposed by the author is a useful tool for selecting a coordinate system where a sociologist can model consumer behavior.