International Sociological Association (ISA)

ISA has been a member since 1952.

The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit association for scientific purposes. Founded in 1949 under the auspices of UNESCO, it has NGO consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The goal of the ISA is to represent sociologists everywhere, regardless of their school of thought, scientific approaches, or ideological opinion, and to advance sociological knowledge throughout the world. Its members come from 126 countries.

The International Sociological Association organizes World Congresses and Forums of Sociology every two years and coordinates sixty-nine networks of Research Committees, Working, and Thematic Groups, each dealing with a well-recognized specialty in sociology. ISA sponsors activities of national sociology associations and has developed special activities for junior scholars.

ISA publishes two journals, Current Sociology and International Sociology, and a book series, Sage Studies in International Sociology. 

On digital resources, the ISA develops online publications and activities, as well as archive resources, such as:

  • Global Dialogue: Digital Magazine published in 18 languages. A venue for debates, reports on conferences, state of different sociologies, interviews, and much more.
  • Sociotube: Videos include plenary sessions from the World Congress, interviews with sociologists around the world, academic writing, and Global Sociology, an experimental course in pursuit of global sociology that introduces students to sociologists worldwide, among others.
  • Archive resources, including:
  • eSymposium, a forum through which ISA members were able to engage in debate, showcasing the diverse work, practices, ideas, and voices.
  • sociopedia.isa an online database with state-of-the-art review articles in social sciences.

Skip to content