The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit association for scientific purposes in the field of social sciences. The ISA was founded in 1949 under the auspices of UNESCO. 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 year; coordinates networks of Research Committees, Working and Thematic Groups, each dealing with a well-recognised speciality in sociology. ISA sponsors activities of national associations of sociology and has developed special activities for junior scholars.
ISA publishes two journals Current Sociology and International Sociology, as well as a book series Sage Studies in International Sociology. Moreover, ISA has developed the following on-line publications and activities:
- eSymposium, a forum through which ISA members are 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.
- Global Dialogue: Newsletter published in 12 languages. A venue for debates, reports on conferences, state of different sociologies, interviews, and much more.
- Universities in Crisis: Blog of the ISA that reports on universities in crisis, aiming to build global communities of concerned academics.
- Global Sociology, Live! An experimental course in pursuit of global sociology, introducing students to sociologists from around the world. Videos of weekly conversations are posted there.
- Sociotube: Videos and Films of the everyday life of sociologists.