Editors, Authors and Social Closure in Four Leading Sociology Journals, 1960-2010

• In Event: 592 - Section on History of Sociology Paper Session. Using Sociological Archives

Abstract

In this paper we continue the examination of the stratification system impinging upon scholarly
publication, but we move beyond viewing gatekeeping as a product of professional idiosyncrasies or
preferences for certain methodologies, to give greater attention to the larger institutional forces
shaping relations among universities, academic departments, academic journals, and individual scholars.
Specifically, we focus on how broader long-term historical patterns in the discipline of sociology may
have fostered greater competition among universities and departments, and how this competition may
have influenced institutional level choices and decisions to view academic journals as an important part
of the inter-departmental competition for enhanced national standing. Thus, we will examine how the
demographic composition of faculty and graduate students has changed over time, and how these
changes may have contributed to greater inter-institutional competition and practices that we refer to
as “social closure,” and thereby contribute to specific actions regarding the selection of editors and
authors at the level of academic journals. However, we will also contrast the findings flowing from the
perspective of social closure with those that acknowledge that journals are small organizations and they
a have greater range of actions that may be reflected in their organizational missions as academic
journals and which may therefore reveal differences among journals.

Authors

• Robert Perrucci, Purdue University

• Carolyn C. Perrucci, Purdue University