http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savetheasa/ WHEREAS the American Sociological Association was founded, as the American Sociological Society, with a firm footing in political struggle and the liberal drive to improve society; and WHEREAS the ASA and its members have long played a part in fighting totalitarianism, oppression, violence, inequality, nation-building, nationalism, and other means of injustice; and WHEREAS patterns of globalization, capitalism, empire, and associated aggression continually, and in particular recently, threaten to expand these injustices; and WHEREAS the world community beckons for a moral compass based on research, and research based on a moral compass; and WHEREAS sociological theory and research can provide guidance as to which social policy (such as the decision to go to war, establish racial quotas, or outlaw gay marriage) is desirable or undesirable; and WHEREAS the ASA has attempted to advance its authority, and to market the expertise of its members, in the struggles against these injustices, through several momentous and explicitly political resolutions, as well through past president Michael Burowoy's continuing campaign for "public sociology"; and WHEREAS these attempts have been criticized, if not impeded, by those with a steadfast commitment to "facts" as if distinct from values; and WHEREAS a small but growing minority of members of the ASA have threatened to further professionalize the discipline of Sociology as one dedicated to the cosmopolitan virtues of "science", and thereby demean its authority as a body of expertise on what ought to be; and WHEREAS research in the discipline and beyond has repeatedly shown the campaign for science to be a dead-end ideology which produces only more injustice than it seeks to resolve; and WHEREAS, therefore, those of us who would improve the world by a commitment to values can no longer tolerate as a barrier those who wish only to harden our understandings of the social world; and WHEREAS the ASA’s critics have, in their impediment, cited language in various ASA resources and guidelines which tend to fortify their campaign against a comfortably politicized ASA; and WHEREAS that language not only empowers the mongrel scientists, but neglects contemporary understandings within the discipline of important sources of knowledge, including personal experience, culture, and ethics; and WHEREAS the American Sociological Association as an umbrella organization catering to both of these groups is no longer tenable; THEREFORE, we, noted below and elsewhere, do hereby sign, resolved… * That the ASA's Code of Ethics, which currently states that sociologists "must provide service only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, or appropriate professional experience" (Ethical Standards, Section 1) should be amended to read that sociologists "may provide service empowered by their competence, education, training, supervised experience, appropriate professional experience, appropriate personal experiences, anecdotal conveyances, epistemological stances, ethical inclinations, and multicultural awareness"; and * That the ASA's Code of Ethics, which currently requires sociologists to "rely on scientifically and professionally derived knowledge; act with honesty and integrity; and avoid untrue, deceptive, or undocumented statements in undertaking work-related functions or activities" (Ethical Standards, Section 2.a.) should be amended to allow them to "rely on scientifically, professionally, ethically, culturally, or community-derived knowledge; act with integrity; and avoid deceptive statements in undertaking work-related functions or activities"; and * That the standing president of the ASA should publish, in the ASA Footnotes, a retraction to an earlier statement that the organization should take official positions on public policy only when there is "a solid foundation of sociological knowledge as well as widespread agreement on its policy implications" (Executive Officer's Column, ASA Footnotes, April 2003), and clarify that the organization will take a stand whenever there is "a foundation for sociological concern, which may or may not be evidenced by a consensus agreement on policy implications"; and * That the Executive Council, in exercising the ASA's stated commitment to public sociology, begin immediately welcoming, drafting, considering, and submitting to a vote by members, a regular stream of resolutions regarding the various social problems stressed and addressed by the association's members and their research; and * That the Executive Council be empowered to sequester the results of any resolution of members and to release results of resolutions only insofar as doing so will advance the public understanding of Sociology as a source of resolution for society's ills. Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:1:28 CDT en-us 3