Editorial Board:
Editor:
George H. Conklin,
 Emeritus, North Carolina
 Central University

Robert Wortham,
 Associate Editor,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Board:
Rebecca Adams,
 UNC-Greensboro

Bob Davis,
 North Carolina
 Agricultural and
 Technical State
 University

Catherine Harris,
 Wake Forest
 University

Ella Keller,
 Fayetteville
 State University

Ken Land,
 Duke University

Steve McNamee,
 UNC-Wilmington

Miles Simpson,
 North Carolina
 Central University

William Smith,
 N.C. State University

Editorial Assistants

John W.M. Russell,
 Technical
 Consultant

® 

Volume 10, Number 2

Fall/Winter 2012

Editorial Introduction

by

George H. Conklin
Editor, Sociation Today

    This is the 20th issue of Sociation Today.   Our next issue will represent the 10th anniversary of the founding of the journal. 

   Our current issue has a special focus: student research.  Our special focus editor is Cameron Lippard at Appalachian State University.  Professor Lippard has written the following about this issue:

As the special focus editor, I am proud to present you this volume on student writing. Traditionally, the North Carolina Sociological Association has emphasized and championed student research and writing as a pivotal part of the future of sociology. Much of this emphasis has focused on paper competitions through the Himes Paper Awards but at the 2012 NCSA meetings, members agreed to further this emphasis by setting aside a special issue of Sociation Today to showcase student writing. 

     In this volume, you will find student authors who have a growing command of the skills necessary to be great researchers and writers. Several pieces present new spins on how to analyze traditional topics that include race, gender, sexuality, and gerontology. Many of these pieces were completed by undergraduate students and they came from a variety of institutions across the South. Overall, these students should be commended for their work and being fine examples of what 21st century Sociology has to offer to the world.

     As editor, I am sometimes asked, "What is your acceptance rate?"  The current issue has seven articles, and twice that were submitted.  The referees recommended just the seven.  In past issues the rate of acceptance has varied from issue to issue, but the Spring/Summer 2012 issue also published about half of the submitted manuscripts.  I would also like to thank our hard-working board members for their tireless efforts in reviewing submitted manuscripts.

    Sociation Today was founded partly to give the public access to refereed sources in sociology without having to pay the usual $30+ JSTOR fee.  After all, as authors we do not get paid for our submissions to a journal, and are even ask to pay for a submission.  But there is always the question of more traditional cites and references to the journal in places which report on science.  About 18 months ago board member Miles Simpson searched out references to Sociation Today in traditional journals and found over 200.  We also know that there are over 60 pages of references to Sociation Today.

   Here is a report I just received from Professor Nolan about the article he co-authored on how death records have changed over time.  It seems there has been national publicity by Science Daily and also by Live Science:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/
120814121045.htm

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/48680385/
ns/today-today_tech/t/
are-we-celebrity-obsessed-just-take-
peek-obituaries/#.UH2Ilo5ZHKc

http://blog.myheritage.com/2012/08/
family-history-telling-tales-of-the-dead/

http://www.livescience.com/22360-
obituaries-celebrity-culture.html

Professor Nolan also noted:

I noticed a lot more references, at least 100 via this Google search:

http://www.google.com/
#hl=en&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22dead
+men+do+tell+
tales%22+%22celebrity+obitua.ies%22&oq=%22
dead+
men+
do+tell+tales%22+%22celebrity+obituaries%22

The full name of the article which Bertoni and Nolan wrote is entitled Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Apotheosis of Celebrities in 20th Century America.  The authors found that over time there has been a strong trend towards featured obituaries of men and women with secular, not sacred occupations.   Click here to read the original article. 

    Lastly, indexing of our articles by DOAJ (see the left hand column of this page) has proven invaluable in giving Sociation Today access to the various search engines.  Further, as authors you can find our articles by keywords.

    Let me finish by reminding our readers that Sociation Today should also be considered for inclusion in your course outlines, since the articles are avilable not only for free, but outside the usual restraints of Blackboard.  Students can thus access the journal away from campus when they are not inside the restricted confines of a campus environment.

George H. Conklin,
Editor,
Sociation Today

 Return to Sociation Today, Fall/Winter 2012