Aims and scope

Founded in 1962, Society enjoys a wide reputation as a journal that publishes the latest scholarship on the central questions facing contemporary society. It produces six issues a year offering new ideas and quality research in the social sciences and humanities in an intellectually accessible and robust style.

Society sees itself as occupying the vital center in intellectual and political debate. Put negatively, this means the journal is opposed to all forms of dogmatism, absolutism, ideological uniformity, and facile relativism. More positively, it seeks to champion diversity of opinion and a recognition of the complexity of the world's issues.

Society includes full-length research articles, commentaries, discussion pieces, and book reviews which critically examine work conducted in the social sciences as well as the humanities, especially politics, philosophy and the history of ideas. The journal is of interest to scholars and researchers who work in these broadly-based fields of enquiry and those who conduct research in neighboring intellectual domains. Society is also of interest to non-specialists who are keen to understand the latest developments in such subjects as sociology, history, political science, social anthropology, philosophy, economics, and psychology.

The journal’s interdisciplinary approach is reflected in the variety of thought leaders who have contributed to Society since its inception. Over the decades, contributors have included Simone de Beauvoir, Robert K Merton, James Q. Wilson, Margaret Mead, Abraham Maslow, Orlando Patterson, Katherine S. Newman, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Claude Levi-Strauss, Hans Morgenthau, and David Riesman. Since 2020, contributors have included Sir Partha Dasgupta, Frank Furedi, Jeffrey C. Alexander, Marylin Strathern, Philip Pettit, Wolfgang Streeck, and Simon Blackburn.

The success of the journal rests on attracting authors who combine originality of thought and lucidity of expression. Prospective contributors are encouraged to read articles published in Society before submitting. Submissions should be accessible to readers from diverse countries and disciplines. Please note that the editors discourage the use of standardized headings: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings, Discussion, Conclusion. Creative headings should be used instead.