“When You Come to the Fork in the Road,Take It . . .” Aspirations for Applied and Clinical Sociology

Abstract

This 2016 presidential address presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) looks forward to possible alternative forms of the discipline. Not intended as a purely academic article, this essay provides an overview of five “aspirations” that the presenter has for applied and clinical sociology and AACS:

1. A sociology that uses its perspectives and tools creatively.

2. Applied sociology will more aggressively mine the human stories that make human social life.

3. Applied sociology will ethically engage action and “doing” to produce positive social change.

4. Applied and Clinical Sociology will demonstrate its value, broaden its functional appeal, and create paths to diversity. Known for its integrative nature as a problem-solution-focused being, AACS will be a model twenty-first-century organization.

5. Sociology will clarify its core and demonstrate its direct value. Support solutions to societal and client problems.

The address provides some novel, sometimes humorous, ways to achieve these aspirations.