A history of the mid-south sociological association

Abstract

Prior to his death in 2018, Marc Matre, Archivist and the longest serving Secretary-Treasurer of the Mid-South Sociological Association (MSSA), submitted a paper to the journal on the history of the MSSA. Reviewers wanted revisions that Marc was unable to complete because of his infirmity, and his last professional wish was that the journal and members of the association finish the work he had started. The following is that revision. It is the combined work of many who contributed to the project as noted in the acknowledgments. Biographical information about Marc follows the list of the principal founders of the association.

Notes

1 Unless otherwise noted, material for this history can be accessed in the MSSA Archives (see Appendix 1).

2 In talking with several members two misconceptions about the early history of the MSSA are common. First, Julian Roebuck was the first President but not the founder of the association or the person who originated the idea of a new regional sociology association, and Russell Meier, a new Associate Professor at the time, was not the department Chair at NLU. That position was indeed held by G. Dale Welch, who had a PhD in sociology at Louisiana State University in 1970. Welch was supportive of Meier’s plans and as early as 1977 was interested in the history of the MSSA. He became the first Archivist (1978–2002). The association also briefly had a position of Historian beginning in 1978, held by Richard Rettig of Oklahoma State University.

3 Roebuck (1978) reports that Russell Meier met with Larry Williams and James Harrison in 1974 and 1975 to pursue Meier’s plan for establishing a new regional sociology association. According to Ron Aday of Middle Tennessee State University, Meier may well have come up with the idea of a new sociological association when he was at Arkansas State University prior to his association with NLU.

4 Jerry Waxman acted as “Temporary Secretary” at the first organizational meeting on November 6, 1975, and was responsible for the minutes of that meeting, which are currently available in the MSSA Archives.

5 Given its title, perhaps the most interesting paper from the potpourri session was one by E. Peelle and B. Purdy from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, “A Case Study of Community Effects at Two Operating Nuclear Power Plants.” While the most serious nuclear power plant accident would not occur for a few more years in 1979 at Three Mile Island, discussion about safety was a concern from the beginning (Osif and Baratta 2006).

6 Another paper based on the same research was presented by Chiappetta, McSeveney, and Floyd (1977) at the Midwest Sociological Society in April 1976.

7 The SSS was formed at a meeting in April 1935. E.T. Krueger of Vanderbilt University was the first President. The first annual conference was in 1936 in Atlanta, Georgia, with a membership of 154. Members were from 13 states, with the highest state total being North Carolina followed closely by Georgia. By 1960, the majority of members were from North Carolina. The first African American President of the SSS was Charles S. Johnson in 1946. In the 10 years prior to the MSSA (1965–74), the following were the institutional affiliations of presidents of the SSS: University of Miami, North Carolina College, University of Kentucky, Vanderbilt University, Duke University, Emory University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Florida State University, and University of Georgia, none of which were from small colleges or universities. For more on the history of the SSS, see Brooks and Bertrand (1962). In the half decade beginning in 1965, 228 articles were published in Social Forces (Vol. 43.3–48.2), of which 19 (8.3%) were from authors in the association’s mid-South region, and 4 (1.8%) were from authors who were not at large universities, namely, Kentucky Southern College, Tuskegee Institute, University of Alabama-Huntsville, and West Georgia College. Although a woman (Katharine Jocher, University of North Carolina) had been the president of the SSS as far back as 1943, after that no female had taken the post until 1983. MSSA’s first woman President was Martha McGee (1984–85). Five of the first eight Vice-Presidents of the MSSA were women (1975–83): Sarah Brabant, Marsha McGee, Shirlee A. Owens, Mary E. Benjamin, and Joy B. Reeves (Appendix 8). McGee was the first editor of Sociological Forum and with James K. Skipper Jr. was the first editor of Sociological Spectrum. None of the 19 articles in Social Forces (1965–69) that were from states designated by the MSSA as part of its region had a female author. Dennis McSeveney (President, 1997–98) and Dennis Peck (President, 1985–86), among others, strongly support the notion of the important influence of Sarah Brabant, Marsha McGee, and Shirlee Owens in the early development of the MSSA (personal communication). Finally, Joy Reeves (President, 1991–92) of Stephen F. Austin University in Texas, reported minutes as Chair of the Women’s Caucus in 1980 indicating that 36% and 27% of presenters of the 1979 and 1980 conferences, respectively, were female. That compared with 28% of presenters at the American Sociological Association meetings in 1979. Reeves also estimated the membership of the MSSA to be 25% female in 1980.

8 The SSSA, the oldest regional social science association founded in 1919, was established by members of the Department of Government at the University of Texas (Ewing 1950). The stated reason for founding the group was the difficulty of attending the American Political Science Association meetings. The first presidents of the SSSA were government officials, including mayors, state senators, and judges.

9 In a 1984 letter to Dale Welch, Chair of Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Sociology at NLU, Alvin L. Bertrand of Louisiana State University, third President of the MSSA, wrote, “My first reaction on receiving the mimeographed notice of the formation of the Society was somewhat mixed. I was not sure another society was needed or would thrive—we had not had much luck with a state organization. However, my strong feeling was that any young sociologist who had an idea or “dream” should be helped out in any way possible—so I tried to encourage Russ and the others, as much for their own professional growth as for the development of a new society.”

10 See Salomone’s (1982) interesting survey of sociology from 1961 to 1981 from his presidential address at the MSSA’s 1981 meetings in Shreveport, Louisiana.

11 C. Eddie Palmer, President of the MSSA in 1989 to 1990, was the main advocate for establishing the Operations and Procedures Manual.

12 This ordering of names is taken from the first issue (Fall 1978, vol. 1) and appears to be based on seniority and academic reputation at the time.

13 An Ad Hoc Committee on Journal Merger, consisting of Clifton Bryant, Marsha McGee, Julian Roebuck, and James Skipper, was formed and tentatively named the new journal Sociological Context. The financial issues were largely alleviated by a loan of $5,000 to the MSSA by Jerry Salomone.

14 The third and last female author in Sociological Forum was Diane E. Taub in the Fall 1980 issue.

15 The first volume of Sociological Spectrum had five female authors of 47 total, or 10.6%.

16 Julian Roebuck was upset about the trends in publication in Sociological Spectrum. In 1986 he wrote the following to Dale Welch, Chair of Criminal Justice, Social Work and Sociology at NLU: “Our plans were to publish a journal with an authorship primarily from the membership. I now see articles authored by people all over the United States. Moreover, some of them from within and without the South are members of elitist universities. This makes me sick!” As if in counterpoint, Marsha McGee independently wrote Welch—who was then putting together a history of the association—the following more inclusive sentiment one week later: “Although most of the MSSA’s membership is drawn from the South, participation in the organization has increased to include people from all over the country and other nations during the years since we began. Our journal, Sociological Spectrum, is widely respected and continues to thrive.”

17 Of course, at the beginning rejection rates were low, and well into the 2000s rejection rates were 40% to 50%, sometimes lower. However, rejection rates tended to go up in the 2000s.

18 Dennis McSeveney reports on a relationship between faculty and students that is characteristic of the welcoming nature of the association: “When Martin Levin left Emory to become head of the Department of Sociology at Mississippi State University, he immediately began encouraging MSUs faculty and doctoral students to participate in the MSSA. MSU began hosting an annual, large, open reception at MSSA meetings and did so until Levin left MSU to chair the department at Memphis” (personal communication).

19 Pearson (1982) is the author of a paper that is of value today. Based on survey research from his PhD dissertation at Southern Illinois University, Pearson wrote on 557 African Americans who had obtained doctorates in the natural sciences: “The typical black U.S. scientist is a male who grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood in a lower middle-class family . . . graduated in the top quartile of a predominantly black school . . . enrolled in a predominantly black college . . . [pursued a PhD from] a university located in the Midwest . . . and returned to the South to pursue a career in a predominantly black college.” Pearson remains an active member of the association with 23 conference presentations beginning in 1997 and has published six books on African Americans and science. His most recent are Changing the Face of Engineering: The African American Experience, edited with John Brooks Slaughter and Yu Tao (2015), and Advancing Women in Science: An International Perspective, edited with Lisa M. Frehill and Connie L. Neely (2015).

20 Dennis McSeveney suggested, “Key events at annual meetings that have reinforced the racial and gender diversity of MSSA are the luncheons for the Women’s Caucus and the Minority (now renamed) Caucus. These have fostered community with MSSA and nurtured future leaders” (personal communication).

21 The first conference location beyond Monroe, Louisiana, was in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1978. Overall, the most common conference location was Jackson and Mobile, Alabama, with six conferences each, followed by Lafayette, Louisiana, with five and Little Rock, Arkansas, and Monroe, Louisiana, with four. Three of the four Monroe-based conferences were held in the first three years of the organization. By decade and state, three conferences in 1980 to 1989 were in Louisiana: Baton Rouge (1989), Monroe (1984), and Shreveport (1981). From 1990 to 1999, Alabama had the most conferences: Huntsville (1997), Mobile (1995), and Montgomery (1993). From 2000 to 2009, Alabama and Louisiana had three conferences each, and from 2010 to 2019, Alabama again had the most conferences—three. Note that discussion of all conference programs in this article was not possible given space consideration.

22 Burgess was President of the Southern Sociological Society in 1983.

23 It should be said that today, most academic journal decisions are based on reviewers’ assessments and not those of the editors, and because generally papers in the social science are blinded, the chance of discrimination based on gender or minority status is reduced. Of course, this does not mean it does not happen. Experienced scholars can become familiar enough with the topics, themes, and writing styles of their colleagues and able to identify them even in a blinded process.

24 Previously called the MSSA Book Award established in 1990, Stanford Lyman received four awards and two honorable mentions.

25 Including presentation abstracts in conference programs is an effective way to create a record of the scholarly activities of conferees.

26 The lack of a comma before the “Inc.” is a legal formalism. The inclusion of a designation of corporate entity status such as “Company,” “Incorporated,” or “Inc.” is required under Tennessee corporate law. For this reason, the Inc. designation was added to the MSSA name when it was incorporated in 2017.

27 See also Timberlake, Cannon, and Higgenbotham (1988).

28 Another paper by the same authors—Kposowa, Ezzat, and Breault (2020)—offered a new theoretical approach to Durkheim’s theory of suicide and was based on a 2018 MSSA conference paper and published in Spectrum.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marc Matre

Marc Matre, a Professor at the University of South Alabama, with a PhD in 1969 from Ohio State University. He authored many journal articles including in Sociological Spectrum, and was the longest serving Secretary-Treasurer, 1986–1994 & 1996–1999, and MSSA Archivist from 2015 until his death in 2018.

Kevin Breault

Kevin Breault, a Professor at Middle Tennessee State University, with a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1986. He has publications in American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, and medical journals among others, and is Editor-in-Chief of Spectrum and Archivist of the MSSA. His main interest is social epidemiology.