About the Foundation
The Sociological Initiatives Foundation supports social change by funding research linked to social action. It was established in 1998 from the sale of Sociological Abstracts and Language Learning and Behavior Abstracts — printed indexes of the international literature in sociology and related disciplines.
Sociologist Leo P. Chall founded Sociological Abstracts in 1953. His goal was to make the breadth of social science research more accessible to the public and also share the work of international scholars that were often marginalized in the field. Chall’s perspective was influenced by his close friend Dr. Alfred McClung Lee, a noted leader in progressive sociology and board member of Sociological Abstracts. Dr. Lee was a fierce critic of the narrow confines of the field of sociology. He was known for his insistence that sociologists escape the constraints of traditional academic research and get out into communities and help “rank-and-file” people.
Continuing the interdisciplinary and activist spirit of the organization, sociologists Glenn Jacobs and Irene Taviss-Thomson converted the nonprofit organization to a foundation. Both were former staff writers and board members of Sociological Abstracts and worked to create a new organization that could help bridge the humanist ethos of the social sciences with community action.
Mission
The mission of the Sociological Initiatives Foundation is to foster social change by funding projects that reflect a partnership between academia and community-based organizations that seek to create a more just and equitable society by defending and protecting people against powerful political, economic and other interests that undermine and impede the eradication of social injustices, discrimination.
It addresses laws, policies, institutions, regulations, and normative practices and conditions that limit equality in the United States and its territories. In recognition of historic systemic social and racial inequality, the Foundation focuses on institutional rather than individual problems. Moreover, SIF promotes collaborative research based on democratic processes of problem definition and consensual development of methods and dissemination.
The Foundation dedicates its work to projects that address racism, xenophobia, classism, gender bias, exploitation, violations of human rights and freedoms along with research on the role of language in society, including but not limited to literacy, bilingualism/bidialectism, language loss and maintenance and the impact of language diversity in our legal, education and healthcare systems.
Our overarching mission is to support reforms in all relevant societal structures and to heighten understanding and disseminate knowledge of complex social issues in local and national struggles for equality and justice.