Current Issue
Social Currents, the official journal of the Southern Sociological Society, is a broad-ranging social science journal that focuses on cutting-edge research from all methodological and theoretical orientations with implications for national and international sociological communities. The uniqueness of Social Currents lies in its format. The front end of every issue is devoted to short, theoretical, agenda-setting contributions and brief, empirical and policy-related pieces. The back end of every issue includes standard journal articles that cover topics within specific subfields of sociology, as well as across the social sciences more broadly.
The journal welcomes and will review:
Standard Journal Articles. These ideally range from 8,000-10,000 words, and entail a more traditional format, including an abstract, introduction, literature review (and related background), methods (data collection and analysis process), findings, and conclusions.
We also welcome short pieces, which differ from standard articles in that they should range from 1,500-4,000 words and focus on one of the following areas: Empirical insights, policy implications, and theoretical agenda setting. When submitting a short piece, authors should still keep in mind the broader sociological relevance and general readership of the journal. Short pieces should also include an abstract:
- Empirical insights. Such manuscripts should make a case for one of the following: (a) that there is a data or methodological innovation which can benefit sociologists or (b) there is an empirical trend, pattern, or relationship that sociologists should take note of.
- Policy Implications. Such manuscripts should highlight an important topic, finding, orientation, or approach that has clear-cut and explicit policy implications which can contribute to sociological knowledge or approaches.
- Theoretical Agenda Setting. Such manuscripts entail contributions that: (a) challenge theoretical traditions; (b) develop and contextualize innovative theoretical questions relative to sociology; and/or (c) set an agenda for future work based on novel, integrative or developmental theoretical insights. Some reference to existing literature is necessary yet not to the point where the theoretical focus and contribution becomes secondary to the literature review.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
For more information and to submit work to the journal, click here.
Accessing Social Currents
Beginning in 2025, the journal is available online only. Members can access the journal through their member portal under “Member Area” on the left-hand side of the page (see screenshot below). By clicking “Journal Access” under “Member Area,” instructions for registering with SAGE Journals and the Token URL for membership access to the journal will appear. Reach out to webmaster@southernsociologicalsociety.org with any issues accessing the journal.
The Social Currents Editors have prepared a searchable document listing all articles published in the first eight volumes of Social Currents, up to and including the most recent issue. To view, click here.
We have also prepared a searchable document listing all articles within the most common topic categories published in the first eight volumes of Social Currents. To view, click here.