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Every year, the Theory Section organizes three competitions: an award for the best book or article (the Theory Prize), the Lewis Coser Award for theoretical agenda-setting (the Coser Award), and the Edward Shils - James Coleman Memorial Award for the best student paper (the Student Award).

The Edward Shils - James Coleman Memorial Award for Best Student Paper

The Shils-Coleman Award recognizes distinguished work in the theory area by a graduate student. Work may take the form of (a) a paper published or accepted for publication; (b) a paper presented at a professional meeting; of (c) a paper suitable for publication or presentation at a professional meeting. Each year's selection committee has latitude in determining procedures for selecting the winner, including the option of awarding no prize if suitable work has not been nominated. This year the Shils-Coleman Award includes an award of $750.00 for reimbursement of travel expenses for attending the annual ASA meeting.

Please submit the article electronically to the committee members at the email addresses below. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline for submission is March 1, 2009. See the Awards page for information about previous recipients.

This examining committee for 2009-2010 is: Chair: Ed Tiryakian (durkhm@soc.duke.edu), Daniel Adkins (adkins@unc.edu), Erin York Cornwell (eyc46@cornell.edu), Thomas Medvetz (tommedvetz@gmail.com), Rob Willer (willer@berkeley.edu).

The Theory Prize

The Theory Prize recognizes outstanding work in theory, communicates the principle that theory is plural and broadly defined, and promotes the interests of the Theory Section. The Prize is given for a book in even-numbered years and for an article, book chapter, or published or publicly presented paper in odd-numbered years.  Only titles from the four years prior to the award year are eligible for the Theory Prize. At its discretion, the Theory Prize Committee may also award Honorable Mentions. The Chair of the Award Committee has latitude in determining procedures for selection of the winner, including the option of withholding the Award in a year when the Committee deems no nominated work is suitable for the prize.

In 2010, the Theory Prize will be awarded to the most outstanding book published in 2006-2009. Please submit the article electronically to the committee members at the email addresses below. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline for submission is March 1, 2010. See the Awards page for information about previous recipients.

The 2009-2010 examining committee is Chair: Guillermina Jasso (Guillermina.Jasso@Verizon.net), Rick Biernacki (rbiernac@dss.ucsd.edu ), Harry Dahms (hdahms@utk.edu), Marion Fourcade (fourcade@berkeley.edu), Monica Prasad (monica.prasad@gmail.com).

The Lewis A. Coser Award for Theoretical Agenda Setting

The annually organized Lewis A. Coser Award for Theoretical Agenda-Setting is intended to recognize a mid-career sociologist whose work holds great promise for setting the agenda in the field of sociology. Given for the first time in 2004-2005, the Coser Award recognizes a mid-career sociologist whose work, in the opinion of the Committee, holds great promise for setting the agenda in the field of sociology. While the award winner need not be a theorist, his or her work must exemplify the sociological ideals Coser represented. Eligible candidates must be sociologists or do work that is of crucial importance to sociology. They must have received a Ph.D. no less than five and no more than twenty years before their candidacy.

Nomination letters should make a strong substantive case for the nominee's selection and should discuss the nominee's work and his or her anticipated future trajectory. No self-nominations are allowed. Committee members may nominate candidates. After nomination, the Committee will solicit additional information from nominees and others for those candidates they consider appropriate for consideration, including published works and at least two additional letters of support from third parties. The Committee may decide in any given year that no nominee warrants the award, in which case it will not be awarded that year. 

The examining committee for 2009-2010 is Evelyn Nakano Glenn (ASA President), Karin Knorr Cetina, JoAnn Miller (SSSP President), Loic Wacquant (previous winner), and Richard Swedberg (Section Chair)

See the Coser Lecture & Salon page for more information. 

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Visitors of this website are encouraged to pass on news items pertaining to sociological theory, which are also reported in sites including the following resources: 

• Google News - A perhaps surprising number of news stories are filed every day around the globe citing Sociology, and what may be an increasing number of them at least mention Theory.
• International Social Theory Consortium - The purpose of the Consortium and its annual conference is to organize the International Social Theory community and to provide an opportunity for interdisciplinary exchange on problems in contemporary social theory broadly conceived.
• Social Theory Forum - The Second Annual Meeting of the Social Theory Forum, held on April 6-7, 2005, at the University of Massachusetts Boston, was devoted to the theme "Theories and Praxes of Difference: Revisiting Edward Said in the Age of New Globalizations."
• Social Theory Network - Part of the European Sociological Association, this network coordinates the activities of social theorists in Europe. It organises sessions at every biannual conference of the European Sociological Association, and it also organises midterm conferences.
• Theory Study Groups - A study group of the British Sociological Association, the professional association for sociologists in Britain and the BSA website is a key resource for anyone wanting to keep in touch with developments in the discipline.
• The Australian Sociological Association - TASAweb is the major online resource for sociology and the social sciences in Australia. The web site aims to serve a wide range of communities and interests, including TASA members, undergraduate and postgraduate students, social science scholars, social policy analysts and consultants, government officials, media representatives, and the general public.
• Canadian Sociological & Anthropological Association - The Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) is a professional association that promotes research, publication and teaching in Sociology and Anthropology in Canada.
• Research Committee on Sociological Theory - The goal of the RC on Sociological Theory is to organize open interrelationship among its various schools, helping resolve its recurring crises and define its future prospects.
• The RC is part of the International Sociological Association, a non-profit association for scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. Founded in 1949 under the auspices of UNESCO, ISA seeks to represent sociologists everywhere.