By Heather M. Washington, PhD (American Sociological Association)

We live in an era of rapidly expanding economic inequality, humanitarian crises, chaotic deportation efforts, the militarization of U.S. cities, global conflicts and wars, burdensome labor practices that undermine work-life balance, and continued attempts to erode rights and protections of women, racial and ethnic minorities, and LGBTQ+ people. We also face ongoing environmental catastrophes, with additional consequential environmental challenges looming on the horizon. Social science provides a window to understand such issues and offers tools that can help us create more equitable policies to address these social problems. Every day, sociologists and other social scientists put research into action and ideas into impact in ways that help improve our collective future and build pathways toward more just outcomes.

Sociology is the scientific study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. It offers a valuable lens through which contemporary social issues can be viewed, and by which historical connections can be evaluated. As a sociologist, I understand that equitable and just policies require collaboration among researchers, community members, and policymakers. Sociologists have the tools needed to study social phenomena. Community members provide real-world expertise and experience that is critical for understanding social issues. Policymakers wield the levers of change. Working together as researchers, community members, and policymakers is foundational to the discipline as evidenced by the influential and impactful work of pioneering sociologists. Sociologists working in and beyond the academy have continued this historical legacy, helping to create research-informed policies. Examples include:

Sociological research on student loans contributed to the creation of more equitable policies for borrowers and to efforts to cancel student loan debt for millions of borrowers who were saddled with decades of debt and unfair policies that made it nearly impossible for them to fulfill their repayment commitment.
Sociologists helped create healthier work environments that support work-life balance for millions of workers through research on the four-day work week.
Sociological research on school discipline led to more equitable and developmentally appropriate approaches, including eliminating the practice of withholding recess for punishment in some states.
Research conducted by sociologists has revealed inequities in the housing and rental markets, elevating these issues to public discourse in ways that have contributed to more accessible and affordable housing policies.

The American Sociological Association’s (ASA) mission and long-standing commitment to using sociological research to inform policies that can promote social transformation has led to two efforts that were launched in 2025. Both aim to empower sociologists to use their sociological research and expertise to contribute to policies that will help create a more just and equitable society.

ASA’s new Policy Outreach Program (POP) aims to enhance and facilitate sociologists’ connections with policymakers and individuals who are influencing public policy and opinion through their work in legislative offices and think tanks. POP has hosted two events showcasing tangible examples of how sociologists have used their research findings to promote sound policy. In the spring, ASA launched the POP Fellowship and welcomed a cohort of 10 POP Fellows who, over the course of a year, will receive media training and develop the skills they need to share research findings with legislators and the public.

Also in 2025, ASA reinforced its commitment to community-engaged scholarship with a project funded by the William T. Grant Foundation. This ambitious project was designed to address the misalignment between universities’ stated priorities (i.e., to serve the community) and current faculty reward structures that undervalue, or outright reject, community-engaged scholarship as a rigorous methodology. The project led to ASA creating sociology guidelines for evaluating community-engaged scholarship in tenure and promotion. These guidelines form the basis for ASA’s new Community-Engaged Scholarship Toolkit, which provides guidance for engaged faculty seeking to ensure that their scholarship is adequately recognized, departments interested in updating their tenure and promotion guidelines in ways that will support community-engaged faculty, and tenure and promotion reviewers. Through this work, ASA hopes to empower more sociologists and other social scientists to conduct research directly with the community and to use their findings to create positive and lasting change.

Sociology can help us envision and build a better world. The initiatives highlighted here exemplify not only the kinds of work required to move us toward a more equitable future, but also the important scholarship that will be lost if access to federal funding for sociological research is terminated, if state institutions are pressured into placing restrictions on the kind of faculty research that will be permitted and supported, and if disinvestment in sociology departments continues. The stakes today are especially acute. We cannot face economic, humanitarian, global, and climate crises blindly. With robust support for sociology and other social sciences, we can effectively confront these challenges and many other unknowns ahead. Social scientists are needed now more than ever.

Heather M. Washington, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the American Sociological Association and has served in key leadership positions at ASA since 2021. Heather began her career at ASA as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), overseeing the ASA Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) and leading efforts to advance ASA’s DEI goals. Prior to being named Executive Director, she served as ASA Deputy Director and principal investigator on two large projects designed to support and promote sociological research: The National Science Foundation-funded ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) and the William T. Grant Foundation-funded project on recognizing and rewarding community-engaged scholarship in tenure and promotion. Previously, she was an Associate Professor of sociology with tenure. Heather holds a PhD and MA in sociology from The Ohio State University. She is an ASA MFP Fellow (Cohort 38), a recipient of the American Society of Criminology minority fellowship, and a graduate of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program.

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