American Sociological Association

What American Sociological Association does

The American Sociological Association (ASA), founded in 1905 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional membership association serving sociologists across academic, applied, teaching, graduate-student, and retired career stages. Its membership is organized around 51 discipline-specific sections and interest groups, and the association functions as the de facto national professional society for sociology in the United States. ASA operates a portfolio of peer-reviewed journals including the American Sociological Review, Contexts, and the Rose Series, and convenes an Annual Meeting that in 2026 will host approximately 5,000 attendees across roughly 600 sessions in New York City.

ASA's revenue model is diversified across five primary streams: individual membership dues (multi-tiered across member categories), Annual Meeting registration and exhibit fees, publications and merchandise sales (including a branded merchandise partnership with CafePress), donations and grants, and advertising and sponsorship income. Member services include the Career Center (recently rebuilt as part of a 2026 Member Portal launch), section governance and elections, policy advocacy via the Sociology Action Network, and the Public Outreach Podcasting (POP) Fellowship, which extends ASA's mission into public-facing media. Operational scale is modest, with the Executive Director (Heather Washington) and an elected council — including 2026 President Shelley J. Correll, Vice President Victor Ray, Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Westbrook, and 2027 President Rory M. McVeigh — providing governance. Strategic direction is set by a 2026-2029 Strategic Plan adopted in 2025.

The association's go-to-market is relationship-driven and reputation-led rather than commercial: ASA competes for members by offering disciplinary identity, hiring pipelines, and publication venues that are individually valuable and collectively reinforcing. Its most significant institutional relationship is with Stanford University, identified as a core strategic partner, alongside exhibitor and publisher relationships with university presses and commercial academic publishers that rely on ASA infrastructure to reach the field. Technology modernization is incremental — the 2026 Member Portal and Career Center represent the most visible recent product investment — and ASA has not disclosed any proprietary data assets, AI capabilities, or platform-level technical moats beyond standard association-management software.

Name

American Sociological Association

Legal name

American Sociological Association

Website

https://asanet.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1905

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The American Sociological Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional membership association founded in 1905 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., serving academic, applied, and teaching sociologists through 51 sections, peer-reviewed journals, a Career Center, and an Annual Meeting of approximately 5,000 attendees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (813920), Professional Organizations (81392), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Social Sciences Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAD), Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA), Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)

Keywords

• Professional membership association
• Academic journal publishing
• Scholarly conference services
• Research grant administration
• Sociology career services

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees from students, regular members, retired sociologists, international associates, and other categories. Membership provides access to journals, sections, grants, and the annual meeting at reduced rates.
2. Annual Meeting Registration: Registration fees for the annual meeting ranging from $148-$598 depending on membership status and timing (early bird vs regular). Also includes preconference and course fees.
3. Publications and Store Sales: Sales of ASA publications including the Style Guide, Majoring in Sociology booklets, and merchandise through the ASA Store and CafePress partnership.
4. Donations and Grants: Contributions and grants supporting programs like the Minority Fellowship Program, Community Action Research Initiative, and general operations.
5. Exhibits, Sponsorships, and Advertising: Revenue from exhibitors, sponsors, and advertisers at the Annual Meeting, including publishers, data platforms, and educational organizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The American Sociological Association is a nonprofit professional membership association that delivers services and resources to sociologists and the broader academic community. Its core offerings include peer-reviewed journals (American Sociological Review, Contexts, Rose Series), an Annual Meeting with nearly 5,000 attendees and ~600 sessions, an online Member Portal with integrated Career Center, fellowship and grant programs (Minority Fellowship Program, Community Action Research Initiative, travel awards), the TRAILS teaching resource library, professional development webinars, and member publications such as Footnotes.

Product overview

The American Sociological Association operates a comprehensive membership organization with multiple interconnected products and services. The core offerings include ASA Journals (peer-reviewed publications including American Sociological Review and Contexts), the Annual Meeting (annual conference with nearly 5,000 attendees), and the Member Portal with integrated Career Center. Supporting products include the Minority Fellowship Program, TRAILS teaching resources, ASA Grants and Fellowships, Professional Development Videos and Webinars, Data Dashboard, Footnotes Magazine, and the Publications and Merchandise Stores. Additional programs like the Sociology Action Network and POP Fellowship support public engagement and policy outreach. The organization recently launched new member portal and Career Center systems as part of modernization efforts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ASA Journals ASA Journals is a portfolio of peer-reviewed sociology journals including the American Sociological Review, Contexts, and Rose Series, providing research publications for the sociological community.
• ASA Annual Meeting The ASA Annual Meeting is the association's flagship annual conference bringing together thousands of sociologists for presentations, networking, and professional development.
• ASA Career Center The ASA Career Center is an online job board for finding and posting jobs in sociology, integrated with the new ASA Member Portal.
• ASA Member Portal The ASA Member Portal is the digital platform members use to manage their membership, register for the Annual Meeting, access journals and resources, and use the Career Center.
• TRAILS (Teaching Resources for the Advancement of Sociology) TRAILS is a teaching resource library providing lesson plans, activities, and pedagogical materials for sociology educators at high schools, community colleges, and universities.
• ASA Grants and Fellowships Program The ASA Grants and Fellowships portfolio includes the Minority Fellowship Program, Community Action Research Initiative Grants (up to $3,000), Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants, Howery Teaching Enhancement Fund Grants, Sorokin Lecture Grants, Annual Meeting Travel Fund Awards, and Student Forum Travel Awards.
• Minority Fellowship Program The Minority Fellowship Program is a fellowship supporting doctoral students from underrepresented backgrounds in sociology through annual cohorts of fellows receiving mentorship and professional development.
• ASA Merchandise Store (CafePress) The ASA Merchandise Store is operated in partnership with CafePress, offering official ASA merchandise including t-shirts, water bottles, pins, and tote bags.
• ASA Publications Store The ASA Publications Store sells career resources, reference materials including the official ASA Style Guide and Majoring in Sociology booklets, with member discounts.
• Footnotes Magazine Footnotes is ASA's member magazine featuring news, perspectives, and articles covering the sociological community.
• POP Fellowship (Policy Outreach Program) The POP Fellowship is a fellowship program placing sociologists in policy settings to inform public policy development.
• Sociology Action Network The Sociology Action Network is a public engagement initiative supporting community-engaged scholarship and providing toolkit resources for tenure and promotion.
• ASA Data Dashboard The ASA Data Dashboard is a data visualization and analytics tool providing membership and disciplinary data for sociologists.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 5,000 attendees at annual meetings with nearly 600 programmatic discussions
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• CafePressminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership for ASA merchandise store, offering official ASA merchandise including t-shirts, water bottles, pins, and tote bags with designs such as 'Fund Sociology' and 'Ask Me About Sociology'
• Bloomsbury AcademicminorGTM or Marketing PartnerExhibitor at ASA Annual Meeting, showcasing academic publications in sociology
• Cambridge University PressminorGTM or Marketing PartnerExhibitor at ASA Annual Meeting
• Oxford University PressminorGTM or Marketing PartnerExhibitor at ASA Annual Meeting
• Princeton University PressminorGTM or Marketing PartnerExhibitor at ASA Annual Meeting
• University of Chicago PressminorGTM or Marketing PartnerExhibitor at ASA Annual Meeting
• Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerExhibitor at ASA Annual Meeting, showcasing data resources for social science research
• U.S. Census BureauminorGTM or Marketing PartnerExhibitor at ASA Annual Meeting
• Stanford UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASA President Shelley J. Correll is Professor at Stanford University; Stanford University Press is also an exhibitor and supporter of the Annual Meeting

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• American Economic Association: The national professional association for economists, structurally identical to ASA with peer-reviewed journals (American Economic Review), an annual meeting of thousands of attendees, sections, and membership-driven revenue across a parallel social science discipline.
• American Political Science Association: The national professional association for political scientists, offering a closely analogous model of journals, annual meetings, sections, and member services to a parallel social science discipline, making it one of the most directly comparable peers.
• American Psychological Association: A larger professional association for psychologists with a similar publishing portfolio, annual convention, and member services model. Comparable in scale, mission, and revenue structure though in an adjacent behavioral science field.
• American Anthropological Association: The national professional association for anthropologists, with a closely parallel model of journals, annual meetings, sections, and member services, serving a similarly sized social science discipline.
• American Historical Association: The oldest and principal professional association for historians in the US, with a comparable structure of membership dues, journals, annual meeting, sections, and humanities-discipline member services.
• International Sociological Association: The international counterpart to ASA, organizing the World Congress of Sociology and similar publications and research committees, overlapping substantially on sociology-specific content but operating globally rather than US-focused.

Emerging players

• Society for the Study of Social Problems: A sociology-focused scholarly society with annual meetings and a journal (Social Problems), overlapping with ASA's domain but with a narrower, more applied and activist focus rather than serving the entire discipline.

Regional players

• Eastern Sociological Society: A regional US sociological association serving the eastern US with annual meetings and member services, operating as a complementary (rather than competing) regional counterpart to ASA's national scope.
• Pacific Sociological Association: A regional US sociological association serving the western US with annual meetings and an academic journal (Sociological Perspectives), comparable in offering but geographically narrower than ASA.

Others

• SAGE Publications: A leading academic publisher that partners with ASA and exhibits at the ASA Annual Meeting, illustrating the symbiotic relationship between ASA and commercial publishers in sociology scholarly publishing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/AmericanSociologicalAssociation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/american-sociological-association
• Instagraminstagram.com/asanews
• Xx.com/ASANews

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Sociological Association