Since its establishment in 1961, a central research focus of the Sociology Program has been social stratification, mobility and inequality in Australian society, set within a comparative framework. This focus has always been broadly interpreted to include cognate research on socioeconomic trajectories over the life-cycle, the interaction between gender, ethnicity and attainment processes, labour market segmentation and the division of household labour, and educational and political participation. The actual pattern of research at any given time reflects the availability of persons qualified to do advanced research in specific substantive areas. Because the Sociology Program has never had a high tenure ratio, its research profile at any one time is critically dependent on recent recruitment. A relatively high turnover of research staff means that the future direction of research depends heavily on the specific skills of new staff.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, a major commitment of the Program was to establish the National Social Science Survey (NSSS) and its comparative component, the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). Following a review in 1993, these activities are now supported by centralised administrative arrangements within the School. While some Sociology staff continue to have direct and indirect involvement with NSSS activities, this wider School involvement in the management and support of the NSSS has facilitated the development of other initiatives.

In November 1995, the Program significantly diversified its research profile with the appointment of Professor Judy Wajcman, from the Industrial Relations Research Unit in the University of Warwick Business School (at that time on leave from her position as Associate Professor in the School of Sociology at the University of New South Wales). Professor Wajcman has an international reputation in the fields of gender and technology analysis, and in gendered relations in the workforce more generally, with particular reference to management roles. Polity Press will publish her new book on the gender relations of management in 1998. In 1997, she commenced work on a new project, funded by the Australian Research Council, with Dr Bill Martin of Flinders University (Managers, Experts and Organisations: Contemporary Careers and Organisational Change). In 1996, the Program also made two new appointments to support work in her general areas of interest (Dr Anni Dugdale, from the University of Melbourne, and Dr Lisa Adkins, from the University of Kent, Canterbury).

Another initiative drawing on expertise within the Program, the School and the Australian social science community more generally is a project called "Negotiating the Life Course: Gender, Mobility and Career Trajectories". This project is the first national longitudinal study of life courses and occupational transitions ever conducted among Australian women and men, and will involve experts from a range of social sciences in several Australian universities. As of February 1997, this project was in the field, with interviews being conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies via its CATI(computer-assisted telephone interviewing) system. The sample size of the first wave will be around 2,200 persons aged between 18 and 54. Further waves are planned at three yearly intervals until the year 2003, with follow-ups between main waves of the survey. This project is directed by Dr Janeen Baxter and Professor F.L. Jones (Sociology), Professor Peter McDonald (Demography),and Dr Deborah Mitchell (Economics). In 1998, Dr Baxter left the Program to take up a position at the University of Tasmania.

From the outset, the Sociology group has sought to build a national and international reputation for its research. Citation studies show that it has succeeded in this endeavour. The Sociology group, collectively as well as individually, has achieved high visibility through its publications, its collaborative research activities and its participation in the research committees of the International Sociology Association (especially but not solely Research Committee 28 -- Social Stratification).

At the national level the Sociology group has been active in The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) and its predecessor, The Sociological Association of Australia and New Zealand (SAANZ), both as individual members, as committee members, and as Editors of its publications. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology was recently edited by a group based in the School, and Dr Janeen Baxter was until recently the editor of Nexus, the official Newsletter of TASA. Members of the Sociology group were also instrumental in founding the Australian Association for Social Research (AASR) in 1992 and the Australian Journal of Social Research in 1994, both offshoots of empirical research conferences hosted since 1988 by the Australian Consortium of Social and Political Research Inc. (ACSPRI). Moreover, through the RAI Project the program has been host to several sociologists from other Australian universities, an outreach activity that has fostered important links to other research centres. A major priority in the next few years will be to strengthen existing links with other sociology groups in Australia through visiting appointments, through outreach activities such as guest seminars by senior staff, and through new collaborative research activities, such as the study of managers and the lifecourse projects mentioned above. Effective links already exist with scholars in several Australian universities (Queensland, Tasmania, Flinders, Melbourne, La Trobe, Monash, New England, and New South Wales). We expect to broaden and strengthen these linkages, many of which are quite recent.

The Sociology Program has served as a national resource through its support for SAANZ, TASA and AASR and their publications, the provision of visiting appointments, the NSSS and ACSPRI. While ACSPRI is an independent body, Sociology staff have contributed significantly to its activities over the years. There are, however, practical limits to the national contribution that can be made by a small research group. The Sociology group has averaged six to eight academic staff members during the past decade, a size far smaller than many other sociology departments in Australia.

Although the Program has not produced a large number of PhDs in recent years, it is committed to expanding its role in postgraduate training. We have achieved some recent successes through participation in the School's Vacation Scholarship scheme and the ACSPRI Summer School. The number of PhD scholars currently enrolled in the Program (nine in all) is higher than it has been at any time the past.

Links to Other Centres

International Sociological Association

ISA Research Committee28 on Social Stratification & Social Mobility (RC28)

The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)

Australian Consortium for Social&Political Research Incorporated (ACSPRI)

Sociology Discipline, School of Social Sciences, The Faculties

Summer Research Scholarship, Institute of Advanced Studies

The Graduate School Handbook

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