Current Issues and Future Trends in Sociology: Extending the Debate in Sociological Research Online

1.1 At the 2004 British Sociological Association (BSA) Annual General Meeting I presented a paper outlining some of the issues pertinent to a consideration of Current Issues and Future Trends in Sociology suggesting that recent and possible future developments both within the discipline and within higher education more generally are relevant both the health and future of the discipline of sociology and to the BSA. With the aim of stimulating both debate and activity in this area members of the BSA Executive Committee are, amongst other things, engaging in discussion with the wider membership of the association (e.g. through discussion with study group convenors and post-graduates); engaging in discussion with the ESRC about the health and future of the discipline, developing new and closer links with sister organisations such as the British Society of Criminology and the Social Policy Association and promoting and taking part in academic debate. The latter of these initiatives is demonstrated not least by the launch of this debate item in Sociological Research Online. This piece and the article Sociology and Its Others: Reflections on Disciplinary Specialisation and Fragmentation by John Scott begin what we hope will be a stimulating debate focusing on the past, the present and the possible future of the discipline of sociology.