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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice

Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of sociology with public discourse, policy, and global issues. It delves into social theories, postcolonial perspectives, symbolic interactionism, and the role of sociology in addressing social justice and globalization. The papers also discuss the impact of intellectual movements on sociological research and emphasize the importance of ethnography and the sociological imagination in understanding societal phenomena.

  • Public Sociology
  • Social Theory
  • Globalization
  • Postcolonialism
  • Symbolic Interactionism
  • Intellectual Movements
  • Ethnography
  • Sociological Imagination
  • Scientific Communication
  • Social Justice
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+12%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
45% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice

Which countries lead Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (648 and 225 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 648 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 225 works
  3. 3 Germany 116 works
  4. 4 Canada 90 works
  5. 5 France 76 works
  6. 6 China 70 works
  7. 7 Italy 57 works
  8. 8 Russia 52 works
  9. 9 Brazil 47 works
  10. 10 Australia 45 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 45.5%United Kingdom: 15.8%Germany: 8.1%Canada: 6.3%6 others listed: 24.3%45%largest
United States648 · 45.5%United Kingdom225 · 15.8%Germany116 · 8.1%Canada90 · 6.3%6 others listed347 · 24.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice research, followed by University of Cambridge and University of Toronto.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 27 works
  2. 2 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 21 works
  3. 3 University of TorontoCanada 16 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 15 works
  5. 5 University of ChicagoUnited States 13 works
  6. 6 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 12 works
  7. 7 University of HelsinkiFinland 12 works
  8. 8 City University of New YorkUnited States 11 works
  9. 9 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 11 works
  10. 10 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice include Pierre Bourdıeu, Michel Foucault and Anselm L. Strauss.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  3. 3 Anselm L. Strauss United States 205k citations
  4. 4 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  5. 5 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  6. 6 Roy Frederick Baumeister United States 183k citations
  7. 7 Herbert A. Simon United States 179k citations
  8. 8 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice?

The most cited paper in Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice is "Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography" (George E. Marcus, 1995), with 7,717 citations. Next come "Theory Construction in Qualitative Research" (4,187) and "The Past, Present, and Future of an Identity Theory" (3,665).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography George E. Marcus · Annual Review of Anthropology Oct 1995 7,717
2 Theory Construction in Qualitative Research Stefan Timmermans, Iddo Tavory · Sociological Theory Sep 2012 4,187
3 The Past, Present, and Future of an Identity Theory Sheldon Stryker, Peter J. Burke · Social Psychology Quarterly Dec 2000 3,665
4 Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought Patrícia Hill Collins · Social Problems Oct 1986 3,533
5 Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position Herbert Blumer · The Pacific Sociological Review Apr 1958 3,473
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice research done?

The largest centres of Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Moscow (Russia) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Cambridge.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 49 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 42 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 34 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 30 works
  5. 5 TorontoCanada 27 works
  6. 6 BeijingChina 22 works
  7. 7 CambridgeUnited Kingdom 22 works
  8. 8 Los AngelesUnited States 20 works
  9. 9 ChicagoUnited States 19 works
  10. 10 Washington D.C.United States 18 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CambridgeGB · 21.5 works6.8×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice than the world average.

See Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice on the map

Where is the best place to study Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Cambridge, University of Toronto and University of Warwick score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 17.3%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →London School of Eco…University of Cambri…University of WarwickUniversity of Toronto
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 97.426.0%10.4×21 +45.0%
2University of TorontoCanada 64.514.2%4.7×16 +84.8%
3University of WarwickUnited Kingdom 63.920.1%11.2×9 +20.8%
4London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 63.827.8%25.4×10 -27.5%
5University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 55.416.2%4.4×11 +23.7%
6University of HelsinkiFinland 54.15.8%9.6×12 +113.9%
7University of ChicagoUnited States 53.712.0%8.9×13 +10.8%
8University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 45.821.7%5.6×9 -25.9%
9University of MichiganUnited States 40.621.0%3.3×9 +37.8%
10University of South FloridaUnited States 37.78.2%13.5×10 +50.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice, country by country

Is Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 12% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0077% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice0.0082% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice10.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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