Critical Sociology
Now indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index®
Please visit the Association for Critical Sociology website
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"At a time when many are buried in narrow crevices of knowledge, Critical Sociology has the boldness and courage to take on the ‘big questions’. For those who would break out of the straitjacket of the methodological imperative Critical Sociology is a necessary and vital forum for alternative ideas." Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
"Critical Sociology provides in-depth symposia and challenging articles on current issues in mainstream and critical sociological inquiry." Robert Perrucci, Past President of SSSP and Professor of Sociology, Purdue University, USA
"Critical Sociology offers a much-needed forum for research on alternatives to our capitalist/racist system that isn't cautiously concerned with pleasing the establishment. Thank goodness it exists!" Edna Bonacich, Chair of the Political Economy of the World System section of ASA, and Professor of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, USA
"Without critique sociology is lost, and Critical Sociology delivers this in spades - it is a pillar of our discipline." Michael Burawoy, Past President of ASA, and Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
"Publishing insightful and careful work from left perspectives, including those of feminists, Critical Sociology is an essential scholarly resource for sociologists and others committed to knowledge that helps to confront pervasive societal problems." Joan Acker, recipient of the ASA Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award and the ASA Jessie Bernard Award, and Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon, USA
"Critical Sociology continues in its great tradition of bringing new ideas to the forefront and keeping the mainstream on its toes." G. William Domhoff, Research Professor in Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
Critical Sociology is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes the highest quality original research. For over three decades Critical Sociology has been a leading voice of sociological analysis from a political economy perspective. This journal is a must for sociologists and anyone else seeking to understand the most pressing issues of the day as they are informed by race, class and gender.
Originally published as the Insurgent Sociologist, formed as a result of the social action of the 1960s "Sociology Liberation Movement" which erupted at the 1969 meetings of the American Sociological Association, Critical Sociology has been committed to publishing scholarship from a Marxist, post-Marxist, Feminist, and other critical perspectives. Its current editorial mission is to encourage scholarship that seeks to understand contemporary Capitalist society.
Today the journal remains one of the few sources of critical research on a wide range of topics within sociology, and increasingly from an international perspective. Recent articles on globalization, economic development, religion, the environment, labor movements, social policy, and the sociology of work reflect the journal's commitment to a broad range of topics, all linked by common goals of critically examining how society functions and of exploring the potential for progressive social change.
In addition, special issues and thematic symposia enable Critical Sociology to engage in a discussion about contemporary issues through groundbreaking and important new scholarship. Recent examples include:
· Global Capitalism and Labour in the Age of Monopoly: Hong Kong and Mainland China, 2022 (48:7/8)
· Contentious Politics of Right-wing Authoritarianism, 2022 (48/6)
· Political Economy of Education, 2021 (47:7/8)
· Transversal Solidarities and the City, 2021 (47:6)
· Solidarity in Motion, 2021 (47:2)
· Age of Precarity: Reimaging Economic Security in a Precarious World, 2020 (46:4/5)
· Neo-Liberalism and Ordoliberalism: One or Two Critiques? 2019 (45:7/8)
· Global Conflicts and Local Interactions, 2019 (45:6)
· Precarious Work, 2019 (45:4/5)
· Deception, Coercion and Propaganda, 2019 (45:3)
· Nietzsche and Critical Theory, 2019 (45:2)
· Carework in Transition, 2018 (44:7/8)
Critical Sociology is an international peer reviewed journal that publishes the highest quality original research. The journal seeks to engage and promote critical thinking by publishing articles from all perspectives broadly defined as falling within the boundaries of critical or radical social science. Originally appearing as The Insurgent Sociologist, it grew out of the tumultuous times of the late 1960s and was a by-product of the "Sociology Liberation Movement" which erupted at the 1969 meetings of the American Sociological Association. At first publishing work mainly within the broadest boundaries of the Marxist tradition, over the past decade the journal has been home to articles informed by post-modern, feminist, cultural and other perspectives that critically evaluate the workings of the capitalist system and its impact on the world. The journal is a platform for scholars whose work explores the relationship between race, gender and class in their quest for a deeper understanding of society writ large. It will continue in this fashion in order to preserve its position as one of a select few "alternative" journals having widespread recognition and respect within the world of social science scholarship.
| David Fasenfest | Wayne State University, USA |
| Michael McCarthy | Marquette University, USA |
| Angie Beeman | Baruch College, USA |
| Graham Cassano | Oakland University, USA |
| Victoria E. Collins | Eastern Kentucky University, USA |
| Corey W. Dolgon | Stonehill College, USA |
| Gretchen Purser | Syracuse University, USA |
| Dawn L Rothe | Florida Atlantic University, USA |
| Alan Rudy | Central Michigan University, USA |
| Alfredo Saad Filho | SOAS, University of London, UK |
| Cihan Ziya Tugal | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| R.A. Dello Buono | Manhattan College, USA and Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Mexico |
| Hideo Aoki | Institute on Social Theory and Dynamics, Japan |
| Abu Bah | Northern Illinois University, USA |
| Aylin Topal | Middle East Technical University, Turkey |
| David Arditi | The University of Texas Arlington, USA |
| Timothy Black | Case Western Reserve University, USA |
| Melanie E. Bush | Adelphi University, USA |
| Eric Bonds | University of Mary Washington, USA |
| Myles Carroll | Ochanomizu University, Japan |
| Rodney Coates | Miami University of Ohio, USA |
| Mathieu Desan | University of Colorado Boulder, USA |
| David Embrick | University of Connecticut, USA |
| Soribel Genao | Queens College CUNY, USA |
| Anna Guevarra | University of Illonois at Chicago, USA |
| Mahito Hayashi | Kinjo Gakuin University, Japan |
| Dan Krier | Iowa State University, USA |
| Lisa Martinez | University of Denver, USA |
| Paul Paolucci | Eastern Kentucky University, USA |
| Raúl Pérez | University of La Verne, USA |
| Jean-Pierre Reed | Southern Illinois University, USA |
| Saher Selod | Simmons University, USA |
| Robert Mark Silverman | University at Buffalo, SUNY, USA |
| David Norman Smith | University of Kansas, USA |
| Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl | Manhattanville College, USA |
| Jose Bell Lara | FLACSO-Cuba, University of Havana, Cuba |
| Rose Brewer | University of Minnesota, USA |
| Michael Burawoy | University of California, Berkeley, (Retired) USA |
| Val Burris | University of Oregon, USA |
| Chris Chase-Dunn | University of California at Riverside, USA |
| Penelope Ciancanelli | University of Strathclyde, UK, (Retired,) UK |
| Raewyn Connell | University of Sydney, (Retired), Australia |
| Raju Das | York University, Canada |
| Victor M. Figueroa | Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Mexico |
| Vassilis Fouskas | University of East London, UK |
| Christian Fuchs | Paderborn University, Germany |
| Martha Gimenez | University of Colorado (Emeritus), USA |
| Karin Gottschall | University of Bremen, Germany |
| Ruri Ito | Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan |
| Bob Jessop | Lancaster University, UK |
| Andrew Jorgenson | University of British Columbia, Canada, USA |
| Walda Katz-Fishman | Howard University, USA |
| Rebecca King-O'Riain | National University of Ireland, Kildare, Ireland |
| Lauren Langman | Loyola University of Chicago (Retired), USA |
| Michael Löwy | Centre national de la recherche scientifique, France |
| Julien Mercille | University College Dublin, Ireland |
| Yuan Shen | Tsinghua University, China |
| Teivo Teivainen | University of Helsinki, Finland |
| Goran Therborn | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Sylvia Walby | Royal Holloway, University of London, UK |
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/Critical-Sociology to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Critical Sociology will be reviewed. All submissions will undergo a preview by members of the Editorial Board to determine if they should be sent out for external review, or deflected.
Critical Sociology prefers Book Review Essays and not simple Book Reviews. All Book Review Essays should be submitted to the journal’s submission site, designated as a “Review Essay” as directed. Any questions or suggestions, and all submissions of book review, should be directed to the journal Editor.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.
If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
2.7 Clinical trials
2.8 Reporting guidelines
2.9 Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplementary material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 Book Reviews and Review Essays
4.6 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to Critical Sociology, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Critical Sociology publishes original research from a political economy perspective seeking to understand the most pressing issues of the day informed by race, class and gender. These articles seek to understand contemporary Capitalist society, all linked by common goals of critically examining how society functions and exploring the potential for progressive social change.
- Articles: Theoretically informed analysis of contemporary issues.
- Review Essays: These can be about a single book (which must be very significant to warrant this much attention), about several books, or ‘state-of-the-art’ articles placed in a larger context.
- Book Reviews: Send any suggestions for book reviews to the journal editor
Articles are generally restricted to a maximum of 9,000 words, although the journal will consider articles up to 12,000 words, including all elements (title page, abstract, notes, references, tables, biographical statement, etc.). Our editorial preference is for contributions that are only as long as is needed for the argument they develop, which in many cases is well below our maximum word limit. Review Essays are generally kept to no more than 5,000 words, and Book Reviews are capped at 1,500 words. Articles are peer reviewed while Review Essays and Book Reviews are reviewed by members of the journal’s editorial board.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Critical Sociology operates a strictly anonymous peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is withheld from the author and, the author’s name from the reviewer. The reviewer may at their own discretion opt to reveal their name to the author in their review, but our standard policy practice is for both identities to remain concealed. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible; an editorial decision is generally made within about 4-6 weeks after submission.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
Critical Sociology requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Critical Sociology encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Critical Sociology and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Critical Sociology offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures, and other graphics
Figures, charts and tables should not appear inside the submitted article, be uploaded separately with appropriate designation, and with an indication in the text on placement, centered on a separate line (e.g., [Figure 1 About Here])
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
This journal does not currently accept supplementary files.
Critical Sociology requires endnotes and not footnotes. Please adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style, with an exception to style regarding citing US publications. References citing US publications should include the 2-letter US state acronym for the publisher’s city. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
Essential textual notes are indicated by a superscript Arabic numeral placed after the punctuation. All textual notes should be collected and placed after the text and before the reference section.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.
4.5 Book Reviews and Review Essays
For Book Reviews, please avoid using endnotes and/or footnotes. Essential textual notes are indicated by a superscript Arabic numeral placed after the punctuation. All textual notes should be collected and placed after the text and before the reference section. For Review Essays, please suggest up to five keywords. Ideally a review of 1 book should be about 1200-1500 words in length, and a Review Essay 3500-5000 words. Review Essays should also include an Abstract. Follow Sage house style in writing dates and listing references. Book Reviews and Review Essays must include complete bibliographical information of each item under review at the beginning of the manuscript; for example:
Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia, by Brendan Simms.
London: Penguin, 2001. 496pp. £18.99 (cloth). ISBN: 0713994258.
4.6 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Critical Sociology is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/Critical-Sociology to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
Book Review Essays are submitted online via ScholarOneTM Manuscripts. Book Reviews should be sent directly to the journal Editor, David Fasenfest at critical.sociology@gmail.com
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities ensuring that their work is recognised.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
PLEASE NOTE: for multiple authored submissions, only the submitting author’s ORCID is entered in the system and conveyed to Sage. In this case, to ensure information n the ORCID each submitting co-author should create their own account in the system. There you will have an opportunity to enter your ORCID. The system will automatically transfer co-author ORCID for multiple authored submissions.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage, please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations.
In addition, please provide detailed author bios (not just position and affiliation) for all authors, not just the submitting author.
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures, or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
Once published in Online First, the articles cannot be changed. If there are questions or necessary changes, please direct your concerns to the journal Editor.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries, or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Critical Sociology editorial office as follows:
David Fasenfest, Editor, at: critical.sociology@gmail.com