Research Committees

Published in ISA Bulletin number 30, year 1982
Prepared by Kurt Jonassohn
ISA Executive Secretary 1974-1982

Origins

At the Sixth World Congress of Sociology, held in Evian in September 1966, a group worked on the theme "Cultural or Racial Tensions and International Relations". It was presided by P. de Bie (U. de Louvain), and 14 papers were presentedand discussed. Two of them were published in the "Transactions of the Sixth World Congress of Sociology", Vol. III (Working Groups and Round Table Papers).

Four years later, at the Seventh World Congress of Sociology held in Varna, an Ad Hoc group dealt with "Sociology of Race Relations". Its program consisted of two sessions: "Cross-Cultural Understanding of Minority Problems", and "Status and Position of Women in the Social Order".

The proposal to constitute the RC was promoted by a Soviet participant during a session of the RC on Urban Sociology. The proposal was remitted to the ad-hoc group for the study of race Relations. During the last session, the group constituted a provisional committee and elected a Board.

The following resolution was carried unanimously: That it be resolved that a Research Committee to be called Ethnic, Race and Minority Relations, should be established by the ISA. The proposal was supported by 28 signatures, from people coming from: Great Britain (8), USSR (5), Austria (4), France (4), USA (2), Bulgaria (1), GFR (1), Italy (1), Poland (1), and Turkey (1).

The provisional Board elected in Varna was headed by three conveners: P. Bessaignet (France), I. P. Petrova Averkieva (USSR) and H. Wolpe (Great Britain). The new RC was representative of the various groups which had been working over the past years for the establishment of such a RC, and was composed of sociologists working in the field, affiliated to important research institutes, notably the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Institut d'Etudes et de Recherches Interethniques et Interculturelles (France), Institute of Race Relations (Great Britain).

The Research Committee was officially recognized by the ISA in 1971 for a trial period of 2 years.

Executive and members

The first provisional Board of the Committee was the following:

Before the Congress in Toronto, a new Board was elected by mail ballots in 1974:

Elections held by mail in June 1978, allowed a new Board to take office:

The membership of the Research Committee has had the following development:

Meetings

The chairman of the RC, in his official capacity, took part in a seminar organized by the University of Denver, Graduate School of International Studies on ''Regulating Racial Discrimination in Employment", held at Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio, from October 2 to October 6, 1972.

During the 8th World Congress of Sociology, held in Toronto in 1974, there were sessions in the area of race, ethnic and minority relations not only from the Committee . They were the following:

A. Sessions organized by the RC:
S.1: Theoretical Issues in Race Relations (8 papers)
S. 2: Problems of Interethnic Relations under Urbanization (7 papers).
S.3: Migration, Ethnicity and Race Relations (1 paper).
S.4: Ethnic and Racial Relations and Political Activities (3 papers).

B. Session organized by the RC on Stratification (RC 28):
S.1: Ethnic and Class Stratification (2 papers).

C. Roundtable 6, on "Resurgences of Ethnic and National Identity" (8 panelists, 5 papers).

D. Special Sessions:
S.1: Languages and Ethnicity in Canadian Society (4 papers).
S.2: Ethnic and Racial Cleavages and National Integration (15 papers).

The origins of the papers' authors were: US (15), USSR (12), Canada (8), Brazil (1), Czechoslovakia (1), G.B. (2), France (1), India (1), Israel (1), Northern Ireland (1), South Africa (1) and GFR (1).

In November 1976, a Conference was held in Washington DC on "The New Immigration: Implications for the US and the International Community". The Conference was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute and included sessions on Theoretical and Methodological Consideration; Contextual Considerations: US immigration and Policy; Diplomatic/Political Implications of the New Immigration for the US and other Host Societies; Development Implications of the New Immigration for the Sending Countries; and Adjustment Implications for the Immigrants. Several members of the Committee presented and discussed papers and participated in this conference.

During the 9th World Congress of Sociology in Uppsala in 1978, the Committee developed the following program of sessions:

S.1: Theoretical Issues in Race and Ethnic Relations (4 papers).
S.2: Plural Societies and Minority Problems (9 papers).
S.3: Migration and Ethnic Conflict in Metropolitan Areas (8 papers).
S.4: Business Meeting
S.5: South Africa (12 papers).
S.6: Slavery and Black America (7 papers).
S.7: Plural Societies in Southeast Asia (5 papers).
S.8: Extra Session.

45 papers were presented, coming from: US (15), Canada (9) G. Britain (6), Australia (3), Switzerland (2), USSR (2), France (1), GFR (1), Israel (1), Nigeria (1), Philippines (1), South Africa (1), South Rhodesia (1) and Sri Lanka (1).

Publications

Since 1972-73 the Research Committee publishes a Newsletter, generally each year, which details the current work of the Committee. About 200 copies were distributed by 1979-80, both to members of the RC and to national sociological associations and international organizations oriented toward the concerns of the Committee. 

Plans to publish it twice a year and to include additional information on conferences, publications and other activities of interest to the members, allowed the Committee to receive in 1980 a grant from ISA ($750.00) to subsidize the efforts at broad dissemination and more frequent publication.

The following Newsletters have been received in ISA:

Newsletter 3 (June 1975); 6 (June 1978); 7 (December 1978); 8 (September 1979). The Secretary of the Board is the editor of the Newsletter.

• Hans-Joachim Hoffmann-Nowotny: "Immigrant Minorities in Switzerland: Sociological, legal and political aspects", In Margaret S. Archer (ed.): Current Research in Sociology; published on the occasion of the 8th World Congress of Sociology (Toronto, 1974), Mouton 1974.
• E. Franklin Frazier: The Present State of Sociological Knowledge Concerning Race Relations. In ''Transactions of the 4th World Congress of Sociology", Vol. II.