MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

European Sociological Association and National Associations

(Paris, October October 28th, 2010 and October 25th, 2012)

The Executive Committee of the European Sociological Association and the National Sociological Associations from 21 different countries gathered in a meeting on 28 October 2010 in Paris and decided to sign this memorandum of understanding to demonstrate joint efforts to enhance cooperation, to reinforce their capacity to act and to be heard as the voice of sociologists in Europe.

A.      ESA

Regarding the role of the ESA, we agreed that:

1) It is important to be involved in organizations that represent all scientists in Europe, making social science more visible also to policy makers. Thus, we persist in supporting the activities of the ISE, Initiative for Science in Europe.

2) It is important that we support the need for social science infrastructures in Europe. Hence, the relevance that European Institutions support financially basic tools like the European Social Survey and other existing databases, and that they use qualitative data, considering them as a fundamental infrastructure for social scientists and their research results.

3) It is important to create a

Social Science Forum where scientists could bring together researchers and policy makers with the aim of exchanging ideas that might be crucial in the difficult moments in which we are living.

4) It is important to stress the disciplinary identity and the intellectual tradition of sociology, despite its long tradition of interdisciplinary practice and cooperation with other social sciences.

5) It is important that ESA is considered an association of sociologists capable of being one of the key actors for research and innovation in Europe, discussing with European Union policy makers and playing a fundamental role in political matters.

B.      National Associations

The ESA National Associations can also provide a more substantial cooperation, with a significant role in connecting people since they organize several networks. Their role is essential to:

improve communication among sociologists;

develop supra-national and inter-regional research networks;

relate macro and micro studies;

integrate qualitative and quantitative studies;

focus on global issues;

share information on existing studies;

identify problems common to countries;

They should also:

have some space in their journals and newsletters for advertising ESA activities;

have in their national boards a Vice-president or a specific representative for European relations who would act as a contact person with the ESA.

C.      ESA and National Associations

ESA commits with the NAs in order to strengthen our relations and to work to concretize the following proposals by:

providing a specific place in the website where NAs conferences are announced;

working for an on-line journal which could be open to all NA ESA members in order to integrate materials from other countries and in other languages;

discussing with the

European Societies Editor the possibility of having special issues on national sociologies;

providing space for comparative work and discussing topics of common European interest during conferences (e.g. the Bologna process);

reinforcing a platform for young people to organize workshops;

guaranteeing a process of election for the representative of the NA Council on the ESA Executive Committee to be organized prior to the conference, thereby strengthening the links between the ESA and the NAs.

Signed by

Analia Torres, ESA President

Roberto Cipriani, Chair National Associations Council

Pekka Sulkunen, Chair External Relations Committee

Elina Oinas, ESA Executive Committee

Claire Wallace, ESA Executive Committee

Ursula Apitzsch, ESA Executive Committee

Consuelo Corradi, ESA Executive Committee

Leke Sokoli (Albanian Institute of Sociology),

Gevorg Poghosyan (Armenian Sociological Association),

Frank Welz (Austrian Sociological Association),

Robert Mears (British Sociological Association),

Svetla Koleva (Bulgarian Sociological Association),

Ognjen Caldarovic (Croatian Sociological Association),

Jiri Burianek (Masaryk Czech Sociological Association)

Gorm Harste (Danish Sociological Association),

Marju Lauristin (Estonian Sociological Association)

Arturo Rodriguez Morato (Federacion Espanola de Sociologia),

Pertti Alasuutari (Westermarck Society – Finnish Sociological Society),

Daniel Bertaux and Philippe Cibois (French Sociological Association),

Georg Vobruba (German Sociological Association),

Sokratis Koniordos (Hellenic Sociological Society),

Maria Nemenyi and Mihaly Csako (Hungarian Sociological Association),

Paula Kenny and Liam Leonard (Sociological Association of Ireland),

Shalva Weil (Israeli Sociological Society),

Alessandro Bruschi and Giovanni Bechelloni (Italian Sociological Association),

Anita Kalnina and Oksana Žabko (Latvian Sociological Association)

Ausra Maslauskaite (Lithuanian Sociological Society ),

Ilo Trajkovski (Association of Sociologists of the Republic of Macedonia),

Johan Fredrik Rye (Norwegian Sociological Association),

Grazyna Skapska (Polish Sociological association)

Ana Romao (Portuguese Sociological Association),

Octav Marcovici and Catalin Zamfir (Romanian Sociological Association)

Elena Danilova (Russian Society of Sociologists),

Milica Antić Gaber (Slovene Sociological Association)

Thomas Eberle (Swiss Sociological Association),

Aytul Kasapoglu (Sociology Association in Turkey).