Introductory Remarks

With this issue of Social Forces I retire from my position as co-editor. Judith Blau will become editor on July 1, 2004. Working with her this year has been a pleasure. I am grateful to the authors and manuscript reviewers who have contributed to the journal since I became editor in 1983.

Editors are privileged to be close up to an academic field of research and study. That is, to be close enough to hear the many voices of scholars/researchers, close enough to watch the birth and maturation of new projects and approaches, and even close enough to take the pulse of the field from time to time. We describe the social sciences as being organic, which is how an editor experiences it, while we recognize that the journal can only provide its readers with static snapshots.

This was a year of many changes at Social Forces. Judith and I are extremely sad to lose Paul Mihas as the Managing Editor at the end of June, when the Journal moves completely to the Department of Sociology. With Paul's and Jennifer Ashlock's assistance we are well on our way to implementing electronic management of manuscripts and reviews, anticipating the full transition to online-submission capability sometime this summer.

The first article in this issue is Patricia Yancey Martin's presidential address that she delivered at the 2003 meetings of the Southern Sociological Society: "Gender as Social Institution." Following the peer-reviewed articles is a section that includes a paper by Michael Burawoy, "Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas and Possibilities," along with rejoinders by Fran�ois Nielsen, David Brady, and Charles Tittle. Catherine Zimmer, President of the North Carolina Sociological Association, introduces these four papers that are based on a session at the NCSA. Judith will continue to devote a short, bracketed section of each issue of Social Forces devoted to Commentary and Debate.