Editor's Note

This issue of Social Forces being the first under my editorship, I most especially want to thank Richard Simpson for his graciousness and kindness during the last year, while I was co-editor. During the past year, we had two serious training meetings — both martini luncheons at the Southern Seasons restaurant. Dick's motive, I believe, for selecting this informal, and "grown-up" (!) venue, was to reassure me that I qualified for the job. Meeting at the office would not have made such an impression on me. These are important shoes to fill. None that I know has the capacious knowledge of sociology and of social science that Dick Simpson does. He is a paragon in his commitment to scholarly excellence, professional ethics, and scientific integrity. I speak for both of us in thanking Margaret Gibbs, assistant to the editors, and Paul Mihas, managing editor. They helped us through the editorial transition and the introduction of new technologies in our office. We also thank the Southern Sociological Society for its helpful advisory and consultative role, and in particular, Cathy Zimmer, chair of the SSS Publication Committee. The members of the Society are our premier readers, all receiving a subscription to the Journal and I think of them as being our most loyal readers.

Technologies

We are in the process of adopting two technological capabilities — an electronic interface with authors and reviewers, and a web page for online posting and publication. We have adopted the software program, JournalTech, and currently using it to track manuscripts and for reviewers to submit their evaluations online, with the expectation that we will soon offer authors with the opportunity to submit their papers online. Two important features of our webpage will include a Discussion Page and a Publications Page. The first will serve the purpose of continuing discussions that are published in the journal in the section entitled "Commentary and Debate" or "Public Sociologies." (Section head will vary depending on the nature of the papers.) The articles in this section are solicited and will be exempt from double-blind reviewing.) Another second section of our web will be devoted to entries that we formally publish, and will be archived by Project Muse and JSTOR. These entries may include tables and appendices of papers that appear in the paper volume as well as reviewed articles that are not appropriate for one reason or another as paper publication. For example, lengthy papers are candidates for web publication, and so are lengthy rejoinders. Web publication allows the Journal to be innovative and to respond flexibly to new developments in the social sciences, but this is a cautious experiment and we will go slowly.

Articles

Twelve articles are grouped as follows: Unions (Dixon, Roscigno, and Hodson); Standards for fairness and inequality (Haller�d); Suppression of dissent (Rossman); Social wage and direct investment (Alderson); Commodity chains (Schrank); Environmental pollution (Fisher and Freudenburg); Absentee management and plant pollution (Grant, Jones, and Trautner); International science (Schofer); Capital punishment (Jacobs); Bilingualism (Linton); Adolescent networks (South and Haynie); Delinquency and networks (Kreager). Also featured in this issue, under the section, "Public Sociology," is a paper by Rodr�quez entitled, "A 'Long Walk to Freedom,' and Democracy," which is based on a paper presented at the 2004 meetings of the Southern Sociological Society, and a response by Iyall-Smith.

Finally, I wish to add that I believe that intellectual life has never been as exciting as it is now, and this is reflected in the quality and diversity of the papers that come across my desk. My thanks to the authors who send us their high-quality work, but most of all, to the reviewers who devote generously and unselfishly of their time to give their wisdom, advice, suggestions, and their praise to the work of their colleagues.