About

Focus and Scope

Theory and Social Inquiry is dedicated to analyzing all facets and dimensions of social life, from micro-level interactions between individuals to the durable institutions that organize societies at a macro level. Our modal article asks big questions, theorizes boldly, and draws on thorough empirical research to arrive at knowledge that often challenges conventional wisdom. We endorse the principle that a critical analysis of existing social structures and social processes is not divorced from – but an important source of – scientific discovery. The journal values rigorous humanistic inquiry as well as historical perspectives on continuity and change. We are open to the full range of social scientific methods, including scholarship that draws on new and innovative approaches under the rubric of problem-solving sociology and engaged research. Theory-inspired, theory-driven, and theory-relevant social science takes many forms. Theory and Social Inquiry is interested in all these modes.

Journal History

Theory and Social Inquiry is the descendant of the journal Theory and Society, which began publication in 1974. Founded by best-selling American sociologist Alvin W. Gouldner, the original journal was designed as a forum in which to confront intellectual “dinosaurs” (as Gouldner called them) and explicitly to advance scholarship devoted to the “renewal and critique” of established traditions of social theory and empirical research, with the aim of attaining a better comparative-historical understanding of the social world and coming to practical terms with its hardened structures and future possibilities. In the decades that followed, the journal held to this mission, adapting it to world-wide and world-historical social and intellectual transformations, through the publication of award-winning articles on a wide range of topics.

Throughout its successful, first 50-year run, Theory and Society reflected the intellectual diversity of the social sciences, pushing their boundaries and welcoming emerging theoretical perspectives, novel methodological approaches, fresh lines of empirical research, and critical stances towards a broad range of social structures and social processes.

In 2024 the journal, as it existed up to that point, was succeeded by a journal bearing the same name but concerned with other objectives. Theory and Social Inquiry embodies the spirit of the original Theory and Society, cast to address the intellectual questions and social challenges of the next half-century.

Publication Frequency

The journal is published online as a continuous volume and issue throughout the year. Articles are made available as soon as they are ready to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays in making content publicly available.

Special Issues of articles are welcomed and will be published as part of the normal issue, but also within a separate collection page.

Publication Fees

There are no publication fees. This journal is published by the Open Library of Humanities (OLH). Unlike many open-access publishers, the OLH does not charge any author fees. This does not mean that we do not have costs. Instead, our costs are paid by an international library consortium.

Voluntary Author Contributions

Authors who have access to institutional funds or grant funding earmarked for Open Access publication (via a research grant or through their institution's department or library)—and only those authors—are kindly asked to use those funds to cover the publication costs for their article in Theory and Social Inquiry through a Voluntary Author Contribution (VAC). The VAC is genuinely voluntary. Whether or not the author is able to contribute makes absolutely no difference to editorial decision-making on the submission. For further information please see the publisher's policy on VACs.

Archiving and Indexing

Theory and Social Inquiry is archived and indexed according to the publisher's policy.