This is a program to provide small research grants to sociologists, supporting pilot projects, modest research travel needs, and occasional conferences to advance a variety of research areas in sociology. The current grant continues the Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline of the American Sociological Association. The Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline program aims to nurture the development of scientific knowledge by supporting small, groundbreaking research initiatives and other important scientific activities. Through ASA's coordination and outreach, funds are allocated expeditiously for scholars to engage in exploratory research where support from other sources would be difficult to acquire. Thus, these small grants constitute an invaluable form of venture capital for research that has potential for challenging the discipline, for stimulating new lines of scientific research, and for facilitating new networks of scientific collaboration. The Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline provides opportunities for substantive and methodological breakthroughs, broadens the dissemination of scientific knowledge, and provides leverage for acquisition of additional research funds from other sources. These small grants made through the American Sociological Association are a highly efficient way to stimulate new research approaches, and maintain the intellectual vitality of scientific sociology.
