The discourse community of Sociology can be seen as a highly educated group of people such as professors and professionals.  However, these professors are sharing studies and research articles with their students which widens the community to those who generally want to learn about sociology. Sociological research generally assumes that there is an educated and knowledgeable audience.  This allows for a necessity to explain one’s methods, data, and limitations precisely but also concisely due the reader’s assumed knowledge in the field.  While students are included in the sociological community, there is a fair amount of terms and jargon that would dissuade a non-major or less highly educated student from reading a research article.   This create a pretty small community that can understand terms such as the “sociological imagination” or  qualitative research methods.  It seems somewhat difficult with a structured community to widen to a larger population due to strict arrangement and educated discourse.

“I…use my scholarship against Native American mascots and other forms of racism in sport. I can point to some real impacts on public policy and have heard from some readers that my work has made a difference. Unfortunately, like much academic work, it has reached a very small set of readers—mostly other scholars and students.”

Rich King, president of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport.

Rich King studies the effects of discriminatory school mascots on the greater community.  Many, if not all, of the fields of sociological study can be attributed to “bettering society” in a broad sense.  King’s study could help to bring community discomfort to into the public and incite change.  A gender sociologist would show the general public the inequality in workforce wages while a criminal sociologist should be able to demonstrate that there is a huge disparity in the racial makeup of federal prisons versus the national population.  The ability for the general public to use sociological studies as support to change public policy isn’t common due to community discourse and regulation, such as the American Sociological Association, which makes it difficult to utilize by those who aren’t at a university or a professional sociologist. This association requires a member login that is traded for a monthly price in order to read many of the articles and reviews. By having a cost, the sociological community is maintained as an educated and professional community with a specialized discourse.