Austrian Sociological Society (ÖGS) is terminating its collective ISA membership

Protest of the Austrian Sociological Society (ÖGS) against the exclusion of the Israeli Sociological Society (ISS) by the International Sociological Association (ISA)

At the end of June 2025, the International Sociological Association (ISA) temporarily suspended the Israeli Sociological Society (ISS), one of its national members. The reason for this is that, in the opinion of the ISA Executive Committee, the ISS has not distanced itself clearly enough from Israeli policy in the Gaza war. The Austrian Sociological Association (ÖGS) expressly rejects this decision by the ISA and is terminating its collective ISA membership until further notice.

• It is the ISA’s own standard and mission to represent and interconnect sociologists worldwide, “regardless of their schools of thought, scientific approaches or ideological opinion” (Article 1, ISA Statutes).

• It is not the task of the ISA to make political comments on controversial issues on behalf of the ISA (like several times on the Gaza war) that have not even been agreed upon with its national members.

• It is not the task of the ISA to discipline (or even exclude) national members who do not share (or do not publicly express) the political opinion of the respective ISA Executive Committee.

Wars and armed conflicts should be the subject of international sociological conferences and debates. Societies such as the ISA should create places for open, critical discourse. Currently, the ISA clearly does not fulfill this requirement. The ÖGS is therefore terminating its ISA membership.

The ÖGS Executive Board

Statement in PDF format