Abstract

The American Sociological Association and the American Society for Public Administration are widely recognized as being among the premier professional associations in their respective fields within academia and beyond. Although a commitment to the promotion of ethical competence among their members is clearly viewed by both organizations as being central to the accomplishment of their missions, their techniques for doing so have included unique, as well as similar initiatives, to include, perhaps most importantly, periodic reviews and revisions of their marquee Codes of Ethics. While these reviews, which have been undertaken from an intra-disciplinary perspective, have been productive, it is the position of the authors that to approach future reviews of their ethics codes, and other ethics initiatives, from an interdisciplinary, collaborative perspective could serve to facilitate even more insightful modifications. To that end, this paper 1) provides a comprehensive, comparative overview of the ethics initiatives of the two professional associations, 2) presents a summary of what the authors will have learned with respect to the feasibility of continuing to pursue the proposed collaboration between the two associations, and 3) if it is determined that continuing efforts are warranted, presents a formal plan for moving the initiative forward toward a positive conclusion with regard to the ASA and ASPA as well as for potential expansion to other organizations.