SPSSI Leaders: Collective Biography and the Dilemma of Value‐Laden Action and Value‐Neutral Research

This study provides a collective biography of Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)'s most recent cohort of leaders and compares their characteristics with those of previous generations of leaders. Unlike previous collective biographies, I use responses to an e‐mail questionnaire from 90 individuals who have been elected to SPSSI office, most since 1986. I examine the social categories to which individuals belong; educational experiences; the branch of psychology in which they received their PhD; and the role of collegial networks in the recruitment of leaders. I also introduce an historical perspective by comparing data on early and more recent cohorts of SPSSI leaders. Finally, through this study I explore possible links between leaders’ characteristics and their reasons for becoming involved in SPSSI. In particular, I examine relationships between the variables previously discussed and leaders’ reasons for being involved in SPSSI, with special attention to differential views about the role of values in research.