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ajs-literature-positioning

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Use when positioning an American Journal of Sociology (AJS) manuscript within the literature so it reads as in dialogue with current sociology. AJS reviewers are assigned by readers who locate the paper's substantive area and method, and the journal prizes engagement with live theoretical debates. Maps the conversation; it does not write the literature review.

American-Journal-of-Sociology-Skills/skills/ajs-literature-positioning/SKILL.md

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# Literature Positioning (ajs-literature-positioning)

At AJS the literature section is where you prove the paper is **in dialogue with current sociology** —
the exact thing the journal screens for. AJS's assignment editors read a **blinded** manuscript to
infer its substantive area and method and then find reviewers who speak to it; your positioning is the
signal they read. This skill maps the conversation and locates your contribution in it.

## When to trigger

- Drafting or restructuring the literature/positioning section
- A reader said the paper "ignores obvious work," "reinvents the wheel," or "isn't in the conversation"
- Writing a **Comment** that must engage one published AJS paper precisely and fairly
- Deciding which debates to foreground for a generalist sociology readership
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