Hank – calm down. Our knowledge of sociology did not stop growing when you graduated college. In fact, thanks to technology, knowledge is expanding rapidly. The APA apology is the culmination of decades of study, work and research that you, somehow, failed to hear about, let alone learn. That is the reason, I suspect you have never been a certified sociologist – meaning your work has not been reviewed by your peers every few years.

Unfortunately, your field, sociology, falls short of current professional standards. Without certification and licensing requirements, practitioners fall behind. If you worked in a human resource department, marketing department or social service agency certification is not required, so you had no reason to keep up with new knowledge in your field.

You say, “Occasionally I'm invited to join the American Psychological Association.” The phrasing is so awkward, it suggests exaggeration, misunderstanding – or fibbing. If an invitation to join the APA, was all it took, you would have accepted it. But that is not the case. Psychologists are required to be licensed – meaning their work must be peer reviewed. An invitation to join the APA, was an invitation to prove your qualifications by getting yourself licensed.

Once a well respected and highly influential profession – like the APA – increases their standards, it sets higher benchmarks for all professions. Any profession that fails to meet those higher standards, loses value – rapidly. Stand by, Hank, until your profession starts holding practitioners to higher standards, it will lose value and so will every PhD in sociology. You cannot compete with professionals who invested in continuing education, while you did not.

Discovering how far behind you fell, is a blow to the ego. It is also a warning sign, that reads “catch up” or leave the profession.