From Nomad to Glorious Research Assistant?

Labor unions are always hiring researchers. The pay's not awful and the training can be pretty good, from what I hear. If your degree taught you a lot of quant skills you'll be in a good position to get one of these jobs.

I am a research assistant (in psychiatry, not sociology, if it matters). The problem with jobs like mine is that they are often filled within the university system- they are posted on internal job boards, candidates are referred by word of mouth between professors, or the university may only allow such a job to be done by a student for course credit instead of pay. Without access to the internal connections, your chances are slim. You need to get access to the job boards of as many universities in NYC as you can; some listings will be public, so start with those. You may encounter a stumbling block because of your MA- universities have pay structures with salary floors for people with advanced degrees, which might make you too expensive to employ for some profs or labs.

It's unclear what sort of "position" you mean. It sounds like you want to do work that is almost always done by graduate students enrolled in MA/PhD programs. You can't make a career out of being and academic research assistant. It's part of the apprenticeship system. You might be able to get an administrative job in an academic department or center where research opportunities could arise. And you might be able to find work with a former professor who knows your abilities well -- I've employed former undergraduate student as assistants before. But the money won't be more than part-time, and erratic. There aren't f/t positions doing that which aren't graduate fellowships or grant funding one spends on one's own grad students or on specialized contract freelancers (like web developers, in my case). You might have better luck trying to find a gig working as an assistant for a journalist or non-fiction writer. Sometimes you see such positions advertised on craigslist.

(or work sometimes done by undergraduates, often with work-study funding)

I also should add that my position is full-time, with benefits, as was the previous research assistant job I had, as well as many of those advertised at the second University I mentioned.

Network, network, network. Since you're not a grad student and you don't have a traditional background, you're going to have to convince a PI (principle investigator) to take a chance on you. He or she also has to have money to hire someone, so you're probably looking at "soft money" projects. Start by doing your research. :) Contact the sponsored projects office of your local universities and find out how to obtain lists and updates of recently awarded research grants and contracts. Look up the project PIs and read their websites, publication histories, etc. and see if their work sounds like something you'd like to be involved with. Seek opportunities to meet these people through department and university events, or contact them directly about their work. If you hit it off, let them know about your interest in transitioning to a research career and ask them if they know of any opportunities for you to get your foot in the door as a research assistant (if they can't or don't want to hire you themselves, they may know of someone else). You might have to start out as a volunteer or as a low pay/no benefits temporary employee until you prove yourself.

Where I work all the reserch assistant positions are filled by former (unpaid) interns. But not all interns get hired. So try volunteering where you want to work, and be strategic about it.