Download or read book Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist written by Peter L. Berger and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011-06-07 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter L. Berger is arguably the best-known American sociologist living today. Since the 1960s he has been publishing books on many facets of the American social scene, and several are now considered classics. So it may be hard to believe Professor Berger’s description of himself as an "accidental sociologist." But that in fact accurately describes how he stumbled into sociology. In this witty, intellectually stimulating memoir, Berger explains not only how he became a social scientist, but the many adventures that this calling has led to. Rather than writing an autobiography, he focuses on the main intellectual issues that motivated his work and the various people and situations he encountered in the course of his career. Full of memorable vignettes and colorful characters depicted in a lively narrative often laced with humor, Berger’s memoir conveys the excitement that a study of social life can bring. The first part of the book describes Berger’s initiation into sociology through the New School for Social Research, "a European enclave in the midst of Greenwich Village bohemia." Berger was first a student at the New School and later a young professor amidst a clique of like-minded individuals. There he published The Social Construction of Reality (with colleague Thomas Luckmann), one of his most successful books, followed by The Sacred Canopy on the sociology of religion, also still widely cited. The book covers Berger’s experience as a "globe-trekking sociologist" including trips to Mexico, where he studied approaches to Third World poverty; to East Asia, where he discovered the potential of capitalism to improve social conditions; and to South Africa, where he chaired an international study group on the future of post-Apartheid society. Berger then tells about his role as the director of a research center at Boston University. For over two decades he and his colleagues have been tackling such important issues as globalization, the secularization of Europe, and the ongoing dialectic between relativism and fundamentalism in contemporary culture. What comes across throughout is Berger’s boundless curiosity with the many ways in which people interact in society. This book offers longtime Berger readers as well as newcomers to sociology proof that the sociologist’s attempt to explain the world is anything but boring.
Download or read book The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity written by Robert K. Merton and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-28 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the names of cruise lines and bookstores to an Australian ranch and a nudist camp outside of Atlanta, the word serendipity--that happy blend of wisdom and luck by which something is discovered not quite by accident--is today ubiquitous. This book traces the word's eventful history from its 1754 coinage into the twentieth century--chronicling along the way much of what we now call the natural and social sciences. The book charts where the term went, with whom it resided, and how it fared. We cross oceans and academic specialties and meet those people, both famous and now obscure, who have used and abused serendipity. We encounter a linguistic sage, walk down the illustrious halls of the Harvard Medical School, attend the (serendipitous) birth of penicillin, and meet someone who "manages serendipity" for the U.S. Navy. The story of serendipity is fascinating; that of The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity, equally so. Written in the 1950s by already-eminent sociologist Robert Merton and Elinor Barber, the book--though occasionally and most tantalizingly cited--was intentionally never published. This is all the more curious because it so remarkably anticipated subsequent battles over research and funding--many of which centered on the role of serendipity in science. Finally, shortly after his ninety-first birthday, following Barber's death and preceding his own by but a little, Merton agreed to expand and publish this major work. Beautifully written, the book is permeated by the prodigious intellectual curiosity and generosity that characterized Merton's influential On the Shoulders of Giants. Absolutely entertaining as the history of a word, the book is also tremendously important to all who value the miracle of intellectual discovery. It represents Merton's lifelong protest against that rhetoric of science that defines discovery as anything other than a messy blend of inspiration, perspiration, error, and happy chance--anything other than serendipity.
Download or read book The New Sociology of Knowledge written by Michaela Pfadenhauer and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2013-09-06 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classical sociologist can be defined as someone whose "works occupied a central position among the sociological ideas and notions of an era." Following this criterion, Michaela Pfadenhauer demonstrates the relevance of Peter L. Berger’s work to the sociology of knowledge. Pfadenhauer shows that Berger is not only a sociologist of religion, but one whose works are characterized by a sociology-of-knowledge perspective. Berger stands out among his fellow social scientists both quantitatively and qualitatively. He has written numerous books, which have been translated into many languages, and a multitude of essays in scholarly journals and popular magazines. For decades, he has played a role in shaping both public debate and social scientific discourse in America and far beyond. As a sociologist of knowledge, Berger has played three roles: he has been a theoretician of modern life, an analyst of modern religiosity, and an empiricist of global economic culture. In all areas, the focus on processes rather than status quo is characteristic of Berger’s thinking. This book provides an in-depth view on the critical thinking of one of the most important sociologists that present times has to offer. It includes four written essays by Berger.
Download or read book The Study of Sociology written by Herbert Spencer and published by London, D. Appleton. This book was released on 1874 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Heretical Imperative written by Peter L. Berger and published by Doubleday Books. This book was released on 1980 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After ten years of writing in other areas, Peter L. Berger returns to the problem of religion and modernity discussed in his earlier book A rumor of angels. In The heretical imperative, however, not only is the argument developed further in terms of the challenge to religion of modern secularism, but it is also argued that a new and greatly promising encounter is about to take place between the Judaeo-Christian tradition and the great religions of Asia. Berger discusses the options for religious thought in the contemporary world and suggests that out of the confrontation between different traditions may come a powerful revitalization of religious faith.
Download or read book The Accidental Immigrant written by Kyriacos C. Markides and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-04-28 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Accidental Immigrant is the capstone work of world-renown author Professor Kyriacos C. Markides, based on his over fifty-year-quest for an authentic understanding of the true nature of Reality. As a teenager he arrived at the docs of New York in 1960 with the purported aim of earning a business degree and returning to his native Cyprus. Thanks to a string of uncanny coincidences he soon realized that the real meaning and purpose of his Atlantic crossing was not the acquisition of practical skills but the development of his social awareness and spiritual consciousness. This is the story, among other things, of his valiant struggles to assimilate within American society and culture, of his peace activism to help heal the wounds of ethnic strife in his native Island, and of his relentless quest for spiritual fulfillment within the challenging confines of the secular and agnostic world of modern academia. As a sociologist and a field researcher he shares with us his encounters with a variety of remarkable people that include colorful Christian shamans and healers possessors of paranormal gifts as well as charismatic monks and ascetics who exposed him to the magnificent spiritual wisdom of Eastern mystical Christianity. It is, among other things, these kinds of experiences that step by step led him to realize that there is a deeper Truth over and beyond our physical and sensate universe that is the foundation and wellspring of everything that happens in our lives within the three-dimensional world. And it is this awareness that could eventually lead towards the integration of the best of science with the best of religion for the long-term survival of the human race.
Download or read book The Principles of Sociology written by Herbert Spencer and published by . This book was released on 1910 with total page 718 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Introduction to the Science of Sociology written by Robert Ezra Park and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 1534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Introduction to the Science of Sociology" by Robert Ezra Park, E. W. Burgess. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
Download or read book CliffsQuickReview Sociology written by George D Zgourides and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2000-07-24 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CliffsQuickReview course guides cover the essentials of your toughest classes. Get a firm grip on core concepts and key material, and test your newfound knowledge with review questions. CliffsQuickReview Sociology provides you with an in-depth review of the principles of sociology — the scientific study of human groups and social behavior. Because sociology examines how social relationships influence people's attitudes and how societies form and change, sociology has an incredibly broad scope. This guide boils sociology down to easy-to-understand terms and concepts, and as you work your way through this reference, you'll be ready to tackle such concepts as The sociological perspective and research methods Cultures and societies, and socialization Social groups and organizations Deviance, crime, and social control Social and global stratification Race and ethnicity, and sex and gender Economics, politics, education, marriage, family, and alternative lifestyles Religion, health, medicine Social change and movements CliffsQuickReview Sociology acts as a supplement to your textbook and to classroom lectures. Use this reference in any way that fits your personal style for study and review — you decide what works best with your needs. You can read it from cover to cover, or just use it when you need important information and put it back on the shelf for later. With titles available for all the most popular high school and college courses, CliffsQuickReview guides are a comprehensive resource that can help you get the best possible grades.
Download or read book Adventures in Sociology written by Melvin L. Kohn and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a rather strange book, as tends to be true of Memoirs. They of course have to be autobiographical, and are sometimes little more than that, but (to my mind, at least) a Memoir should be more than that: It should be about the life and times of the author. In my case, the life and times of the author comes down to what I like to call the author's adventures. In my case, too, those adventures are both what are ordinarily called adventures and what are sometimes called intellectual adventures. Put otherwise, the true hero of this tale is not Mel Kohn, but an academic field, Sociology. It is the story of the wonderful adventures I have had in a long lifetime of doing research, in this country and in several others, in the marvelous field of sociology. There are other ways of having adventures in sociology, in teaching or in administration for example, but in my case it was research. The basic theme of the entire book is an examination of the life of one sociologist - me - whose life illustrates a remarkable range of adventures, entirely contrary to most readers' expectations of what life in this professional domain entails. Moreover, half of my working life was spent working for a governmental organization, half for a university, suggesting that the adventures were there to be pursued no matter which of the primary career paths open to a sociologist one pursued. My argument is that a career in sociological research can lend itself to an exciting life of adventure, as it certainly did for this sociologist. I speak not of sociological teaching, nor of sociological activities of any other sort, as necessarily leading to an adventurous life. I only argue that sociological research can,"--
Download or read book It s Complicated written by Danah Boyd and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-25 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surveys the online social habits of American teens and analyzes the role technology and social media plays in their lives, examining common misconceptions about such topics as identity, privacy, danger, and bullying.
Download or read book Peter L Berger and the Sociology of Religion written by Titus Hjelm and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-08-23 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How and why did The Sacred Canopy by Peter L. Berger (1929–2017) become a classic? How have scholars used Berger's ideas over the past 50 years since its publication? How are these ideas relevant to the future of the sociology of religion? Peter L. Berger and the Sociology of Religion explores these questions by providing a broad overview of Berger's work, as well as more focussed studies. The chapters discuss both aspects of Berger's classic text: the 'systematic' sociological theorising on religion and the 'historical' theorising on secularisation. The articles also critically examine Berger's reversal regarding secularisation and the suggested 'desecularisation' of the world. The approaches range from disciplinary history to applications of Berger's ideas. The book includes contributions from Nancy Ammerman, Steve Bruce, David Feltmate, Effie Fokas, Titus Hjelm, D. Paul Johnson, Hubert Knoblauch, Silke Steets, Riyaz Timol, and Bryan S. Turner.
Download or read book The Adventure of Relevance written by Martin Savransky and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-06-16 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time where the relevance of the social sciences is under threat, this innovative book offers a speculative experimentation on the philosophy and methodology of the social sciences to rethink what 'relevance' is, and to cultivate a new ethos of knowledge-making for an eventful world. Engaging a diverse a range of thinkers including Alfred North Whitehead, Gilles Deleuze and Isabelle Stengers, as well as the American pragmatists John Dewey and William James, Martin Savransky challenges longstanding assumptions in the social sciences and argues that relevance is an event that is part and parcel of the immanent and situated processes by which things come to matter. He develops new conceptual tools for cultivating an empiricist ethos of inquiry that is attuned to the question of how things come to matter– an ethics that turns social inquiry into a veritable adventure. The result is an original and rigorous book that infuses knowledge-practices in the social sciences with new sensibilities, creative possibilities, and novel habits of thinking, knowing, and feeling.
Download or read book The Girls Who Went Away written by Ann Fessler and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade. “It would take a heart of stone not to be moved by the oral histories of these women and by the courage and candor with which they express themselves.” —The Washington Post “A remarkably well-researched and accomplished book.” —The New York Times Book Review “A wrenching, riveting book.” —Chicago Tribune In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the hidden social history of adoption before Roe v. Wade - and its lasting legacy. An adoptee who was herself surrendered during those years and recently made contact with her mother, Ann Fessler brilliantly brings to life the voices of more than a hundred women, as well as the spirit of those times, allowing the women to tell their stories in gripping and intimate detail.
Download or read book Pyramids Of Sacrifice written by Maurice Berger and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 1975-02-26 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fracture written by Ann Oakley and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2007-04-25 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Fracture' mixes personal experience with 'facts' derived from other literatures, including the history of medicine, neurology, the sociology of health and illness, philosophy, and legal discourses on the right to life and people as victims of a greedy litigation system.
Download or read book Sociologists Tales written by Katherine Twamley and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2015-04-15 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sociologists’ Tales brings together the thoughts and experiences of key UK sociologists from different generations of British sociology in reflecting on why they have chosen a career in sociology, how they have managed to do it and what advice they would offer the next generation.
