Download or read book Second Thoughts written by Janet M. Ruane and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2019-06-06 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is it true that "numbers don′t lie?" Is America "the land of equal opportunity?" Is marriage a "dying institution?" Each of the 23 essays in Second Thoughts reviews a familiar conventional wisdom, and introduces relevant sociological concepts and theories in order to explain, qualify, and sometimes debunk that conventional wisdom.
Download or read book Second Thoughts written by Janet M. Ruane and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2014-08-21 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Co-authored by Karen A. Cerulo, the Eastern Sociological Society’s Robin L. Williams Lecturer for 2013-2014 Do birds of a feather flock together or do opposites attract? Is honesty the best policy? Are children our most precious commodity? Is education the great equalizer? Adages like these shape our social life. This Sixth Edition of Second Thoughts reviews several popular beliefs and notes how these conventional wisdoms cannot be taken at face value, but instead require careful second thoughts. This unique text encourages students to step back and sharpen their analytic focus with 25 essays that use social research to expose the gray areas of commonly held beliefs, revealing the complexity of social reality and sharpening students’ sociological vision.
Download or read book Second Thoughts written by Janet M. Ruane and published by Pine Forge Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learning More About It Exercises SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE ECONOMY Essay 20 Welfare Is Ruining This Country A frequently expressed opinion when talk turns to welfare reform is that too many people are on the dole and too many recipients have other options. In this essay, we review some of the least understood dimensions of welfare and explore exactly where welfare moneys are going. Learning More About It Exercises Essay 21 Immigrants Are Ruining This Nation?Why don?t you go back where you came from?? This angry cry seems to be getting more and more familiar as the United States faces the highest levels of immigration in its history. Is immigration ruining this nation? This essay reviews the historical impact and future trends of immigration in the United States. Learning More About It Exercises SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY Essay 22 Technology Is Taking Over Our Lives This essay examines new communication technologies and explores their role in contemporary social life. We begin by considering the ways in which technology has changed the development of community and intimacy. We explore as well the impact of new technologies on our definitions of social relations, social actors, and the public and private spheres. Learning More About It Exercises SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION Essay 23 Education Is the Great Equalizer Conventional wisdom tells us that educating the masses will bring equal opportunities to people of all races, ethnicities, and genders. In this essay, we explore the truth of this claim and review the progress we have made in bringing a quality education to all. Learning More About It Exercises SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION Essay 24: We Are One Nation Under God God bless America ... it?s an invocation frequently heard across the U.S. Yet, in light of our country?s long standing commitment to the separation of church and state, God bless America is also a prayer that can make some uncomfortable. Are we united or divided with regard to the place of God in our nation? This essay explores the issue. Learning More About It Exercises Conclusion: Why Do Conventional Wisdoms Persist? The Positive Functions of Conventional Wisdom Conventional Wisdom as Knowledge In Closing Learning More About It References Glossary / Index.
Download or read book The Real World written by Kerry Ferris and published by W. W. Norton. This book was released on 2018 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In every chapter, Ferris and Stein use examples from everyday life and pop culture to draw students into thinking sociologically and to show the relevance of sociology to their relationships, jobs, and future goals. Data Workshops in every chapter give students a chance to apply theoretical concepts to their personal lives and actually do sociology.
Download or read book Race Monogamy and Other Lies They Told You written by Agustín Fuentes and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-05 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are three major myths of human nature: humans are divided into biological races; humans are naturally aggressive; and men and women are truly different in behavior, desires, and wiring. In an engaging and wide-ranging narrative, Agustín Fuentes counters these pervasive and pernicious myths about human behavior. Tackling misconceptions about what race, aggression, and sex really mean for humans, Fuentes incorporates an accessible understanding of culture, genetics, and evolution, requiring us to dispose of notions of “nature or nurture.” Presenting scientific evidence from diverse fields—including anthropology, biology, and psychology—Fuentes devises a myth-busting toolkit to dismantle persistent fallacies about the validity of biological races, the innateness of aggression and violence, and the nature of monogamy and differences between the sexes. A final chapter plus an appendix provide a set of take-home points on how readers can myth-bust on their own. Accessible, compelling, and original, this book is a rich and nuanced account of how nature, culture, experience, and choice interact to influence human behavior.
Download or read book Scorecasting written by Tobias Moskowitz and published by Crown. This book was released on 2012-01-17 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Scorecasting, University of Chicago behavioral economist Tobias Moskowitz teams up with veteran Sports Illustrated writer L. Jon Wertheim to overturn some of the most cherished truisms of sports, and reveal the hidden forces that shape how basketball, baseball, football, and hockey games are played, won and lost. Drawing from Moskowitz's original research, as well as studies from fellow economists such as bestselling author Richard Thaler, the authors look at: the influence home-field advantage has on the outcomes of games in all sports and why it exists; the surprising truth about the universally accepted axiom that defense wins championships; the subtle biases that umpires exhibit in calling balls and strikes in key situations; the unintended consequences of referees' tendencies in every sport to "swallow the whistle," and more. Among the insights that Scorecasting reveals: • Why Tiger Woods is prone to the same mistake in high-pressure putting situations that you and I are • Why professional teams routinely overvalue draft picks • The myth of momentum or the "hot hand" in sports, and why so many fans, coaches, and broadcasters fervently subscribe to it • Why NFL coaches rarely go for a first down on fourth-down situations--even when their reluctance to do so reduces their chances of winning. In an engaging narrative that takes us from the putting greens of Augusta to the grid iron of a small parochial high school in Arkansas, Scorecasting will forever change how you view the game, whatever your favorite sport might be.
Download or read book Soul Searching The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers written by Christian Smith Dr William R Kenan Jr Professor of Sociology University of Notre Dame and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005-01-25 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In innumerable discussions and activities dedicated to better understanding and helping teenagers, one aspect of teenage life is curiously overlooked. Very few such efforts pay serious attention to the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents. But many teenagers are very involved in religion. Surveys reveal that 35% attend religious services weekly and another 15% attend at least monthly. 60% say that religious faith is important in their lives. 40% report that they pray daily. 25% say that they have been "born again." Teenagers feel good about the congregations they belong to. Some say that faith provides them with guidance and resources for knowing how to live well. What is going on in the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers? What do they actually believe? What religious practices do they engage in? Do they expect to remain loyal to the faith of their parents? Or are they abandoning traditional religious institutions in search of a new, more authentic "spirituality"? This book attempts to answer these and related questions as definitively as possible. It reports the findings of The National Study of Youth and Religion, the largest and most detailed such study ever undertaken. The NYSR conducted a nationwide telephone survey of teens and significant caregivers, as well as nearly 300 in-depth face-to-face interviews with a sample of the population that was surveyed. The results show that religion and spirituality are indeed very significant in the lives of many American teenagers. Among many other discoveries, they find that teenagers are far more influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of their parents and caregivers than commonly thought. They refute the conventional wisdom that teens are "spiritual but not religious." And they confirm that greater religiosity is significantly associated with more positive adolescent life outcomes. This eagerly-awaited volume not only provides an unprecedented understanding of adolescent religion and spirituality but, because teenagers serve as bellwethers for possible future trends, it affords an important and distinctive window through which to observe and assess the current state and future direction of American religion as a whole.
Download or read book Race Matters 25th Anniversary written by Cornel West and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2017-12-05 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of the groundbreaking classic, with a new introduction First published in 1993, on the one-year anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, Race Matters became a national best seller that has gone on to sell more than half a million copies. This classic treatise on race contains Dr. West’s most incisive essays on the issues relevant to black Americans, including the crisis in leadership in the Black community, Black conservatism, Black-Jewish relations, myths about Black sexuality, and the legacy of Malcolm X. The insights Dr. West brings to these complex problems remain relevant, provocative, creative, and compassionate. In a new introduction for the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition, Dr. West argues that we are in the midst of a spiritual blackout characterized by imperial decline, racial animosity, and unchecked brutality and terror as seen in Baltimore, Ferguson, and Charlottesville. Calling for a moral and spiritual awakening, Dr. West finds hope in the collective and visionary resistance exemplified by the Movement for Black Lives, Standing Rock, and the Black freedom tradition. Now more than ever, Race Matters is an essential book for all Americans, helping us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium.
Download or read book Introducing Social Research Methods written by Janet M. Ruane and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-12-08 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introducing Social Research Methods: Essentials for Getting the Edge is a concise and student-friendly introduction to research methods that uses examples from around the world to illustrate the centrality of social science research in our everyday lives. Explains complex, multi-faceted concepts and methodologies in straightforward prose Designed for students who are new to or skeptical of social science research methods as useful tools for approaching real-world challenges Persuasively argues that social scientific proficiency unlocks an array of personal and professional opportunities beyond the realms of academia A supplementary website features a glossary, test bank, Power Point presentations, a comprehensive list of web resources, a guide to relevant TED lectures and much more
Download or read book Dreams of a Lifetime written by Karen A. Cerulo and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-06-21 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How social status shapes our dreams of the future and inhibits the lives we envision for ourselves Most of us understand that a person’s place in society can close doors to opportunity, but anything is possible when we dream about what might be, or so we think. Dreams of a Lifetime reveals that what and how we dream—and whether we believe our dreams can actually come true—are tied to our social class, gender, race, age, and life events. Karen Cerulo and Janet Ruane argue that our social location shapes the seemingly private and unique life of our minds. We are all free to dream about possibilities, but not all dreamers are equal. Cerulo and Ruane show how our social position ingrains itself on our mind’s eye, quietly influencing the nature of our dreams, whether we embrace dreaming or dream at all, and whether we believe that our dreams, from the attainable to the improbable, can become realities. They explore how inequalities stemming from social disadvantages pattern our dreams for ourselves, and how sociocultural disparities in how we dream exacerbate social inequalities and limit the life paths we believe are open to us. Drawing on a wealth of original interviews with people from diverse social backgrounds, Dreams of a Lifetime demonstrates how the study of our dreams can provide new avenues for understanding and combating inequality—including inequalities that precede action or outcome.
Download or read book Tuesdays with Morrie written by Mitch Albom and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-06-29 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A special 25th anniversary edition of the beloved book that has changed millions of lives with the story of an unforgettable friendship, the timeless wisdom of older generations, and healing lessons on loss and grief—featuring a new afterword by the author “A wonderful book, a story of the heart told by a writer with soul.”—Los Angeles Times “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was his college professor Morrie Schwartz. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn’t you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man’s life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final “class”: lessons in how to live. “The truth is, Mitch,” he said, “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie’s lasting gift with the world.
Download or read book Connecting with Muslims written by Fouad Masri and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2014-03-31 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 12th Annual Outreach Resource of the Year (Cross-Cultural) How can we build bridges with Muslims? Muslims are our coworkers, neighbors and friends. But Christians don't always know how to build relationships with Muslims. Fouad Masri provides practical ways for Christians to initiate conversations and develop relationships with Muslims. He offers insights into Muslim culture and helps Christians understand and relate their Muslim friends. Masri addresses seven common questions that Muslims ask about Jesus and the Christian faith, providing sensitive answers that winsomely guide Muslims to Jesus without arguing or awkward debating. With real-life stories of fruitful conversations and genuine relationships, Masri helps readers see Muslims as Jesus sees them, without fear, with love, hope and expectation. You don't need a Ph.D. in Islam to share your faith with a Muslim. You just need the heart of an ambassador. Discover how.
Download or read book Second Thoughts Sociology Challenges Conventional Wisdom written by Janet M. Ruane and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2011-06-07 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do birds of a feather flock together or do opposites attract? Does haste make waste or should you strike while the iron is hot? Adages like these—or conventional wisdoms—shape our social life. This Fifth Edition of Second Thoughts reviews several popular beliefs and notes how such adages cannot be taken at face value. This unique text encourages students to step back and sharpen their analytic focus with 24 essays that use social research to expose the gray areas of commonly held beliefs, revealing the complexity of social reality and sharpening students’ sociological vision.
Download or read book Modernity At Large written by Arjun Appadurai and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Black Feminist Thought written by Patricia Hill Collins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-06-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In spite of the double burden of racial and gender discrimination, African-American women have developed a rich intellectual tradition that is not widely known. In Black Feminist Thought, Patricia Hill Collins explores the words and ideas of Black feminist intellectuals as well as those African-American women outside academe. She provides an interpretive framework for the work of such prominent Black feminist thinkers as Angela Davis, bell hooks, Alice Walker, and Audre Lorde. The result is a superbly crafted book that provides the first synthetic overview of Black feminist thought.
Download or read book Markets without Limits written by Jason F. Brennan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-20 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: May you sell your vote? May you sell your kidney? May gay men pay surrogates to bear them children? May spouses pay each other to watch the kids, do the dishes, or have sex? Should we allow the rich to genetically engineer gifted, beautiful children? Should we allow betting markets on terrorist attacks and natural disasters? Most people shudder at the thought. To put some goods and services for sale offends human dignity. If everything is commodified, then nothing is sacred. The market corrodes our character. Or so most people say. In Markets without Limits, Jason Brennan and Peter Jaworski give markets a fair hearing. The market does not introduce wrongness where there was not any previously. Thus, the authors claim, the question of what rightfully may be bought and sold has a simple answer: if you may do it for free, you may do it for money. Contrary to the conservative consensus, they claim there are no inherent limits to what can be bought and sold, but only restrictions on how we buy and sell.
Download or read book The Not So Special Interests written by Matt Grossmann and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-11 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Lobbyist" tends to be used as a dirty word in politics. Indeed, during the 2008 presidential primary campaign, Hillary Clinton was derided for even suggesting that some lobbyists represent "real Americans." But although many popular commentators position interest groups as representatives of special—not "public"—interests, much organized advocacy is designed to advance public interests and ideas. Advocacy organizations—more than 1,600 of them—are now an important component of national political institutions. This book uses original data to explain why certain public groups, such as Jews, lawyers, and gun-owners, develop substantially more representation than others, and why certain organizations become the presumed spokespersons for these groups in government and media. In contrast to established theory and conventional wisdom, this book demonstrates that groups of all sizes and types generate advocates to speak on their behalf, though with varying levels of success. Matt Grossmann finds that the advantages of organized representation accrue to those public groups that are the most politically motivated and involved in their communities. Organizations that mobilize members and create a long-lasting presence in Washington become, in the minds of policymakers and reporters, the taken-for-granted surrogates for these public groups. In the face of perennial debates about the relative power of the people and the special interests, Grossmann offers an informed and nuanced view of the role of organizations in public representation and American governance.
