Download or read book What s Wrong with Sociology written by Stephen Cole and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1950s sociology has experienced a decline in prestige when compared with the other social sciences. In some highly publicized cases some universities have retrenched their sociology departments, others are contemplating either retrenchment or downsizing of their departments. Although there are some practitioners of the discipline who believe that it has never been in better shape, many sociologists have come to believe that there are very serious problems both in the cognitive and social organization of the discipline. This book contains sixteen essays by sociologists who believe that their discipline faces very serious problems which must be overcome if the discipline is to survive and prosper. The contributors were selected to represent diverse views and thus there is substantial disagreement among them over what the problems are that sociology faces and how they may be remedied. In this highly provocative book readers is likely to find some essays they agree with and others they disagree with; but all the essays present important problems faced by the discipline which must be addressed.Although the authors of the sixteen essays do not agree on what is wrong with the discipline, there are some themes which appear frequently. In his introduction Cole summarizes and comments on these themes. His introduction centers on the question of whether sociology is entirely socially constructed. Is what we believe to be true about society constrained by empirical evidence or is it a result of our ideology, power, authority, and other social processes? One theme which appears in many of the essays is that sociology has become too ideological and as a result has lost credibility among university administrators, politicians and the general public. Many of the essays also stress the view that there are very low levels of consensus in sociology and that it is hard to see evidence of progress. Others criticize the discipline for not dealing with the really important social issues and see much of the work published as being parochial and trivial. Questions are also raised about why the use of causal models has failed to generate solutions to most of the problems the discipline addresses. Some authors believe that the discipline adheres to an overly rational model of human behavior and has failed to keep up with some of the advances introduced by post-modernist theories.This highly readable set of essays should be of interest to all those are concerned about the current state of sociology. They will also be useful in introducing graduate students to some of the most important issues currently being debated in the field.Stephen Cole is currently professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and professor of sociology at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is the author of Making Science: Between Nature and Society, and with Jonathan R. Cole, Social Stratification in Science.
Download or read book Sociology A Very Short Introduction written by Steve Bruce and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-20 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on studies of social class, crime and deviance, education, work in bureaucracies and changes in religious and political organizations, this Very Short Introduction explores the tension between the individual's place in society and society's role in shaping the individual, and demonstrates the value of sociology for understanding the modern world. In this new edition Steve Bruce discusses the continuing arguments for social egalitarianism, considering issues such as gay marriage, women in combat roles, and the 2010 Equality Act to debunk contemporary arguments against parity. As gender divisions are increasingly questioned he looks ahead to the likely consequences of this for society. Delving into the theory of sociology, Bruce also argues that the habit of dividing sociology into apparently competing 'sects' is misleading, and shows how a new understanding of the disciplinary background of many of the most famous theorists, which shows that much social theory is actually philosophy or literary theory, will prove useful to today's sociologists. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Is Killing Wrong written by Mark Cooney and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2009-10-07 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Thou shalt not kill" is arguably the most basic moral and legal principle in any society. Yet while some killers are pilloried and punished, others are absolved and acquitted, and still others are lauded and lionized. Why? The traditional answer is that how killers are treated depends on the nature of their killing, whether it was aggressive or defensive, intentional or accidental. But those factors cannot explain the enormous variation in legal officials' and citizens' responses to real-life homicides. Cooney argues that a radically new style of thought—pure sociology—can. Conceived by the sociologist Donald Black, pure sociology makes no reference to psychology, to any single person's intent, or even to individuals as such. Instead, pure sociology explains behavior in terms of its social geometry—its location and direction in a multidimensional social space. Is Killing Wrong? provides the most comprehensive assessment of pure sociology yet attempted. Drawing on data from well over one hundred societies, including the modern-day United States, it represents the most thorough account yet of case-level social control, or the response to conduct defined as wrong. In doing so, it demonstrates that the law and morality of homicide are neither universal nor relative but geometrical, as predicted by Black's theory.
Download or read book The Problem of Sociology written by David Lee and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1983 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic introductory text for students. Major sociological theories are clearly explained and it is shown how they can illuminate contemporary social problems.
Download or read book Sociological Theory What Went Wrong written by Nicos Mouzelis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written with precision and clarity, this is a compelling analysis of the central problems of sociological theory today and of the means to resolve them. Argues that we should build on ideas from the 50s and 60s, and not dismiss them.
Download or read book The Sacred Project of American Sociology written by Christian Smith and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sacred Project of American Sociology shows, counter-intuitively, that the secular enterprise that everyday sociology appears to be pursuing is actually not what is really going on at sociology's deepest level. Sociology today is in fact animated by sacred impulses, driven by sacred commitments, and serves a sacred project. This book re-asserts a vision for what sociology is most important for, in contrast with its current commitments, and calls sociologists back to a more honest, fair, and healthy vision of its purpose.
Download or read book What s Wrong with the Poor written by Mical Raz and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1960s, policymakers and mental health experts joined forces to participate in President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. In her insightful interdisciplinary history, physician and historian Mical Raz examines the interplay between psychiatric theory and social policy throughout that decade, ending with President Richard Nixon's 1971 veto of a bill that would have provided universal day care. She shows that this cooperation between mental health professionals and policymakers was based on an understanding of what poor men, women, and children lacked. This perception was rooted in psychiatric theories of deprivation focused on two overlapping sections of American society: the poor had less, and African Americans, disproportionately represented among America's poor, were seen as having practically nothing. Raz analyzes the political and cultural context that led child mental health experts, educators, and policymakers to embrace this deprivation-based theory and its translation into liberal social policy. Deprivation theory, she shows, continues to haunt social policy today, profoundly shaping how both health professionals and educators view children from low-income and culturally and linguistically diverse homes.
Download or read book Sociology and the Race Problem written by James B. McKee and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing developments in the sociology of race relations from the 1920s to the 1960s, McKee maintains that sociologists assumed the United States would move unimpeded toward modernization and assimilation, aided by industrialization and urbanization. The fatal flaw in their perspective was the notion that blacks were culturally inferior, backward, and pre-modern, a people who had lost their own culture and couldn't grasp that of their new society. Designed to detail a failure the author says is widely acknowledged but little examined, this book will be of interest to both specialists and general readers. "Masterful. . . . McKee transports the reader back to the intellectual world in which the early sociologists worked and does not simply treat them as evil racists. His approach is informed by the sociology of knowledge." -- Lewis M. Killian, author of The Impossible Revolution, Phase 2: Black Power and the American Dream
Download or read book Political Sociology and the People s Health written by Jason Beckfield and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-10 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A social epidemiologist looks at health inequalities in terms of the upstream factors that produced them. A political sociologist sees these same inequalities as products of institutions that unequally allocate power and social goods. Neither is wrong -- but can the two talk to one another? In a stirring new synthesis, Political Sociology and the People's Health advances the debate over social inequalities in health by offering a new set of provocative hypotheses around how health is distributed in and across populations. It joins political sociology's macroscopic insights into social policy, labor markets, and the racialized and gendered state with social epidemiology's conceptualizations and measurements of populations, etiologic periods, and distributions. The result is a major leap forward in how we understand the relationships between institutions and inequalities -- and essential reading for those in public health, sociology, and beyond.
Download or read book Lower Ed written by Tressie McMillan Cottom and published by New Press, The. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than two million students are enrolled in for-profit colleges, from the small family-run operations to the behemoths brandished on billboards, subway ads, and late-night commercials. These schools have been around just as long as their bucolic not-for-profit counterparts, yet shockingly little is known about why they have expanded so rapidly in recent years—during the so-called Wall Street era of for-profit colleges. In Lower Ed Tressie McMillan Cottom—a bold and rising public scholar, herself once a recruiter at two for-profit colleges—expertly parses the fraught dynamics of this big-money industry to show precisely how it is part and parcel of the growing inequality plaguing the country today. McMillan Cottom discloses the shrewd recruitment and marketing strategies that these schools deploy and explains how, despite the well-documented predatory practices of some and the campus closings of others, ending for-profit colleges won't end the vulnerabilities that made them the fastest growing sector of higher education at the turn of the twenty-first century. And she doesn't stop there. With sharp insight and deliberate acumen, McMillan Cottom delivers a comprehensive view of postsecondary for-profit education by illuminating the experiences of the everyday people behind the shareholder earnings, congressional battles, and student debt disasters. The relatable human stories in Lower Ed—from mothers struggling to pay for beauty school to working class guys seeking "good jobs" to accomplished professionals pursuing doctoral degrees—illustrate that the growth of for-profit colleges is inextricably linked to larger questions of race, gender, work, and the promise of opportunity in America. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews with students, employees, executives, and activists, Lower Ed tells the story of the benefits, pitfalls, and real costs of a for-profit education. It is a story about broken social contracts; about education transforming from a public interest to a private gain; and about all Americans and the challenges we face in our divided, unequal society.
Download or read book The Scholar Denied written by Aldon Morris and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking book, Aldon D. Morris’s ambition is truly monumental: to help rewrite the history of sociology and to acknowledge the primacy of W. E. B. Du Bois’s work in the founding of the discipline. Calling into question the prevailing narrative of how sociology developed, Morris, a major scholar of social movements, probes the way in which the history of the discipline has traditionally given credit to Robert E. Park at the University of Chicago, who worked with the conservative black leader Booker T. Washington to render Du Bois invisible. Morris uncovers the seminal theoretical work of Du Bois in developing a “scientific” sociology through a variety of methodologies and examines how the leading scholars of the day disparaged and ignored Du Bois’s work. The Scholar Denied is based on extensive, rigorous primary source research; the book is the result of a decade of research, writing, and revision. In exposing the economic and political factors that marginalized the contributions of Du Bois and enabled Park and his colleagues to be recognized as the “fathers” of the discipline, Morris delivers a wholly new narrative of American intellectual and social history that places one of America’s key intellectuals, W. E. B. Du Bois, at its center. The Scholar Denied is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, racial inequality, and the academy. In challenging our understanding of the past, the book promises to engender debate and discussion.
Download or read book An Introduction to Sociology written by Anthony Giddens and published by . This book was released on 2000-04-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Problem of Sociology written by David Lee and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1983. Designed for first-year graduates, this book provides an introduction to key themes and research in sociology. Written by two lecturers and based on the long experience of teaching the subject, 'The Problem of Sociology' serves as an antidote to the conventional 'institutional' approach to sociology and avoids he artificial fragmentation of major theories and concepts in common to so many introductory texts. From this text, the student is able to develop a clear understanding of what makes sociology a distinct and rigorous discipline; a discipline which has evolved historically through the analysis of certain fundamental issues, many of which continue to have a contemporary relevance. And while introducing the student to classical theory, the authors also show how these theories illuminate present social problems.
Download or read book The Sociology of Religion written by George Lundskow and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2008-06-10 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a lively narrative, The Sociology of Religion is an insightful text that investigates the facts of religion in all its great diversity, including its practices and beliefs, and then analyzes actual examples of religious developments using relevant conceptual frameworks. As a result, students actively engage in the discovery, learning, and analytical processes as they progress through the text. Organized around essential topics and real-life issues, this unique text examines religion both as an object of sociological analysis as well as a device for seeking personal meaning in life. The book provides sociological perspectives on religion while introducing students to relevant research from interdisciplinary scholarship. Sidebar features and photographs of religious figures bring the text to life for readers. Key Features Uses substantive and truly contemporary real-life religious issues of current interest to engage the reader in a way few other texts do Combines theory with empirical examples drawn from the United States and around the world, emphasizing a critical and analytical perspective that encourages better understanding of the material presented Features discussions of emergent religions, consumerism, and the link between religion, sports, and other forms of popular culture Draws upon interdisciplinary literature, helping students appreciate the contributions of other disciplines while primarily developing an understanding of the sociology of religion Accompanied by High-Quality Ancillaries! Instructor Resources on CD contain chapter outlines, summaries, multiple-choice questions, essay questions, and short answer questions as well as illustrations from the book. C Intended Audience This core text is designed for upper-level undergraduate students of Sociology of Religion or Religion and Politics.
Download or read book Making Science written by Stephen Cole and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sociology of science is dominated today by relativists who boldly argue that the content of science is not influenced by evidence from the empirical world but is instead socially constructed in the laboratory. Making Science is the first serious critique by a sociologist of the social constructivist position. Stephen Cole begins by making a distinction between two kinds of knowledge: the core, which consists of those contributions that have passed the test of evaluation and are universally accepted as true and important, and the research frontier, which is composed of all work in progress that is still under evaluation. Of the thousands of scientific contributions made each year, only a handful end up in the core. What distinguishes those that are successful? Agreeing with the constructivists, Cole argues that there exists no set of rules that enables scientists to certify the validity of frontier knowledge. This knowledge is "underdetermined" by the evidence, and therefore social factors--such as professional characteristics and intellectual authority--can and do play a crucial role in its evaluation. But Cole parts company with the constructivists when he asserts that it is impossible to understand which frontier knowledge wins a place in the core without first considering the cognitive characteristics of the contributions. He concludes that although the focus of scientific research, the rate of advance, and indeed the everyday making of science are influenced by social variables and processes, the content of the core of science is constrained by nature. In Making Science, Cole shows how social variables and cognitive variables interact in the evaluation of frontier knowledge.
Download or read book The Problem of the Color Line at the Turn of the Twentieth Century written by W. E. B. Du Bois and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2014-12-03 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early essays from the sociologist, displaying the beginnings of his views on politics, society, and Black Americans’ status in the United States. This volume assembles essential essays?some published only posthumously, others obscure, another only recently translated?by W. E. B. Du Bois from 1894 to early 1906. They show the first formulations of some of his most famous ideas, namely, “the veil,” “double-consciousness,” and the “problem of the color line.” Moreover, the deep historical sense of the formation of the modern world that informs Du Bois’s thought and gave rise to his understanding of “the problem of the color line” is on display here. Indeed, the essays constitute an essential companion to Du Bois’s 1903 masterpiece The Souls of Black Folk. The collection is based on two editorial principles: presenting the essays in their entirety and in strict chronological order. Copious annotation affords both student and mature scholar an unprecedented grasp of the range and depth of Du Bois’s everyday intellectual and scholarly reference. These essays commence at the moment of Du Bois’s return to the United States from two years of graduate-level study in Europe at the University of Berlin. At their center is the moment of Du Bois’s first full, self-reflexive formulation of a sense of vocation: as a student and scholar in the pursuit of the human sciences (in their still-nascent disciplinary organization?that is, the institutionalization of a generalized “sociology” or general “ethnology”), as they could be brought to bear on the study of the situation of the so-called Negro question in the United States in all of its multiply refracting dimensions. They close with Du Bois’s realization that the commitments orienting his work and intellectual practice demanded that he move beyond the institutional frames for the practice of the human sciences. The ideas developed in these early essays remained the fundamental matrix for the ongoing development of Du Bois’s thought. The essays gathered here will therefore serve as the essential reference for those seeking to understand the most profound registers of this major American thinker. “A seminal contribution to the history of modern thought. Compiled and edited by the world’s preeminent scholar of early Du Boisian thought, these texts represent his most generative period, when Du Bois engaged every discipline, helped construct modern social science, employed critical inquiry as a weapon of antiracism and political liberation, and always set his sites on the entire world. We know this not by the essays alone, but by Nahum Dimitri Chandler’s brilliant, original, and quite riveting introduction. If you are coming to Du Bois for the first time of the 500th time, this book is a must-read.” —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
Download or read book Problem Solving Sociology written by Monica Prasad and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A broad resource that offers tools for how to conduct problem-solving sociology in order to deepen and reformulate our understanding of society. Most students arrive in graduate sociology programs eager to engage with the pressing social and political issues of the day. Yet that initial enthusiasm does not always survive the professional socialization of graduate school. In Problem-Solving Sociology, Monica Prasad shows graduate students and early career sociologists how to conduct research that uses sociological theory to help solve real-world problems, and how to use problem-solving to improve sociological theory. Prasad discusses how to be objective when examining issues of injustice and oppression, and provides methodological strategies and plenty of exercises for research aimed at creating change. She gives examples throughout of problem-solving research conducted at all levels, from undergraduate theses to the major figures of the discipline. She also considers how to respond to some common objections; where problem-solving fits into the landscape of sociological practice; and how to build a life in problem-solving.
