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Thoroughly revised and updated in this fifth edition, Political Sociology: Power and Participation in the Modern World illustrates the broad social bases of politics and also shows how politics and governmental actions can influence the fate of nations and their citizens. Providing insight into recent political sociological theories, Anthony M. Orum and new coauthor John G. Dale help students make sense of the many major social and political changes taking place in the world today. They examine such timely topics as the economy and politics, states and societies, civil society and politics, basic forms of political rule, power and equality in modern America, political parties, and citizen participation.

Bringing together a wide variety of perspectives and ideas, this unique text also familiarizes students with recent scholarship on the American welfare state, social networks, and the business world. Throughout, the authors provide students with current assessments of popular incendiary topics, increasing their awareness and encouraging them to become more involved in the material.

Classic and comprehensive, Political Sociology: Power and Participation in the Modern World, Fifth Edition, is ideal for upper-level undergraduate courses in political sociology. ... Read more

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An authoritative, topical, and comprehensive reference to the key concepts and most important traditional and contemporary issues in medical sociology.

• Contains 35 chapters by recognized experts in the field, both established and rising young scholars
• Covers standard topics in the field as well as new and engaging issues such as bioterrorism, bioethics, and infectious disease
• Chapters are thematically arranged to cover the major issues of the sub-discipline
• Global range of contributors and an international perspective

Customer Reviews (6)

Satisfied customer
My book was in the condition that I was told it would be and it was received when I was told that it would be.

Medical Sociology
This text book is very easy to read and get right to the point. It is a very intersting read.

As Good as they say
The book itself is everything it promises to be.One caveat, the publicity mentions 35 chapters, there are still only 24.Nonetheless, it creates enthusiasm for the field.

Good Product to buy
I thought the product that you sent me was very good and it was very informative. I like the fact that when I submitted my order you sent me a confirmation letting me know that I will have it within a few days. I like the fact that I got in the timeframe that you listed and that is why I continue to shop at amazon. I went to another website and ordered a book from them and then they sent me a message back saying that they couldn't send out the book to me. This is after they took my money. So I will continue to get all my textbooks and anything else that I need from amazon from now on. Thank You for your services.

Medical Sociology
One of the most important books in the field. The book is very well written, with some pictures and graphics, meking the reading not difficult. I wiedly recomend this text asa guide in all type of curses in university concerning those problems related with the medecine exercise in occidental societies. ... Read more

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Cultural Sociology collects 31 seminal essays by renowned social thinkers that introduce cultural sociology to an emerging generation of students and scholars. ... Read more

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What is passionate sociology? Does sociology merit passion?

Too often the subject is taught as a dry and detached system of thought and practice. Passion is regarded as something to avoid or treated with suspicion. Now at last we have a book that argues frankly for passion as being necessary for sociology. The text is not simply about passionate sociology, it demonstrates passionate sociology.

This book deliberately sets out to excite students with an account of what sociology can achieve to help them understand their own lives and the social conditions of our own time. Introducing and developing a number of major themes - including identity, knowledge, metaphor, magic, desire, power, everyday life and cultural mediation - Passionate Sociology argues that students should analyze these themes through practices of reading, writing, speaking, learning, storytelling, performing and organizing. The authors bring students to the subject through a controlled engagement with practical sociological ideas and ways of seeing, and thus encourage readers to participate in the creative possibilities of sociology. Their aim is to sharpen and deepen experience and move beyond the meanings of passionate sociology, beyond our present outlook.

Designed for the needs of students at all levels, this book presents a particularly notable shift in introducing the study of sociology to newcomers. It offers a major challenge to established textbooks and points to inspiring new ways of approaching the subject.

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This brief and economical reader, edited by Jim Henslin, is specifically designed to be used as a companion to Sociology, A Down-to-Earth Approach: Core Concepts. There are two readings per text chapter, to support the kind of in-depth study of high-priority topics that Core Concepts is designed for.

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful
I use this book every week in my class. I have found the articles in it very interesting and it was in great shape when I got it. ... Read more

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The only text of its kind to explore central topics in sociology through feature films

This one-of-a-kind text takes readers beyond watching movies; it helps them “see” films sociologically and develops critical thinking and analytical skills that will be useful in college coursework and beyond. Cinematic Sociology's 15 essays from expert scholars in sociology and cultural studies explore the ways social life is presented-distorted, magnified, or politicized- in popular film. Exploring a variety of captivating classic and current films such as Forty Year Old Virgin, The Devil Wears Prada, North Country, and My Fair Lady, this unique book helps students to view films sociologically while also providing much needed pedagogy for teaching sociology through film.

Key Features

• Enhances students' understanding of sociological concepts. Each essay uses one or more feature films to illustrate key central topics in sociology: social class, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, work and family, global connections, and social change and the environment.
• Offers a framework for teaching sociology using film. This anthology provides instructors with an innovative and engaging method for teaching sociology; students are taught to see film as a type of "text" that can be analyzed and critiqued.
• Teaches students to identify sociological concepts in film. Traditional sociological concepts such as identity, interaction, inequality, and social institutions are analyzed in the context of feature films.
• Offers a comprehensive film index. The lengthy film index at the back of the book provides instructors and students with a resource for selecting films for critique and analysis.

Intended Audience

Cinematic Sociology: Social Life in Film is intended as a primary text for a wide variety of courses that use feature film as the medium for studying core areas in sociology from Introductory Sociology and Social Problems to Sociology through Film, Popular Culture, and Culture and Society.

Customer Reviews (1)

Cinematic Sociology: Social Life in Film
I think this book is very interesting because its approach is towards the social life in film.It's a different aspect about the Cinema industry.I am using it now for this semester and looks that is helpful.I will be able to tell more at the end of the semester.For now I like it. ... Read more

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With innovative graphics, "Introducing Sociology" traces the discipline's history, and explains the intricacies of its major thinkers from Comte and Marx to Baudrillard and beyond. ... Read more

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Basic Concepts In Sociology ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

an honest intellectual effort
I sympathize with Max Weber, who some considered the greatest scientist of his particular time and place. Those who consider themselves part of an elite intellectual effort to understand our situation ought to have some familiarity with the ideas in BASIC CONCEPTS IN SOCIOLOGY, in which Max Weber attempts to define how science defines an ideal type for particular forms of behavior and then considers other factors which make life much more fluid than any single concept could encompass. What seems strange to me a century later, was how often he could summon up enough optimism to make statements like:

"Only the final result of the conflict provides us with a solid basis for judgment. The verification of interpretation by results, i.e., the decisiveness of the actual course of events, is, as is true of all hypotheses, indispensible. Unfortunately, such verifiable interpretations can be obtained with relative accuracy only in a very few and special cases of the kind suitable for psychological experimentation; or, aiming at a different degree of approximation, through statistically quantifiable data of mass phenomena. For the rest, there remains only the possibility of comparing a maximum number of historical processes or routine phenomena of everyday experience and of similar appearance but differing substantially regarding the motivational factor under investigation. This is the fundamental task of comparative sociology. Unfortunately, there often remains only the uncertain instrument of purely hypothetical experiments, which ignores certain elements in the chain of motivation and leads instead to the construction of a merely probable course of events that might lend itself to causal attribution." (pp. 37-38).

This hardly applies to anything in a thoroughly comic society, where the only information that reaches people is determined entirely by its ability to keep people entertained or glued to their source of information as the only reliable indicator of what is likely to happen next, come hell or high water. An ancient Greek play called `Clouds' pictured Socrates telling someone that the art of persuasion is most effective for those who believe heaven is a stove and men are charcoals. Now that we have thousands of years of accumulated observations which allow us to do the hot stove thing ourselves technologically, any consciousness of heaven is merely an individual or group hypothesis that gets group verification only when death wish activities manage to get into the papers or electronic media. Reality is such a strange trip, it might involve a missle flying through the TWA 800 747 near Long Island, New York, in July, 1996, or the FBI lying about who called down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel near Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993, because the existence of the actual perpetrators was classified. ... Read more

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Various competing schools of sociology have attempted to fit observations of social phenomena into different conceptual systems.This book traces the origins of these systems from the enlightenment thought to subsequent developments in Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, and Max Weber. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An excellent introduction
I found this book by Richard Osbourne to be an excellent introduction to sociology.He maintains a good balance between breadth and depth, wisely choosing to meaningfully probe the main ideas of sociology rather than disorienting the reader with esoteric details.With less than 200 cartoon-laden pages to work with, I anticipated that Osbourne's treatment may be relatively superficial, but I was pleased to find that this actually a fairly thorough introduction which gives the reader plenty to think about.

To give a sense of the scope of this book and the subject of sociology, here's my list of the key points:

(1) Sociology is concerned with how and why societies work and change.

(2) Doing sociology well requires the ability to look at a society as objectively as possible (like an alien), but this ideal is never achieved in practice.Instead, sociology tends to change with the societies it examines.

(3) Sociology faces many methodological difficulties, including theory-ladeness of observation.

(4) Sociology began when Enlightenment rationality challenged traditional ideas about how society should be organized.The aspiration was for sociology to be a science, modeled on the natural sciences.Arguably, this hasn't been achieved, and instead we have a plurality of sociological perspectives which are neither individually nor collectively adequate.Perhaps the best we can hope for is that, by using an eclectic approach, we can have partial explanatory and predictive power for some specific domains and questions.

(5) Sociology can challenge conventional assumptions in a way that can be disturbing, and some sociologists deliberately pursue social agendas rather than aiming for value-free description and analysis.

(6) Societies are abstractions in the sense of being made up of individuals, but they're real in the sense of having emergent characteristics of their own which are preserved as individuals are replaced.The same applies to social institutions.

(7) Societies have been and are quite diverse, and each society is associated with a culture. Language is a key element of culture.

(8) Smaller societies tend to have closer and more personal relationships, with substantial social conformity.Larger societies tend to have more impersonal relationships, with greater diversity and division of labor.

(9) Societies and individuals reciprocally shape each other.The larger influence is usually that of societies on individuals (socialization), which limits the possibility of true individualism, but some rare individuals are exceptions.

(10) Societies can be stable for long periods of time, but they can also rise and decline, and the declines can be rapid.In the modern era, many societies have grown and changed rapidly.

(11) One view, which is no longer widely accepted, is that societies evolve through stages, developing from simple to complex, possibly with functionally fitter societies (and institutions) outcompeting weaker ones.

(12) Many factors have been proposed as having a major influence in maintaining and changing societies, such as collective morality, natural feelings of solidarity, conflict between groups (eg, classes), competition, alliances, economics, religious and other ideologies, propaganda, collective symbolism, rational analysis, and education.

(13) Globalization is breaking down barriers and bringing diverse societies into closer contact.It's unclear how this will play out in terms of homogenization versus differentiation of cultures.

(14) The extent to which society can be deliberately reshaped is an open question.

I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking an introduction to sociology.The reader will come away with at least some insight into how societies work and change, along with an appreciation for why sociology is a subject of perplexing difficulty.

For readers who like this book, I also recommend How Societies Change (Sociology for a New Century Series) by Daniel Chirot.

A nice primer, and a nice addition to the Introducing series
This is a slim, well-constructed and very well illustrated graphic text that is an excellent primer to the tradition of sociology. While some inclusions may cause some head scratching in the States (this is from the UK and covers the sociological tradition there, which for the most is overlapping). Overall, this truly is a great little book.

While I usually don't write reviews, I do think it's worth providing one here in lieu of the only other review posted.

In regards to that review, Zonoras:

1) Is reviewing a copy that is two editions out of date (judging by talk of the cover). The contents has significantly changed as the discipline has changed.

2) Doesn't appear to understand the focus or purpose of the discipline.

3) Seems to be negatively reviewing this brief overview not for being inaccurate in its covering of the discipline, but because it accurately covers important areas in the discipline that he/she has a bone to pick with (the "crack-pipes" of Marxism and Radical Feminism).

4)Is negatively reviewing the book because it - like the vast majority of mainstream sociology - is not inclusive of evolutionary psychology (also known as sociobiology). Both sociologists and biologists are somewhat dismissive of this approach, but regardless, this book isn't Introducing Sociobiology, and needless to say, doesn't deserve to be negatively reviewed for not covering topics it has no reason covering.

5)Finally, seemssomewhat confused (e.g. lumping the "PC New Left" with "Neoconservatism" is strange, saying sociology is *mainly* about the study of economic inequality and then lambasting Marxism is even odder).

Overall, there are certainly some things I would have done slightly differently if I was writing for a US audience, but this book is still worth a five star review. I'd disagree with the two star review given, and vehemently disagree with it given that the reasons for this review seem to have much more to do with the reader's dislike of sociology than the actual contents of text.

Society.
_Introducing Sociology_ by Richard Osborne and heavily-illustrated surrealistic-comic-book-style by Borin Van Loon gives a beginner's outline to the science, study, discipline or whatever you want to call it, of sociology.Sociology attempts to figure out how society, especially how the ever-increasingly complex, modern Western societies are constructed, structured, operate, interact, and what the role of class, race, gender and above all, economics, plays in them.This book goes through all the major theories and thinkers, but is overly-confused by smoke from the crack-pipes of Marxism and radical feminism.A central point is noted toward the end of the book:that of the transformation of the West in the 19th and 20th centuries from an agricultural, Christian and aristocratic base to industrialism, secularism, pleasure-seeking hedonism and sensualism.This is the root of the predicament that Western society is in today, but you won't hear a whole lot about it in the PC New Left and neoconservative academia.The author also dismisses in an offensively condescending manner sociobiology and the evoloutionary Darwinist perspective--that the determining factors of how different cultural groups, races and genders in society act are rooted in heredity rather than in social conditioning.This of course will lead to "racism and the holocaust."_Introducing Sociology_ is a rather quirky yet serious overview of sociology, and the author at the end admits that he cannot come to any decisive conclusion about the study of society in our ever-morphing postmodern world, where individuals live in "hyperreality"; learning more from mass-media and its contrived, false images than from the real world itself.I wish I knew the reasoning behind the cover illustration, a half-human, half-robot woman in a bikini with a human embryo attached to her hip in a huge test-tube, reading a book upside down. ... Read more

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Introduction to Sociology Reader, Fifth Edition, continues to provide a balanced selection of classic and contemporary readings for students, including book excerpts and selections from popular and academic journals. The reader's wide range of selections encompasses the traditional topics of introductory courses while placing special emphasis on questions of social inequality, race, class, and gender. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

excellent, surprising text for high school class
my son had this as an honors text in sociology senior year. it was was above his skill level. I would recommend this only for students that have had honors history and english for sophomore and junior year.

Excellent
This book was exactly what we ordered and came in a timely manner.It was also in excellent condition.

discusses globalisation's effects
This recent book is the latest in Massey's long running series. Just over 20% of the selections here are new; ie. not in the 4th edition. Massey gives emphasis on topics that have garnered recent broad interest.

Especially globalisation. We see speculations on the societal repercussions of this, where the societies are those of the developed countries. Equally interesting would also be investigations of the rippling effects on the developing countries that are benefiting from outsourcing. ... Read more

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In this volume, Patricia Gumport and other leading scholars examine the sociology of higher education as it has evolved since the publication of Burton Clark's foundational article in 1973. They trace diverse conceptual and empirical developments along several major lines of specialization and analyze the ways in which wider societal and institutional changes in higher education have influenced this vital field of study.

In her own chapters, Gumport identifies the factors that constrain or facilitate the field's development, including different intellectual legacies and professional contexts for faculty in sociology and in education. She also considers prospects for the future legitimacy and vitality of the field.

Featuring extensive reviews of the literature, this volume will be invaluable for scholars and students of sociology and higher education.

Customer Reviews (2)

Great textbook!
I purchased this item because it was offered at a better price than on my university's web site. Thank you! It's a very informative and well-written text!

it seems like a good book!
My friend recommended this book to me. Although I have not red it yet, it seems like a good composed book in that most of the contributors are the masters in this field and the articles are famous. ... Read more

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Community is a key concept in sociology. In the last decade, especially with the explosion of electronic communication, the definition of community has changed. There is now a need to define the concept of community and tie it to the various levels of human interaction, from the global to the individual.

Currently there are many books that address many aspects of community, but there is a lack of text which "connects" the concept of community with the range of issues from the macro level to the micro level.

This book will discuss the rationale for community, the varieties of communities, the effect of social change on communities and many other factors of connectedness as the costs for losing it.

Customer Reviews (2)

Good but Westerncentric
This book offers the westernized academic perspective when discussing community formation.That is problematic when one's work is outside of those realms.I have to deeply interrogate the conceptual themes to be able to utilize them within my own work.

Where are the citations?
Bruhn fails to cite his sources on many occasions. He bends data to fit his contention that community is the main solution to social problems. While Community is important it is not the only answer.He is conservative in his views and his comments on the poor made me wince.
His version of American Community is colored by some Leave it to Beaver fantasy world that has long past if it ever existed at all. What Bruhn does not know is apparent and could do considerable damage to novice readers.

Dont buy this book. ... Read more

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Wharton's anthology provides an overview of contemporary theory and research in the sociology of organizations. Three features of this book are particularly distinctive:

* An emphasis on sociological content: Although the readings reflect the multidisciplinarity and breadth of the organizations area, this anthology gives primary emphasis to selections with sociological content. Hence, the book should have strong appeal to instructors and students seeking a sociological understanding of organizations.

* Attention to contemporary theory and research: A unique feature of this anthology is its attention to contemporary theory and research on organizations. At the same time, Wharton grounds the book in the "modern classics." The readings reveal how organizational sociology contributes to our understanding of key social and economic issues, such as diversity, globalization, and the environment.

* Comprehensive, research-based, and methodologically diverse: The book is comprehensive in its coverage of topics, levels of analysis, and methodological approaches.

Topics covered include:
* Conceptions of organizations
* Organizational structure
* Historical development of the capitalist firm
* Nonprofits and alternative organizational forms
* Organizational culture
* Organizational demography and social networks
* Environments and organizational change

Introductions to each section identify and explain central issues, key concepts, and relationships among topics. ... Read more

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Steve Edgell has written an up-to-date, comprehensive guide to the sociology of every type of work: paid and unpaid, standard and non-standard, under- and unemployment. Sweeping in its historical reach and rigorous in its analysis of key issues of work, this book charts the rise of `work' from the first human societies and provides nuanced understanding of the issues at stake in standard, non-standard, unpaid and voluntary work. Drawing on classic and contemporary theorists, the author:

- covers key issues regarding paid work: alienation, post-industrial society, network enterprises in the informational society, flexibility, Fordism, McDonaldization, the destandardization of work, and the social impact of unemployment and underemployment;

- discusses key issues regarding non-paid work: domestic work as `work', the impact of technology, the impact of feminism, feminization and globalization;

- offers a historical perspective of work and gender.

'The overall sweep of the book – from pre-capitalist/industrial to post-globalism is attractive and challenging. The extension of the study of work beyond paid office/factory work is to be welcomed. In short this book will make a wise and welcomed addition to the existing range of sociological texts.' - Professor Huw Beynon, Director School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

'Stephen Edgell's Sociology of Work is a reliable, comprehensive and accessible text. He has taken a number of central themes in this field and engaged with the relevant literature and debates in a thoughtful and authoritative way. The comparative and historical treatment of the topics offers an illuminating perspective on the contemporary world of work. Students will find this book to be an invaluable resource. I predict that their copies will become much thumbed and annotated!' - John Eldridge, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Glasgow.

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For undergraduate/graduate courses in the Sociology of Religion in departments of Sociology; and for courses such as Religious Perspectives on Social Issues in departments of Theology.

A reader that seeks to explore the relationship between the structure and culture of religion and various elements of social life in the U.S.

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Well respected for its exceptional scholarship, readability, and accessibility, SOCIOLOGY is available at an affordable price! With a dynamic critical-thinking focus and a theoretically balanced presentation, this advantage text is noteworthy for its free built-in student study guide, and its contemporary focus on topics such as hate groups in the U.S., a new chapter on the sociology of sports, and MySpace and personal identity ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Sociology Textbook
It was interesting, but a little dry in some areas.Better than most textbooks. ... Read more

Product Description
This groundbreaking study focuses on the importance of place, scale, andnation to thestudy ofglobalization.Sassen identifies twosets of processes that make upglobalization:the first andmore commonly studied set of processes is global institutions, from theWorldTrade Organization to theWar Crime Tribunals;thesecond and less frequently explored set of processes occur at the national andlocal level,including statemonetary policy, small-scaleactivism that has an explicit or implicit globalagenda, and local politics.Emphasizing the interplaybetween global and local phenomena, Sassen insightfully examines new forms andconditions such as globalcities, transnationalcommunities, and commodity chains. This unique approach to globalization offersnew interpretive and analytic tools to understandthe complexity of global interdependence.Sociologyof Globalization ispartof the Contemporary Societies series. ... Read more

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Key Ideas in Sociology, Third Edition, is the only undergraduate text to link today’s issues to the ideas and individuals of the era of classical sociological thought. Compact and affordable, this book provides an overview of how sociological theories have helped sociologists understand modern societies and human relations. It also describes the continual evolution of these theories in response to social change.

Providing students with the opportunity to read from primary texts, this valuable supplement presents theories as interpretive tools, useful for understanding a multifaceted, ever-shifting social world. Emphasis is given to the working world, to the roles and responsibilities of citizenship, and to social relationships. A concluding chapter addresses globalization and its challenges.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Long since outdated
Although marketed as recently updated, the actual content of this book remains decidedly outdated. Most of the references are 1995 or before, likely the last time that Kivisto devoted any serious time to research it. I must give him credit though; once he finds material that sells, he stays with it, essentially unchanged, for decades. Like another book of his sent to me recently by the publisher, this book follows Kivisto's pattern. He very rarely cites primary material, and instead, relies on secondary references, sometimes even three or four times removed from the source. He also carefully avoids contemporary issues or examples. One wonders if he ever bothered to read the scholars he claims to represent.

Moreover, the title ostensibly concerns "Key Ideas in Sociology," but again, the book studiously avoids anything complex or controversial. Instead, it remains firmly in past decades, "key debates of the mid-twentieth century" would be more accurate. His knowledge of sociology is mired 30-50 years ago. even his discussion of nineteenth century theorists is out of historical context, and instead treated as part of Sociology, circa 1950-1985.

Unfortunately, this innocuous approach to Sociology is a major reason why the discipline has become increasingly irrelevant to the real world. If the goal is to teach an utterly conventional course, this book would serve well in that capacity. If the goal is to teach something interesting and innovative, one should look elsewhere.

Took too long to ship
Book condition was fine, but it took 14 days to arrive from this amazon dealer.If you need it fast then make sure you choose a faster shipping method from this seller.The shipping time is why I rated this item lower. ... Read more