Global Sociology : Introducing Five Contemporary Societies

by Schneider, Linda; Silverman, Arnold

• ISBN13: 9780072997521
• ISBN10: 0072997524
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-11
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

An effective supplement to any standard sociology text, this broad and comprehensive sociological description of five diverse contemporary societies with wide geographic distribution - Japan, Mexico, Egypt, Germany, and the Bushmen of Namibia - is organized around basic sociological topics: culture, social structure, and group life, socialization, deviance, social institutions, social stratification, and social change. Fictional vignettes of individuals in each country help students experience first-person viewpoints on life in five very different societies. By comparing other societies with their own, students read about the range of social variation, learn what makes their own society distinctive, and gain a unique and fascinating vantage point on what sociology offers in a world of rapid social change.

Table of Contents

LIST OF TABLES	xv
INTRODUCTION: TO THE STUDENT	xvii
PREFACE: TO THE INSTRUCTOR	xxi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xxv
1. Japan: The Importance of Belonging	3	(70)
Introduction	3	(1)
Japan's History	3	(3)
Japanese Culture	6	(11)
The Value of Belonging	6	(3)
The Value of Harmony	9	(1)
The Value of Maintaining Relationships	10	(1)
The Value of Conformity	11	(1)
The Values of Loyalty, Duty, and Self-Sacrifice	12	(1)
Another Value Cluster: The Value of Achievement	13	(1)
The Value of Perseverance	13	(1)
Japanese Norms	14	(2)
Religion and Japanese Culture	16	(1)
Social Structure and Group Life	17	(6)
Group Life in Modern Japan	18	(5)
Socialization	23	(4)
The Process of Socialization: Explicit Instruction	23	(1)
Role Models Aid Socialization	24	(1)
Ceremonies Support Socialization	24	(1)
Defining the Situation	24	(2)
Socialization in the Workplace	26	(1)
Deviance in a Demanding Society	27	(12)
Low Levels of Deviance	27	(1)
Effective Social Controls: Control Theory	28	(4)
Defining Deviance: Labeling Theory	32	(3)
How Strain Theory Accounts for Deviance	35	(4)
Gender Roles: A Focus for Rebellion	39	(9)
Traditional Gender Roles for Women	39	(3)
Young Women Challenge Traditional Roles	42	(1)
Older Women Rebel	43	(2)
Japanese Men: Trouble with Roles	45	(2)
Men Respond: Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion	47	(1)
Social Inequality in Japan: Class, Status, and Power	48	(12)
A History of Change	49	(1)
Class Inequality in Japan Today	50	(4)
Status Inequality in Japan: Minority Groups	54	(3)
Inequalities of Power in Japan Today	57	(3)
Social Change and the Future	60	(3)
The Individualists	61	(1)
The Neonationalists	62	(1)
Japan and Asia	63	(3)
THINKING SOCIOLOGICALLY	66	(1)
FOR FURTHER READING	66	(1)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	67	(6)
2. Mexico: Nation of Networks	73	(66)
Introduction	73	(1)
Understanding Mexico: The Conflict Perspective	74	(1)
Mexican History	74	(4)
The Pre-Columbian Period (c. 300 B.C.-A.D. 1519)	74	(1)
The Colonial Period (1519-1810)	75	(1)
The Modern Period (1810-Present)	76	(2)
Mexican Culture	78	(8)
Catholicism in Mexican Culture	79	(4)
A Culture of Opposites	83	(3)
Social Structure and Group Life	86	(4)
Social Networks in Mexican Society	87	(2)
Social Groups in Mexican Society: The Household	89	(1)
Social Institutions	90	(19)
Mexican Social Institutions: The Family	90	(5)
Mexican Political Institutions: The Patronage System and Democracy	95	(6)
Deviance and Legitimacy	101	(3)
Building the Institutions of Democracy	104	(5)
Social Inequality	109	(11)
Racial Inequality in Mexican Society	109	(2)
Class Inequality in Mexican Society	111	(9)
Social Change and Mexico's Poor	120	(8)
Protectionist Mexico	120	(1)
The New "Free-Market" Mexico	121	(4)
Globalization and Migration	125	(1)
Migration and Mexican Politics	126	(1)
Globalization and the Environment	127	(1)
The Future	128	(1)
THINKING SOCIOLOGICALLY	128	(1)
FOR FURTHER READING	129	(1)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	129	(10)
3. The Bushmen of Namibia: Ancient Culture in a New Nation	139	(138)
Introduction	139	(5)
Who Are the Bushmen?	140	(2)
The Bushmen and Prehistory	142	(2)
History of the Bushmen	144	(4)
Settlers and the Bushmen	145	(1)
The Colonial Era in Namibia	145	(2)
The Fate of Hunter/Gatherers	147	(1)
Part I: Bushman Culture: A Design for Living	148	(8)
Nyae Nyae: 1957	148	(3)
A Flexible Culture	151	(1)
How Hard Is the Foraging Life?	152	(4)
Social Structure and Group Life	156	(7)
Authority and Anarchy	157	(1)
The Family: Putting Flexibility First	157	(1)
The Band: Linking Families	158	(1)
Kinship: Elaborating Connections	159	(2)
Roles: Focusing on Gender	161	(2)
Social Inequality	163	(2)
Gender Inequality	164	(1)
Deviance and Social Control	165	(4)
Deviance and Social Interaction	166	(3)
Socialization	169	(6)
Childhood Socialization	169	(2)
Rites of Passage to Adulthood	171	(2)
New Roles in Maturity	173	(2)
Part II: Social Change and The Future: The Postcolonial Era	175	(19)
The Liberation Struggle	176	(1)
Independent Namibia	177	(4)
The Bushmen in Modern Namibia	181	(1)
The Lucky Ones: The Ju/'hoansi of Bushmanland	181	(5)
Landless Bushmen: The Hai/tom	186	(3)
The Future of the Bushmen	189	(3)
Namibia: Challenges for the Future	192	(2)
THINKING SOCIOLOGICALLY	194	(1)
FOR FURTHER READING	195	(1)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	195	(6)
4. Egypt: Faith, Gender, and Class	201	(76)
Introduction	201	(2)
Egypt's History	203	(6)
The Pharaonic Period	204	(1)
Greek and Roman Empires	204	(1)
The Arab/Islamic Conquest	205	(1)
Islamic Civilization	206	(1)
European Colonialism	206	(1)
An Independent Egypt	207	(2)
Egypt Today	209	(1)
Egyptian Culture	209	(10)
Egypt's Islamic Beliefs, Norms, and Values	210	(7)
The Value of Community in Egyptian Culture	217	(1)
The Value of Generosity in Egyptian Culture	218	(1)
The Value of Honor	219	(1)
Deviance and Social Control	219	(11)
Formal and Informal Controls	220	(2)
Social Groups and Social Controls in the Countryside	222	(5)
Social Groups and Social Controls in the City	227	(3)
Islam and Social Controls	230	(1)
Social Inequality in Egypt	230	(14)
Class Inequality	231	(10)
Racial Inequality	241	(1)
Religious Inequality	242	(2)
Social Change and the Future	244	(24)
Economic Change	244	(3)
Population Change	247	(1)
Changes in Gender Roles	248	(12)
Political Change	260	(8)
THINKING SOCIOLOGICALLY	268	(1)
FOR FURTHER READING	268	(1)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	269	(8)
5. Germany: Social Institutions and Social Change in a Modern Western Society	277
Introduction	277	(4)
Social Change Today: Reunification	279	(2)
German History: Central Themes	281	(3)
Centralized Power versus Localized Power	281	(1)
Authoritarianism versus Democracy	282	(1)
Welfare Capitalism versus Socialism	283	(1)
German Culture: Continuity and Change	284	(7)
Order	284	(1)
Obedience	284	(1)
Seriousness	285	(3)
Divergent Values in East and West	288	(3)
Social Institutions of the Two Germanys	291	(25)
Bureaucracy	291	(1)
The Capitalist Economy in West Germany	292	(2)
German-Style Capitalism	294	(2)
The Socialist Economy in East Germany	296	(2)
German-Style Socialism	298	(3)
Inequality in East and West	301	(3)
Representative Democracy in West Germany	304	(2)
Authoritarian Government in East Germany	306	(4)
The Welfare State	310	(2)
Educational Institutions	312	(4)
Deviance and Social Control	316	(9)
Totalitarian Social Controls	316	(5)
Deviance and Social Control in the Federal Republic	321	(1)
Political Deviance in the Berlin Republic	322	(3)
Social Change and the Future	325	(16)
Collective Behavior and Social Movements	327	(1)
Reunification and Institutional Change	328	(1)
Reunification and Cultural Change	329	(12)
Germany Today: Life in the Berlin Republic	334	(7)
THINKING SOCIOLOGICALLY	341	(1)
FOR FURTHER READING	341	(1)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	342
INDEX	I-I