Readings for Sociology

by Massey, Garth

• ISBN13: 9780393927009
• ISBN10: 0393927008
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-19
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

With 11 new articles and expanded coverage on race and inequality, the Fifth Edition ofReadings for Sociologyprovides students with engaging selections that reveal the complexities of our social world and help students think sociologically. New selections include articles by William Julius Williams, Mary C. Waters, Anthony Walton, Michael Burawoy, Russell Shorto, and Michael Messner, as well as new articles on globalization by James Watson, Robert Glennon, Robert Inglehart and Wayne Baker, and Paul Wapner. In addition, a wide range of classic essays by C. Wright Mills, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and others makeReadings for Sociologya comprehensive and balanced supplement to the introductory course.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
To the Instructor	xv
PART 1 THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology as an Individual Pastime (from Invitation to Sociology)	3	(10)
Peter L. Berger
What sociology is and what sociologists do is not well understood by everyone, nor is the motivation for being a sociologist.
From The Sociological Imagination	13	(6)
C. Wright Mills
If we understand the social context and social processes around us we can better understand ourselves.
What Makes Sociology Different? (from The Rules of Sociological Method)	19	(8)
Emile Durkheim
More than the sum of its parts, society is real and can be studied usefully if we know how to see it for what it is.
Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities	27	(7)
Michael Burawoy
Sociological knowledge for whom? For what purpose. These are not easy questions to answer.
The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility)	34	(19)
Herbert C. Kelman
V. Lee Hamilton
Was it madness and temporary insanity? Or were there social and circumstantial reasons for men to do the unthinkable?
Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics	53	(6)
Joel Best
We can't avoid statistics, so we need to become better consumers who can distinguish a fact from a fantasy.
Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study	59	(14)
Allan M. Brandt
Good science and ethical science should be our goals. Both are sadly missing in the research reported here.
PART 2 THE INDIVIDUAL, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY
Queer Customs (from Mirror for Man)	73	(8)
Clyde Kluckholm
What makes us think that our culture is normal and another person's is unusual or exotic?
Growing Up as a Fore Is to Be ``In Touch'' and Free	81	(7)
E. Richard Sorenson
Personal identity, commitment, trust, and independence are taught from our earliest moments.
Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities	88	(16)
Michael A. Messner
The attraction of boys to organized sports is highly constructed and serves to provide more than a sense of what it is to be manly.
On Face-Work	104	(11)
Erving Goffman
Encounters, the presentation of who we are, and the communication of what we want, need, and can offer all begin with face work.
The Dynamics of Welfare Stigma	115	(15)
Robin Rogers-Dillon
Maintaining personal integrity in an environment of unspoken social criticism requires a set of interaction strategies all of us can appreciate.
My Secret Life as a Black Man	130	(6)
Anthony Walton
We all carry ``cultural markers'' that others use to define, evaluate, and interact with us, whether we like it or not.
Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?	136	(10)
Mary C. Waters
Many people can choose to identify with an ethnic group or nationality, but it doesn't really matter if they do or don't. For others who cannot choose, it matters a great deal.
Love and Race Caught in the Public Eye	146	(6)
Heidi Ardizzone
Earl Lewis
What is race? The answer may be as complex as the answer to another question: What is love?
McDonald's in Hong Kong: Consumerism, Dietary Change, and the Rise of a Children's Culture (from Golden Arches East)	152	(12)
James L. Watson
This examination of the cultural power of the West shows how people inventively use what others offer to fashion a life that works for them.
A Look Behind the Veil	164	(7)
Elizabeth W. Fernea
Robert A. Fernea
Others' practices may seem exotic or inexplicable, but close attention and an open mind can help reveal more than meets the eye.
The Code of the Street	171	(13)
Elijah Anderson
In a world that offers little hope, the ability to assert oneself and make a claim of who one is can take the form of ritualized challenges.
Go North, Young Man	184	(9)
Richard Rodriguez
Immigrants are the true revolutionaries; they integrate and assimilate while changing the very texture and meaning of the global society.
PART 3 STRUCTURES OF POWER
``Getting'' and ``Making'' a Tip (from Dishing It Out: Power and Resistance among Waitresses in a New Jersey Restaurant)	193	(9)
Greta Foff Paules
If we look carefully we can see a dynamic of power and influence in everyday situations.
Upward Mobility Through Sport?	202	(8)
D. Stanley Eitzen
A key ingredient in the American myth is that sports are an avenue to success. How true is this?
What Happened to the American Social Compact?	210	(8)
Robert B. Reich
Why is the divide between the affluent and everyone else widening? What can be done about it?
Manifesto of the Communist Party	218	(10)
Karl Marx
Friedrich Engels
In this famous pamphlet of 1849, Marx and Engels speak directly to working people about the way capitalism developed and affects both their working and nonworking lives.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America	228	(20)
Barbara Ehrenreich
Can people make ends meet in the low-wage job market? Millions of people are trying, and many are trying unsuccessfully.
Uses of the Underclass in America	248	(13)
Herbert J. Gans
Although countries such as Sweden and Norway have ended poverty, it persists in the United States, perhaps because in many ways it benefits those who are not poor.
From When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor	261	(6)
William Julius Wilson
It's easy to think that people without work have only themselves to blame, but obviously there is more to the story.
From Maid in the USA	267	(15)
Mary Romero
Participant observation and interviews uncover an unseen world of social relations, discrimination, and ordinary people trying to manage a decent life.
Size Does Count, at Least for French Fries: Minnesota's Straight River (from Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters)	282	(8)
Robert Glennon
Corporate power often begins with a seemingly harmless, minor decision, but this power can ripple through the social landscape in many unanticipated ways.
The Rise and Fall of Mass Rail Transit (from Building American Cities: The Urban Real Estate Game)	290	(6)
Joe R. Feagin
Robert Parker
America's love affair with the automobile was greatly encouraged by those who stood to gain the most from the romance.
From the Panopticon to Disney World	296	(6)
Clifford D. Shearing
Phillip C. Stenning
Social order and orderly behavior depend on seen and unseen forms of social control.
The Saints and the Roughnecks	302	(14)
William J. Chambliss
Social standing and gender combine to raise questions about the dispensation of justice.
The Border Patrol State	316	(6)
Leslie Marmon Silko
Not everyone sees authority and its agents through the same eyes.
Police Accounts of Normal Force	322	(16)
Jennifer Hunt
Bureaucracies, including work settings, make rules. The workers---including the police---then go about recasting the rules to suit their own practices.
The Foundations of Third World Poverty (from Promises Not Kept: The Betrayal of Social Change in the Third World)	338	(9)
John Isbister
The worst problems faced by poor countries have a lot to do with the actions of rich countries, in the past and today.
PART 4 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
From The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism	347	(8)
Max Weber
Written in 1904-1905, Weber's thesis tries to make sense of the rise of industrial capitalism, his own era, and ours.
Love, Arranged Marriage, and the Indian Social Structure	355	(11)
Giri Raj Gupta
Which is better, marrying the one you love or loving the one you marry? Perhaps the answer depends on the society in which you live.
Shared Paternity	366	(5)
Kim A. McDonald
Several cherished values are challenged by anthropological evidence that seems to support a new theory of reproductive success.
Domestic Networks (from All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community)	371	(5)
Carol B. Stack
A ``good family'' may take many forms, only one of which is the husband-wife family that is often closed off from a wider network of social sharing and support.
The Emotional Geography of Work and Family Life (from The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work)	376	(14)
Arlie Russell Hochschild
Work becomes like family, while home and family look more like work. Is this the future?
Hanging Tongues: A Sociological Encounter with the Assembly Line	390	(9)
William E. Thompson
What looks like a good thing may become a carousel that won't stop and let you off.
The McDonald's System (from The McDonaldization of Society)	399	(7)
George Ritzer
The reshaping of the U.S. workforce has meant, above all else, the expansion of low-wage service work, with all the rational efficiency that can be devised.
Job on the Line	406	(12)
William M. Adler
One woman loses a job. Thousands of miles away another woman takes up the job. Is anyone better off?
Religious Community and American Individualism (from Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life)	418	(9)
Robert N. Bellah
Richard Madsen
William M. Sullivan
Ann Swidler
Steven M. Tipton
Belonging and believing do not necessarily go hand-in-hand for American worshippers.
Faith at Work	427	(14)
Russell Shorto
No longer confined to the church, the popularity of evangelical faith has meant an expansion of religious practices into secular institutions.
From Amish Society	441	(8)
John A. Hostetler
The Amish hold onto a simple lifestyle in order to sustain deeply held beliefs.
PART 5 SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE MODERN WORLD
Jihad vs. McWorld	449	(11)
Benjamin R. Barber
Global systems emphasizing rationality and technology are increasingly confronting local loyalties, faith, and intuition, with the winner yet undecided.
Modernization's Challenge to Traditional Values: Who's Afraid of Ronald McDonald?	460	(7)
Ronald Ingelhart
Wayne E. Baker
In dozens of countries, the World Values Survey has yielded sociologically valuable insights into both social change and the persistence of traditions.
Grassroots Activism: Mothers of East Los Angeles	467	(10)
Mary Pardo
Never underestimate the power of women who perceive a threat to their children.
Greenpeace and Political Globalism	477	(9)
Paul Wapner
Along with corporations and governments, many public, nonprofit organizations are international in scope and very active agents of social change.
Old Age as a Time of New Opportunities (from The Fountain of Age)	486	(14)
Betty Friedan
Older persons are seeking challenges and opportunities for growth they never imagined, with results that may surprise us all.
An Alternative to Globalization	500	(9)
Bill McKibben
There may be many paths out of poverty, but all of them require people having control over their lives.
Acknowledgments	509