Written in the belief that sociology holds a central place within the social sciences, Introduction to Sociology by Anthony Giddens and Mitchell Duneier highlights the discipline’s vital role in modern intellectual culture.
Publisher
W. W. Norton and Company
ISBN
0393971864
Year
2000
Pages
642
Summary
Introduction to Sociology by Anthony Giddens and Mitchell Duneier was written in the belief that sociology has a key role to play in modern intellectual culture and a central place within the social sciences. Our aim has been to write a book that combines some originality with an analysis of all the basic issues of interest to sociologists today. In many places, we attempt to bring the reader into a subject through the use of ethnographies written for this book. The book does not try to introduce overly sophisticated notions; nevertheless, ideas and findings drawn from the cutting edge of the discipline are incorporated throughout. We hope it is not a partisan treatment; we endeavored to cover the major perspectives in sociology and the major findings of contemporary American research in an even-handed, although not indiscriminate, way.
One main theme is that of the world in change. Sociology was born of the transformations that wrenched the industrializing social order of the West away from the ways of life characteristic of preceding societies. The world that was created by these changes is the primary object of concern of sociological analysis. The pace of social change has continued to accelerate, and it is possible that we stand on the threshold of transitions as significant as those that occurred in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Sociology has prime responsibility for charting the transformations that have taken place in the past and for grasping the major lines of development taking place today.
A second fundamental theme of the book is the globalizing of social life. For far too long, sociology has been dominated by the view that societies can be studied as independent unities. But even in the past, societies have never really existed in isolation. In current times, we can see a clear acceleration in processes of global integration. This is obvious, for example, in the expansion of international trade across the world. The emphasis on globalization also connects closely with the weight given to the interdependence of First and Third Worlds today.
Third, the book takes a strongly comparative stance. The study of sociology cannot be taught solely by understanding the institutions of any one particular society. While we have slanted the discussion toward the United States, such discussion is always balanced by a rich variety of materials drawn from other cultures. These include researches carried out in other Western countries, but we also refer often to Russia and the Eastern European societies, which are currently undergoing substantial changes. The book also includes much more material on Third World countries than has been usual hitherto in introductions of sociology. In addition, we strongly emphasize the relationship between sociology and anthropology, whose concerns overlap comprehensively. Given the close connections that now mesh societies across the world with one another, and the virtual disappearance of traditional social systems, sociology and anthropology increasingly become indistinguishable.
A fourth theme is the necessity of taking a historical approach to sociology. This involves more than just filling in the historical context within which events occur. One of the most important developments in sociology over the past few years has been an increasing emphasis on historical analysis. This should be understood not solely as applying a sociological outlook to the past, but as a way of contributing to our understanding of institutions in the present. Recent work in historical sociology is discussed throughout, and provides a framework for the interpretations offered within most of the chapters.
Fifth, particular attention is given throughout the text to issues of gender. The study of gender is ordinarily regarded as a specific field within sociology as a whole—and this volume contains a chapter that specifically explores thinking and research on the subject (Chapter 8). However, questions about gender relations are so fundamental to sociological analysis that they cannot simply be considered a subdivision. Thus, many chapters contain sections concerned with issues of gender.
A sixth theme is the micro and macro link. In many places in the book, we show that interaction in micro-level contexts affects larger social processes and that such macro-level processes influence our day-to-day lives. We emphasize to readers that one can better understand a social situation by analyzing it at both the micro- and macro-level.
A seventh theme is the relation between the social and the personal. Sociological thinking is a vital help to self-understanding, which in turn can be focused back on an improved understanding of the social world. Studying sociology should be a liberating experience: the field enlarges our sympathies and imagination, opens up new perspectives on the sources of our own behavior, and creates an awareness of cultural settings different from our own. Insofar as sociological ideas challenge dogma, teach appreciation of cultural variety, and allow us insight into the working of social institutions, the practice of sociology enhances the possibilities of human freedom.
Contents
Preface
PART ONE: The Study of Sociology
1. What Is Sociology?
DEVELOPING A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Studying Sociology
Intended and Unintended Consequences
Developing a Global Perspective
Understanding Social Change
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING
Theories and Theoretical Approaches
Early Theorists
Modern Theoretical Approaches
Theoretical Thinking in Sociology
Levels of Analysis: Microsociology and Macrosociology
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: UNDERSTANDING THE MODERN WORLD
IS SOCIOLOGY A SCIENCE?
HOW CAN SOCIOLOGY HELP US IN OUR LIVES?
Awareness of Cultural Differences
Assessing the Effects of Policies
Self-Enlightenment
The Sociologist’s Role in Society
2. Asking and Answering Sociological Questions
WHY HANG OUT AT DELTA’S TRAINING SESSIONS?
SOCIOLOGICAL QUESTIONS
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Defining the Research Problem
Reviewing the Evidence
Making the Problem Precise
Working Out a Design
Carrying Out the Research
Interpreting the Results
Reporting the Findings
Reality Intrudes!
UNDERSTANDING CAUSE AND EFFECT
Causation and Correlation
RESEARCH METHODS
Ethnography
Surveys
Experiments
Life Histories
Comparative Research
Historical Analysis
Combining Comparative and Historical Research
RESEARCH IN THE REAL WORLD: METHODS, PROBLEMS, PITFALLS
Roy Wallis and Scientology
Ethical Problems: Strategy and Publication
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIOLOGY
PART TWO: The Individual and Society
3. Culture and Society
THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE
The Human Species: Nature and Nurture
Cultural Learning
Cultural Universals
Culture and Social Development
DISAPPEARING WORLD: PREMODERN SOCIETIES AND THEIR FATE
The Earliest Societies: Hunters and Gatherers
Pastoral and Agrarian Societies
Nonindustrial Civilizations
SOCIETIES IN THE MODERN WORLD
The Industrialized Societies
Global Development
The End of the Second World: The Collapse of Communism
Third World Societies
The Newly Industrializing Countries
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: EXPLAINING POVERTY: CULTURE OR SOCIAL STRUCTURE?
THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION
4. Socialization and the Life Cycle
CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND CHILD SOCIALIZATION
“Unsocialized” Children
Theories of Child Development
Agencies of Socialization
Gender Socialization
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: GENDER SOCIALIZATION
SOCIALIZATION THROUGH THE LIFE COURSE
Childhood
The Teenager
Young Adulthood
Mature Adulthood
Old Age
Socialization, Culture, and Individual Freedom
5. Social Interaction and Everyday Life
The Study of Daily Life
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
The Face, Gestures, and Emotion
“Face” and Culture
SOCIAL RULES AND TALK
Shared Understandings
Garfinkel’s Experiments
Forms of Talk
Response Cries
Slips of the Tongue
FACE, BODY, AND SPEECH IN INTERACTION
Encounters
Markers
Impression Management
Personal Space
INTERACTION IN TIME AND SPACE
Clock Time
Social Life and the Ordering of Space and Time
Everyday Life in Cultural and Historical Perspective
The Compulsion of Proximity
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY
LINKING MICROSOCIOLOGY AND MACROSOCIOLOGY
Women and Men in Public
Blacks and Whites in Public
6. Conformity, Deviance, and Crime
THE STUDY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
What Is Deviance?
Norms and Sanctions
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: DEFINING DEVIANCY
BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME AND DEVIANCE
The Biological View
The Psychological View
SOCIETY AND CRIME: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
Learned Deviance: Differential Association
Structural Strain: Anomie as a Cause of Crime
Labeling Theory
Rational Choice and “Situational” Analysis of Crime
Social Disorder: The Theory of “Broken Windows”
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL CLASS AND CRIME
LINKING MICRO- AND MACROSOCIOLOGY: THE SAINTS AND THE ROUGHNECKS
Theoretical Conclusions
CRIME AND CRIME STATISTICS
Gender and Crime
Crimes of the Powerful
Organized Crime
Are Prisons the Answer?
Crime and Community
CRIME, DEVIANCE, AND SOCIAL ORDER
PART THREE: Structures of Power
7. Stratification, Class, and Inequality
SYSTEMS OF STRATIFICATION
Slavery
Caste
Estates
Class
CLASSES IN WESTERN SOCIETIES TODAY
Class Divisions
GENDER AND STRATIFICATION
SOCIAL MOBILITY
Measuring Mobility
Opportunities for Mobility: Who Gets Ahead?
Your Own Mobility Chances
Downward Mobility
POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
What Is Poverty?
Poverty: Myth and Reality
Poverty and Welfare Systems
The “Homeless” in America
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: STUDYING THE HOMELESS
THEORIES OF STRATIFICATION IN MODERN SOCIETIES
Marx: Means of Production and the Analysis of Class
Weber: Class and Status
Davis and Moore: The Functions of Stratification
Erik Olin Wright: Contradictory Class Locations
Frank Parkin and Social Closure
CLASS, INEQUALITY, AND ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS
8. Gender Inequality
GENDER DIFFERENCES: NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
The Role of Biology
The Social Construction of Gender Identity
Gender Identity in Everyday Life
The Social Construction of Masculinity
Findings from Other Cultures
FORMS OF GENDER INEQUALITY
Women and the Workplace
Inequalities at Work
The Family and Gender Issues
Education and Unequal Treatment in the Classroom
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: THE GENDER PAY GAP
ANALYZING GENDER INEQUALITY
Biology versus Society
Using Sociology to Understand Andrea’s Life
Feminism and the Struggle for Gender Equality
9. Ethnicity and Race
RACE AND ETHNICITY: KEY CONCEPTS
Race
Ethnicity
Minority Groups
The Racial Divide
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
Psychological Interpretations
Sociological Interpretations
ETHNIC AND RACIAL CONFLICT
Ethnic Antagonism: A Historical Perspective
The Rise of Racism
Ethnic Relations in Europe
Ethnic Relations in Brazil
Racial Divisions in South Africa
ETHNIC RELATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
Early Colonization
African Americans in the United States
Latinos in the United States
The Asian Connection
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES
RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY
Educational Attainment
Employment and Income
Health
Residential Segregation
Political Power
Gender and Race
Divergent Fortunes
Understanding Racial Inequality
10. The Rise of Modern Organizations
THEORIES OF ORGANIZATIONS
Weber’s View of Bureaucracy
Formal and Informal Relations within Bureaucracies
The Physical Setting of Organizations
Michel Foucault’s Theory of Organizations: The Control of Time and Space
Bureaucracy and Democracy
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: THE MCDONALDIZATION OF SOCIETY
BEYOND BUREAUCRACY?
The Clan Model and Japanese Corporations
Professionals and New Technology
11. Government, Political Power, and War
Power and Authority
THE CONCEPT OF THE STATE
Characteristics
Citizenship Rights
DEMOCRACY
Participatory Democracy
Monarchies and Liberal Democracies
The Spread of Liberal Democracy
Democracy in the United States
The Political Participation of Women
Who Rules?: Theories of Democracy
Democracy in Trouble?
What Is the Role of Government?: The Third Way
THE INFLUENCE OF NATIONALISM
Types of Nationalism
Changes in Eastern Europe
THE MILITARY
From Limited to Total War
Military Expenditure and the Cold War
The Arms Trade
War and Global Security
PART FOUR: Social Institutions
12. Work and Economic Life
THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF WORK
Unpaid Work
THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF WORK
Taylorism and Fordism
Work and Alienation
Low-Trust and High-Trust Systems
Industrial Conflict
THE MODERN ECONOMY
Corporations and Corporate Power
Types of Corporate Capitalism
The Transnational Corporations
Planning on a World Scale
The Large Corporation: The Same, but Different
THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORK
Changes in Industrial Production
Trends in the Occupational Structure
Unemployment
The Future of Work
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: “GENERATION X”: THE ENTREPRENEURIAL GENERATION?
13. Marriage and the Family
Basic Concepts
THE FAMILY IN HISTORY
The Development of Family Life
The Way We Never Were: Myths of the Traditional Family
The Later Period
CHANGES IN FAMILY PATTERNS WORLDWIDE
Directions of Change
MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY IN THE UNITED STATES
African-American Families
Divorce and Separation
Remarriage and Stepparenting
Single-Parent Households
THE DARK SIDE OF THE FAMILY
Sexual Abuse
Violence within the Family
ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL FORMS OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY
Communes
Cohabitation
Gay-Parent Families
Staying Single
The Debate about “Family Values”
The Future for the Democratic Family
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN FAMILY
14. Education and the Mass Media
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOLING
Schooling in the United States
EDUCATION AND INEQUALITY
“Savage Inequalities”
Coleman’s Study of “Between-School Effects” in American Education
Tracking and “Within-School Effects”
The Social Reproduction of Inequality
Intelligence and Inequality
Educational Reform in the United States
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: THE BELL CURVE
EDUCATION AND LITERACY IN THE THIRD WORLD
COMMUNICATION AND THE MASS MEDIA
The Sociological Study of the Mass Media
Theories of the Mass Media’s Influence on Society
TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, MEDIA, AND EDUCATION
Multimedia
15. Religion in Modern Society
WHAT IS RELIGION?
Varieties of Religion
THEORIES OF RELIGION
Marx and Religion
Durkheim: Religion and Functionalism
Weber: The World Religions and Social Change
Critical Assessment
TYPES OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
Churches and Sects
Denominations and Cults
Religious Movements
Institutionalization versus Revivalism
Millenarian Movements
SECULARIZATION AND FUNDAMENTALISM
A Clash of Civilizations?
GENDER AND RELIGION
Religious Images
The Role of Women in Religious Organizations
RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES
Religion and Ethnicity
Religious Behavior
Religious Change in the United States
Religion, Political Power, and Fundamentalism
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: IS THE UNITED STATES A SECULAR OR SACRED SOCIETY?
PART FIVE: Social Change in the Modern World
16. The Sociology of the Body: Health and Illness, Sexuality, and Aging
THE WELL-FUNCTIONING BODY: IMAGES OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS
Changing Conceptions of Health and Illness
Health and Illness in the Developed Countries
The Third World: Colonialism and the Spread of Disease
Illness as Stigma: The Impact of AIDS
HUMAN SEXUALITY
Biology and Sexual Behavior
Social Influences on Sexual Behavior
Sexuality in Western Culture
Sexual Behavior: Kinsey’s Study
Sexual Behavior Since Kinsey
Homosexuality
Sexuality and Procreative Technology
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN THE UNITED STATES
AGING
Biological Aspects of Aging
Social Aspects of Aging
Global Differences in Age Stratification
The Future of Aging
17. Urbanization, Population, and the Environment
LIVING IN CITIES
Cities in Traditional Societies
Industrialization and Urbanization
Interpretations of City Life
THEORIES OF URBANISM
The Chicago School
Urbanism and the Created Environment
URBANISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Suburbanization
Urban Problems
Urban Renewal and Gentrification
THE SOCIOLOGICAL DEBATE: EXPLAINING URBAN POVERTY
URBANISM AND INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES
The Global City
Third World Urbanization
Cities and Overpopulation
WORLD POPULATION GROWTH
Population Analysis: Demography
Basic Demographic Concepts
Dynamics of Population Change
Malthusianism
Population Growth in the Third World
The Demographic Transition
Prospects For Change
URBANIZATION, POPULATION GROWTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Global Environmental Threats
The Environment: A Sociological Issue?
Prospects for Change
18. Social Change and Social Movements
Defining Change
INFLUENCES ON SOCIAL CHANGE
The Physical Environment
Political Organization
Cultural Factors
CHANGE IN THE MODERN PERIOD
Economic Influences
Political Influences
Cultural Influences
COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Crowds and Riots
Social Movements
Why Do Social Movements Occur?
Feminist Movements
CURRENT CHANGE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
Toward a Postindustrial Society?
Postmodernity
The End of History
The Risk Society
Extract
Sociological research is rarely of interest only to the intellectual community of sociologists. Its results are often disseminated throughout society. This was the case with Wallis’ work, which so concerned the Scientologists. It was also true of The Managed Heart, which has been read by a generation of sociology students, as well as a general audience including many service workers who themselves do emotional labor.
Sociology, it must be emphasized, is not just the study of modern societies; it is a significant element in the continuing life of those societies. Take the example mentioned in Chapter 1: the transformations taking place in the United States in marriage, sexuality, and the family. Few people living in a modern society do not have some knowledge of these changes, as a result of the filtering down of sociological research. Our thinking and behavior are affected by sociological knowledge in complex and often subtle ways, thus reshaping the very field of sociological investigation. A way of describing this phenomenon, using the technical concepts of sociology, is to say that sociology stands in a reflexive relation to the human beings whose behavior is studied. “Reflexive” describes the interchange between sociological research and human behavior. We should not be surprised that sociological findings often correlate closely with common sense. The reason is not simply that sociology comes up with findings we knew already; it is rather that sociological research continually influences what our commonsense knowledge of society actually is.
Author
Anthony Giddens (b. 1938) is a prominent British sociologist renowned for his theory of structuration and his holistic perspective on modern societies. A former director of the London School of Economics, he significantly shaped political discourse through "The Third Way". Among his most influential books are The Constitution of Society, Sociology, and Runaway World.
