Second Thoughts: Sociology Challenges Conventional Wisdom / Edition 6

by Janet M. Ruane

Overview

A perfect supplement to a traditional text or reader, this paperback creatively demonstrates the centrality of sociological thinking and social research for doubting students. Twenty mini-chapters, along with an introduction and conclusion, examine popular conceptions on important social subjects, accepted by many in society as "conventional wisdom." Each chapter provides a sociological take on these popularly held views.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2901452299494
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	08/21/2014
Edition description:	Sixth Edition
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Janet M. Ruane (Ph D, Rutgers University) is a professor of sociology at Montclair State University. She has served as her department’s undergraduate and graduate program director. Professor Ruane’s research interests include formal and informal social control mechanisms, media and technology, research methods, and applied sociology. She is the author of Essentials of Research Methods (Blackwell) and has contributed articles and chapters to several journals and collections including Sociological Forum, Sociological Inquiry, Law and Policy, Communication Research, Sociological Focus, Journal of Applied Sociology, and Science as Culture. Since stepping into her first classroom, Professor Ruane has accumulated decades of valuable teaching experience in both introductory and advanced-level sociology courses. These years have afforded her a wealth of opportunities for generating and fine-tuning many second thoughts.

Karen A. Cerulo (Ph D, Princeton University) is a professor of sociology at Rutgers University. Her research interests include culture and cognition, symbolic communication, media and technology, and comparative historical studies. Professor Cerulo’s articles appear in a wide variety of journals, including the American Sociological Review, Contemporary Sociology, Poetics, Social Forces, Sociological Forum, Sociological Inquiry, Communication Research, and annuals such as the Annual Review of Sociology and Research in Political Sociology. She is the author of three books: Identity Designs: The Sights and Sounds of a Nation, winner of the ASA Culture Section’s award for the Best Book of 1996 (Rose Book Series of the ASA, Rutgers University Press); Deciphering Violence: The Cognitive Structure of Right and Wrong (Routledge); and Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst (University of Chicago Press). She has also edited a collection entitled Culture in Mind: Toward a Sociology of Culture and Cognition (Routledge). Professor Cerulo’s teaching and research earned her both the Rutgers University Awards for “Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Education” and the “Scholar-Teacher Award.” In 2014, she was named the Robin Williams Lecturer for the Eastern Sociological Society.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Introduction: The Sociological Perspective
METHODS
Essay 1 • Numbers Don’t Lie
CULTURE
Essay 2 • Winning Is Everything
Essay 3 • Children Are Our Most Precious Commodity
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Essay 4 • Love Knows No Reason
Essay 5 • Stress Is Bad for Your Well-Being
Essay 6 • The “Golden Years” Are Tarnished Years
SOCIALIZATION AND IDENTITY
Essay 7 • What’s in a Name? That Which We Call a Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet
Essay 8 • Beauty Is Only Skin Deep
STRATIFICATION
Essay 9 • The More We Pay, the More It’s Worth
Essay 10 • Money Is the Root of All Evil
Essay 11 • You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
Essay 12 • America Is the Land of Equal Opportunity
DEVIANCE, CRIME, AND SOCIAL CONTROL
Essay 13 • Violence Is on the Rise in the United States—No One Is Safe
Essay 14 • There’s Nothing We Can Do About the Weather
Essay 15 • There Ought to Be a Law
Essay 16 • Honesty Is the Best Policy
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
Essay 17 • The Nuclear Family Is the Backbone of American Society
Essay 18 • Marriage Is a Failing Institution
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE ECONOMY
Essay 19 • Welfare Is Ruining This Country
Essay 20 • Immigrants Are Ruining This Nation
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
Essay 21 • Technology Is Taking Over Our Lives
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION
Essay 22 • Education Is the Great Equalizer
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION
Essay 23 • We Are One Nation Under God
Conclusion: Why Does Conventional Wisdom Persist?
Glossary
References
Index