Empirical Approaches to Sociology: A Collection of Classic and Contemporary Readings

by Gregg Lee Carter

Designed for courses in Introductory Sociology. Can also be used in Data Analysis, Research Methods, or Social Problems courses, all found in sociology departments. A unique collection of readings... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0205394841
• ISBN13: 9780205394845
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

People watching

As our college becomes a bona fide community college, we have endeavoured to add humanities and social science courses to give the students a well-rounded education. One such course is an Introduction to Sociology, for which this book edited by Gregg Lee Carter is used as a primary text. According to the introduction, one of sociology's principle values is that it 'knows things about contemporary reality. We get out there, we talk to real people, we draw our conclusions from data...' This is not purely theoretical and more practical, in that it tries to describe things along - data and theory fit together in ways that encourage critical thinking. The value of sociology is that in the modern/postmodern world, there is more information than ever before, more data, and much of it unfiltered and uninterpreted. What does all of this stuff mean? How do we figure it out? This book provides some insights and tools for this project. Carter has divided the text into twelve major sections, each one a significant subfield in sociology. This includes social theory, research methods, culture, socity, socialisation, groups, all of which provide a grounding for understanding. The sections near the end include various topics that are high-visibility issues in society today - race and ethnicity, gender, inequality, crime, etc. Each section has an introduction by Carter setting out the key concepts and issues, articles that are 'classic' articles for socilogical study related to the issue at hand, and then contemporary reflections. For example, in the first section (The Problem of Social Order), Carter includes brief articles by Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx for the classical setting, and articles by K.D. Breault and Joe R. Feagin for the contemporary coverage. These are not set up as exact point/counterpoint texts, but rather address similar sub-issues under the broad heading of the topic. The articles are interesting (sometimes fascinating), reflecting the way that we can see each other and treat each other. What does one make of the experiment where, when a woman stopped people in a hospital to ask directions, she was helped more consistently when she said she was looking for an internist than when she was looking for a psychiatrist? What does it mean that societal views toward inequality change when different people ask different pieces? This book has pieces that will provide something of interest to almost any student (even those who might think of sociology as 'boring' at first glance) - we as a people tend to like to understand each other, and this book is a good tool for use in that direction.