Exploring Social Change : America and the World

This introduction to social change focuses on theories that explain social change, innovation, social movements, and revolutions. The last part of the book shifts explicitly to the global level to analyze population and environmental issues and globalization. Within this framework, the book discusses topics about change and its problems familiar in sociology and social science.

Charles Harper, Ph.D. is a Professor of Sociology at Creighton University. His academic interests include social change, globalization, religion, environmental sociology, social theory, and food issues. His publications include journal articles related to those interests, and he has published university-level texts including Environment and Society: Human Perspectives on Environmental Issues (2007), Exploring Social Change: America and the World (2006), and Food, Society, and Environment (2007).  Professor Harper has been a consultant for many religious and community organizations, and is an active contributor to departmental policy, personnel, and curriculum matters for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Creighton University. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Environmental Educator Achievement Award, presented by the Nebraska Chapter of the Sierra Club, and the Burlington Northern Award, to the Outstanding Creighton University Scholar of the Year, awarded by the Creighton University Graduate School.

 

Kevin Leicht, Ph.D. is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Iowa, where he teaches courses in the sociology of work, organizational theory, economy and society, political sociology and social stratification. He has co-authored five books, including Postindustrial Peasants: The Illusion of Middle Class Prosperity (2006), Professional Work (2001), and Current Issues in the Study of Labor Force: Concepts, Measures and Trends (2001). He has contributed chapters and articles to edited works, including the Encyclopedia of Social Theory, and published research articles in journals such as American Journal of Sociology and Law and Society Review. Professor Leicht is Editor of Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, official journal of the Social Stratification Section (RC-28) of the International Sociological Association, Director of the Institute for Inequality Studies and Director of the Social Science Research Center. His current research examines gender inequality among professionals, transaction-cost approaches to career decision-making, the development of economic development programs by the U.S. states, and the causes and consequences of corporate restructuring.