Thirty Readings in Introductory Sociology

Thirty Readings in Introductory Sociology, Second Edition, introduces students to the field of sociology in an engaging, accessible manner. Designed to be used alone or with its companion, Ten Lessons in Introductory Sociology, the book is organized around four themes commonly examined in introductory courses: Why sociology? What unites society? What divides society? and How do societies change? Rather than provide encyclopedic responses to such questions, Thirty Readings in Introductory Sociology engages students in critical thinking while presenting key concepts and methods in sociology. Edited by Kenneth A. Gould and Tammy L. Lewis, the text raises sociological questions, applies a sociological lens, illustrates how data are used, and presents core topics in a way that is easy for students to grasp. Each section begins with an introduction by Gould and Lewis, followed by three readings: one classical, one that uses qualitative data, and a third that uses quantitative data.

Kenneth A. Gould is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Urban Sustainability Program at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and Professor of Sociology and Earth and Environmental Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Tammy L. Lewis is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and Professor of Sociology and Earth and Environmental Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Gould and Lewis are coauthors of Ten Lessons in Introductory Sociology (OUP, 2013) and Twenty Lessons in Environmental Sociology, Second Edition (OUP, 2014).

* Indicates new to this edition

Introduction and Acknowledgments

PART 1. Why Sociology?

Section 1: The Sociological Imagination
Introduction
Reading 1: C. Wright Mills, Excerpt from The Sociological Imagination (1959)
* Reading 2: Andrew Szasz, Excerpt from Shopping Our Way to Safety: How We Changed from Protecting the Environmental to Protecting Ourselves (2007)
* Reading 3: Bruce Western, Excerpt from Punishment and Inequality in America (2006)

Section 2: Methods and Theory
Introduction
Reading 4: Emile Durkheim, Excerpt from Suicide: A Study in Sociology (1951) [1897]
Reading 5: Charles Ragin, Excerpt from Constructing Social Research (1994)
Reading 6: Joel Best, Excerpt from Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists (2012)

PART 2. What Unites Us?

Section 3: Culture and Socialization
Introduction
Reading 7: Howard Becker, Excerpt from Doing Things Together (1986)
Reading 8: Debra Van Ausdale and Joe R. Feagin, Excerpt from The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism (2001)
Reading 9: Juliet Schor, Excerpt from Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture (2004)

Section 4: Social Institutions
Introduction
Reading 10: Max Weber, Excerpt from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (2009) [1905]
Reading 11: Charles Derber, Excerpt from Corporation Nation (1998)
Reading 12: Andrew J. Cherlin, Excerpt from The Deinstitutionalization of American Marriage (2004)

PART 3. What Divides Us?

Section 5: Race and Intersectionality
Introduction
Reading 13: W.E.B. DuBois, Excerpt from The Souls of Black Folk (1990) [1903]
Reading 14: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Excerpt from Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States (2003)
Reading 15: Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton, Excerpt from American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass (1993)

Section 6. Class and Intersectionality
Introduction
Reading 16: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Excerpt from The Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)
Reading 17: Rachel Sherman, Excerpt from Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels (2007)
* Reading 18: Rubén G. Rumbaut, "English Plus: Exploring the Socioeconomic Benefits of Bilingualism in Southern California" (2014)

Section 7 Gender and Intersectionality
Introduction
Reading 19: Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman, Excerpt from Doing Gender (1987)
Reading 20: Patricia Hill Collins, Excerpt from Black Feminist Thought (2000)
* Reading 21: Mignon R. Moore, "Gendered Power Relations among Women: A Study of Household Decision Making in Black, Lesbian Stepfamilies" (2008)

PART 4. How Do Societies Change?

Section 8: Forces of Social Change
Introduction
Reading 22: William Gamson, Excerpt from The Strategy of Social Protest (1990) [1975]
Reading 23: Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward, Excerpt from Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail (1979)
Reading 24: Doug McAdam, Excerpt from Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 (1982)

Section 9: Global Dynamics
Introduction
Reading 25: Immanuel Wallerstein, Excerpt from The Modern World System (1976)
Reading 26: Deborah Barndt, Excerpt from Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail (2008)
* Reading 27: Daniel Jaffee, Excerpt from Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival (2007)

Section 10: Public Sociology
Introduction
Reading 28: Michael Burawoy, Excerpt from Public Sociologies Reader (2006)
Reading 29: Dan Clawson, Excerpt from The Next Upsurge: Labor and New Social Movements (2003)
* Reading 30: P. Ngai, S. Yuan, G. Yuhua, L. Huilin, J. Chan, and M. Selden, "Worker-Intellectual Unity: Trans-Border Sociological Intervention in Foxconn" (2014)