Social Blueprints

"Brown has synthesized the major issues concisely and cleverly, and presented them in a way that is conversational with students, yet analytically sharp."--Michael Kimmel, State University of New York, Stony Brook

• Each chapter ends with Suggestions for Further Study ; 1. INDIVIDUALITY, SOCIETY, AND IDENTITY: CORNERSTONES OF SOCIOLOGICAL REASONING ; Vivifying the Mundane: The Sociological Imagination ; The Sociological Imagination: C. Wright Mills ; Individual v. Social Problems ; The Sociology of Celebrities: Individuals in Social Context ; The American Preoccupation with Individualism in Cultural, Political, & Economic Life ; The Sociology of Identities ; Individuals as Webs of Group Affiliation ; Social Identities: Repertoire Selection, Multiple Consciousness, and Ambiguity ; The Contested Terrain of Sociological Knowledge ; Some Cautionary Notes about Sociology v. Psychology ; The Reality of the Social: Social Facts ; The Logical Gulf Between Fact and Value Statements ; Muddying the Waters: The Politics of Social Knowledge ; Conclusion ; 2. SOCIAL THEORIES: THEIR INTERPLAY AND CONTRADICTIONS ; The Nature and Relevance of Social Theories ; Theories as Paradigms ; Theoretical Reasoning: Inductive and Deductive ; Four Broad Types of Social Theory ; Rational Choice Theories: Individuals Pursuing Interests ; Where Do Desires Come From? ; The Free-Rider Problem: Are Rational People Honest? ; Do People Choose to be Unequal? ; Functional Theories: Harmony and Necessary Differences ; Basic Functionalist Imagery ; Is Social Inequality Simply Necessary? ; Symbolic Interactionist and Social Constructionist Theories ; Interaction, Meaning, and Everyday Life ; Mind, Self, and Society ; Modern Symbolic Interactionism ; Symbolic Interactionism/Constructionism: Are the Trees Hiding the Forest? ; Conflict Theories: Arenas of Power and Inequality ; The Interplay of Conflict Theory with Other Perspectives ; Karl Marx's Enduring Legacy ; Weber's Multidimensional Conflict Theory ; Conflict Theories: Too Much Pessimism, or Sober Realism? ; Conclusion ; 3. CULTURE, STRUCTURE, AND INTERACTION: UNRAVELING THE FIBERS OF EVERYDAY LIFE ; Distinguishing Social Structure, Culture, and Interaction ; Social Structural Determinism or Cultural Autonomy ; Beyond Good and Evil: Religion as an Emblem of Society ; Beyond Cold Hard Cash: The Sociology of Money ; Understanding Culture and Social Power ; Cashing in on Culture: The Flow of Cultural, Social, and Economic Capital ; Roads Between High Culture and Popular Culture ; Interpreting Pink Flamingoes: Everyday Expressions of Social Positions ; "Lions & Tigers & Bears-Oh My!": The Cultural and Political Construction of Social Problems ; Cultural Production, Distribution, and Interpretation ; A Basic Model of Cultural Production Processes ; Making Chili Peppers: Organizational Processes in the Rise of a Band ; Pets or Meat? The Interpretation of Cultural Products ; Conclusion ; 4. POWER AND AUTHORITY: IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, STATES, AND ORGANIZATION ; A Sociological Perspective on Power ; The Power Prism and its Refractions: An analytical Tool ; Social Power and Social Movements ; Reading Power into Political Protests ; Power, States, and Legitimacy ; Spreading Social Power in Authoritarian Regimes ; Theaters of War: The Social Construction of State Legitimacy ; Power in Organizations ; Power and Control in Work Places ; Bureaucratic Organizations and Abstract Social Power ; The Symbolic Architecture of Organizational Power ; Conclusion ; 5. GLOBALIZATION: CONTEPTUALIZING 21ST CENTURY SOCIAL CHANGE ; Introduction ; Is Globalization Really New? ; Economic and Political Aspects of Globalization ; The Ideological and Policy Basis of The New World Order: Neoliberalism and It's Critics ; The Global Power of Transnational Corporations ; International Governmental and Non-governmental Organizations: International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, and the G-8 ; Bittersweet Chocolate: Abuse of Child Slave Labor in West Africa ; So Long Nation, Hello Corporation ; International Social Movements ; Mexico: Poverty and Protest in a "Model" free Trade Nation ; Cultural Globalization ; Limiting Factors Concerning Cultural Globalization ; Global Consumerism: You Gotta Shop Around, Even If its All the Same ; Global Tourism: Individual Freedom or Structural Determinism? ; Conclusion