Illuminating Social Life

Peter Kivisto is Richard A. Swanson Professor of Social Thought and Chair of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Welfare at Augustana College and Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Turku. His current research involves a collaborative project on multiculturalism with colleagues in Finland. His interests include immigration, social integration, citizenship, and religion. Among his recent books are Key Ideas in Sociology (2011), Illuminating Social Life (2011); Beyond a Border: The Causes and Consequences of Contemporary Immigration (2010, with Thomas Faist); Citizenship: Discourse, Theory and Transnational Prospects (2007, with Thomas Faist); and Intersecting Inequalities (2007, with Elizabeth Hartung). He serves on the editorial boards of Contexts, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Journal of Intercultural Studies, and on the Publication Committee for Sociology of Religion.

• CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORYIntroduction - Peter KivistoCelebratory Capitalism and the Commodification of Information - Stephen Adair The Weberian Theory of Rationalization and the McDonaldization of Contemporary Society - George RitzerSurfing the Net for Community: A Durkheimian Analysis of Electronic Gatherings - Anne M. Hornsby Alcohol-Related Windows on Simmel’s Social World - William J. Staudenmeier, Jr.CONTEMPORARY THEORIES AND THEIR CONNECTIONS TO THE CLASSICSIntroduction - Peter KivistoCultural Sociology and the Meaning of Music - Scott AppelrouthWhy Do African Americans Pay More for New Cars? A Structural Explanation - Christopher PrendergastCritical Theory, Legitimation Crisis, and the Deindustrialization of Flint, Michigan - Steven P. DandaneauRace-Based Critical Theory and the “Happy Talk” of Diversity in America - Douglas Hartmann and Joyce M. BellThe Socially Constructed Body: Insights From Feminist Theory - Judith Lorber and Patricia Yancey MartinOrganizing Door-to-Door Sales: A Symbolic Interactionist Analysis - David Schweingruber and Nancy BernsGoffman’s Dramaturgical Sociology: Personal Sales and Service in a Commodified World - Peter Kivisto and Dan PittmanContrasts of Carnival: Mardi Gras Between the Modern and the Postmodern - Kevin Fox GothamNegotiating the Social Landscape to Create Social Change - Anne F. EisenbergGlobalization Theory and Religious Fundamentalism - William H. Swatos, Jr.