Amir Marvasti – författare

The place of Middle Easterners in the racial hierarchy of the United States remains relatively unexplored in scholarly research. In this book this authors present the everyday experiences of this population by specifically focusing on Arab and Iranian Americans. Using focus groups and interviews, respondents were asked to comment on their everyday experiences in the realms of public spaces, educational settings, work, housing, and family. Through concrete descriptions and analysis of how Arab and Iranian Americans are confronted with matters of ethnic and racial inequality, this work's primary aim is to debunk entrenched stereotypes by bringing to the forefront the human complexity of the Middle Eastern experience. Marvasti and McKinney argue that the discrimination and exclusion faced by this group cannot be fully understood using the existing paradigm of minority-majority group interactions. The political tensions between the U.S. and various Islamic countries in the Middle East combined with the September 11th terrorist attacks have cast Arab and Iranian Americans as a unique minority group. These facts have created a condition of hostility and suspicion in the daily interactions between Middle Eastern Americans and other Americans that is not faced by any other ethnic group today. At the same time, while there is a growing recognition in the sociological study of race and ethnicity of the so-called 'browning of America,' the research literature does not address how Middle Easterners figure into this demographic shift. This text will fill these general gaps in the race and ethnicity literature by making visible this minority group's everyday experiences and their strategies for coping with and resisting discrimination.

Qualitative Research in Sociology offers a hands-on guide to doing qualitative research in sociology. It provides an introductory survey of the methodological and theoretical dimensions of qualitative research as practiced by those interested in the study of social life. Through a detailed yet concise explanation, the reader is shown how these methods work and how their outcomes may be interpreted. Practically focused throughout, the book also offers constructive advice for students analyzing and writing their research projects. The book has a flowing narrative and student-friendly structure which makes it accessible to and popular with students. It will be an invaluable resource for students and researchers, helping them to undertake effective qualitative research in both sociology and courses in social research across the social sciences.

Qualitative Research in Sociology offers a hands-on guide to doing qualitative research in sociology. It provides an introductory survey of the methodological and theoretical dimensions of qualitative research as practiced by those interested in the study of social life. Through a detailed yet concise explanation, the reader is shown how these methods work and how their outcomes may be interpreted. Practically focused throughout, the book also offers constructive advice for students analyzing and writing their research projects. The book has a flowing narrative and student-friendly structure which makes it accessible to and popular with students. It will be an invaluable resource for students and researchers, helping them to undertake effective qualitative research in both sociology and courses in social research across the social sciences.

This book covers a wide range of contemporary methods for researching social problems and connects these approaches to the broader substance and theories of social problems. Expository and discursive in approach, chapters follow a uniform structure, with each offering research examples and a broad description of the related method and its theoretical context, together with a "how-to" guide for applying that method using substantive examples from the field of social problems. For every method explored, there is a research example that fully reviews and illustrates the application of the particular method, before giving a full assessment of the method’s strengths and weaknesses and latest developments. With chapters exploring survey interviews, in-depth interviews, narrative inquiry, institutional ethnography, participatory action research, auto-ethnography, Actor-Network Theory, experimental research, visual research methods, and research ethics, Researching Social Problems will appeal to scholars and students of sociology and politics working in the fields of research methods and social problems.