Steven Hitlin – författare

The new, tenth edition of Social Psychology is a fully revised and sweeping look into the social forces that make us who we are. Real-life examples and the results from a wide range of empirical research contribute to the book’s coverage of such subjects as the self, attitudes, socialization, communication, interpersonal attraction and relationships, and personality and social structure. It thoroughly addresses intrapsychic processes and comprehensively explores social interactions and group processes, as well as larger-scale phenomena, such as intergroup conflict and the effects of COVID-19.

Providing rare, balanced coverage of both psychological and sociological perspectives, as well as historical and contemporary works, the tenth edition of this classic textbook is an ideal companion for introductory social psychology courses.

The new, tenth edition of Social Psychology is a fully revised and sweeping look into the social forces that make us who we are. Real-life examples and the results from a wide range of empirical research contribute to the book’s coverage of such subjects as the self, attitudes, socialization, communication, interpersonal attraction and relationships, and personality and social structure. It thoroughly addresses intrapsychic processes and comprehensively explores social interactions and group processes, as well as larger-scale phenomena, such as intergroup conflict and the effects of COVID-19.

Providing rare, balanced coverage of both psychological and sociological perspectives, as well as historical and contemporary works, the tenth edition of this classic textbook is an ideal companion for introductory social psychology courses.

Human beings necessarily understand their social worlds in moral terms, orienting their lives, relationships, and activities around socially-produced notions of right and wrong.

Morality is sociologically understood as more than simply helping or harming others; it encompasses any way that individuals form understandings of what behaviors are better than others, what goals are most laudable, and what "proper" people believe, feel, and do. Morality involves the explicit and implicit sets of rules and shared understandings that keep human social groups intact. Morality includes both the "shoulds" and "should nots" of human activity, its proactive and inhibitive elements.

At one time, sociologists were centrally concerned with morality, issues like social cohesion, values, the goals and norms that structure society, and the ways individuals get socialized to reproduce those concerns. In the last half-century, however, explicit interest in these topics has waned, and modern sociology has become uninterested in these matters and morality has become marginalized within the discipline.

But a resurgence in the topic is happening in related disciplines – psychology, neurology, philosophy, and anthropology - and in the wider national discourse. Sociology has much to offer, but is not fully engaged in this conversation. Many scholars work on areas that would fall under the umbrella of a sociology of morality but do not self-identify in such a manner, nor orient their efforts toward conceptualizing what we know, and should know, along these dimensions.

The Handbook of the Sociology of Morality fills a niche within sociology making explicit the shared concerns of scholars across the disciplines as they relate to an often-overlooked dimension of human social life. It is unique in social science as it would be the first systematic compilation of the wider social structural, cultural, cross-national, organizational, and interactional dimension of human moral (understood broadly) thought, feeling, and behavior.

This handbook articulates how sociology can re-engage its roots as the scientific study of human moral systems, actions, and interpretation. This second volume builds on the successful original volume published in 2010, which contributed to the initiation of a new section of the American Sociological Association (ASA), thus growing the field. This volume takes sociology back to its roots over a century ago, when morality was a central topic of work and governance. It engages scholars from across subfields in sociology, representing each section of the ASA, who each contribute a chapter on how their subfield connects to research on morality. 

This reference work appeals to broader readership than was envisaged for the first volume, as the relationship between sociology as a discipline and its origins in questions of morality is further renewed. The volume editors focus on three areas: the current state of the sociology of morality across a range of sociologicalsubfields; taking a new look at some of the issues discussed in the first handbook, which are now relevant in sometimes completely new contexts; and reflecting on where the sociology of morality should go next. 

This is a must-read reference for students and scholars interested in topics of morality, ethics, altruism, religion, and spirituality from across the social science.