Sociology Matters or Chester Alan Arthur

Sociology Matters

Author: Richard T Schaefer

This is a low-cost, paperback, condensed version of Sociology: A Brief Introduction, Sixth Edition. The conciseness, readability, and highly focused coverage of Sociology Matters are designed to appeal to instructors who rely on several texts rather than on a single comprehensive textbook. Its design and pedagogy are both straightforward and streamlined. Sociology Matters features newly written chapter introductions and a unifying theme--answering the question "How does sociology matter?"

"After more than 30 years of teaching sociology to students in colleges, adult education programs, nursing programs, an overseas program based in London, and even a maximum-security prison, I am firmly convinced that the discipline can play a valuable role in teaching critical thinking skills. Sociology can help students to better understand the workings of their own lives as well as of their society and other cultures." –-Richard T. Schaefer

Table of Contents:

BRIEF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: The Sociological View

Chapter 2: Culture and Socialization

Chapter 3: Social Structure, Groups, and Organizations

Chapter 4: Deviance and Social Control

Chapter 5: Stratification in the United States and Worldwide

Chapter 6: Inequality by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

Chapter 7: Inequality of Gender

Chapter 8: Family and Religion

Chapter 9: Education, Government, and the Economy

Chapter 10: Population, Community, Health, and the Environment

Chapter 11: Social Movements, Social Change, and Technology

DETAILED CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1: The Sociological View

What Is Sociology?; The Sociological Imagination; Sociology and the Social Sciences; Sociology and Common Sense

What Is Sociological Theory?

The Development of Sociology; Early Thinkers; Émile Durkheim; Max Weber; Karl Marx; Modern Developments:Charles Horton Cooley /Jane Addams / Robert Merton

Major Theoretical Perspectives; Functionalist Perspective: Manifest and Latent Functions; Conflict Perspective: The Marxist View / A Different Voice: W. E. B Du Bois; Interactionist Perspective; Feminist Perspective

What is the Scientific Method?; Defining the Problem; Reviewing the Literature; Formulating the Hypothesis; Collecting and Analyzing Data; Selecting the Sample: Ensuring Validity and Reliability; Developing the Conclusion: Supporting Hypotheses /Controlling the Other Factors /In Summary: The Scientific Method

Major Research Designs; Surveys; Observation; Experiments; Use of Existing Sources

Ethics of Research

Applied andClinical Sociology

Summary

Chapter 2: Culture and Socialization

Culture and Society

Development of Culture Around the World; Cultural Universals; Innovation; Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology

Elements of Culture; Language; Norms: Types of Norms / Acceptance of Norms; Sanctions; Values

Culture and the Dominant Ideology

Cultural Variation; Subcultures; Countercultures; Culture Shock; Ethnocentrism; Cultural Relativism

The Role of Socialization; Environment: The Impact of Isolation: A Girl Called Isabelle / Heredity: the Impact of Biology

The Self and Socialization; Cooley: Looking-Glass Self; Mead: Stages of the Self; Mead: Theory of the Self; Goffman: Presentation of the Self

Socialization and the Life Course; The Life Course; Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization

Agents of Socialization; Family; School; Peer Group; Mass Media and Technology; Workplace; The State

Summary

Chapter 3: Social Structure, Groups, and Organizations

Defining and Reconstructing Reality

Elements of Social Structure; Statuses: Ascribed and Achieved Status / Master Status; Social Roles: What Are Social Roles? / Role Conflict/ Role Strain; Groups: Primary and Secondary Groups / In-Groups and Out-Groups / Reference Groups

Social Networks and Technology; Social Institutions

Social Structure in Global Perspective; Tönnies’s Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft; Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach: Preindustrial Societies / Industrial Societies /Postindustrial and Postmodern Societies

Understanding Organizations; Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies; Characteristics of a Bureaucracy; Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture; Voluntary Associations

Technology Impact on the Workplace

Summary

Chapter 4: Deviance and Social Control

Social Control; Conformity and Obedience; Informal and Formal Social Control; Law and Society

Deviance; What is Deviance? / Deviance and Social Stigma; Explaining Deviance: Functionalist Perspective /Interactionist Perspective / Labeling Theory /Conflict Theory / Feminist Perspective

Crime; Types of Crime: Professional Crime / Organized CrimeWhite-Collar and Technology-Based Crime / Victimless Crime; Crime Statistics:Understanding Crime Statistics /International Crime Rates

Summary

Chapter 5: Stratification in the United States and Worldwide

Understanding Stratification ; Systems of Stratification: Slavery / Castes / Social Classes; Perspectives on Stratification: Karl Marx’s View of Class Differentiation / Max Weber’s View of Stratification; Is Stratification Universal? Functionalist ViewConflict View / Lenski’s Viewpoint

Stratification by Social Class; Measuring Social Class: Objective Method / Multiple Measures; Wealth and Income; Poverty: Studying Poverty / Who Are the Poor? /Explaining Poverty; Life Chances

Social Mobility; Open versus Closed Stratification Systems; Types of Social Mobility; Social Mobility in the United States: Occupational Mobility / The Impact of Education / The Impact of Race /The Impact of Gender

Stratification in the World System; Legacy of Colonialism ; Globalization ; Multinational Corporations: Functionalist View / Conflict View; Modernization

Summary

Chapter 6: Inequality by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

The Privileges of the Dominant

Race, Ethnicity, and Minority Groups; Minority Groups; Race; Ethnicity

Immigration and New Ethnic Groups

Explaining Inequality by Race and Ethnicity; The Functionalist View; The Conflict Response; The Interactionist Approach

Prejudice and Discrimination; Discriminatory Behavior; Institutional Discrimination; Measuring Discrimination

Summary

Chapter 7: Inequality of Gender

The Social Construction of Gender; Gender-Role Socialization; Women's and Men's Gender Roles; A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Explaining Inequality by Gender; The Functionalist View; The Conflict Response; The Feminist Perpsective; The Interactionist Approach

Women: The Oppressed Majority; Sexism and Sex Discrimination; Sexual Harrassment; The Status of Women Worldwide; Women in the Workforce of the United States; The Social Consequences of Women's Employment

The Double Jeopardy of Minority Women

Summary

Chapter 8: The Family and Religion

Studying Social Institutions; Functionalist View; Conflict View; Interactionist View

The Family: A Global View; Composition: What is the Family?; Kinship Patterns: To Whom Are We Related?; Authority Patterns: Who Rules?

Religion as a Social Institution; The Integrative Function of Religion; Religion and Social Support; Religion and Social Change; Religion and Social Control: A Conflict View

Chapter 9: Education, Government, and the Economy

Education: Schools as Formal Organizations; Bureaucratization of Schools; Teachers: Employees and Instructors; Student Subcultures

Power and Authority; Types of Authority: Traditional Authority /Legal-Rational Authority / Charismatic Authority

Who Rules in the United States?; Power Elite Models: Mill’s Model / Domhoff’s ModelPluralist Model

The Economy: Today and Tomorrow; Economic Systems: Capitalism / Socialism; Economic Change: The Face of the Workforce /Deindustrialization / E-Commerce /The Contingency Workforce

Summary

Chapter 10: Population, Community, Health, and the Environment

Demography: The Study of Population; Malthus’s Thesis and Marx’s Response; Studying Population Today; Elements of Demography

How Did Communities Originate?; Early Communities; Preindustrial Cities; Industrial and Postindustrial Cities

Urbanization and Its Consequences; Functionalist View: Urban Ecology; Conflict View: New Urban Sociology

Health and Illness: Sociological Perspectives; Functionalist Approach; Conflict Approach

The Medicalization of Society ; Inequities in Health Care; Interactionist Approach; Labeling Approach

Social Epidemiology; Social Class; Race and Ethnicity; Gender; Age

The Environment and Our Place in It; Environmental Problems: An Overview: Air Pollution /Water Pollution / Contamination of Land; Human Ecology; A Conflict View of Environmental Issues

Environmental Justice

Summary

Chapter 11: Social Movements, Social Change, and Technology

Social Movements; Relative Deprivation; Resource Mobilization; Gender and Social Movements; New Social Movements

Theories of Social Change; Evolutionary Theory; Functionalist Theory; Conflict Theory; Global Social Change

Resistance to Social Change; Economic and Cultural Factors; Resistance to Technology

Technology and the Future; Computer Technology: Telecommuting / The Internet; Biotechnology: Sex Selection / Genetic Engineering /Bioterrorism; Technological Accidents

Technology and Society; Culture and Social Interaction; Social Control; Stratification and Inequality

Summary

Glossary

References

Credits

Index

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Chester Alan Arthur (The American Presidents Series)

Author: Zachary Karabell

The Gilded Age bon vivant who became America's unlikeliest chief executive-and who presided over a sweeping reform of the system that nurtured him
Chester Alan Arthur never dreamed that one day he would be president of the United States. A successful lawyer, Arthur had been forced out as the head of the Custom House of the Port of New York in 1877 in a power struggle between the two wings of the Republican Party. He became such a celebrity that he was nominated for vice president in 1880-despite his never having run for office before.
Elected alongside James A. Garfield, Arthur found his life transformed just four months into his term, when an assassin shot and killed Garfield, catapulting Arthur into the presidency. The assassin was a deranged man who thought he deserved a federal job through the increasingly corrupt "spoils system." To the surprise of many, Arthur, a longtime beneficiary of that system, saw that the time had come for reform. His opportunity came in the winter of 1882-83, when he pushed through the Pendleton Act, which created a professional civil service and set America on a course toward greater reforms in the decades to come.
Chester Arthur may be largely forgotten today, but Zachary Karabell eloquently shows how this unexpected president-of whom so little was expected-rose to the occasion when fate placed him in the White House.

Kirkus Reviews

An unmemorable president earns a fitting biography. Freelance historian Karabell (Parting the Desert, 2003, etc.) has the unenviable task, in this latest in Arthur Schlesinger's American presidents series, of chronicling the life and times of Chester Arthur (1829-86), who "belongs to two select, and not altogether proud, clubs: presidents who came to office because of the sudden death of their predecessor, and presidents whose historical reputation is neither great, nor terrible, nor remarkable." Arthur was indeed a strong supporter of his predecessor, James Garfield, felled by the bullet of a disgruntled jobseeker; although by no means charismatic or even interesting, he was useful to Garfield as an entree to and liaison with the powerful Republican leadership of New York. Arthur seems to have sought elected public office only reluctantly, and for good reason: as an appointed customs official in New York City, he earned more than $50,000 annually in the 1870s, an astonishing sum of money that owed to an astonishing level of official corruption, though Arthur himself seems to have been honest enough. Though popular precisely because he represented a moderate balance between two competing wings within the GOP, Arthur ran afoul of powerful rivals, including Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. Grant, and James Blaine, the last of whom essentially forced Arthur out of the White House after he served out Garfield's term. Arthur's tenure was not without its accomplishments, Karabell dutifully writes, including a thoroughgoing reform of the civil-service system to professionalize the government and reduce favoritism. On the negative side, Arthur oversaw an immigration exclusion act aimed against theChinese, which he vetoed at first but then surrendered to; on this and other issues he stepped away from his base of support within his party, and, as Karabell notes, alienating his allies after having "earned the near-permanent distrust of competing factions and of the opposing Democrats."A dry life of a dry man, with a few intriguing glimpses into the Gilded Age.