Written by a sociologist who is also an accomplished writer and teacher, this is a dictionary of sociology aimed primarily at students. Allan Johnson provides an invaluable reference tool, providing a lively and engaging introduction to thinking in a sociological way.
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Editorial Reviews
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In the author's words, this is "neither an exhaustive dictionary, nor an expansive encyclopedia." It is a portable dictionary that will help undergraduates and others interested in understanding the central concepts of sociology by offering them a representative sampling of some specialized areas within the field and some important concepts from related disciplines--such as Authority, Feminism, and Teleological Explanation. Although there are similar products in print (including The HarperCollins Dictionary of Sociology, 1992; The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, 1994; and The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology, 1995), this one is unique in one respect. The others are edited collections of entries composed by many writers, but Johnson wrote this entire work in an effort to present the whole conceptual framework with one continuous voice. This makes it relatively easy to read as dictionaries go.
Dictionary entries are usually brief (three to four paragraphs) and include see also references. Suggested readings at the end of entries feature classics as well as more contemporary references. For example, adolescence-related readings include G. Stanley Hall (1904), Margaret Mead (1928), and David Elkind (1984), while those suggested for additional study on social class include Karl Marx (1867), Max Weber (1946), and Bendix & Lipset (1966). Biographical sketches are international in scope and introduce the reader to major figures who have influenced sociological thinking during the past 200 years. Most are sociologists, but there are some individuals from philosophy, economics, and anthropology. Many women, including Mary Smith Coolidge ("the first full-time female professor of sociology in the U.S." ), are featured. In addition to an index, the text includes numerous see references, so it is easy to get from Urban Recycling to Gentrification, for example. Illustrations are limited to line drawings of statistical terms (normal curve of distribution, path analysis) and bar graphs.
This work complements the author's other publications (Human Arrangements: An Introduction to Sociology and Forest for the Trees: An Introduction to Sociological Thinking) that introduce readers to "the only discipline dedicated to making sense of [social life] in all its diversity and wondrous complexity." Its readability makes it useful as a circulating volume, even for those libraries that have similar dictionaries in reference. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Here is a book that every academic library and every department of sociology should own. In an ideal world where cost was no object, each sociology student - graduate and undergraduate - should also have a copy." William M. Wentworth, Clemson University .
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More About the Author
Allan G. Johnson is a nationally recognized writer, novelist, and public speaker who has worked on issues of privilege, oppression, and social inequality since receiving his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1972. His nonfiction writing has been translated into several languages and excerpted in numerous anthologies. His novels, The First Thing and the Last and Nothing Left to Lose, come from a lifelong devotion to the art of writing coupled with a passionate commitment to understanding what it means to be a human being in a complex world full of unnecessary suffering. He shares his life with Nora L. Jamieson, a writer, healer, and gatherer of women. They live in the hills of northwestern Connecticut.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very valuable, worth the price in every Sociology class,
By Charles (Sonoma State University, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology (Blackwell Companions to Social Theory) (Paperback)
I found this dictionary very very valuable.I passed it around my Sociological Theory class so everyone could read its definitions and section on major theorists, and we all found it a wonderfull resource that provides solid definitons, as well as concise reviews on every theorist I have ever heard of. I wish I would have had this when I started my major.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Inadequate in comparison with other Sociology Dictionaries,
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This review is from: The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology: A User's Guide to Sociological Language (Paperback)
I was so disapointed with this book! In comparison to similar dictionaries I have consulted,I found it to be quite inadeqate and at times not quite accurate in some of the explanations given.There were so many vital concepts,theorists,and theories absent, that it is not really possible to consider it a comprehensive reference for undergrad students embarking on a study of Sociology for the first time.I am almost at Doctoral level and I can honestly say I found relatively little in the book that was of any use to me, whereas I have other dictionaries which I purchased as an undergrad that I still find extremely useful when writing. All in all a very disappointing purchase.
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classical social movement theory, social data analysis, vey analysis, situational status, atomism and holism, political process theory, hypothesis and hypothesis testing, labor and labor power, many industrial societies, suppressor variable, abstracted empiricism, dramaturgical perspective, contest mobility Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, Free Press, Oxford University Press, University of Chicago Press, American Sociological Review, Basic Books, Sage Publications, Academic Press, David Knoke, Beverly Hills, Cambridge University Press, International Publishers, Englewood Cliffs, Chicago School, Harvard University Press, Reading Bohrnstedt, Blackwell Publishers, Monthly Review Press, New Haven, Reading Durkheim, Yale University Press, Newbury Park, North America, Reading Bohmstedt New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
classical social movement theory, social data analysis, vey analysis, situational status, atomism and holism, political process theory, hypothesis and hypothesis testing, labor and labor power, many industrial societies, suppressor variable, abstracted empiricism, dramaturgical perspective, contest mobility Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, Free Press, Oxford University Press, University of Chicago Press, American Sociological Review, Basic Books, Sage Publications, Academic Press, David Knoke, Beverly Hills, Cambridge University Press, International Publishers, Englewood Cliffs, Chicago School, Harvard University Press, Reading Bohrnstedt, Blackwell Publishers, Monthly Review Press, New Haven, Reading Durkheim, Yale University Press, Newbury Park, North America, Reading Bohmstedt New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 16
books:
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7
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- Bronislaw Malinowski: Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea [1922/1994] (Bronislaw Malinowski: Collecte) by Bronislaw Malinowski in Back Matter
- Reflections on the Revolution in France & The Rights of Man by Edmund Burke on page 56
- Language and Solitude: Wittgenstein, Malinowski and the Habsburg Dilemma by Ernest Gellner in Back Matter
- Society in America by Harriet Martineau in Back Matter
- Reflections on the Revolution in France (Oxford World's Classics) by Edmund Burke on page 56
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- Plantation Society and Race Relations: The Origins of Inequality by Thomas J. Durant on page 50, and Back Matter
- Folk Devils and Moral Panics: 30th Anniversary Edition by Stanley Cohen on page 29
- The Blackwell Dictionary of Political Science: A User's Guide to Its Terms by Frank Bealey in Front Matter
- A Guide to Writing Sociology Papers by Sociology Writing Group on page 93
- An American Health Dilemma: Race, Medicine, and Health Care in the United States, 1900-2000 by W. Michael Byrd on page 18
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