Read an Excerpt
Preface to the Twelfth Edition
Sociology has the marvelous capacity to open new windows of perception on our familiar worlds, leaving no aspect of our lives untouched.
-- Author
It is with pleasure that I introduce the twelfth edition of Down to Earth Sociology, a pleasure akin to seeing a dear friend reach another cheerful milestone in his or her life. Adopters of earlier editions will find themselves at home, I believe, in this latest edition. They will see many selections that they have already used successfully in the classroom, and I trust they will welcome the many newcomers.
Following the suggestions of those who have used earlier editions of Down to Earth Sociology, I have strived to continue to present down to earth articles in order to make the student's introduction to sociology enjoyable as well as meaningful. These selections narrate the first-hand experiences of their authors -- researchers who put a human voice on sociological experiences -- those who have "been there" and who, with a minimum of jargon and quantification, insightfully share their experiences with the reader.
Focusing on social interaction in everyday activities and situations, these selections share some of the fascination of sociology. They reflect both the individualistic and the structural emphases of our discipline. They make clear how social structure is not simply an abstract fact of life, but vitally affects our lives. These selections help students become more aware of how the decisions of the rich, the politically powerful, and the bureaucrats provide social constraints that augment those dictated by birth, social class, and other circumstances. They help students understand how their location in a social structure lifts or limits their vision of life, closes or opens their chances of success, and, ultimately, brings tears and laughter, hope and despair.
So much of sociology, however, goes about its business as though data were unconnected to people, as though the world consisted of abstract social facts. Yet from our own experiences in social life, we know how far these suppositions are from the truth -- how divorced they are from real life. Consequently, I have sought to include authors who are able to share the realities that directly affect people's lives. As I see it, sociology is the most fascinating of the social sciences, and it is this fascination that these selections are designed to convey.
It is my hope that I have succeeded in accomplishing this goal, because sociology has the marvelous capacity to open new windows of perception on our familiar worlds, leaving no aspect of our lives untouched. If these readings even come close to this goal, I am indebted to the many adopters of earlier editions, whose reactions and suggestions have helped give shape to this one. To all of you, a sincere and fond thank you.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to the instructors who shared with me their experiences with earlier editions. Their sharing proved invaluable in shaping this present version. I wish to acknowledge the help of
Richard Ambler, Southern Arkansas University
Julie E. Artis, DePaul University
Joe Bishop, Dakota State University
John Bowman, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Tom Boyd, Berea College
Suzanne Brandon, College of St. Catherine
John C. Bridges, Immaculata College
Grace Budrys, DePaul University
Meryl Cozart, Towson University
Rolf Diamon, University of Southern Maine
Merl Dirksen, Lee University
Robert B. Enright, Jr., University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
David C. Erickson, Northwest College
Kerry Ferris, Bradley University
Richard Gendron, Assumption College
Frank Glamser, University of Southern Mississippi
Peter R. Grahame, Mount Saint Mary's College
Susan F. Greenwood, University of Maine-Orono
Larry D. Hall, Spring Hill College
Terrell A. Hayes, Davis & Elkins College
Ines W. Jindra, Bethany Lutheran College
Cathryn Johnson, Emory University
Susan L. Johnson, Carl Sandburg College
James W. Jordan, Longwood College
Quintus Joubeve, Rutgers University
Mariame Kaba, Northeastern Illinois University
Meg Wilkes Karraker, University of St. Thomas
Margot Kempers, Fitchburg State College
Marilyn Krogh, Loyola University of Chicago
Anthony Lack, Lee College
Helene M. Lawson, University of Pittsburgh
Bill Lockhart, New Mexico State University
Jerry Lowney, Carroll College
Philip Luck, Georgia State University
Kristin Marsh, Emory University
Tina Martinez, Blue Mountain Community College
R. Robin Miller, Drury University
Sharon L. Miller, Hope College
Janine Minkler, Northern Arizona University
Elizabeth J. Mitchell, Rutgers University
Thomas S. Moore, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Christopher W. Mullins, Southwestern Illinois College
Peter F. Parilla, University of St. Thomas
Kristin Park, Westminster College
Tim Pippert, Augsburg College
Paul-Jahi Price, Pasadena City College
Pam Rosenberg, Gettysburg College
Richard Rubinson, Emory University
Ross T. Runfola, Medaille College
Allen Scarboro, Augusta State University
Richard Senter, Jr., Central Michigan University
Ryan Sheppard, King's College
Rick L. Shifley, Montserrat College of Art
Thomas Soltis, Westmoreland County Community College
Marybeth C. Stalp, University of Georgia
Judith Stepan-Norris, University of California-Irvine
Jordan J. Titus, University of Alaska
Kathy Trosen, Muscatine Community College
Suzanne Tuthill, Delaware Technical and Community College
Judy C. Vaughan, Arkansas Tech University
Anita Veit, University of North Carolina
Abram Lawrence Wehmiller, Greenhill School
Clovis L. White, Oberlin College
Fred Zampa, Macon State College
One of the more interesting tasks in preparing this book is to gather information on the contributors' backgrounds. In addition to biographical data concerning their education, teaching, and publishing, this section also contains their statements telling us why they like sociology or became sociologists. You may want to assign this section with the articles to help personalize the readings and increase the student's awareness of biographical factors that go into the choice to become a sociologist.
The selections in this edition continue to be organized to make them compatible with most introductory textbooks. Through subjects that are inherently interesting, we cover the major substantive areas of sociology. Part I, an introduction to the sociological perspective, invites students to view the world in a new way by participating in this exciting enterprise we call sociology. Part II is designed to answer the basic question of how sociologists do research. Part III examines the cultural underpinnings of social life, those taken-for-granted assumptions and contexts that provide the contours of our everyday lives. Part IV focuses on that essential component of our beings, gender and sexuality. There we look at both the process by which we assume the social identity of male or female and how those identities provide the basis for interaction among adults.
In Part V, we examine social groups and social structure, looking behind the scenes to reveal how people's assumptions, their location on social hierarchies, and the features of social settings establish both constraints and freedoms in human relationships. In Part VI, we consider the relativity of deviance and the process of becoming deviant, especially the social context that shapes deviance. We also examine features of social control, those aspects of social groups that are designed to minimize deviance. In Part VII, we focus on social stratification, beginning with the micro level of physical appearance and then looking at gender, race-ethnicity, poverty, wealth, and power as dimensions of social inequality. In Part VIII, we analyze the social institutions of economics, marriage and family, education, sports, the mass media, religion, medicine, law, and the military. In this edition, we add an analysis of science, examining how myth creeps into its "objective" knowledge. We conclude the book with a look at social change, the focus of Part IX. After examining how everyday life is being rationalized in a process called McDonaldization, we look at resistance to social change -- how the Amish withdraw from mainstream society and how male soldiers undermine the integration of women in the military. We then conclude the book with a look at how people adjust to the aftermath of a hurricane.
These selections bring the reader face-to-face with the dual emphases of contemporary sociological research: the focus on the individual's experiences, and the analysis of social structure. Uncovering the basic expectations that underlie routine social interactions, these articles emphasize the ways in which social institutions are interrelated. It is to their authors' credit that we lose sight of neither the people who are interacting nor the structural base that so directly influences the form and content of their interactions.
In some of the selections written before stylistic changes occurred in our language, "he," "his," "him," "himself," "man," "world of men," and so on, are generic, referring to both males and females. Although the linguistic style is outdated, the ideas are not.
Jim Henslin
December 2002
Copyright © 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003 by James M. Henslin Copyright © 1972, 1976, 1981, 1985, 1988 by The Free Press
