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Contents Part I Seeing and Thinking Sociologically 1. Sociological Perspectives Becoming A Marihuana User Howard Becker 2. Seeing and Thinking Sociologically The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience Herbert Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton A massacre during the Vietnam War provides an example of how individuals can be compelled to obey the commands of superiors. Speaking of Sadness: Depression, Disconnection and the Meaning of Illness David A. Karp A sociologist uncovers the connections between social structure and the private experience of depression. 3. Building Reality: The Social Construction of Knowledge Researching Dealers and Smugglers Patricia Adler A sociologist gains the friendship and trust of drug dealers and smugglers in order to research them. The Crack Attack: Politics and Media in the Crack Scare Craig Reinarman and Harry G. Levine The appearance of the "crack epidemic" as a major social problem is explained as a political and media creation. Part II The Construction of Self and Society 4. Building Order: Culture and History Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Horace Miner A description of an exotic and superstitious people. The Melting Pot Anne Fadiman Hmong refugees in the United States face a complex and confusing way of life as attempts are made to assimilate them into mainstream American culture. 5. Building Identity: Socialization Life as the Maid's Daughter Mary Romero A maid's daughter provides powerful insight into how race, class, and gender combine to create everyday boundaries between inclusion and exclusion, us and them. Sisyphus in a Wheelchair: Physical Disabilities and Masculinity Thomas J. Gerschick 6. Building Image: The Presentation of Self Frederick the Great or Frederick's of Hollywood? The Accomplishment of Gender Among Women in the Military Melissa S. Herbert Female soldiers develop strategies for addressing the conflicting expectation that they present themselves as both masculine and feminine. Suspended Identity: Transformation in a Maximum Security Prison Thomas J. Schmid and Richard S. Jones New inmates find they must shed their preprison identities and construct new inauthentic prison identities in order to survive behind bars. Webcam Women: Life on your Screen Donald Snyder 7. Building Social Relationships: Intimacy and Family No Place Like Home Christopher Carrington Gay couples develop lifelong bonds and a sense of family through the mundane, everyday things they do with and for each other. Chasing the Blood Tie: Surrogate Mothers, Adoptive Mothers and Fathers Helena Ragone 8. Constructing Difference: Social Deviance Branded with Infamy: Inscriptions of Poverty and Class in America Vivyan Adair Poverty leaves visible markers of deviance on the women and children it victimizes. Medicine as an Institution of Social Control Peter Conrad and Joseph W. Schneider Medical specialists?physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, and so on?have come to control societal definitions of deviance and shape collective responses to it. Part III Social Structure, Institutions and Everyday Life 9. Organization and Social Institutions The Overworked American Juliet Schor In the pursuit of more money to buy more things, Americans work longer hours and have less leisure time than workers in other industrialized countries. The Smile Factory John Van Maanen A behind-the-scenes look at the organizational culture of the "Happiest Place on Earth." 10. The Architecture of Stratification: Social Class and Inequality Software Entrepreneurship Among the Urban Poor: Could Bill Gates have Succeeded If He Were Black? . . . Or Impoverished? Alice H. Amsden and Jon Collins Clark It takes more than skill, money, and business savvy to become a successful entrepreneur. Savage Inequalities in American Schools: Life on the Mississippi?East St. Louis, Illinois Jonathan Kozol Two school districts?one poor, one wealthy?offer dramatically different educational and social opportunities to their students. 11. The Architecture of Inequality: Race and Ethnicity How the Jews Became White Folks Karen Brodkin On Whiteness Questionnaire from Hungry Mind Review The Blacker the Berry: Gender, Skin Tone, Self-Esteem, and Self-Efficacy Maxine S. Thompson and Verna M. Keith Skin color prejudice within the African American community can be just as harmful and just as demoralizing as cross-racial prejudice. Counting Native Americans John Anner 12. The Architecture of Inequality: Sex and Gender Black Women and a New Definition of Womanhood Bart Landry Black women's historical role in the movement for gender equality is often overlooked and trivialized. What is Wanting? Gender, Equality and Desire Judith Levine Still a Man's World: Men Who Do "Women's Work" Christine Williams Men in female-dominated fields such as nursing, social work, elementary education, and library science face unique difficulties but receive special advantages. 13. Global Dynamics Border Blues: Mexican Immigration and Mexican-American Identity Farai Chideya A sociologist examines the conflict over illegal immigration through the eyes of frontline Border Patrol agents. From Sweatshop to Hip-Hop Ryan Pintado-Vertner These Dark Satanic Mills William Greider An examination of a tragic industrial fire in a Bangkok toy factory reveals the harmful consequences of global economic inequality. 14. Architects of Change: Reconstructing Society Popular Christianity and Political Extremism in the United States James Aho Throughout American history, right-wing hate groups have used religious beliefs to justify their violence against certain racial, ethnic, religious, and class groups. Challenging Power: Toxic Waste Protests and the Politicization of White, Working-Class Women Celene Krauss Ordinary, working-class women play a pivotal role as activists against toxic waste disposal in their community. Credits
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Sociology