Sociology in America

Drawn from the plenary sessions of the 1988 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, these papers explore the relationship between the practice of sociology and American society. The international and interdisciplinary contributors examine the impact that sociology makes on American culture, on America's perception of social problems and on the American policy process.

PART ONE: SOCIOLOGY'S EFFECTS ON AMERICA The Influences of Sociological Ideas on American Culture - Dennis H Wrong Sociology's Critical Irony - Joseph R Gusfield Countering American Individualism PART TWO: AMERICA'S EFFECTS ON SOCIOLOGY External Influences on Sociology - Neil J Smelser The Curious Importance of Small Groups in American Sociology - Allan Silver PART THREE: SOCIOLOGY AND AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY Witnesses, Engineers or Story Tellers - Peter Marris The Influence of Social Research on Social Policy Sociology and Nuclear War - William A Gamson PART FOUR: SOCIOLOGY AND CRITICAL AMERICAN ISSUES Sociological Foundations of the Civil Rights Movement - Charles U Smith and Lewis M Killian Defining The Underclass - Robert Aponte A Critical Look Political Dimensions of Underclass Conceptualizations - Walter W Stafford and Joyce Ladner The Wrong Stuff - Robert W Connell Reflections on the Place of Gender in American Sociology PART FIVE: SOCIOLOGY AND ITS CONSITIUENCIES and - Paul J Baker The Cultural Contradictions of Teaching Sociology - William C Rau Organizations and Sociology - Marshall W Meyer PART SIX: SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL CRITICISM The Virtues of Dissent in Sociology - Lewis A Coser Sociology for Whom? - Todd Gitlin Criticism for Whom? Social Criticism and Sociological Elitism - Joan Moore Born Again Sociology - Peter H Rossi PART SEVEN: FOREIGN SOCIOLOGISTS LOOK AT US SOCIOLOGY American Sociology Viewed from Abroad - Alain Touraine General Theory and American Sociology - Niklas Luhmann Notes on American Sociology and American Power - Robert W Connell PART EIGHT: SOCIOLOGY AND THE OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES Sociology and History - Jack A Goldstone Producing Comparative History Sociology, Economics and the Economy - Harvey Molotch