Understanding Society: An Introductory Reader

UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTORY READER, Fourth Edition, contains a collection of classic and contemporary sociological readings selected for their timeliness, diversity, and interest. The emphasis of this collection is on articles that students will both understand and also find intriguing. UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTORY READER, Fourth Edition, includes the most up-to-date selection available today. Out of sixty-eight total articles, thirty-eight are new in this edition. The new articles were selected to engage student interest, to reflect the richness of sociological thought, and to add articles that address issues that have emerged since the publication of the last edition (such as the economic recession, the Haiti earthquake, and the increasing racial segregation of schools, to name a few). As always, the editors have included the top names in the field. Five themes run throughout the text: classical sociological theory, contemporary research, diversity, globalization, and the application of the sociological perspective.

Margaret L. Andersen (B.A., Georgia State University; M.A., Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Sociology at the University of Delaware, where she has also served in several senior administrative positions, including most recently as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity. She holds secondary appointments in Black American Studies and Women and Gender Studies. She is the author of several books, including (among others) THINKING ABOUT WOMEN, recently published in its tenth edition; the best-selling anthology, RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER (co-edited with Patricia Hill Collins, now in its ninth edition); LIVING ART: THE LIFE OF PAUL R. JONES, AFRICAN AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR; and ON LAND AND ON SEA: A CENTURY OF WOMEN IN THE ROSENFELD COLLECTION. She is a member of the National Advisory Board for Stanford University's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, the Past Vice President of the American Sociological Association, and Past President of the Eastern Sociological Society, from which she received the ESS Merit Award. She has also received two teaching awards from the University of Delaware and the American Sociological Association's Jessie Bernard Award.

Kim A. Logio is Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at Saint Joseph's University, where she recently received a teaching award. She often teaches research methods and guides students through the completion of their undergraduate thesis projects. A member of the American Sociological Association and the Eastern Sociological Society, Dr. Logio has been interviewed for local television and National Public Radio for her work on body image and race, class, and gender differences in nutrition and weight control behavior. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Delaware and lives in Delaware County, Pa., with her husband and three children.

Howard F. Taylor has taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and Princeton University, where he is presently Professor of Sociology and former director of the African American Studies Center. He has published over fifty articles in sociology, education, social psychology, and race relations. His books include THE IQ GAME (Rutgers University Press), a critique of hereditarian accounts of intelligence; BALANCE IN SMALL GROUPS (Van Nostrand Reinhold), translated into Japanese; and the forthcoming RACE AND CLASS AND THE BELL CURVE IN AMERICA. He has appeared widely before college, radio, and TV audiences, including ABC's Nightline. Past president of the Eastern Sociological Society, Dr. Taylor is a member of the American Sociological Association and the Sociological Research Association, an honorary society for distinguished research. He is a winner of the DuBois-Johnson-Frazier Award, given by the American Sociological Association for distinguished research in race and ethnic relations, and the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hiram College and has a Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University.