You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist

by Dalton Conley

The “untextbook” that teaches students to think like a sociologist. You May Ask Yourself emphasizes the “big ideas” of the discipline, and encourages students to question what they've taken for granted most of their lives. Author Dalton Conley captures students with his conversational style, explaining complex concepts through personal examples and storytelling, and integrating coverage of social inequality throughout the textbook. His irreverent approach to textbook writing has won praise from students and instructors alike.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, School, Textbooks, College, Read For School, Reference

702 pages, Paperback

Published January 10, 2011

Reviews

[Mya Baselt · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a textbook I was intrigued. Not only did he give great examples but it was simple enough to follow. I really didnt like all of the emphasis on certain topics, but that is because I dont agree with them. This is the only textbook I have ever read front to back and it will most likely be that last

[Kathryn Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my sociology course even though I didn’t have to. This textbook was so interesting and absorbing. I loved the way that the textbook used people’s real experiences that were relevant to each chapter. I love learning and school and being educated because it makes me feel so empowered.

[Steve Kubick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dalton Conley is wonderfully perverse in his exploration of social norms, deviancy and anomie...

[Rook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a professor of sociology, and used this for my introductory class. The virtue of Conley's text is that it's very readable for undergraduates, it's organized clearly, and it's easy for students (and professors) to pull clearly-defined key terms. It's also very popular, and published by Norton, which means there are a lot of additional resources that connect to it. It's the textbook for the professor looking for the "path of least resistance," which was me during this semester.

Unfortunately, the book is also sorely lacking in some important areas of sociological inquiry. In particular, Conley gives very short shrift to feminism, critical race theory, critiques of colonialism/imperialism, postmodernism, and non-US perspectives. In short, if you want to prioritize a critical sociology in your classroom, or want to challenge the sociological mainstream, this isn't the textbook for you.

[Bogdan Balostin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a journey.

I read it all 700 pages, not required for any course. It's an accessible introduction to the issues of sociology, and I'm sure it didn't cover every subject in-depth, and also didn't cover how to conduct sociological research.

Nevertheless, I can safely recommend it to everyone that wants to understand why we humans behave the way we have in a society, and why the way of our life is not the absolute normal. The answer: we don't yet know but we have some pretty strong guesses.

Also, lovely animated explanation (yes, animation in a textbook)

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a textbook for class, and I really appreciated the depth that it lent to my understanding of current sociological issues. I was disappointed that I only rented it, because I imagine I'll want to refer back to it for some pertinent statistic or quote.

[Cj]

textbook for my introduction to sociology class.

[Alecia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed how Conley explains the different facets of sociology. I was interested through all the chapters.

[Aloe Ronen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to the field of sociology. It is well organized, clear, and surprisingly engaging despite its textbook format. The examples are thoughtfully chosen and connect smoothly across chapters, making complex topics and definitions more accessible to newer readers.
That being said, Conely's focus does tend to lean on the "classic" male theorists (Marx, Weber, Durkheim, etc) while giving less attention to feminist theory, critical race theory, or more contemporary scholarship. Still, its scope is understandably limited due to its introductory nature and definitely sparks curiosity for further study.

[Shawney Hilpert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found his concepts riveting, especially for someone who is just learning about sociology. If you want to better understand how our society functions, why things are set up the way they are now as far as minority inequalities go, I would recommend it. It's not a light read, however.

[sarah wilms · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible read. loved when conley inserted personal anecdotes, especially the one about him (accidentally) kidnapping a child as a child himself. it happens to the best of us! doesn’t beat the APUSH or AP PSYCH textbooks, but what is a girl to do.

[Katelyn Kieser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for a textbook

[Ruth Dahl]

Read for school

[JC Elkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

The use of outdated, discredited, and debunked citations to support this text's narrative to not serve to instruct learners.

[brooke]

the semester is almost done.

[Kevin Dreyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author of this book describes himself as a honky in his twitter biography . I had to read this book for a class and It has a lot of bs in it in my opinion.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read for my Sociology Class)-I'm admittedly not terribly interested in Sociology. There are some aspects that I believe are worth exploring, but mostly I felt as if I were wasting my time debating things that could never reach a conclusion. I understand the importance of self-awareness, but couldn't bring myself to LOVE the class.

- That being said, this text was very well written. I wish all of my texts were written this way. The author used "plain english" to describe concepts and it was completely refreshing, such a break for my brain. I found it a lot easier to make myself dive into the reading in comparision to my other classes, so I had to rate 4 stars - because really, that's just amazing for a school text.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book with a passion as a college freshman. The author tries so hard to sound cool and up to date, by simplifying every concept he comes across. (The descriptions for culture jamming were so cringe-worthy.) He made the social sciences sound like its goal was to define every phenomena with a pompous term (who the hell thought up of "culture jamming"?!). Completely turned me off from considering Sociology as a major.

On the other hand, the design of the book was great. Colorful and engaging. But the text -- ugh!!!!

If you like Malcolm Gladwell, you might like this.

[Jennifer Hooker · Rating 2 out of 5]

As far as textbooks go, this one isn't half bad. However, the author occasionally tries too hard to be "cool" about some stuff. This book does, however, really teach you how to think critically about the society around you. It also uses some pretty good examples from more recent history. If you're interested in sociology I would highly recommend this book (primarily because there aren't many great alternatives.)

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, and part of 12. For a textbook it's really well written and I enjoyed the content matter. My main critique is that a lot of the material was overly general and I didn't feel like I was learning a ton-- no shit that cloning may be problematic for some morally... no shit that sexism and racism still pervades our society... I'm looking forward to more upper division classes that ventures further into these topics.

[Alyssa Cutri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This technically isn't the edition I have, I have the Core 4th Edition which is a more condensed version of the 4th edition. I read this for my Introductory Sociology course this semester, and some of the material can be, quite frankly, useless, but I actually did enjoy this textbook more than other things I've read so far.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as textbooks go, this one's a winner. Conley seems like a great guy. For the most part he does a good job explaining concepts and uses great examples. I read this for an intro level sociology class (which I loved) and actually enjoyed the assigned readings. Dorky, I know.

[Maddy Carr]

So far, so good.

[Hubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great readable introductory text to sociology; in particular breaks down basic sociological texts/theories in understandable ways.

[Chrystal Flanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reading the 2011 2nd edition for my sociology class. Current, up-to-date subject matter.

[Mills College Library]

301 C75216 2013

[Shelly]

Sociology textbook.

[Jade]

SOC 1001 textbook

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, some chapters were good and interesting. Others for me were super boring and hard to follow.

[Yvonne]

SOCI-200

not really helpful?
listening to my prof was much better than reading