Illuminating Social Life: Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited

by Peter J. Kivisto (Editor), Douglas Hartmann (Contributor)

In Illuminating Social Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited, Third Edition editor Peter Kivisto once again shows today′s students how classical and contemporary social theories can be used to make sense of the world they inhabit. Through thirteen essays, the book applies various social theories from the past and the present to select facets of modern life, such as the Internet, the world of work, fast food restaurants, shopping malls, alcohol use, body building, sales and service, and new religious movements. All of the contributors to this collection of essays share a common purpose - to illustrate how different social theories are capable of providing significant understanding that, without theory, would not be grasped.  

Genres: Sociology, Textbooks

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Lindsay]

Read as part of a Social Theory class.

[Derek Java · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marx is disliked by contemporary capitalists not because he was a communist. It can be argued that his predictions about the direction economic society would take were not entirely accurate. Contemporary capitalists keep harping on about failed communists states and how that delegitamizes Marx and his body of work. They do this not for the reasons they state. While I often wish Marx had made no predictions, and he had just stuck to his observations, it is his very accurate observations of the workings of capitalism that contemporary capitalists reject. They reject it because Marx so thoroughly and accurately describes the workings of capitalism. Contemporary capitalists demonize Marx to keep the masses from reading those descriptions.

Use this line of thinking to instruct students throughout Illuminating Social Life: Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited. The classical sociologists whose ideas run through this textbook are still read and important not because of the predictions about society that they made (though that may be true in some cases); they are important today because of how accurately their view of society reflects reality. Granted that reality of complicated enough that each view can be significantly different and still reflect that reality, if we pursue our instruction from this angle, students "wake up" to these views. It is a very satisfying experience to see students who are very much closed minded (read conservative) open up to these very important historical thinkers.

The book continues into modern and postmodern thinking seamlessly. While the chapters are a slog for freshman (who I teach), they get through with my help. Hopefully you will find your classroom lectures/discussions as engaging as I have found them to be with this text.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of practical examinations of social theory, but the final chapter on globalization is sloppy. The political discussions are missing key elements and there is little evidence of responsible research regarding what he calls "Islamists". Instead old myths are regurgitated and newer issues are glossed over. Each chapter has its own author, however, and the rest of the book is much better. Skip the last chapter to avoid a headache.

[Ouma Vincent]

wonderful book