Dead White Men and Other Important People: Sociology's Big Ideas

by Angus Bancroft, Ralph Fevre

Students struggling with social theory? Mila is a new student who is grappling with social theory for the first time and trying to understand what makes sociology so important. Written as a novel, this textbook follows a first year student as she tries to decide what makes sociology so important. Testing out sociological themes, debates and theories through conversations with new university friends and family back at home, she begins to understand how sociology can be applied to everyday experiences. This text Written with US students firmly in mind, this is a clear, absorbing introduction to major debates and thinkers that will engage and enthuse. This is the perfect introduction to sociological thinking for students of all abilities.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 2010

Reviews

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for the effort, two for the content. This books follows the example set by Norwegian (NOT Danish, as this books embarrassingly claims) author Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World, a novelized history of western philosophy. It's been close to 25 years since I read Gaarder, so perhaps I remember it as a better book than it actually is, but that book was engrossing, and the novel form worked despite the sometimes thick ideas that needed to be explained.

This book is a decent introduction to sociological ideas, but the fictional part is severely lacking. The sociological ideas are presented in different scenes, with a very loose plot and very little in terms of characterisation. Moreover, not only do fiction works need to sound like fiction, but look like it too. Now the pages are crammed with text, which makes it a tiring read. What the book does well is to present sociological ideas in the form of dialogue. The counter-arguments get nicely covered as well, and the overall image of sociology is one of conversation--as it should be.

[Lauren Basson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book. It was well executed. It would have been even better with fully formed characters. The explanation of Marx was a bit odd and not entirely accurate. Still, it's a remarkable achievement.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

its an amazing book

[Paige · Rating 1 out of 5]

I appreciate the intention of this book but if you are wanting to learn social sciences i suggest reading the original texts...