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Co-authored by Karen A. Cerulo, the Eastern Sociological Society’s Robin L. Williams Lecturer for 2013-2014 Do birds of a feather flock together or do opposites attract? Is honesty the best policy? Are children our most precious commodity? Is education the great equalizer? Adages like these shape our social life. This Sixth Edition of Second Thoughts reviews several popular beliefs and notes how these conventional wisdoms cannot be taken at face value, but instead require careful second thoughts. This unique text encourages students to step back and sharpen their analytic focus with 25 essays that use social research to expose the gray areas of commonly held beliefs, revealing the complexity of social reality and sharpening students’ sociological vision.
How social status shapes our dreams of the future and inhibits the lives we envision for ourselves Most of us understand that a person’s place in society can close doors to opportunity, but anything is possible when we dream about what might be, or so we think. Dreams of a Lifetime reveals that what and how we dream—and whether we believe our dreams can actually come true—are tied to our social class, gender, race, age, and life events. Karen Cerulo and Janet Ruane argue that our social location shapes the seemingly private and unique life of our minds. We are all free to dream about possibilities, but not all dreamers are equal. Cerulo and Ruane show how our social position ingrains i...
This is a text for introductory research methods courses, as required in several social science majors. Students taking this course are often resistant to the subject matter, and this text tackles this resistance by focusing the reader on experiences in their everyday lives.
Introducing Social Research Methods: Essentials for Getting the Edge is a concise and student-friendly introduction to research methods that uses examples from around the world to illustrate the centrality of social science research in our everyday lives. Explains complex, multi-faceted concepts and methodologies in straightforward prose Designed for students who are new to or skeptical of social science research methods as useful tools for approaching real-world challenges Persuasively argues that social scientific proficiency unlocks an array of personal and professional opportunities beyond the realms of academia A supplementary website features a glossary, test bank, Power Point presentations, a comprehensive list of web resources, a guide to relevant TED lectures and much more
Learning More About It Exercises SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE ECONOMY Essay 20 Welfare Is Ruining This Country A frequently expressed opinion when talk turns to welfare reform is that too many people are on the dole and too many recipients have other options. In this essay, we review some of the least understood dimensions of welfare and explore exactly where welfare moneys are going. Learning More About It Exercises Essay 21 Immigrants Are Ruining This Nation?Why don?t you go back where you came from?? This angry cry seems to be getting more and more familiar as the United States faces the highest levels of immigration in its history. Is immigration ruining this nation? This essay reviews the h...
This book shows students the steps involved in the research process, the various strategies for conducting a valid social inquiry, and most importantly, the persuasiveness and elegance of reliable social research. It highlights the link between academic research and the real world. Included are carefully chosen examples of each of the major methodological techniques-survey, interviews, fieldwork observations, experiments, content analysis, secondary analysis and program evaluation. Also included are selections on sampling strategies, research ethics and both qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
Essentials of Research Methods is a concise and accessible introduction to research methods in the social sciences. Written by an expert of research methods teaching, this book takes extraordinary care to focus the reader on experiences in his or her everyday life as a way of understanding and performing research methods. Introduces students to research methods with clear, concise, and accessible prose. Focuses the reader on everyday life as a way to understand research methods. Covers ethics, data gathering and analysis, and statistics. Includes further reading lists, graphs, exercises, study questions, a glossary, and an annotated list of web resources.
A core statistics text that emphasizes logical inquiry, not math Basic Statistics for Social Research teaches core general statistical concepts and methods that all social science majors must master to understand (and do) social research. Its use of mathematics and theory are deliberately limited, as the authors focus on the use of concepts and tools of statistics in the analysis of social science data, rather than on the mathematical and computational aspects. Research questions and applications are taken from a wide variety of subfields in sociology, and each chapter is organized around one or more general ideas that are explained at its beginning and then applied in increasing detail in t...
Introducing Social Research Methods: Essentials for Getting the Edge is a concise and student-friendly introduction to research methods that uses examples from around the world to illustrate the centrality of social science research in our everyday lives. Explains complex, multi-faceted concepts and methodologies in straightforward prose Designed for students who are new to or skeptical of social science research methods as useful tools for approaching real-world challenges Persuasively argues that social scientific proficiency unlocks an array of personal and professional opportunities beyond the realms of academia A supplementary website features a glossary, test bank, Power Point presentations, a comprehensive list of web resources, a guide to relevant TED lectures and much more
Introducing students to core sociological concepts by debunking popular misconceptions Is it true that "numbers don′t lie?" Is America "the land of equal opportunity?" Is marriage a "dying institution?" Oft-repeated adages like these shape our beliefs about the society we live in. Each essay in Second Thoughts reviews a conventional wisdom familiar to both instructors and students. The authors introduce relevant sociological concepts and theories in order to explain, qualify, and sometimes debunk that conventional wisdom. This unique text encourages students to step back and sharpen their analytic focus. 23 engaging essays reveal the complexity of social reality and demonstrate the role of sociology in everyday life.