cool social science books of 2008?
Here are the books we’ve covered this year:
- Neil Gross: Richard Rorty, The Making of an American Philosopher
- Tina Fetner: How the Religious Right Shaped lesbian and gay activism
- Steve Teles: Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement
- Michael Lindsay: Faith in the Halls of Power
- Isaac Martin: The Permanent Tax Revolt
- Fred Wherry: Global Markets and Local Crafts
- Matthew Frederick: 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School
- Richard Scott: Institutions and Organizations (new edition)
- Christopher Alexander: Notes on the Synthesis of Form
- Tim Harford: The Logic of Life
- Randall Collins: Violence: A Micro-sociological Theory
Post your own nominations for great recent social science writing – or not so recent! Authors, don’t hesitate to plug your own stuff.
Jerry Davis and Dick Scott are listed as authors for Organizations and Organizing. Just to give credit…
Great list to start browsing.
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Jordi
September 16, 2008 at 8:32 pm
The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public by Sarah Igo.
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shakha
September 16, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Jessica Fields, Risky Lessons: Sex Education and Social Inequality. Rutgers U Press.
and
Adina Nack, Damaged Goods: Women Living with Incurable Sexually Transmitted Disease. Temple U Press.
Both are fascinating, topical and really well written.
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tina
September 16, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Ima double down on Sarah Igo.
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Jenn Lena
September 16, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Tine – I did an ASA panel a few years back with Adina and her work was fascinating. So happy to see it come out in book form!
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fabiorojas
September 17, 2008 at 12:48 am
I add to Jenn and Shakha on Igo’s book – terrific!
Also: Danielle S. Allen, Talking to Strangers; David Jeneman, Adorno in America; Markus Prior, Post-Broadcast Democracy. And, in the article department, a charming little example of what I’ve been thinking about as the “paradox of reform”: Jo Reger, “Talking about My Vagina: Two College Campuses and The Vagina Monologues“, pp. 139-160 in Reger, Jo, ed., Different Wavelengths: Studies of the Contemporary Women’s Movement.
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andrewperrin
September 17, 2008 at 12:53 am
The Christopher Alexander book, Notes on the Synthesis of Form, is a great choice (and always worth a plug), though it is from 1964 (didn’t check, perhaps there is a new 2008 printing).
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tf
September 17, 2008 at 1:07 am
Feel free to delete this comment, but who is Christopher Scott? Christopher Alexander wrote Notes on the Synthesis of Form.
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stickler
September 17, 2008 at 2:57 am
Also, what about Gelman’s book, Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State? I haven’t read it. But I want to.
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shakha
September 17, 2008 at 2:59 am
Stickler – post corrected!
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fabiorojas
September 17, 2008 at 3:10 am
I’m with everyone on Igo, and also Gelman’s Red State, Blue State.
In a similar vein, I have read some shortened essay versions of Larry Bartels’ Unequal Democracy, which looks excellent.
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Dan Hirschman
September 17, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I have to throw in “a secular age’ by charles taylor… though it stands perhaps a bit more in line with philosophy and not data driven social science.
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peter boumgarden
September 17, 2008 at 12:51 pm
What is teh paradox of reform, andrew?
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Jordi
September 17, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Jordi: The paradox of reform is a name I’ve given to the general set of claims in social theory that social reforms aimed at “opening” society or reducing social control often produce increased social control in other areas. I hope to write about it more formally at some point, although I mentioned the concept here. I have found examples in specific empirical literatures, particularly in criminology, and also of course in a wide variety of social theory including Weber, Foucault, Coser, Goffman.
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andrewperrin
September 17, 2008 at 3:39 pm
That is very interesting. It seems there is a parallel mechanism or process with information technologies, perhaps? Info technologies that can provide greater granularity, transparency, or accountability, can also become the means for expansion of organizational or government control. The technologies that enable open source and a hacker culture (Pekka Hinamen’s term) also enable the surveillance society.
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Jordi
September 20, 2008 at 12:11 am