The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Sociology (eBook)

GEORGE RITZER is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, USA and was named a Distinguished-Scholar Teacher there. He is editor of the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2007) and author of several books including The McDonaldization of Society (9th ed., 2018), The Globalization of Nothing (2nd ed., 2007), and coauthor with Paul Dean of Globalization: The Essentials (2nd ed, 2019). WENDY WIEDENHOFT MURPHY is Professor of Sociology at John Carroll University, USA. She is author of Consumer Culture and Society (2017) and co-author with George Ritzer of Essentials of Sociology, (3rd ed., 2018) and focuses primarily on sociological theory, environmental sociology, and the sociology of consumption.

Contributors Bios vii

Introduction xiii
George Ritzer and Wendy Wiedenhoft Murphy

Part I Introduction 1

1 Classical Sociological Theory 3
Alan Sica

2 Contemporary Social Theory 21
Jeffrey Stepnisky

3 Quantitative Methods 39
Russell K. Schutt

4 Qualitative Methods 57
Mitchell Duneier

Part II Basic Topics 67

5 Action, Interaction, and Groups 69
Kimberly B. Rogers and Lynn Smith?]Lovin

6 Social Network Analysis 87
Nick Crossley

7 Culturalizing Sociology 104
Laura Grindstaff and Ming?]Cheng M. Lo

8 Deviance: A Sociology of Unconventionalities 124
Nachman Ben?]Yehuda

9 Criminology 141
Charles F. Wellford

10 Critical Sexualities Studies: Moving On 156
Ken Plummer

11 Racial and Ethnic Issues: Critical Race Approaches in the United States 174
Brittany C. Slatton and Joe R. Feagin

12 Families 190
Medora W. Barnes

13 Sociology of Education 206
Joseph J. Merry and Maria Paino

14 Sociology of Religion 224
Robert D. Woodberry, Christian Smith, and Christopher P. Scheitle

15 Medicine and Health 250
William C. Cockerham

16 Urbanization 267
Kevin Fox Gotham and Arianna J. King

17 Environmental Sociology 283
Richard York and Riley E. Dunlap

18 Social Movements, Protest, and Practices of Social Change 301
Kevin Gillan

19 War and Society 319
Miguel A. Centeno and Vicki Yang

20 Immigration 340
Noriko Matsumoto

21 The Sociology of Consumption 358
Christopher Andrews

22 Digital Technology, Social Media, and Techno?]Social Life 377
Mary Chayko

23 Contemporary Feminist Theory 398
Michelle Meagher

Part III Cutting Edge Issues 417

24 Big Data for Sociological Research 419
Jason Radford and David Lazer

25 Toward a Sociology of Debt 444
Wendy Wiedenhoft Murphy

26 Sociology of Sport 460
Alan Tomlinson

27 From Fordism to Brexit and Trump: Is Authoritarian Capitalism on the Rise? 477
Robert J. Antonio and Alessandro Bonanno

Index 496

"This new edition will give us an excellent representation of the current state of academic sociology and will be well received as a sound, comprehensive outline of the main fields of sociological study."
--Nick Crossley, University of Manchester

"This wide-ranging and engaging proposal will provide excellent coverage of the discipline. George Ritzer was ideally placed to edit the previous volume and is one of the very best people to bring us up to date with all the developments in the field."
--Bryan Turner, CUNY Graduate Center