Illuminating Social Life has enjoyed increasing popularity with each edition. It is the only book designed for undergraduate teaching that shows today's students how classical and contemporary social theories can be used to shed new light on such topics as the internet, the world of work, fast food restaurants, shopping malls, alcohol use, body building, sales and service, and new religious movements. A perfect complement for the sociological theory course to either a standard theory text or other source materials. * 13 original essays by leading scholars in the field who are also experienced undergraduate theory teachers. Substantial Introductions by the Editor link the applied essays to a complete review of the classical and modern social theories used in the book. Headnotes provide a complete context for each essay.

Table of Contents

Part I: Classical Sociological Theory About the Editor Preface to the Fourth Edition Part I: Classical Sociological Theory Introduction - Peter Kivisto Working Longer, Living Less: Understanding Marx Through the Workplace Today - John P. Walsh, Anne Zacharias-Walsh The Weberian Theory of Rationalization and the McDonaldization of Contemporary Society - George Ritzer Surfing the Net for Community: A Durkheimian Analysis of Electronic Gatherings - Anne M. Hornsby Alcohol-Related Windows on Simmel's Social World - William J. Staudenmeier, Jr. Part II: Contemporary Theories and Their Connection to the Classics Criminalizing Transgressing Youth: A Neofunctionalist Analysis of Institution Building - Paul Colomy, Laura Ross Greiner Why Do African Americans Pay More for New Cars? A Structural Explanation - Christopher Prendergast Critical Theory, Legitimation Crisis, and the Deindustrialization of Flint, Michigan - Steven P. Dandaneau The Socially Constructed Body: Insights from Feminist Theory - Judith Lorber, Patricia Yancey Martin Wild Thoughts: An Interactionist Analysis of Ideology, Emotion, and Nature - Gary Alan Fine, Kent L. Sandstrom Goffman's Dramaturgical Sociology: Personal Sales and Service in a Commodified World - Peter Kivisto, Dan Pittman Contrasts of Carnival: Mardi Gras Between the Modern and the Postmodern - Kevin Fox Gotham Negotiating the Social Landscape to Create Social Change - Anne F. Eisenberg Globalization Theory and Religious Fundamentalism - William H. Swatos, Jr.

Author Biography

Peter Kivisto, PhD (New School for Social Research), is the Richard Swanson Professor of Social Thought and chair of sociology at Augustana College. Among his recent books are Citizenship: Discourse, Theory, and Transnational Prospects (2007, with Thomas Faist), Intersecting Inequalities (2007, with Elizabeth Hartung), Incorporating Diversity: Rethinking Assimilation in a Multicultural Age (2005), Key Ideas in Sociology (2nd ed., 2004), Multiculturalism in a Global Society (2002), and Social Theory: Roots and Branches (2nd ed., 2002). His primary scholarly and teaching interests revolve around social theory and ethnic and immigration studies. He has served as secretary-treasurer of the American Sociological Association's Theory and International Migration Sections and is currently serving as Editor of The Sociological Quarterly.