BOOK REVIEW EXAMPLES by Linda B.Deutschmann by Rachel Bridges Whaley Sociology: Making Sense of the Social World. BarBara Marliene Scott and Mary Ann Schwartz. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. 2000. 525 pages. $40.00. This text distinguishes itself from others by its sustained attention to the potential of sociology to influence social action, social policy and social change. It presents a healthy corrective to the pervasive notion that sociology is an ivory-tower pursuit, involving nothing but dusty libraries and dreary number crunching. Our students all too often assume that the "social facts" we present are immutable, and that they justify a fatalistic "adapt or go under" philosophy of life. At the same time, the authors avoid the polemics and blaming that can sometimes accompany the committed activists' accounts. This book provides a reasoned and scholarly presentation of the field of sociology. While it would be easy to criticize any introductory text for what it has left out or given slim summary, this text provides a reasonably even and well-balanced coverage of the "essentials" while retaining a relatively user-friendly size. The chapters cohere well, but can stand alone: an important point for an instructor who needs to pick and choose in order to fit the whole book into his or her course time. This book contains a fairly traditional set chapters. Each chapter emphasizes the social action implications of sociology, and the inclusion of "missing and invisible scholars," such as Jane Addams in chapter one. The text deviates from the formulaic pattern of introductory texts in that it places collective behavior near the beginning of the text, integrates examples of activists who exemplify the sociological imagination, even though they are generally not sociologists, and includes a sociological chapter on human sexualities, a topic that is often dominated by biologists and psychologists. The text is notable, also, for its integration of the practice made popular by Lewis Coser: namely the use of literature to express sociological truths. I thoroughly applaud the inclusion of excerpts from works such as Barbara Kingsolver's (1993) novel Pigs in Heaven (p. 118) and Gregory Williams (1995) autobiographical Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy who Discovered He Was Black (p. 153). They make excellent hooks for class discussions and encourage students to "think outside the box," rather than memorizing the material. Space precludes a thorough discussion of each chapter, but some highlights from each will indicate the strengths of this text. Chapter one includes the background of sociology, its founders (male and female; white and non-white) and looks toward the twenty-first century in highlighting the impact of multiculturalism and globalization. Chapter two, "Theory and Data Collection," includes thought-provoking examples such as Ferraro's 1989 finding that police officers typically did not arrest spouse-abusers among groups of color, despite departmental policy, because they believed violence was a way of life among people of color, and arrests would be ineffective (p. 49). Chapter three introduces "Social Change, Collective Behavior, and Social Action." The early placement of this subject matter is consistent with the overall emphasis on studying things as they are in order to understand how they might be changed. Despite this, Scott and Schwartz avoid giving the impression that all activism is good. For example, the Taliban of Afghanistan is included as an example of social change introduced through a movement. In chapter four, "The Dynamics of Social Behavior: Human Cultures," the authors pair the concepts of multiculturalism and cultural hegemony (p. 104). While there is no extended discussion of the "praxis" aspects of this, it fits well with the activist view of the realities under discussion. "Social Structure, Groups and Organizations" (chapter 5) covers the usual material, beginning with status and role, through reference groups and networks, and bureaucracies and social institutions. The use of material on Amnesty International, cigarette advertising, and the Challenger disaster combine to provide a critical and activist slant on these topics. The "agent of change" used to introduce Chapter six ("The Process of Becoming Human") is Rob Carmona, a former convict and drug addict, who is cofounder of Project Strive. This can be used as a hook for consideration of adult (re-)socialization and its relationship to inadequate or flawed initial socialization, or the way that the personal reflects the institutional. Important issues are raised in this chapter: the death of dreams, latchkey children, homosexuality and identity in adolescence, role conflicts in early adulthood, the sandwich generation, and aging. Chapter seven, "Societies and Human Sexualities," begins with a discussion of female genital mutilation. Although this is introduced as "female circumcision" (pp. 167-8), the authors make clear that the practice is much more drastic than the term "circumcision" implies (pp. 167-8). The rest of the chapter explores, sociologically, the issues of sexual identities (hetero, homo, trans, and bi), hate crimes and sexual coercions. I predict that your students will read most of chapter seven whether you assign it or not. "Deviance" (chapter 8) begins with the activist example of Jack Kevorkian. Among its examples are cannibalism, TV talk shows, a brutal thrill killing and elite deviance. Given the dominant views within current American criminology, a bit less attention to functional explanations and more attention to control and conflict theory would have been appropriate. As in most introductory texts, deviance is defined as violation of cultural norms. Since most of us violate some norms, this definition is not really adequate. The social construction of deviant identity requires an audience that does the constructing, and power holders who impose the labels of deviance. This could have been noted more strongly in the text, particularly in view of its otherwise impressive awareness of power relationships in society. The agent of change for chapter nine, "Stratification," is Mitch Snyder, an activist and advocate for the homeless. His successes would provide a good hook for discussion of the issues of power and inequality in stratification, although there is a danger that the outcome in this case (his suicide) might support a pessimistic view of attempts to engage in social change. The role of the United States in exporting a highly stratified class system to dependent nations is not discussed here, even though dependency theory and world system theory are treated elsewhere. I was pleased to see that the caste system is not treated as monolithic and unchangeable. Chapter 10, "Race, Ethnicity and Structured Inequalities," provides a good discussion of racism as an ideology of domination. The example of well-known golfer Tiger Woods, usually perceived as "African-American" but who also claims Caucasian, Native-American, Thai, and Chinese ancestry helps to introduce issues of racial categorization. Peggy McIntosh's 1988 study is used to highlight the privileges of whites that often go unrecognized, such as the privilege of being able to find an affordable home or the privilege of finding that "the person in charge" when you need something is a person of your own group (p. 272). Chapter 11, "Inequalities of Gender and Age," is the first of several chapters that cover two or more topics that the instructor might prefer to treat separately. It should be noted that the structure of these combined chapters does allow for a clean separation, if desired. Chapter 11 maintains a "feminist but not exclusively feminist approach" (p. xii) and works with difficult topics (sexual harassment) and cross-cultural issues, ("mass rape as a weapon of war") (p. 318-319). This isn't just a chapter for female students. Age is treated mainly as a problem of "aging." Students may correctly note that age norms are problematic for youth, as well, and that privileges of the baby boomers may be restricting opportunities for those behind them. Andrew Vachss, a lawyer who represents children and youth is the "activist" who introduces chapter 12, "Marriages and Families: Intimacy in Social Life." It is hard to imagine a student who will not be fascinated by the intersection of perspectives on the family as it is perceived and in its many changing forms. "Religion and Education" (chapter 13) combines two topics that I normally treat separately. I am not sure that students will grasp fully the difference between knowing by faith and knowing by sociological methodology. The issue of Durkheim's views, that DO conflict with religious claims about the nature of God, is not raised here, and this may be just as well. Chapter 14, "The Economy, Work and Politics," reinforces the ideas presented in previous chapters, and further develops the themes of stratification, globalization, and power relations. The last substantive chapter, number 15, deals with "Health, Illness and the Delivery of Health Care." Again, Scott and Schwartz manage to include an impressive variety of issues and perspectives within a few pages. They cover the "standard" topics such as the "sick role," but also include discussion of sexual orientation and health, sexually transmitted diseases, malpractice and defensive medicine. The epilogue, "Social Action: By Whom? Social Change: for Whom?" replaces the usual "ivory tower" perspective on the nature of social change. It challenges students to consider that they have a role, even if they choose the role of passive observer or adaptor with respect to change, instead of a creator or resistor role. Overall, this is a well-written and comprehensive introductory text. Scott and Schwartz have a combined 60 plus years in teaching and in "writing for learning" (p. xi). The writing is clear and "student-oriented." Each sentence contains a wealth of information. Students with good reading skills will love the way that the authors convey the information with a great economy of words. Weaker students may be intimidated by this richness. An instructor could frequently generate a class discussion or quiz just by asking students to unpack a sentence: "What do the authors mean when they say, 'By means of their ownership or control of major valued resources such as education, health care, housing, and the criminal justice system, the wealthy members of society can decide who will have access and what that access will be'" (p. 22). There is an impressive list of supplements available for an instructor who adopts Making Sense, including a resource manual and test bank, transparencies, power point presentation, CD-ROM, video and interactive video. Students have access to a variety of support materials, including a web site, study guide, a reader, and books covering sociology careers, cross-cultural interactions, critical thinking exercises, doing sociology with student CHIP, and doing hands-on statistical sociology. There is a Canadian version of this text that includes Madine VanderPlaat as the third author. It is available from Pearsson Education Canada. I found it intriguing to note places where the text remained virtually identical (but with Canadian statistics and examples) and the places (such as religion) where a good deal of rewriting was required. REFERENCES Ferraro, K.J. 1989. "Policing Woman Battering." Social Problems 36:61-74. Kingsolver, Barbara. 1993. Pigs in Heaven. New York: HarperCollins. Williams, Gregory. 1995. Life on the Color Line. New York: Dutton Press (Penguin Putnam). Linda B.Deutschmann University College of the Cariboo British Columbia, Canada In Their Own Words: Criminals on Crime. 2d ed. Paul Cromwell, ed. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury. 1999. 230 pages. $28.95. Cromwell’s anthology is a collection of articles designed to introduce students to the motivations and decision-making processes of criminals. As such, many of the articles included in the volume are grounded in rational choice theory. All the studies are qualitative in nature, using methods ranging from in-depth interviews to observer-as-participant to complete participant. Following an introductory article concerning the difficulties of obtaining a sample of criminals willing to participate, the articles are organized into six sections: criminal lifestyles and decision making, property crime, occupational crime, violent crime, gangs and crime, and drugs and crime. This updated version improves upon the first by including seven additional articles, such as one on shoplifting and one on the relationship between legal and illegal work for women. Cromwell’s preface, section introductions, and article summaries help the reader make connections among the articles and provide valuable information not included in the few articles that were excerpted from larger works. Cromwell succeeds at giving voice to the typically silent subjects of criminological texts by providing glimpses into the lives of burglars, robbers, drug dealers, gang members, car thieves, rapists and even white collar criminals. The majority of the articles examine rational choice theory. To help students, Cromwell describes the classic version of the theory in section introductions and chapter summaries. To varying extents, chapter authors also explain its underlying assumptions. The clearest and most complete explanation is located in the chapter concerning shoplifting by Cromwell, Parker and Mobley. Instructors might be advised to assign this chapter first. The reader learns from the collection as a whole that the decision-making process of criminals is more complex than simply weighing costs and benefits. For example, Shover’s chapter reveals that age is related to the assessment of risks and consequences. Shover and Honaker’s chapter on persistent property offenders suggests that “some situations more than others make it possible to discount or ignore risk” (p. 20). Several chapter authors further student understanding of the perspective by exemplifying the distinction between decisions concerning target selection or criminal events, and decisions concerning crime involvement or crime as a career. In addition to the anthology’s underlying theme of decision-making and rational choice, Sykes and Matza’s elaboration of criminals’ neutralization techniques appears in several chapters. For example, the reader learns about excuses and justifications as they are invoked by white-collar criminals (Benson), doctors who defraud Medicaid (Jesilow, Pontell and Geis), rapists (Scully and Marolla), and gang members (Hagedorn). Although Cromwell included articles about female criminals, women’s voices are largely absent from this anthology, and the gendered nature of crime is notably absent. Women are included as interviewees in less than half of the 21 chapters and as the exclusive focus in only three. In four of the six chapters that include both male and female criminals, the authors perform no gender analysis. The focus instead is on burglars or upper-level drug dealers with no discussion of how criminal experiences might be gendered for either females or males. The relative absence of women’s voices in this book is largely due to the reality that the discipline has only recently moved away from its traditional neglect of girls and women in crime. Nonetheless, qualitative studies of female criminals and the gendered nature of crime for both men and women do exist. In fact, Miller’s (1998) article, “Up It Up: Gender and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery,” reanalyzes the data collected by Wright and Decker and presented in chapter 13 of In Their Own Words. Miller reveals, for example, that while male and female robbers may not differ in motivation, they differ in execution of the crime. That difference, Miller suggests, is formed through the ways female robbers negotiate in the male dominated realm of street crime and through the accomplishment of masculinity by male robbers. Finally, the voices of female gang members are entirely absent from this anthology. Yet qualitative studies of the gendered nature of gangs have been growing in number since the early 1990’s (see Moore 1991; Joe and Chesney-Lind 1995). This otherwise rich anthology could be used in several different undergraduate courses. Both its strengths and weaknesses could serve as teaching tools. In criminology courses, it could quite easily supplement theoretical texts that typically silence criminals’ voices. Instructors could spend several weeks on rational choice theory, assigning a few of the relevant chapters each week. Class discussions might be centered around the ways that the studies support, refute, or expand upon quantitative tests of rational choice theory. Additionally, the chapters on rational choice theory could be used in a section on crime reduction. Instructors could assign students the task of outlining an intervention or prevention strategy based on the criminals’ explanations of their own choices and experiences. I see the overrepresentation of studies concerning rational choice theory as a positive. The various findings can be synthesized into a strong understanding of criminal decision making. However, I also find it limiting in that the anthology is organized primarily around one perspective to the exclusion of others. I found myself wondering whether other criminological theories could be tested with qualitative research methods. Are questions of motivation and choice the only inquiries we can make of criminals? Can we not also observe the influence of delinquent peers or the learning of definitions favorable to crime? Exploration of such questions in the classroom can turn this limitation into a teaching tool. Students could be assigned the task of proposing qualitative studies that test theories more typically assessed with quantitative data. The collection of 21 qualitative studies of crime in one volume is also a strength. As such, this book could be integrated into a course on criminological research methods. For example, it would nicely complement Criminology: An Introduction Using Explorlt (Messner and Stark 1999) in a computer-based course. Similarly, this anthology could be used in sociological research methods courses. The chapters would serve as real-life examples of qualitative research methods. Students will no doubt appreciate the narratives in each chapter; they may even find the reading assignments enjoyable. Generally, the anthology is very accessible and versatile, and the weaknesses, including the absence of gender analyses, can be overcome through class discussion, assignments, and the inclusion of supplemental articles. REFERENCES Joe, Karen A. and Meda Chesney-Lind. 1995. “‘Just Every Mother’s Angel’ An Analysis of Gender and Ethnic Variations in Youth Gang Membership.” Gender & Society 9:408-31. Messner, Steven F. and Rodney Stark. 1999. Criminology: An Introduction Using Explorlt. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: MicroCase. Miller, Jody. 1998. “Up It Up: Gender and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery.” Criminology 36:37-66. Moore, Joan. 1991. Going Down to the Barrio: Homeboys and Homegirls in Change. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University. Rachel Bridges Whaley Oregon Social Learning Center The Editor of Teaching Sociology is Liz Grauerholz. For articles, notes, and conversations, send manuscripts to: Liz Grauerholz, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Howard Phillips Hall 403, Orlando, FL 32816-1360. Phone: 407-823-2227, Fax: 407-823-3026. For book, video, and software reviews, send manuscripts to: Jay Howard, Department of Sociology, Indiana University Columbus, 4601 Central Avenue, Columbus, IN 47203-1769. For questions about manuscript processing, contact Monica Mendez, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Howard Phillips Hall 403, Orlando, FL 32816-1360. Phone: 407-823-2227, Fax: 407-823-3026. The Webmaster is Pauline H. Pavlakos. Observations on form and egregious spelling may be directed to Ms. Pavlakos. 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