From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4@msn.com)
Date: Mon Mar 18 2002 - 14:37:02 PST
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From: cunews@cornell.edu
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 5:35 PM
To: CUNEWS-SOCIAL_SCIENCE-L@cornell.edu; CUNEWS-CAMPUS-L@cornell.edu; CUNEWS-SCIENCE-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Cornell News: Sociology in a college setting
New book by Cornell sociologist uses college life as a microcosm to
explain sociological concepts
FOR RELEASE: March 18, 2002
Contact: Susan S. Lang
Office: 607-255-3613
E-mail: SSL4@cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- What better way to teach college students about the
basics of sociology than to use their own college as a microcosm of
society. A new book, College and Society: An Introduction to the
Sociological Imagination, by Stephen Sweet, associate director of the
Cornell Employment and Family Careers Institute at Cornell
University, does just that.
"Colleges and universities tend to reflect many of the same social
structures, culturally based expectations of social conduct and
patterns of interaction that we see in the larger society," says
Sweet. "This book allows college students to learn about how society
operates by studying what transpires in colleges and universities.
By focusing on familiar experiences, readily accessible observations
and issues relevant to students' lives, this book teaches students to
understand the profound ways in which social forces shape the human
experience."
The 150-page paperback book (Allyn and Bacon, 2001), which is fully
referenced and includes an index, is intended for introductory
college sociology courses but also will be of interest to those
interested in learning more about college life and the college
experience.
Sweet examines a wide range of concepts and theoretical perspectives
central to understanding social experiences. For example, using the
case of a recent hazing death at Clarkson University, Sweet
illustrates how fraternities and sororities create rites of passage,
redefine the self and reshape values in ways that shape individual
behavior.
In another chapter, Sweet looks at social stratification in the
university and assesses gender inequality on campuses. Showing that
female professors tend to be paid considerably less than male
professors and are evaluated more critically than men performing
similar jobs, he examines the mechanisms by which these disparities
emerge. Social processes include overt discrimination and more
subtle forms of discrimination, as well as institutionalized
practices that devalue women's work and penalize women for their
roles as mothers. Placing contemporary college life in a historical
perspective, Sweet also shows the implications of the modern
bureaucratic order of life. Impersonal encounters, assemblyline
practices and the "McDonaldization" of university life highlight some
of the "irrational" consequences of designing colleges to work like
businesses. Similarly, college athletics are used to illustrate how
cohesion, group boundaries, social conflict and acceptance of social
inequality are created through competition on college campuses. The
book is intended to show students both about the ways sociologists
think as well as how they engage in sociological research.
Reviewing Sweet's book in the January 2002 issue of Teaching
Sociology, David K. Brown, of Illinois State University, noted: "The
book generates an initial sensibility to sociological thinking that
could be carried to student analysis of other books and social
issues. In sociology, a large part of our pedagogical task is to
enable students to create deep analogies across disparate social
phenomena. College and Society is a powerful addition to aid us in
accomplishing this goal."
Sweet, who earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of New
Hampshire (1994), was an assistant professor at SUNY Potsdam for five
years before coming to Cornell in 1999. He is the author of various
articles on teaching sociology and of a textbook on applied
statistics, Data Analysis with SPSS (Allyn & Bacon 1998). He
also serves on the editorial board of Teaching Sociology.
Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide
additional information on this news release. Some might not be part
of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over
their content or availability.
o Allyn & Bacon: <http://www.ablongman.com>
o Cornell Employment and Family Careers Institute:
<http://www.blcc.cornell.edu/cci/default.html>
o Stephen Sweet: <http://www.blcc.cornell.edu/cci/steve.html>
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The web version of this release may be found at
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/March02/sweet.book.ssl.html
Cornell University News Service
Surge 3
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-4206
cunews@cornell.edu
http://www.news.cornell.edu
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