AIDS has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people in the United States, becoming the focus of intense social activism. Brett Stockdill reveals that people living with HIV/AIDS are often multiply oppressed—women of color, for example—and explores how interlocking oppressions fragment activism and thus impede AIDS prevention and intervention. Demonstrating that a unified approach to    More >

Why does the right dominate debates on crime, family values, and economic freedom? Why does the left defend divisive aspects of affirmative action, while equivocating on questions of ecology and political empowerment for young people? The answer, Cummings believes, is that too many progressives have avoided politically sensitive issues, condemning themselves to intellectual atrophy and political    More >

As the cost of higher education continues to rise, students increasingly rely on borrowing to pay for college. But is the result the improved socioeconomic position that they anticipate? Borrowing Inequality explores the real impact of loans on minority and low-income students.

Drawing on a national study of student-borrowing patterns, Derek Price finds that racial and ethnic    More >

Although a regular occurrence for millions of women, menstruation is typically represented in US culture as an illness or a shameful episode—to the benefit of an entire industry. Elizabeth Kissling reveals how corporations capitalize on long-standing negative attitudes about menses to sell solutions for nonexistent problems.

The commercialization of menstruation, Kissling    More >

What is multiracialism—and what are the theoretical consequences and practical costs of asserting a multiracial identity? Arguing that the multiracial movement bolsters, rather than subverts, traditional categories of race, Rainier Spencer critically assesses current scholarship in support of multiracial identity.

How advanced is our knowledge about the dynamics of political and social activism? What lessons can be learned by studying the rise and fall of particular political and social movements? What insights can be gained by applying the different frameworks and methodologies of political science, sociology, and communications? This original work employs multidisciplinary perspectives to better    More >

Conservatives and liberals agree that President Bill Clinton's effort to lift the military's gay ban was perhaps one of the greatest blunders of his tenure in office. Conservatives argue that Clinton should have left well enough alone; liberals believe that he should have ordered the military to accept homosexuals rather than agreeing to the compromise "don't ask, don't tell" policy. In    More >

What happens to long-term employees when their jobs are unexpectedly eliminated? In this richly detailed study of a major layoff and its aftermath, Kenneth Root and Rosemarie Park address head-on the ramifications of job loss for older workers.

The authors follow the experiences of 173 factory workers—from first thoughts on being forced out of work to reflections several years    More >

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With rising numbers of immigrants of color in the United States, sheer demographic change has long promised—falsely, it now seems—to solve the "race problem." Directly connecting the issues of race relations and immigrant incorporation, Beth Merenstein sheds light on what the changing contours of the US's racial and ethnic makeup mean for our dearly held concept of    More >

In this thought-provoking analysis, George Yancey reevaluates the controversial "contact hypothesis" as he explores if and when interracial contact can combat the racial animosity and inequality permeating US society.

Yancey draws on quantitative and qualitative investigations of interracial religious congregations, families, and friendships to demonstrate that    More >

The experiences and voices of multiracial individuals are challenging current categories of race, profoundly altering the meaning of racial identity and in the process changing the cultural fabric of the nation. Exploring this new reality, the authors of Mixed Messages examine what we know about multiracial identities—and the implications of those identities for fundamental issues of justice    More >

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In the United States today, quality of life depends heavily on where one lives—but high levels of racial segregation in residential communities make it frustratingly difficult to disentangle the effects of place from those of race. Gregory Squires and Charis Kubrin tackle these issues head-on, exploring how inequities    More >

A Choice Outstanding Academic Book!

Though their presence in the United States is long standing, knowledge about Puerto Ricans—their culture, history, socioeconomic status, and contributions has been decidedly inadequate. Edna Acosta-Belén and Carlos Santiago change this status quo, presenting a nuanced portrait of both the community today and    More >

Winner of the ASA Oliver Cromwell Cox Award

Drawing on rich, longitudinal databases, Blau explores the values,    More >

A comprehensive guide to the current race-class debate in sociology, Race,Class, and the State traces the evolution of the controversy and analyzes current trends in the field.

Focusing on the work legacy of William Julius Wilson and the arguments of his longstanding critics, Niemonen deftly illustrates the strengths, weaknesses, and influence of Wilson's work. His fair-minded but    More >

A 2004 Choice Outstanding Academic Book

Beginning with the early opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act,    More >

This comprehensive reader is the first to cover sexual deviance in its many forms, including topics as diverse as abstinence, public sex, sex work, and cybersex. Illustrating pathological, sociological, and "normal" sexual deviance, the editors identify key strands of research within the contemporary literature. Brief introductions to each selection underscore the importance of the    More >

This exciting new book is about the narrative turn in sociology, an approach that views lived experience as constructed, at least in part, by the stories that people tell about it.

The book is organized around four themes—family and place, the body, education and work, and the passage of time—that tell a story about the life course and touch on a wide range of    More >

In this comprehensive introduction to the study of substance use and abuse, the authors explore both the personal and the societal consequences of alcohol and drug problems. A series of provocative chapters also helps students to navigate the unique problems facing women, adolescents, college students, the elderly, racial minorities, and the GLBT community. Trends in diagnosis, treatment,    More >

The widespread presence of successful African Americans in virtually all walks of life has led many in the United States to believe that the races are now on an equal footing—and that color blindness is the most appropriate way to deal with racial difference. In strong contrast, Benjamin Bowser argues that the seemingly comparable black and white middle classes, while inextricably linked, in    More >

What does it mean to be a Latino man in the United States today? David Abalos shows how the traditional cultural stories—the male roles of the mujeriego (the womanizer), the macho, and the patriarch—are becoming unlivable. Too many men choose manipulation, power, or violence in response, in an effort to restore the old order. But there is an alternative, argues    More >

The Ties That Bind Us addresses the difficult living and working conditions of Mexican migrant workers in San Diego County, California, considering policy implications for both sides of the US-Mexico border. The authors highlight the circumstances of individuals who, seeking to escape poverty, come to San Diego hoping to exchange hard work for a chance to get ahead—and who often    More >

What is diversity? How does prejudice show itself? What are the societal consequences of discrimination—toward women? toward gays? toward people of color? toward the poor? Has anything changed over the past 40 years? These are just some of the questions addressed in this introduction to the issues and controversies surrounding the concepts of class, race, gender, and sexual    More >

Whistleblowers can ruin lives—and can save them. Is it worth it? Roberta Ann Johnson explores when and how—and to what effect—people make the choice to blow the whistle. Engrossing case studies from the tobacco industry, to NASA, to the FDA illustrate clearly how individual efforts can and do transform institutions, shape public policy, and serve as a force for    More >

Co-Winner of the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award of the ASA Racial and Ethnic Minorities Section!

Is a racial structure still firmly in place in the United States? White Supremacy and Racism answers that question with an unequivocal yes, describing a contemporary system that operates in a covert, subtle, institutional, and superficially nonracial fashion.

Assessing    More >

"By the year 2050, whites will be a numerical racial minority, albeit the largest minority, in the United States." This statement, asserts George Yancey, while statistically correct, is nonetheless false.

Yancey marshals compelling evidence to show that the definition of who is "white" is changing rapidly, with nonblack minorities accepting the perspectives    More >

Traditional homicide indicators are based on male violence—and do little to predict when, or whom, women will kill. Vickie Jensen shows that gender equality plays an important role in predicting female homicide patterns.

Jensen's analysis of the occurrence of women's homicide reveals that lethal violence is most likely when severe gender inequalities exist in the family group. Her    More >

It is old news that the conditions and policies of women's prisons are different from those of incarcerated men. Less evident, however, is how gender differences shape those policies, and how gender identity and roles shape women's adaptation and resistance to prison culture and control. Women in Prison explores how the gender-based attitudes that women bring to prison frame how they    More >

Women scientists working in small, for-profit companies are eight times more likely than their university counterparts to head a research lab. Why?

Laurel Smith-Doerr reveals that, contrary to widely held assumptions, strong career opportunities for women and minorities do not depend on the formal policies and long job ladders that large, hierarchical bureaucracies provide. In    More >

They are part of rebel factions, national armies, paramilitaries, and other armed groups and entrenched in some of the most violent conflicts around the globe. They are in some ways still children?yet, from Afghanistan to Sierra Leone to Northern Ireland, you can find them among the fighters. Why?

Young Soldiers explores the reasons that adolescents who are neither    More >