Hogs, Blogs, Leathers and Lattes

by William E. Thompson
Hogs, Blogs, Leathers and Lattes
Author: William E. Thompson
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2012-09-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0786468599
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This book combines more than 45 years of the author's riding experiences with data collected over five years of systematic observation and extensive ethnographic interviews with over 200 male and female riders. Much has been written about hardcore bikers, but there has been little scholarly research on the much larger segment of the population more aptly called motorcycle enthusiasts. This book focuses on them--the hard working plumbers, truck drivers, and other blue collar workers as well as the white collar executives, doctors and other professionals who are mostly married, have mortgages, pay their bills, obey the law, and on weekends and holidays participate in a favorite pastime, riding motorcycles.

NASCAR, Sturgis, and the New Economy of Spectacle

by Daniel Krier
NASCAR, Sturgis, and the New Economy of Spectacle
Author: Daniel Krier
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2016-09-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004300619
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NASCAR, Sturgis, and the New Economy of Spectacle maps the structure of economies of spectacle in stock car racing and large displacement motorcycle rallying. The book traces the historical development of economic spectacles and models the structural components and moving parts that sustain them. Economies of spectatorship emerge when activities and legends in the cultural commons are privatized or enclosed as immaterial property. Once privatized, a spectacular diegesis supports a triple-circuit of profit: spectatorship markets (payments to see), sponsorship markets (payments to be seen) and trophy markets (payments to be seen enjoying). Vivid illustrations of legendary action in NASCAR and carnivalesque displays at Sturgis reveal how spectator events function as intensive sites of profit-making in contemporary capitalism.

Pulling Back the Curtain on Qualitative Research

by William E. Thompson
Pulling Back the Curtain on Qualitative Research
Author: William E. Thompson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2022-12-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000818276
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In Pulling Back the Curtain on Qualitative Research, the authors maintain that for sociologists the entire world is a laboratory. Seldom do they attend social gatherings without observing people and their interaction in a systematic and intellectually curious way. Regular trips to the grocery store, church services, and engagement with social media all open the door to sociological questioning and encourage forms of empirical observation and data collection. Here, in this practical and in-depth guide to conducting qualitative sociological field research, the authors offer step-by-step guidance to the processes of choosing a research question and forming research objectives; gaining entry to research settings; and reporting and analyzing findings. Each chapter features a past research assignment, wherein the authors draw attention to important ethical considerations and extract the many lessons, quirks, and unanticipated findings they experienced along the way that readers should prepare for and apply while conducting their own qualitative fieldwork. Over the span of several field studies, this book offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at some tested and trusted qualitative methodologies. Designed to be a guide for undergraduate and graduate level students, its real-life meditations would make a meaningful addition to anyone serious about conducting sociological research.

Society in Focus

by William E. Thompson
Society in Focus
Author: William E. Thompson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 651
Release: 2018-11-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1538116235
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Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, Ninth Edition,emphasizes how society and socialforces affect everything from globalizationand international policies to day-to-dayactivities in our personal lives. In thisedition, the authors go beyond the merequestioning of issues to take a closer lookat the social world in which we live. Theyprovide an integrated approach that usessociological thinking to help studentsanalyze and understand key concepts. Tofocus increased attention on sociologicalthinking and research methods, theyhave chosen four key themes: media andtechnology, globalization, cultural diversity,and trends for the future. Because sociologyis about all of us and our daily lives, it is aneminently practical and useful discipline forunderstanding our social world. This Ninth Edition Includes: • specific student outcomes for each chapter as well as assessment items linked to those outcomes • new chapter-opening vignettes that give real-life examples illustrating important terms, concepts, and theories included in that chapter • updated data, statistics, maps, charts, boxes, and tables citing the latest research available • examples of the powerful impact of media and technology on society, especially the role social media play in helping to shape and define our daily social lives • new photos and cartoons accompanied by critical-thinking questions that reinforce and illustrate important sociological terms, concepts, and theories

Capitalism's Future

by
Capitalism's Future
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2016-05-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004300295
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Capitalisms’ Future: Alienation, Emancipation and Critique frames 21st century economic and social possibilities in a dialogue between two forms of critical social theory: Marx’s critique of political economy that analyzes capitalism and the critique of political psychology that analyzes authoritarianism. Contributions from social theorists in sociology, philosophy, and cultural studies are brought together to dissect and critique capitalist crises, left-liberalism, left-Thatcherism, resistance to risk-pooling, idealist philosophy, undemocratic social character, status wages and authoritarian spectacles. Throughout, Marx’s centrality to critical social theory is confirmed, both alone and in in powerful combination with Adorno, Durkheim, Dubois, Lacan, Veblen, Weber and others. This book outlines conjoined critiques of commodity-fetishism and authority fetishism as the emancipatory agenda of 21st century critical theory. Contributors are: Kevin S. Amidon, Graham Cassano, Tony A. Feldmann, Daniel Krier, Christian Lotz, Patrick Murray, David Norman Smith, Tony Smith, William J. Swart, and Mark P. Worrell.

Routledge Handbook on Deviance

by Stephen E. Brown
Routledge Handbook on Deviance
Author: Stephen E. Brown
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 736
Release: 2017-10-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 131729985X
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The Routledge Handbook on Deviance brings together original contributions on deviance, with a focus on new, emerging, and hidden forms of deviant behavior. The editors have curated a comprehensive collection highlighting the relativity of deviance, with chapters exploring the deviant behaviors related to sport, recreation, body modification, chronic health conditions, substance use, religion and cults, political extremism, sexuality, online interaction, mental and emotional disorders, elite societal status, workplace issues, and lifestyle. The selections review competing definitions and orientations and a wide range of theoretical premises while addressing methodological issues involved in the study of deviance. Each section begins with an introduction by the editors, anchoring the topics in relevant theoretical and methodological contexts and identifying common themes as well as divergence. Providing state-of-the-art scholarship on deviance in modern society, this handbook is an invaluable resource for researchers and students engaged in the study of deviance across a range of disciplines including criminology, criminal justice, sociology, anthropology, and interdisciplinary departments, including justice studies, social transformation, and socio-legal studies.

Outlaw Bikers and Ancient Warbands

by Carl Bradley
Outlaw Bikers and Ancient Warbands
Author: Carl Bradley
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2021-10-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030753476
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This book is the first to compare the shared cultural tenets of ancient warbands and outlaw biker gangs. It argues that the values of hyper-masculinity can be traced from the former into the contemporary environment of the latter: codes of honour, loyalty and bravery have prioritised small groups of males over women and other men, creating a history of hyper-masculinity that shows little sign of stopping. Indeed, Outlaw Bikers and Ancient Warbands: Hyper-Masculinity and Cultural Continuity argues that such hyper-masculine culture can be found in many male groups such as the police, military and sports, and that if we want to understand hyper-masculinity and face it as a society then we need to recognize that outlaw bikers are a reflection of behavior that has a very long tradition. This pioneering work explores these issues from ancient times and into the future.

Dress and Identity in America

by Daniel Delis Hill
Dress and Identity in America
Author: Daniel Delis Hill
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2023-12-14
Genre: Design
ISBN: 1350373931
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Dress and Identity in America is an examination of the conservatism and materialism that swept across the country in the late 1940s through the 1950s-a backlash to the wartime tumult, privations, and social upheavals of the Second World War. The study looks at how American men sought to recapture a masculine identity from a generation earlier, that of the stoic patriarch, breadwinner, and dutiful father, and in the process, became the men in the gray flannel suits who were complacently conventional and conformist. Parallel to that is a look at how American women, who had donned pants and went to work in wartime munitions factories or joined services like the WACS and WAVES, were now expected to stay at home as housewives and mothers, dressed in cinched, ultrafeminine New Look fashions. As the Space Age dawned, their baby boom children rejected the conventions of their elders and experimented with their own ideas of identity and dress in an emerging era of counterculture revolutions.

Social Inequality

by Charles E. Hurst
Social Inequality
Author: Charles E. Hurst
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 663
Release: 2016-08-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134995911
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Like past editions, this ninth edition of Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences is a user-friendly introduction to the study of social inequality. This book conveys the pervasiveness and extensiveness of social inequality in the United States within a comparative context, to show how inequality occurs, how it affects all of us, and what is being done about it. This edition benefits from a variety of changes that have significantly strengthened the text. The authors pay increased attention to disability, transgender issues, intersectionality, experiences of Muslims, Hispanic populations, and immigration. The 9th edition also includes content on the fall-out from the recession across various groups. The sections on global inequalities have been greatly updated, emphasizing comparative inequalities and the impact of the process of globalization on inequality internationally. The authors have also added material on several current social movements, including Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and Marriage Equality.