Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 361
Trim: 6 x 9⅜
978-0-8476-9040-4 • Hardback • January 1999 • $97.00 • (£75.00)
978-0-8476-9041-1 • Paperback • February 1999 • $77.00 • (£59.00)
Herbert J. Gans, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, is the author of numerous books and articles on urban problems, social policy, and American culture.
Part 1 The Ethnographies
Chapter 2 The Destruction of Boston's West End
Chapter 3 Suburban Homogeneity and Conformity: Myth and Reality
Chapter 4 Values in the News
Part 5 Urban Poverty - Theory and Policy
Chapter 6 The Positive Functions of Poverty
Chapter 7 The Federal Role in Solving America's Urban Problems
Chapter 8 Time for an Employee's Lobby
Chapter 9 Some Utopian Scenarios
Part 10 Ethnicity, Ethnic Groups, and Immigration
Chapter 11 The Birth and Growth of a Suburban Jewish Community
Chapter 12 Symbolic Ethnicity: The Future of Ethnic Groups and Cultures in America
Chapter 13 Second Generation Decline: Scenarios for the Economic and Ethnic Futures of Post-1965 American Immigrants
Chapter 14 Toward a Reconciliation of “Assimilation” and “Pluralism”: The Interplay of Acculturation and Ethnic Retention
Part 15 Sociology in America
Chapter 16 Sociology in America: The Discipline and the Public
Chapter 17 Best Sellers by American Sociologists: An Exploratory Study
Chapter 18 Sociological Amnesia: The Shortness of the Discipline's Attention Span
Part 19 Other Ways of Doing Sociology
Chapter 20 Two Satires
Chapter 21 The Hard-Core Experiment
Chapter 22 The Workfare Presidency
Chapter 23 Two Op-Ed Pieces
Chapter 24 Preserving Everyone's New York
Chapter 25 Stop Letting George Do It
Chapter 26 Two Reviews
Chapter 27 “Jaws”: Urban Hero Saves Small Town
Chapter 28 Urban Renewal Policy for Children
Part 29 Appendixes
Chapter 30 Appendix A: An Autobiographical Account
Chapter 31 Appendix B: Selective Bibliography of Herbert J. Gans
Chapter 32 About the Author
Herbert Gans has, more than any other sociologist, been more successful for a longer time in bringing the insights and findings of sociological work to the attention of the general public. His research has always been probing and on the mark right down to the details, and his thinking about public issues and policy has those qualities too. These essays give the full flavor of a life of hard work and solid thought.
— Howard S. Becker, University of Washington
The book is an excellent celebration of a reflective and critical sociological life journey which takes on broad old and new topics and influences.
— David Calvey; Network
This collection provides an excellent retrospective of Gans's work; it is also a useful supplement to introductory sociology texts. Gans's engagement with critical intellectual and scholarly issues, his interest in public policy, and his coherent discussions of theory make this book especially accessible for undergraduates.
— Contemporary Sociology