Development and Social Change : A Global Perspective (Sociology for a New Century Series) (Dec 17, 2003)
by Philip McMichael
The distribution of the world’s material wealth is far from even. And while most of the western world may be accustomed to a commercial culture, there are other cultures (e.g., Amish, Islamic, peasant) that are not commercial or are uncomfortable with commercial definition. Because cultural meaning is not universally defined through the market, "globalization," as it is currently understood, is not necessarily a universal aspiration.
Why then, is there so much talk of globalization? In this Third Edition of Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, author Philip McMichael provides a narrative of how development came to be institutionalized as an international project, pursued by individual nation-states in the post-colonial era. This new edition has been updated and revised to incorporate the treatments of fundamentalism, terrorism, the AIDS crisis, and the commercialization of services via the World Trade Organization.
The evident failure of many countries to fulfill this promise of development and the world’s growing awareness of environmental limits have forced a reevaluation of the development enterprise. Development and Social Change traces the changing fortunes of development efforts, the shortcomings of which have produced two responses. One is to advocate a thoroughly global market to expand trade and spread the wealth. The other is to reevaluate the economic emphasis and to recover a sense of cultural community.
Features of this book:
A world-historical perspective that situates globalization in the declining fortunes of the postwar development project.
A political perspective that views development and globalization as practices managed by historic elite groupings, as mechanisms of power and world ordering.
An emphasis on resistance and social movements as actors shaping the meaning and direction of both development and globalization, as they impact societies around the world.
A series of case studies that allow in-depth examination of development/globalization dilemmas and paradoxes.
Development and Social Change is the first book to present students with a coherent explanation of how "globalization" took root in the public discourse and how "globalization" represents a shift away from development as a way to think about non-western societies. This is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate students studying globalization, social development, and social change in Sociology, Political Science, Anthropology, and International Studies.
To read a sample chapter from Development and Social Change click on "Additional Materials" in the left column under "About This Book" or simply click here.
Philip McMichael grew up in Alelaide, South Australia, and is presently Professor of Rural and Development Sociology at Cornell University. His book The Agrarian Question: Foundations of Capitalism in Colonial Australia (1984) won the Social Science History Association's Allan Sharlin Memorial Award. He is also the editor of The Global Restructuring of Agro-Food Systems (1994) and Food and Agrarian Orders in the World Economy (1995). He has served as Director of Cornell University's International Political Economy Program and as Chair of the American Sociological Association's Political Economy of the World-System Section.

Social Change (Sociology and Society) (September, 2002)
Tim Jordan (Editor), Steve Pile (Editor)
Reviewer: Tony Wairagu (Kenya)
Introduces key concerns and debates of contemporary sociology. Takes account of the ways in which sociology has been shaped by dialogue with adjacent disciplines and intellectual movements, such as cultural studies and women studies. Shows how, from sociology's early concerns with the transition to industrial and democratic social forms to recent debates over the rise of information , networked or global societies, sociology has been centrally concerned with the nature and meaning of social change.

The Sociology of Social Change
by Piotr Sztompka
The sociology of social change has always been the product of times of flux, and the unmatched dynamism of our period is already reflected in the revitalization of theories of change. Piotr Sztompka takes stock of and reappraises the whole legacy of sociological thinking about change, from the classical to the contemporary, providing the intellectual tools necessary for a critical and rational grasp of our own turbulent times. As an advanced textbook for upper-division and graduate students, as well as researchers, this book covers the four grand visions of social and historical change which have dominated the field since the 19th century: the evolutionary, the cyclical, the dialectical, and the post-developmentalist. In so doing, it provides indispensable analytic discussions of the concepts focal to contemporary debates such as social process, development, progress, social time, historical tradition, modernity, post-modernity, and globalization.
Piotr Sztompka is a Full Professor of Sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and a regular Visiting Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also taught as Visiting Professor at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Rome, La Sapienza. He has published many books, including: System and Function (1974), Sociological Dilemmas (1979), Rethinking Progress with J. Alexander (1990) and Society in Action (1991).

Classified : How to Stop Hiding Your Privilege and Use It for Social Change! (December 10, 2005)
by Karen Pittelman, Resource Generation, Molly Hein
The fight for economic justice can draw stark battle lines, with the fight portrayed simplistically as Us versus Them, with the rich in the role of "Them." So where does that leave young people with wealth who believe in social change? Afraid of being branded the enemy, yet deeply committed to social justice, they're left in a confusing no-man's land. This conflict can lead most young people with wealth to keep their privilege hidden, making it impossible for them to bring their resources, access, and connections to the struggle for social change. Coauthored by Karen Pittelman, who dissolved her $3 million trust fund to cofound a foundation for low-income women activists, Classified is a resource guide for people with class privilege who are tired of cover-ups and ready to figure out how their privilege really works. Complete with comics, exercises, and personal stories, this book gives readers the tools they need to put their privilege to work for social change.

Karl Marx on Society and Social Change : With Selections by Friedrich Engels (Heritage of Sociology Series)
by Karl Marx, Neil Smelser (Editor)
This volume presents those writings of Marx that best reveal his contribution to sociology, particularly to the theory of society and social change. The editor, Neil J. Smelser, has divided these selections into three topical sections and has also included works by Friedrich Engels.
The first section, "The Structure of Society," contains Marx's writings on the material basis of classes, the basis of the state, and the basis of the family. Among the writings included in this section are Marx's well-known summary from the Preface of A Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy and his equally famous observations on the functional significance of religion in relation to politics.
The second section is titled "The Sweep of Historical Change." The first selection here contains Marx's first statement of the main precapitalist forms of production. The second selection focuses on capitalism, its contradictions, and its impending destruction. Two brief final selections treat the nature of communism, particularly its freedom from the kinds of contradictions that have plagued all earlier forms of societies.
The last section, "The Mechanisms of Change," reproduces several parts of Marx's analysis of the mechanisms by which contradictions develop in capitalism and generate group conflicts. Included is an analysis of competition and its effects on the various classes, a discussion of economic crises and their effects on workers, and Marx's presentation of the historical specifics of the class struggle.
In his comprehensive Introduction to the selections, Professor Smelser provides a biography of Marx, indentifies the various intellectual traditions which formed the background for Marx's writings, and discusses the selections which follow. The editor describes Marx's conception of society as a social system, the differences between functionalism and Marx's theories, and the dynamics of economic and political change as analyzed by Marx.
Neil J. Smelser is Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford.

Education and Social Change (Sociology and Social Change)
by Amanda Coffey
Education and Social Change undertakes a systematic sociological analysis of contemporary educational policy and practice. In doing so it charts the substantial and significant changes that education systems have undergone over recent decades, and places them within a broader context of social change. Thematically structured, thociology of education to provide a coherent and logical text. It takes a comprehensive approach, summarizing transformations that have occurred in educational policy, and addressing the consequences for institutions as well as for teachers, parents and learners. The author explores the complex and changing relationships between the state and the processes and practices of education. She also stresses the importance of educational experiences for the (re)production of collective and individual biographies. The result is an invaluable text for sociology and social policy students as well as for education professionals engaged in training or further study.

Changing Women, Unchanged Men?: Sociological Perspectives on Gender in a Post-Industrial Society (Sociology and Social Change)
by Sara Delamont
* Is it true that women have changed and men have not?
* Is feminism still relevant?
* Are men the new underclass?
There is an enormous social science and wider literature on women, and a rapidly growing one on men and masculinity. The cliche that women have changed and men have not is well worn, yet no single text has established the truth behind this claim. Through a thorough examination of research evidence, this volume subjects that cliche to a tough, sceptical sociological analysis. Changing Women, Unchanged Men? compares the experiences of males and females in childhood, adolescence and adulthood within the main spheres of life - for example the family, education and work - and examines the issues of self, body, sexuality, and identity. For each sphere the key questions 'Have women changed? Have men stayed the same?' are posed, within the context of current sociological debates on social change.
Sara Delamont is Reader in Sociology at Cardiff University. Her previous publications include the highly successful The Sociology of Women: An Introduction (1980), and Supervising the PhD (1997), co-written with Paul Atkinson and Odette Parry, and also published by Open University Press.

We, the People: American Character and Social Change (Contributions in Sociology) by Gordon J. DiRenzo
“Both the substance and style of the work should make it an important addition to the shelves of scholars as well as intelligent layreaders.”–Library Journal