Textbooks

Feagin, Joe R. and Clarice Booker Feagin. Social Problems: A Critical Power-Conflict Perspective. Prentice Hall. (ISBN 0-13-651084-1)

• While this is not an introductory book, it reviews many of the topics that are covered in an introductory book. I think that it does a better job in critically analyzing issues rather than merely reporting them. However, I’ve gotten responses from students that the book was boring (well it is a textbook after all) and biased. It is heavily skewed towards a Marxist-feminist perspective, so it must be supplemented with other theoretical perspectives. (Laurel Tripp)

• As a text, I like it mostly because there is s whole section on gays and lesbians, not just a sidebar. Most texts are hideously silent about the social issues of gays and lesbians. It is also great if you are looking for a feminist perspective and lots of conflict theory. (Sara Crawley)

• This is a paperback version of the original, longer text, and is very cost efficient for students. It comes pre-packaged with and Internet access program that allows students to get articles and information on-line (so they don’t have to pay to copy articles you want them to read). I like that the book addresses issues of race, class, and gender for each area of interest rather than treating them only as issues unto themselves. I also like the short quizzes that address informal knowledge and misconceptions on key issues. It also comes with a CD-ROM that has useful review exams for students as well as chapter overviews. (Tracy Johns)
• I most liked its use of the homeless and gender issues as common themes to illustrate concepts of each section. (Mike Ryan)
• I did not like this text. As with most other introductory textbooks, Kendall has a tendency to simplify theoretical perspectives to the point that they are wrong. Instructors should be careful to spend the extra time explaining difficult concepts that are only superficially covered. While I do appreciate the incorporation of race, class, and gender into each chapter, I feel that it is somewhat superficial in analysis and could be done by an instructor on his/her own. The good thing about this text is the deals that we can get through the publisher. Since so many of us use this, Dan Edwards (the local representative) is always eager to stock our library with test banks and free videos. (Laurel Tripp)

• I like the book because it has a very general and readable style. Prentice Hall also offers lots of aids including a test item file in both book form and on disk. The program generates tests and answer keys, plus you can track your class. They also offer a data file with supplemental information and an overhead transparency package. (Linda Scola)
• I used Macionis for a couple of semesters—good basic text. (Mike Ryan)

• I love this text! It takes a constructionist approach throughout. But still covers all the material that should be covered in Principles. What I like best about this text is the instructor’s manual and test bank. The manual has really great ideas for activities and an up-to-date list of films for each chapter. It includes academic films and feature films. The reader that accompanies this text is pretty good, too. The instructor’s manual covers the reader also. (Lara Foley)

• There is a great deal of software available for it. Since students are required to have computers, I am trying to incorporate those capabilities. They will have to access at least two articles through the net for a small paper. I also particularly like the boxes and figures. These delete the necessity of assigning a reader. (Mike Ryan)

Course Packs

• Since I used a Social Problems textbook, I had to supplement it with theory as well as exemplifying articles. I actually had students reading excerpts from Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Mead as well as others. I provided basic outlines on my webpage so they could weed their way through the material. While most hated having to read it initially, I received many comments on my evaluations that they enjoyed the course pack. They appreciated being challenged, rather than bored by a textbook. So I would recommend this for the energetic instructor. One last note, I would suggest having them read from Capital rather than The Communist Manifesto because of the negative connotation associated with the former. (Laurel Tripp)

• I assigned particular articles from this. Most readers are good, you just have to find the one which has the articles you want. Students particularly enjoyed the article of the "Nacirema." (Mike Ryan)

Textbooks

Kornblum, William and Joseph Julian. Social Problems. Prentice Hall. (ISBN 0-13-608480-X)

• I like it because it’s up-to-date. There’s lots of references to using the internet (with site addresses). Plus they have a lot of "boxes" with things like unintended consequences, current controversies, etc. They also discuss social policy for each social problem. Many of the teaching tools are available with it. (Linda Scola)

• I was not pleased. The students thought it was too liberal and one-sided. (Carla Edwards) 

• It’s great for breaking down "common sense knowledge" using sociological examination. I will augment it with a course pack. (Sara Crawley)

• I might use this. I’m looking for something that explains the sociological approach. I will augment this with other readings in a course pack. (Sara Crawley)

• I liked the book. Each chapter addresses a social issue. The author defines the issues, terms, and outlines how each problem is defined by the dominant theoretical perspectives: SI, conflict, functionalism. (Carla Edwards)

Textbooks

Aulette, J. Changing Families. Wadsworth.

• My students HATED this text. I really liked it though and use it sometimes to lecture from. (Lara Foley)

• The text integrates variations by gender, race, class and sexuality in each chapter. For example, it doesn’t confine African Americans to the chapter on poverty/single parenthood and it doesn’t’ confine LGB people to the chapter on sex/deviance. I stand very firmly behind this approach and will not accept anything else. (Eileen O’Brien)

• I have used this text for three semesters. The students really like it. The instructor’s manual and test bank are average. There are other supplements that come with this text, including PowerPoint graphs and charts. (Lara Foley)
• I’ve had a lot of luck with this text. It is one of the best for including issues of role strain and work/family conflict. It does a better than average job in discussing family diversity (racial/ethnic). It comes with a very good study guide. A few hints to go with the text:

1. If you check with Allyn and Bacon, you can order the text and the study guide shrink wrapped together so that students can’t blow off the study guide (it’s worth it, and it’s either the same price or only slightly higher than the text alone if not wrapped). There is a separate ISBN that you need to use to do this, which you can obtain from the Allyn and Bacon sales representative.
2. Watch the test bank that comes as part of the teaching manual. It is one of the weakest spots in the package. There are errors and badly worded questions that sneak in.
3. To do a full treatment of families in the life course with this text, it is necessary to supplement with outside information on widowhood/widowerhood and death in the family. This area, and religion and the family, are the only real oversights that I’ve found. (Erica Owens)

Ferguson, Susan J. Shifting the Center: Understanding Contemporary Families. Mayfield Publishing Company. (ISBN 1-55934-752-X)

• I usually tend to put together my own course pack, but if I were going to use a reader I would use this. (Lara Foley)

Readers

Rosenblum, Karen E. and Toni-Michelle Travis (eds.). The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation, 2^nd Edition. McGraw Hill. (ISBN: 0-07-229602-X)

• While I was asked to take out the class, gender, and sexuality aspects and focus more on race only, the organization of the book was done by construction of category, experience of those in the category, and meaning (both ideological and structural) of being in that category. The various ethnic groups (and other axes of oppression) were treated within this overarching framework, rather than separate chapters on each ethnic group. Because this is a reader, I would also advise instructors of Principles and Social Problems to consider selections from this text. There is an especially good article on the preference for alumni children at ivy leagues and other colleges, which is good in the context of Affirmative Action. (Eileen O’Brien)

• The "White Privilege" article by McIntosh is a must and would be very helpful in getting lower and upper level students to understand oppression and inequality. My Minorities students ranked that (along with The Color of Fear) as the most influential pieces of the semester. Because she treats heterosexual privilege in the same article, it can also be applied to that and other axes of oppression. I had my students do a privilege log in which they took a daily log of their day and counted the privileges, and some of them extended it to male, heterosexual, and able-bodied privilege. I especially learned a lot here in terms of lack of TDD phones, handicapped access to buildings, etc. My point is that this article can be applied to many topics besides race, so it can be useful in a number of ways, dealing with any stratification/inequality issue. (Eileen O’Brien)

Textbooks

Renzetti, Claire M. and Daniel J. Curran. Women, Men, and Society, 4^th Edition. Allyn and Bacon. (ISBN: 0-205-26562-6)

• I will be using this text in the fall, so I’m not sure how students will react to it. Because this is a class on gender and not a women’s studies class, I think that it’s important to emphasize that there is not just one gender. While this book seems to be good at showing two sides of the story, I think that it may be a bit too dichotomous. This produces a sense of exaggerated difference and excludes many people that don’t fit in-between feminine and masculine. I do think it provides a basic starting point for discussion. I will definitely supplement it with a reader. (Laurel Tripp)

Baca Zinn, Maxine, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, and Michael A. Messner (eds). Through the Prism of Difference: Readings on Sex and Gender. Allyn and Bacon. (ISBN: 0-205-26415-8)
 

• I actually picked the reader for the class before the textbook. The editors specifically intended the book to correct for the white, middle-class, heterosexual, female bias in some gender texts. They also start off with a piece by Judith Lorber that really questions the whole feminine/masculine-male/female dichotomy that we’ve constructed. (Laurel Tripp)