Language, Culture, and Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

Zdenek Salzmann, a native of Prague, is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst . A specialist in Native American languages and folklore, he has held guest professorships at Yale University and the University of Freiburg in Germany. He has been visiting professor at several universities in the Czech Republic. At present, he is adjunct professor at Northern Arizona University . With his wife, Joy, he is the author of Native Americans of the Southwest (Westview Press, 1997).

Language, Culture, and Society: A Book of Readings

Twenty-four articles representing a diversity of interests and approaches have been brought together in this collection intended to define and develop topics of central interest to language, culture, and society. Opening pieces include enduring, classic writings by Boas, Sapir, Whorf, Mead, and others, giving the volume an important historical orientation. These contributions form the groundwork for the wide sampling of more recent and contemporary works that follows. The selections chosen for Language, Culture, and Society, Second Edition, reflect several major themes within the field: language in relation to thought and cognition; language in relation to the cultural partitioning of the environment; language in relation to self-as-social; language in relation to social differentiation; and language in relation to its emergence as a sociocultural phenomenon.

The editor's helpful introductions point out significant ideas and trace the development of the twenty-four contributions that form a diverse, well-balanced, and up-to-date volume.

Social Class and Stratification: Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates

Social Class and Stratification: Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates

Description
Bringing together the classic statements on social stratification, this collection offers the most significant contributions to ongoing debates on the nature of race, class, and gender inequality.

Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective

Review: By Midwest Book Review

Social Stratification In Sociological Perspective is a college-level treatise on social issues affecting class, race and gender appears in its second edition to discuss the evolving field of stratification. College students will find a survey of stratification research, with articles in different sections examining the field and its broader issues and controversies. This comprehensive reader may well serve as a classroom text on the topic for sociology courses.

Editorial Reviews
Review of Radical Political Economics
"Grusky's book is unique.... It is an active text forcing the essays out of an intellectual vacuum and into an environment where they are up against other essays with differing view points.... A service to the complex field of stratification research, whether for the beginning student, where it serves as an excellent introduction to the field, or for the more experienced individual, where it can serve as a top-notch reference.... Highly recommendable."

Society

Society is a grouping of individuals which is characterized by common interests and may have distinctive culture and institutions. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups. A society may be a particular people, such as the Saxons, a nation state, such as Bhutan, or a broader cultural group, such as a Western society.

According to a sociologist Richard Jenkins, addresses a number of important existential issues facing people: How humans think and exchange information – the sensory world makes up only a fraction of human experience. In order to understand the world, we have to conceive of human interaction in the abstract (i.e., society).

Many phenomena cannot be reduced to individual behavior – to explain certain conditions, a view of something "greater than the sum of its parts" is needed. Collectives often endure beyond the lifespan of individual members.

The human condition has always meant going beyond the evidence of our senses; every aspect of our lives is tied to the collective (Society, 2008. par.1-4).

Society: The Basics

This text book is pretty easy to read and understand with today's news incorporated in it. It's great to use in a college course. I found this book to be very interesting and learned quite a bit from it. I bought it last semester for a sociology course I took. Because my professor was also the dean of that department - it amplified the learning experience I got out of the book. Each chapter also starts out with a little snippet of a story that relates to the theme of the chapter. I very much enjoyed the course and the learning experience gained out of the book.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

I just loved this book. From start to finish it was flat out great. The characters were all interesting and deep (as opposed to superficial cliches), and the plot had some clever twists and neat puzzles. It was fun solving those puzzles along with the characters, too. So if you're looking for a fun read that's not about magic and dragons (as way too many kids books today are), I highly recommend The Mysterious Benedict Society! I can't wait for the sequel.