Synopsis
Once again, Lemert has revised and updated Social Things, a best seller that is admired by teachers, students, andeven their parents for its riveting brilliance. In this edition, he challenges readers to appreciate the surprising story of how globalization requires even the most reluctant to engage with its strange effects. In a new and original chapter, OGlobal Things Queer the SocialO, Lemert unblushingly explains that globalization became a dominant force in everyday life at the very time when ordinary life was threatened by extraordinary human crises of poverty and disease. The new world order is queer in more ways than one. It forces us to rethink social taboos, including those on talk about sex and sexualities. As in its earlier editions, Social Things excites, disturbs, and instructs readers who wonder what OglobalizationO means to them and how their sociological competence can contend with the way it emboldens people to look at the world honestly.
Booknews
The first edition appeared in 1977. The book is primarily for use in introductory sociology classes. Part story and history, it shows how we would not encounter "individuals who trust or threaten us were it not for social forces beyond our reach...." What this means is that Lemert (sociology, Wesleyan) is interested in how individuals' lives are shaped not only by intention and local conditions, but also by global forces, especially political and economic events and trends. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)