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Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives. David E. Rohall, Melissa A. Milkie, and Jeffrey W. Lucas. Boston, MA: Pearson. 2007. 330 pages. $71.00.
Rohall, Milkie, and Lucas's new text is a welcome addition to the otherwise sparse choices sociologists have when choosing a text for a course in sociological social psychology. Sociologists have previously had to choose between the all-encompassing throw-in-the-kitchen-sink kinds of text (à la Delamater and Myers 2006) that attempts to cover both psychological and sociological approaches to the topic, or the narrower symbolic interactionist, ethnomefhodologist, or phenomenological texts or readers. Decidedly sociological, yet broader than the latter choices, the authors of Social Psychology attempt to weave together three broad sociological social psychological emphases into each chapter: symbolic interaction, social structure and personality, and group processes. When pressed, I might take issue with referring to these as theoretical perspectives since the approach to group processes has been rather eclectic and is more of an empirical focus than a perspective per se. Still, I am not usually one to quibble.
The text is well organized. Beginning with three chapters on an introduction to the field, theory, and methods respectively, die topics of stratification, identity, and socialization follow. The final topical chapters of the book cover deviance, mental health and illness, attitudes, sentiment and emotion, and collective behavior. The chapters are uniform, with bolded definitions, glossaries, and discussion questions included as standard fare. Black and white photos and a mere eleven chapters ensure a lower cost to students than other comprehensive texts. While decidedly sociological in focus, text boxes highlighting classical psychological theories, studies, or personalities compliment the discussion of various topics in the field.
This is all well and good, though any text that intends to be comprehensive on the one hand and yet concise on the other is bound to make some difficult choices regarding what topics to retain and what to leave out. The...