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Illuminating Social Life: Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited. Peter Kivisto, ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge. 1998. 316 pages. $33.00.
Instructors teaching sociological theory often face special challenges. Students usually enroll in theory courses to fulfill a requirement in the sociology major. Many of them approach a course in theory with a combination of anxiety about its difficulty and resentment about being forced to study material they perceive as "irrelevant" to their personal concerns.
The essays collected by Peter Kivisto in Illuminating Social Life: Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited aim to demonstrate the relevance of theory to students by showing how the theoretical insights of both classical and contemporary theorists can shed new light on a range of contemporary phenomena: alcohol use and regulation, fast-food restaurants, virtual communities on the Internet, pressures to extend the working day, deindustrialization and increasing economic inequality, body images, prostitution, commercial sales and services, credit cards and new forms of consumption, and global religious resurgence. He divides the book into two sections on the relevance of classical theory and contemporary theory. Each essay concludes with a list of three sets of discussion questions.
The field has a great need for this type of book. Written specifically for this volume, the essays are unique in their pedagogical focus on demonstrating explicitly the ways that instructors can apply theoretical ideas to various aspects of contemporary society. The semester had already started when I received a review copy, but I immediately decided to adopt it for my next sociological theory course. Since I will not teach the course again until the next academic year, I am unable to report on the actual experience of using it.
In their attempts to make sociological theory appear relevant to students,...