Updated Articles and Resources

From Ashley Crossman, Former About.com Guide

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity Created: Saturday, August 04, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity is a book written by Erving Goffman in 1963 about the idea of stigma and what it is like to be a stigmatized person. It is a look into the world ...
The Social Transformation of American Medicine Created: Saturday, August 04, 2012 Updated: Saturday, August 04, 2012
The Social Transformation of American Medicine is a book written in 1982 by Paul Starr about medicine and health care in the United States. Starr looks at the evolution and the culture of medicine ...
Major Sociological Studies And Publications Created: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 Updated: Saturday, August 04, 2012
Discover some of the major sociological works that helped define and shape the field of sociology.
The Culture of Fear Created: Saturday, August 04, 2012 Updated: Saturday, August 04, 2012
The Culture of Fear was written in 1999 by Barry Glassner, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California. The book is all about why America is a country that is engrossed with fear...
Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools Created: Saturday, August 04, 2012 Updated: Saturday, August 04, 2012
"Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools" is a book written by Jonathan Kozol that examines the American educational system and the inequalities that exist between poor inner-city ...
Georg Simmel Created: Saturday, August 04, 2012 Updated: Saturday, August 04, 2012
Biography of Georg Simmel, a sociologist best known for his neo-Kantian approach to sociology, which laid the foundations for sociological anti positivism, and his structuralist styles of reasoning.
Famous Sociologists Created: Monday, July 04, 2011 Updated: Saturday, August 04, 2012
Learn more about sociologists by browsing through this list of some of the most famous thinkers in sociology history.
Sociology Career Spotlight: State Government Jobs Created: Friday, August 03, 2012 Updated: Friday, August 03, 2012
A look at how a sociology degree can prepare you for a career in state government.
Norms: Folkways, Mores, Taboos, and Laws Created: Monday, July 02, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Norms are the specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation. There are four basic types of norms that sociologists commonly refer to, each discussed here: folkways, mores, t...
The Tipping Point Created: Monday, July 02, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
"The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell is a book about how small actions at the right time, in the right place, and with the right people can create a "tipping point" for anything from a product t...
Psychological Explanations Of Deviant Behavior Created: Monday, July 02, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
There are many different theories on what causes a person to perform deviant behavior. Here you will find some of the major psychological explanations for deviant behavior.
Biological Explanations Of Deviant Behavior Created: Monday, July 02, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
There are many different theories on what causes a person to perform deviant behavior. Here you will find some of the major biological explanations for deviance and crime.
Sociological Explanations Of Deviant Behavior Created: Monday, July 02, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
There are many different theories on what causes a person to perform deviant behavior. Here you will find some of the major sociological explanations for deviant behavior.
Deviance And Mental Illness Created: Monday, July 02, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Deviance and mental illness often go hand-in-hand. While not all deviants are considered mentally ill, almost all mentally ill persons are considered deviant
Types of Crimes Created: Monday, July 02, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
A crime is defined as any act that is contrary to legal code or laws. There are many different types of crimes, from crimes against persons to victimless crimes and violent crimes to white collar c...
The Division of Labor in Society Created: Saturday, June 09, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The Division of Labor in Society is a book written, originally in French, by Emile Durkheim in 1893. It was Durkheim’s first major published work and the one in which he introduced the concep...
Fast Food Nation Created: Saturday, June 09, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is a book about how the fast food industry has shaped the American way of life. Since it’s inception, fast food has widened the gap between the rich and the...
Data Cleaning Created: Saturday, June 09, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Data cleaning is a crucial part of data analysis, particularly when you collect your own data.
Sociology of Work and Industry Created: Saturday, June 09, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The study of work, industry, and economic institutions is a major part of sociology because the economy influences all other parts of society and therefore social reproduction in general.
Constructing a Questionnaire Created: Friday, May 04, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Questionnaires are used a lot in social science research and knowing how to construct a good questionnaire can be an important and practical skill to have. Here you will find tips on good questionn...
Variance and Standard Deviation Created: Friday, April 20, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Variance and standard deviation are two closely related measures of variation that you will hear a lot in studies, journals, or statistics class. They are two basic and fundamental concepts in stat...
Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By In America Created: Friday, May 11, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By In America is a book by Barbara Ehrenreich based on her ethnographic research on low-wage jobs in America. Inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare r...
Index of Qualitative Variation (IQV) Created: Friday, May 04, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The index of qualitative variation (IQV) is a measure of variability for nominal variables, such as race, ethnicity, or gender. It is based on the ratio of the total number of differences in the di...
Sociology of Social Inequality Created: Friday, May 04, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Sociologists see society as a stratification system that is based on a hierarchy of power, privilege, and prestige, which leads to patterns of social inequality. Inequality is about who gets what, ...
Cluster Analysis Created: Thursday, April 12, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Researchers are often looking for ways to organize observed data into meaningful structures or classifications. Cluster analysis is one way to do that.
Confidence Intervals And Confidence Levels Created: Thursday, April 12, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
A confidence interval is a measure of estimation. It is an estimated range of values that is likely to include the population parameter being calculated. A confidence level is a measure of how accu...
Lambda and Gamma Created: Thursday, April 12, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Lambda and gamma are two measures of association that are commonly used in social science statistics and research. Lambda is used for nominal variables while gamma is used for ordinal variables.
Career Spotlight: The National Institutes of Health Created: Friday, May 11, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
A look at how a sociology degree can prepare you for a job at the NIH.
Direct Observation Created: Friday, May 11, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
There are many different kinds of field research in which researchers can take any number of roles. Being a complete observer means studying a social process without becoming a part of it in any wa...
Normal Distribution Created: Friday, April 20, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
A normal distribution is a theoretical idea that is based on theory rather than real data. Normal distributions are typically the goal and the ideal in research and data and something that every re...
Stratified Sample Created: Thursday, April 05, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
A stratified sample is a probability sampling technique in which the researcher divides the entire target population into different subgroups, or strata, and then randomly selects the final subject...
Systematic Sample Created: Thursday, April 05, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
In a systematic sample, the elements of the population are put into a list and then every k-th element in the list is chosen (systematically) for inclusion in the sample.