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The article reviews the book "Introduction to Applied Bayesian Statistics and Estimation for Social Scientists," by S. M. Lynch.

The article reviews the book "Goffman Unbound! A New Paradigm for Social Science," by Thomas J. Scheff.

The article reviews the book "Freud and American Sociology," by Philip Manning.

The article reviews the book "Freud and American Sociology," by Philip Manning.

Reviews the book, "Insight and Social Betterment: A Preface to Applied Social Science," by James B. Rule.

Books reviewed in this article:All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, by Stephen KinzerChain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, by Seymour M. HershInside the Mirage: America's Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia, by Thomas W. LippmanBreaking Ranks, by Ronit Chacham, edThe Palestinian People, A History, by Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. MigdalSyria and the Palestinians: The Clash of Nationalisms, by Ghada Hashem TalhamiThe Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, by María Rosa Menocal, foreword by Harold BloomThe Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, by Richard W. Bulliet [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews several books on social sciences. "The Spirit of Capitalism: Nationalism and Economic Growth," by Liah Greenfeld; "Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism," by Anthony Marx; "Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State," by Mark R. Bessinger.

Reviews several books on social sciences. "Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America," by Miguel Angel Centeno; "Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations," by Peter D. Feaver; "Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime," by Eliot A. Cohen.

Reviews the book "Handbook of Qualitative Research," edited by Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln.

The article reviews two essays on sociological theory, "Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory," edited by Peter Hedstrom and Richard Swedberg and "Fuzzy-Set Social Science" by Charles C. Ragin. Correlation analysis is the basis for much explanation in contemporary sociology. Mainstream sociologists often infer causation through the use of quantitative techniques that depend, in a way or another, on the existence of bivariate correlations. Even sophisticated multivariate statistical methods that allow for the parceling of variables and the estimation of average net causal effects ultimately rely on such correlations. Correlation analysis so is central to explanation that many sociologists simply take it for granted, assuming that the existence of a correlation is a basic component of causality. Correlation analysis is by itself an inadequate mode of causal assessment. Problems identified are not simply familiar themes such as a correlation fails to represent causation because it might be spurious or because the time order of correlated variables may not be clear.

Reviews the book "Some British Empiricists in the Social Sciences, 1650-1900," by Richard Stone.

The article presents a review essay on two books by Jeffrey C. Alexander. The first is "Neo-Functionalism and After" and the second "Real Civil Societies." Alexander's work can be located in what he himself has called the third wave of postwar social theorizing. His first move was an attempt to make a reassessment of sociologist Talcott Parson's works, which was misinterpreted and rejected in the 1960s and 1970s in rather crude and facile manner. Alexander's second move toward rapprochement is clearly reflected in the two books discussed here. Although still retaining some major features of Parsons' original work, it aims at a more radical restructuring that leads from neo-functionalism to post-functionalism. This second move as Alexander himself makes clear, can be seen in mainly three areas, namely, theories of action, of culture and of civil society. In all three of these Alexander proposes a profound restructuring of Parsons' functionalism in the light of the two major theoretical breakthroughs that gained momentum toward the end of Parsons' life, breakthroughs that Parsons himself did not seriously take into account: the culturalist-linguistic turn in the social sciences and the microsociological revolution.

Reviews the book 'The Rhetoric of the Human Sciences. Language and Argument in Scholarship and Public Affairs,' edited by John S. Nelson.

Reviews the book 'Fact and Method,' by Richard W. Miller.

The article discusses five books, namely, "What's Wrong With Sociology?," by Stephen Cole, "Representations of the Intellectual," by Edward W. Said, "Heroism and the Black Intellectual: Ralph Ellison, Politics, and Afro-American Intellectual Life," by Jerry Gafio Watts, "Vance Packard and American Social Criticism," by Daniel Horowitz and "The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology," by Alvin W. Gouldner. In the first book Cole opens a symposium which is a discussion of the problems confronting sociology's desire to be a good science. The second book is a review of the role intellectuals play in the modern era. Said examines the political and moral sense of an intellectual's representative function. The third book introduces sociologists to a nuanced theory of artistic and intellectual work against which one might compare one's own traditions and habits. The theme of the fourth book is that sociologists have grown far away from representing themselves as intellectuals. It is an account of Packard's life and work. The fifth book deals with the emotion and sentiment in sociology, the welfare state, the disinfections of the young and the limits of academic sociology. The concluding section is a manifesto for reflexive sociology.

The article presents a review essay on the book "Talcott Parsons on National Socialism," edited by Uta Gerhardt. Parsons' essays in the book are full of insights into the sociological aspects of fascist movements, the social structure of both pre-Nazi and Nazi Germany, propaganda and social control and memoranda for political and military intervention. Beyond sociologist Max Weber, a deep impact that psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud made on him can be seen in his essays. His use of psychoanalytical concepts predates the psychohistorical approach 20-30 years later and is reminiscent of sociologists Erich Fromm and Wilhelm Reich. His April 25, 1942 presidential address before the Eastern Sociological Society thoughtfully but turgidly makes theoretical connections between structural and psychological levels of society and variables of class, tradition and social access as important consequences of both. Parsons even touched on the issue of 'evil.' He was ahead of his time with regard to feminism. It was true that Parsons wrote in somewhat of a vacuum. He and the world were unaware of the full implications of evil during the Holocaust, that is, of the Final Solution. But he tried. He merits our intellectual and moral respect for that.

The article presents author's comments on Bennett M. Berger's edited collection of intellectual autobiographies in the book "Authors of Their Own Lives. Intellectual Autobiographies by Twenty American Sociologists." History conferences concerning the English 18th century tend to be places where the bland lead the bland. Maybe one should invite E.P. Thompson to the American Sociological Association some time. At least when asked to discuss themselves, sociologists try not to stand out, but to bland in. On the face of it, the blandness of sociological self-presentation sets a paradox: Sociology has rightly gained its reputation as an unmasking discipline, devoted to detecting the real causes, motives, and structures behind official explanations, public justifications, and commonsense accounts of social life. Much of sociological method, and even more of sociological rhetoric, consists of supplanting everyday self-description with presumably deeper explanations. Yet autobiography baffles most sociologists. Forced to confront their own live, sociology's practitioners accordingly tidy them up, mute their passions, avoid vivisection of their motives, portray themselves as bemused players in a game they do not run, treat their own careers as a series of breaks.

The article informs that the rising theoretical significance of gender has paradoxically reinforced a dichotomous conception of gender. To a surprising extent, the study of gender has remained focused on explaining differences between two mutually exclusive, homogenous categories. Many of the most widely cited perspectives thus typically begin with the assumption of large differences between women and men, and at least by implication, general uniformity within each gender group. Whether these approaches stress inherited biological tendencies, capacities and orientations acquired in childhood through psychodynamic and other early developmental processes, or gender-linked personality traits learned via sex role socialization, they are logically constructed to search for and explain differences between women and men. Even many structural approaches that explicitly reject the causal relevance of biology or psychology tend to build their arguments on the assumption that men and women can be treated as internally undifferentiated general categories.

The article presents information on essays on sociological theory examining the narrowing of sociological discourse and some efforts to reconstitute it. These essays are "Sociological Theory in Transition," edited by Mark L. Wardell and Stephen Turner, "A Scene of Sociology," 2nd ed., by Lee Braude, "Sociology and Critical Inquiry; The Work, Tradition, and Purpose," by John Walton and "American Sociology: Worldly Rejections of Religion and Their Directions," by Arthur J. Vidich and Stanford M. Lyman. Some sociologists have explained why there has been a dissolution in the scope and significance of social and moral issues addressed by sociological theory. Others have abdicated their classical concern with how to enhance human existence because such issues inevitably embody normative and moral, as well as empirical, considerations. Consequently, sociology has become part of the administrative apparatus and more instrumentally and technically oriented . In their rush to create a positivistic science, sociologists have increasingly focused on a narrow range of methodologies as well as theories. Their dominant rituals can be readily identified in any issue of a mainstream journal. The formulas of hypothesis testing, the manipulation of quantitative data and the mantras of statistical significance too often trivialize the complex. Scholarship becomes organized much like any other enterprise in a capitalist system.

The article highlights the book "Crime and the Courts in England, 1660-1800," by J.M. Beattie. Many sociologists seem to take the position that history is just one damn thing after another and return to more practical matters which is the present. For example, most students of crime are aware of recent increases in rates of serious crime and many are trying to explain it. A long look at Western countries reveals, however, that the increase is relatively small in comparison with a dramatic decline during the last half millennium. In view of this, the more salient question for social scientists is not why crime rates have increased, but why they have decreased. Although the vast majority of social scientists efforts have been confined to the recent past and the present, some of their ideas and arguments have considerable currency as explanations of longer historical patterns. These arguments vary primarily with respect to the primacy they assign to culture, structure, or process.

The article focuses on the book "Development Economics on Trial: The Anthropological Case for Prosecution'" by Polly Hill. The scientific claim of neoclassical economics attracts many sociologists. The universal and mathematical analysis seems to promise solutions to bedeviling problems in the social sciences. On the other hand, many consider economic theory to be either useless or wrong, telling us little about how the world works. Hill's provocative polemic provides a useful point of departure in this debate. Hill's string of brilliant monographs is unjustly neglected outside a narrow circle of economic anthropologists and Africanists. Her latest book is an unabashed polemic against economics. Hill castigates the scientific pretension of economics. She also laments that economists' policy prescriptions contribute to the Third World's continuing misery. Although the author reserves her excoriation for development economics, similar charges may apply to economics in general.

Reviews the book "Social Science As Civic Discourse," by Richard Harvey Brown.

Reviews two books about social sciences. "Society as Text: Essays on Rhetoric, Reason and Reality," by Richard Harvey Brown; "Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human Sciences," by George E. Marcus and Michael M. J. Fischer.

The literature on black families from the past decade is reviewed. An overview of topics and issues of importance to black families considers (a) black families in relation to their age, gender, and family roles, (b) substantive issues of relevance to black American families, including social support and psychological well-being, and (c) an examination of recent demographic trends in black family structure. The conclusion provides comments on research on black families and recommendations for future efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reviews several books about sociology, including "Sociobiology and the Social Sciences," edited by Robert W. Bell and Nancy J. Bell, "Women, Work, and Divorce," by Richard R. Peterson, "Child Custody and the Politics of Gender," edited by Carol Smart and Selma Sevenhuijsen, "Alcohol and the Family," edited by R. Lorraine Collins, Kenneth E. Leonard, and John S. Searles, and "Changing Family Life in East Africa: Women and Children at Risk," by Philip Leroy Kilbride and Janet Capriotti Kilbride.

Reviews the book "Social Theory Today," edited by A. Giddens and J. H. Turner.

This section presents the list of books reviewed in the December 1989 issue of the British Journal of Sociology.

Reviews several books on social science. "British Social Attitudes: The 5th Report," edited by Roger Jowell, Sharon Witherspoon and Lindsay Brook; "British Social Trends Since 1900; A Guide to the Changing Social Structure of Britain," edited by A. H. Halsey; "Contemporary British Society," by Nicholas Abercrombie and Alan Warde.

Reviews the book 'Claiming Sacred Ground: Pilgrims and Politics at Glastonbury and Sedona,' by Adrian J. Ivakhiv.

Reviews the book 'Re-Drawing Boundaries: Work, Households, and Gender in China,' edited by Barbara Entwisle and Gail Henderson.

Reviews the book "Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science," by Brian Fay.

Reviews the book "Power, Modernity and Sociology," edited by Raymond Aron.

This article reviews the book "Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists," by James Jaccard and Jacob Jacoby.

This article reviews the book "The Social Sciences and Theories of Race," by Vernon J. Williams.

This article reviews the book "Vita: Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment," by João Biehl.

Reviews the book "Pastoralists: Equality, Hierarchy, and the State," by Philip Carl Salzman.

Reviews the book "Inscribed Landscapes: Marking and Making Place," edited by Bruno David and Meredith Wilson.

Reviews the book "Gender in Amazonia and Melanesia: An Exploration of the Comparative Method," edited by Thomas A. Gregory and Donald Tuzin.

Reviews the book "Creating Sustainable Community Programs: Examples of Collaborative Public Administration," edited by Mark R. Daniels.

Reviews the book 'Schools of Thought: Twenty-Five Years of Interpretive Social Science,' edited by Joan Scott and Debra Keates.

Reviews the book 'Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Enquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again,' by Bent Flybjerg translated by Steven Sampson.

Reviews the book "International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences," edited by Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes.

Reviews the book 'Colonial 'Reformation' in the Highlands of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, 1892-1995,' by Albert Schrauwers.

Reviews the book "Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives," edited by Marie Cornwall, Tim B. Heaton and Lawrence A. Young.

Reviews the book "Despair and Deliverance: Private Salvation in Contemporary Israel," by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi.

Reviews the book "Religion in the Nineties: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science," vol. 527, edited by Wade Clark.

Reviews the book "Religion and the Social Sciences: Essays on the Confrontation," by Robert A. Segal.

Reviews the book "Relativism and the Social Sciences," by Ernest Gellner.

Reviews the book "Sociological Interpretations of Education: Social Analysis Series in the Social Sciences," by David Blackledge and Barry Hunt.