Sociology

An expansive and fascinating field, sociology explores how human society develops and functions. Titles in this collection range from cultural studies classics like Orientalism by Edward Said and Gender Trouble by Judith Butler to recent Pulitzer Prize winner Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond.

Upheaval

by Jared Diamond

Publication year 2019

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Conflict, Mental Health, Economics, Immigration, Nation, Politics & Government, War

Tags Political Science, Social Science, World History, Politics & Government, Business & Economics, Sociology, Anthropology

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Us and Them

by David Berreby

Publication year 2005

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Community

Tags Science & Nature, Anthropology, Anthropology, Social Science, Sociology, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Arts & Culture, Politics & Government

Us and Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind is a 2005 nonfiction book by David Berreby about how humans divide and categorize themselves. The psychological text explains human nature and the neuroscience of human groupings like races, ethnicities, classes, and nationalities. Berreby also discusses the positive and negative effects of human-kind groupings and offers advice on how to better act on human-kind beliefs.Plot SummaryBerreby begins by explaining the concept of human kinds—a number of people that... Read Us and Them Summary

Utopia for Realists

by Rutger Bregman

Publication year 2014

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Economics, Social Class, Community, Globalization, Politics & Government, Immigration, Education, Power & Greed, Equality, Justice

Tags Science & Nature, Sociology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics & Government, Business & Economics, World History, Social Justice, Education, Technology, Military & War

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Weapons of Math Destruction

by Cathy O'Neil

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Economics, Equality, Science & Technology

Tags Business & Economics, Science & Nature, Technology, Technology, Sociology, Politics & Government

In this nonfiction book, data scientist and mathematician Catherine O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction (2016) explores how math-driven models encoded in technology shape many people’s lives and opportunities in the United States. She calls these models weapons of math destruction (WMDs) for their ability to wreak mass havoc on the poor and marginalized peoples of America. This book deals with difficult subject matter, such as socioeconomic oppression, racial discrimination, gender inequality, and discrimination against individuals... Read Weapons of Math Destruction Summary

White by Law

by Ian Haney-López

Publication year 1996

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Community, Economics, Politics & Government

Tags Education, Education, Sociology, World History, Race & Racism, Crime & Law, Politics & Government, Social Justice, US History

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White Fragility

by Robin DiAngelo

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice

Tags Race & Racism, Social Justice, Black Lives Matter, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Self-Improvement, Politics & Government

Published in 2018, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo received critical acclaim and became a New York Times Bestseller for explaining how white people should address racism in the moment and how they can move into a new, healthier, less racist paradigm. DiAngelo holds a PhD in multicultural education and specializes in critical racial and social justice education.Plot SummaryDiAngelo stresses that all white people play... Read White Fragility Summary

White Guilt

by Shelby Steele

Publication year 2006

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice, Community

Tags Race & Racism, US History, Sociology, World History, Philosophy, Philosophy, Social Justice, Arts & Culture, Politics & Government

White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era is a 2006 nonfiction book by Shelby Steele, a Black conservative author who specializes in the study of race relations in the US. This guide refers to the e-book published in 2009 by HarperCollins. The title points to the book’s central theme: white guilt—the loss of moral authority—and the damaging responses it elicited in Black and White Americans in the... Read White Guilt Summary

White Rage

by Carol Anderson

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Justice, Community

Tags Sociology, Politics & Government, Black Lives Matter, Race & Racism, US History, World History, Social Justice

Carol Anderson's 2016 nonfiction book, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, looks at the way African-American progress has been halted and repressed, again and again, by a powerful cocktail of economic self-interest, fear, and hatred on the part of America's white elites, a philosophy she calls "white rage." The book’s five chapters examine five crucial turning points in the African-American struggle for freedom and equality: Reconstruction and the abolition of slavery, the... Read White Rage Summary

White Trash

by Nancy Isenberg

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Social Class, Community, Nation, Justice

Tags Sociology, US History, Social Class, Social Justice, Race & Racism, Business & Economics, World History, Politics & Government

IntroductionIn White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, Nancy Isenberg documents the historical and contemporary disdain of the upper and middle classes in America for the white poor and the resultant staying power of a class hierarchy. Isenberg, an award-winning historian, uses her expertise to contribute this non-fictional work to the academic literature on social class. Originally published in 2016, the book became a New York Times bestseller and was a finalist... Read White Trash Summary

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Publication year 1997

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race

Tags Race & Racism, Psychology, Education, Education, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Social Justice, Politics & Government

First published in 1997, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race addresses race and racism in the United States from a psychologist’s perspective. Beverly Daniel Tatum is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience in researching racial identity development. We need to learn how to have productive dialogues about race and racism, and to do that we need to understand how our racial identities form and how... Read Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Summary

Why Liberalism Failed

by Patrick J. Deneen

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Power & Greed, Politics & Government, Community, Equality, Science & Technology, Order & Chaos, Environment

Tags Politics & Government, Philosophy, World History, Education, Education, Social Science, Business & Economics, Sociology, Philosophy, Arts & Culture

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Why Nations Fail

by Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

Publication year 2012

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Economics, Nation, Politics & Government, Community

Tags Business & Economics, Politics & Government, World History, Science & Nature, Sociology

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (2012) is a nonfiction book co-authored by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. Acemoglu, an MIT economist renowned for his work on political economy, and Robinson, a political scientist and economist, combine their expertise to examine the reasons behind the varying levels of success and failure among nations. This interdisciplinary work, situated at the intersection of institutional economics, developmental economics, and economic history, examines a... Read Why Nations Fail Summary