Good Gossip

by Robert F. Goodman (Editor), Aaron Ben-Ze'ev (Editor)

As ubiquitous and influential as gossip is, it has been surprisingly downplayed as a topic of philosophical, psychological, and sociological investigation and debate. In this book, twenty-two scholars from several disciplines turn a professional eye to that much-maligned yet heavily practiced form of conversation. They consider gossip and humor, logic, morality, privacy, legal and medical issues, feminism, history, rumor, and reputation. Provocative and varied, their essays suggest that gossip has unexpected virtues and pave the way for future debate on this omnipresent pastime.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Sociology

244 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1994

Reviews

[Lesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doing a project on gossip. This collection is very handy. Some chapters better than others, of course!
This is widely cited, so will plow thru most of these chapters

[Tom Calvard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looks at gossip very thoroughly from a range of academic and disciplinary perspectives. Chapters cover philosophy, law, psychology, some empirical studies, epistemology and generally a lot of moral, social and emotional nuances of gossip. Can't live with gossip, can't live without it! Oh and people seem to agree and disagree on many aspects of its definition...