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Sociological Insights: An Introduction to Nonobvious Sociology
This concise and lucid supplementary text guides students through discussions of reason, religion, power, crime, and love, demonstrating that sociology offers striking and "nonobvious" insights that deepen our understanding of society. By highlighting unusual and unexpected conclusions this
lively book dramatizes the significance of sociological analysis for those new to its study.
lively book dramatizes the significance of sociological analysis for those new to its study.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 1982
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About the author
Randall Collins
58 books106 followers Dr. Randall Collins is an American sociologist who has been influential in both his teaching and writing. He has taught in many notable universities around the world and his academic works have been translated into various languages. Collins is currently Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a leading contemporary social theorist whose areas of expertise include the macro-historical sociology of political and economic change; micro-sociology, including face-to-face interaction;and the sociology of intellectuals and social conflict. He has devoted much of his career and research to study society, how is it created and destroyed through emotional behaviors of human beings. He is considered to be one of the leading non-Marxist conflict theorists in the United States, and served as the president of the American Sociological Association from 2010 to 2011.
Dr. Collins' first position in academia was at UC Berkeley, followed by many other universities including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by the UC San Diego, the University of Virginia, then UC Riverside, and finally the University of Pennsylvania. He took intermittent breaks from academia, as a novelist, and as a freelance scholar. He has also been a visiting professor at Chicago, Harvard, and Cambridge, as well as various schools in Europe, Japan, and China. Collins has published almost one hundred articles since finishing his undergraduate education. He has also written and contributed to several books with a range of topics such as the discovery of society to the sociology of marriage and family life.
Dr. Collins grew up in a slew of different cities and countries, his father being a diplomat (and possible spy) with the US State Department during the Cold War. They lived in Germany immediately following World War II, and later in Moscow, among other places such as Uruguay.
Dr. Collins' first position in academia was at UC Berkeley, followed by many other universities including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by the UC San Diego, the University of Virginia, then UC Riverside, and finally the University of Pennsylvania. He took intermittent breaks from academia, as a novelist, and as a freelance scholar. He has also been a visiting professor at Chicago, Harvard, and Cambridge, as well as various schools in Europe, Japan, and China. Collins has published almost one hundred articles since finishing his undergraduate education. He has also written and contributed to several books with a range of topics such as the discovery of society to the sociology of marriage and family life.
Dr. Collins grew up in a slew of different cities and countries, his father being a diplomat (and possible spy) with the US State Department during the Cold War. They lived in Germany immediately following World War II, and later in Moscow, among other places such as Uruguay.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 17, 2016
Not only a great defense of the value of sociology, it lays the foundation for more fully understanding the society you live in.
Collins is probably the greatest intellectual of the 20th century who no one knows about. Don't take my word for it (because they're not my words), take Ian Welsh's, who recommended the book. His review is a good synopsis of the content in the book, though not much of a review. If all you did was read the afterword and truly take it to heart, you'd walk away a more thoughtful person.
Because the book is truly a survey rather than a polemic, the arguments presented in the book can be so generalized or abstracted as to make them unpersuasive or a little dubious. One for instance, concerning how gatekeeping and the complexity of work serves to increase prestige, struck me as crossing the line into overly handwavy territory. However, to argue with Collins on specifics or to what extent each of the factors he mentions is important would be missing the point. Largely, this is an exercise in mind-expansion, and how to keep oneself from missing the multitude of possible explanations for any given phenomenon. To take from the afterword: "Supposing a given pattern as fact. Why is it like this instead of like something else...Why does it take this form rather than another?" In this regard, Collins does a wonderful job showing how to take turn questions into fruitful inquiry. It is also amusing to see how much sociological analysis has been pilfered (transformed into behavioral economics or what have you) by people who scoff at sociology. It would help a great number of people if they could actually try to understand where someone like Collins is coming from.
In the current media environment, which is both amnesic and willfully blind to other cultures, the power of sociology is never going to be appreciated. It's hard to get people to notice the ideology (and concomitant assumptions) that form the basis of everyday life and "common sense." Reading this is not a bad first step to get beyond that.
Collins is probably the greatest intellectual of the 20th century who no one knows about. Don't take my word for it (because they're not my words), take Ian Welsh's, who recommended the book. His review is a good synopsis of the content in the book, though not much of a review. If all you did was read the afterword and truly take it to heart, you'd walk away a more thoughtful person.
Because the book is truly a survey rather than a polemic, the arguments presented in the book can be so generalized or abstracted as to make them unpersuasive or a little dubious. One for instance, concerning how gatekeeping and the complexity of work serves to increase prestige, struck me as crossing the line into overly handwavy territory. However, to argue with Collins on specifics or to what extent each of the factors he mentions is important would be missing the point. Largely, this is an exercise in mind-expansion, and how to keep oneself from missing the multitude of possible explanations for any given phenomenon. To take from the afterword: "Supposing a given pattern as fact. Why is it like this instead of like something else...Why does it take this form rather than another?" In this regard, Collins does a wonderful job showing how to take turn questions into fruitful inquiry. It is also amusing to see how much sociological analysis has been pilfered (transformed into behavioral economics or what have you) by people who scoff at sociology. It would help a great number of people if they could actually try to understand where someone like Collins is coming from.
In the current media environment, which is both amnesic and willfully blind to other cultures, the power of sociology is never going to be appreciated. It's hard to get people to notice the ideology (and concomitant assumptions) that form the basis of everyday life and "common sense." Reading this is not a bad first step to get beyond that.
September 23, 2022
3.5 stars overall a good book, gave great insight that’s still relevant today, however the last chapter was just so boring and kind of out of place in my opinion. I really liked chapters 4 and 5 though.
May 7, 2023
Required reading for an introduction to sociology course but would certainly read outside of academia! It's not a textbook yet it will outline some important sociological concepts.
February 20, 2024
god what a genius this man is
November 2, 2024
Pretty good for a school book
January 14, 2014
Collins es de esos sociólogos que te hacen volver a creer en la sociología. Estás medio bajón con tu carrera: lee a Collins. O como me pasó hace un par de años, después de terminar la carrera, o ahí nomás, me leí La divisón del trabajo social (completo, no las fotocopias de Socio general) y revivís. Volvés a creer, como Mulder.
November 28, 2009
Another must read. you must. that's it. read it.
November 15, 2011
Awesome intro to sociology.
December 8, 2012
The kind of book I wish more people would read and could understand.
December 24, 2022
Very interesting take on sociology! And I love the fact that Collins breaths new life into the theoretical ideas of Durkheim.
November 26, 2015
Excellent.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews