In the Second Edition of Cultures and Societies in a Changing World , author Wendy Griswold offers a unique sociological perspective on the role culture plays in shaping our social world. By exposing readers to the effects of cultural misunderstandings, cultural conflicts, and cultural ignorance, this book enables students to develop a true appreciation of culture and society in a world that is changing at an accelerating pace.
Wendy Griswold is joint Professor of Sociology and English and Comparative Literature at Northwestern University. She is the author of Renaissance Revivals: City Comedy and Revenge Tragedy in the London Theatre, 1576-1980 and Cultures and Societies in a Changing World as well as coeditor of Literature and Social Practice and Places within, places beyond: the question of Norwegian regionalism in literature.
I read it during my Undergraduate Psychology classes. It gave me some good insights to prepare my course project paper, "What is Beauty: I’ll Eat You Orange Lips".
If you are interested in a theoretical analysis of culture, from a sociological perspective, this book is for you. This is not light reading, but highly fascinating, and I found myself thinking about how these theories can be applied in "practice" today in our (post)modern world. I will be using this text to teach a course in the fall, and I am excited at the possibilities of bringing in additional readings to bring this text "to life."