Social Situations Books - Page 15

The Society of the Spectacle

Guy Debord

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative as Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960s up to the present, the volatile theses of this book have decisively transformed debates on the shape of modernity, capitalism and everyday life in the late twentieth cenlury. Now finally available in a superb English translation approved by the author, Debord's text remains as crucial as ever for understanding the contemporary effects of power, which are increasingly inseparable from the new virtual worlds of our rapidly changing image/information culture.

"In all that has happened in the last twenty years, the most important change lies in the very continuity of the spectacle. Quite simply, the spectacle's domination has succeeded in raising a whole generation moulded to its laws. The extraordinary new conditions in which this entire generation has lived constitute a comprehensive summary of all that, henceforth, the spectacle will forbid; and also all that it will permit." --Guy Debord (1988)

More on Debord and the Situationist International.

Communicating Across Cultures

Stella Ting-Toomey

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From high-level business negotiations to casual conversations among friends, every interpersonal interaction is shaped by cultural norms and expectations. Seldom is this more clearly brought to light than in encounters between people from different cultural backgrounds, when dissimilar communication practices may lead to frustration and misunderstanding. This thought-provoking text presents a new framework for understanding the impact of culture on communication and for helping students build intercultural communication competence. With illustrative examples from around the globe, the book shows that verbal and nonverbal communication involves much more than transmitting a particular message--it also reflects each participant's self-image, group identifications and values, and privacy and relational needs. Readers learn to move effectively and appropriately through a wide range of transcultural situations by combining culture-specific knowledge with mindful listening and communication skills. Throughout, helpful tables and charts and easy-to-follow guidelines for putting concepts into practice enhance the book's utility for students.

Media Virus!

Douglas Rushkoff

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Poorly written, blurry thinking, and irrelevant 1 out of 5 stars.
8 of 19 people found this review helpful.

The best Rushkoff can do in this slapdash book is to rehash some old ideas about media and provide little support for his hasty and superficial analyses. The concept that ideas evolve and are transmitted through media is unoriginal and has been with us for years: Rushkoff repackages this well understood idea using refernces to "memes," which simply recasts these older concepts using the cloak of biological metaphors (ideas being transmitted as viruses, spreading a kind of idea "DNA," etc.) . Such a metaphor --which was originated by other theorists -- would be useful only if it could be used to predict the success or failure of particular paradigms and the degree and rate at which they might spread -- but no such logical, helpful, or meaningful exploration of the metaphorical device is to be found in this book. Furthermore, Rushkoff supports his ill- ormed conclusions -- they come off as though from a guy verbally riffing on a hunch on his couch -- you know that guy who got stoned at a party and just spouted some ideas off the top of his head? -- and failing to support them or investigate them in any convincing manner. He uses examples from popular culture that seem drawn rather arbitrarily from the media ether, and many of his examples are based upon "facts" about these items of popular culture which are simply wrong. There's a reference to the Batman comic books, I believe, where Rushkoff misstates the action in the book or comic to support his point, and gets the facts wrong. The result is that he actually undermines his conclusions and demonstrates their shallowness. Overrated by others, perhaps because so many people understand so little about the media, or are eager to find a guru of the modern technological age. Rushkoff is not that guy and this book shows it.

Editorial Review:

Have you ever noticed that the word "media" refers both to the tool for disseminating information in human societies as well as the substrate upon which geneticists grow bacteria and viruses? Rushkoff has written one of the more provocative and insightful analyses of the paths of conceptual infection in human media, and about the techniques and goals of those who spread media viruses. This fun, hip, yet insightful book is well worth buying.

Talking and Listening Together: Couple Communication One

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Provides a superior format for learning communication skills 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book gives a theoretical and visual framework for learning talking, listening, and conflict resolution skills. The concepts have been widely researched and the format is one of the most effective that I have found. The book contains exercises to help the reader apply the material. The section on communication styles makes it easy to identify negative patterns and gives alternatives for the reader to use. The book is widely used in communication skill training for couples and the concepts apply to coworkers as well!

Start by listening... 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is not just another how to book, it is a valid process of learning listening skills.

Communication begins with listening. This book could begin with the last chapter as an introduction to the listening skills laid out in the other chapters.

Do this book as a couple. Learn by practicing the skills that are presented here. You will not regret the personal growth found in practicing these skills nor will you regret the investment in this workbook.

An excellent book, an excellent process.

Russian Politics and Society

Richard Sakwa

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Having been fully revised and updated to reflect the considerable changes in Russia, the fourth edition of this classic introduction to Russian politics and society builds on the strengths of the previous editions to provide a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis.

New to this edition:

• updating of all statistical data including the 2002 census, regional and national election results and the composition of parliament
• more analysis of the executive and the legislative
• discussion of the development of civil society and the problems of democratic consolidation
• fuller examination of the policy-making process and policy problems
• details on economic performance under Putin, including more discussion of the energy sector and pipeline politics
• latest developments in the Chechnya conflict
• more on foreign policy issues such as Russia’s relationship with NATO and the EU after enlargement, Russia’s relations with other post-Soviet states and the problem of competing ‘near abroads’ for Russia and the West.

Russian Politics and Society will be essential reading for students of Russian and Soviet politics, sociology, Eastern European politics, and politics and international relations in general.

Riches for the Poor: The Clemente Course in the Humanities

Earl Shorris

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Fails to prove this hypothesis 1 out of 5 stars.
9 of 29 people found this review helpful.

The author starts the book out by making the case that what distinguishes poor people from rich people is lack of access to "politics." By this, he means politics in the classical Greek sense of civic involvement. He says rich people it and poor people don't because poor people don't study the humanities (philosophy, history, classic literature.) He then hypothesizes that teaching poor people a rigorous introductory college level course on the great works of Western culture will give them politics and bring them up from poverty. He sets up just such a course, and documents the experience.

Interesting idea, and fantastic effort toward helping the poor, but the book ends without any significant analysis of whether his hypothesis was correct. He notes that some kids went on to college, and says a controlled study was beyond his scope. He never answers the questions (which he does raise) about the possibility that the successful students may have been self-selecting (by choosing to be in the course, and making it through) or may have been helped through all the attention or a mental exercise unrelated to the humanities.

Why on earth did he bother to put the reader through 100 pages of his quasi-religious reverence for the great books, then torture us with 100 more pages of reprinted course syllabuses and personal profiles, if he was never, ever planning to conclude with data (or even organized anecdotes) supporting his case?!

Bottom line: you will only like this book if you are an ivory tower academic with more of an interest in paying homage to the great books than solving problems related to poverty. If this is you, you'll have to be a die-hard leftist not to roll your eyes when he compares Bill Clinton to Jerry Falwell, and claims that social conservatives are unable to learn ethics.

Editorial Review:

"You've been cheated," Earl Shorris tells a classroom of poor people in New York City. "Rich people learn the humanities; you didn't. . . . It is generally accepted in America that the liberal arts and humanities in particular belong to the elite. I think you're the elite." In this groundbreaking work, Shorris examines the nature of poverty in America today. Why are people poor, and why do they stay poor? Shorris argues that they lack politics, or the ability to participate fully in the public world; knowing only the immediacy and oppression of force, the poor remain trapped and isolated. To test his theory, Shorris creates an experimental school teaching the humanities to poor people, giving them the means to reflect and negotiate rather than react. The results are nothing short of astonishing. Originally published in hardcover under the title New American Blues.

Communication Criticism: Rhetoric, Social Codes, Cultural Studies

Malcolm O. Sillars, Bruce E. Gronbeck

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This concise but thorough introduction to criticism explores nine useful approaches to critical study, whether examining television, fiction, nonfiction, visual arts, or oral and written discourse. The perspectives presented bridge disciplinary boundaries and include: asking questions about how audiences process communication, understanding human symbol systems and social relations as vehicles for comprehending the world, value and narrative analysis, and psychoanalytic and ideological criticism. The easy-to-follow discussions of using each approach contain questions critics are most likely to ask, assumptions governing the approach, an exploration of sample analyses that reveal vocabulary most frequently used, and a review of the problems encountered by critics. The interplay of persuasion, poetic theory, and accurate interpretation allows readers to incorporate the most useful elements in their critiques and to borrow insights from one approach to clarify and strengthen another. Multiple examples are sprinkled throughout the book.

A History of Mass Communication: Six Information Revolutions

Irving Fang

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This exciting new text traces the common themes in the long and complex history of mass communication. It shows how the means of communicating grew out of their eras, how they developed, how they influenced the societies of those eras, and how they have continued to exert their influence upon subsequent generations. The book is divided into six periods which are identified as 'Information Revolutions' writing, printing, mass media, entertainment, the 'toolshed' (which we call 'home' now), and the Information Highway.



In looking at the ways in which the tools of communication have influenced and been influenced by social change, A History of Mass Communication provides students of media and journalism with a strong sense of the way their chosen field affects how society functions. Providing a broad-based approach to media history, Dr. Fang encourages the reader to take a careful look at where our culture is headed through the tools we use to communicate with one another.

A History of Mass Communication is not only the most current text on communication history, but also an invaluable resource for anyone interested in how methods of communication affect society.

Ã,· The most up-to-date textbook for mass communications history courses
Ã,· Traces common themes in the complex history of communication
Ã,· An invaluable reference for anyone interested in how methods of communication affect society

The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok

Greg Barrett

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

outstanding 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

An inspirational story of a man who saw injustice and does what he can to fix it. What makes his story fascinating is just how hard it was to do some good. Not impossible, mind you, but hard enough to keep most people from trying. His philosophy also strikes me as uniquely American. They need a school. Let's build one. Where do we start? Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

Three decades ago in a cordoned-off corner of the developing world an angry Catholic priest armed only with pencil, paper, and crayons, declared a revolution. From a shanty school shared with Buddhists and Muslims in Bangkok's squatter slums, Father Joe Maier began his advance on abject poverty. Today, his Human Development Foundation and Mercy Centre charity is responsible for thirty-two preschools that have taught more than twenty thousand children how to read and write. Despite the crippling neglect found in impoverishment, he is raising international scholars and injecting a sense of purpose into shantytowns and squatter camps that used to have neither.

Advanced Social Psychology

Abraham Tesser

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Top-notch, up-to-date, scholarly, yet entertaining 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 17 people found this review helpful.

     It is rare to come across a scholarly textbook of research that is relatively understandable to lay people and beginning researchers. Yet Tesser's _Advanced Social Psychology_ succeeds where others fail. It is unlike other disciplinary or subdisciplinary textbooks, written by a single author covering tons of ground. This book is an anthology of reviews describing cutting-edge research in Social Psychology by those who are doing the cutting - the most prominent researchers in the field describing the state of their specialty. So while one does not get the perfectly smooth ('processed') feel of a textbook written by a single author, one gets an intimate feel for what is really being done, and a feel for what is on the horizon, for each line of inquiry by the people who are most interested in the area.

     Another outstanding facet of this anthology is the vibrance held within its pages, precisely because it was not written by a single author. Each chapter displays the personality of its author(s). And each is written with the student in mind, not only the attempt to relay information. The book, depite its relative brevity, is filled with (often humorous) examples and illustrations. Terminology, critical to any discipline, is spelled out at the beginning to assure a common ground between author and reader. And, as a book on Social Psychology, the research areas are incredibly interesting and personally relevant: Attitude Change (R. E. Petty), Social Influence (R. B. Cialdini), Attraction and Relationships (M. S. Clark & S. P. Pataki), and Prejudice (P. G. Devine), to name a few. Each chapter educates and intrigues the reader into the complexities of our daily lives that comprise modern social psychological research. This is a must-read for anyone who wishes to gain a better understanding of how the world works and appreciates intellectual challenges. And Tesser's _Advanced Social Psychology_ is the clear choice for both undergraduate and graduate courses in the area.

     - Richard J. Shakarchi
       Graduate Student, OSU Social Area

Editorial Review:

This edited text is written by some of the most visible, productive scholars and instructors in each of the areas the text covers. The book was designed to capture the excitement and vitality of this ongoing, open-ended area of research.