Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2006

Psychology Top

Race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, migration status, religion and many other cultural factors play an important role in recovery from a traumatic event. However, most conventional attempts to help people recover from trauma do not anticipate or address these factors. Here, a psychologist describes how to recognize the cultural issues that need to be considered for healing. She offers vignettes illustrating these issues, as well as activities for traumatized people to regain their sense of self-esteem, safety, strength and calm.

Presenting state-of-the-art work on the conscious and unconscious processes involved in emotion, this integrative volume brings together leading psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers. Carefully organized, tightly edited chapters address such compelling questions as how bodily responses contribute to conscious experience, whether "unconscious emotion" exists, how affect is transmitted from one person to another, and how emotional responses are produced in the brain. Bringing a new level of coherence to lines of inquiry that often remain disparate, the book identifies key, cross-cutting ideas and themes and sets forth a cogent agenda for future research.

Simona Giordano presents the first full philosophical study of ethical issues in the treatment of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Beginning with a comprehensive analysis of these conditions and an exploration of their complex causes, she then proceeds to address legal and ethical dilemmas such as a patient's refusal of life-saving treatment. Illustrated with many case-studies, Understanding Eating Disorders is an essential tool for anyone working with sufferers of these much misunderstood conditions, and for all those ethicists, lawyers, and medical practitioners engaged with the widely relevant issues they raise.

This book examines the role of peer relationships in child and adolescent development by tracking research findings from the early 1900s to the present. Dividing the research into three generations, the book describes what has been learned about children’s peer relations and how children’s participation in peer relationships contributes to their health, adjustment, and achievement. Gary W. Ladd reviews and interprets the investigative focus and findings of distinct research eras to highlight theoretical or empirical breakthroughs in the study of children’s peer relations and social competence over the last century. He also discusses how this information is relevant to understanding and promoting children’s health and development. In a final chapter, the author appraises the major discoveries that have emerged during the three research generations and analyzes recent scientific agendas and discoveries in the peer relations discipline.

This short, engaging volume develops new and sociologically sophisticated concepts to bring the fields of biology and sociology together. It is about the social biology of face-to-face dominance interactions and explores the evolution of behavior through connections among biology, language, culture, and socialization. Meant to be a self-contained explorationsociologists would require no prior knowledge of biology biologists would require no prior knowledge of sociologythis book is a fun, informative supplement for courses throughout sociology and the social sciences.

In a world obsessed by happiness, this is the first book to look thoroughly at what happiness is and how it works. Bringing together the latest insights from psychiatry, psychology, and philosophy, Daniel Nettle sheds brilliant light on this most basic of human desires.Nettle examines whether people are basically happy or unhappy, whether success can make us happy, what sort of remedies to unhappiness work, why some people are happier than others, and much more. The book is packed with fascinating observations. We discover the evolutionary reason why negative thoughts are more powerful than positive ones. We read that happiness varies from country to country--the Swiss are much more happy than Bulgarians. And we learn that, in a poll among people aged 42 years old (peak mid-life crisis time) more than half rated their happiness an 8, 9, or 10 out of 10, and 90% rated it above 5. (Like the children of Lake Wobegon, Nettle quips, pretty much everyone is above average in happiness.) Nettle, a psychologist, is particularly insightful in discussing the brain systems underlying emotions and moods, ranging from serotonin, "the happiness chemical"; to mood enhancing drugs such as D-fenfluramine, which reduces negative thinking in less than an hour; to the part of the brain that, when electrically stimulated, provides feeling of benevolent calm and even euphoria. In the end, Nettle suggests that we would all probably be happier by trading income or material goods for time with people or hobbies. But most people do not do so.Happiness offers a remarkable portrait of the feeling that poets, politicians, and philosophers all agree truly makes the world go round.

The definitive work on Lacan's theory of the feminine. With exquisite prose and penetrating insights, Colette Soler shares her theoretical and clinical expertise in this vibrant new text. She spins out seductive explications of Lacan's thought on the controversial question of sexual difference. With the subtlety that these topics deserve, she takes up Lacan's conception of woman and her relation to masochism, femininity and hysteria, love and death, and the impossible sexual relation. Following more than the usual suspects, What Lacan Said About Women also explores the mother's place in the unconscious, how Lacan understands depression, and why depressives feel unloved. Soler's analysis examines the cultural implications of the texts that Lacan produced from the 1950s to the 1970s, such as the effects of science on contemporary conceptions of the feminine. She gracefully bridges the gap still left open between psychoanalysis and cultural studies. Winner of the Prix Psyche for the best work published in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis in 2003, this book will appeal to cultural critics, especially those in gender and women's studies, as well as to anyone involved in contemporary theory or clinical practice. This study will transform novices within the field of Lacanian theory into informed thinkers and it will substantially supplement and refine the knowledge of Lacanian veterans.

A primer on memory written by two leading researchers who are members of the National Academy of Sciences. 2nd in the Science Essentials Series.

Using Charles Darwin's survey of emotions as a starting point, Stuart Walton examines the history of each of our core emotions — fear, anger, disgust, sadness, jealousy, contempt, shame, embarrassment, surprise and happiness — and how these emotions have influenced both cultural and social history. We learn that primitive fear served as the engine of religious belief, while a desire for happiness led to humankind's first musings on achieving a perfect Utopia. Challenging the notion that human emotion has remained constant, A Natural History of Human Emotions explains why in the last two hundred and fifty years, society has changed its unwritten rules for what can be expressed in public and in private. For example our private lives have benefited from greater emotional honesty, while some emotions, such as anger, now seem to dominate public discourse.

Are people born gay, or does upbringing or even conscious personal choice play a part? the acrimonious row between gay rights activists and God-fearing conservatives over this burning question has now raged for over a decade. But the science they employ in their arguments is not merely outmoded but often fallacious. Since the ground-breaking work of Simon LeVay and Dean Hamer in the early '90s, a tremendous amount of new research has been carried out by scientists who now understand a great deal more about the biology of sexual attraction. How much does the non-scientific community really know about this research or understand the far-reaching implications of it? Wilson and Rahman show that attempts to find a sociological cause for homosexuality have little foundation and argue that popular efforts to blame parents or teachers for a child's homosexuality are futile and unjust. Combining their own findings with all the available quantifiable research, the authors have, with this study, provided an urgently needed addition to - and overview of - the major work that has been done in this field.

A fresh portrait of the Puerto Rican community in the US.

This book delves into Israeli society where internal divides have emerged from divergent value systems in a context of powerful globalization, immigrant-society behavior, and a sharp majority-minority division. A short but hectic experience, Jewish nationalism draws its vitality from reformulations of ancestral symbols which permeate the dynamics of the confrontations of the dominant culture and numerous parties, all contesting its exigencies. Israel's conflicts revolve around this issue, forming a unique dynamic of multiple interacting forces of convergence and divergence. This case raises several major questions about the sociology of multiculturalism.

In a New Land is a work of synthesis that tackles some of the most important questions and debates in migration studies. -Caroline B. Brettell, author of Migration Theory: Talking Across the Disciplines So well written and fascinating that it is hard to skim. You want to read every word. -Steven Gold, author of The IsraeliD.phpora According to the 2000 census, more than 10% of U.S. residents were foreign born; together with their American-born children, this group constitutes one fifth of the nation's population. What does this mass immigration mean for America? Leading immigration studies scholar, Nancy Foner, answers this question in her study of comparative immigration. Drawing on the rich history of American immigrants and current statistical and ethnographic data, In a New Land compares todays new immigrants with the past influxes of Europeans to the United States and across cities and regions within the United States. Foner looks at immigration across nation-states, and over different periods of time, offering a comprehensive assessment and analysis. This original approach to the study of recent U.S. immigration focuses on race and ethnicity, gender, and transnational connections. Centering her analysis on the groups that have come through and significantly shaped New York City, Foner compares today's Latin American, Asian, and Caribbean newcomers with eastern and southern European immigrants a century ago and with immigrants in other major U.S. cities. Looking beyond the United States, Foner compares West Indian immigrants in New York with those in London. And, more generally, the book views the process of immigrants integration in New York against other recent immigrant destinations in Europe. Drawing on a wealth of historical and contemporary research, and written in a clear and lively style, In a New Land provides fresh insights into the dynamics of immigration today and the implications for where we are headed in the future.

Framing Class is a cutting edge book that examines the sociological implications of class representations in the media and shows how slanted media framing of stories about wealth and poverty may significantly influence many people. Through a historical and contemporary analysis of newspaper articles and television shows, Framing Class demonstrates how the media perpetuate negative stereotypes about the working class and the poor while glorifying the material possessions and privileged status of the upper classes.

Traveling alone when she was between 17 and 22, with no institutional affiliation and no financial assistance, the author visited five developing countries and two developed ones on five continents. Her goal was to extend her own experience in an abortion clinic in Portland, Oregon. Lara Knudsen interviewed over 90 women's rights activists, health professionals, NGO workers, and government officials, gaining a sense of both official policies and the actual delivery of services in local clinics. This rare comparative policy book written by a single author is a model for how research can be conducted by students and activists. This “essential primer on the comparative experiences of reproductive rights” (as Lisa Ann Richey calls this book) is well-suited for courses in women's studies, globalization, public health, and political science.

5.4 million Americans--1 in every 40 voting age adults-- are denied the right to participate in democratic elections because of a past or current felony conviction. In several American states, 1 in 4 black men cannot vote due to a felony conviction. In a country that prides itself on universal suffrage, how did the United States come to deny a voice to such a large percentage of its citizenry? What are the consequences of large-scale disenfranchisement--both for election outcomes, and for public policy more generally? Locked Out exposes one of the most important, yet little known, threats to the health of American democracy today. It reveals the centrality of racial factors in the origins of these laws, and their impact on politics today. Marshalling the first real empirical evidence on the issue to make a case for reform, the authors' path-breaking analysis will inform all future policy and political debates on the laws governing the political rights of criminals.

This comprehensive, introductory overview of the "world of work" in Japan recalls post-war Japan to analyze the development of industrial relations and the Japanese style of management. It considers the changes that took place in the early nineties when disillusionment set in and unemployment and economic insecurity became facts of life. The authors challenge the preeminence of Japanese management practices which have dominated the literature over the last three decades.

In this collection, leading scholars focus on the contemporary meanings and diverse experiences of blackness in specific countries of the hemisphere, including the United States. The anthology introduces new perspectives on comparative forms of racialization in the Americas and presents its implications both for Latin American societies, and for Latinos' relations with African Americans in the U.S. Contributors address issues such as: Who are the Afro-Latin Americans? What historical contributions do they bring to their respective national polities? What happens to their national and socio-racial identities as a result of migration to the United States? What is the impact of the growing presence of Afro-Latin Americans within U.S. Latino populations, particularly with respect to the continuing dynamics of racialization in the United States today? And, more generally, what are the prospects and obstacles for rethinking alliances and coalition-building between and among racial(ized) minorities and other groups in contemporary U.S. society?

This book offers an overview of approaches, methods, recent work and major debates in the history of sexuality. The two decades since the publication of Michel Foucault's seminal History of Sexuality have witnessed both a proliferation of empirical and theoretical historical studies and an increasing divergence in approaches to the writing of histories of sexuality in Europe and North America. Yet while these centrifugal trajectories have been identified in many edited collections, there has been no coherent attempt to address, or draw together, this diversity of practice and methodology. This collection aims to do just this, drawing on contributions from a range of scholars, each examining the past, present and future of the exploration of sex, as a social, cultural and historical phenomenon.

This book is the first comprehensive history of the development of child study during the early part of the twentieth century. Most nineteenth-century scientists deemed children unsuitable subjects for study, and parents were hostile to the idea. But by 1935, the study of the child was a thriving scientific and professional field. Here, Alice Boardman Smuts shows how interrelated movements—social and scientific—combined to transform the study of the child. Drawing on nationwide archives and extensive interviews with child study pioneers, Smuts recounts the role of social reformers, philanthropists, and progressive scientists who established new institutions with new ways of studying children. Part history of science and part social history, this book describes a fascinating era when the normal child was studied for the first time, a child guidance movement emerged, and the newly created federal Children’s Bureau conducted pathbreaking sociological studies of children.

As elected coroners came to be replaced by medical examiners with scientific training, the American public became fascinated with their work. From the grisly investigations showcased on highly rated television shows like C.S.I. to the bestselling mysteries that revolve around forensic science, medical examiners have never been so visible—or compelling. They, and they alone, solve the riddle of suspicious death and the existential questions that come with it. Why did someone die? Could it have been prevented? Should someone be held accountable? What are the implications of ruling a death a suicide, a homicide, or an accident? Can medical examiners unmask the perfect crime? Postmortem goes deep inside the world of medical examiners to uncover the intricate web of pathological, social, legal, and moral issues in which they operate. Stefan Timmermans spent years in a medical examiner’s office, following cases, interviewing examiners, and watching autopsies. While he relates fascinating cases here, he is also more broadly interested in the cultural authority and responsibilities that come with being a medical examiner. Although these professionals attempt to remain objective, medical examiners are nonetheless responsible for evaluating subtle human intentions. Consequently, they may end—or start—criminal investigations, issue public health alerts, and even cause financial gain or harm to survivors. How medical examiners speak to the livingnbsp;on behalf of the dead, is Timmermans’s subject, revealed here in the day-to-day lives of the examiners themselves.

The book reviews the theoretical and empirical work in the sociology of emotions.