Sociology and Social Policy : Essays on Community, Economy, and Society

Herbert J. Gans is Robert S. Lynd Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Columbia University. His many books include __People, Plans, and Policies: Essays on Poverty, Racism, and Other National Urban Problems__ (1991) and __The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community__ (Legacy Edition, 2017), both from Columbia University Press. Intro -- Table of Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Part I: The City -- 1. Some Problems of and Futures for Urban Sociology: Toward a Sociology of Settlements -- 2. The Sociology of Space: A Use-Centered View -- 3. Involuntary Segregation and the Ghetto: Disconnecting Process and Place -- 4. Concentrated Poverty: A Critical Analysis -- Part II: Poverty -- 5. Studying the Bottom of American Society -- 6. The Challenge of Multigenerational Poverty -- 7. The Benefits of Poverty -- Part III: Jobs and the Political Economy -- 8. Superfluous Workers: The Labor Marketâ#x80;#x99;s Invisible Discards -- 9. Work-Time Reduction: Possibilities and Problems -- 10. Basic Income: A Remedy for a Sick Labor Market? -- 11. Seeking a Political Solution to the Economyâ#x80;#x99;s Problems -- 12. High School Economics Texts and the American Economy -- Part IV: Race and Class -- 13. Race as Class -- 14. â#x80;Whiteningâ#x80;#x9D; and the Changing American Racial Hierarchy -- 15. The Moynihan Report and Its Aftermaths: A Critical Analysis -- Part V: Ethnicity -- 16. The Coming Darkness of Late-Generation European-American Ethnicity -- 17. The End of Late-Generation European Ethnicity in America? -- Appendix: Working in Six Research Areasâ#x80;#x94;a Multi-Field Sociological Career This collection of recent essays by the influential sociologist Herbert J. Gans brings together the many themes of Gans's wide-ranging career to make the case for a policy-oriented vision for sociology. Sociology and Social Policy explicates and helps solve social problems by presenting a range of studies on what people, institutions, and social structures do with, for, and against one another. These works from across Gans's areas of interest—the city, poverty, ethnicity, employment and political economy, and the relationship between race and class—together make a powerful call to action for the field of sociology. This collection of recent essays by the influential sociologist Herbert J. Gans brings together the many themes of Gans's wide-ranging career-the city, poverty, ethnicity, employment and political economy, and the relationship between race and class-to make the case for a policy-oriented vision for sociology.