10 books Every Sociologist Should Read Before Starting PhD Program

[Coffe-ology]

What 10 books would you say Every Sociologist should have read before starting a PhD program

1. The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills

2. The Division of Labor in Society, Emile Durkheim

3. The Power Elite, C. Wright Mills

4. Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol

5. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: and Other Writings , Max Weber

6. Suicide, Emile Durkheim

7. Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, George Herbert Mead

8. Any social research book by Babbie

9. The Marx-Engels Reader (Second Edition), Karl Marx

10. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction, Michel Foucualt

[socnerd]

All very good choices, most of which I have been required to read as an undergraduate. Hopefully most good programs require them because they are all very valuable.

[Coffe-ology]

All very good choices, most of which I have been required to read as an undergraduate. Hopefully most good programs require them because they are all very valuable.

Alot of programs undergrads only end up reading excerpts from the books or other authors interpretations of the books sadly.

[peppermint.beatnik]

What about Elementary Forms?

[Roll Right]

Elementary reforms is important, but I feel that those who have BA degrees in sociology ought to have much of this theory under their belts already. Those who are going on to a PhD in soc from alternate majors ought to read this, or at least a text on theory. I recommend Wallace and Wolf. It's a great summary of these texts.

I also feel that one should only read the primary txts if it's specific to their interests. It's good to have the background, but you don't need to hit every major sociological work just because it's famous. We're so specialized within sociology that it makes little sense to focus on the history of sex when one is interested in religiosity or the sociology of labor. Obviously these concepts may intersect at some point, but not enough to warrant an inundation of broad sociological theories.

Having said that, if you're going into a PhD for soc of religion, read Weber's theoretical frame work for the understanding of religion, and durkhiems elementary forms, berger's sacred canopy, Lenski's the religious factor and so on. Theres just such a wealth of information within respective sub-disciplines that we can't be expected to be abreast of every instrumental work.

[socnerd]

What about Elementary Forms?

AHH I remember Elementary Forms! My soc of religion professor made us read the whole thing cover to cover... actually not a terrible read once you get into it. Durkheim certainly had some interesting ideas in that one. I think it's important to read these texts in their original form (not just summarized by someone else) because a lot can be lost in translation. Plus, you aren't actually getting what the author wrote, you are getting someone else's interpretation of what the author wrote and that doesn't help you in terms of analysis. The Marx-Engels reader was a great one that we used for Theory, my professor also made sure that when we read Protestant Ethic that we didn't read the Parsons translation. He said that Parsons interjected too much of his own ideals and purposefully skewed the translation of Weber's work in order to get his own political point across.

[Roll Right]

I agree, you should get the primary source if you're going to bother reading it. There is a lot lost in translation. Marx is a favorite of mine. Brilliant works, inspire much of my own research.

[hoobers]

Assuming you are already somewhat familiar with classic sociological theory, I wouldn't read more of it before grad school--you will read plenty of it soon enough. Otherwise, Bourdieu is a good (if terribly unclear) synthesizer--"Distinction" is as good a summary of sociology's take on the world as any.

With this background in place, I would instead focus on acquiring basic knowledge about humans and systems from other domains. Specifically, I would look into books on cognition, genetics, evolution, social networks, complex systems, and game theory. The real advances in academics come not from pursuing a single theoretical direction or line of research, but from weaving disparate research traditions together. All the fields I list above are currently hot, generating lots of fabulous research. There is much stuff to import into sociology from them.

Also, chances are that if you come from a Soc undergrad your skills at math are insufficient for keeping up with quantitative sociology or related fields. I would sit down with a good book on probability/statistics, and also brush up on some linear algebra (for networks) and calculus (for game theory and evolutionary models). The one thing you will never regret is spending more time on math.

[Politicalgeek]

Also, chances are that if you come from a Soc undergrad your skills at math are insufficient for keeping up with quantitative sociology or related fields. I would sit down with a good book on probability/statistics, and also brush up on some linear algebra (for networks) and calculus (for game theory and evolutionary models). The one thing you will never regret is spending more time on math.

Word to this. I really wish I'd "brushed up" before I did my MPP - I spent the first semester madly playing catch-up. No joke, I strongly recommend reading The Cartoon Guide to Statistics. It's actually the major book I used to study for exams and I ended up learning the concepts pretty well from it.

[jennesy]

Great list. I also highly recommend Capitalism and Modern Social Theory. An Analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber by Giddens - it's an invaluable resource for understanding the holy trinity of soc theory.

[mudgean]

Has anyone read The Children of Sanchez, by Oscar Lewis? I doubt it's considered a "must read" in the league of Marx or Weber, but it illustrates many constructs of sociology, such as the culture of poverty. I was enthralled with this book when I read it. I felt like I was a tiny video camera inside Mexican shacks, bars, swap meets, and prisons.

[Crushe]

On 5/7/2010 at 7:39 PM, mudgean said:

Has anyone read The Children of Sanchez, by Oscar Lewis? I doubt it's considered a "must read" in the league of Marx or Weber, but it illustrates many constructs of sociology, such as the culture of poverty. I was enthralled with this book when I read it. I felt like I was a tiny video camera inside Mexican shacks, bars, swap meets, and prisons.

I'm so happy that you read this book When I starting to read Children of Sanchez and suffered more than I enjoyed because of the fact that it was written. Although I was busy reading the book every day, my mind was involved with the book and the story of the children.

I went on to live with my story and all the hard moments of my life that I tried to forget reminded me. It was as if I knew the characters in the story and understood their desires.
When I finished the story, for a long time, my mind was involved with every single person in the family, and I could not get away from this space. For this reason, the book is one of those books whose reading may change your life and suggesting that it may be more courageous to read, given its impact.
But another book, which I have left behind for days that have enough time to read it, is the book The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, which is one of the best books in this field.

[THS]

It depends on your subfield and the area of theory you intend to draw upon. Each will have its own set of critical texts and as you specialize those will be far more important than being able to recite a classic.