Herbert J. Gans's Books

Sociology and Social Policy

Essays on Community, Economy, and Society

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Sociology and Social Policy

Essays on Community, Economy, and Society

By: Herbert J. Gans

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.

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Page Count

378

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231545096

ISBN 13

9780231545099

Imagining America in 2033

How the Country Put Itself Together after Bush

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Imagining America in 2033

How the Country Put Itself Together after Bush

By: Herbert J. Gans

In the spirit of great utopian writing that dares to hope for a better world, Imagining America in 2033 takes place in a fictional yet achievable future America---a time when progressive, liberal ideals inform politics and citizens alike. At the heart of Herbert J. Gans's utopian narrative is the vision of progress with fairness on which the best of American idealism has been built. Part utopia, part realism, Imagining America in 2033 is also a liberal's dream of life after Bush and a set of progressive yet practical guidelines for restoring sanity and intelligence to nearly every aspect of public and political life post-Bush. Herbert J. Gans, one of the most influential and prolific sociologists and social commentators of our time, achieves a realistic utopia set mostly in the second and third decades of the century. In Gans's imagined future, elected officials, policymakers, activists, and citizens have transformed America into a much more humane and effective democracy. The book features three Democratic presidents; the major new domestic, foreign, and social policies their administrations pursue; and the political battles they fight. Gans provides chapters on an exhaustive list of social, political, and economic policy issues: jobs; war; tax reform; global warming; economic, racial, gender, and religious equality; family policies; the creation of affordable housing and energy saving communities; education reform; and more. While hopeful and idealistic, many of Gans's proposals---such as the concept of the nurse-doctor, in which nurses increasingly take on tasks previously handled only by medical doctors within a framework of national health care---are ideas innovative enough that they should be taken seriously by actual policymakers. Imagining America in 2033 is lively and accessible, with an appeal for general readers, policy hounds, and the politically savvy alike. Herbert J. Gans is Robert S. Lynd Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Columbia University.

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226

Publisher

University of Michigan Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0472021370

ISBN 13

9780472021376

Making Sense of America

Sociological Analyses and Essays

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Making Sense of America

Sociological Analyses and Essays

By: Herbert J. Gans

For four decades, Herbert J. Gans has been one of the leading sociologists in the United States. His writing on American communities, culture, and ethnicity have been widely read here and elsewhere, and his incisive analyses of antipoverty policy and other social policies have been influential in many policy analysis offices and government agencies. This new collection of Gans's scholarly and other writings, including excerpts from his most prominent ethnographic books, The Urban Villagers, The Levittowners, and Deciding What's News, will be a thought-provoking resource for social scientists, students, and all those who care about America.

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Page Count

382

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0847690415

ISBN 13

9780847690411

The Levittowners

Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community

By: Herbert J. Gans

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The Levittowners

Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community

By: Herbert J. Gans

In 1955, Levitt and Sons purchased most of Willingboro Township, New Jersey and built 11,000 homes. This, their third Levittown, became the site of one of urban sociology's most famous community studies, Herbert J. Gans's The Levittowners. The product of two years of living in Levittown, the work chronicles the invention of a new community and its major institutions, the beginnings of social and political life, and the former city residents' adaptation to suburban living. Gans uses his research to reject the charge that suburbs are sterile and pathological. First published in 1967, The Levittowners is a classic of participant-observer ethnography that also paints a sensitive portrait of working-class and lower-middle-class life in America. This new edition features a foreword by Harvey Molotch that reflects on Gans's challenges to conventional wisdom.

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Page Count

709

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

023154264X

ISBN 13

9780231542647

Deciding What's News

A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Deciding What's News

A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time

By: Herbert J. Gans

Herbert J. Gans is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University." --Book Jacket.

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424

Publisher

Northwestern University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0810122375

ISBN 13

9780810122376

Deciding What's News

A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Deciding What's News

A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time

By: Herbert J. Gans

Herbert J. Gans is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University." --Book Jacket.

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424

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Northwestern University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0810122375

ISBN 13

9780810122376

People, Plans, and Policies

Essays on Poverty, Racism, and Other National Urban Problems

By: Herbert J. Gans

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People, Plans, and Policies

Essays on Poverty, Racism, and Other National Urban Problems

By: Herbert J. Gans

The primary theme of this collection of essays is that the cities' basic problems are poverty and racism, and until these concerns are addressed by bringing about racial equality, creating jobs, and instituting other reforms, the generally low quality of urban life will persist. Gans argues that the individual must work to alter society. He believes that not only must parents have jobs to improve their children's school performance, but that the country needs a modernized "New Deal," a more labor-intensive economy, and a thirty-two hour work week to achieve full employment. Other controversial ideas presented in this book include Gans's opposition to the whole notion of an underclass, which he feels is the latest way for the nonpoor to unjustly label the poor as undeserving. He also believes that poverty continues to plague society because it is often useful to the nonpoor. He is critical of architecture that aims above all to be aesthetic or to make philosophical statements, is doubtful that planners can or should try to reform our social or personal lives, and thinks we should concentrate on achieving individual public policies until we learn how to properly plan as a society.

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Page Count

490

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231513275

ISBN 13

9780231513272

Sociology and Social Policy

Essays on Community, Economy, and Society

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Sociology and Social Policy

Essays on Community, Economy, and Society

By: Herbert J. Gans

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378

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Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231545096

ISBN 13

9780231545099

Urban Villagers, Rev & Exp Ed

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Urban Villagers, Rev & Exp Ed

By: Herbert J. Gans

A sociological study of the native-born Americans of Italian parentage who lived in Boston's West End during the fifties.

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Page Count

478

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0029112400

ISBN 13

9780029112403

Popular Culture and High Culture

An Analysis and Evaluation Of Taste

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Popular Culture and High Culture

An Analysis and Evaluation Of Taste

By: Herbert J. Gans

Is NYPD Blue a less valid form of artistic expression than a Shakespearean drama? Who is to judge and by what standards?In this new edition of Herbert Gans's brilliantly conceived and clearly argued landmark work, he builds on his critique of the universality of high cultural standards. While conceding that popular and high culture have converged to some extent over the twenty-five years since he wrote the book, Gans holds that the choices of typical Ivy League graduates, not to mention Ph.D.'s in literature, are still very different from those of high school graduates, as are the movie houses, television channels, museums, and other cultural institutions they frequent.This new edition benefits greatly from Gans's discussion of the ”politicization” of culture over the last quarter-century. Popular Culture and High Culture is a must read for anyone interested in the vicissitudes of taste in American society.

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Page Count

268

Publisher

Basic Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0786724102

ISBN 13

9780786724109

The Levittowners

Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community

By: Herbert J. Gans

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The Levittowners

Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community

By: Herbert J. Gans

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709

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Columbia University Press

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ISBN 10

023154264X

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9780231542647

Democracy and the News

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Democracy and the News

By: Herbert J. Gans

American democracy was founded on the belief that ultimate power rests in an informed citizenry. But that belief appears naive in an era when private corporations manipulate public policy and the individual citizen is dwarfed by agencies, special interest groups, and other organizations that have a firm grasp on real political and economic power. In Democracy and the News, one of America's most astute social critics explores the crucial link between a weakened news media and weakened democracy. Building on his 1979 classic media critique Deciding What's News, Herbert Gans shows how, with the advent of cable news networks, the internet, and a proliferation of other sources, the role of contemporary journalists has shrunk, as the audience for news moves away from major print and electronic media to smaller and smaller outlets. Gans argues that journalism also suffers from assembly-line modes of production, with the major product being publicity for the president and other top political officials, the very people citizens most distrust. In such an environment, investigative journalism--which could offer citizens the information they need to make intelligent critical choices on a range of difficult issues--cannot flourish. But Gans offers incisive suggestions about what the news media can do to recapture its role in American society and what political and economic changes might move us closer to a true citizen's democracy. Touching on questions of critical national importance, Democracy and the News sheds new light on the vital importance of a healthy news media for a healthy democracy.

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Page Count

196

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195173279

ISBN 13

9780195173277

Democracy and the News

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Democracy and the News

By: Herbert J. Gans

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196

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Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195173279

ISBN 13

9780195173277

Imagining America in 2033

How the Country Put Itself Together after Bush

By: Herbert J. Gans

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Imagining America in 2033

How the Country Put Itself Together after Bush

By: Herbert J. Gans

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226

Publisher

University of Michigan Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0472021370

ISBN 13

9780472021376

The War Against The Poor

The Underclass And Antipoverty Policy

By: Herbert Gans

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The War Against The Poor

The Underclass And Antipoverty Policy

By: Herbert Gans

In his withering dissection of the origins and misuse of the term “underclass” to stereotype and stigmatize the poor, Herbert J. Gans shows how this ubiquitous label has relegated a wide variety of people—welfare recipients, the working poor, teenage mothers, drug addicts, the homeless, and others—to a single condemned class, feared and despised by the rest of society. Probing the deep psychological, social, and political reasons why Americans seek to indict millions of poor citizens as “undeserving,” Gans calls for a cease-fire in the undeclared war against the poor. He concludes with a set of innovative, job-centered policy proposals and a multifaceted educational plan to stop the endless flow of new recruits into America's untouchable caste.

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