A thorough and thoughtful introduction to a philosophically-minded sociologist.
A series of lectures on the groundbreaking work of sociologist Erving Goffman.
Born in Canada and educated at the University of Chicago, Goffman was such an original sociologist that his work often “puzzled his sociological colleagues.” Hood, a professor of sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, here furnishes more than two dozen lectures on Goffman’s wide-ranging thought, presenting discussions that both explicate his core ideas with clarity and challenge them. At the heart of Goffman’s approach is the individual self, which he saw as both socially constructed and real, insofar as its existence generates realsocietal and moral consequences. His approach falls within the realm of functionalism—his treatment of the self is consistently as a moral being—but within that tradition he introduces something new and controversial: microsociology, which takes as the basic unit of analysis the “the face-to-face social situation or ‘encounter.’” With impressive accessibility, the author explores the extent to which Goffman’s “methodological underpinnings” are consistent with sociology as an empirical science and the degree to which it “looks suspiciously like philosophy,” especially given his subject’s peculiar prose, which displays the “teasing artfulness of a brilliant writer.” (“What is striking about Goffman’s writing is the mood or tone of wry irony, of sympathetic engagement coupled with detached disdain.”) Goffman’s work is important and profound, and by placing the methodological aspect of his endeavors at the center of these lectures, Hood has provided a concise introduction to his challenging thought. This is not a mere summary of Goffman’s work but a provocative extension of it, an attempt to “move beyond Goffman’s beginnings.” For anyone interested in Goffman or contemporary sociology, or just the problems posed by trying to understand society, this is a valuable resource.
A thorough and thoughtful introduction to a philosophically-minded sociologist.Pub Date: July 18, 2024
ISBN: 9781959930532
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Authors' Tranquility Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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