Dear Habermas

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Latest update: July 3, 1999
University Disclaimer
Faculty on the Site.

We thought the International Sociological Association's voting for the top sociology book of the millennium suggested itself immediately as something we should "steal." (See Osgood, Interdisciplinary Integration and Stealing from Our Friends)

Since the ISA included a thousand books in its voting list, it's clear there are many choices. And it's clear they are cross-disciplinary. Seems to me that anything but "saber-tooth tiger catching" would have had to be cross-diciplinary at some point. Someone undoubtedly picked up the tiger catching for a course on the methods of capturing wild animals for study, and they we are, the saber-tooth tiger catching has been snatched.

So, how do we snatch this great idea of ISA's? My first reaction was to check to see how many of the books selected were ones I knew. Nine of the top ten. And I wondered how many my students remembered, at least through stories, even if they hadn't read the text itself.

Here's a chance for us to play a game like the old Reader's Digest vocabulary tests. Remember those? Let's try to put a set of questions together:

1. Of the top 10 works on the ISA list, I knew ____ of the titles.

2. Of the top 10 works on the ISA list, I knew ____ of the authors.

3. I found one (or more) of my favorites on the ISA list.

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   It's title: __________________
   It's author: ___________________
   It was ranked _____
   It received _____ votes.

   It's title: __________________
   It's author: ___________________
   It was ranked _____
   It received _____ votes.

4. I think another book should have been included. If I'd been able to vote, I would have nominated:

   Author: ______________________
   Title: ________________________

5. I'd like to publish my reactions to one of the thousand books on the ISA list to share that with other sociologists. (Try for 50 words or less, please.)

6. I'd like to publish my reactions to a book that isn't on the list: (Try for 50 words or less, please.)

   Author: ________________________
   Title: __________________________
   Publisher and/or ISBN, if you know it. ______________________

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   How to Enter

   Send e-mail to jeanne.

   Jeanne on the site.

   The contest rules are very specific. Very simple. But very specific.

   1. You must give us a valid return e-mail address. Our privacy statement assures you that the e-mail address will be used only for responding to you. This precaution assures you and us that each person is responding validly.

   2. You must give us a name for our records. We prefer a real name, but could be first name and initial, or some other such combination.

   3. You must grant us permission to put your submission up on the site. That's our whole point: publishing your work in a peer-reviewed journal.

   4. You must acknowledge and accept that this is a peer-review site. Although it is our principle to acknowledge many perspectives, we do insist upon some recognized authority, and the citing of sources. Your personal feelings about Freud and his work, unsubstantiated by any specific and detailed references to his work and/or that of others who have studied it, will not clear peer review. In other words, "Freud has done more than anyone else to advance sociology" will not be accepted, nor will "Freud has done more than anyone else to retard sociology." Both are conclusionary, and will not add to the store of knowledge we are accumulating.

   5. Expressions of personal feelings about one of the top books of this millenium is acceptable, if you are willing to edit with us in adding the appropriate authorities to express your validity claim. It's not your point of view we're trying to suppress. It's rhetoric such as we tend to shout at each other in place of real argument. Such rhetoric does not belong on our site.