This volume presents three major social types in American society-heroes, villains, and fools-as models for American behaviour. Approaching these models primarily through language, Orrin E. Klapp explores what they may suggest about Americans as a people. Rather than study people, the author describes abstract types named and embedded in popular language. These social types are important symbols; and a way to attack a symbol is by identifying its meaning in various contexts. He further argues that the language surrounding heroes, villains, and fools reveals a social structure. We may not escape being ascribed a type, but we do have a choice of type. Known more commonly as "finding oneself," we can manipulate cues-with dress, facial expressions, style of life, or conspicuous public roles-to build an identity. This classic study has serious contemporary implications. For a public figure, an inevitable result of the typing process is the development of at least two selves, the public and the private. When the book originally appeared in 1962, the struggle to balance two images generally only plagued celebrities and politicians. Today, social media offers everyone the opportunity to develop an online persona. This volume will be of interest to sociologists as well as anyone who has a Facebook account.

The concept of cultural history has in the last few decades come to the fore of historical research into early modern Europe. Due in no small part to the pioneering work of Peter Burke, the tools of the cultural historian are now routinely brought to bear on every aspect of history, and have transformed our understanding of the past. First published in 1978, this study examines the broad sweep of pre-industrial Europe's popular culture. From the world of the professional entertainer to the songs, stories, rituals and plays of ordinary people, it shows how the attitudes and values of the otherwise inarticulate shaped - and were shaped by - the shifting social, religious and political conditions of European society between 1500 and 1800. This third edition of Peter Burke's groundbreaking study has been published to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the book's publication in 1978. It provides a new introduction reflecting the growth of cultural history, and its increasing influence on 'mainstream' history, as well as an extensive supplementary bibliography which further adds to the information about new research in the area.

In this original application of information theory to social analysis, Orrin Klapp examines how and why societies are producing more stress than they ever can handle. He argues that the reduction of 'social noise', the chaos from which we try to construct meaning is a major goal of individuals and groups alike. Individuals, groups, even entire societies normally cycle rhythmically between two basic modes of adaptation to the constant communication flow: opening, or scanning for desired information; and closing, or defending against noise. For example, in a society functioning in the opening mode, movements like ecumenicism and expansionism achieve momentum. Extreme reactions in either mode lead to an opposite swing, according to Professor Klapp's model. His wide-ranging conceptual scheme incorporates hypotheses about the variety and redundancy of information, as well as about human channel capacities and the need for homeostatis. His research reveals intriguing relationships among such phenomena as the concern about industrial population and the search for ethnic roots.

Radio, television and the press form the vast stage on which the public dramas of our time are played to a responsive audience of millions- the peoples of our nation and of the world. Almost anyone can steal the scene and become a public hero, a favorite villain or a lamented victim. How do these persons-the symbolic leaders-emerge? Who are they? How does the climate of public opinion affect the would-be leader? How does the public use its leaders?This book discusses how symbolic leaders emerge, how unknown people become symbolic and it analyzes the kinds of encounters that are likely to make individuals either ""heroes,"" ""villains,"" or ""fools."" The book portrays the ups-and-downs of public images, as well as crises and role reversals, in which parties may swap roles without meaning to. The book concludes with a final chapter, which deals with the concept of public drama and its implications for change as well as its instability in modern society.Symbolic Leaders is a probing and provocative analysis of the process of public drama and of the actors, who play the leading roles, discussed in terms of their significance for the structures of our rapidly changing society and illustrated by vivid case histories. Professor Klapp's lively style makes this work an eminently readable sociological study. The social scientist will find in it a challenging and original theory of social organization, which suggests strategic areas for further research. Public relations personnel will find it an invaluable practical handbook of clues for creating a public image. And the general reader will find Symbolic Leaders a fascinating and thought-provoking commentary on public life in our society.

"I have found Spade and Valentine's Kaleidoscope of Gender to be the most effective reader that I have used in my undergraduate Sociology of Gender class, and I was delighted to see what promises to be an even better second edition that recently arrived." -Linda Grant, University of Georgia "In a substantial theoretical introduction, Spade and Valentine move their discussion forward by introducing their kaleidoscope metaphor which is comprised of the "prisms" of culture...that intersect to produce patterns of difference and systems of privilege. Because it captures the fluidity and uniqueness of the intricate patterns, the kaleidoscope is a valuable analytical tool. Though it enters a terrain already littered with terminology, this "prismatic" understanding of gender has great potential for transforming current conceptualizations." -Jennifer Keys, North Central College Examining the elusive, evolving construct of gender in a unique text/ reader format An accessible, timely, and stimulating introduction to the sociology of gender, The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities, Second Edition, provides a comprehensive analysis of key ideas, theories, and applications in this field as viewed through the metaphor of a kaleidoscope. This collection of creative articles by top scholars explains how the complex, evolving pattern of gender is constructed interpersonally, institutionally, and culturally and challenges students to question how gender shapes their daily lives. Like the prior edition, the Second Edition maintains a focus on contemporary contributions to the field while incorporating classical and theoretical arguments to provide a broad framework. Integrating a cross-cultural focus and intersectional inquiry, this unique text/reader

This book is an overview and analysis of the global tradition of the outlaw hero. The mythology and history of the outlaw hero is traced from the Roman Empire to the present, showing how both real and mythic figures have influenced social, political, economic and cultural outcomes in many times and places. The book also looks at the contemporary continuations of the outlaw hero mythology, not only in popular culture and everyday life, but also in the current outbreak of global terrorism.

Much writing on men in the field of gender studies tends to focus unduly, almost exclusively, on portraying men as villains and women as victims in a moral bi-polar paradigm. Re-Thinking Men reverses the proclivity which ignores not only the positive contributions of men to society, but also the male victims of life including the homeless, the incarcerated, the victims of homicide, suicide, accidents, war and the draft, and sexism, as well as those affected by the failures of the health, education, political and justice systems. Proceeding from a radically different perspective in seeking a more positive, balanced and inclusive view of men (and women), this book presents three contrasting paradigms of men as Heroes, Villains and Victims. With the development of a comparative and revised gender perspective drawing on US, Canadian and UK sources, this book will be of interest to scholars across a range of social sciences.