The International Handbook of Sociology

Stella Quah (Ph.D) is Professor of Sociology. Her areas of research are sociology of health, family sociology and social policy as reflected in her publications. She was awarded a Fulbright-Hays scholarship from 1969 to 1971. Her research and professional activities include sabbaticals as Research Associate and Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California Berkeley (1986-87); the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Department of Sociology at Harvard University (1993-94); the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University (1997); the Stanford Program in International Legal Studies, Stanford University (1997); the National Centre for Development Studies, Australian National University (2002); and the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University (2006). She was elected Vice-President for Research of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and Chairperson of the ISA Research Council for the session 1994-998; and served as Associate Editor of International Sociology (1998-2004). As part of her other professional activities, Professor Quah serves in Institutional Review Boards; is member of the Society for Comparative Research (US); member of the Editorial Board of Marriage & Family Review; member of the International Advisory Board of the British Journal of Sociology; Sociology of Health and Illness; Health Sociology Review; and Asian Population Studies. Arnaud Sales holds a Doctorat d'Etat es Lettres et Sciences Humaines, from Universite de Paris 7-Denis Diderot. He is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Montreal, Canada. He is a specialist in economic sociology focusing on the interface of the economic and political fields. His research interests center on the relations between the public and private spheres, and the emergence of international private authorities; economic and administrative elites, and knowledge workers; the role of knowledge in social transformations. His publications include: La Bourgeoisie industrielle au Quebec (PUM, 1979); Decideurs et gestionnaires (Editeur officiel du Quebec, 1985); He has edited or co-edited the following volumes: Developpement national et economie mondialisee (Sociologie et Societes, 1979); La recomposition du politique (PUM/L'Harmattan, 1991); Quebec, fin de siecle (Sociologie et Societes,1994); The International Handbook of Sociology (Sage, 2000); New Directions in the Study of Knowledge, Economy and Society (SSIS, Current Sociology, Sage, 2001); Knowledge, Communication and Creativity, (Sage, 2007). He was Vice-Dean of the Universite de Montreal's Faculty of Graduate Studies (1987-1992) and has chaired the Department of Sociology (2000-2007). He is a former Vice-President, International, of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (1995-1998) where he founded the Knowledge, Economy and Society Network with R. Hollingsworth. After chairing the ISA Research Committee 02 on Economy and Society, he was elected Vice-President for Research (1998-2002) of the International Sociological Association and chaired ISA Research Council. In 2006, he was named Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques of France.

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Of Consensus, Tensions and Sociology at the Dawn of the 21st Century - Stella Quah and Arnaud Sales PART TWO: CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES The Moving Frontier of the Social Sciences - Mattei Dogan Rational Choice Theory in Sociology - Thomas Voss and Martin Abraham A Survey Feminist Theory and Critical Reconceptualization in Sociology - Rhoda Reddock The Challenge of the 1990s The Challenge of Modernity/Postmodernity to the Classical Heritage in Sociology of Religion - Ivan Varga PART THREE: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIFFERENTIATION The Fourth Generation of Comparative Stratification Research - Donald J Treiman and Harry B G Ganzeboom The `Rediscovery' of Ethnicity - Christine Inglis Theory and Analysis PART FOUR: CHANGING INSTITUTIONS AND COLLECTIVE ACTION Sociology of the Family - Barbara H Settles Global Advances and Challenges International Political Sociology - Richard G Braungart and Margaret M Braungart Institutional Change in Armed Forces at the Dawning of the 21st Century - David R Segal and Nehama E Babin Social Movements - Bert Klandermans Trends and Turns Late Modern Institutions and Collective Action - Pierre Hamel, Henri Lustiger-Thaler and Louis Maheu PART FIVE: DEMOGRAPHY, CITIES AND HOUSING Conceptual and Methodological Advances and Challenges in Demography - Dudley L Poston Jr Urban Sociology - John Walton The Sociology of Housing - William Michelson and Willem Van Vliet PART SIX: ART AND LEISURE Sociology of the Art - Antoine Hennion and Line Grenier New Stakes in a Post-Critical Time The Collapse of the Leisure Society? - Gilles Pronovost New Challenges for the Sociology of Leisure Theoretical Advances in the Sociological Treatment of Tourism - Graham Dann PART SEVEN: ON SOCIAL PROBLEMS Unravelling Alienation - Deborah Kalekin-Fishman From an Omen of Doom to a Celebration of Diversity Medical Sociology at the Millennium - William C Cockerham Mental Health and Illness Research - Rumi Kato Price, Clyde R Pope, C A Green and S C Kinnevy Millennium and Beyond Recent Advances and Challenges in Sociotechnics - Jon Alexander Future Research and Sociological Analysis - Eleonora Barbieri Masini

`The most up-to-date survey of the range of research in contemporary sociology, extremely useful to students, teachers, and researchers alike. Indispensable for collective and personal libraries' - Professor Immanuel Wallerstein