Full Description
Emphasis on measurement techniques can interfere with understanding how well particular social programs in their field work. In Making a Difference: The Practice of Sociology, Irwin Deutscher links traditional sociological concerns with applied sociology in an effort to overcome this problem. He contributes to the debate over the extent to which health, educational, and social programs initiated by the Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations have been successful in intimate, human terms.The work is divided into five parts: "Toward a Useful Sociology" is a collection of essays concerning the causes of social problems and the uses of evaluation research. "On Doing Applied Research" explores research tools and stereotypes. 'The Raised Eyebrow" points out obstructions to useful program evaluation. "Vignettes" deals with specific areas of social programs: public housing, aging, family, disaster relief, small town petty crime, the integration of public facilities, delinquency, nursing, and the education of tribal people.Deutscher believes that the introduction of a sociological perspective can provide a positive element to interdisciplinary pursuits. This belief, as well as his fresh perspectives on both the strengths and limitations inherent in applied sociology, offer the field a revitalizing lift. As such, this highly informative, thought-provoking volume will be of interest to sociologists and policymakers in health, education, crime, welfare, housing.
Contents
Introduction: On The Nature of Essays, Editing, and Organization and a Bit of Biography Part I: Toward a Useful Sociology 1. For Beginners: The Social Causes of Social Problems—From Suicide to Delinquency 2. A Short and Selective History of Evaluation Research in the United States 3. What Do Social Indicators Indicate? 4. For the More Advanced: Social Theory, Social Programs, and Program Evaluation—A Metatheoretical Note Part II: On Doing Applied Research: Comments and Cues 5. The Stereotype as a Research Tool 6. Summarizing Research: Meta-analyzing Meta-analysis 7. Physicians' Reactions to a Mailed Questionnaire: A Study in "Resistentialism" 8. Secondary Data, Anecdotes, and Case Studies: Valid Evidence from Bad-Mouthed Sources Part III: The Raised Eyebrow: Assumptions in Evaluation Research 9. Toward Avoiding the Goal Trap in Evaluation Research 10. Success and Failure: Static Concepts in a Dynamic Society 11. Traditions and Rules as Obstructions to Useful Program Evaluation: Part I, Rule-Making 12. Traditions and Rules as Obstructions to Useful Program Evaluation: Part II, Rule-Breaking 13. Public Issues or Private Troubles: Is Evaluation Research Sociological? 14. How Applied Sociology Can Save Basic Sociology: A Note on Consistency, Objectivity, and the Relationship between Basic and Applied Research 15. Project Head Start and the Cognitive Police Part IV: Vignettes: Troubles in the Everyday World 16. On Public Housing: The Gatekeeper in Public Housing 17. On Aging in America: Misers and Wastrels—Perceptions of the Depression and Yuppie Generations 18. On Middle-Class Husbands and Wives in the 1950s: The Quality of Postparental Life 19. On Disaster Relief: Fun and Profit in a Disaster 20. On Town Drunks: The White Petty Offender in the Small City 21. On Anticipating Martin Luther King and the Integration of Public Facilities: Cohesion in a Small Group—A Case Study 22. On Delinquency: Some Relevant Directions for Research in Juvenile Delinquency 23. On the Education of Nurses: Professional Education and Conflicting Value Systems 24. On Development in "Developing" Nations: Home-Grown Development—The Education of Tribal Peoples Part V: Polemics on Practice 25. The Moral Order of Sociological Work 26. Sociological Practice: The Politics of Identities and Futures 27. The Most Useful Knowledge for Everyone is the Most Useless Education of All: Social Needs versus Market Demands (being a consideration of projections, predictions, prophesies, and other magical forecasts of the future of liberal education)
