The goal is to record most books written or edited by the Department of Sociology faculty. We will start by entering the most recent publications first and work our way back to older books. There is a WMU Authors section in Waldo Library, where most of these books can be found.
With a few exceptions, we do not have the rights to put the full text of the book online, so there will be a link to a place where you can purchase the book.
If you are a faculty member and have a book you would like to include in the WMU book list, please contact wmu-scholarworks@wmich.edu/
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Ethcaste: PanAfrican Communalism and the Black Middleclass
Douglas V. Davidson
Ethcaste is a theoretical analysis and interpretation of one of the most complex and controversial groups in U.S. society―the black middle class. While this group has received accolades from the liberal journalistic press as well as academia, it has also been highly criticized and oftentimes ridiculed by radical black political activists and intellectuals. This analysis represents an effort to clarify the larger black community as an oppressed group constrained by the capitalist racial dynamics of the dominant white society. In so doing, it summarizes and critiques the major theoretical approaches to the study of social class in U.S. sociology as well as the dominant theories of race and ethnic relations. Noting that most of this preceding scholarship has studied the black community from the perspective that blacks constitute a racial (thus non-cultural) group as opposed to an ethnic (distinct cultural) group, the author presents compelling evidence of the vitality of black American culture and argues persuasively that any analysis of the black middle class must locate it within the cultural dynamics of the larger black community. The core argument in the text is that the so-called racial struggle must be re-defined as a cultural struggle where the core values, norms, and beliefs of the black community have been and continue to be in an intense struggle for dominance with the core values, norms, and beliefs of the white community. In essence, the book offers an alternative model for describing and interpreting the historical and contemporary racial dynamics between the black and white communities.
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Decisions on the U.S. Courts of Appeals
Ashlyn Kuersten and Donald Songer
This book provides institutional information as well as practical usage information on the U.S. Courts of Appeals. In addition, it includes important statistical information for researchers and students interested in a variety of topics less directly related to the judiciary.
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African Americans in Michigan
Lewis Walker, Benjamin C. Wilson, Linwood H. Cousins, Benjamin C. Wilson, and Lewis Walker
African Americans, as free laborers and as slaves, were among the earliest permanent residents of Michigan, settling among the French, British, and Native people with whom they worked and farmed. Lewis Walker and Benjamin Wilson recount the long history of African American communities in Michigan, delineating their change over time, as migrants from the South, East, and overseas made their homes in the state. Moreover, the authors show how Michigan's development is inextricably joined with the vitality and strength of its African American residents. In a related chapter, Linwood Cousins examines youth culture and identity in African American schools, linking education with historical and contemporary issues of economics, racism, and power.
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Crimes of the American Nuclear State: At Home and Abroad
David Kauzlarich and Ronald C. Kramer
In this penetrating analysis of our government's policies, David Kauzlarich and Ronald C. Kramer describe acts related to the manufacture, deployment, and testing of nuclear weapons that violate both international and federal regulatory law.