Some Observations on the Problem of Paradigms in Recent Racial and Ethnic Relations Texts

The Sociological Core: Conceptual Patterns and Idiosyncrasies in the Structure and Content of Introductory Sociology Textbooks, 1940-2000

“…Indeed, during a 13 year stretch, 42 articles were published in Teaching Sociology, employing the textbook as the unit of analysis. Many of these articles focus on textbooks within various specialty areas, including medical (Barnartt 1990(Barnartt , 1995, law (Berger 1989;Trevino 1998), marriage and the family (Greenwood andCassidy 1986, 1990;Mann et al 1997;Shaw Taylor and Benokraitis 1995;Stolley and Hill 1996;Zinn and Eitzen 1988), social theory (Lewis and Alshtawi 1992), human sexuality (Goettsch 1987;Hogben et al 1999), education (Mulkey 1990), race and ethnic relations (Niemonen 1993), research methods (Judkins 1994;Schutt 1987), statistics (Schacht 1990), social psychology (Schellenberg et al 1991), criminology (Wright 1987(Wright , 1990(Wright , 1994(Wright , 1995a(Wright , 1995bWright and Ducaji 1992), and social problems (Dolch 1990). Fifteen of these 42 articles are based on analyses of introductory sociology textbooks.…”

A Sociology of Race/Ethnicity Textbooks: Avoiding White Privilege, Ahistoricism, and Use of the Passive Voice

“…Although there are review articles on race/ethnic relations' textbooks (e.g., Jaret 1982;Swartz and Rhodes 1979), sociologist Jack Niemonen (1993) offers one of the only substantive sociological analyses of race/ethnicity textbooks. In this work, he analyzes the theoretical paradigms of ten race/ethnic relations textbooks and finds that they tend to favor assimilationist, cultural pluralist, or eclectic approaches.…”

“…In this work, he analyzes the theoretical paradigms of ten race/ethnic relations textbooks and finds that they tend to favor assimilationist, cultural pluralist, or eclectic approaches. Furthermore, he argues that theory is too often used as a form of "after-the-fact analysis" and concludes that none of the race/ethnic relations texts are very good at explaining why various forms of discrimination exist, much less persist (Niemonen 1993).…”

“…This article is a substantially revised version of earlier papers presented at the American Sociological Association 2012 surrounding the strengths and weaknesses of various textbooks within the discipline of sociology has focused on introductory sociology textbooks (Eitzen 1988;Hewitt 1988;Keith 2000;Stone 1996;Taub and Fanflik 2000). Despite the centrality of the study of race and ethnic relations within the discipline, however, few studies have analyzed the relative merits of race/ethnicity textbooks on the market today, nor investigated how well they represent the current state of the research (Jaret 1982;Niemonen 1993). For example, in the early years of the twentieth century, sociological research on race relations tended to emphasize issues such as prejudice, discrimination, and ethnicity (e.g., Adorno et al 1950;Allport 1954;Gans 1979;Merton 1949).…”

Teaching about Race and Ethnicity: A Message of Despair or a Message of Hope?

“…For analysis of paradigms and structures used by textbooks and courses on race and ethnicity, seeNiemonen (1993) andDowney and Torrecilha (1994).4 There are several networks of educators which I have found to be useful sources of information on change-oriented written and audiovisual materials: the Network of Educators on the Americas, Rethinking Schools, and Nommo. Other good sources of information are civil rights and adult education organizations, especially the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Study Circles Resources Center.5 Excellent documentaries are available on the history of racial/ethnic movements in the United States.…”