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READING LIST FOR THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (Revised April 2005)

INTRODUCTION

The attached reading list covers the broad field of sociological social psychology. As defined by the leading sociological journal of social psychology, Social Psychology Quarterly, the field includes “the study of the relations of individuals to one another, to group, collectivities and institutions . . . and the study of intra-individual processes insofar as they substantially influence, or are influenced by, social structure and process.”
The reading list is divided into sections to help organize your study. The first section contains general readings that cover the history, methods and structure of the field and several orienting strategies (or metatheoretical perspectives) that have shaped sociological social psychology. This first section covers material that we expect all students who select social psychology as a special area to master.  The next section is subdivided into six modules.  Each student who chooses social psychology as an area should designate two modules as their specialty areas. The modules and the faculty members who are primarily responsible for those areas are:

I. Role, Self, Identity and Emotion (Linda George, Lynn Smith-Lovin)
II. Social Psychology of Life Course and Aging (Linda George, Angela O’Rand)

IN DEVELOPMENT
III. Social Psychology of Mental and Physical Health (Linda George, Nan Lin)

IN DEVELOPMENT

• IV. Social Networks and Social Interaction (Lynn Smith-Lovin, Miller McPherson, Nan Lin)
• V. Social Psychology of Work and Organizations (Ken Spenner, Lynn Smith-Lovin)

TO BE DEVELOPED LATER
VI.. Race, Ethnicity and Gender: Identity and Interaction (Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Lynn Smith-Lovin) TO BE DEVELOPED LATER

Some readings on this list are drawn from courses offered regularly by faculty members who specialize in sociological social psychology. The remainder have been chosen because they are important to understanding general issues in social psychology or they are critical for in-depth understanding of specialized areas covered in our program.  Students are encouraged to obtain current syllabi from social psychology faculty for all relevant courses; these syllabi will give a more comprehensive treatment of how each faculty member organizes his or her view of the subfield, and may point the student to supplemental materials that will aid in interpretation of the readings on this list.

The field of social psychology is characterized by competing orienting strategies and theoretical perspectives, a multiplicity of theories that address similar issues, and empirical research relevant to theoretical formulations.  The faculty expects students to demonstrate (1) a firm grasp of metatheoretical and theoretical issues, (2) the capacity to discuss those issues critically, (3) to demonstrate familiarity with recent research in the field and (4) to assess research evidence with respect to its fit with existing theory and hypotheses.  In particular, students might wish to use these principles as guides to reading the material:

• 1. Be able to provide a summary description of each perspective or theory (“what is....?”)
• 2. Acquire a general knowledge of at least one perspective in each of the major groups in the first (overview) section, with a few specific illustrations to concretize your description.  Identify principal ideas and theorists/researchers. Know recent examples of resarch using these theoretical perspectives.
• 3. Acquire expert knowledge of a least one perspective in each of your chosen modules.  Be able to provide a description of the ideas and research generated by those percspectives.

Many of the great debates and controversial issues raised in the classics are unresolved. Students will not be able to reach closure on all issues or resolve these debates, but they should be able to discuss what is at issue and identify various viewpoints.  Students should also be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses (including ethical issues) of the various investigative techniques used in social psychology and with the kinds of research questions for which each is appropriate.

READING LIST FOR THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

PART I: CORE READINGS ON HISTORY, THEORY, METHODS, AND ORIENTING STRATEGIES

History, Overview, and Background
Delamater, John (ed).  2003. Handbook of Social Psychology. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers House, James. 1977. “The Three Faces of Social Psychology.” Sociometry 40:161-77.

Mayhew, Bruce H. 1980. "Structuralism Versus Individualism: Part 1, Shadowboxing in the Dark." Social Forces. 59:335-375.

Stolte, John F., Fine, Gary Alan, and Karen S. Cook. 2001. "Sociological Miniaturism: Seeing the Big Through the Small in Social Psychology. Annual Review of Sociology 27:387-413

Zelditch, Morris, Jr. 1969. “Can You Really Study an Army in the Laboratory?” Pp. 528-539 in Complex Organizations, edited by A. Etzioni. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Orienting Strategies and Theoretical Perspectives

Interpretive Perspectives
McPhail, C. and C. Rexroat. 1979. “Mead vs. Blumer: The Divergent Methodological Perspectives of Social Behaviorism and Symbolic Interactionism. American Sociological Review 44:449-67.

Blumer, H. 1980  “Mead and Blumer: The Convergent Methodological Perspectives of Social Behaviorism and Symbolic Interactionism.”  American Sociological Review 45:409-19.

McPhail, C. and C. Rexroat. 1980 “Ex cathedra Blumer or ex libris Mead?” American Sociological Review 45:420-30.

Fine, Gary Alan. 1993. “The Sad Demise, Mysterious Disappearance, and Glorious Triumph of Symbolic Interactionism.”  Annual Review of Sociology 19:61-87.

Goffman, Erving.  1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Doubleday.

Goffman, Erving. 1983 “The Interaction Order: American Sociological Association  Presidential Address” American Sociological Review, Vol. 48, No. 1., pp. 1-17.

Maynard, Douglas W. and Steven E. Clayman.  1991. “The Diversity of Ethnomethodology.”  Annual Review of Sociology 17:385-418.

Scott, Marvin B., and Stanford M. Lyman. 1968. "Accounts," American Sociological Review. 33:46-62.

Mills, C. Wright. 1940.  “Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motive.” American Sociological Review 5:904-913.

Snow, David A., and Leon Anderson. 1987. “Identity Work Among the Homeless: The Verbal Construction and Avowal of Personal Identities.”  American Journal of Sociology 92:1336-1371.

Eagly, Alice H. 1992. “Uneven Progress: Social Psychology and the Study of Attitudes.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 63:693-710.

Kelley, Harold H. 1973. “The Process of Causal Attribution.” American Psychologist 28:107-128. Unavailable

Al-Zahrani, Saad Said, and Stan A. Kaplowitz. 1993. “Attributional Biases in Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures: A Comparison of Americans with Saudis.”  Social Psychology Quarterly 56:223-233.

Festinger. Leon. 1954. “A Theory of Social Comparison Processes.” Human Relations 7:117-140.

Festinger, L. and J. M. Carlsmith. 1959. “Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 58:203-10.  Unavailable

Social Structure and Personality

House, James S.  1981. Social Structure and Personality.” Pp. 525-561 in Morris Rosenberg and Ralph H. Turner (eds.), Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives. New York: Basic Books.

Edwards, Jeffrey R., and Nancy P. Rothbard. 1999. “Work and Family Stress and Well-Being: An Examination of Person-Environment Fit in the Work and Family Domains.”  Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 77:85-129.

Kerckhoff, Alan C. 1995. “Social Stratification and Mobility Processes: Interaction between Individuals and Social Structures.” Pp. 476-496 in Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology edited by K.S. Cook, G.A. Fine, and J.S. House. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Kohn, Melvin L. 1989, “Social Structure and Personality: A Quintessentially Sociological Approach to Social Psychology.” Social Forces 68:26-33.

Kohn, Melvin L., et al. 2002. “Structural Location and Personality During the Transformation of Poland and Ukraine.” Social Psychology Quarterly 65:364-385.

Rosenberg, Morris. 1981. “The Self-Concept: Social Product and Social Force.” Pp. 593-624 in Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives edited by M. Rosenberg and R.H. Turner. New York: Basic Books.

Rosenberg, Morris. 1989. “Self-Concept Research: A Historical Overview.”  Social Forces 68:34-44.

Ross, Catherine E. and John Mirowsky. 2002. “Age and the Gender Gap in the Sense of Personal Control.” Social Psychology Quarterly 65:125-145.

Group Processes

Emerson, Richard M. 1962.  “Power-Dependence Relations.” American Sociological Review 27:31-41.

Cook, Karen S. and Richard M. Emerson.1978 "Power, Equity and Commitment in Exchange Networks." American Sociological Review 43:721-739.

Markovsky, Barry. 1985. "Toward a Multilevel Distributive Justice Theory." American Sociological Review 50:822-39.

Berger, J., B. P. Cohen, and M. Zelditch, Jr. 1974. Expectation States Theory: A Theoretical Research Program. Cambridge, Mass: Winthrop.  Ch. 4

Ridgeway, Cecilia L. 1991. “The Social Construction of Status Value: Gender and Other Nominal Characteristics.”  Social Forces 70:367-386.

Yamagishi, Toshio, and Karen S. Cook. 1993. "Generalized Exchange and Social Dilemmas." Social Psychology Quarterly 56:235-248.

Lawler, Edward J. 2001. “An Affect Theory of Social Exchange.” American Journal of Sociology 107: 321-352.

MODULE I. ROLE, SELF, IDENTITY AND EMOTION Classic Pieces in the Symbolic Interactionist Tradition

Cooley, Charles Horton. 1902. "The Looking Glass Self." Pp. 175-192 in Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribner's

Mead, George Herbert. "Self" from Mind, Self and Society

Linton, Ralph. 1936. "Status and Role" in The Study of Man. New York: Appleton Century-Croft.

Znaniecki, Florian. 1965. "The Concept of the Social Role" Ch. 10 in Social Relations and Social Roles. Chandler Publishing Company.

Self-Concept and Self-esteem

Rosenberg, Morris. 1981. "The Self-Concept: Social Product and Social Force." Pp. 593-624 in

M. Rosenberg and R. Turner (Eds.), Social Psychology.

Contemporary Symbolic Interactionism: Affect Control Processes

Heise, David R. 1979. Understanding Events. Cambridge University Press.

Smith-Lovin, Lynn, and Heise, Dabid R. 1988.  Analyzing Social Interaction: Research Advances in Affect Control Theory. Gordon and Breach Scientific Publishers.

MacKinnon, Neil. 1994. Symbolic Interaction as Affect Control. NY: SUNY Press.

Ridgeway, C., and L. Smith-Lovin 1994. "Structure, Culture and Interaction:  A Comparison of Affect Control Theory and Expectations States Theory". Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 11, JAI Press.

Smith-Lovin, Lynn, and Dawn T. Robinson. 2006. “Affect Control Theory” In Peter J. Bruke (ed.) Sociological Theories in Social Psychology.  Stanford University Press.

Robinson, Dawn T., and Lynn Smith-Lovin. 2005. “Control Theories of Identity, Action and Emotion” In Kent McClelland and Thomas Fararo (eds.), Control Theories in Sociology. MacMillan.

Robinson, Dawn T. 1996. “Identity and Friendship: Affective Dynamics and Network Formation” Advances in Group Processes, 13, 91-111. Unavailable

Robinson, Dawn T. and Lynn Smith-Lovin.1992  “Selective Interaction as a Strategy for Identity Maintenance: an Affect Control Model.” Social Psychology Quarterly 55:12-28.

Robinson, Dawn T., and Lynn Smith-Lovin 1999 “Emotion display as a strategy for identity negotiation” . Motivation and Emotion. 23 (2):73-104.

Douglass, W.T., and L. Smith-Lovin. 1992. “An affect control analysis of two religious subcultures.” Pp.217-247 in Social Perspectives on Emotion, edited by D.

Franks and V. Gecas. New York: JAI Press.

Tsoudis, Olga, and Lynn Smith-Lovin 1998. “How Bad Was It?  Identity and Emotion Display in Mock Jury Deliberations”. Social Forces. 77:695-722.

Contemporary Symbolic Interactionism: Identity Theory and Identity Control Theory

Stryker, Sheldon. 1980. Symbolic Interactionism: A Social Structural Version. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings

Stryker, Sheldon, and Richard T. Serpe. 1994. “Identity Salience and Psychological Centrality: Equivalent, Overlapping, or Complementary Concepts?” Social Psychology Quarterly 57:16-35.

Burke, P. J. and D. C. Reitzes. 1981 “The Link Between Identity and Role Performance.” Social Psychology Quarterly 44:83-92.

________. 1991. “An Identity Theory Approach to Commitment.”  Social Psychology Quarterly 54:239-51, 280-86

Burke, Peter J. 1991. "Identity processes and social stress." American Sociological Review 56:836-49.

Stets, Jan And Burke, Peter J. 2000. “Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory” Social Psychology Quarterly 63:224-224-237

Burke, Peter J., and Jan E. Stets. 1999. “Trust and Commitment through Self-Verification.”  Social Psychology Quarterly 62:347-366.

Stets, Jan. 2005 “Emotion. And Identity Control Theory.”  Social Psychology Quarterly 8:39-74.

Other Perspectives on the Sociology of Emotions

Hochschild, Arlie R. 1979. “Emotion Work, Feeling Rules and Social Structure.”American Journal of Sociology 85:551-575.

Kemper, Theodore D. 1991. "Predicting Emotions from Social Relations." Social Psychology Quarterly 54:330-342.

________. “How Many Emotions are There? Wedding the Social and Automatic Components.” American Journal of Sociology 93:263-289..

Baumgardner, Ann H., Cynthia M. Kaufman, and Paul E. Levy. 1989.  “Regulating Affect Interpersonally: When Low Esteem Leads to Greater Enhancement.”  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56:907-921.

Pollak, Lauren Harte, and Peggy A. Thoits. 1989. “Processes in Emotional Socialization.”  Social Psychology Quarterly 52:22-34.

Thoits, Peggy. 1983. “Multiple Identities and Psychological Well-Being.”  American Sociological Review 48:174-87.

Interaction and Status in Task Groups

Berger, Joseph, Bernard P. Cohen, and Morris Zelditch, Jr.  1966. "Status Characteristics and Expectation States." In Berger, Zelditch, and Anderson (eds.), Sociological Theories in Progress, Vol. I, Pp. 29-46. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

Berger, Joseph, M. Hamit Fisek, Robert Z. Norman, and Morris Zelditch, Jr. 1977. "Status Characteristics and Expectation States: A Graph-Theoretic Formulation." Pp. 91-134 in Berger et al., Status Characteristics and Social Interaction. New York: Elsevier.

Berger, Joseph, Robert Z. Norman, James W. Balkwell, and Roy F. Smith. 1992.  "Status Inconsistency in Task Situations: A Test of Four Status Processing Principles."  American Sociological Review 57: 843-855.

Ridgeway, Cecilia. 1981. “Status in Groups: The Importance of Motivation.”  American Sociological Review 51:603-633.