Edgar Borgatta – Encyclopedia of Sociology. Second edition (5 Volume set, 2000)

Автор: Edgar Borgatta
Название книги: Encyclopedia of Sociology. Second edition (5 Volume set)
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Политология и Социология
Страницы: 756+754+808+628+570
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

After the Encyclopedia of Sociology had been in
print only three years, we began to receive inquiries
about when there would be a revised edition.
This was surprising given that the Encyclopedia was
so well received, that its distribution had been
much broader than even optimistic supporters of
the project had anticipated, and that the articles
were largely broad reviews and summaries of areas
of knowledge in sociology. However, some areas
in sociology changed quickly during the last decade
as we approached the Millennium so that
interest in a recapitulation and updating did not
seem inappropriate. In addition, the social sciences
appear to have softened their borders, and
thus we realized that a substantial and thoughtful
addition of titles would add breadth and depth to
the Encyclopedia.
August Comte’s description of sociology as
the ‘‘queen’’ of the social sciences seems to have
been awakened in a new generation, and the relevance
of sociology to the social and behavioral
sciences has been renewed. We took seriously our
obligation to improve the representation of the
areas of sociology in this edition of the Encyclopedia.
The Encyclopedia was greatly improved through
the input of Advisory Editors and authors who
identified new content areas and titles that should
be included and indicated which titles could be
eliminated or consolidated. Some provided comprehensive
reviews of the Encyclopedia’s scope and
coverage, as well as reviews of the content of many
individual articles. Suggestions for additional titles
for the revised Encyclopedia accumulated to a list of
over 80 concepts and themes, resulting in the
addition of 66 new titles, but in addition some of
the revised articles also included substantially new
and expanded topics.
With the help of the Advisory Editors and
quite a few authors, we reviewed articles and sectors
of coverage to determine what changes would
be important in a new edition. We distilled the
major points of emphasis provided by reviews and
user comments, and incorporated them into the
guidelines for revision provide to authors.
Reflecting the kind of question that comes up
so often in sociology doctoral exams, reviewers
repeatedly asked us why a particular article was
included in an encyclopedia of sociology. Authors
who are expert in a particular subject area assume
too frequently that readers will know their topic’s
relevance for sociology. To guard against this we
asked authors to note the sociological relevance of
the topic and to show how it fit into not only the
scheme of sociological knowledge but also social
and behavioral knowledge in general. As a consequence,
most articles have been expanded.
Authors, experts in their fields, often concentrate
on the knowledge and the issues within their
field but do not give sufficient attention to the
practical value of that knowledge, particularly how
it is important for policy formation and in applications
to everyday life. Of course, this is a comment
often made about academic scholars in general,
namely, that they sometimes forget that an important
reason for research and the accumulation of
knowledge is to provide bases for useful and informed
applications. Reviewers raised another theme. Articles often
did a wonderful job of summarizing knowledge
but did not indicate what to expect from
future endeavors in the field. In other words, what
areas need more attention in scholarship and research
to expand the knowledge in a given field?
While this kind of presentation is speculative, we
reminded authors of the need to give direction for
future work.
An additional theme for the revised edition is
one that is temporally controlled. There is no way
that references can provide more information than
what already has been published. Updating content
is important, but equally important is providing
information about easily accessible general
resources for those who want to go beyond the
relatively brief discussions in the Encyclopedia. We
reminded authors that the purpose of the reference
section is to provide users with an opportunity
to explore the area further. Academic scholars
can too easily become exhaustive bibliographers.
Thus, we asked authors to give special attention to
providing direction rather than overwhelming the
reader, and we are impressed that most authors
have been extremely successful in this task. In
addition to the work of the authors, the professional
sociological staff of the Encyclopedia prepared
for some article a short list of additional
references to broaden the scope of coverage and
provide additional transitions to related concepts.
We updated and provided new references for 20
articles from the earlier edition of the Encyclopedia.
Finally, reviewers commented that some of
the presentations in the first edition were too
brief, and some topics were too narrowly drawn.
Thus, some topics have been combined, some
topics have been eliminated and the content incorporated
into related broader articles, and many
articles have been expanded to cover neglected
aspects of a topic and to provide greater detail for
a more well-rounded presentation. Thirty-nine titles
were eliminated and incorporated into more
substantial articles, but some additional titles were
changed when the original topic was expanded. In
summary, there were 370 articles in the original
edition, 39 were eliminated and 66 new articles
were added, resulting in 397 in this revised edition.
In short, we have greatly improved the breadth
and depth of coverage in the Encyclopedia, and we
have paid particular attention to those articles that
relate to other social and behavioral sciences. We
have substantially increased the content of the
Encyclopedia in this edition, and we have made
every effort to ensure that the content is current,
accurate, and representative of the field.
EDGAR F. BORGATTA, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF