Required Reading List for Comprehensive Exam in Social Psychology

Department of Sociology

Florida State University

Spring 2010

This list is not meant to serve as an exhaustive preparation for the comprehensive examination in social psychology. Rather, these required readings should be studied in the context of one’s coursework, which should have included several seminars in social psychology, courses in research methods, and seminars on substantive topics. In preparing for the exam, students should think critically about diverse perspectives in social psychology (e.g., symbolic interaction, social structure & personality, and small group processes) as well as their connections to areas within social psychology (e.g., emotions & identity), research methods, and other substantive areas of sociology with which the student is acquainted (e.g., gender, race & class inequality, aging, friendship, mental health & social movements). Students studying for the exam are encouraged to meet with all members of the committee early in the process of working through this list.

Part I: Classics, Overviews, and Comparisons of Perspectives

  1. House, James S. 1977. “The Three Faces of Social Psychology.” Sociometry 2: 161-177.
  2. Stryker, Sheldon. 1977. “Developments in the Two Social Psychologies.” Sociometry 2: 145-160.
  3. Thoits, Peggy A. 1995. “Social Psychology: The Interplay between Sociology and Psychology.” Social Forces 73: 1231-1243.
  4. Jane, McLeod D. and Kathryn J. Lively. 2003. “Social Structure and Personality.” Pages 77-102 in Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by J. Delamater. New York: Plenum.
  5. House, James S. 1981. “Social Structure and Personality.” Pages 525-561 in Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives, edited by M. Rosenberg and R. Turner. New York: Basic Books.
  6. Correll, Shelley J. and Cecilia L. Ridgeway. 2003. “Expectation States Theory.” Pages 29-51 in Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by J. Delamater. New York: Plenum.
  7. Cook, Karen S. and Eric Rice. 2003. “Social Exchange Theory.” Pages 53-76 in Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by J. Delamater. New York: Plenum.
  8. Stryker, Sheldon. 2008. “From Mead to a Structural Symbolic Interactionism and Beyond.” Annual Review of Sociology 34: 15-31.
  9. Blumer, Herbert. 1969. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. (Focus on chapters 1 & 2)
  10. Goffman, Erving. 1967. Interactional Ritual. New York: Pantheon. (Focus on chapters “Face-Work” and “Deference and Demeanor.”)
  11. Goffman, Erving. 1983. “The Presidential Address: The Interaction Order.” American Sociological Review 48: 1-17.
  12. Berger, Peter and Thomas Luckmann. 1967. The Social Construction of Reality. New York: Doubleday. (Focus on pages 47-128).
  13. Garfinkel, Harold. 1967. “Common Sense Knowledge of Social Structures: The Documentary Method of Interpretation in Lay and Professional Fact Finding.” Pages 76-103 in Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  14. Maynard, Douglas W. and Steven E. Clayman. 1991. “The Diversity of Ethnomethodology.” Annual Review of Sociology 17: 385-418.
  15. Scott, Marvin B. and Stanford M. Lyman. 1968. “Accounts.” American Sociological Review 33: 46-62.
  16. Mead, George H. 1934. Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Focus on pages 135-200 “The Self”.)
  17. Cooley, Charles H. 1968. “The Social Self: On the Meaning of ‘I’.” Pages 87-91 in The Self in Social Interaction, edited by C. Gordon and K. Gergen. New York: Wiley. (Also, reprinted in Human Nature and the Social Order. 1992. New York: Schocken Books, pages 68-210.)
  18. House, James. 2008. “Social Psychology, Social Science, and Economics: Twentieth Century Progress and Problems, Twenty-First Century Prospects.” Social Psychology Quarterly 71: 232-256.

Part II: Emotions

1.  Thoits, Peggy A. 1989. “The Sociology of Emotions.” Annual Review of Sociology 15: 317-342.

2.  Kemper, Theodore D. 1987. “How Many Emotions Are There? Wedding the Social and the Autonomic Components.” American Journal of Sociology 93: 263-289.

3.  Hochschild, Arlie R. 1979. “Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 3: 551-575.

4.  Shott, Susan. 1979. “Emotion and Social Life: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective.” American Journal of Sociology 84: 1317-1334.

5.  Cahill, Spencer E. and Robin Eggleston. 1994. “Managing Emotions in Public: The Case of Wheelchair Users.” Social Psychology Quarterly 57: 300-312.

6.  Hochschild, Arlie R. 1983. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkley: University of California Press.

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

8.  Schrock, Douglas, Daphne Holden, and Lori Reid. 2004. “Creating Emotional Resonance: Interpersonal Emotion Work and Motivational Framing in a Transgender Community.” Social Problems 51: 61-81.

9.  Simon, Robin W. and Leda E. Nath. 2004. “Gender and Emotion in the U.S.: Do Men and Women Differ in Self-Reports of Feelings and Expressive Behavior?” American Journal of Sociology 109: 1137-1176.

10.  Simon, Robin W., Donna Eder, and Cathy Evans. 1992. “The Development of Feeling Norms Underlying Romantic Love among Adolescent Females.” Social Psychology Quarterly 55: 29-46.

11.  Whalen, Jack and Don H. Zimmerman. 1998. “Observations on the Display and Management of Emotions in Naturally Occurring Activities: The Case of ‘Hysteria’ in Calls to 9-1-1.” Social Psychology Quarterly 61: 141-159.

12.  Smith, Allen C. and Sherryl Kleinman. 1989. “Managing Emotions in Medical School: Students’ Contacts with the Living and the Dead.” Social Psychology Quarterly 52: 56-69.

13.  Mills, Trudy and Sherryl Kleinman. 1988. “Emotions, Reflexivity, and Action.” Social Forces 66: 1009-1027.

14.  Cahill, Spencer E. 1999. “Emotional Capital and Professional Socialization: The Case of Mortuary Science Students (and Me).” Social Psychology Quarterly 62:101-116.

15.  Clark, Candace. 1987. “Sympathy Biography and Sympathy Margin.” American Journal of Sociology 93: 290-321.

16.  Thoits, Peggy A. 1985. “Self-Labeling Processes in Mental Illness: The Role of Emotional Deviance.” American Journal of Sociology 92: 221-249.

Part III: Self and Identity

  1. Callero, Peter L. 2003. “The Sociology of the Self.”Annual Review of Sociology 29: 115-133.
  2. Rosenberg, Morris. 1979. Conceiving the Self. New York: Basic Books. (Focus on pages 5-78.)
  3. Gecas, Victor. 1982. “The Self-Concept.” Annual Review of Sociology 8: 1-33.
  4. Rosenberg , Morris, Carmi Schooler, Carrie Schoenbach, and Florence Rosenberg. 1995. “Global Self-Esteem and Specific Self-Esteem: Different Concepts, Different Outcomes.” American Sociological Review 60: 141-156.
  5. Demo, David. 1992. “The Self-Concept over Time: Research Issues and Directions.” Annual Review of Sociology 18: 303-326.
  6. Stryker, Sheldon and Richard Serpe. 1982. “Commitment, Identity Salience, and Role Behavior: Theory and Research Example.” Pages 199-218 in Personality, Roles, and Social Behavior, edited by W. Ikes and E. Knowles. New York: Springer-Verlag.

7.  Stryker, Sheldon and Peter J. Burke. 2000. “The Past, Present, and Future of an Identity Theory.” Social Psychology Quarterly 63: 284-297.

  1. Thoits, Peggy A. 1991. “On Merging Identity Theory and Stress Research.” Social Psychology Quarterly 54: 101-112.
  2. Gecas, Victor. 1989. “The Social Psychology of Self-Efficacy.” Annual Review of Sociology 15: 291-316.
  3. Goffman, Erving. 1963. “Stigma and Social Identity.” Pages 1-40 in Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
  4. 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.
  5. Schwalbe, M. L., Mason-Schrock, D. 1996. “Identity Work as Group Process.” Advances in Group Processes 13: 113-47.
  6. Adler, Patricia A. and Peter Adler. 1989. “The Glorified Self: The Aggrandizement and the Construction of the Self.” Social Psychology Quarterly 52: 299-310.
  7. Cahill, Spencer. 1986. “Language Practices and Self Definition: The Case of Gender Identity.” Sociological Quarterly 15: 295-311.
  8. Tajfel, Heini. 1978. “Social Categorization, Social Identity, and Social Comparison.” Pages 61-76 in Differentiation Between Social Groups: Studies in the Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, edited by H. Tajfel. London: Academic Press.
  9. Turner, John C., Penelope J. Oakes, S. Alexander Haslam, and Craig McGarty. 1994. “Self and Collective: Cognition and Social Context.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 20: 454-463.
  10. Hogg, Michael A., Deborah J. Terry, and Katherine M. White. 1995. “A Tale of Two Theories: A Critical Comparison of Identity Theory with Social Identity Theory.” Social Psychology Quarterly 58: 255-269.
  11. Thoits, Peggy A. and Lauren K. Virshup. 1997. “Me’s and We’s: Forms and Functions of Social Identities.” Pages 106-133 in Self & Identity: Fundamental Issues Vol. 1, edited by R. Ashmore and L. Jussim. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  12. Barrett, Anne E. 2003. “Socioeconomic Status and Age Identity: The Role of Dimensions of Health in the Subjective Construction of Age.” Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 58B: S101-S109.
  13. Giordano, Peggy C., Monica A. Longmore, and Wendy D. Manning. 2006. "Gender and the Meanings of Adolescent Romantic Relationships: A Focus on Boys." American Sociological Review 71:260-287.
  14. Janice McCabe, Amanda E. Tanner, and Julia Heiman. Forthcoming. “The Impact of Gender Expectations on Meanings of Sex and Sexuality: Results from a Cognitive Interview Study.” Sex Roles.

Part IV: Social Structures and Inequalities

  1. Ridgeway, Cecilia L and Henry A. Walker. 1995. “Status Structures.” Pages 281-310 in Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology, edited by K. S. Cook, G. A. Fine, and J. S. House. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
  2. Berger, Joseph and Hamit M. Fisek. 1970. “Consistent and Inconsistent Status Characteristics and the Determination of Power and Prestige Orders.” Sociometry 33: 287-304.
  3. Ridgeway, Cecilia L. and Lynn Smith-Lovin. 1999. “The Gender System and Interaction.” Annual Review of Sociology 25: 191-216.
  4. Ridgeway, Cecilia L. 1997. “Interaction and the Conservation of Gender Inequality: Considering Employment.” American Sociological Review 62: 218-235.
  5. Stolte, John F., Gary Alan Fine, and Karen S. Cook. 2001. “Sociological Miniaturism: Seeing the Big Through the Small in Social Psychology.” Annual Review of Sociology 27: 387-413.
  6. Rosenberg, Morris and Leonard I. Pearlin. 1976. “Social Class and Self-Esteem among Children and Adults.” American Journal of Sociology 84: 53-77.

7.  Hughes, Michael and David Demo. 1989. “Self-Perceptions of Black Americans: Self-Esteem and Personal Efficacy.” American Journal of Sociology 95: 132-159.

  1. Porter, Judith and Robert Washington. 1993. “Minority Identity and Self-Esteem.” Annual Review of Sociology 19: 139-161.
  2. Schwalbe, Michael L. and Clifford L. Staples. 1991. “Gender Differences in Sources of Self-Esteem.” Social Psychology Quarterly 54: 158-168.
  3. Ueno, Koji. 2005. “Sexual Orientation and Psychological Distress in Adolescence: An Examination of Interpersonal Stressors and Social Support Processes.” Social Psychology Quarterly 68: 258-277.
  4. Janice McCabe. 2005. “What’s in a Label? The Relationship between Feminist Self-Identification and ‘Feminist’ Attitudes among U.S. Women and Men.” Gender & Society 19: 480-505.
  5. Burke, Peter J. 2004. “Identities and Social Structure.” Social Psychology Quarterly 67: 5-15.
  6. Kohn, Melvin L. 1969. Class and Conformity: A Study in Values. Oxford: Dorsey.
  7. Elder, Glen H. 1974. Children of the Great Depression. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  8. West, Candace and Donald Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1: 125-151.
  9. Schwalbe, Michael, Sandra Goodwin, Daphne Holden, Douglas Schrock, Shealy Thompson, and Michele Wolkomir. 2000. “Generic Processes in the Reproduction of Inequality: An Interactionist Analysis.” Social Forces 79: 419-452.
  10. Fields, Jessica, Marth Copp, and Sherryl Kleinman. 2006. “Symbolic Interactionism, Inequality, and Emotions.” Pages 155-78 in Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, edited by J. E. Stets and J. H. Turner. New York: Springer.
  11. Duneier, Mitchell and Harvey Molotch. 1999. “Talking City Trouble: Interactional Vandalism, Social Inequality, and the ‘Urban Interaction Problem.” American Journal of Sociology 104: 1236-1295.
  12. Feagin, Joe R. 1991. “The Continuing Significance of Race: Anti-Black Discrimination in Public Places.” American Sociological Review 56: 101-116.
  13. Adler, Patricia A. and Peter Adler. 1995. “Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in Preadolescent Cliques.” Social Psychology Quarterly 58: 145-162.
  14. Lareau, Annette. 2002. “Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black and White Families.” American Sociological Review 67:747-76.
  15. Gagnon, John H. 1990. "The Explicit and Implicit Use of the Scripting Perspective in Sex Research." Annual Review of Sex Research 1:1-43.
  16. Johnson, Monica Kirkpatrick and Stefanie Mollborn. 2009. “Growing up Faster, Feeling Older: Hardship in Childhood and Adolescence.” Social Psychology Quarterly 72: 39-60.

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