Classics of the Social Sciences

The best in the canon of social science works in sociology, economics, political science, and philosophy.

  • Books,  Books Defying Categories,  Classics of the Social Sciences

    Dundes’ Cracking Jokes analyzes sick humor as cultural signs; adds new foreword by Marc Galanter

    This is a candid academic treatment of offensive and sick humor by the leading folklorist scholar on the topic of jokes and joke cycles. It features insightful, surprising, controversial and thought-provoking analyses of the jokes that have been told for years, throughout various cultures. Now in a 30th Anniversary Edition with new foreword. “No piece of folklore continues to be transmitted unless it means something—even if neither the speaker nor the audience can articulate what that meaning might be. In fact, it usually is essential that the joke’s meaning not be crystal clear. If people knew what they were communicating when they told jokes, the jokes would cease to be…

  • Books,  Classics of the Social Sciences

    Raskin’s acclaimed study of classic Jewish jokes is Digitally Remastered™ in a new, expanded Second Edition

    The first book on Jewish humor in which individual jokes are singled out for comprehensive study, Life is Like a Glass of Tea devotes a chapter to each of eight major jokes, tracing its history and variants—and looking closely at the ways in which the comic behavior enacted in the punchline can be interpreted. One of the unique properties of classic Jewish jokes is their openness to radically different interpretive options (having nothing to do with wordplay or double entendre). This openness to alternate interpretations—never before discussed in the literature on Jewish humor—gives classic Jewish jokes their special flavor, as they leave us wondering which of several possible attitudes we…

  • Books,  Classics of the Social Sciences

    Classic Social Science, Digitally Remastered: The Sociology of the Professions, edited by Dingwall & Lewis

    Robert Dingwall and Philip Lewis’s renowned compilation of diverse studies—written by internationally recognized theorists and empirical researchers into the sociology of the professions—was groundbreaking when first published in 1983 and has influenced scholars, practitioners, and professionals since. Not limited to one occupation or field, as are most such works, this collection examines across traditional fields the idea and practice of professions and professionals. The 2014 edition features a substantive new Foreword by Professor Sida Liu of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He notes that this book “is a rare effort to fully compare the two classic cases of doctors and lawyers in the professions literature. The contributors of the book include…

  • Books,  Classics of the Social Sciences,  Featured

    Wilensky’s classic Organizational Intelligence takes on failure in intelligence and informational decision-making

    This prize-winning, foundational book — now in an ebook edition and new paperback, featuring a 2015 Foreword by Neil Smelser — focuses on the structural and ideological roots of intelligence failures (both informational and analytical) found in government, industry, and other institutions. It provides groundbreaking theory and structure to the analysis of decision-making processes and their breakdowns, as well as the interactions among experts and the organizations they inform.In this book, both “organization” and “intelligence” are taken to their larger meanings, not just focused on the military meaning of intelligence or on one set of institutions in society. Astute illustrations of intelligence failures abound from real-world cases, such as foreign…

  • Books,  Classics of the Social Sciences,  Coming Soon,  Featured,  QP Blog

    Selznick’s The Organizational Weapon is Digitally Remastered, adding extensive new foreword by Martin Krygier

    The Organizational Weapon is a classic study of the methods, propaganda, and institutions which create infiltration and eventually cooptation of organizations from within. The study applies its theory to communist techniques, but its analysis and insights have, over the years, become extremely useful in identifying and combating such methods in jihadist cells, terrorist organizations, and political groups of many varieties, not only from the Left. Its utility is demonstrated in how it has influenced and been cited by current writers on how extremist and politically astute groups recruit and infiltrate more benign organizations to make them tools of further expansion in power and action. The book is also considered excellent…

  • Books,  Classics of the Social Sciences,  Coming Soon,  QP Blog

    Classic Social Science, Digitally Remastered: The Protection of Children, Second Edition, by Dingwall, Eekelaar & Murray

    This book has not been easily available in print for many years, but it has long been regarded as an important contribution to the study of child abuse and neglect, and legal and social responses to it. This classic study of law and social work in action is based on the most extensive investigation of child abuse and neglect ever carried out in Great Britain. The authors followed the course of numerous cases from the first detection of ill-treatment to the resolution (or otherwise) of the problem. Famous for coining the much-used (and often misused or misunderstood) phrase “the rule of optimism,” this book is updated with an extensive Postscript…

  • Books,  Classics of the Social Sciences,  Featured

    Everett Hughes’ Classic Study Men and Their Work is a Digitally Remastered Book™

    Quality ebook and paperback reprint of a classic work in the social sciences, written by one of the leading scholars on the intersection of work and sociology. This is an unabridged republication of this much-cited study first published in 1958 and re-released in 1981. Presented with care, the ebook edition features such proper digital formatting as: active TOC, linked chapter endnotes, fully-linked subject index, and the original tables. The new 2015 paperback features embedded pagination from previous printings, for continuity of referencing and citation. Hughes’ recognized study is now part of the Classics of the Social Sciences Series from Quid Pro Books. In this recognized work of sociology and the…

  • Books,  Classics of Law & Society,  Classics of the Social Sciences,  Featured,  Human Rights and Culture,  QP Blog

    Alison Renteln’s Classic Study of the Relativity of Human Rights Norms; Adds New Foreword by Tom Zwart

    A classic socio-legal study of the incompatibility and possible reconciliation of competing views of culture relativism and absolute fundamental human rights. It features prodigious research and insight that has often been cited by academics and human rights lawyers and activists over two decades. Originally published by Sage, the book is now available in Quid Pro's Classics of the Social Sciences Series, in new eBook and paperback editions; it remains one of the foundational works in human rights.

  • Books,  Classics of the Social Sciences

    Reinhard Bendix’s influential Work and Authority in Industry is now an eBook

    Work and Authority in Industry is a high quality, Digitally Remastered™ republication of one of the classic works of social history and industrial relations. Reinhard Bendix’s foundational study of the rise of the capitalist class is now presented as an eBook. This book has been assigned, quoted, and referenced thousands of times since its original publication. Berkeley sociologist Reinhard Bendix explores how the emerging class of entrepreneurs increasingly attempted to create and manage an industrial work force. His analysis is comparative and historical, and applies across widely varying societal structures, particularly the United States, England, Russia, and East Germany. First published in 1956 and updated in a 1963 paperback release…

  • Books,  Classics of the Social Sciences,  Featured,  QP Blog

    Three classic works by Neil Smelser return as quality eBook editions; two in new paperback

    Comparative Methods in the Social Sciences: Even after teaching generations of social scientists, this classic book by Berkeley’s Neil J. Smelser remains the most definitive statement of methodological issues for all comparative scholars and in political science, anthropology, sociology, economics and psychology. Such issues are timeless and therefore Smelser’s lucid analysis remains timely and relevant. Smelser posits a methodological continuity between the comparative studies of past masters and the more recent flow of contemporary comparative work. To that end, he takes a pragmatic, critical look at the classic studies of Alexis de Tocqueville, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. His analyses respect the historical specifics and contexts of their work, but…