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[inconspicuousphd]

Greetings,

To any sociologists out there, what books would you say every good sociologist needs to read? I am a student in need of new material.

Thanks in advance!

[yellowtractor]

Undergraduate?  Graduate?  Don't you have classes to take, I mean classes in which "good sociologists" will recommend and/or assign this sort of reading?  Or are you trying to compile an extracurricular list?

[inconspicuousphd]

Graduate and I am compiling an extracurricular list. Ideas?

[ex_mo]

You do realize, don't you, that asking for a list of sociology books is like asking for a list of books about the Civil War?  Sociology is a broad discipline. 

I'm going to assume that if you are a graduate student you've at least taken an introductory level sociology class and read Mills' The Sociological Imagination.  If not, start there.

For a good primer on theory, get your hands on the Marx-Engles Reader, edited by Tucker. 

Other foundational books:
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Goffman
Symbolic Interactionism:  Perspective and Method by Blumer
The Rules of the Sociological Method by Durkheim
The Philadelphia Negro by DuBois
The Managed Heart by Hochschild
The Declining Significance of Race by Wilson


Topical books:
The McDonaldization of Society by Ritzer
The Second Shift by Hochschild
Racism Without Racists by Bonilla-Silva
Color-Blind by Wise
Unequal Childhoods by Lareau
As Nature Made Him by Colpitano (not written by a sociologist but a great book about the construction of gender)
 

These are full length books, obvs.  The list of key articles would be longer and would depend on what your specific interests are. 

[prof_smartypants]

You do realize, don't you, that asking for a list of sociology books is like asking for a list of books about the Civil War?  Sociology is a broad discipline. 
 

Actually, it's like asking for a list of books about "history".

What are you looking for, OP - social stratification? urban sociology? social networks? gender? race? environmental sociology?

[wanna_writemore]

What books and articles get cited frequently in what you've read for your classes?

Another approach: Ask someone who's taken comps recently for their reading lists. These are usually somewhat personalized, but will have the major works on them.  If you can find 2 or more, see where the overlaps are.

[ex_mo]

You do realize, don't you, that asking for a list of sociology books is like asking for a list of books about the Civil War?  Sociology is a broad discipline. 
 

Actually, it's like asking for a list of books about "history".

What are you looking for, OP - social stratification? urban sociology? social networks? gender? race? environmental sociology?

Too true.  It was early when I posted. 

[inconspicuousphd]

Thank you all for your responses. Your analogies make sense. I suppose I was thinking mostly about theory, but I am also looking for anything that really stuck out to readers.

I will definitely look at what other people were reading while taking their comps.