Tomes for Teachers

This relatively slim volume provides a very readable historical overview and commentary (starting with the Enlightenment origins of sociology and ending with postmodern reflexivity...) on the development of sociological theory. The text explains a wide range of complex social theories in a straightforward, no-nonsense, way - although it presupposes a level of familiarity with the theories being outlined that goes some way beyond A-level. If your knowledge of sociological theory is somewhat rusty - or you just fancy a darn good read - this is a very worthwhile purchase to make.

An interesting attempt to introduce Ethnomethodology to a wider audience (the title playfully - or self-consciously - references Berger's classic introductory text). The subject-matter discussed is generally interesting and there are parts that could, with a little tinkering, be successfully used to inform A-level teaching in terms of "Interactionist Sociology" (although the text is aimed at undergraduates rather than A-level students). However, the general style of the text can be problematic at times; there's a tendency for examples to confuse rather than enlighten and I found it annoying that the authors indulge in lengthy restatements of statements that seemed clear enough in the first place. The book is focused on "doing Ethnomethodology" (with some useful examples that could be adapted for A-level) and whether or not you're going to find it useful depends, I think, on your attitude to studying the minutiae of social behaviour - if you find the an analysis of the thought processes involved in choosing a supermarket queue fascinating then this is probably the book for you...

The sociology of organisations is currently a "hot topic" (perhaps we've finally woken-up to what Psychologists have known for years - there's gold in them there tills). This (admittedly sometimes dense and rather complex) text focuses on our understanding of both power and the role of power within organizations. In some respects it's a useful "dip into and take bits from" book in the context of A-level teaching - with a bit of imagination it's possible to use some of the material here to explore both the central concept of power (and its different dimensions) and the central sociological theorists of power (which includes, here, familiar writers at A-level such as Weber, Lukes, Foucault and so forth).

The Sage Handbook of Organization Studies (to give it its full title) is an "Everything you wanted to know about organizations" Reader that covers the topic in a massive amount of depth throughout its near-900 pages of dense type (it has a price to match but by the time you read this a paperback edition may be forthcoming). There's not a great deal I can say to do the text justice in this small space - if you're interested in the sociology of organisations you've probably got a copy. For the casual reader(?) there's an incredible range of ideas to dip into here (the text is organised in terms of organisational theory and research in Part 1 and concepts like organisational diversity and globalisation in Part 2). If you have the time, money and inclination to get into this expanding and increasingly significant sociological field and want just one book to get you started you could do a lot worse for your hard-earned than start here.