Foundations of Modern Sociology (PRENTICE-HALL FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN SOCIOLOGY SERIES)

Spencer, Metta

Inkeles, A.

History

Pearson College Div

Foundations of modern sociology (Prentice-Hall foundations of modern sociology series)

Prentice-Hall Canada

Sociological principles outlined and explained

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

PRENTICE/HALL

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The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy

In The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, Metta Spencer recounts the political and military changes that have occurred in Russia up to mid-2010. Using hundreds of interviews she conducted with officials, dissidents, and liberal intellectuals, she describes the various groups, forces, and individuals that worked to liberalize the totalitarian Soviet Union and its fellow nations behind the Iron Curtain, and which ultimately brought about the dissolution of those repressive governments. Spencer identifies four political orientations to describe Soviet society: "Sheep," ordinary citizens who accepted the undemocratic regime they lived in without challenging it; "Dinosaurs," hard-line Communist officials; "Termites," including Mikhail Gorbachev and his advisers and government; and "Barking Dogs," a few hundred dissidents who made "a lot of noise" protesting, hoping to awaken a grass-roots demand for democracy. The strange rivalry between the Termites and Barking Dogs would ultimately doom perestroika. Spencer's research dispels the widely-held perception that US President Ronald Reagan "won" the Cold War by standing firm until the Soviet Union "blinked first." There are vitally important lessons to be learned from the Soviet period, about how to assist citizens of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes around the world. The irony is that transnational civil society organizations, major sources of the progress in Soviet Russia, are still needed today in authoritarian Russia, under Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, for totalitarianism remains a potential social trap. In The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, Metta Spencer suggests new ways of building urgently-needed social capital in today's Russia, where democracy has yet to flourish.

Russia

Lexington Books

In The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, Metta Spencer recounts the political and military changes that have occurred in Russia up to mid-2010. Using hundreds of interviews she conducted with officials, dissidents, and liberal intellectuals, she describes the various groups, forces, and individuals that worked to liberalize the totalitarian Soviet Union and its fellow nations behind the Iron Curtain, and which ultimately brought about the dissolution of those repressive governments. Spencer identifies four political orientations to describe Soviet society: 'Sheep,' ordinary citizens who accepted the undemocratic regime they lived in without challenging it; 'Dinosaurs,' hard-line Communist officials; 'Termites,' including Mikhail Gorbachev and his advisers and government; and 'Barking Dogs,' a few hundred dissidents who made 'a lot of noise' protesting, hoping to awaken a grass-roots demand for democracy. The strange rivalry between the Termites and Barking Dogs would ultimately doom perestroika. Spencer's research dispels the widely-held perception that US President Ronald Reagan 'won' the Cold War by standing firm until the Soviet Union 'blinked first.' There are vitally important lessons to be learned from the Soviet period, about how to assist citizens of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes around the world. The irony is that transnational civil society organizations, major sources of the progress in Soviet Russia, are still needed today in authoritarian Russia, under Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, for totalitarianism remains a potential social trap. In The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, Metta Spencer suggests new ways of building urgently-needed social capital in today's Russia, where democracy has yet to flourish.

Politics & Government

Two Aspirins and a Comedy: How Television Can Enhance Health and Society

"An extraordinary book which makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the potential power for healing and goodness in 'television entertainment'." Arlie Hochschild, author of The Time Bind (2001) "Despite the light title, this is a serious book about the healing possibilities of television. ! Provocative and enlightening." Beth Montemurro, Penn State University Can television be a positive force in society? Can socially conscious entertainment change the world? Two Aspirins and Comedy arrives at surprising and unconventional answers to these questions. Metta Spencer delves deep into the significance and power of entertainment as a means to influence society. She finds current examples of socially constructive television and demonstrates how mass entertainment can better use its power to positively influence society. In a climate where television is often a culprit for society's woes, Spencer casts a redemptive eye on the medium. She asserts that television, like other fictional landscapes, offers invaluable lessons, emotional bonding and catharsis for a modern society whose members are increasingly isolated.

Humor & Entertainment

Television

Routledge

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Books by Spencer, Metta