876 Briefly Noted

today are faced with more difficult decisions and examines how many of the communities
than they ever were. Women feel pressure to of sisters in Bluffton have a charism, or
stay at home and take care of their children ‘‘gift,’’ of social justice and serving people
and they feel pressure to go to work every who are marginalized. With these charisms,
day—finding that balance is stressful. Jen- the sisters provide many charitable minis-
kins also found that the daughters were tries for the community, work with com-
less likely than their mothers to say they munity leaders, and also advocate for
feel discriminated against as women, and immigrants on a national scale. These nuns
took on the difficulty of balancing work are well loved in Bluffton as their networks
and family as their own issue rather than in the community help to sustain civic life
a structural problem. Both generations and connectivity. While they play a central
admitted to not being very involved in role in Bluffton, the continuation of their leg-
politics—they felt that women’s issues acy may be threatened since fewer young
were important, but were being swept under women are joining their ranks.
the rug by most politicians. This book is suitable for wide audiences,
Jenkins concludes by discussing the over- offering an inspiring account of how a small
all consistencies and inconsistencies she city has come to embrace diversity. It
found between the two generations. She touches on many key topics in sociology,
does a wonderful job illustrating the ways including religion, community, social net-
in which the mothers and daughters today works, inequality, and civic engagement.
handle and process their experiences as For those readers not familiar with Catholi-
women. This book is appropriate for courses cism, the author provides helpful informa-
on gender, feminism, and politics. tion, history, and background in her
discussions.

Diversity and the Common Good: Civil Society,

Religion, and Catholic Sisters in a Small Town, What Is Historical Sociology?, by Richard
by Meg Wilkes Karraker. Lanham, MD: Lachmann. Malden, MA: Polity Press,
Lexington Books, 2013. 166pp. $60.00 cloth. 2013. 176pp. $19.95 paper. ISBN: 978074
ISBN: 9780739181522. 5660097.

This book concerns the role of Catholic reli- Sociology began as a means to explain major
gious women in a small, Midwestern city historical changes. While much of modern-
along the Mississippi River, called ‘‘Bluff- day sociology engages in a more presentist
ton.’’ As the Midwest has become more approach, Richard Lachmann explains that
diverse in the past decades, many cities, the historical approach to sociology retains
including Bluffton, have struggled with this focus. Historical sociology, to answer
xenophobia and racism, and this book exam- the question posed in the title, is the study
ines how Bluffton has come to embrace of changes in societies over time, the histor-
diversity. Meg Karraker discusses many rea- ical events and contingencies that allowed
sons why this city has been successful in for those changes, and the trajectories for
doing so. Bluffton’s residents have fairly further societal development that those
high levels of socioeconomic status, are changes create. Lachmann explores how
well educated, and are well-connected to the historical approach has been used to
different social institutions, whether they study seven different sociological topics—
are political, religious, or charitable. Bluffton capitalism and its development, social
also has a large Catholic population and movements and revolutions, empires, states,
many Catholic schools. Through these Cath- social stratification, gender and family, and
olic institutions, many people come into con- culture—as well as in predictive or counter-
tact with the Catholic sisters and learn factual studies.
Catholic teachings about social justice and The result is, essentially, a book-length
caring for ‘‘the other’’—often racial minori- review of literature in historical sociology,
ties and immigrants. Karraker also discusses ranging from Marx, Weber, and Durkheim
the history of religious sisters in Catholicism to Charles Tilly, Randall Collins, and George

Contemporary Sociology 43, 6

 Briefly Noted 877

Steinmetz. Though the author therefore as the extensive works of Eva Sørensen and
often is engaged in summary, his own voice Jacob Torfing on network and postliberal
and perspective on historical sociology is governance.
never lost. Lachmann frequently celebrates Finally, in Part III Nickel shows that the
the strengths of the pieces he deems good practices of public sociology, civil society,
models of work in historical sociology, and and neoliberal network governance pre-
calls out the flaws in his less favored pieces serve power relations rather than alter
with equal (sometimes greater) relish. This them, specifically examining the intersec-
commentary, combined with the ten-page tion of these in the concepts of ‘‘public soci-
list of works addressed within, should ology for human rights,’’ or as Nickel
make Lachmann’s book a useful jumping- reveals—public sociology for human rights
off point for students interested in exploring according to traditional development and
historical sociology. market rites.
Less accessible to those outside the disci-
pline, despite the fact that the insights are
Public Sociology and Civil Society: Governance, widely applicable, Public Sociology and Civil
Politics, and Power, by Patricia Mooney Society would do well as literature for grad-
Nickel. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, uate level coursework in sociology or public
2013. 171pp. $42.95 paper. ISBN: 978159 affairs, and for those scholars particularly
4519772. interested in critical theory and power rela-
tions as reinforced by the practices of gov-
Public sociology, civil society, and democrat- erning through NGOs and knowledge
ic governance may not be wolves in sheep’s production.
clothing—lacking malicious intent—but at
the same time they are neither benign nor
free of duplicity, according to political sociol- Wired for Culture: Origins of the Human Social
ogist and critical social theorist Patricia Mind, by Mark Pagel. New York, NY: W. W.
Mooney Nickel. In Public Sociology and Civil Norton and Co., 2013. 416pp. $18.95 paper.
Society, Nickel works to unmask these ISBN: 9780393344202.
phrases, arguing that although such con-
cepts are presented as radical transforma- This is the sort of book which ought in prin-
tions of power relations, they instead serve ciple to interest sociologists but, because of
to reinforce the status quo. Though a slim its sources of data and narrative reference
text, the scholarship is by no means light points, would not likely come to their atten-
reading. tion via the usual sources. More than any-
Utilizing public sociology as an entry thing, this reflects arbitrary disciplinary
point into her examination of ‘‘the politics divisions instituted for various administra-
of academic disciplines, knowledge, and tive and budgeting reasons, having little to
discourse,’’ Nickel begins by critiquing soci- do with scholarly concerns. It was not
ologist and primary champion Michael Bur- too long ago that important sociology
awoy’s conception and popularization of the departments were formally linked with
discipline. Nickel draws and builds upon anthropology; there still remain a few of
the works of Max Horkheimer, Theodor these jointly administered programs. It was
Adorno, Michel Foucault, and Ben Agger surely not a great advance for learning
among others. In Part II, she investigates civ- when they were separated, mostly following
il society and its relationship to governing, WWII. As was then intuited by social scien-
first placing the phrase within its historical tists, anthropologists kept sociologists
context and then as institutionalized nongo- ‘‘grounded,’’ as it were, in the real behavior
vermental organizations (NGOs). In the lat- of real humans, while sociologists helped
ter portion of this part, she specifically anthropologists think in terms that apply
targets the claims of Lester Salamon and to contemporary life, and forced them
his work at the Comparative Nonprofit Sec- to acknowledge the utility of surveys.
tor Project, which has helped legitimize Mark Pagel’s book would have stimulated
NGOs as indicators of democracy; as well a lively faculty discussion in such a

Contemporary Sociology 43, 6