Encyclopedia of Sociology (2nd Edition)

Borgatta, E.E. and Montgomery R.J.V. (Eds.).  (2000).  Encyclopedia of sociology (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: Macmillan Reference USA. 

Scope:  August Comte deemed Sociology the “Queen of the Social Sciences” as cited in the Preface of volume 1 of Encyclopedia of Sociology (1991, vii).  In the preface to the second edition, Borgatta states “We reminded authors that the purpose of the reference section is to provide users with an opportunity to explore the area further.” (2000, xii).  Encyclopedia of Sociology, Second Edition provides a broad scope of terminology and areas of sociological interest ranging from abortion to world religions. It is a five volume set that provides a background on the subject area but also a starting point for further research.

Audience:  The intended audience is the undergraduate or graduate student studying sociology or other social sciences and those professionals working in the field of sociology or other social sciences. Sociology encapsulates many, if not all the other social sciences and contains many fields and subfields. 

Timeliness:  Sociology, like most of the social sciences, is a relatively young science with much of the development occurring during the 1930s and 1940s.  Due to its relative infancy, it is likely that there have been changes in the field in the past 13 years. In fact, when Borgatta, there were significant turnaround in the field between the writing of the preface of the first edition in 1991 to the writing of the second preface in 2000.  He made mention in the first preface that while Sociology had once been the Queen of the social sciences, there were factors that had detracted sociology from that role.  Borgatta speaks of the “blossoming of applied fields” in which sociology in general seemed “indifferent and uninvolved.” (vii).  The technical training for Sociology became more advanced, the involvement of sociologists in civil rights movements and other political activities, technicalogical development and the increase of special subfields were all deteriorating the field of sociology.  Yet, less than ten years later, Borgatta states that there were areas of sociology that had changed with the approach of the Millennium and that “…the social sciences appear to have softened their borders….” (xi).  This leads me to believe that there are likely substantial changes in sociology in the past 13 years. This publication occurred before 9/11 and many other technological advances that have been made.  I failed to find a newer edition of the Encyclopedia available.

Authority:  Edgar Borgatta does not have a Wikipedia page, though a Google search of his name retrieved many hits and indicates that he has published a number of books on the subject of sociology. He is listed as an Emeritis professor at the University of Washington, though not much additional information is provided.

Rhonda J. V. Montgomery is listed as a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where she holds the title of  Helen Bader Endowed Chair of Applied Gerontology in the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare.  Her areas of speciality are gerontology and family and she also has a list of selected publishings.

Documentation: It is very interesting that Borgatta made the following statement in his preface to the second edition: “ Thus, we asked authors to give special special attention to providing direction rather than overwhelming the reader…In addition to the work of the authors, the professional sociological staff of the Encyclopedia prepared for the article a short list of additional reference to broaden the scope of coverage and provide additional transitions to related concepts.” (2000, xii)

Relevance: In spite of changes that may have occurred in the past 10-13 years, this is still a relevant resource for those working in the field of sociology or the social sciences in general.

References:

University of Washington. (n.d.)  Department of Sociology University of Washington.  Retrieved from http://www.soc.washington.edu/faculty-details/borgatta.

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.  (n.d.).  UW-Milwaukee: Sociology – Rhonda Montgomery. Retrieved from http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/sociology/faculty/montgomery.cfm