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Summer 7-2008
The Face of Society
Roger D. Clark
Rhode Island College, rclark@ric.edu
Alex Nunes
Rhode Island College
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Citation
Clark, R., & Nunes, A. (2008). The face of society: gender and race in introductory Sociology books revisited. Teaching Sociology,
36(3), 227-239. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055x0803600303
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Teaching Sociology
http://tso.sagepub.com/
The Face of Society : Gender and Race in Introductory Sociology Books Revisited
Roger Clark and Alex Nunes
Teaching Sociology 2008 36: 227
DOI: 10.1177/0092055X0803600303
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THE FACE THE FACE OF SOF SOOCIETY: GENDER AND RACE IN CIETY: GENDER AND RACE IN
INTROINTRODUCDUCTTORORY SY SOOCIOCIOLOGLOGYY BO BOOKSOKS REVI REVISITESITEDD* *
We have updated Ferree and Hall’s (1990) study of the way gender and race
ROGER CLARK Rhode Island College
are constructed through pictures in introductory sociology textbooks. Ferree
Rhode Island College
and Hall looked at 33 textbooks published between 1982 and 1988. We repli-
cated their study by examining 3,085 illustrations in a sample of 27 text-
ALEX NUNES
books, most of which were published between 2002 and 2006. We found
important areas of progress in the presentation of both gender and race as
well as significant areas of stasis. The face of society we found depicted in
contemporary textbooks was distinctly less likely to be that of a white man,
very prominent in the 1980s texts, and much more likely to be that of a mi-
nority woman. Thus, while only 34 percent of the pictures of identifiable indi-
viduals in the textbooks examined by Ferree and Hall were of women, almost
50 percent of such pictures were of women in the recent texts. Moreover,
while the percentage of white men portrayed dropped from about 45 percent
to 30 percent, the percentage of portrayals of minority women rose from
about 11 percent to 22 percent. Another sign of progress has been the de-
creasing likelihood of textbooks to depict race and gender as being nonover-
lapping categories: while women of color apparently “had” only race in the
sample examined by Ferree and Hall, they “had” both gender and race in the
sample we studied. Still, our examination of pictures as a whole as a unit of
analysis found that blacks continue to be more likely than any other racial
group to be depicted in the presence of other racial groups and, thus, to ideal-
ize the degree of social integration in American society. We also still see non-
white women enjoying very little (in fact, no) visibility in sections devoted to
theory, despite developments in feminist theory, generally, and multicultural
feminist, specifically. In general, though, our analysis suggests that the vari-
ous criticisms of introductory texts that have appeared in this forum and oth-
ers can have an impact on the content of those texts and, by extension, the
sociology we teach.
ROGER CLARK ALEX NUNES
Rhode Island College Rhode Island College
THE INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY COURSE is concerns and interests of sociologists gener-
probably students’ first exposure to the con- ally and, ideally, some realities of society
cepts and concerns of the discipline, and for itself. That introductory textbooks often fail
many students, it is also their last. It is most to achieve either of these goals is undoubt-
likely taught with an introductory textbook, edly less a function of the efforts of intro-
whose content is supposed to reflect the ductory textbook authors to achieve them
than of the difficulty of keeping up with the
*We would like to thank the Rhode Island many subdisciplines that constitute sociol-
College Faculty Research Committee for a grant ogy (see, e.g., Hamilton and Form 2003,
that enabled this research. Please address all Schweingruber and Wohlstein 2005) and of
correspondence to Roger Clark at Rhode Island striking a balance among many valued ends.
College, 600 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Provi-
dence, RI 02908; e-mail: rclark@ric.edu. One of the functions, then, of forums such
Editor’s note: The reviewers were, in alpha- as Teaching Sociology and other journals
betical order, Diane Gillespie and David has become the provision of feedback to the
Schweingruber. authors, or at least the faculty users, of our
Teaching Sociology, Vol. 36, 2008 (July:227-239) 227
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228 TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
introductory textbooks, and such feedback claimed that many of the concepts intro-
has been forthcoming. The purpose of this duced in texts are rarely used by practicing
paper is to assess the degree to which one sociologists themselves. Nolan (2003) sug-
kind of feedback about introductory sociol- gested that by using exaggeration, distor-
ogy textbooks, that of Ferree and Hall tion, and simple untruths about social phe-
(1990) about textbooks’ depiction of gender nomena, texts run the risk of engendering
and race in society, is reflected in a new distrust and cynicism in students. Keith and
generation of such textbooks. Ender (2004a, 2004b) and Schweingruber
Ferree and Hall, of course, have not pro- (2004) debated whether sociology as a disci-
vided the only feedback to authors and pub- pline has a “core” and whether this core,
lishers of introductory sociology texts. The such as it is, is adequately reflected in our
year before Ferree and Hall’s piece ap- introductory texts. Wagenaar (2004) argued
peared in 1990, Mathisen (1989) opined that that certain topics covered by current texts
introductory texts should stop treating are not seen as important by teaching soci-
“common sense” negatively. Ferree and ologists, and Schweingruber and Wohlstein
Hall’s piece seemed to inspire a wave of (2005) argue that textbook authors fail to
articles focusing on groups that were omit- keep up with all the fields they cover, par-
ted or whose presentation was in some other ticularly noting that introductory texts pro-
way inappropriate: Najafizadeh and Men- mote crowd myths that experts in collective
nerick (1992) observed that texts paid little behavior have debunked. The criticisms
attention to Third World education; vary in the degree to which they may be
Marquez (1994) noted that textbooks of- easily and happily dealt with by authors and
fered a distorted image of “Hispanic” publishers of introductory sociology texts. It
women; Stone (1996) observed that racial is, after all, one thing to commit to main-
and ethnic minorities tend to be ghettoized streaming racial and ethnic minorities
and marginalized in texts; and Taub and throughout a text (Stone 1996) and another
Fanflik (2000) criticized textbooks for their to commit to demonstrating how sociology
limited information about disability. There lacks the status of a science (Keith and
were critiques that asserted that introductory Ender 2004a).
textbooks provided inadequate approaches But do authors and publishers respond to
to inequality or stratification: Lucal (1994) published criticisms as they rework older
found that the majority of introductory texts introductory textbooks and prepare new
offered distributional, rather than relational, ones, even when the problems addressed are
approaches to social stratification and there- amenable to change? There is some evi-
fore did not promote a consciousness of dence that authors read such criticisms (see
oppression and privilege; Ferree and Hall Macionis’s [1989] response to Elaine Hall’s
(1996) showed that texts segregated their [1988] insistence upon the inclusion and
discussions of race, class, and gender, handling of gender.) We replicate Ferree
rather than showing them as interactive in and Hall’s (1990) study based upon the ex-
stratification processes; Hall (2000) argued amination of 33 introductory textbooks pub-
that poverty information is too concentrated lished between 1982 and 1988, using 27
in discussions of class and not enough a part textbooks published between 2002 and 2006
of discussions of race and gender; and to ascertain the degree to which their cri-
Hamilton and Form (2003) asserted that the tique of the visual presentation of gender
categories of race, ethnicity, and religion and race has been addressed by a new gen-
used by the texts oversimplify social reality. eration of textbooks.
Even more recently there have been articles
that seem even more radical in their cri- METHOD
tiques of introductory texts. Best and
Schweingruber (2003), for instance, We have replicated Ferree and Hall’s
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