Richard W. Hadden, Sociological Theory: An Introduction to the Classical Tradition. London: Broadview Press, 1997, paperback £17.95, 170 pp. ISBN 0-55111-095-4.

John Holmwood, Founding Sociology? Talcott Parsons and the Idea of General Theory. London and New York: Longman, 1996, paperback £12.50, x+141 pp. ISBN 0-582-29165-8.

W. G. Runciman, A Treatise on Social Theory, Volume III: Applied Social Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, £50.00 (paperback £17.95), xvii+329 pp. ISBN 0-521-58801-4 pbk and 0-521-24960-0 hbk.

Ian McIntosh, Classical Sociological Theory: A Reader. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997, £45.00 (paperback £14.95), 259 pp. ISBN 0-7486-0809-5 pbk and 0-7486-0873-7 hbk.

Ian Craib, Classical Social Theory: An Introduction to the Thought of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, £40.00 (paperback £13.99) xxiv+297 pp. ISBN 0-19-878117-2 pbk and 0-19-878116-4 hbk.

Rosemary Crompton, Women and Work in Modern Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, £27.50 (£9.99 pbk), xi+155 pp. (ISBN: 0-19-878096-6 hbk; 0-19-87097-4 pbk).

Susan Halford, Mike Savage and Anne Witz, Gender, Careers and Organisations: Current Developments in Banking, Nursing and Local Government. London: Macmillan, 1997, £42.50 (£13.99 pbk), xi+292 pp. (ISBN: 0-333-60977-8 hbk; 0-333-60978-6 pbk).

Elizabeth Higginbotham and Mary Romero (eds.) Women and Work: Exploring Race, Ethnicity and Class. London: Sage, 1997, £45.00 (£19.95 pbk), xxxii+269 pp. (ISBN: 0-8039-5058-6 hbk; 0-8039-5059-4 pbk).

As we approach the Millennium there are clear signs of major upheavals in the established gender order. In September 1996 for the first time women were recorded in government statistics as outnumbering men in the labour force; girls are doing better than boys in school examinations; young women are asserting ‘girl power’, appearing confident of their ability to succeed. Such changes might be viewed positively, as a triumph for feminist campaigning and Equal Opportunities programmes. Increasingly the press treat them negatively, fostering a ‘moral panic’ about the adverse consequences for men. Indeed, in a slightly tongue-in-cheek recent article, Fay Weldon (1997) advocated the formation of a ‘masculinist movement’ to redress the balance of this ‘gender switch’.

Lawrence A. Kuznar, Reclaiming a Scientific Anthropology. London: AltaMira, 1997, £35.00 (£16.50 pbk), xi+284 pp (ISBN: 0-7619-9114-X).

Jeremy MacClancy and Chris McDonaugh (eds.), Popularizing Anthropology. London: Routledge, 1996, £45.00 (£14.99 pbk), xi+253 pp. (ISBN: 0-415-13613-X).

Jerry D. Moore, Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists. London: AltaMira, 1997, £35.00 (£16.50 pbk), 283 pp. (ISBN: 0-8039-7097-8).

We start off with Edward Tylor, but Professor X tells us that Tylor was just an armchair anthropologist. So we read Malinowski who everyone says was a good fieldworker, but then Professor X says Malinowski was a racist. And then we read Margaret Mead, and Professor X says Mead was a liar ... What's the goddamn point of it all?

(Jerry D. Moore 1997. Visions of Culture, p. 9)