Recent Book: It Frightens Policemen: The Process of Social Organization — Power in Social Systems
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7905200419 |
| Published date | 01 October 1979 |
| Date | 01 October 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
AWOMAN OF
EXPERIENCE
BARBARA
WOOTION:
Crime and Penal Polin'.
Allen and Unwin £3.50 .
Afascinating account from the inside
of the contribution made by Barbara
Wootton to society inthe last fifty years.
Although written primarily for the non-
professional interested in the criminal
law and the penal system the professional
will also find valuable insights and
comments.
Baroness Wootton, adistinguished
social scientist, was appointed a
magistrate before she was enfranchised
and served for forty years as a London
J P.
For
many years she was chairman of
the Metropolitan Juvenile Courts and
Deputy Chairman of the
South
West-
minster bench. This book not only
reflects her experiences on the bench but
also portrays the development of penal
policy.
Drawing on her experiences as a
member of the House of Lords, the
Government Advisory Committee on the
Penal System, and chairman of a sub-
committee on the Misuse of Ampheta-
mines, Cannabis and LSD. she writes
with authority. compassion and under-
standing on a range of topics including
Murder,
Young
Offenders. Non-
Custodial sentences, Motorists and
Drugs and Drunks. A very stimulating
book. K.V.R.
IT
FRIGHTENS
POLICEMEN
MARVIN
E.
Ol.SEN:
The Process
of
Social Organization -
POII'er
in Social Systems
(2nd Edition)
Holt, Rinehart and Winston Hardback £6.75
This is a book
about
sociology.
For
many people, the discipline of sociology
appears as a mess of ideas dressed in
impenetrable jargon. The reader isoften
confused with an array of terms which
defy easy interpretation. The
author
of
this volume recognises the problem. He
makes the point early in the text that
students might be willing to forgive
sociology's 'lack of methodological
rigour or clear definition but not what
appears to be conceptual chaos: He sets
about
the task of presenting basic
concepts and theory as coherently and
comprehensively as possible within one
overall perspective, the process of social
organisation.
The purpose of this book is to provide
the student of sociology with asystematic
introduction to the concepts and ideas
necessary for an examination and
analysis of the process and forms of
social organisations. Despite his good
intention the
author
runs into problems
of jargon because he frequently refers to
the work of many major theorists and
outlines their ideas. Anyone who has
studied sociology will be familiar with
many of the ideas but the newcomer
would probably struggle without some
form of guidance. This is a specialist
book. Among the concepts discussed are
power, social conflict, change and
development. There is writing on social
cohesion, social control and strati-
fication. All of these concepts are
difficult to comprehend fully. Ithink it
extremely unlikely
that
any police officer
would, in normal circumstances, read
this book. On the other hand, the
sociologist or student would find a well
presented text developing an argument
and a very good analysis of the process of
social organisation, what itis, itsvarious
forms and development trends. M.W.
SSH!
STATE
RESEARCH:-
Review
of
Security
and
the State 1978.
Julian Friedmann Books Ltd. £12.
The) field of investigative journalism investigators collected information from
has become an accepted and sometimes public sources ranging from the 'Police
effective way of challengingthe authority Review' to 'Time
Out'
magazine, not
of the state. In October 1977 a new bi- forgetting
'Hansard'
and
Chapman
monthly
Bulletin
entitled
'State
Pincher in between. This book
isa
bound
Research' was launched. It assessed edition of the first seven Bulletins with an
developments in state I?olicyin the fields introduction by E.P. Thompson. It is
of law, the police, internal security, difficult to understand even with this
espionage and the military. A team of introduction, why this book costs £12.
October 1979 409
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