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Karen S. Cook and Douglas S. Massey. Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 32. PaIo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, 2006, 500 pages, $75.00 hardcover.
For those who may not be familiar with the Annual Reviews publications, the volumes are meant to be "authoritative, analytic reviews in 32 focused disciplines within the Biomedical, Physical, and Social Sciences" (Annual Reviews, 2006). The Annual Review of Sociology (hereafter, ARS), first published in 1975 and now in its 32nd year, has achieved a significant degree of distinction within the academic study of sociology. According to the ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) Science Citation Index for 2005, ARS ranks an impressive 3rd out of 94 sociological journals, following the top two journals in the discipline, the American Journal of Sociology and American Sociological Review (Annual Reviews 2006; also see Alien 2003). The ISI rankings reflect the journal's "impact" within the discipline, a measure that is "based upon the number of times an average article is cited" (Annual Reviews, 2006). Within academic circles, publishing in a journal that holds such a lofty ranking is a measure of considerable prestige. That the Annual Review publication carries such scholarly weight has implications for potential readers.
ARS articles are primarily targeted towards, and largely written by, sociologists within academic settings and are generally focused on specific topics or specialties within sociology. This volume has 19 articles arranged under such diverse headings as Social Processes, Institutions and Culture, Formal Organizations, Political and Economic Sociology, Differentiation and Stratification, Individual and Society, Demography, Urban and Rural Community Sociology, and Sociology and World Regions-a quick check of the ARS volumes on my own bookshelf indicates that these categories have largely been in place for at least the last decade. That I keep the Annual Review volumes of the last decade within easy access of...