We want to think of the family as a haven, a sheltered port from the maelstrom of social forces that rip through our lives. Within the family, we like to think, everyone starts out on equal footing. And yet we see around us evidence that siblings all too often diverge widely in social status, wealth, and education. We think these are aberrant cases—the president and the drug addict, the professor and the convict. Surely in most families, in our families, all children will succeed equally, and when they don’t, we turn to one-dimensional answers to explain the discrepancy—birth order, for instance, or gender. In this groundbreaking book, Dalton Conley shows us that inequality in families is not the exception but the norm. More than half of all income inequality in this country occurs not between families but within families. Children who grow up in the same house can—and frequently do—wind up on opposite sides of the class divide. In fact, the family itself is where much inequality is fostered and developed. In each family, there exists a pecking order among siblings, a status hierarchy. This pecking order is not necessarily determined by the natural abilities of each individual, and not even by the intentions or will of the parents. It is determined by the larger social forces that envelop the family: gender expectations, the economic cost of education, divorce, early loss of a parent, geographic mobility, religious and sexual orientation, trauma, and even arbitrary factors such as luck and accidents. Conley explores each of these topics, giving us a richly nuanced understanding that transforms the way we should look at the family as an institution of care, support, and comfort. Drawing from the U.S. Census, from the General Social Survey conducted by the University of Chicago over the last thirty years, and from a landmark study that was launched in 1968 by the University of Michigan and that has been following five thousand families, Conley has irrefutable empirical evidence backing up his assertions. Enriched by countless anecdotes and stories garnered through years of interviews, this is a book that will forever alter our idea of family.

The Pecking Order: Which Siblings Succeed and Why

Conley, Dalton

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Pantheon

Over the past three decades, our daily lives have changed slowly but dramatically. Boundaries between leisure and work, public space and private space, and home and office have blurred and become permeable. In Elsewhere, U.S.A., acclaimed sociologist Dalton Conley connects our day-to-day experiences with occasionally overlooked sociological changes, from women’s increasing participation in the labor force to rising economic inequality among successful professionals. In doing so, he provides us with an X-ray view of our new social reality.

Elsewhere, U.S.A.: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety

Business & Money

Economics

The family is our haven, the place where we all start off on equal footing — or so we like to think. But if that’s the case, why do so many siblings often diverge widely in social status, wealth, and education? In this groundbreaking and meticulously researched book, acclaimed sociologist Dalton Conley shatters our notions of how our childhoods affect us, and why we become who we are. Economic and social inequality among adult siblings is not the exception, Conley asserts, but the norm: over half of all inequality is within families, not between them. And it is each family’s own “pecking order” that helps to foster such disparities. Moving beyond traditionally accepted theories such as birth order or genetics to explain family dynamics, Conley instead draws upon three major studies to explore the impact of larger social forces that shape each family and the individuals within it. From Bill and Roger Clinton to the stories of hundreds of average Americans, here we are introduced to an America where class identity is ever changing and where siblings cannot necessarily follow the same paths. This is a book that will forever alter our idea of family.

The Pecking Order: A Bold New Look at How Family and Society Determine Who We Become

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

As recalled in Honky, Dalton Conley’s childhood has all of the classic elements of growing up in America. But the fact that he was one of the few white boys in a mostly black and Puerto Rican neighborhood on Manhattan’s Lower East Side makes Dalton’s childhood unique. At the age of three, he couldn’t understand why the infant daughter of the black separatists next door couldn’t be his sister, so he kidnapped her. By the time he was a teenager, he realized that not even a parent’s devotion could protect his best friend from a stray bullet. Years after the privilege of being white and middle class allowed Conley to leave the projects, his entertaining memoir allows us to see how race and class impact us all. Perfectly pitched and daringly original, Honky is that rare book that entertains even as it informs.

Honky

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Vintage Books

The bestselling “untextbook” that makes the familiar strange The market leader for introductory sociology courses and a welcome alternative to traditional textbooks, You May Ask Yourself engages students with an irreverent narrative style. It questions what is often taken for granted and helps students apply sociological ways of thinking to their own experiences. The Seventh Edition features new coverage of pressing social issues related to aging, health, and inequality. Several new video interviews introduce important current research, and a thoughtfully revised InQuizitive course uses what learning experts call the “retrieval effect” to help students master core concepts.

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

W.W.Norton&Company

The market leader for introductory sociology courses and a welcome alternative to traditional textbooks, You May Ask Yourself engages students with an irreverent narrative style. It questions what is often taken for granted and helps students apply sociological ways of thinking to their own experiences. The Seventh Edition features new coverage of pressing social issues related to aging, health, and inequality. Several new video interviews introduce important current research, and a thoughtfully revised InQuizitive course uses what learning experts call the "retrieval effect" to help students master core concepts.

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Sociology (Seventh Edition)

The "untextbook" that teaches students to think like sociologists.You May Ask Yourself gives instructors an alternative to the typical textbook by emphasizing the big ideas of the discipline. Dalton Conley's "non-textbook" strategy explains complex concepts through personal examples and storytelling, integrates coverage of social inequality throughout the textbook, and provides the largest collection of instructor resources for a book in its price range. The Fifth Edition now comes with an ebook, which gives students access to everything they need in one place.

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist

The “untextbook” that teaches students to think like a sociologist.You May Ask Yourself gives instructors an alternative to the typical textbook by emphasizing the big ideas of the discipline and encouraging students to ask meaningful questions. This “non-textbook” strategy explains complex concepts through personal examples and storytelling, integrates coverage of social inequality throughout the textbook, and offers the largest collection of instructor resources for a book in its price range.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Conley, Dalton. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Conley, Dalton

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Conley, Dalton. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Pecking Order: Which Siblings Succeed and Why

Elsewhere, U.S.A.: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety

The Pecking Order: A Bold New Look at How Family and Society Determine Who We Become

Honky

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Sociology (Seventh Edition)

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist