Through an analysis of hundreds of Hollywood movies, this book examines some of the most contentious social issues of our time, including racism, social inequality, sexism, and gerontophobia. With studies of some of the most enduring film genres in Hollywood's history, including romantic films such as Casablanca, war movies from World War II through the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, alienation films, including Five Easy Pieces and Lost in Translation, the school movie, from Goodbye, Mr. Chips to other films set in academia, including Dead Poets Society and Dangerous Minds, the book outlines and demonstrates the sociological approach to viewing films and highlights the socially conservative nature of much Hollywood movie production, which draws on common stereotypes and reinforces dominant cultural values - but is also capable of challenging and serving to change them.

Through an analysis of hundreds of Hollywood movies, this book examines some of the most contentious social issues of our time, including racism, social inequality, sexism, and gerontophobia. With studies of some of the most enduring film genres in Hollywood's history, including romantic films such as Casablanca, war movies from World War II through the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, alienation films, including Five Easy Pieces and Lost in Translation, the school movie, from Goodbye, Mr. Chips to other films set in academia, including Dead Poets Society and Dangerous Minds, the book outlines and demonstrates the sociological approach to viewing films and highlights the socially conservative nature of much Hollywood movie production, which draws on common stereotypes and reinforces dominant cultural values - but is also capable of challenging and serving to change them.

The culmination of more than ten years of research carried out in over 50 countries around the world, this volume shows how the forces of modernization on the developing countries change the attitudes and behavior of men acting in their roles as husbands and fathers, as members of ethnic communities, and as citizens of emerging nation-states. The research gathered here demonstrates that the impact of modern institutions on individual psychic adjustment is much less severe than is often imagined and the book explores the meaning of modernization in human terms. In addition, for the first time the theory and method for studying individual modernity are applied to the so-called socialist countries. Inkeles et al. highlight the implications of individual modernity for understanding contemporary and future social change in both developing and advanced countries. "Exploring Individual Modernity" completes the portrait of "modern man" first sketched in "Becoming Modern", the first book to report on the findings on Social and cultural Aspects of Modernization.