Yoder contributes to sociology textbook

Dr. Mike Yoder, professor of sociology at Northwestern College, contributed a chapter on economic life to the recently published second edition of Sociology: A Christian Approach for Changing the World.

Yoder’s overview explained the primary, secondary and tertiary economic sectors and the features of premodern and modern economies. He wrote about the differences between capitalism and socialism and how nations have attempted to incorporate features of each. The chapter concluded by challenging students to use their economic actions and resources to change the world through living on less and giving more to charities, being good stewards of God-given resources, and investing in socially responsible companies.

The new volume is one of a very few introductory sociology textbooks that view sociological insights from a biblical perspective. Several members of the Association of Christians Teaching Sociology, of which Yoder is a former president, collaborated on the book.

Dr. Cynthia Tweedell, executive director of the CCCU Center for Research in Adult Learning at Indiana Wesleyan University, edited the book. It was released by Triangle Publishing.

Yoder, a member of Northwestern’s faculty since 1982, plans to retire at the end of the spring 2011 semester. He earned a doctorate in sociology and a master’s degree in Ibero-American studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Goshen College in Indiana, where he taught for six years before coming to Northwestern.