ABSTRACT
The words of Peter L. Berger (1963) in the opening chapter of his famous book, Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective, offer an appropriate conclusion for State Looteries. Berger’s contribution to sociology was to remind us just how important the field of sociology is to understanding how our lives-our very understanding of the social world in which we live-are guided by larger social forces. It is often the case that we accept the world as less complicated than it really is. We tend to minimize, or perhaps dismiss altogether, the influence that institutions have over us, or the fact that social inequality (e.g., racism, sexism, classism, etc.) occurs not only at an individual level but is (re)produced at the structural level. Debunking social systems allows us the opportunity to “see” what really goes on behind closed doors.
