This volume brings together theoretical meditations and empirical studies of the intersection of culture, power and history in social life. New strategies for marketing and advertising to children, the production of gendered subjectivity in maquiladora factories, the racialized economic history of the construction of the Chicago School of sociology, and the normalization of cosmetic plastic surgery in contemporary America-these are some of the crossroads under investigation here, where cultural meanings and practices are set against historical landscapes of power. Included are contributions from William Gamson, Juliet Schor, Stephen Pfohl, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, Jackie Orr, Leslie Salzinger, Eva Garroutte, Davarian Baldwin, Ramon Grosfoguel, Charlotte Ryan, Danielle Egan, Charles Sarno, Steve Farough, Karen McCorkmack, Abigail Brooks, Aimee Van Wagenen and William Wood.