Sociology

an engaging and clearly organised book that will be indispensable to students and teachers of sociology alike. It contains an excellent mixture of readings and commentary and manages to do justice to some difficult and demanding ideas without sacrificing clarity and accessibility.

Gary Hazeldine, Birmingham City University

This highly readable text is distinctive for the skill and enthusiasm with which it introduces the subject. It should be an indispensable guide to the theory and practice of the discipline, not as a dry science but as a vital enterprise of imagination, intellectual rigour and serious scholarship.

Liz Bradbury, Anglia Ruskin University

'the world today is a strikingly small place, in which our lives are connected to those of others both close and distant and shaped by powerful social forces, which sometimes place us in highly unequal relationships with others. The study of these social forces is the subject matter of sociology.'

This groundbreaking new introduction to sociology is an innovative hybrid textbook and reader. Combining seminal scholarly works, contextual narrative and in-text didactic materials, it presents a rich, layered and comprehensive introduction to the discipline. Its unique approach will help inspire a creative, critical, and analytically sophisticated sociological imagination, making sense of society and the many small and large problems it poses.

Key features

• Primary readings - documenting the classical and contemporary canon of sociological thinking - illuminate the theoretical and methodological richness of the discipline.
• Guiding, reflexive text narrative helps you understand, analyse and interpret academic texts and complex sociological arguments.
• Expert placement of developments in sociological inquiry in their social, political and cultural contexts helps identify overall patterns and establish conceptual links between the respective primary sources.
• A range of in-text didactic materials assist your understanding and help you relate different sociological perspectives to life experience.
• Additional readings from beyond the traditional canon offer a perspective on sociological thought at the global level.
• Includes an intriguing final Epilogue 'A Manifesto for Critical Humanism in Sociology' from Professor Ken Plummer, one of Europes most eminent scholars, as a brand-new text to provoke discussion and debate in the spirit of the overall book.

Sociology: an introductory textbook and reader is essential reading for students of sociology, criminology, social policy, social work, cultural studies, media studies, anthropology and other related subjects.

Daniel Nehring is Research Fellow at the Universidad Nacional de Crdoba, and has previously also worked at the Universities of Middlesex and E...