Being Sociological considers the lived experience of sociology, stressing the active nature of social life and highlighting the role that students can play in enacting social change. Fully reworked in this third edition, with five brand new chapter topics and a diverse roster of new contributors, this textbook presents a fresh take on society today. The book encourages readers to examine both enduring challenges and their potential solutions. Dynamic learning features help students unpack key ideas from sociological theory and apply them to today's problems to cultivate their own sociological imagination. An inspiring read, this textbook will empower students to engage with sociology outside the classroom and embed it in their everyday lives. With new contributors, fresh organisation and a vibrant student-centric focus, this third edition brings Being Sociological fully up to date and reaffirms its place as an invaluable introduction to sociology for students new to the field. New to this Edition: - All chapters completely rewritten to provide a fresh overview of sociology today - Coverage of five new chapter subjects : including social movements, urbanization, migration and sport and leisure, reflecting their centrality in modern life and in introductory sociology courses - A focus on the SHiP framework, moving away from social categories to consider instead society's structural composition, its historical patterns and power inequalities and their interplay in individual lives - A forward-looking, optimistic orientation, bolstered by new pedagogical features inviting students to consider pathways for change

Based on papers from the British Sociological Association conference : Sociology of the life cycle : Loughborough : 1986.

Sociology, as a discipline, was born at the height of global colonialism and imperialism. Over a century later, it is yet to shake off its commitment to colonial ways of thinking. This book explores why, and how, sociology needs to be decolonized. It analyses how sociology was integral in reproducing the colonial order, as dominant sociologists constructed theories either assuming or proving the supposed barbarity and backwardness of colonized people. Ali Meghji reveals how colonialism continues to shape the discipline today, dominating both social theory and the practice of sociology, how exporting the Eurocentric sociological canon erased social theories from the Global South, and how sociologists continue to ignore the relevance of coloniality in their work. This guide will be necessary reading for any student or proponent of sociology. In opening up the work of other decolonial advocates and under-represented thinkers to readers, Meghji offers key suggestions for what teachers and students can do to decolonize sociology. With curriculum reform, innovative teaching and a critical awareness of these issues, it is possible to make sociology more equitable on a global scale.

A watershed event in the field of sociology, this text introduced “a major breakthrough in the sociology of knowledge and sociological theory generally” (George Simpson, American Sociological Review). In this seminal book, Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann examine how knowledge forms and how it is preserved and altered within a society. Unlike earlier theorists and philosophers, Berger and Luckmann go beyond intellectual history and focus on commonsense, everyday knowledge—the proverbs, morals, values, and beliefs shared among ordinary people. When first published in 1966, this systematic, theoretical treatise introduced the term social construction,effectively creating a new thought and transforming Western philosophy.

This new introduction to the sociology of gender and sexuality provides fresh insight into our rapidly changing attitudes towards sex and our understanding of masculine and feminine identities, relating the study of gender and sexuality to recent research and theory, and wider social concerns throughout the world.

Examines a series of inter-related problems associated with the nature of knowledge, how it is produced within intellectual fields and the implications for the transmission of knowledge in the classroom.

Written by a team of internationally renowned sociologists with experience in both the field and the classroom, The Art and Science of Social Research offers authoritative and balanced coverage of the full range of methods used to study the social world. The authors highlight the challenges of investigating the unpredictable topic of human lives while providing insights into what really happens in the field, the laboratory, and the survey call center.