Description
Book SynopsisContemporary Sociology is an introductory textbook with angles and arguments. Responding to the need for a different kind of introductory textbook, it provides more focused, in-depth explorations of the most exciting and contemporary aspects of sociology.
Trade Review"Chapters are written with clarity, at an undergraduate academic level that would challenge the most able A level student. Each chapter ends with a range of seminar questions that could help a teacher of A level Sociology think of extension questions for their students.The lists of further reading are very useful and up to date. This book can be recommended as one for teachers’ own subject updates (eg: the entries on the identity and disability were easy to find and very useful for my own subject update needed)."
The Sociology Teacher
"Wide in their scope, up to date in orientation, the chapters gathered here are an excellent introduction to sociology. The authors are experts in their respective fields and communicate the engagement and urgency of the sociological imagination in our present times."
John Holmwood, University of Nottingham and President of the British Sociological Association
"Lively and engaging, Contemporary Sociology provides students with in-depth insights into today's pressing sociological concerns. Written by experts in their field, each chapter avoids simple summary and instead raises questions to spark the sociological imagination."
Ellen Annandale, The University of York and member of the Executive Committee of the European Sociological Association
Table of ContentsIntroduction SECTION A: SOCIAL DIVISIONS 1 The Idea of Class: a measure of value
Beverley Skeggs 2 Sex, Gender and Sexuality: the case for critical analysis
Kath Woodward 3 Race, Ethnicity and Nationality: the future of multiculturalism in a global age
Andrew Pilkington 4 Age and the Life Course: continuity, change and the modern mirage of infinite choice
Lorraine Green SECTION B: OPPORTUNITIES AND INEQUALITIES 5 Work: experience, identities and meanings
Tim Strangleman 6 Health, Illness and the Body: what lies beneath
Graham Scambler and Sasha Scambler 7 Education: beyond meritocracy and reproduction
Rob Moore 8 Poverty and the Welfare State: economic, social and political intersections
Mary Daly SECTION C: GLOBALIZATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE 9 Globalization: experiencing social change on a global scale
Darren O’Byrne 10 The Environment: sociology at its (natural) limits
Philip W. Sutton 11 Science, Technology and Social Change: knowledge, expertise and practices
Mark Erickson 12 Development and Underdevelopment: rethinking the shape of a globalizing world
Paul Hopper SECTION D: CULTURE AND PERSONAL LIFE 13 Leisure and Consumption: a critical analysis of ‘free time’
Sheila Scraton & Beccy Watson 14 Religion and Sources of Significance: the dawning of a secular age?
Paul Heelas 15 The Sociology of the Mass Media: circuits of communication and structures of power
Greg Philo, David Miller and Catherine Happer 16 Families and Personal Life: all change?
Vanessa May SECTION E: THE STATE, VIOLENCE, CRIME AND CONTROL 17 Power and the State: flourishing union, divorce or metamorphosis?
Michael S. Drake 18 Violence, Coercion and Human Rights: understanding organized brutality
Sinisa Malesevic19 Crime: concepts, causes, control
Robert Reiner SECTION F: THEORY AND METHODS 20 Sociological Theory: formal and informal
William Outhwaite 21 Methodology: the essence of sociology?
Martyn Hammersley References
