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Social shapes of the world xv
Guide to boxes xvi
Guide to figures and tables xviii
Preface xx
About the authors xxv
Guided tour xxvi
Acknowledgements xxx
Abbreviations xxxiv
PART 1
INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY
1 The Sociological Imagination 2
What is sociology? 4
The sociological perspective in everyday life 8
Social change and the origins of sociology 11
Sociologists look to the future 15
Summary 16
Critical-thinking questions 16
Going further 17
Appendix. Surfing for sociology: an entrance 18
2 Thinking Sociologically, Thinking
Globally 22
What is the classical tradition of sociology? Starting a
short tour of sociological theory 24
Mainstream or ‘classical’ perspectives in sociology 24
The newer perspectives in sociology: other voices and
the postmodern 31
Thinking globally: a global perspective in sociology 34
Taking stock and looking ahead 39
Summary 39
Critical-thinking questions 39
Going further 40
3 Doing Social Science: an
Introduction to Method 42
The basics of sociological investigation 44
What is a sociological ‘truth’? Matters of epistemology
45
Making sense of sociological data 51
The tools of sociological research 55
Ethical, political and policy questions 62
Putting it all together: planning a sociological project
66
Summary 68
Critical-thinking questions 68
Going further 69
PART 2
THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIETY:
FROM MACRO TO MICRO
4 Societies 72
Changing patterns of society 74
Explaining modern industrial society 82
Karl Marx: capitalism and conflict 82
Max Weber: the rationalisation of society and the
disenchantment of the world 88
Emile Durkheim: the bonds that tie us together:
from mechanical to organic 91
Reviewing the theories 93
The contemporary shape of world societies 98
Conclusion: change and societies 101
Summary 101
Critical-thinking questions 102
Going further 102
5 Culture 104
What is culture? 106
The major components of culture 107
Cultural diversity: many ways of life in one world 114
A global culture? 119
Understanding culture 121
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From culture to cultural studies 123
Looking ahead: culture and human freedom 126
Summary 129
Critical-thinking questions 129
Going further 130
6 Groups, Organisations and the
Rise of the Network Society 132
Social groups 134
Organisations 140
‘Social Networks’ and the rise of the network society 148
Looking ahead: the network society 152
Summary 153
Critical-thinking questions 154
Going further 154
7 Micro-sociology: the Social
Construction of Everyday Life 156
The social construction of reality 158
Becoming social: the process of socialisation 159
Becoming biographies? Two theories of socialisation
161
The life course and generations 166
Constructing situations: Erving Goffman and drama 169
Ethnomethodology and conversational analysis 174
Identity 175
The sociologies of the body and the emotions 177
Conclusion: micro-sociology 182
Summary 182
Critical-thinking questions 183
Going further 184
PART 3
SOCIAL DIVISIONS AND SOCIAL
INEQUALITIES
8 Social Divisions and
Stratification 188
What is social stratification? 190
Closed and open systems of stratification: slavery,
caste, estate and class 192
xi
Some examples of stratification at work: Japan and
Russia 197
The role of ideology: stratification’s ‘staying power’ 200
Explaining social stratification 201
Marxist and neo-Marxist ideas on stratification and
conflict 202
Max Weber: class, status and power 206
Stratification and technology in global perspective 207
How might social stratification change in the future?
212
Summary 213
Critical-thinking questions 214
Going further 214
9 Global Inequalities and
Poverty 216
What is global stratification? 218
Global wealth and poverty 221
Who are the global poor? 226
Global inequality: how is it to be explained? 229
Global inequality: looking ahead 239
Summary 241
Critical-thinking questions 242
Going further 242
10 Class, Poverty and Welfare in
the UK 244
The nature of social class 246
Some dimensions of class and social inequality in the
UK 246
Layers of social class in the UK 252
Social exclusion and the idea of an underclass 255
Poverty: the lower ends of inequality in capitalist society
257
The ‘Death of Class’ debate 261
Citizenship and the rise of welfare states 265
Looking ahead: class in the twenty-first century 267
Summary 268
Critical-thinking questions 268
Going further 269
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11 Racism, Ethnicities and
Migration 272
The social significance of race and ethnicities 275
Prejudice and racism 277
Explaining racism 278
Discrimination 282
Majority and minority: patterns of interaction 284
Migration, ethnicity and race 287
Ethnicity in the UK 293
Racism and ethnic antagonism in Europe 298
The future of ethnic relations 303
Summary 303
Critical-thinking questions 303
Going further 304
12 The Gender Order and
Sexualities 306
Basic distinctions: sex and gender? 309
Patriarchy, gender stratification and sexism 312
Becoming gendered: the case of gender socialisation 317
Nancy Chodorow and the reproduction of mothering 318
Understanding gender 320
Resisting patriarchy: the Women’s Movement and
feminism 321
Sexuality and stratification 325
Theories of sexuality 327
Key elements of sexual stratification: gay and lesbian
relations 332
Social change and sexuality 334
Looking ahead: gender and sexuality in the twenty-first
century 335
Summary 336
Critical-thinking questions 337
Going further 337
13 Age Stratification: Children
and Later Life 340
A sociology of children 342
Growing older: the greying of the western world 345
The social implications of ageing 349
Researching ageing 353
Looking ahead: ageing in the twenty-first century 358
Summary 360
Critical-thinking questions 360
Going further 361
PART 4
SOCIAL STRUCTURES, SOCIAL
PRACTICES AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
14 Economies, Work and
Consumption 364
The great economic transformations: a brief overview
366
Economies: differing kinds 371
The changing nature of work 374
Unemployment 383
The world of corporations 385
Consumption in modern economies 388
Looking ahead 391
Summary 393
Critical-thinking questions 393
Going further 394
15 Power, Governance and Social
Movements 396
Some opening distinctions: the meanings of power 398
Political systems 399
Globalisation and politics 402
Gender and power 404
Political organisation in Europe 405
Explaining power? Theoretical analysis of power in
society 406
Power beyond the rules 409
A new politics in the twenty-first century? The new
social movements 415
The globalisation of ‘human rights regimes’? 418
Summary 423
Critical-thinking questions 423
Going further 424
16 Control, Crime and Deviance 426
Some opening definitions 428
The social and global shapes of crime 429
Changes in social control 435
Explaining crime and deviance 442
Looking ahead 456
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Summary 457
Critical-thinking questions 457
Going further 458
17 Families, Households and
Personal Cultures 460
What are ‘families’? 462
Family and history 463
Thinking about families: theories and ideas 465
Family differences in the UK: class, ethnicity and gender
467
Practices of family life 469
Towards the postmodern family? 471
Looking ahead: families in the twenty-first century 482
Summary 483
Critical-thinking questions 484
Going further 484
18 Religion and Belief 486
What is religion 488
Understanding religion 489
The nature of religious organisations 492
The social shape of global religions 493
Religion in Europe 500
Religion in the twenty-first century 503
Taking stock and looking ahead 508
Summary 509
Critical-thinking questions 509
Going further 510
19 Education 512
Global education and literacy 514
Schooling around the world 516
Understanding education in the modern world 519
Social divisions and schooling 521
Some current issues in education 529
Looking ahead 534
Summary 536
Critical-thinking questions 537
Going further 537
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20 Health and Medicine 540
What is health? 542
Health: a global survey 542
Some social links to illness 549
Health care systems and the medical establishment 552
Holistic, alternative or complementary medicine 554
Understanding health and medicine 555
A growing health problem: the overweight and the
underweight 560
HIV/AIDS and sociology 562
Death, dying and sociology 567
Taking stock and looking ahead: health in the twentyfirst century 569
Summary 571
Critical-thinking questions 572
Going further 573
21 The Mass Media 576
The media age 578
Communication and social change 578
Media theories 583
Three key questions in media analysis 587
The globalisation of the media 592
Looking ahead: the future of the media 596
Summary 599
Critical-thinking questions 600
Going further 600
22 Science, Cyberspace and the
Risk Society 602
Risk and the three scientific revolutions of the twentieth
century 604
Knowledge and science: traditions of study 605
The ‘biotechnology revolution’: social issues 611
Assisted conception and the new reproductive politics
615
The computer revolution and the information society 617
Looking to the future: technology and the risk society
623
Summary 623
Critical-thinking questions 624
Going further 624
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PART 5
SOCIAL CHANGE
23 Populations, Cities and the Shape
of Things to Come 628
Demography: an introduction 630
Key factors shaping the population 631
History and theory of population growth 637
Urbanisation: the growth of cities 642
The evolution of early cities 642
The rise of the modern industrial city 643
Mega-cities in low-income societies 646
Globalisation and the spread of world cities 647
Understanding cities? 648
Looking ahead: population and urbanisation in the
twenty-first century 653
Summary 654
Critical-thinking questions 655
Going further 655
24 Social Change and the
Environment 658
Sociology and the natural environment 662
The changing global environment 663
Growth and its limits 666
The ‘social practices’ of degrading the environment 669
Capitalism and the environment 678
Taking stock and looking ahead: for a sustainable
world? 680
Summary 683
Critical-thinking questions 684
Going further 684
25 Futures: the Challenges for
Sociology in the Twenty-first
Century 686
What is social change? 688
Causes of social change 689
Modernity 690
The future and change: new kinds of society in the
making? 691
Globalisation revisited 695
Postmodernity revisited 696
The Risk Society revisited 697
The shape of societies to come – A New World Order?
698
In conclusion 699
Summary 701
Critical-thinking questions 701
Going further 702
Glossary 703
References 716
Name index 765
Subject index 773