Sociology / Anthony Giddens with the assistance of Karen Birdsall.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Sociology provides an introduction to its field. The fourth edition preserves the lucid, lively and comprehensive qualities which marked the book in its earlier versions. Numerous student learning aids are provided.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 What is Sociology?
• The Sociological Perspective
• Studying Sociology
• The Development of Sociological Thinking
• Theories and Theoretical Approaches
• Early Theorists
• Modern Theoretical Approaches
• Theoretical Thinking in Sociology
• Levels of Analysis: Microsociology and Macrosociology
• How Can Sociology Help Us in Our Lives?
• Summary
• 2 Globalisation and The Changing World
• Types of Society
• A Disappearing World: Pre-modern Societies and their Fate
• The Modern World: the Industrialised Societies
• Global Development
• Social Change
• Influences on Social Change
• Change in the Modern Period
• Globalisation
• Factors Contributing to Globalisation
• The Globalisation Debate
• The Impact of Globalisation
• Conclusion: The Need for Global Governance
• Summary Points
• Questions for Further Thought
• Further Reading
• Internet Links
• 3 Asking and Answering Sociological Questions
• Why Hang Out in Public Toilets? Sociological Questions
• Taking a Scientific Approach
• The Research Process
• Defining the Research Problem
• Reviewing the Evidence
• Making the Problem Precise
• Working Out a Design
• Carrying Out the Research
• Interpreting the Results
• Reporting the Findings
• Reality Intrudes! Understanding Cause and Effect
• Causation and Correlation
• Research Methods
• Ethnography
• Surveys
• Experiments
• Life Histories
• Comparative Research
• Historical Analysis
• Combining Comparative and Historical Research
• Research in the Real World: Methods, Problems, and Pitfalls
• Human Subjects and Ethical Problems
• Is Sociology Merely a Restatement of the Obvious? The Influence of Sociology
• Summary
• Questions for Further Thought
• Further Reading
• Internet Links
• 4 Theoretical Thinking in Sociology
• Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic
• Four theoretical Issues
• 1 Structure and Action
• 2 Consensus and Conflict
• 3 The Issue of Gender
• 4 The Shaping of the Modern World
• Current Sociological Theory
• Postmodernism
• Michel Foucault
• Four Contemporary Sociologists
• J8rgen Habermas: Democracy and the Public Sphere
• Ulrich Beck: The Global Risk Society
• Manuel Castells: The Network Economy
• Anthony Giddens: Social Reflexivity
• Conclusion
• Summary Points
• Questions for Further Thought
• Further Reading
• Bibliography
• 5 Social Interaction and Everyday Life
• The Study of Daily Life
• Nonverbal Communication
• "Face," Gestures and Emotion
• Nonverbal Communication and Gender
• The Social Rules of Interaction
• Shared Understandings
• Garfinkel's Experiments
• "Interactional Vandalism"
• Response Cries
• Face, Body and Speech in Interaction
• Encounters
• Impression Management
• Personal space
• Interaction in Time and Space
• Clock Time
• Social Life and the Ordering of space and time
• Everyday Life in Ccultural and Historical Perspective
• The Social Construction of Reality: The Sociological Debate
• Social Interaction in Cyberspace
• Conclusion: The Compulsion of Proximity?
• Summary Points
• 6 Socialisation, The Life-Course and Ageing
• Culture, Society, and Child Socialisation
• Theories of Child Development
• Agencies of Socialisation
• Gender Socialisation
• Reactions of Parents and Adults
• Gender Learning
• Storybooks and Television
• The Difficulty of Nonsexist Child Rearing
• Gender Socialisation: The Sociological Debate
• Socialisation through the Life Course
• Childhood
• The Teenager
• Young Adulthood
• Mature Adulthood
• Old Age
• Ageing
• How Do People Age? Ageing in the UK
• The Politics of Ageing
• The Greying of the World Population
• Summary
• Further Reading
• Internet Links
• 7 Families and Intimate Rel

Author notes provided by Syndetics

(Bowker Author Biography)