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Students are drawn to topics of urgent sociological concern--race, class, gender, family, popular culture, health, and crime--by a need to both understand the forces that shape their world, and their desire to make the world better. It can be challenging, however, for students to link sociological concepts with real-world applications. Living Sociologically: Concepts and Connections helps students make those connections.

Encouraging students to observe, explore, and think critically about the social world, Living Sociologically offers a new, class-tested framework for teaching introduction to sociology. The ´paired concepts´ approach demonstrates the interdependent ways in which social forces work, and encourages students to engage with complexity and contradiction. It also connects students to a broader set of questions and provides them with critical, analytical tools for their post-college lives.

In addition, each chapter includes an opening vignette, examples of contemporary research, box features that exemplify the five paired concepts, career boxes, methods and interpretation boxes, case studies, review sections, and practical activities.



Table of Contents:

Preface

Part I: The Basics

1. What Is Sociology?
What Is Sociology?
The Sociological Imagination
The Discipline of Sociology
Sociology and Everyday Knowledge
Levels of Analysis
Microsociology
Macrosociology
Institutional Perspectives
Thinking Relationally: The Paired Concepts
Solidarity and Conflict
Power and Resistance
Inequality and Privilege
Global and Local
Structure and Contingency
Why Sociology?
CAREERS Different Careers of Sociology Majors

2. American Sociology: Theory and Contexts
Thinking Like a Sociologist
Critical Questions and the Sociological Imagination
Sociology, Theory, and the Social Sciences
Classical Sociology
The Industrial Revolution
The Democratic Revolution
The Creation of Nation-States
The European Canon
The Forgotten Canon?
Sociology in America
The Chicago School and American Sociology
Conflict, Consensus, and Symbolic Interaction
Sociology Theory Today
Moving Away from Grand Theories
Theories About Difference
The Cultural Turn
Global Context
Sociology Today
Thinking Sociologically
Why Sociology?
Case Study: W. E. B. Du Bois and the History of American Sociology
METHODS AND INTERPRETATION Measuring the Effect of Education on Earnings
CAREERS The Importance of Theory
Paired Concepts
POWER AND RESISTANCE Sociological Theorists in the Real World
INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE Forgotten Founders in Sociology
GLOBAL AND LOCAL The Importance of Immigration in American Sociology
STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY Inverting and Subverting the Social Script
SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT The History of SWS

3. Doing Sociology: Research Methods and Critical Literacy
Social Research
Social Research and Ethics
Social Research and Sociology in Media, Politics and Everyday Life
Science and Complex Societies
The Research Process
Data and Measurement
Variables, Data Collection, and Causal Relationships
Three Common Strategies for Sociological Research
Talking to People: Survey Analysis, Interviews, and Focus Groups
Observation: Ethnography and Experiments
Analysis of Publicly Available Data Sources: Media Reports, Government Documents, Official Statistics, and Big Data
The Social Nature of Social Research
The Challenge of Studying People
Basic, Applied, and Public Sociology
Case Study: Doing Sociology in Society (Including Society Online)
METHODS AND INTERPRETATION Data Sources: Major Surveys Conducted by Sociologists
CAREERS Careers in Applied Sociology
Paired Concepts
POWER AND RESISTANCE: Human Subjects Protection in Social Research
SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT Race, Difference, and the Politics of Medical Research
INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE Studying Doormen in New York
LOCAL AND GLOBAL Citizen Science: Using Local Data to Understand Global Patterns
STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY The Baby Einstein Phenomenon

Part II: Structure and Control

4. Culture
How Do Sociologists Study Culture?
What Is Culture?
Material Culture and Ideal Culture
Culture and Power
Cultural Power
Resisting Cultural Power
Types of Culture in Today´s World
Global Culture
Dominant Cultures and Subcultures
Popular Culture and Commercial Culture in Industrializing Europe and Around the World
High Culture
CASE STUDY Protesting the National Anthem
METHODS AND INTERPRETATION Measuring Culture Using Big Data
CAREERS Working in the Creative Industries
Paired Concepts
STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
GLOBAL AND LOCAL The History of Manga
SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT Music and Social Protest
POWER AND RESISTANCE Fanfiction
INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE Who Goes to the Museum and Opera?

5. Socialization, Social Interaction, and Group Life
Socialization and Selfhood
Nature and Nurture
The Social Self
Agents of Socialization
Adult Socialization
Interaction and the Social Construction of Reality
Status and Role
Performance and the Social Self
Social Interaction in a Digital Age
Group Life
Group Size
Primary Groups and Secondary Groups
Reference Groups
Bureaucracy in Group Life
Social Networks in Group Life
Case Study: Caitlyn Jenner and Gender Socialization
METHODS AND INTERPRETATION Life-Course Research on Socialization
CAREERS Getting a Job: The Strength of Weak Ties
Paired Concepts
INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE Different Styles of Parenting
STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY What is the Meaning of Fair Play? The 2012 Olympic Badminton Controversy
POWER AND RESISTANCE Challenging Gender Stereotypes with the SlutWalk Campaign
SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT The Stanford Prison Experiment
GLOBAL AND LOCAL Bureaucracy in Singapore

6. Deviance, Crime, and Punishment
Deviance
Why Does Deviance Exist?
The Social Construction of Deviance
Crime
Categories of Crime
Policing Crime
Surveillance
Punishment
Punishment as a Public Display of Morality
Punishment and Treatment
Incarceration
CASE STUDY Why Are Crime Stories So Popular?
CAREERS Careers in the Criminal Justice Field
METHODS AND INTERPRETATION Measuring the Crime Rate
Paired Concepts
STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY Is Chewing Gum Deviant?
SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT The Moral Panic Over School Bullying
POWER AND RESISTANCE What´s Wrong with Graffiti?
GLOBAL AND LOCAL The Global Drug Trade
INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE Punishment and Plea Bargaining

Part III: Difference and Inequality

7. Inequality, Mobility and Social Change
What Is Inequality?
Is Inequality Natural or Social?
Is Inequality Good or Bad?
Inequality and Stratification
Types of Stratification
Caste Systems
Class Systems
Status Systems
Party Systems: Inequality through Meritocracy
The Role of Consumption in Reproducing Inequality
A Portrait of Stratification Today
Stratification in the US
Global Stratification
Social Mobility
Social Factors Associated with Mobility
Structural Mobility
Socia