Introduction to Sociology

Sociology is the study of human social life. Human social life is complex and encompasses many facets of the human experience. Because of the complexity, the discipline of sociology subdivided over time into specialty areas. The first section of this book covers the foundations of sociology, including an introduction to the discipline, the methods of study, and some of the dominant theoretical perspectives. The remaining chapters focus on the different areas of study in sociology.

Table of Contents

• The Foundations of Sociology
  • Introduction - Ryan T. Cragun, Chapter Editor
  • Sociological Methods
  • General Sociological Theory - Sydney Hart, Chapter Editor
• Social Life
  • Society
  • Culture - Kenneth Colburn, Chapter Editor
  • Socialization
  • Groups
  • Demography - Pamela McMullin-Messier, Chapter Editor
  • Aging
  • Deviance and Norms - Kenneth Colburn, Chapter Editor
• Social Inequality
  • Race and Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Stratification - Katherine Carter, Chapter Editor
• Social Institutions
  • Economy
  • Family
  • Religion - Ryan T. Cragun, Chapter Editor
  • Health and Medicine - Deborah Cragun, Chapter Editor
  • Politics
• Social Change
  • Collective Behavior
  • Social Movements
• Additional Information
  • Being a Sociologist - What can you do with a degree in Sociology?
  • Sociological Videos - A sortable list of videos - both fiction and documentary - that illustrate sociological ideas.
  • Famous Sociologists - A table of well-known and widely cited sociologists.

Instructor Resources

• Noted Contributors (the primary authors of the text)
• Course Adoptions (if you adopt this text for your course, please make a note of it on this page)

Course Materials

After substantially revising all of the chapters, I have also created new powerpoint presentations to accompany the completed chapters. You can view and download the updated presentations here.

Future Chapters

1. Human Rights - Bruce Friesen, Chapter Editor
2. Sexuality
3. Education
4. Organizational Behavior
5. Social psychology (belongs in Social Life section)
6. Applied Sociology
7. Video Games and Virtual Worlds - Kenneth Colburn, Chapter Editor
8. Social change
9. Human Ecology and Urbanization (belongs in Social Change section)
10. Media (belongs in Institutions section) - Kenneth Colburn, Chapter Editor
11. Everyday life (currently has only a short chapter on television) (belongs in Social Life section)
12. Social Structure (belongs in Social Life section)
13. Organizations
14. Sociology of Work
15. Sociology of Sports