Heads Up Sociology

349 Pages·2017·79.16 MB·English

by  Dorling Kindersley

Contents
HOW TO USE THIS eBOOK
What is SOCIOLOGY?
What do SOCIOLOGISTS DO?
RESEARCH methods
Who AM I?
What is my IDENTITY?
GIRLS and BOYS
WOMEN and work
Biography: JUDITH BUTLER
What’s my TRIBE?
Does RACE matter?
Biography: ELIJAH ANDERSON
Who do you LOVE?
AGE and society
What does FAMILY mean?
Are we all MIDDLE CLASS now?
Biography: KARL MARX
Identity: IN CONTEXT
Does society EXIST?
What do schools TEACH?
Are INSTITUTIONS a good thing?
Biography: CHARLES WRIGHT MILLS
Who holds the POWER?
What role does RELIGION play in society?
Does RELIGION still MATTER?
RURAL life versus URBAN life
A sense of COMMUNITY
Biography: MAX WEBER
WHY do we WORK?
How is work CHANGING?
Biography: ARLIE HOCHSCHILD
WATCHING the workers
Social institutions: IN CONTEXT
When it all goes WRONG
Why do people commit CRIMES?
Biography: ÉMILE DURKHEIM
BREAKING society’s RULES
White-collar CRIME
Are we all on CAMERA?
WHODUNNIT?
Biography: HOWARD BECKER
HEALTH and equality
Not FITTING in
Crime and health: IN CONTEXT
Why is the world so UNFAIR?
Super-RICH!
Wealth and STATUS
The POVERTY trap
Who’s to BLAME?
Where did RACISM come from?
Why haven’t developing countries DEVELOPED yet?
Biography: BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS
Is GLOBALIZATION a good thing?
GLOCALIZATION
Biography: SASKIA SASSEN
What’s our IMPACT on the PLANET?
Biography: ANTHONY GIDDENS
Wealth and development: IN CONTEXT
Modern CULTURE
I SHOP therefore I am?
What is CULTURE?
Biography: PIERRE BOURDIEU
LEISURE time
We are living in UNCERTAIN times
Biography: ZYGMUNT BAUMAN
Does the MASS MEDIA affect YOU?
Who owns the MEDIA?
Who DECIDES what’s news?
Where do you get your NEWS from?
What does the INTERNET DO for us?
Do you live ONLINE?
Culture and the media: IN CONTEXT
Directory of sociologists
Glossary
Acknowledgements
Imprint
How to use this eBook
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ARE MEN AND WOMEN REALLY THAT DIFFERENT? WHY ARE SOME
PEOPLE SUPER-RICH WHEN OTHERS ARE HOMELESS? WHY DO
SOME PEOPLE COMMIT CRIMES? THESE ARE SOME OF THE
QUESTIONS AT THE HEART OF LIFE AS A HUMAN BEING AND IF
YOU HAVE ASKED QUESTIONS LIKE THESE, THEN YOU ARE
ALREADY A BUDDING SOCIOLOGIST. SOCIOLOGY IS THE STUDY OF
SOCIETY BUT IT IS ALSO A FRESH WAY OF THINKING ABOUT THE
WORLD.
Sociologists, the people who study sociology, are interested in the ways in which
individuals, groups, and societies are shaped and how they interact with each
other. They look at how social institutions such as the family, the education
system, religions, and governments work, and consider the ways in which they
impact on people’s lives.
Sociology emerged at the end of the 18th century, when large parts of the world
were changing rapidly because of increasing industrialization. German
philosopher, Karl Marx, and other thinkers of the time, were concerned with the
growing inequality they saw. They wanted to understand what was happening
and the effect it was having on people and societies. Sociology is a social
science that uses a range of methods to investigate the social world. Using
evidence and logic, it develops and tests theories such as Marxism and feminism,
which can help this process. To be a sociologist also requires what US
sociologist Charles Wright Mills called the “Sociological Imagination” – the
ability to challenge common sense ideas about the world and to ask new
questions. For instance, we might ask “Why do we have problems like racism
and homophobia?” or “Does the news tell the truth?”
Most importantly, sociology offers the possibility of understanding our lives
more fully and of making them better. As Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman
said, the purpose of sociology is “to come to the help of the individual”.