A lively, accessible and comprehensive introduction to the diverse ways of thinking about social life, Sociology: The Basics has been translated into six languages. The volume is packed with thought-provoking summaries, questions, quotations and activities. It offers an absorbing narrative about what we mean by the social, and how we can think about it, weaving in discussions of the personal, the political and social change, along with concepts and vivid contemporary examples, and...

Presenting the landmark Pioneers life stories project, this one-of-a-kind book documents how modern social research in the UK was shaped.It sheds new light on the lives, methods and motivations of men and women who helped develop a new world of research methodology, pioneered feminist research, and first confronted the issues of race and ethnicity.It combines a fascinating history of the generations who built outstanding and influential social research with a valuable resou...

This book of nineteen original essays by activists and academics documents and analyses the dramatic changes in lesbian and gay experience over the last twenty years. It charts the growth of lesbian and gay studies, and examines key issues around communitites, identities, relationships, sexualities and politics. These essays, edited by a leading author in the field, herald a new confidence and maturity for the growing field of lesbian and gay studies.

This groundbreaking new introduction to sociology is an innovative hybrid textbook and reader. Combining seminal scholarly works, contextual narrative and in-text didactic materials, it presents a rich, layered and comprehensive introduction to the discipline. Its unique approach will help inspire a creative, critical, and analytically sophisticated sociological imagination, making sense of society and the many small and large problems it poses.

This book explores the rites of a sexual story-telling culture and examines the nature of these newly emerging narratives and the socio-historical conditions that have given rise to them.

This is a new and revised edition of a book which has had a major impact upon the social sciences and public political debate. Anthony Elliott and Charles Lemert's THE NEW INDIVIDUALISM inspired readers with the dramatic suggestion that 'the reinvention craze' - from self-help and therapy culture to management restructurings and corporate downsizings - is central to a 'new individualism' sweeping the globe. Giving particular attention to the narratives of people seeking to define anew thei...

The best jobs in Britain today are overwhelmingly done by the children of the wealthy. Meanwhile, it is increasingly difficult for bright but poor kids to transcend their circumstances. This state of affairs should not only worry the less well-off. It hurts the middle classes too, who are increasingly locked out of the top professions by those from affluent backgrounds.Hitherto, Labour and Conservative politicians alike have sought to deal with the problem by promoting the idea of ...

Informative as well as entertaining, this volume offers many interesting facets of the first hundred years of anthropology at Oxford University.

C. Wright Mills is best remembered for his highly acclaimed work The Sociological Imagination, in which he set forth his views on how social science should be pursued. Hailed upon publication as a cogent and hard-hitting critique, The Sociological Imagination took issue with the ascendant schools of sociology in the United States, calling for a humanist sociology connecting the social, personal, and historical dimensions of our lives. The sociological imagination Mills ca...

Identities and Social Change in Britain since 1940 examines how, between 1940 and 1970 British society was marked by the imprint of the academic social sciences in profound ways which have an enduring legacy on how we see ourselves. It focuses on how interview methods and sample surveys eclipsed literature and the community study as a means of understanding ordinary life. The book shows that these methods were part of a wider remaking of British national identity in the aftermath ...

In this trenchant inquiry into the state of feminism, Angela McRobbie breaks open the politics of sexual equality and ′affirmative feminism′ and sets down a new theory of gender power. Challenging the most basic assumptions of the ′end′ of feminism, this book argues that invidious forms of gender re-stabilisation are being re-established. Consumer and popular culture encroach on the terrain of so-called female freedom, appearing supportive of female success, yet tying women into new post-f...

Bringing together a range of leading social scientists and criminologists, this volume explores a number of key themes raised by the work of Robert Reiner. Arguably the leading policing scholar of his generation, Reiner's work over some 40 years has ranged broadly in this field, taking in the study of police history, culture, organisation, elites and relationships with the media. Always carefully situated within an analysis of the changing socio-political circumstances of policing and crim...