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.