Designed to stimulate systematic and critical thought, this unique introductory text presents the basic theories and language of sociology in a concise, accessible manner, while providing a critical overview of the development of sociological theory.

Divided into three parts, the text begins with a survey of the sociological concepts used to understand human beings and their behaviour. Part II provides a critical overview of key developments in sociological theory, focusing in particular on how recent feminist critiques have placed earlier theoretical work in question. Part III illustrates the nature of sociological analysis by describing sociological research methods and by using concepts and theories from earlier in the book to introduce a number of the ways that sociologists look at issues such as inequality, health, deviance, ethnic and race relations, familial relations, and globalization.