Includes bibliographical references (pages 967-998) and indexes.

Introducing sociology -- The sociological imagination -- Thinking sociologically, thinking globally -- Studying the social: an introduction to sociological method -- Interlude 1: researching sport -- The foundations of society : from macro to micro -- Societies -- Culture -- Groups, organisations, and the rise of the network society -- Micro-sociology : the social construction of everyday life -- Interlude 2: researching food -- The unequal world : difference, division, and social stratification -- Inequality, social divisions, and social stratification -- Global poverty/global inequality -- Class, poverty and welfare: the case of the UK -- Racism, ethnicities, and migration -- The gender order and sexualities -- Age stratification, children and later life -- Disabilities, care and the humanitarian society -- Interlude 3: researching music and inequalities -- Social structures, social practices, and social institutions -- Economies, work, and consumption -- Power, governance and social movements -- Control, crime, and deviance -- Families, personal life, and living together -- Religion and belief -- Education -- Health, medicine, and well-being -- Communication and the new media -- Science, cyberspace and the risk society -- Interlude 4: researching our generational biographies -- Social change and the twenty-first century -- Populations, cities, and the space of things to come -- Social change and the environment -- Living in the twenty-first century -- Resources for critical thinking : creating sociological imaginations -- Films -- Novels -- Art and sociology -- Time and space -- Websites -- YouTube -- Key social thinkers -- World statistics -- Big debates of our time -- Abbreviations and acronyms.

John Macionis takes students step-by-step through the theories and research that make up the discipline of sociology. This narrative, along with a global perspective, makes for an accessible and relevant introduction to sociology.