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•
j ." SOCIOmGY
~ THE ESSENTIALS
.w J
" ~ R-~," tenth tuition
Margaret L. Andersen
University of Delaware
Howard F. Taylor
Princeton University
~- tr~ CENGAGE
Sociology: The Essentials, Tenth Editio n 0 2020, 2017, Ceng ag e Learnin g, Inc.
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BRIEF CONTENTS
PART ONE Introducing the Sociological Imagination

1 The Sociological Perspective 1
PART TWO Studying Society and Social Structure

2 Culture 27
3 Doing Sociological Research s9
4 Socialization and the Life Course 79
5 Social Structure and Social Interaction 104
6 Groups and Organizations 126
7 Deviance and Crime 149
PART THREE Social Inequalities

8 Social Class and Social Stratification 175
9 Global Stratification 208
10 Race and Ethnicity 235
11 Gender 268
12 Sexuality 298
PART FOUR Social Institutions

13 Families and Religion 325
14 Education and Health Care 362
15 Economy and Politics 391
PART FIVE Social Change

16 Environment, Population, and Social Change 425
CONTENTS
PART ONE Introducing the Sociological Imagination
1 The Sociological Perspective 1 did

What Is Sociology? 2 Conflict Theory 21
Symbolic Interaction 22
The Sociological Perspective 4 Feminist Theory 23
Discovering Unsettling Facts 6 Chapter Summary 25
Debunking in Sociology 8
Establishing Critical Distance 10 Key Sociological Concepts 3
The Significance of Diversity 10 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Getting Pregnant: A Very
Defining Diversity 10
Social Act 5
Society in Global Perspective 14
Doing Sociological Research
The Development of Sociological
Evicted 9
Theory 14
Understanding Diversity
The Influence of the Enlightenment 15 Become a Sociologist 12
Classical Sociological Theory 15
Sociology in the United States 18 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Suicide among Veterans 16
Theoretical Frameworks in Sociology 19
Careers in Sociology 24
Functionalism 19
PART TWO Studying Society and Social Structure
2 wore a "UEOIl
Defining Culture 28 Theoretical Perspectives on Culture and the
The Power of Culture: Ethnocentrism, Media 51
Cultural Relativism, and Culture Culture and Group Solidarity 52
Shock 30 Culture, Power, and Social Conflict 53
Characteristics of Culture 32 Symbolic Interaction and the Study
The Elements of Culture 35 of Culture 54
Feminist Theory and Culture 54
Language 35
Norms 38 Cultural Chang e 55
Beliefs 39 Culture Lag 55
Values 39 Sources of Cultural Change 55
Cultural Diversity 41 Chapter Summary 57
Dominant Culture 41 Doing Sociological Research
Subcultures 43 Tattoos: Status Risk or Status Symbol? 34
Countercultures 44
The Globalization of Culture 44 Understanding Diversity
The Social Meaning of Language 39
The Mass Media and Popular Culture 45
A Sociological Eye on the Media
The Organization ofMass Media 48 Death of a Superstar 46
Race, Gender, and Class in the Media 49
-
€ontents -
3 Doing Sociological Research 59
The Research Process 60 Participant Observation 70

Sociology and the Scientific Method 61 Controlled Experiments 71
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning 62 Content Analysis 74
Historical Research 75
Research Design 63 Evaluation Research 75
Developing a Research Question 63 Research Ethics: Is Sociology Value Free? 76
Creating a Research Design 65
Quantitative versus Qualitative Research 66 Chapter Summary 77
Gathering Data 68
Analyzing the Data 68 Doing Sociological Research
Reaching Conclusions and Reporting Results 69 Lives in Limbo 60
The Tools of Sociological Research 69
Fake News, Research, and the Media 63
The Survey: Polls, Questionnaires, and
Statistics in Sociology 72
Interviews 69
4socializati on and the Life course 7s
The Socialization Process 8 0 Aging and the Life Course 94

The Nature-Nurture Controversy 81 Childhood 94
Socialization as Social Control 8 1 Adolescence 95
Conformity and Individuality 8 2 Adulthood 96
The Consequences of Socialization 82 Age and Aging 97
Agents of Socialization 83 Rites of Passage 100
The Family 84 Resocialization 101
The Media 85 The Process ofConversion 102
Peers 85 The Brainwashing Debate 102
Religion 86
Chapter Summary 103
Sports 8 7
Schools 8 8 Understanding Diversity
Theories of Socialization 88 International Adoption 81
Social Leaming Theory 8 9 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Functionalism 8 9 Children and Disasters 86
Conflict Theory 8 9 Doing Sociological Research
Symbolic Interaction Theory 9 0 Resilience among Undocumented Students 93
Growing Up in a Diverse Society 92
What Is Society? 105 Roles 115

Macroanalysis and Microanalysis 105 Everyday Social Interaction 116
Social Institutions 106 Theories about Analyzing Social Interaction 119
Social Structure 10 7 The Social Construction ofReality 119
What Holds Society Together? 10 8 Ethnomethodology 12 0
Mechanical and Organic Solidarity 10 8 Impression Management and Dramaturgy 12 1
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft 10 8 Social Exchange Theory 12 2
Types of Societies 109 Interaction in Cyberspace 12 3
Preindustrial Societies 109
Industrial Societies 111 Chapter Summary 12 5
Postindustrial Societies 112 Doing Sociological Research

Social Interaction and Society 112 Vegetarians versus Omnivores: A Case Study of
Groups 112 Impression Management 12 2
Status 113 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Cyberbullying 123
- eontents
6 Groups and Organizations 126
Types of Groups 127 Types of Organizations 140

Dyads and Triads: Group Size Effeets 128 Bureaucracy 141
Primary and Secondary Groups 129 Bureaucracy's "Other Face" 142
Reference Groups 131 Problems of Bureaucracies 142
In-Groups, @ut-Groups, and Attribution The McDonaldization ofSociety 143
Error 131 Diversity in Organizations 144
Social Networks Bl! Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and Symbolic
Social Networks as "Small Worlds" 133 Interaction: Theoretical Perspe ctives 146
Social lnflwence in Groups 134 Chapter Summary 147
The Asch Conformity Experiment 135
The Milgram Obedience Studies 135 Doing Sociological Research
The Iraqi Prisoners al Abu Ghraib: Research Sharing the Journey 130
Predicts Reality? 137 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Groupthink Bil Finding a Job: The Invisible Hand 133
Risky Shift 138 Understanding Diversity
Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies 139 Whitening Job Resumes 145
7 Deviance and Crime 149 .................. 'J~

Deviance: What Is It? 150 Organized Crime 163
More Than Individual Behavior 151 Terrorism 163
Deviant Identities, Careers, and The Criminal Justice System 163
Communities 154 The Policing of Minorities 163
The Sociology ofi Stigma 155 Arrest and Sentencing 164
Deviant Careers 155 Explaining Crime and Deviance 167
Deviant Communities 156 The Functions of Crime and Deviance 167
Counting Crime 156 Deviance, Power, and Social Inequality 170
Symbolic Interaction Theories of Deviance 172
Types of Crime 160 Labeling Theory 172
Personal and Property Crimes 160 chapter Summary 174
Hate Crimes 160
Hurn g 161 A Sociological Eye on the Media
Gend lence 161 Images of Violent Crime 160
Cybe Doing Sociological Research
Vi · ess runes 162 Race, Employment, and Prison Release 166
Elite and White-Collar Crime 162 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Corporate Crime 162 Prison Rehabilitation 173
PART THREE Social Inequalities
8 Social Class and Social Stratification 175
Social Differentiation and Social Class as a Ladder 184

Stratification 176 Class Conflict 189
Estate, Caste, and Class 178 Diverse Sources of Stratification 190
The Class Structure of the United States: Social Mobility: Myths and Realities 193
Growing Ine quality 180 Defining Social Mobility 193
Toe Extent of Social Mobility 194
The Distribution of Income and Wealth 181 Class Consciousness 194
Analyzing Social Class 184 Why Is There Ine quality? 195
Clo n ten ts -
Karl Marx: Class and Capitalism 195 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Max Weber: Class, Status, and Party 196 Social Class and Sports 177
Functionalism and Conflict Theory: The Understanding Diversity
Continuing Debate 197 The Student Debt Crisis 18 5
Poverty 198 Doing Sociological Research
Defining Poverty 199 The Fragile Mi ddle Class 18 6
Who Are the Poor? 199 A Sociological Eye On the Media
Causes of Poverty 202 Reproducin g Class Stereotypes 193
Welfare and Social Policy 204
Chapter Summary 206
9 Global Stratification 2os

g.,t d
Global Stratification 209 World Poverty 227

Rich and Poor 210 Wh o Are the World's Poor? 228
The International Division of Labor: A World Women and Children in Poverty 229
Divided by Race and Gender 213 Poverty and Hunger 230
The World on the Move: International Causes of World Poverty 232
Migration 215 Globalization and Social Change 232
Theories of Global Stratification 216
Chapter Summary 234
Modernization Theory 216
Dependency Theory 217 Doing Sociological Research
World Systems Theory 218 Servants of Globalization: Wh o Does the
Consequences of Global Stratification 221 Domestic Work? 219
Population 222
Refugee Women and the Intersection of Race and
Health and the Environment 222
Gender 225
Education and Illiteracy 223
Gender Inequality 224 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Terrorism 226 Human Traffi ckin g 229
The Social Construction of Race Asian Americans 251

and Ethnicity 2 3 6 Mi ddle Easterners 252
Defining Race 236 White Ethnic Groups 253
Racial Formation 238 Jewish Americans 254
Multiracial Identity 238 Contemporary Immi gration: The New Civil Rights
Ethnicity 239 Challeng e 25 4
Panethnicity 240 Racial Stratification: A Current
Minority/Majority Groups 241 Portrait 256
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Economic Inequality 25 6
Stereotypes 241 Racial Segregation 258
Prejudice 241 Explaining Racial and Ethnic
Discrimination 242 Inequality 259
Stereotypes 2 4 2 Assimilation Theory 259
Racism: Its Many Forms 245 The Cul ture-Structure Debate 260
Is It Class or Is It Race? 26 1
Diverse Groups, Diverse Histories 246 Intersectional Theory: Connectin g Race, Class,
Native Americans: The First of and Gender 2 6 2
This Land 246
Racial Justice: Changes and Challenges 263
African Americans 248
Latinos/as 249 The Civil Rights Movement 263
Contents
Power and Militancy in the Movement for Racial Chapter Summary 267
Justice 264 Doing Sociological Research
#BlackLivesMatter 264 Halloween Costumes: Reproducing Racial
Strategies for Change: Race-Blind or Color-
Stereotypes 243
Conscious? 265
Where Do We Go From Here? 266
11 cender » h9£&@,
The Social Construction of Gender 270 Theories of Gender 289
Defining Sex and Gender 271 Feminist Theory and the Women's
Sex Differences: Nature or Nurture? 271 Movement 289
Gender Socialization 273 Gender in Global Perspective 292
The Formation ofGender Identity 274 Gender and Social Chang e 293
Sources ofGender Socialization 274
The Price ofConformity 277 Contemporary Attitudes 294
Gender Socialization and Homophobia 278 Legislative Change 294
Race, Gender, and Identity 279 Chapter Summary 296
The Institutional Basis ofGender 280
Gender Stratification 281 Women in the Media: Where Are Women's
Sexism: The Biased Consequences ofBeliefs 282 Voices? 272
Women's Worth: Still Unequal 283 Doing Sociological Research
The Devaluation ofWomen's Work 288 Eating Disorders: Gender, Race, and
Balancing Work and Family 289 the Body 278
Sex and Culture 299 Sex and Social Issues 313

Sex: Is It Natural? 299 Birth Control 313
The Social Basis ofSexuality 300 New Reproductive Technologies 315
Contemporary Sexual Attitudes and Abortion 315
Behavior 303 Pornography and the Sexualization of
Culture 317
Changing Sexual Values 303
Teen Pregnancy 319
Sexual Practices ofthe U.S. Public 304
Sexual Violence 321
Sex and Inequality: Gender, Race, and
Sex and Social Change 322
Class 304
The Sexual Revolution: Is It Over? 322
Sexuality: Sociological and Feminist Technology, Sex, and Cybersex 322
Theory 306 Commercializing Sex 323
Sex: Functional or Conflict-Based? 306 Chapter Summary 323
Symbolic Interaction and the Social Construction
ofSexual Identity 308 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Feminist Theory: Sex, Power, and Sex and Popular Culture 305
Inequality 309 Doing Sociological Research
A Global Perspective on Sexuality 310 Is Hooking Up Bad for Women? 307
Understanding Gay and lesbian Understanding Diversity
Experience 312 Sexuality and Disability: Understanding
Marginalized" Masculinity 313
Contents -
PART FOUR Social Institutions
13 Families and Religion 325
Defining the Family 327 Defining Religion 347

Extended Families 328 The Significance of Religion in the United
Nuclear Families 329
States 350
Sociological Theory and Families 331
The Dominance of Christianity 350
Functionalist Theory and Families 331 Measuring Religious Faith 350
Conflict Theory and Families 332 Forms of Religion 350
Symbolic Interaction Theory and Families 332
Sociological Theories of Religion 352
Feminist Theory and Families 332
Emile Durkheim: The Functions
Diversity among Contemporary American of Religion 352
Families 333 Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic
Female-Headed Households 333 and the Spirit of Capitalism 353
Married-Couple Families 334 Karl Marx: Religion, Social Conflict, and
Stepfamilies 334 Oppression 353
Same-Sex Families 335 Symbolic Interaction: Becoming
Single People 336 Religious 354
Marriage and Divorce 337 Diversity and Religious Belief 354
Marriage 337 The Influence of Race and
Divorce 338 Ethnicity 355
Family Violence 341 Religious Organizations 357
Domestic Violence and Abuse 342
Religion and Social Change 359
Child Abuse 342
Incest 343 Chapter Summary 359
Elder Abuse 343
Changing Families in a Changing Society 343 Interracial Datin g and Marriage 330
Global Changes in Family Life 344 Doing Sociological Research
Families and Social Policy 345 Men's Caregiving 340
Balancing Work and Family 345 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Child Care 346 The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism 358
Elder Care 347
Schooling and Society 363 Educational Reform 376

Does Schooling Matter? 366 Health Care in the United States 377
Education and Social Mobility 367
The Sociology of Health and Illness 379
Education and Inequality 368
Health Disparities and Social Inequality 380
Segregation and Resegregation 368
Testing and Accountability 369 Race, Ethnicity, and Health Care 381
Education in Global Perspective 372 Social Class and Health Care 382
Gender and Health Care 382
Sociological Theories of Education 372 LGBTQ Health 383
Functionalist Theory 373 Health and Disability 383
Conflict Theory 373 Age and Health Care 384
Symbolic Interaction Theory 374
The Social Organization of Health Care 384
Contents
Theoretical Perspectives on Health Care 385 Chapter Summary 389

Functionalist Theory 385 Understanding Diversity
Conflict Theory 386 Social Class and the College Party Scene 367
Doing Sociological Research
Health Care Reform 387 Homeroom Security 375
15 Economy and Politics 391 ~
Economy and Society 392 Power, Authority, and Bureaucracy 409

The Industrial Revolution 392 Typ es of Authority 410
Comparing Economic Systems 393 The Growth of Bureaucracies 410
The Changing Global Economy 393 Theories of Power 411
A More Eliverse Workplace 394 The Pluralist Model 411
Dein dustrialization 395 The Power Elite Model 412
Technological Change 396 The Autonomous State Model 413
Immi gration 397 Feminist Theories of the State 414
Social Organization of the Workplace 398 Govern ment: Power and Politics in a Diverse
The Division of Labor 399 Society 414
The Occupational System and the tabor Diverse Patterns of Political
Market 400 Participation 414
Diverse Groups/Diverse Work Political Power: Who's in Charge? 416
Experiences 402 Women and Minorities in Government 418
Unemployment and Joblessness 402 The Military as a Social Institution 419

Sexual Harassment 404 Race and the Military 420
Gays and lesbians in the Workplace 405 Women in the Military 421
Disability and Work 405 Gays and Ji.esbians in the Military 422
Sociological Theories of Economy Military Veterans 422
and Work 406 Chapter Summary 423
Functionalism 406 Doing Sociological Research
Conflict Theory 407 Precari ous Work: The Shifting Conditions of Work
Symbo lic Interaction Theory 407 in Society 396
Power, Politics, and Government 407 Understanding Diversity
State and Society 407 Diversify in the Power Elite 419
The State and Social Order 408
Global Interdependence and the State 409
PART FIVE Social Change
16 Environment, Population. and social change as iId@Ege"2

A Climate in Crisis: Environmental Birthrate 435
Sociology 426 Eleath Rate 435
Migration 436
Society at Risk: Afr, Water, and Energy 426
Disasters: At the Interface of Social and Physical Diversity and Population Change 437
Life 430 Population Growth: Are There Too Many
Environmental Ine quality and Environmental People? 440
Justice 431 A Population Bomb ? 440
Demographic Transition iLlheory
Counting People: Population Studies 433 441
Change: A Multidimensional Process 442 What Would a Sociologist Say?
Sources of Social Change 443 The End of the White Majority? 438
Doin g Sociological Research
Theories of Social Change 447
Who Cares and Why? Fair Trade and Organic
Functionalist Theory 447 Food 445
Conflict Theory 448
The CosmopolitanCanopy 451
Globalization and Modernization: Shaping Our
Lives 449 Glossary 454
From Community to Society 449
References 461
Urbanization 450
Social Inequality, Powerlessness, and the Name Index 484
Individual 451
Subject Index 492
Chapter Summary 452
I doing sociological research
Evicted 9 Halloween Costumes: Reproducing Racial
Tattoos: Status Risk or Status Symbol? 34 Stereotypes 243
Lives in Limbo 60 Eating Disorders: Gender, Race, and the Body 278
Resilience among Undocumented Students 93 Is Hooking Up Bad for Women? 307
Vegetarians versus Omnivores: A Case Study of Impression Men's Caregiving 340
Management 122 Homeroom Security 375
Sharing the Journey 130 Precarious Work: The Shifting Conditions of Work in
Race, Employment, and Prison Release 166 Society 396
The Fragile Middle Class 186 Who Cares and Why? Fair Trade and Organic Food 445
Servants of Globalizati on: Who Does the Domestic
Work? 219
I what would a sociologist say?

Getting Pregnant: A Very Social Act 5 Social Class and Sports 177
Suicide among Veterans 16 Human Trafficking 229
Children and Disasters 86 Sex and Popular Culture 305
Cyberbullying 123 The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism 358
Finding a Job: The Invisible Hand 133 The End of the White Majority? 438
I understanding diversity
Become a Sociologist 12 Sexuality and Disability: Understanding "Marginalized"
The Social Meaning of Language 39 Masculinity 313
Internati onal Adopti on 81 Interracial Dating and Marriage 330
Whiteni ng Job Resumes 145 Social Class and the College Party Scene 367
The Student Debt Crisis 185 Diversity in the Power Elite 419
Refugee Women and the Intersection of Race and The Cosmopolitan Canopy 451
Gender 225
a sociological eye on the media

Death of a Superstar 46 Reproducing Class Stereotypes 193
Fake News, Research, and the Media 63 Women in the Media: Where Are Women's
Images of Violent Crime 160 Voices? 272
features -
maps
Mapping America's Diversity Viewing Society in Global Perspective
MAP 1-1 A C h a n g in g Po p u latio n 11 MAP 3 -1 Human De ve lo p me nt In d e x 67
MAP 2 -1 En glish La n g u ag e No t Sp o ke n at Ho me 42 MAP 9 -1 The Wo rld Se en thro ug h th e Distrib utio n of
MAP 8 -1 Po vert y in th e Un ited State s 202 Wea lth 211
MAP 1O-1 Ame rican In d ia n and Ala ska Native Re sid e n ce 247 MAP 9 -2 Rich an d Po o r 212
MAP 1O-2 Foreign-Born Popula tion 250 MAP 9 -3 Migration 215
MAP 12 -1 Acce ss to Ab o rtio n Clin ics 316 MAP 9 -4 World Po verty 227
MAP 13 -2 Religio us D ive rsity in the Un ited State s 356 MAP 11-1 Where' s th e Best Place to Be a Woma n ? 292
MAPS 15 -1 and 15 -2 Ele ctoral Vo te by State an d Co u n ty 417 MAP 13 -1 World Relig io ns 355
MAP 15 -3 Wom en He ad s of State 418
MAP 16 -1 Global Warming : View ing the Earth's
Temp e rature 427
PREFACE
You might that think an author would get bored writing yet another edition of a book,
E but someone once said that if you truly understood the sociological perspective, you
. could never be bored.' For us as authors of this new edition, we are hardly bored by the
tenth edition of Sociology: The Essentials. Sociology is endlessly fascinating, and we
Ir are lucky to have the opportunity to revise this book every few years so we can capture
what is so compelling about the subject matter of sociology. With each new edition,
we are reminded of the ever-changing nature of society, the new challenges that come
from our nation's social issues, and the excitement of ongoing research on sociological
M subjects.
ye Sociology: The Essentials teaches students the basic concepts, theories, and insights
of the sociological perspective. With each new edition come different challenges: new
SL topics of study; new generations of students with different learning styles; increasing
diversity among those who will read this book; and new formats for delivering course
content to students. We know that how students learn and how they engage with
their course material comes increasingly in the form of electronic and online learning
resources.
Sociology: The Essentials, tenth edition, takes full advantage of these changes by
having a fully electronic version of the book available, allowing for personalized, fully
online digital learning. The platform of learning resources provided here engages
students in an interactive mode, while also offering instructors the opportunity to
make individualized configurations of course work. Those who want to enhance their
curriculum through online resources will also be able to utilize MindTap Sociology in the
way that best suits their course.
However the book is used, we have revised this edition to reflect the latest changes
in society and new work in sociological scholarship. We are somewhat amazed, even
as sociologists, to see how much change occurs, even in the relatively short period of
time between editions. Our book adapts to these changes with each new edition. In this
B edition, we have maintained and strengthened the themes that have been the book's
hallmark from the start: a focus on diversity in society, attention to society as both
enduring and changing, the significance of social context in explaining human behavior,
the increasing impact of globalization on all aspects of society, and a focus on critical
w thinking and an analysis of society fostered through sociological research and theory.
we know that studying sociology opens new ways of looking at the world. As we
teach our students, sociology is grounded in careful observation of social facts, as well
as in the analysis of how society operates. For students and faculty alike, studying
sociology can be exciting, interesting, and downnght fun, even though it also deals with
sobering social issues, such as the growing inequality, racism, and sexism that continue
to mark our time.
Jordan, June. 1981 Civil Wars. Boston: Beacon Press, p. JOO.
I
We try to capture the excitement of the sociological perspective, while introducing students to how
sociologists do research and how they theoretically approach their subject matter. We know that most
students in an introductory course will not become sociology majors, although we hope, of course, that
our book and their teacher will encourage them to do so. No matter their area of study, we want to give
students a way of thinking about the world that is not immediately apparent to them. We especially want
students to understand how sociology differs from the individualistic thinking that tends to predominate.
This is showcased in the box feature throughout the book entitled, "What Would a Sociologist Say?" Here,
we take a common topic and, with informal writing, briefly discuss how a sociologist would understand this
particular issue. We think this feature helps students see the unique ways that sociologists view everyday
topics- things as commonplace as finding a job or analyzing sports in popular culture. We want our book
to be engaging and accessible to undergraduate readers, while also preserving the integrity of sociological
research and theory. Our experience in teaching introductory students shows us that students can appreciate
the revelations of sociological research and theory if they are presented in an engaging way that connects to
their lives. We have kept this in mind throughout this revision and have focused on material that students can
understand and apply to their own social worlds.
Critical Thinking and Debunking

We use the theme of debunking in the manner first developed by Peter Berger (1963) to look behind the
facades of everyday life, challenging the ready-made assumptions that permeate commonsense thinking.
Debunking is a way for students to develop their critical thinking, and we use the debunking theme to
help students understand how society is constructed and sustained. This theme is highlighted in the
Debunking Society's Myths feature found throughout the book. We want students to understand the
rigor that is involved with sociological research, whether quantitative research or qualitative. The box
feature Doing Sociological Research presents a diverse array of research studies, presented to students so
they can see the question being asked, the method of investigation, the research results, and the study's
conclusions. This feature also includes critical thinking questions ("Questions to Consider") to help
students think further about the implications of the research presented. We also include a feature to help
students see the relevance of sociology in their everyday lives. The box feature See for Yourself allows
students to apply a sociological concept to observations from their own lives, thus helping them develop
their critical abilities and understand the importance of the sociological perspective.
Critical thinking is a term widely used but often vaguely defined. We use it to describe the process
by which students learn to apply sociological concepts to observable events in society. Throughout the
book, we ask students to use sociological concepts to analyze and interpret the world they inhabit. This is
reflected in the Thinking Sociologically feature that is also present in every chapter.
Because contemporary students are so strongly influenced by the media, we also encourage their
critical thinking through the box feature called A Sociological Eye on the Media. These boxes examine
sociological research that challenges some of the ideas and images portrayed in the media. This not only
improves students' critical thinking skills but also shows them how research can debunk these ideas and
images.
A Focus on Diversity
When we first wrote this book, we did so because we wanted to integrate the then new scholarship on
race, gender, and class into the core of the sociological field. We continue to see race, class, and gender-
or, more broadly, the study of inequality- as one of the core insights of sociological research and theory.
With that in mind, diversity, and the inequality that sometimes results, is a central theme throughout this
book. A boxed theme, Understanding Diversity, highlights this feature, but you will find that the analysis
of inequality, especially by race, gender, and class, is woven throughout the book.
Preface
Social Change
'the sociological perspective helps students see society as characterized both by constant change and
social stability. Throughout this book, we analyze how society changes and how events, both dramatic
and subtle, influence change. We have added new material throughout the text that shows students how
sociological research can help them understand that social changes are influencing their lives, even if
students think of these changes as individual problems.
Global Perspective
One of the main things we hope students learn in an introductory course is how broad-scale conditions
influence their everyday lives. Understanding this idea is a cornerstone of the sociological perspective.
we use a global perspective to examine how global changes are affecting all parts of life within the United
States, as well as other parts of the world. This means more than including cross-cultural examples. It
means, for example, examining phenomena such as migration and immigration or helping students
understand that their own consumption habits are profoundly shaped by global interconnections.
The availability of jobs, too, is another way students can learn about the impact of an international
division of labor on work within the United States. Our global perspective is found in the research and
examples cited throughout the book, as well as in various chapters that directly focus on the influence of
globalization on particular topics, such as work, culture, and crime.
New to the Tenth Edition

We have made various changes to the tenth edition to reflect new developments in sociological research and
current social issues. These revisions should make the tenth edition easier for instructors to teach and even
more accessible and interesting for students. Sociology: The Essentials is organized into five major parts:
"Introducing the Sociological Imagination" (Chapter 1); "Studying Society and Social Structure" (Chapters 2
through 7); "Social Inequalities" (Chapters 8 through 12); "Social Institutions" (Chapters 13 through 15); and
"Social Change" (Chapter 16).
Part I, "Introducing the Sociological Imagination," introduces students to the unique perspective of
sociology, differentiating it from other ways of studying society, particularly the individualistic framework
students tend to assume. Within this section, Chapter 1, "The Sociological Perspective," introduces
students to the sociological perspective. The theme of debunking is introduced, as is the sociological
imagination, as developed by C. Wright Mills. This chapter briefly reviews the development of sociology
as a discipline, with a focus on the classical frameworks of sociological theory, as well as contemporary
theories, including an expanded discussion of feminist theory. The tenth edition adds examples from
current events to capture student interest, including new research on growing inequality, the high rate of
suicide among veterans, and the influence of social media.
In Part II, "Studying Society and Social Structure," students learn some of the core concepts of
sociology. It begins with the study of culture in Chapter 2, "Culture," that includes much discussion
of social media as a force shaping contemporary culture. This includes research on social media usage
both by young and older people. There is new material on the vast growth of digital viewing, but also
research on body images and some of the popular titles that influence young people. Cha ter
3
"Doing Sociological Research," contains a discussion. of the research process and the too~ of '
sociological researnh-surveys, participant observation, controlled experiments conte t .
·nt analysis,
1
historical research, and evaluation research. The chapter was reorganized to give bent th
er attention to tle
,«,
different types and tools of sociological research. <As in the previous edition, we place th h
. e c apter on
research methods after the chapter on culture as a way of capturing student interest
tio and1d th e Lifete C .ourse,"» contains material
"S ocialization
·ia 1i; +al on socialization
·al +,
1 Chapter 4,
early.
theory and , ,
. . . . research, including
agents of socialization such as the media, family, and peers. There is more focus on th 3
e influence of
Preface
social media. The chapter also emphasizes the importance of socialization in various transitions, such
as the transition to adulthood.
Chapter 5, "Social Structure and Social Interaction," emphasizes how changes in the macrostructure of
society influence the micro level of social interaction. We do this by focusing on technological changes that are
now part of students' everyday lives and making the connection between changes at the societal level in the
everyday realities of people's lives. The chapter includes material on social media, including how people create
identities online and use social media websites to interact with others.
In Chapter 6, "Groups and Organizations," we study social groups and bureaucratic organizations,
using sociology to understand the complex processes of group influence, organizational dynamics,
and the bureaucratization of society. The chapter includes a discussion of organizational culture,
McDonaldization, and the significance of social networks. Chapter 7, "Deviance and Crime," includes the
study of sociological theories and research on deviance and crime. The core material is illustrated with
contemporary events, such as police shootings of young, Black men and mass shootings. The chapter
has been updated to reflect the newest research on gender-based violence and hate crime. As in previous
edition, the chapter maintains a focus on race, class, and gender inequality in the criminal justice system,
including mass incarceration of Black Americans and Hispanics.
In Part m, "Social Inequalities," each chapter explores a particular dimension of stratification in
society. Beginning with the significance of class, Chapter 8, "Social Class and Social Stratification,"
provides an overview of basic concepts central to the study of class and social stratification. The chapter
has a substantial emphasis on growing inequality with the newest research and data on this topic. The
section on poverty reflects the latest research, as does material on social mobility. There is updated data
throughout and new data on the likelihood of social mobility in the United States compared to other
nations. Chapter 9, "Global Stratification," follows with a particular emphasis on understanding the
significance of global stratification, the inequality that has developed among, as well as within, various
nations. Data and examples are updated throughout, and the process of globalization is a central theme in
the chapter. Chapter 10, "Race and Ethnicity," is a comprehensive review of the significance of race and
ethnicity in society, an increasingly important topic. The chapter focuses on race as a social construction,
showing the institutional basis of racial inequality. Throughout, current examples and the most recent
data illustrate basic concepts about race, ethnicity, and immigration. Chapter 11, "Gender," focuses
on gender as a central concept in sociology closely linked to systems of stratification in society. The
chapter helps students understand the distinction in sex and gender, including the social construction of
gender. Research on LGBTQ people is included, as is discussion of transgender. Chapter 12, "Sexuality,"
treats sexuality as a social construction and a dimension of social stratification and inequality. We
have emphasized the influence of feminist theory on the study of sexuality. The chapter also explores
research on pornography and violence against women and the sexual double standard. There is new data
throughout on topics such as abortion rates, teen pregnancy, and contraception usage.
Part rv, "Social Institutions," includes three chapters, each focusing on basic institutions within society.
Chapter 13, "Families and Religion," maintains its inclusion of important topics in the study of families, such
as interracial dating, same-sex marriage, fatherhood, gender roles within families, and family violence. We
have updated material on marriage and divorce rates and also include a discussion of the impact of economic
stress on families. Chapter 14, "Education and Health Care," emphasizes inequality in these two important
institutions. There is discussion of school segregation and its consequences and the latest material on
health care, including details about the Affordable Care Act even while that is being debated in social policy.
Chapter 15, "Economy and Politics," analyzes the state, power, authority, and bureaucratic government. It
also contains a detailed discussion of theories of power. There is current research on LGBTQ experiences in
the workplace. The section on politics has been revised to show the influence of money in politics, and the
chapter includes the most recent available material on the demographics of voting behavior.
Part V, "Social Change," includes Chapter 16, "Environment, Population, and Social Change." This
chapter is framed by environmental sociology- a topic of great interest to today's students. The chapter
opens with a sociological analysis of environmental change, including sustainability and climate change.
There is a basic introduction to demography, as well as a discussion of the social dimensions of natural
disasters. The social movements section includes an illustration from the "Black Lives Matter" movement.
Preface
Features and Pedagogical Aids

The special features of this book flow from its major themes: diversity, current theory and research,
debunking and critical thinkin g, social change, and a global perspective. The features are also designed
to help students develop critical thinking skills so that they can apply abstract concepts to observed
experiences in their everyday life and learn how to interpret different theoretical paradigms and
approaches to sociological research questions.
Critical Thinking Features

The feature Thinking Sociologically takes concepts from each chapter and asks students to think about
these concepts in relationship to something they can easily observe in an exercise or class discussion.
The feature Debunking Society's Myths takes certain common assumptions and shows students how the
sociological perspective would inform such assumptions and beliefs.
An Extensive and Content-Rich Map Feature

We use the map feature that appears throughout the book to help students visualize some of the ideas
presented, as well as to learn more about regional and international diversity. One map theme is Mapping
America's Diversity and the other is Viewing Society in Global Perspective. These maps have multiple uses
for instructional value, beyond instructing students about world and national geography. The maps have
been designed primarily to show the differentiation by county, state, and/or country on key social facts.
High-Interest Theme Boxes

We use high-interest themes for the box features that embellish our focus on diversity and sociological
research throughout the book. Understanding Diversity boxes further explore the approach to diversity
taken throughout the book. In most cases, these box features provide personal narratives or other
information designed to teach students about the experiences of different groups in society. Because
many are written as first-person narratives, they can invoke students' empathy toward groups other than
those to which they belong-something we think is critical to teaching about diversity. We hope to show
students the connections between race, class, and other social groups that they otherwise find difficult to
grasp. The box feature Doing Sociological Research is intended to show students the diversity of research
questions that form the basis of sociological knowledge and, equally important, how the questions
researchers ask influence the methods used to investigate the questions. We see this as an important part
of sociological research-that how one investigates a question is determined as much by the nature of
the question as by allegiance to a particular research method. Some questions require a more qualitative
approach; others, a more quantitative approach. In developing these box features, we ask: What is the
central question sociologists are asking? How did they explore this question using sociological research
methods? What did they find? What are the implications of this research? We deliberately selected
questions that show the full and diverse range of sociological theories and research methods, as well as
the diversify of sociologists. Each box feature ends with Questions to Consider to encourage students
to think further about the implications and applications of the research. What Would a Sociologist Say?
boxes take a topic of interest and examine how a sociologist would likely interpret this subject. The topics
are selected to capture srudent interest, such as a discussion of veteran suicides, hip-hop culture and sex
and popular culture. We think this box brings a sociological perspective to commonplace events.
The feature A Sociological Eye on the Media, found in several chapters, examines .43f
. . . . some aspec o
how the media influence public understanding of some of the subjects in this book. we thinkth; '
· · . e i, tis 1s
important because sociological research often debunks taken for granted points of v qi
ew presenter mn
the media, and we want students to be able to look at the media with a more critical ,r
· fl fth . . . eye. Because o
h enormous influence
the o1 1 important in ed
e media, we think this is increasingly ·
• " Iucating students
ab OU t SOCIO 1 O y.
The feature See for Yourself provides students with the chance to apply sociological concepts and
ideas to their own observations. This feature can also be used as the basis for writing exercises, helping
students improve both their analytic skills and their writing skills.
In addition to the features just described, we offer an entire set of learning aids within each
chapter that promotes student mastery of the sociological concepts.
In-Text Learning Aids

Learning Objectives. We have included learning objectives to this edition, which appear near the
beginning of every chapter. Matched to the major chapter headings, these objectives identify what we
expect students to learn from the chapter. Faculty may choose to use these learning objectives to assess hew
well students comprehend the material. We tried to develop the learning objectives based on different levels
of understanding and analysis, recognizing the various paths that students take in how they learn material.
Chapter Outlines. A concise chapter outline at the beginning of each chapter provides students with an
overview of the major topics to be covered.
Key Terms. Key terms and major concepts appear in bold when first introduced in the chapter. A list of
the key terms is found at the end of the chapter, which makes study more effective. Definitions for, the
key terms are found in the glossary.
Theory Tables. Each chapter includes a table that summarizes different theoretical perspectives by com-
paring and contrasting how these theories illuminate different aspects of different subjects.
Chapter Summary in Question-and-Answer Format. Questions and answers highlight the major
points in each chapter and provide a quick review of major concepts and themes covered in the chapter.
A Glossary and complete References for the whole text are found at the back of the book.
MindTap Sociology: The Personal Learning Experience

The redesigned MindTap Sociology: The Essentials, tenth edition, from Cengage represents a new
approach to a highly personalized, online learning platform. A fully online learning solution, MindTap
Sociology combines all of a student's learning, readings, and multimedia activities into a singular
learning path that guides students through an introduction to sociology course. Three new, highly
interactive activities challenge students to think critically by exploring, analyzing, and creating
content, developing their sociological imagination through personal, local, and global lenses. MindTap
Sociology: The Essentials, tenth edition, is easy to use and saves instructors' time by allowing them to:
• Seamlessly deliver appropriate content and technology assets from a number of providers to students,
as they need them.
• Break course content down into movable objects to promote personalization, encourage interactivity,
and ensure student engagement.
• Customize the course- from tools to text- and make adjustments "on the fly," making it possible to
intertwine breaking news into their lessons and incorporate today's teachable moments.
• Bring interactivity into learning through the integration of multimedia assets (apps from Cengage
Leaming and other providers) and numerous in-context exercises and supplements; student
engagement will increase, leading to better student outcomes.
• Track students' use, activities, and comprehension in real time, which provides opportunities for early
intervention to influence progress and outcomes. Grades are visible and archived so students and
instructors always have access to current standings in the class.
• Assess knowledge throughout each section: after readings, and in automatically graded activities and
assignments.
A new digital implementation guide will help you integrate the new MindTap Leaming Path into your
course. Learn more at www.cengage.com/mindtap.
Preface
Instructor Resources
Sociology: The Essentials, tenth edition, is accompanied by a wide array of supplements prepared to create
the best learning environment inside as well as 0utside the classroom for both instructors and students.
All the continuing supplements for Sociology: The Essentials, tenth edition, have been thoroughly revised
and updated. We invite you to take full advantage of the teaching and learning tools available to you.
Instructor's Resource Manual. This supplement offers instructors brief chapter outlines, student learn-
ing objectives, American Sociological Association recommendations, key terms and people, detailed
chapter lecture outlines, lecture/discussion suggestions, student activities, chapter worksheets, video
suggestions, video activities, and Internet exercises. The tenth edition also includes a syllabus to help
instructors easily organize learning t0ols and create lessen plans.
Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero. This flexible, online system allows teachers to
author, edit, and manage test bank content from multiple Cengage Learning solutions, create multiple test
versions in an instant, and deliver tests from your LMs, your classroom, or wherever you want.
PowerPoint Slides. Preassembled Microsoft° PowerPoint lecture slides with graphics from the text
make it easy for you to assemble, edit, publish, and present custom lectures for your course.
Acknowledgments
We relied on the comments of many reviewers to improve the book, and we thank them for the time they
gave in developing very thoughtful comrnentar.ies on the different chapters.
We appreciate the efforts ofmany people who make this project possible. We are fortunate to be
working with a publishing team with great enthusiasm for this project. We thank all of the people at
Cengage Learning who have worked with us on this and other projects, especially Ava Fruin, who
shepherded this edition through important revisions. We were also fortunate to have the guidance of
Sarnen Iqbal, who oversaw the many aspects of production that are critical to the book's success. We
especially thank Laura Sanderson for her extraordinary and careful work in the production process.
Finally, our special thanks also go to our spouses Richard Morris Rosenfeld and Patricia Epps Taylor for
their ongoing love anti willingness to put up with us when we are frazzled by the project details!
4
i.
)
« )
~¥a. i ' ?
9
.,
Margaret L. Andersen is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman

Rosenberg Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University ofDelaware
where she has held joint appointments in women's studies and Black
American studies. She is the author of Race in Society: Th e Enduring
American Dilemma; Thinking about Women: Sociological Perspectives
on Sex and Gender; Race, Class and Gender (with Patricia Hill !s0llins);
Race and Ethnicity in Society: Th e Changing Landscape (with Elizabeth
Higginbotham); On Land and On Sea: A Century of Women in the Rosenfeld
Collection; and Living Art : The Life of Paul R. Jones, African American Am:
Collector. She is a recipient of the American Sociological Association's
Jessie Bernard Award and the Merit Award of the Eastern S0Giol0gical
Society. She is the former vice president of the American Sociological
Association, former president of the Eastern Sociological Society, and a
recipient of the University of Delaware's Excellence in Teaching Award
and the College of Arts and Sciences Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Howard F. Taylor was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated Phi

Beta Kappa from Hiram College and has a Ph.D. in sociology from
Yale University. He has taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology,
Syracuse University, and Princeton University, where he is Professor of
Sociology. He has published over fifty articles in sociology, education,
social psychology, and race relations. His books include Th e IQ
Game (Rutgers University Press), a critique of hereditarian accounts
of intelligence; Balance in Small Groups (Van No-strand Reinhold),
translated into Japanese; and the forthcoming The SAT Triple Whammy:
Race, Gender, and Social Class Bias. He is past president of the Eastern
Sociological Society, and a member of the American Sociological
Association and the Sociological Research Association, an honorary
society for distinguished research. He is a winner of the DuBois-
Johnson-Frazier Award, given by the American Sociological Association
for distinguished research in race and ethnic relations, and the
President's Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University.
.,
.
-
a
3
'# rt s.LIA
PERSPECTIVE
What Is Sociology? 2
The Sociological Perspective 4
The Significance of Diversity 10
The Development of Sociological Theory 14 I¥
Theoretical Frameworks in Sociology 19
Chapter Summary 25
In this chapter, you will learn to:

Illustrate what is meant by saying that human behavior is shaped
by social structure
Question individualistic explanations of hum an behavior
Describe the significance of studying diversity in contemporary

society
Explain the origins of sociological thought
Compare and contrast the major frameworks of sociological theory
Imagine you had been switched with another infant at birth. How different would your life be? What if
your accidental family was very poor...or very rich? How might this have affected the schools you
attended, the health care you received, and the possibilities for your future career? If you had been
raised in a different religion, would this have affected your beliefs, values, and attitudes? Taking a greater
leap, what if you had been born another sex or a different race? What would you be like now?
We are talking about changing the basic facts of your life- your famil y, social class, education, reli-
gion, sex, and race. Each has major consequences for who you are and how you wil l fare in life. These
factors play a major part in writing your life script. Your social location (meaning a person's place in soci-
ety) establishes the limits and possibilities of a life.
CHAPTER1 The Sociological Perspective
Consider this:
• The people least likely to attend college are those most likely to benefit from it (Brand and Xie 2010).
Neighborhoods with high concentration of African Americans and, to some extent, Latinos and
Asian Americans are less likely to include health-related businesses such as fresh food markets,
physical fitness facilities, and various health-providing social service organizations (Anderson 2017;
Walker, Reece, and Burke 2010).
• Sons who have sisters are less likely to provide elder care to their parents than are sons without
sisters. At the same time, daughters (who provide more elder care overall) provide more care to
mothers than they do for fathers (Grigoryeva 2017).
These conclusions, drawn from current sociological research, describe some consequences of your par-
ticular location in society. Although we may take our place in society for granted, our social location has a pro-
found effect on our chances in life. The power of sociology is that it teaches us to see how society influences
our lives and the lives of others, and it helps us explain the consequences of different social arrangements.
Sociology also has the power to help us understand the influence of major changes on people. Cur-
rently, rapidly developing technologies, increasing globalization, a more diverse population in the United
States, and growth in social inequality are affecting everyone, although in different ways. How are these
changes affecting your life? Perhaps you rely on social media to keep in touch with friends. Maybe your
school includes people speaking many different languages. Perhaps you see women and men in your
community finding it harder to make ends meet, while people with vast sums of money shape national
policy. All of these are issues that guide sociological questions. Sociology explains some of the causes and
consequences of ihese changes.
Although society is always changing, it is also remarkably stable. People generally follow established pat-
terns of human behavior, and you can often anticipate how people will behave in certain situations. You can
even anticipate how different social conditions will affect different groups of people in society. This is what
sociologists find so interesting: Society is marked by both change and stability. Societies continually evolve,
creating the need for people to adapt to change whil e still following generally established patterns of behavior.
What Is Sociology?
Sociology is the study of human behavior in society. Sociologists are interested in the study of people
and have learned a fundamental lesson: Human behavior, even when seemingly "natural" or taken
for granted, is shaped by social
structures- structures that have
their origins beyond the immedi-
ately visible behaviors of everyday
life. In other words, all human
behavior occurs in a social context.
That context-the institutions and
culture that surround us-shapes
what people do and think. In this
book,
.»
we w,~n examine , the dimen-
,
sons of s ·
oc1ety and analyze the
g element f .
, sol social context that
G influence H
ti e uman behavior.
So · 1 .
!
of th· ci_o ogy 1s a scientific way
; inking ab s
its :. out society and
g
J
is influen
Ob
Servatio
ce on human groups.
il logi n, reasoning, and
ca I analy ·
soc· . Sis are the tools of
Sociology is the study of human behavior. What social behaviors do you
by th
1
Ologists. s s
· oc1ology is inspired
see here? e fasci nation · people have for
CHAPTER 1 Th e So cio lo g ica l Pe rsp e ctive -
observing people, but it goes far beyond casual observations. It builds from objective analyses that others
can validate as reliable.
Every day, the media in their various forms (television, film, video, digital, and print) bombard us
with social commentary. Media commentators provide endless opinions about the various and some-
times bizarre forms of behavior in society. Sociology is different. Sociologists often appear in the media,
and they study some of the same subjects that the media examine, such as crime, violence, or income
inequality, but sociologists use specific research techniques and well-tested theories to explain social
issues. Indeed, sociology can provide the tools for testing whether the things we hear about society are
actually true- an increasingly important contribution in an era where many think that the media pro-
mote so-called fake news- a phenomenon that itself has social causes and consequences. Learning how
to assess such claims is an important contribution of sociological research, as you will see in the feature
"Debunking Society's Myths" appearing throughout this book.
The subject matter of sociology is everywhere. This is why people sometimes wrongly believe that
sociology just explains the obvious. Sociologists bring a unique perspective to understanding social behav-
ior and social change. Even though sociologists often do research on familiar topics, such as youth cultures
or racial inequality, they do so using specific research tools and frames of analysis (known as sociologi-
cal theory). Psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists, economists, social workers, and others also
study social behavior, although each has a different perspective or "angle" on people in society.
How is sociology different from psychology? After all, both study people and both identify some of
the social forces that shape our lives. There is, however, a difference. Research in psychology can inform
some sociological analyses, but the focus in psychology is more on individuals-what makes individuals
do what they do and how individual minds and emotions work. Increasingly, psychology is also influ-
enced by the studies of the brain that are emerging from the techniques of neuroscience. Sociologists, on
As you build your sociological perspective, you must learn certain key concepts to begin understanding how
sociologists view human behavior. Social structure, social institutions, social change, and social interaction are
not the only sociological concepts, but they are fundamental to grasping the sociological perspective.
Social Interaction. Sociologists see social interaction as behavior between two or more people that is
given meaning. Through social interaction, people react and change, depending on the actions and reac-
tions of others. Because society changes as new forms of human behavior emerge, change is always
in the works.
Social Structure. We define social structure as the organized pattern of social relationships and social
institutions that together constitute society. Social structure is not a "thing," but refers to the fact that
social forces not always visible to the human eye guide and shape human behavior. Acknowledging that
social structure exists does not mean that humans have no choice in how they behave, only that those
choices are largely conditioned by one's location in society.
Social Institutions. In this book, you will also learn about the significance of social institutions, de-
fined as established and organized systems of social behavior with a particular and recognized purpose.
Family, religion, marriage, government, and the economy are examples of major social institutions. So-
cial institutions confront individuals at birth and transcend individual experience, but they still influence
individual behavior.
• Social Change. As you can tell, sociologists are also interested in the process of social change, the altera-
tion of society over time. As much as sociologists see society as producing certain outcomes, they do not
see society as fixed, nor do they see humans as passive recipients of social expectations. Sociologists view
society as stable but constantly changing.
As you read this book, you will see that these key concepts-social interaction, social structure, social insti-
tutions, and social change-are central to the sociological imagination.
Q: What do the following people have in common?

Michelle Obama (former first lady)
Cam Newton (NFL quarterback)
Senator Corey Booker (from New Jersey)
Robin Williams (actor, come dian)
Ronald Reagan (former president)
Reverend Martin Luther King,Jr. (famed civil rights leader and pastor)
Regis Philbin (TV personality)
Reverend Jesse Jackson (civil rights leader)
Saul Bellow (novelist; Nobel Prize recipient)
Joe Theismann !former football player and TV personality)
Congresswoma n Maxine Waters (from California)
Former Senator Barbara Mikul ski (from Maryland)
A: They were all sociology majors!
Source: Compiled by Peter Dreier, Occidental follege. supplemented by authors.
the other hand, though they learn from psychological research, are more interested in the broad social
forces that shape society as a whole and the people within it (See the box "What Would a Sociologist
Say?2" for an example.) Together, these and other social sciences provide compelling, though different,
views of hum an behavior.
The Sociological Perspective

Think back to the chapter opening where we asked you to imagine yourself growing up under dif-
ferent circum stances. Our goal in that passage was to make you feel the stirring of the sociological
perspective-the ability to see societal patterns that infl uence individual and group life. The beginnings
of the sociological perspective can be as simple as the pleasures of watching people or wondering how
society infl uences people's lives. Indeed, many students begin their study of sociology because they are
"interested in people." Sociologists convert this curiosity into the systematic study of how society influ-
ences different people's experiences within it.
c. Wright Mills (1916--1962) was one of the first to write about the sociological perspective in his clas-
sic book, The Sociological Imagination (1959). He wrote that the task of sociology was to understand the
relationship between individuals and the society in which they live. He defined the soc· . . •
1orogrca
1 1 imagr
nation as the ability to see the societal patterns that influence the individual as well a g f. d'
. . s roups o m 1-
viduals. Sociology should be used, Mills argued, to reveal how the context of society
.
sh, I
apes our lives. e
H
thought that to understand the experience of a given person or group of l:)eople one h d t h k
. . . . , a o ave now'- 1
edge of the social and historical context in which people lived.
Tik, tor example, about the time and effort that many PPP
Pinto their appearance You might
ordinarily think of this as merely personz grooming or an m IV! ua attempt to "look ,, .
h significant
behaviorhas · · if · l origins. w+,
social 5ta d"in front ot f a mirror, you are
When you stand
+a,
tr
«. ood,
3p;
but this
·
ing about how society · present m
is · your reflection.
· As you 1 oo k• m
· th e mmor,
, thou e hpro ably not think-
.
· a· ·
others see you and are very hkely, a iustmg your appearance WI 'th th at in mind e g , . you are seeing how
•
This seemingly individual behavior is actually, a very social . act. If you are tr.'even
.
if not consci·iously·
. Ing to achie articu-
lar look you are likely doing so because of soda! forces that estabbsh particular id 2vea P
produced by industries that profit enormously from the procluets and senvioes thateaJs. These ideals are
people do so believing they are making an individual choice. Some industr.ies people buy, even when
5
Uggest that you should
CHAP1i1ER 1 ilihe-SoGiologiGaliller,specti:v.e -
prememe
Getting Pregnant: A Very Social Act
When does a woman get pregnant? Simple, you might think--it's biological. Of course, you can think of preg-
nancy from a biological perspective, as resulting from the process of fertilization. Or, you might think of preg-
nancy from a psychological perspective, analyzing the desire to have a child as rootea in an individualdeci-
sion-making processes. You might even think about pregnancy from a Gross-culturral or historical perspective,
analyzing childbirth in different cultural contexts or analyzing historical changes in how pregnancy is managed
by the medical profession. What would a sociologist say about getting pregnant?
From a sociological perspective, pregnancy is deeply social behavior. There would be many sociological
angles for studying pregnancy. An example from recent research reveals the power of sociological thinking.
Sociological researchers have found that the likelihood of becoming pregnant increases significantly in the
two years following a friend's having had a child. As the researchers conclude, even such personaldecisions as
the decision to have a child result from the web of social relationships in which people are embedded (Balbo and
Barban 2014). Pregnancy may seem like a very personal decision, but it is fertile ground for sociological study.
What other social forces do you think might influence the likelihood of getting pregnant?
be thinner or curvier, your pants should be baggy or "skinny," women's breasts should be minimized or
maximized-either way, you need more products. Maybe you should have a complete makeover! Many
people go to great lengths to try to achieve a constantly changing beauty ideal, one that is probably not
even attainable (such as flawless skin, hair always in place, with perfectly proportioned body parts).
Sometimes trying to meet these ideals can even be hazardous to your physical and mental health. The
ideals also vary depending on your gender.
The point is that the alleged standards of beauty are produced by social forces that extend far beyond
an individual's concern with personal appearance. Appearance ideals, like other socially established
beliefs and practices, are produced in particular social and historical contexts. People may come up with
all kinds of personal strategies for achieving these ideals: They may buy more products, try to lose more
weight or get bulked up, possibly becoming depressed and anxious if they think their efforts are failing.
These personal behaviors may seem to be only individual issues, but they have basic social causes. The
sociological imagination permits us to see that something as seemingly personal as how you look arises
from a social context, not just individual behavior.
Sociologists are certainly concerned about individuals, but they are attuned to the social and histori-
cal context that shapes individual and group experiences. The sociological imagination distinguishes
between troubles and issues. Troubles are privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in
a person's life. Issues affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the institutional arrange-
ments and history of a society (Mills 1959). This distinction is the crux of the difference between individual
experience and social structure, defined as the organized pattern of social relationships and social insti-
tutions that together constitute society. Issues shape the context within which troubles arise. Sociologists
employ the sociological perspective to understand how issues are shaped by social structures.
Mills used the example of unemployment to explain the meaning of troubles versus issues- an
example that still has resonance given people's concerns about finding work. When an individual per-
son becomes unemployed- or cannot find work- he or she has a personal trouble, such as the worry
that many college graduates have experienced in trying to find work following graduation. The personal
trouble unemployment brings may include financial problems as well as the person feeling a loss of
identity, becoming depressed, or having to uproot a family and move. College students may have to move
back home with parents after graduation.
The problem of unemployment, however, is deeper than the experience of any one person.
Unemployment is rooted in the structure of society- this is what interests sociologists. What societal
forces cause unemployment? Who is most likely to become unemployed at different times? How does
- €H:AP1iER 1 The Sociological Perspective
Troubles and Issues

Personal troubles are everywhere around us: alcohol abuse or worries about money or evern beiAg upset about
how you look. At an individual level, these things can be deeply troubling, and people sometimes need personal
help to deal with them. But most personal troubles, as C. Wright Mills would say, also have their origins in societal
arrangements. Take the example of alcohol abuse.
What are some ofi the things about society-no,jus! individuals-that might influence this personal trouble?
Is there a culture of drinking onyour campus that generates peer pressure to drink? Do people drink more when
they are unemployed? Is drinking more common among particular groups or at different times in history? Who
profits from people's drinking?l'hinking aliloun these questions can help yotJ urnder,stand the distinction that Mills
makes between personal troubles and social issues.
unemployment affect an entire community (for instance, when a large plant shuts down) or an entire
nation (such as when recessions hit)? Sociologists know that unemployment causes personal troubles,
but understanding unemployment is more than understanding one person's experience. It requires
understanding the social structural conditions that influence people's lives.
The specific task of sociology, according to Mills, is to comprehend the whole of human society-its
personal and public dimensions, historical and contemporary-and its influence on the lives of human
beings. Mills had an important point: Reople often feel that things are beyond their control, meaning that
people are shaped by social forces larger than their individual lives. Social forces influence our lives in
profound ways, even though we may not always know how. Consider this: Sociologists have noted a cur-
rent trend, popularly labeled "the boomerang generation" or "accordion families" (Newman 2012). These
terms refer to the pattern whereby many young people, after having left their family home to attend
college, are returning home after graduation. Although this may seem like an individual decision to save
money on housing or live "free" while paying off student loans, when a whole generation experiences
this living arrangement, there are social forces at work that extend beyond individual decisions. In other
words, people feel the impact of social forces in their personal lives, even though they may not always
know the full dimensions of those forces. This is where sociology comes into play- revealing the social
structures that shape the different dimensions of our day-to-day lives. Social structure is a lot like air: You
cannot directly "see" it, but it is essential to living our lives.
Sociologists see social structures through careful and systematic observation. This makes sociology
an empirical discipline. Empirical refers to careful observation, not just conjecture or opinion. In this
way, sociology is very different from common sense. For empirical observations to be useful to others,
they must be gathered and recorded rigorously. Sociologists are also obliged to reexamine their assump-
tions and conclusions constantly. Although the specific methods that sociologists use to examine differ-
ent problems vary, as we will see in Chapter 3 on sociological research methods the em . . b . f
J ' 'pIrca, 1 as1s O
sociology is what distinguishes it from mere opinion or other forms of social comment
ary.
Discovering Unsettling Facts

In studying sociology, it is crucial to examine the most controversial rtopics and to d .
, . . . o so with an open
mind even when you see the most disquieting facts. ll'he facts we learn through so . .
s. .. .£ 1
cological research can
be "inconvenient" because the data can challenge familiar ways of thm~mg. Consid h .
. . . . er t e following:
• Many think of the Intemet as promoting more impersonal social interaction. g .+,
, ll I» '· iociological research,

however, finds that people with Internet access are actual!y more rkely to ha .
. . fad Ti ve romantic partners
because of the ease of meeting people online (Rosenfeld an Thoma s 2012)
• Almost thirteen percent (12.7) of IJ.S. households are "f000 insecme," ineani h
have the money for an adequate amount ot tood
r £ 5A (0liv6 2017).
vera ZU) .
Ing that they do not
€HftlPffiER ~ mhe Soclologi~al Per.spea-~ive -
120%
Bottom 90 Top 10
100%
80%
60%
40%
20% e-
0%
1949- 1954- 1958- 1961- 1970- 1975- 1982-

-20% 1953 1957 1960 1969 1973 1979 1990
A Figure 1-1 Distribution of Average Income Growth during Economic

Expansions. This figure shows how the bottom 90 percent and top 1 O percent
of the population experience change in their income during periods of economic
expansion. What trends do you see here and how might they be affecting people's
personal troubles and social issues?
Source: Tcherneva, Pavlina R. 2014. Growth for Whom ? Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. Retrieved
Ap ril 1, 2015. www.levyinstitute.org /pubs/op_47.pdf
The number of women prisoners has increased at almost twice the rate of increase for men; two-
thirds of women and half of men in prison are parents (Carson and Anderson 2016; Glaze and
Maruschak 2008).
These facts provide unsettling evidence of persistent problems in the United States, problems that are
embedded in society, notjust in individual behavior. Sociologists try to reveal the social factors that shape
society and determine the chances of success for different groups. Some never get the chance to go to college;
others are unlikely to ever go to jail. These divisions persist because of people's placement within society.
A Figure 1-1 provides graphic evidence of how changes in society might determine the opportunities
for success of different groups. This image shows what percentage of income growth went to the top
10 percent and the bottom 90 percent of the U.S. population since World War II. This was a period of great
economic expansion in the United States. How was income growth distributed over this time period and
who benefitted? As you can see in this image, since 2000, the bottom 90 percent of the population has
experienced a dramatic decline in income growth. How does this affect opportunity for people like you?
Myth: Anyone who works hard enough in the United States can get ahead.
Sociological Research: There are periods in society when some groups are able to move ahead. As examples, the
Black middle class expanded following changes in civil rights laws in the 1960s; the White middle class also grew
in the post-World War l period as the result of such things as GI benefits for returning vets and government sup-
port for home ownership. However, although there are exceptions, most people do not change their social class
position from that in which they were born. As Figure 1.1 shows you, at times groups may even fall further behind
as the result of conditions in society (Pi ketty 2014; Noah 2013).
How might it help explain the growing concern with class inequality? We will discuss these changes more
in Chapter 8, but for now, perhaps you can begin to understand how sociologists study the broad social
forces that shape people's life chances. Something as simple as being born in a particular generation can
shape the course of your lifetime.
Sociologists study not just the disquieting side of society. Sociologists may also study questions
that affect everyday life, such as how children's play and sports aff ect their developing gender identities
(Messner and Musto 2016), worker--customer dynamics in nail salons (Kang 2010), or the expectations
that young women and men have for combining work and family life (Gerson 2010). There are also many
intriguing studies of unusual groups, such as cyberspace users (Turkel 2012), strip clubs and dancers
(Barton 2017), or competitive eaters (Ferguson 2014). The subject matter of sociology is vast. some
research illuminates odd corners of society; other studies address urgent problems of society that may
affect the lives of millions.
Debunking in Sociology
The power of sociological thinking is that it helps us see everyday life in new ways. Sociologists question
actions and ideas that are usually taken for granted. Peter Berger (1963) calls this process "debunking."
Debunking refers to looking behind the facades of everyday life-what Berger called the "unmasking
tendency" of sociology (1963: 38). In other words, sociologists look at the behind-the-scenes patterns and
processes that shape the behavior they observe in the social world.
Take schooling, for example: We can see how the sociological perspective debunks common
assumptions about education. Most people think that education is primarily a way to learn and get
ahead. Although this is true, a sociological perspective on education reveals something more. Sociolo-
gists have concluded that more than learning takes place in schools; other social processes are at work.
Social cliques are formed where some students are "insiders" and others are excluded "outsiders." Young
schoolchildren acquire not just formal knowledge but also the expectations of society and people's place
within it. Race and class conflicts are often played out in schools (Lewis and Diamond 2015). Poor children
seldom have the same resources in schools as middle-class or elite children, and they are often assumed
to be incapable of doing schoolwork and are treated accordingly. The somber reality is that schools often
stifle the opportunities of some children rather than launch all children toward success (Kozol 2012).
Cultural practices that seem bizarre to outsiders may be taken for granted or defined as appropriate by insiders.
CHAPTER 1 Th e So ci olo g ica l Pe rsp e ctive -
nae
Evicted
Research Question
Sociologist Matthew Desmond was curious about the character of poverty in the Uni ted States, but the more he
thought about it, the more he realized that people's housing arrangements were a critical part of this problem.
Specifically, he wanted to know more about housing eviction: How much does it happen? What are its conse-
quences? Who gets evicted and why? He soon realized that most studies of poverty and housing focused solely
on public housing, even though many of the poor are renters in the private market.
Research Method
He began his research by designing a survey of the private housing sector in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then inter-
viewing 1100 tenants in their homes in households across the city to be as representative as possible (see Chap-
ter 3 for more details on research methods). At the same time, he lived in one of the city's trailer parks, taking
extensive and detailed notes that allowed him to understand housing eviction through the eyes of those affected
by it. His use of multiple methods, including his interviews, field notes, and formal records, provides a powerful
analysis of eviction and its consequences.
Research Results
His results were published in a Pulitzer prize winning book. His results are rich and detailed, by his following the
lives of some of the people he interviewed. Among other things, he found that almost half (48 percent) of forced
moves were "informal evictions"-that is, not processed through the courts, but just forced by a landlord. Eviction
resulted in many additional problems, including poor physical and mental health (especially for mothers), disrup-
tion in children's education, job loss, homelessness, declines in neighborhood quality, and a disruption of social
bonds that stable housing provides.
Conclusions and Implications

Eviction has been an understudied problem that Desmond has exposed to the public through his research. He
concludes that public initiatives that provide decent and stable, affordable housing is critical to solving this prob-
lem. Desmond also concludes that a stable home should be one of the "unalienable rights" life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness-that are founding principles for the nation.
Questions to Consider
1. Were you to be evicted from where you live, what would be the consequences? How might they be affected
by your age, your race, and your family status?
2. Are there organizations in your community that assist people who need affordable housing? If so, who do
they support and how? If not, do you see a need for such assistance?
Source: Desmond, Matthew. 2016. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. New York: Crown Publishers.
Myth: Email scams promising to deliver a large sum of cash from some African bank if you contact the email
deliverer prey on people who are just stupid or old.
Sociological Research: Studies of these email scams indicate that Americans and Brits are especially susceptible
to such scams because they play on widely held cultural stereotypes about Africa (that these are economically
unsophisticated nations in which people are unable to manage money). These scams also exploit the American
cultural belief that it is possible to "get rich quick"reflecting a belief in individualism and the belief that anyone
who tries hard enough can get ahead (Smith 2009).
- •
when looking at a culture or society different from one's own.
stione in one society may seem positively bizarre to an out-
1
na, it was usual for the elite classes to bind the feet of young girls to
w :r- a practice allegedly derived from a mistress of the emperor. Bound
feet were a sign • 'icacy and vulnerability. A woman with large feet (defined as more than 4 inches
long! ) was thought to bring shame to her husband's household. 'the practice was supported by the
belief that men were highly aroused by small feet, even though men never actually saw the naked foot.
lf they had, they might have been repulsed, because a woman's actual foot was U-shaped and often rot-
ten and covered with dead skin (Blake 1994). Outside the social, cultural, and historical context in which
it was practiced, footbindin g seems bizarre, even dangerous. Feminists have pointed out that Chinese
women were crippled by this practice, making them unable to move about freely and more dependent
on men (Chang 1991).
This is an example of outsiders debunking a practice that was taken for granted by those within
the culture. Debunking can also call into question practices in one's own culture that may normally
go unexamined. Strange as the practice of Chinese footbinding may seem to you, how might some-
one from another culture view wearing shoes that make it difficult to walk? Or piercing one's tongue
or eyebrow? Many take these practices of contemporary U.S. culture for granted, just as they do
Chinese footbinding. Until tfiese cultural processes are debunked, seen as if for the first time, they
might seem normal.
Establishing Critical Distance

Debunking requires critical distanGe-that is, being able to detach from the situation at hand and view
things with a critical mind. The role of critical distance in developing a sociological imagination is well
explained by the early sociologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918). Simmel was especially interested in the role
of strangers in social groups. Strangers have a position both inside and outside social groups. They are
part of a group without necessarily sharing the group's assumptions and points of view. Because of this,
the stranger can sometimes see the social structure of a group more readily than can people who are
thoroughly imbued with the group's worldview. Simmel suggests that the sociological perspective requires
a combination of nearness and distance. One must have enough critical distance to avoid being taken in
by the group's definition of the situation, but be near enough to understand the group's experience.
Sociologists are not typically strangers to the society they study. You can acquire critical distance
through a willingness to question the forces that shape social behavior. Often, sociologists become inter-
ested in things because of their own experiences. The biographies of sociologists are rich with examples
of how their personal lives informed the questions they asked. Among sociologists are former ministers
and nuns now studying the sociology of religion, women who have encountered sexism who now study
the signifcance of gender in society, rock-and-roll fans studying music in popular culture, and sons and
daughters of immigrants now analyzing race and ethnic relations (see the box "Understanding Diversity:
Becoming a Sociologist").
The Significance of Diversity

The analysis of div er
si ty isa ental themeof sociology. Differences among groups, especially differences
are signifcant in any society, but they are particularly compelling in a society
tmentof groups,
inthe trea
asdiverse srhztintheUnited States.
0efihg iversiy
Today, the United Sates indudes peopl e from all nations and races. In 1900, one in eight Americans was
not White, day, racial an d ethnic minority groups (including African Americans, Hispanics, American
Indians, Native Hawaiians, Asian Americans, and people of more than one race) represent 23 percent of
Americans, and hat proporion is growing (see • Table 1-1and map1-1).
CHAPTER1 The Sociological P.er-spetti11e -
U.S. Population Projections, 2010-2050
2010 2020 2030 2040

White 79.5% 78.0% 76.6% 75.3%
Black 12.9% 13.0% 13.1% 13.0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.0% 1.1% 1.2% 1.2%
Asian 4.6% 5.5% 6.3% 7.1%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3%
Islander
Two or more races 1.8% 2.1% 2.7% 3.2% 3.7%
Note: The U.S. census counts race and Hispanic ethnicity separately. Thus, Hispanics may fall into any of the race categories. Those
who identified themselves as Hispanic were l6 percent of the total U.S. population in the 2010 census.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau. 2012. National Population Projections: Summary Table. Washington, DC: U.S. Department ofCommerce.
www.census.gov
Mapping America's Diversity: A Changing Population
The nation is becoming increasingly diverse, but the distribution of minority groups differs in various regions of
the country. Looking at this map, what factors do you think influence the distribution of the population?
Minority Population as a Percentage of County Population
Percentage
50.0 or more
36.3 1o 49.9
25.0 to 36.2
10.0 to 24.9
Less than 10. a,
,o
?19o Mes ?5owes
Data: U.S. Census Bureau. 2010. www.census.gov
Perhaps the most basic lesson of sociology is that people are shaped by the social context around
them. In the United States, with so much cultural diversity, people will share some experiences, but not
all. Experiences not held in common can include some of the most important influences on social devel-
opment, such as language, religion, and the traditions of family and community. Understanding diversity
means recognizing this diversity and making it central to sociological analyses.
CHAPTER 1 The Sociological Perspective
In this book, we use the term diversity to

refer to the variety of group experiences that
result from the social structure of society. Diver-
sity is a broad concept that includes studying
group differences in society's opportunities,
the shaping of social institutions by different
social factors, the formation of group and indi-
vidual identity, and the process of social change.
Diversity includes the study of different cultural
orientations, although diversity is not exclusively
about culture.
Understanding diversity is crucial to under-
standing society because fundamental patterns of
social change and social structure are increasingly
patterned by diverse group experiences. There are
numerous sources of diversity, including race,
class, gender, and others as well. Age, nationality,
sexual orientation, and region of residence,
among other factors, also differentiate the expe-
l rience of diverse groups in the United States. As
the world is increasingly interconnected through
j global communication and a global economy,
g the study of diversity also encompasses a global
perspective- that is, an understanding of the

In an increasingly diverse society, valuing and under- international connections existing across national
standing diversity is a part of fully understanding society. borders and the impact of such connections on
life throughout the world.
pa
Become a Sociologist
Individual biographies often have a great influence on the subjects sociologists choose to study. The authors of this
book are no exception. Margaret Andersen, a White woman, now studies the sociology of race and women's
studies. Howard Taylor, an African American man, studies race, social psychology, and especially race and intelligence
testing. Here, each of them writes about the influence of their early experiences on becoming a sociologist.
Margaret Andersen
As J was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, my family moved from California to Georgia, then to Massachusetts
and then back to Georgia. Moving as we did from urban to small-t'own environments and in and out of regions '
of the country that were very different in their racial character, I probably could not help becoming fascinated
by the sociology of race. Oakland, California, where I was born, was highly diverse; my
neighborhood was mostly White and Asian American. When I moved to a small town
in Georgia in the 1950s, I was ten years old, but l was shocked by the racial norms I
encountered. I had always loved riding in the back of the bus-our major mode of
transportation in Oakland-and could not understand why this was no longer allowed.
labeled by my peers as an outsider because I was not southern, I painfully learned
I
...J
what it meant to feel excluded just because of "where you are from."
When I moved again to suburban Boston in the 1960s, I was defined by Bostonians
I
as a southerner and was ridiruled. Nicknamed "Dixie," I was teased for how I talked.
i
(continued)
CHAPTER 1 The Sociological Perspective -
Unlike in the South, where Black people were part of White peopl e's daily liv es despite stri ct racial segregation,
Black people in Boston were even less visibl e. In my high school of 2500 or so students, Black students were
rare. To me, the school seemed not much different from the strictly segregated schools I had attended in Georgi a.
My family soon returned to Georgia, where I was an outsider again; when I later returned to Massachusetts for
graduate school in the 1970s, I worri ed about how a southerner would be accepted in thi s "Yankee" environment.
Because I had acquired a southern accent, I think many of my teachers stereotyped me and thought I was not
as smart as the students from other places.
These early lessons, which I may have been unaware of at the time, must have kindled my interest in the
sociology of race relations. As I expl ored sociology, I wondered how the concepts and theories of race rela-
tions applied to women's lives. So much of what I had experienced growing up as a woman in thi s society was
completely unexamined in what I studied in school. As the women's movement developed in the 1970s, I found
sociology to be the framework that helped me understand the significance of gender and race in people's lives.
To this day, I wri te and teach about race and gender, using sociology to help students understand their signifi-
cance in society.
Howard Taylor
I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of African American professional parents. My mother, Murtis Taylor, was
a social worker and the founder and then president of a social work agency called the Murtis H. Taylor Human
Services Center in Cleveland, Ohio. She is well known for her contributions to
the city of Cleveland and was an earl y "superwoman," worki ng days and nights,
cooking, caring for her two sons, and being active in many professional and civic
activities. I think this gave me an early appreciation for the roles of women and
the place of gender in society, although I surely would not have articulated it as
such at the time.
My father was a businessman in a then all-Black life insurance company. He
was also a "closet scientist," always doing physics experiments, talking about sci-
entific studies, and bringing home scientific gadgets. He encouraged my brother
and me to engage in science, so we were always experimenting with scientific
studies in the basement of our house. In the summers, I worked for my mother in the social service agency
where she worked, as a camp counselor, and in other jobs. Early on, I contemplated becoming a social worker,
but I was also excited by science. As a young child, I acquired my father's love of science and my mother's
interest in society. In college, the one field that would gratify both sides of me, science and social work, was
sociology. I wanted to study human interaction, but I also wanted to be a scientist, so the appeal of sociology
was clear.
At the same time, growing up African American meant that I faced the consequences of race every day. It
was always there, and like other young African American children, I spent much of my childhood confronting
racism and prejudice. When I discovered sociology, in addition to bridging the scientific and humanistic parts
of my interests, I found a field that provided a framework for studying race and ethnic relations. The merging
of two ways of thinking, coupled with the analysis of race that sociology has long provided, made sociology
fascinating to me.
Today, my research on race, class, gender, and intelligence testing seems rooted in these early experiences.
I do quantitative research in sociology and see sociology as a science that reveals the workings of race, class, and
gender in society.
Society in Global Perspective

No society can be understood apart from the global
context that now influences the development of all
societies. The social and economic system of any
one society is increasingly intertwined with those of
other nations. Coupled with the increasing ease of
travel and telecommunication, a global perspective is
necessary to understand change both in the United
States and in other parts of the world.
To understand globalization, you must look
beyond the boundaries of your own society to see how
patter s in any given society are increasingly being
shaped by the connections between societies. Compar-
ing and contrasting societies across different cultures
is valuable. It helps you see patterns in your own
society that you might otherwise take for granted, and
it enriches your appreciation of the diverse patterns of
culture that mark human society and human history. A
global perspective, however, goes beyond just compar-
ing different cultures; it also helps you see how events
in one society or community may be linked to events
occurring on the other side of the globe.
For instance, return to the example of unemploy-
ment that C. Wright Mills used to distinguish between
troubles and issues. One man may lose his job in
Peoria, Illinois, and a woman in Los Angeles may
employ a Latina domestic worker to take care of her
g child while she pursues a career. On the one hand,
Z these are individual experiences for all three people,
but they are linked in a pattern of globalization that
=i shapes the lives of all three. The Latina domestic may
- have a family whom she has left in a different nation
so that she can afford to support them. The corpora-
Globalization brings diverse cultures together, but tion for which the Los Angeles woman works may
it is also a process by which Western markets have have invested in a new plant overseas that employs
penetrated much of the world. cheap labor, resulting in the unemployment of the
man in Peoria. The man in Peoria may have seen immigrant workers moving into his community. One of
his children may have made a friend at school who speaks a language other than English.
Such processes are increasingly shaping many of the subjects examined in this bookwork, fam-
ily, education, politics, just to name a few. Without a global perspective, you would not be able to fully
understand the experience of any one of the people just mentioned, much less how these processes of
change and global context shape society. Throughout this book, we will use a global perspective to under-
stand some of the developments shaping contemporary life in the United States.
The Development of Sociological Theory

Like the subjects it studies, sociology is itself a social product. Sociology first emerged in western Europe
during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In this period, the political and economic systems of
Europe were rapidly changing. Monarchy, the rule of society by kings and queens, was disappearing,
and new ways of thinking were emerging. Religion as the system of authority and law was giving way to
scientific authority. At the same time, capitalism grew. Contact between different societies increased, and
CHAPTER 1 Th e So ci o lo g ica l Pe rsp e ctive -
worldwide economic markets developed. The traditional ways of the past were giving way to a new social
order. The time was ripe for a new understanding.
The Influence of the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe had an enormous influence on the
development of modern sociology. Also known as the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment was character-
ized by faith in the ability of human reason to solve society's problems. Intellectuals believed that there
were natural laws and processes in society to be discovered and used for the general good. Modem
science was gradually supplanting traditional and religious explanations for natural phenomena with
theories confirmed by experiments.
The earliest sociologists promoted a vision of sociology grounded in careful observation. Auguste
Comte (1798-1857), a French philosopher who coined the term sociology, believed that just as science had
discovered the laws of nature, sociology could discover the laws of human social behavior and thus help
solve society's problems. This approach is called positivism, a system of thought still prominent today, in
which scientific observation and description is considered the highest form
of knowledge, as opposed to, say, religious dogma or poetic inspiration. The
modem scientific method, which guides sociological research, grew out of
positivism.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), a French citizen, traveled to the
United States as an observer beginning in 1831. Tocqueville thought that
democratic values and the belief in human equality positively influenced ,,.
American social institutions and transformed personal relationships. Less ±
~<z
admiringly, he felt that in the United States the tyranny of kings had been
replaced by the tyranny of the majority. He was referring to the ability of a £
?
majority to impose its will on everyone else in a democracy. Tocqueville "
also felt that, despite the emphasis on individualism in American cutare, ?
Americans had little independence of mind, making them self-centered and
anxious about their social class position (Collins and Makowsky 1972). As one of the earliest observ-
Another early sociologist is Harr iet Martineau (1802-1876). Like Toc- ers of American culture, Harriet
queville, Martineau, a British citizen, embarked on a long tour of the United Martineau used the powers of
States in 1834. She was fascinated by the newly emerging culture in the social observation to record and
United States. Her book Society in America (1837) is an analysis of the social analyze the social structure of
customs that she observed. This important work was overlooked for many American society. Long ignored
years, probably because the author was a woman. It is now recognized as for her contributions to sociol-
0gy, she is now seen as one of
a classic. Martineau also wrote the first sociological methods book, How to
the founders of early sociologi-
Observe Morals and Manners (1838), in which she discussed how to observe
cal thought.
behavior when one is a participant in the situation being studied.
Classical Sociological Theory

Of all the contributors to the development of sociology, the giants of the European tradition were Emile
Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. They are classical thinkers because the ideas they offered more
than 150 years ago continue to influence our understanding of society, not just in sociology but in other
fields as well (such as political science and history).
Emile Durkheim
During the early academic career of the Frenchman Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), France was in the
throes of great political and religious upheaval. Anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews) was rampant. Durkheim,
himself Jewish, was fascinated by how the public degradation of Jews by non-Jews seemed to calm and
unify a large segment of the divided French public. Durkheim later wrote that public rituals have a spe-
cial purpose in society. Rituals create social solidarity, referring to the bonds that link the members of a
group. Some of Durkheim's most significant works explore what forces hold society together and make
it stable.
According to Durkheim, people in society are glued together by belief systems (Durkheim 1947/1912).
The rituals of religion and other institutions symbolize and reinforce the sense ofbelonging. Public cer-
emonies create a bond between people in a social unit. Durkheim thought that such rituals as publicly
punishing people sustain moral cohesion in society. Durkheim's views on this are further examined in
Chapter 7, which discusses deviant behavior.
Durkheim also viewed society as an entity larger than the sum ofits parts. He described this as soci-
ety sui generis (which translates as "thing in itself"), meaning that society is a subject to be studied sepa-
rately from the sum ofthe individuals who compose it. Society is external to individuals, yet its existence
is internalized in people's minds-that is, people come to believe what society expects them to believe.
Durkheim conceived of society as an integrated whole-each part contributing to the overall stability
of the system. His work is the basis forfunctionalism, an important theoretical perspective that we will
return to later in this chapter.
One contribution from Durkheim was his conceptualization ofthe social facts. Durkheim created the
term social facts to indicate those social patterns that are external to individuals. Things such as customs
and social values exist outside individuals, whereas psychological drives and motivation exist inside people.
Social facts, therefore, are the proper subject ofsociology; they are its reason for being.
A striking illustration ofthis principle was Durkheim's study of suicide (Durkheim 1951/1897). He
analyzed rates of suicide in a society, as opposed to looking at individual (psychological) causes of sui-
cide. He showed that suicide rates varied according to how clear the norms and customs of the society
were, whether the norms and customs were consistent with each other and not contradictory. Anomie (the
breakdown of social norms) exists where norms were either grossly unclear or contradictory; the suicide
rates were higher in such societies or such parts of a society. It is important to note that this condition
is in society-external to individuals, but felt by them (Puffer 2009). In this sense, such a condition is
truly societal.
Durkheim held that social facts, though they exist outside individuals, nonetheless pose constraints
on individual behavior. Durkheim's major contribution was the discovery ofthe social basis ofhuman
behavior. He proposed that society could be known through the discovery and analysis of social facts.
This is the central task of sociology (Coser 1977; Bellah 1973; Durkheim 1950/1938).
Karl Marx
It is hard to imagine another scholar who has had as much influence on intellectual history as has Karl
Marx (1818-1883). Along with his collaborator, Friedrich Engels, Marx not only changed intellectual history
but also world history.
Marx's work was devoted to explaining how capitalism shaped society. He argued that capitalism is
an economic system based on the pursuit ofprofit and the sanctity ofprivate property. Marx used a class
Suicide among Veterans ..

Currently, 7400 veterans commit suicide each year, accounting for 18 percent ofall suicides (in 2014), even
though veterans are only 8.5 percent ofthe population (VA Suicide Prevention Program 2016). How do sociolo-
gists explain this?
Certainly, there are psychological factors at work-post-traumatic stress, depression, and, sometimes,
substance abuse-but sociological factors are at work, too. Durkheim would argue that this is a good example
ofsuicide as a social fact. A soldier returning home is likely to encounter a far less structured environment than
when in service where military life is highly structured. This can be a suicide-prone environment, especially if
combined with unemployment, homelessness, or a disability. Ifyou add to that a lack ofsocial support services
or benefits specifically to address the risk of suicide, you can have a potentially lethal social context.
Although sociologists do not ignore the psychological dimensions of behavior such as suicide, they see that
there are other important social factors that produce this tragic behavior.
I
I
CHAPTER 1 The Sociological Perspective -
analysis to explain capitalism, describing capital-

ism as a system of relationships among differ-
ent classes, including capitalists (also known as
the bourgeois class), the proletariat (or working
class), the petty bourgeoisie (small business
owners and managers), and the lumpenprole-
tariat (those "discarded" by the capitalist system,
such as the homeless). In Marx's view, profit, the
goal of capitalist endeavors, is produced through
the exploitation of the working class. Workers
sell their labor in exchange for wages, and capi-
talists make certain that wages are worth less
j
than the goods the workers produce. The dif-
ference in value is the profit of the capitalist. In
J
the Marxist view, the capitalist class system is Durkheim thought that symbols and rituals were important
for producing social cohesion in society. You can witness
inherently unfair because the entire system rests
this when shrines are spontaneously created in the
on workers getting less than they give.
aftermath of tragedies, as illustrated here after the school
Marx thought that the economic orga- shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,
nization of society was the most important Connecticut.
influence on what humans think and how
they behave. He found that the beliefs of the common people tended to support the interests of the
capitalist system, not the interests of the workers themselves. Why? The answer is that the capitalist
class controls the production of goods and the production of ideas. It owns the publishing companies,
endows the universities where knowledge is produced, and controls information industries-thus
shaping what people think.
Marx considered all of society to be shaped by economic forces. Laws, family structures, schools, and
other institutions all develop, according to Marx, to suit economic needs under capitalism. Like other
early sociologists, Marx took social structure as his subject rather than the actions of individuals. It was
the system of capitalism that dictated people's behavior. Marx saw social change as arising from tensions
inherent in a capitalist system-the conflict between the capitalist and working classes. Marx's ideas
are often misperceived by U.S. students because communist revolutionaries throughout the world have
claimed Marx as their guiding spirit. It would be naive to reject his ideas solely on political grounds. Much
that Marx predicted has not occurred- for instance, he claimed that the "laws" of history made a world-
wide revolution of workers inevitable, and this has not happened. Still, he left us an important body of
sociological thought springing from his insight that society is systematic and structural and that class is a
fundamental dimension of society that shapes social behavior.
Max Weber
Max Weber (1864-1920; pronounced "vayber") was greatly influenced by and built upon Marx's work.
Whereas Marx saw economics as the basic organizing element of society, Weber theorized that society
had three basic dimensions: political, economic, and cultural. According to Weber, a complete sociologi-
cal analysis must recognize the interplay between economic, political, and cultural institutions (Parsons
1947). Weber is credited with developing a multidimensional analysis of society that goes beyond Marx's
more one-dimensional focus on economics.
Weber also theorized extensively about the relationship of sociology to social and political values.
He did not believe there could be a value-free sociology because values would always influence what
sociologists considered worthy of study. Weber thought sociologists should acknowledge the influence
of values so that ingrained beliefs would not interfere with objectivity. Weber professed that the task of
sociologists is to teach students the uncomfortable truth about the world. Faculty should not use their
positions to promote their political opinions, he felt; rather, they have a responsibility to examine all
opinions, including unpopular ones, and use the tools of rigorous sociological inquiry to understand why
people believe and behave as they do.
a CH:0.PT,ER ~ The Sociological Perspective
An important concept in Weber's sociology is verstehen (meaning "understanding" and pronounced

"vershtayen"). Verstehen, a German word, refers to understanding social behavior from the point of
view of those engaged in it. Weber believed that to understand social behavior, one had to understand
the meaning that a behavior had for people. He did not believe sociologists had to be born into a group to
understand it (in other words, he didn't believe "ittakes one to know one"), but he did think sociologists
had to develop some subjective understanding of how other people experience their world. One major
contribution from Weber was the definition of social action as a behavior to which people give meaning
(Gerth and Mills 1946; Weber il.962/1913; Parsons 1951b), such as placing a bumper sticker on your car that
states pride in U.S. military troops.
Sociology in the United States

American sociology was built on the earlier work of Europeans, but unique features of U.S. culture
contribute to its distinctive flavor. In the early twentieth century, as sociology was evolving, most early
sociologists in the United States took a reform-based approach, emphasizing more the importance of
applying knowledge for social change. American sociologists believed that if they exposed the causes
of social problems, they could alleviate human suffering. The nation in the early twentieth century was
moving to a mme urban society, with a new mix of immigrants and visible problems such as those we
face today: urban blight, hunger, poverty, and racial segregation. Sociology, it was believed, could explain
how these problems were caused and, therefore, be used to create change.
Nowhere was the emphasis on application more evident than at the University of Chicago, where a
style of sociological thinking known as the Chicago School developed. The Chicago School included schol-
ars who wanted to understand how society shapes the mind and identity of people. Sociologists such as
George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley thought of society as a human laboratory where they
could observe and understand human behavior to be better able to address human needs, and they used
the city in which they lived as a living laboratory. You will study these thinkers more in Chapter 4.
Robert Park (1864-1944), from the University of Chicago, was a key founder of sociology. Originally a
journalist who worked in several Midwestern cities, Park was interested in urban problems and how differ-
ent racial groups interacted with each other. He was also fascinated by the socio-
logical design of cities, noting that cities were typically sets of concentric circles.
At the time, the very rich and the very poor lived in the middle, ringed by slums
and low-income neighborhoods (Coser 1977; Collins and Makowsky 1972; Park
and Burgess 1921). Today, Park would still be intrigued by how boundaries are
defined and maintained in urban neighborhoods. You might notice this yourself.
A single street crossing might delineate a Vietnamese neighborhood from an
Italian one, an affluent White neighborhood from a barrio. The social structure
of cities continues to be a subject of sociological research.
Many early sociologists of the Chicago School were women whose work is
only now being rediscovered. Jane Addams (1860-1935) was one of the most
renowned sociologists of her day. Because she was a woman, she was never
given the jobs or prestige that men in her time received. She was the only
Jane Addams, the only practicing sociologist ever to win a Nobel Peace Prize (in 1931), yet she never
sociologist to win the had a regular teaching job. Instead, she used her skills as a research sociologist
Nobel Peace Prize, used to develop community projects that assisted people in need (Deegan 1988). She
her sociological skills to was a leader in the settlement house movement providing services and doing
try to improve people's research to improve the lives of slum dwellers, immigrants, and other poor
lives. The settlement house
people.
movement provided social
Another early sociologist, widely noted for her work in the antilynching
services to groups in need,
movement, was Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931). Born a slave, Ida B. Wells-
while also providing a social
laboratory in which to Barnett leamel\l to read and write at Rust College, a school established for freed
observe the sociological di- slaves, later receiving her teaching credentials at Fisk University. She wrote
mensions of problems such numerous essays onthe status of African Americans in the United States and
as poverty. was an active crusader againstlynching and for women's rig hts, including the
CHAPTER1 The Sociological P.erspeG,ti.v.e -
right to vote. She was so violently attacked-in writing and in actual threats-
that she often had to write under an assumed name. Until recently, her contri-
butions to the field of sociology have been largely unexamined. Interestingly,
her grandson, Troy Duster (b. 1936) is now a faculty member at New York
University and the University of California, Berkeley (Giddings 2008; Henry 2008;
Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley 1998).
W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963; pronounced "due boys") was one of the most
important early sociological thinkers in the United States. DuBois was a promi-
nent Black scholar, a cofounder of the NAACP (National Association for the
I
Advancement of Colored People) in 1909, a prolific writer, and one of the best
American minds. He received the first Ph.D. ever awarded to a Black person in
any field (from Harvard University), and he studied for a time in Germany; hear-
ing several lectures by Max Weber (Morris 2015). Ida B. Wells-Barnett is now
DuBois was deeply troubled by the racial divisiveness in society, writing in well known for her brave
a classic essay published in 1901 that "the problem of the twentieth century is campaign against the
the problem of the color line" {DuBois 1901: 354). Like many of his women col- lynching of African Ameri-
leagues, he envisioned a community-based, activist profession committed to can people. Less known are
social justice (Deegan 1988); he was a friend and collaborator with Jane Addams. her early contributions to
He believed in the importance of a scientific approach to sociological questions, sociological thought.
but he also thought that convictions always directed one's studies. Were he alive
today, he might no doubt note that the problem of the color line persists well into the twenty-first century.
Much of DuBois's work focused on the social structure of Black communities, one of his classic stud-
ies being of the city of Philadelphia. His book, The Philadelphia Negro, published in 1899, remains a classic
study of African American urban life and its social institutions. One of the most lasting ideas from DuBois
is his concept of "dual (or double) consciousness." DuBois saw African Americans as always having to
see themselves through the eyes of others, a response that would be typical among any group oppressed
by others. For DuBois, this dual consciousness led African Americans to always be alert to how others
see them, and at the same time, to develop a strong collective identity of themselves as "Black" or, as we
would say now, African American (DuBois 1903).
Theoretical Frameworks in Sociology

The founders of sociology have established theoretical traditions that ask basic questions about society
and inform sociological research. The idea of theory may seem dry to you because it connotes something
that is only hypothetical and divorced from "real life." Sociological theory though is one of the tools that
sociologists use to interpret real life. Sociologists use theory to organize their observations and apply them
to the broad questions sociologists ask, such as: How are individuals related to society? How is social order
maintained? Why is there inequality in society? How does social change occur? (See ! Table 1-2.)
Different theoretical frameworks within sociology make different assumptions and provide different
insights about the nature of society. In the realm of macrosociology are theories that strive to understand
society as a whole. Durkheim, Marx, and Weber were macrosociological theorists. Theoretical frameworks
that center on face-to-face social interaction are known as microsociology. Some of the work derived from
the Chicago School-research that studies individuals and group processes in society-is rnicrosociologi-
cal. Although sociologists draw from diverse theoretical perspectives to understand society, four theoreti-
cal traditions form the major theoretical perspectives: functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interaction,
and, more recently, feminist theory.
Functionalism
Functionalism has its origins in the work of Durkheim, who you will recall was especially interested in
how social order is possible and how society remains relatively stable. Functionalism interprets each
part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole. As Durkheim suggested,
~-
,
'"'"'" "'"'""''"'"'"''~'"
Classical Theorists Reflect on the Economic Inequality
An Applied Example:
Major Concepts What's the Big Idea? Economic Inequality
EMILE DURKHEIM Society sui generis Social structures produce In times of rising economic
(1858-1917)
Social solidarity social forces that impinge inequality, those who are
on individuals even when especially vulnerable tend
Social facts they are not immediately to blame others, such as
visible; social solidarity is immigrants or "foreigners ,"
produced through identify- for taking jobs from those
ing some as "other" or not perceived as more worthy.
belonging. This produces solidarity
among those who may
even act outside of their
own interests because
of their perception of
"others."
KARL MARX Capitalism Capitalism is built on the It is no surprise that

(1818-1883) exploitation of laboring inequality is growing; the
Class conflict forces of capitalism mean
groups for the profit of
others. Class conflict is that the rich will amass
embedded in the system of the most resources, with
capitalism that then shapes everyone else becoming
other social institutions. worse off.
Multidimensional analysis Cultural values interact Even when the economy is

MAX WEBER
with economic and po- stagnant, cultural beliefs in
(1864-1920) Verstehen litical systems to produce hard work and the Prot-
society; no one factor estant ethic mean that
determines the character people will blame indi-
of society. viduals, not the system, for
failure.
Color line Racial inequality structures The "problem of the

social institutions in the color line" extends into the
Double consciousness United States. Those who twenty-first century, as
are oppressed by race African American people
develop a dual conscious- and other people of color
ness, ever aware of their are uniquely disadvan-
status in the eyes of others taged by economic
but also having a collec- inequality.
tive identity as African
American.
I
CHAPTER1 The Sociological Perspective -
II
I - Manifest and Latent Functions: The Family
Manifest Functions (explicit, deliberate) Latent Functions (unintended, unrecognized)

Reproduction Sexual relations outside of the traditional family
may be judged as deviant
Transmission of cultural values Risk of intolerance of different cultures/groups
Care of the young Neglect of public policies to support working
parents
Emotional support Silence around conflicts that occur within families
Consumption of goods Transmission of inequality across generations as
wealth and property is passed on for some and
not others
functionalism conceptualizes society as more than the sum of its component parts. Each part is "func-
tional" for society-that is, contributes to the stability of the whole. The different parts are primarily the
institutions of society, each of which is organized to fill different needs and each of which has particular
consequences for the form and shape of society. The parts each then depend on one another.
The family as an institution, for example, serves multiple functions. At its most basic level, the family
has a reproductive role. Within the family, infants receive protection and sustenance. As they grow older,
they are exposed to the patterns and expectations of their culture. Across generations, the family supplies
a broad unit of support and enriches individual experience with a sense of continuity with the past and
future. All these aspects of family can be assessed by how they contribute to the stability and prosperity
of society. The same is true for other institutions.
The functionalist framework emphasizes the consensus and order that exist in society, focusing
on social stability and shared public values. From a functionalist perspective, disorganization in the
system, such as an economic collapse, leads to change because societal components must adjust to
achieve stability. This is a key part of functionalist theory-that when one part of society is not working
(or is dysfunctional, as they would say), it affects all the other parts and creates social problems. Change
may be for better or worse. Changes for the worse stem from instability in the social system, such as a
breakdown in shared values or a social institution no longer meeting people's needs (Eitzen and Baca
Zinn 2012; Merton 1968).
Functionalism was a dominant theoretical perspective in sociology for many years, and one of its
major theorists was Talcott Parsons (1902-1979). In Parsons's view, all parts of a social system are inter-
related, with different parts of society having different basic functions. Functionalism was further devel-
oped by Robert Merton (1910--2003). Merton saw that social practices often have consequences for society
that are not immediately apparent. He suggested that human behavior has both manifest and latent func-
tions. ManifestJunctions are the stated and intended goals of social behavior. Latentfunctions are neither
stated nor intended. The family, for example, has both manifest and latent functions, as demonstrated
in! Table 1-3.
Critics of functionalism argue that its emphasis on social stability understates the roles of power and
conflict in society. Critics also disagree with the explanation of inequality offered by functionalism-that
it persists because social inequality creates a system for the fair and equitable distribution of societal
resources (discussed further in Chapter 8). Functionalists argue that it is fair and equitable that the higher
social classes earn more money because they are more important (functional) to society. Critics disagree,
saying that functionalism is too accepting of the status quo. From a functionalist perspective though,
inequality serves a purpose in society: It provides an incentive system for people to work and promotes
solidarity among groups linked by their common social standing.
Conflict Theory
Conti ict theory emphasizes the role of coercion and power in society and the ability of some to influence and
control others. It differs from functionalism, which emphasizes cohesion within society. Instead, conflict
CHAPTER 1 The Sociological Perspective
What are the manifestfunctions of grades in college?

What are the latentfunctions?
theoryemphasizes strif e and friction. Conflict theory pictures society as comprised of groups that com-
pete for social and economic resources. Social order is maintained not by consensus but by domina-
tion, with power in the hands of those with the greatest political, economic, and social resources. When
consensus exists, according to conflict theorists, it is attributable to people being united around common
interests, often in opposition to other groups (Dahrendorfl959; Mills 1956).
According to conflict theory, inequality exists because those in control of a disproportionate share of
society's resources actively defend their advantages. The masses are not bound to society by their shared
values but by coercion at the hands of the powerful. In conflict theory, the emphasis is on social control,
not on consensus and conformity. Those with the most resources exercise power over others; inequality
and power struggles are the result. Conflict theory gives great attention to class, race, gender, and sexual-
ity in society because these are seen as the grounds of the most pertinent and enduring struggles
in society.
Conflict theorists see inequality as inherently unfair, persisting only because groups who are eco-
nomically advantaged use their social position to their own betterment. Their dominance even extends
to the point of shaping the beliefs of other members of the society by controlling public information
and holding power in institutions such as education and religion that shape what people think and
know. From the conflict perspective, power struggles between conflicting groups are the source of social
change. those with the greatest power are typically able to maintain their advantage at the expense of
other groups.
Conflict theory has been criticized for neglecting the importance of shared values and public con-
sensus in society while overemphasizing inequality. Ll.ke functionalist theory, conflict theory finds the
origins of social behavior in the structure of society; but it differs from functionalism in emphasizing the
importance of power.
Symbolic Interaction
The third major framework of sociological theory is symbolic interaction. Instead of thinking of society
in terms of. abstract institutions, symbolic interaction emphasizes immediate social interaction as the
place where "society" exists. Because of the human capacity for reflection, people give meaning to their
behavior. The creation of meaning is how they interpret the different behaviors, events, or things that
happen in society.
As its name implies, symbolic interaction relies extensively on the symbolic meaning that people
develop and employ in the process of social interaction. Symbolic interaction theory emphasizes face-to-
face interaction and thus is a form of microsociology, whereas functionalism and conflict theory are more
macrosociological.
Derived from the work of the Chicago School, symbolic interaction theory analyzes society by
addressing the subjective meanings that people impose on objects, events, and behaviors. Subjective
Think about the example given about smoking, and using symbolic interaction, how would you explain other risky
behaviors, such as steroid use among athletes or eating disorders among young womem?
CHAPTER 1 Th e So cio lo gica l Pe rsp e ctive
« mm
Basic Questions
What is the
Comparing Sociological Theories
Functionalism
Individuals occupy
Conflict Theory,
Individuals are
Symbolic Interaction
Individuals and society
Feminist Theory
Women and men are
relationship fixed social roles. subordinated are interdependent. bound together in a system
ofindividuals to society. of gender relationships that
to society? shape identities andllbeliefs.
Why is there Inequality is Inequality results Inequality is demon- Inequality stems from the
inequality? inevitable and from a struggle strated through the im- matrix of domination that
functional for over scarce re- portance of symbols. links gender, race, class,
society. sources. and sexuality.
How is social Social order stems Social order Social order is sus- Patriarchal social orders are
order possible? from consensus is maintained tained through social maintained by the power
on public values. through power interaction and adher- that men hold over women.
and coercion. ence to social norms.
What is the source Society seeks Change comes Change develops from Social change comes from
ofsocial change? equilibrium when through the mobi- an ever-evolving set the mobilization of women
there is social lization of people of social relationships and their allies on behalf of
disorganization. struggling for and the creation of women's liberation.
resources. new meaning systems.
Major Criticisms
This is a conserva- The theory under- There is little analysis Feminist theory has too
tive view of society states the degree of inequality, and it often been anchored in
that underplays of cohesion and overstates the subjec- the experiences of White,
power differences stability in society. tive basis of society. middle-class women.
among and
between groups.
meanings are important because, according to symbolic interaction, people behave based on what they
believe, not just on what is objectively true. Symbolic interaction sees society as socially constructed
through human interpretation (Blumer 1969; Berger and Ludemann 1967; Shibutani 1961). Social meanings
are constantly modified through social interaction.
People interpret one another's behavior; these interpretations form social bonds. These interpreta-
tions are called the "definition of the situation." For example, why would young people smoke cigarettes
even though all objective medical evidence points to the danger of doing so? The answer is in the def-
nition of the situation that people create. Studies find that teenagers are well informed about the risks
of tobacco, but they also think that "smoking is cool," that they themselves will be safe from harm, and
that smoking projects an image- a positive identity for boys as a "tough guy" and for girls as fun-loving,
mature, and glamorous. Smoking is also defined by young women as keeping you thin-an ideal con-
structed through dominant images of beauty. In other words, the symbolic meaning of smoking overrides
the actual facts regarding smoking and risk.
Symbolic interaction interprets social order as constantly negotiated and created through the inter-
pretations people give to their behavior. In observing society, symbolic interactionists see not simply facts
but "social constructions," the meanings attached to things, whether those are concrete symbols (like a
certain way of dress or a tattoo) or nonverbal behaviors. In symbolic interaction theory, society is highly
subjective- existing in the minds of people, even though its effects are very real.
Feminist Theory
Contemporary sociological theory has been greatly influenced by the development of feminist theory.
Prior to the emergence of second-wave feminism (the feminist movement emerging in the 1960s and
1970s), women were largely absent and invisible within most sociological work-indeed, within most
academic work. When seen, they were strongly stereotyped in traditional roles as wives and mothers.
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especially the older and larger roots. Reputed to cure anything from
a cough to a boil to an internal disorder, it was also considered an
aphrodisiac and a source of rare, mystical properties. But scientific
research has never yielded any hard evidence of its medicinal worth.
Settlers used ginseng sparingly, for it brought a high price when sold
to herb-dealers for shipment to China. The main problem lay in
locating the five-leaved plants, which grew in the most secluded,
damp coves of the Smokies. Sometimes several members of a
family would wait until summer or early fall, then go out on extended
“sanging” expeditions.
The search was not easy. During some seasons, the plant might not
appear at all. When it did, its leaves yellowed and its berries
reddened for only a few days. But when a healthy “sang” plant was
finally found, and its long root carefully cleaned and dried, it could
yield great financial reward. Although the 5-year-old white root was
more common, a red-rooted plant needed a full decade to mature
and was therefore especially prized. Greed often led to wanton
destruction of the beds, with no seed-plants for future harvests.
Ginseng was almost impossible to cultivate.
Ginseng-hunting became a dangerous business. Although Daniel
Boone dug it and traded in it, later gatherers were sometimes killed
over it. One large Philadelphia dealer who came into Cataloochee in
the mid-1800s was murdered and robbed. Anyone trying to grow it,
even if he were successful, found that he would have to guard the
plants like water in a desert. Indeed, the rare, graceful ginseng
became a symbol for many in the mountains of all that was unique,
so readily destroyed, and eventually irreplaceable.
As much as the pioneers drew on Indian experience, they also
depended on their own resourcefulness. One skill which the early
settlers brought with them into the Smoky Mountains involved a
power unknown to the Cherokees. This was the power of the rifle:
both its manufacture and the knowledge of what the rifle could do.
The backwoods rifle was a product of the early American frontier.
Formally known as the “Pennsylvania-Kentucky” rifle, this long-
barreled innovation became a standby throughout the Appalachians.
To assure precise
workmanship, it was
made out of the
softest iron
available. The inside
of the barrel, or the
bore, was
painstakingly “rifled”
with spiralling
grooves. This
gradual twist made
the bullet fly harder
and aim straighter
toward its target.
The butt of the
weapon was
crescent-shaped to
keep the gun from
slipping. All shiny or
highly visible metal
was blackened, and
sometimes a
frontiersman would
rub his gun barrel
with a dulling stain or
crushed leaf.
But the trademark of
the “long rifle” was
Alan Rinehart just that: its length.
Weighing over 2.5
Aunt Sophie Campbell made clay kilograms (5.5
pipes at her place on Crockett pounds) and
Mountain and sold them to her measuring more
neighbors and to other folks in the than 1.2 meters (4
Gatlinburg area. feet), the barrel of
the backwoods rifle
could be unbalancing. Yet this drawback seemed minor compared to
the superior accuracy of the new gun. The heavy barrel could take a
much heavier powder charge than the lighter barrels, and this in turn
could, as an expert noted, “drive the bullet faster, lower the
trajectory, make the ball strike harder, and cause it to flatten out
more on impact. It does not cause inaccurate flight....”
The Pennsylvania-Kentucky rifle became defender, gatherer of food,
companion for thousands of husbands and fathers. Cradled on a
rack of whittled wooden pegs or a buck’s antlers, the “rifle-gun” hung
over the door or along the wall or above the “fire-board,” as the
mantel was called, within easy and ready reach. It was the
recognized symbol of the fact that each man’s cabin was his castle.
Equipped with a weapon such as this, pioneer Americans pushed
back the frontier. The fastnesses of the Great Smoky Mountains
gradually submitted to the probing and settling of the white man. The
fertile valleys were settled, the hidden coves were conquered. The
Oconaluftee Turnpike to the top of the Smokies was completed in
1839. And in that fateful year, disaster was stalking a people who
had known the high mountains but who had not known of the ways
of making a rifle.
Rifle Making
National Park Service

Charles S. Grossman
Of all the special tasks in the Great Smoky Mountains, rifle making
was perhaps the most intricate and the most intriguing. From the
forging of the barrel to the filing of the double trigger and the carving
of the stock, the construction of the “long rifle” proved to be a
process both painstaking and exciting. After the barrel was shaped
on the anvil, its bore was cleaned to a glass-like finish by inserting
and turning an iron rod with steel cutters. When the rod could cut no
more, the shavings from the bore were removed. The rifling of the
barrel, or cutting the necessary twists into the bore, required a 3-
meters-long (10-foot) assembly, complete with barrel, cutting rod,
and rifling guide. The 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden guide, whose
parallel twists had been carefully cut into it with a knife, could be
turned by a man pushing it through the spiral-edged hole of a
stationary “head block.” The resulting force and spin drove the
cutting rod and its tiny saw into the barrel, guiding its movement as it
“rifled” the gun.
Most of the rifles in the Smokies had an average spin or twist of
about one turn in 122 centimeters (48 inches), the ordinary original
length of the barrel. A later step—“dressing out” the barrel with a
greased hickory stick and a finishing saw—usually took a day and a
half to be done right. Likewise, the making of a maple or walnut rifle
stock, or the forging of the bullet mold, led gunsmiths to adopt the
long view of time and the passing of days in the Great Smoky
Mountains. Two such gunsmiths were Matt Ownby and Wiley
Gibson. Ownby (far left) fits a barrel to an unfinished stock as the
process of rifle making nears its end. Gibson (below), the last of four
generations of famous Smoky Mountain gunsmiths, works at his
forge in Sevier County, Tennessee. Over the years Gibson lived in
several places in Sevier County, and in each one he set up a gun
shop. As he tested one of his finished products (left), Gibson
commented: “I can knock a squirrel pine blank out of a tree at 60
yards.”
Walini was among the Cherokees living on the Qualla
Reservation in North Carolina when James Mooney
visited in 1888.
Smithsonian Institution
A Band of Cherokees Holds On
The Cherokees who remained in the East endured many changes in
the early 1800s.
As their Nation dwindled in size to cover only portions of Georgia,
Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee, the influence of growing
white settlements began to encroach on the old ways, the accepted
beliefs. Settlers intermarried with Indians. Aspects of the Nation’s
civilization gradually grew to resemble that of the surrounding states.
The Cherokees diversified and improved their agricultural economy.
They came to rely more heavily on livestock. Herds of sheep, goats,
and hogs, as well as cattle, grazed throughout the Nation. Along with
crops of aromatic tobacco, and such staples as squash, potatoes,
beans, and the ever-present corn, the Cherokees were cultivating
cotton, grains, indigo, and other trade items. Boats carried tons of
export to New Orleans and other river cities. Home industry, such as
spinning and weaving, multiplied; local merchants thrived.
Church missions and their attendant schools were established. As
early as 1801, members of the Society of United Brethren set up a
station of missionaries at a north Georgia site called Spring Place.
And within five years, the Rev. Gideon Blackburn from East
Tennessee persuaded his Presbyterians to subsidize two schools.
In 1817, perhaps the most famous of all the Cherokee missions was
opened on Chickamauga Creek at Brainerd, just across the
Tennessee line from Georgia. Founded by Cyrus Kingsbury and a
combined Congregational-Presbyterian board, Brainerd Mission
educated many Cherokee leaders, including Elias Boudinot and
John Ridge. Samuel Austin Worcester, a prominent Congregational
minister from New England, taught at Brainerd from 1825 until 1834.
He became a great friend of the Cherokees and was referred to as
“The Messenger.”
In 1821, a single individual gave to his Nation an educational
innovation as significant and far-reaching as the influx of schools. A
Cherokee named Sequoyah, known among whites as George Gist,
had long been interested in the “talking leaves” of the white man.
After years of thought, study, and hard work, he devised an 86-
character Cherokee alphabet. Born about 1760 near old Fort
Loudoun, Tennessee, Sequoyah had neither attended school nor
learned English. By 1818, he had moved to Willstown in what is now
eastern Alabama and had grown interested in the white man’s ability
to write. He determined that he would give his own people the same
advantage.
The first painstaking process he tried called for attaching a mark to
each Cherokee word. These marks soon mounted into the
thousands. As he sensed the futility of this one-for-one relationship,
he examined English letters in an old newspaper. His own mind
linked symbols of this sort with basic sounds of the Cherokee
tongue. After months of work, he sorted out these sounds and
assigned them symbols based, to a large extent, upon the ones he
had seen in the newspaper. When he introduced his invention to his
fellow Cherokees, it was as if he had loosed a floodgate. Within the
space of a few weeks, elders and children alike began to read and
write. The change was incredible.
Sequoyah himself vaulted into a position of great respect inside the
Nation. One of his many awestruck visitors, John Howard Payne,
described him with the finest detail and noted that Sequoyah wore
“... a turban of roses and posies upon a white ground girding his
venerable grey hairs, a long dark blue robe, bordered around the
lower edge and the cuffs, with black; a blue and white minutely
checked calico tunic under it, confined with an Indian beaded belt,
which sustained a large wooden handled knife, in a rough leathern
sheath; the tunic open on the breast and its collar apart, with a
twisted handkerchief flung around his neck and gathered within the
bosom of the tunic. He wore plain buckskin leggings; and one of a
deeper chocolate hue than the other. His moccasins were
unornamented buckskin. He had a long dusky white bag of sumac
with him, and a long Indian pipe, and smoked incessantly,
replenishing his pipe
from his bag. His air
was altogether what
we picture to
ourselves of an old
Greek philosopher.
He talked and
gesticulated very
gracefully; his voice
alternately swelling,
and then sinking to a
whisper, and his eye
firing up and then its
wild flashes
subsiding into a
gentle and most
benignant smile.”
During the 1820s,
Sequoyah moved
west to Arkansas.
Preoccupied with the
legend of a lost band
of Cherokees
somewhere in the
Rocky Mountains,
he initiated several
attempts to discover
the group. But age
Smithsonian Institution caught up with him.
He died alone in
Sequoyah displays the Cherokee northern Mexico in
alphabet he developed. the summer of 1843.
He had brought his
Nation a long way. His name would be immortalized in the great
redwood tree of the Far West, the giant sequoia. And in a sense his
spirit lived on in the first Cherokee newspaper—the Cherokee
Phoenix—which was established in 1828 at New Echota, with Elias
Boudinot as its editor and Samuel Worcester as its business
manager.
The Cherokees also made remarkable changes in government. In
1808, they adopted a written legal code; a dozen years later, they
divided the Nation into judicial districts and designated judges. The
first Supreme Court of the Cherokees was established in 1822, and
by 1827 the Nation had drawn up an American-based Constitution.
The president of the constitutional convention was a 37-year-old
leader named John Ross. A year later, he began a 40-year term as
principal chief of his people.
But whatever the progress of the internal affairs of the Cherokee
Nation, political relations with the United States steadily
disintegrated. Although the first quarter of the 19th century saw a
sympathetic man, Return Jonathan Meigs, serve as America’s
southern Indian agent, even he and his position could not prevent
the relentless pursuit of Indian territory.
In 1802 and 1803, the U.S. Government set a dangerous precedent
for the Cherokees. In return for Georgia’s abandonment of her
claims to the Mississippi Territory, the United States agreed to
extinguish all Indian titles for lands lying within Georgia. This
indicated that the government was no longer prepared to defend the
Cherokee Nation.
President Thomas Jefferson acted to alleviate some of the Cherokee
loss. He suggested a program of removal west to a portion of the
newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. Most Cherokees hated the plan,
yet some harassed bands made the trip to what is now Arkansas.
The foot was in the door; hereafter, the government could point to a
few Cherokees in Arkansas and direct others there. Even though 800
eastern Cherokee warriors fought alongside Americans during the
War of 1812, the United States came to recognize only the
government of the Cherokees West.
But what of the Cherokees East? They waited. They pursued daily
routines while the pressures around them gathered and grew. And
by 1828, these pressures had reached a degree which showed the
Cherokees that the final crush was on.
It began
inside the
Nation. In the
winter of
1828, an old
Cherokee
councilman,
Whitepath,
rose up in
rebellion
against the
new
constitution.
Suspicious of
the Nation’s
whirlwind
progress,
fearful of the
Nation’s
stormy
enemies,
Whitepath
attempted to
persuade his
15,000
countrymen
to hold fast
to the ways
of the past.
He Smithsonian Institution
assembled a Students stand before the original school
series of building at Dwight Mission, the first
localized Cherokee mission west of the Mississippi
meetings, River. The one-room log schoolhouse is
where he very much like those the white settlers
advocated built and used for years in the Smokies.
the
abandonment of
white religion,
society, economy.
He called for a
return to tribal
organization, but his
call fell on younger
ears and his plan
was doomed to
failure.
The Cherokees
turned to John Ross
for leadership. Like
Sequoyah, John
Ross possessed
both grace and
ability. These
assets, combined
with courage,
enabled him to
accomplish
seemingly remote
goals for his people.
This handsome
statesman,
educated by his
own father,
represented the
Smithsonian Institution middle ground of
Cherokee policy.
Elias Boudinot (top), editor of the Though refusing the
Cherokee Phoenix, bowed to reactionism of a
pressure and joined those willing to Whitepath, John
move west. Ross also rejected
any proposal to
move west. For he knew that his people had lived here in the
Smokies and belonged here, and he would not have them forced
from their
homeland.
Andrew Jackson
would. This stern
Tennessee soldier
and politician began
his career as a
headlong Indian
fighter and never
lost the zeal.
Although Jackson
the soldier had been
aided numerous
times by Cherokee
warriors, Jackson
the politician was
determined to move
the Cherokees
west. And in the
watershed years of
1828 and 1829,
Andrew Jackson
was elected and
sworn in as
President of the
United States.
Events conspired
against the Nation.
Smithsonian Institution In July of 1829, in
John Ross remained firm in his what is now known
opposition to the removal of the as Lumpkin County,
Cherokees. He was in the last group Georgia, a few
to leave. shiny nuggets of
gold were
discovered on
Ward’s Creek of the Chestatee River. Within days, fortune hunters
swarmed into the territory; more than 10,000 gold-seekers squatted
on Cherokee lands, disregarded Cherokee rights, and pillaged
Cherokee homes. With Jackson’s support, the Georgia legislature
passed laws confiscating Indian land, nullifying Indian law, and
prohibiting Indian assembly. By the end of 1829, the script for
Cherokee removal had been blazoned in gold.
But there was more. Andrew Jackson asked Congress for “a general
removal law” that would give him prime authority in the matter at the
same time that it formed the basis for future treaty negotiation.
Congress passed the Removal Act, which included a half-million
dollar appropriation for that purpose, in May of 1830. Davy Crockett,
whose legendary exploits and down-to-earth compassion made him
perhaps the best representative of the mountain spirit, was a U.S.
congressman at the time. Although his grandfather had been
murdered by Dragging Canoe, Davy Crockett argued against and
voted against the bill. He was the only Tennessean to do so, and he
was defeated when he ran for reelection.
Cherokee leaders sought help from the U.S. courts. Their friend and
missionary, sober and troubled Samuel Worcester, fell victim to a
Georgia law “prohibiting the unauthorized residence of white men
within the Cherokee Nation.” Worcester appealed to the Supreme
Court, which in February of 1832 considered the case of Worcester
v. Georgia. On March 3, a feeble Chief Justice John Marshall read
the Court’s decision to a packed room: all the Georgia laws against
the Cherokee Nation were declared unconstitutional.
Elias Boudinot, editor of the Phoenix and a special friend of
Worcester, wrote to his brother and expressed the Nation’s joy and
relief:
“It is glorious news. The laws of the state are declared by the highest
judicial tribunal in the country to be null and void. It is a great triumph
on the part of the Cherokees.... The question is forever settled as to
who is right and who is wrong.”
Yet Andrew Jackson would not stand for such a settlement. “John
Marshall has made his decision,” Jackson thundered, “now let him
enforce it.” This was the single instance in American history where
the President so
bluntly and openly
defied a Supreme
Court ruling. The
situation grew more
bleak. Worcester
was released from
jail only after
appealing to the
“good will” of the
state of Georgia.
Matters worsened
as Georgia
conducted its
Cherokee Lottery of
1832, and
thousands of white
men descended
onto lots carved out
of the Cherokee
land.
Boudinot and
several other
Cherokee leaders,
including John
Ridge, grew
discouraged to the
point of resignation.
Jackson’s attitude Smithsonian Institution
as President,
coupled with Major Ridge signed a treaty ceding
Georgia’s all of the Cherokees’ land in the east
unrelenting attack to the United States. He, his son
and the Supreme John, and his nephew Elias
Court’s inability to Boudinot were “executed” on June
stop it, caused a 22, 1839.
change of heart in
Boudinot and Ridge. Boudinot stepped down from the Phoenix and,
with Major Ridge, became an important spokesman for a minority
faction of Cherokees which was prepared to move west. However,
John Ross continued to speak for the vast majority who rejected any
discussion of removal.
By 1835, the rift between the Ridge party and John Ross’ followers
had become open and intense. Seeking to take advantage of this
division, Jackson appointed a New York minister, J.F. Schermerhorn,
to deal with Boudinot and Ridge. The Cherokee supporters of Ross
hated this “loose Dutch Presbyterian minister” and referred to him as
“The Devil’s Horn.”
On several occasions, Ross attempted to negotiate a reasonable
solution with Washington. He was frustrated at every turn. In
November of 1835, he and the visiting John Howard Payne were
arrested by the Georgia militia. In jail, Payne heard a Georgia guard
singing “Home Sweet Home” outside his cell. Payne asked the man
if he knew that his prisoner had written the song; the guard seemed
unimpressed. After spending nine days in jail, Ross and Payne were
released without any explanation for their treatment.
Ross traveled on to Washington to resume negotiations. While he
was there, Schermerhorn and the Ridge party drew up and signed a
treaty. Endorsed by a scant one-tenth of the Nation’s 16,000
Cherokees, this treaty ceded to the United States all eastern territory
in exchange for $5 million and a comparable amount of western
land. Cherokees throughout the Nation registered shock and
betrayal; Boudinot and Ridge, their lives already threatened
numerous times, would be murdered within four years. Yet despite
Ross’ protestations of fraud, the U.S. Senate ratified the minority
Treaty of New Echota by one vote. A new President, Martin Van
Buren, authorized Gen. Winfield Scott to begin the removal of all
Cherokees in the summer of 1838.
Scott, while determined to carry out the removal, tried in vain to
restrain his troops from inflicting undue hardships. Scott’s soldiers
moved relentlessly through the Nation. As one private remembered it
in later years:
“Men working in the
fields were arrested
and driven to the
stockades. Women
were dragged from
their homes by
soldiers whose
language they could
not understand.
Children were often
separated from their
parents and driven
into the stockades
with the sky for a
blanket and earth
for a pillow.”
The soldiers built 13
stockades in North
Carolina, Georgia,
Tennessee, and
Alabama. Using
these as base
camps, they
scattered
throughout the
countryside with
loaded rifles and
fixed bayonets. As
they herded Indians Smithsonian Institution
back toward the
forts, bands of Ginatiyun tihi, or Stephen Tehee,
roving outlaws was born in Georgia six months
burned the homes, before the removal of the
stole the livestock, Cherokees to the West. He served
robbed the graves. as a tribal delegate to Washington
Throughout the in 1898.
summer, a stifling

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" ~ R-~," tenth tuition

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PART ONE Introducing the Sociological Imagination

PART TWO Studying Society and Social Structure

3 Doing Sociological Research s9

4 Socialization and the Life Course 79

5 Social Structure and Social Interaction 104

6 Groups and Organizations 126

7 Deviance and Crime 149

PART THREE Social Inequalities

9 Global Stratification 208

10 Race and Ethnicity 235

PART FOUR Social Institutions

14 Education and Health Care 362

15 Economy and Politics 391

PART FIVE Social Change

PART ONE Introducing the Sociological Imagination

1 The Sociological Perspective 1 did

PART TWO Studying Society and Social Structure

3 Doing Sociological Research 59

The Research Process 60 Participant Observation 70

4socializati on and the Life course 7s

The Socialization Process 8 0 Aging and the Life Course 94

Growing Up in a Diverse Society 92

What Is Society? 105 Roles 115

Postindustrial Societies 112 Doing Sociological Research

6 Groups and Organizations 126

Types of Groups 127 Types of Organizations 140

7 Deviance and Crime 149 .................. 'J~

PART THREE Social Inequalities

8 Social Class and Social Stratification 175

Social Differentiation and Social Class as a Ladder 184

9 Global Stratification 2os

Global Stratification 209 World Poverty 227

The Social Construction of Race Asian Americans 251

Sex and Culture 299 Sex and Social Issues 313

PART FOUR Social Institutions

13 Families and Religion 325

Defining the Family 327 Defining Religion 347

Schooling and Society 363 Educational Reform 376

Theoretical Perspectives on Health Care 385 Chapter Summary 389

15 Economy and Politics 391 ~

Economy and Society 392 Power, Authority, and Bureaucracy 409

Unemployment and Joblessness 402 The Military as a Social Institution 419

PART FIVE Social Change

16 Environment, Population. and social change as iId@Ege"2

I what would a sociologist say?

a sociological eye on the media

Jordan, June. 1981 Civil Wars. Boston: Beacon Press, p. JOO.

Critical Thinking and Debunking

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