Policy Press

Imagining Society

The Case for Sociology

By Daniel Nehring and Dylan Kerrigan

Published

Feb 26, 2020

Page count

256 pages

ISBN

978-1529204902

Dimensions

240 x 172 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Feb 26, 2020

Page count

256 pages

ISBN

978-1529204872

Dimensions

240 x 172 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Feb 26, 2020

Page count

256 pages

ISBN

978-1529204919

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Feb 26, 2020

Page count

256 pages

ISBN

978-1529204919

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press
Imagining Society

Re-examining C.Wright Mills’s legacy as a jumping off point, this original introduction to sociology illuminates global concepts, themes and practices that are fundamental to the discipline. It makes a case for the importance of developing a sociological imagination and provides the steps for how readers can do that. The unique text:

• Offers succinct and wide-ranging coverage of many of the most important themes and concepts taught in first year sociology courses;

• Has a global framework and case material which engages with decoloniality and critiques an overly white, western and developed world view of sociology;

• Is woven through with contemporary examples, from social media to social inequality, big data to the self-help industry;

• Rethinks and re-imagines what a critically committed, politically engaged and publicly relevant sociology should look like in the 21st century.

This is a lively, engaging and accessible overview of sociology for all its students, teachers and people who want to learn more about sociology today. It is a welcome clarion call for sociology’s importance in public life.

Daniel Nehring is Associate Professor of Sociology at East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai.

Dylan Kerrigan is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Leicester and a Visiting Lecturer in Sociology at the University of the West Indies.

Preface: How to read this book?

Making sense of society

The sociological imagination

What is 'the social'?

Seven key moments in Western sociology

Sociologies in a global world

Decolonising sociology

Structure, agency, power and conflict

Difference, stratification and inequalities

The social self

Sociology in the early 21st century