Introducing Sociology (pocket-sized version)

Richard Osborne
Borin Van Loon

UK £6.99,Canada $10.99,USA $9.95,
UK Publication September 2009
ISBN 9781848310858
Paperback

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What is sociology? Simply, it is the study of how society functions, or in some cases, does not function. Various competing schools of sociology have attempted to fit observations of social phenomena into different conceptual systems.

Introducing Sociology traces the origins of these systems from Enlightenment thought and the pioneering work of Auguste Comte to subsequent developments in Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. The rapid expansion of sociology in 20th-century America and Britain, the post-World War II dominance of Talcott Parsons, the Chicago School and the rise of Structuralism are brilliantly outlined in a clear, graphic form. The book also examines the array of concepts and methods of research that have been applied to the study of society by the key analysts.

This book is essential reading for students of the subject and for anyone interested in understanding the functioning of society.

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Richard Osborne is a lecturer at Camberwell College of Art, University of London.

See more books by: Richard Osborne

Borin Van Loon has worked on numerous Introducing titles. He is a freelance illustrator, surrealist painter and collagist who produces the comic strip 'The Severed Head' for The Chap magazine.

See more books by: Borin Van Loon