An Introduction to Sociology

Ken Browne

• Publisher: Polity
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781509528035
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This fifth edition of An Introduction to Sociology provides an accessible and engaging introduction to sociology, without oversimplifying or passing over the important and exciting insights sociology has to offer. Building on the book's existing achievements, Ken Browne has restructured the fifth edition to focus on the core issues in sociology considered in introductory courses. The book covers all the topics and options specified by the GCSE and IGCSE examining boards, including the required classic texts and theoretical perspectives which are helpfully applied throughout the chapters. The new edition has been completely updated to reflect contemporary social changes, including the latest statistics and topical illustrative examples. New material is to be found throughout, such as more extensive treatment of family and household diversity, the marketization of education, social inequality, the control and prevention of crime, and the effects of new media technologies. Carefully designed to support and extend students' learning, a number of features – such as a range of activities, questions and discussion points – add to the book's value as a learning and teaching resource. Explanatory graphics, photographs and cartoons also enliven the text, presenting sociology as an exciting and relevant topic to students of all ages, interests and abilities. The new edition of this highly successful textbook will prove invaluable to anyone first approaching sociology, especially on Access, GCSE and related courses. Students will find the book provides an easy-to-follow and thoughtful introduction to studying sociology.

CHAPTER 1
The Sociological Approach: Key Ideas and Concepts

Contents

1. Key Issues
2. What is sociology?
3. How did sociology develop?
4. Sociology and common sense
5. Sociology and biological explanations: nurture v. nature
6. Sociology and journalism
7. Sociology and psychology
8. Sociology and science
9. What is meant by social structure?
10. What are social processes?
11. Socialization
12. Social control
13. An example of a social process: gender role socialization
14. Social issues, social problems and social policy
15. Social issues
16. Social problems
17. Social policy
18. Sociology, social problems and social policy
19. Chapter summary and revision checklist
20. Key terms

---

KEY ISSUES

• What is sociology?
• What is meant by social structure?
• What are social processes?
• Social issues, social problems and social policy

---

Newcomers to sociology often have only a vague idea as to what the subject is about, though they frequently have an interest in people. This interest is a good start, because the focus of sociology is on the influences from society which mould the behaviour of people, their experiences and their interpretations of the world around them. To learn sociology is to learn about how human societies are constructed, and where our beliefs and daily routines come from and how our social identities are formed; it is to re-examine in a new light many of the taken-for-granted assumptions which we all hold, and which influence the way we think about ourselves and others. Sociology is above all about developing a critical understanding of society. In developing this, sociology can itself contribute to changes in society – for example, by highlighting and explaining social problems such as inequality, crime and poverty. The study of sociology can provide the essential tools for a better understanding of the world we live in, and therefore the means for improving it.

WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

Sociology is the systematic (or planned and organized) study of human groups and social life in modern societies. A society is a large group of people who are involved with one another and generally share the same geographical territory or country, and a similar way of life, language and beliefs – e.g. British society.

---

Sociology The systematic (planned and organized) study of human groups and social life in modern societies.

---

---

Society A large group of people who are involved with one another and generally share the same geographical territory or country, and a similar way of life, language and beliefs.

---

It is concerned with the study of social institutions. These are the various organized social arrangements that are found in all societies. For example, the family is an institution which is concerned with arrangements for marriage – such as at what age people can marry, whom they can marry and how many partners they can have – and the upbringing of children. The education system establishes ways of passing on attitudes, knowledge and skills from one generation to the next. Work and the economic system organize the way the production of goods will be carried out, and religious institutions are concerned with people’s relations with the supernatural. These social institutions make up a society’s social structure – the ‘building blocks’ of society.

---

Social institutions The various organized social arrangements that are found in all societies.

---

---

Social structure The social institutions and social relationships that form the ‘building blocks’ of society.

---

Sociology tries to understand how these various social institutions operate, and how they relate to one another – such as the influence the family might have on how well children perform in the education system. Sociology is also concerned with describing and explaining the patterns of inequality, deprivation and conflict which are a feature of nearly all societies.

How did sociology develop?

Sociology first developed in response to changes in the world around 200 years ago. These changes included industrialization, as people began to work in factories and cities, rather than in agriculture and villages in the countryside; and science began to challenge religious belief, popular myths and superstition as ways of understanding the world. Many men and women across the world and over the centuries have asked questions about how society works, though not all have received equal credit or attention. The following male European figures are those who have been most strongly associated with the development of sociology in Europe.

Auguste Comte (1798–1857)

The Frenchman Auguste Comte (1798–1857) was one of the first to use the term ‘sociology’, to describe a new social science consisting of the idea that society could be studied i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• Introduction to the Fifth Edition
• How to use this book
• 1 The Sociological Approach: Key Ideas and Concepts
• 2 Sociological Theories and Research Methods
• 3 Families
• 4 Education
• 5 Crime and Deviance
• 6 Social Stratification and Social Inequality
• 7 The Media
• 8 Health and Illness
• AQA and WJEC-Eduqas ‘classic text’ references
• Glossary
• Answers to questions in chapter 2
• Illustration credits
• Index
• End User License Agreement