The "Chicago School" was the first major school of sociology in the USA, dominating the field for the first thirty-five years of the 20th century. In addition it was central as a training centre for students, going on to train generations of sociologists, and its impact has been enormous throughout this century. Starting with the earliest debates within Northern American sociology, pragmatic philosophy, and the Chicago School itself, this set provides key readings from contemporary journals and scholarly publications, which situate the School, give access to major documents through the edited selections of key studies and texts, and help the reader to understand the critical development of the tradition.

Sociology: a global introduction represents a uniquely co-ordinated and complete learning resource for sociology students worldwide. International in outlook and culturally wide-ranging, it also reminds us that sociology is valuable. Unrivalled in breadth, it is a text of passion and sophistication helping you become an active, connected and critical learner.

A lively, accessible and comprehensive introduction to the diverse ways of thinking about social life, Sociology: The Basics has been translated into six languages. The volume is packed with thought-provoking summaries, questions, quotations and activities. It offers an absorbing narrative about what we mean by the social, and how we can think about it, weaving in discussions of the personal, the political and social change, along with concepts and vivid contemporary examples, and answering questions such as: What is the scope, history and purpose of sociology? How do we cultivate ways of understanding society and 'the social'? What is the state of the world we live in today? How do we analyse suffering and inequalities? What are key methods and tools for researching and thinking about society? How has digitalism reshaped sociology and its method? How might sociology help us understand the changes brought about by Covid-19? Does sociology have values? What is the role of sociology in making a better world? In this thoroughly revised and updated Third edition the reader is encouraged to think critically about the structures, meanings, histories and cultures found in the rapidly changing world we live in. With tasks to stimulate the sociological mind and suggestions for further reading both within the text and on an accompanying website, this book is essential reading for all those studying sociology and those with an interest in how the modern world works.

Presenting the landmark Pioneers life stories project, this one-of-a-kind book documents how modern social research in the UK was shaped. It sheds new light on the lives, methods and motivations of men and women who helped develop a new world of research methodology, pioneered feminist research, and first confronted the issues of race and ethnicity. It combines a fascinating history of the generations who built outstanding and influential social research with a valuable resource for future research and teaching on methods.

A lively, accessible and comprehensive introduction to the diverse ways of thinking about social life, Sociology: The Basics has been translated into six languages. The volume is packed with thought-provoking summaries, questions, quotations and activities. It offers an absorbing narrative about what we mean by the social, and how we can think about it, weaving in discussions of the personal, the political and social change, along with concepts and vivid contemporary examples, and answering questions such as: What is the scope, history and purpose of sociology? How do we cultivate ways of understanding society and 'the social'? What is the state of the world we live in today? How do we analyse suffering and inequalities? What are key methods and tools for researching and thinking about society? How has digitalism reshaped sociology and its method? How might sociology help us understand the changes brought about by Covid-19? Does sociology have values? What is the role of sociology in making a better world? In this thoroughly revised and updated Third edition the reader is encouraged to think critically about the structures, meanings, histories and cultures found in the rapidly changing world we live in. With tasks to stimulate the sociological mind and suggestions for further reading both within the text and on an accompanying website, this book is essential reading for all those studying sociology and those with an interest in how the modern world works.

This comprehensive reader brings a social science perspective to an area hitherto dominated by the humanities. Through it, students will be able to follow the story of how sociology has come to engage with gay and lesbian issues from the 1950s to the present, from the earliest research on the underground worlds of gay men to the emergence of queer theory in the 1990s.
Bringing together classic readings and the best work of younger scholars from all parts of the English-speaking world, this reader will be an invaluable resource for courses at undergraduate and graduate level in all areas of the sociology of sexuality and gender. Separate sections cover:
* theoretical foundations
* identity and community making
* institutions and social change
* challenges for the future.
Each section begins with an introduction giving readers a brief guide to the readings in that section, contextualises them and relates them to one another and the book ends with an afterword by Ken Plummer summing up the present state of play and looking forward to the future.

eBook available with sample pages: 020342526X

Homosexuality is not what it used to be. When the modern lesbian and gay movements erupted on the world-wide cultural and political stage during the early 1970s few could have seen the enormous ramifications. For although homosexuality still has its critics and its enemies, the modern lesbian and gay community has proliferated into distinctive ways of living together, of relating sexually, of responding to AIDS, of establishing identities and communities, of being political. "Modern Homosexualities" documents some of this rich and developing experience. It presents "fragments" of an experience that has become remarkably diverse. In 19 original essays from activists and social scientists in eight countries, this diversity is charted. It is a collection which draws together essays on a wide range of experience. A major section examines the development and recognition of new patterns of "families of choice" such as the Danish experiment on "Registered Partnerships", the Australian immigration definition of lesbian and gay couples, the debate over lesbian motherhood, and the issue of "mixed marriages" where one partner is gay.

This book of nineteen original essays by activists and academics documents and analyses the dramatic changes in lesbian and gay experience over the last twenty years. It charts the growth of lesbian and gay studies, and examines key issues around communitites, identities, relationships, sexualities and politics. These essays, edited by a leading author in the field, herald a new confidence and maturity for the growing field of lesbian and gay studies.

This groundbreaking new introduction to sociology is an innovative hybrid textbook and reader. Combining seminal scholarly works, contextual narrative and in-text didactic materials, it presents a rich, layered and comprehensive introduction to the discipline. Its unique approach will help inspire a creative, critical, and analytically sophisticated sociological imagination, making sense of society and the many small and large problems it poses.

This set collects the classic writings on sexuality from a social science perspective. Topics covered include the history of the study of sexuality, theoretical approaches and issues of gender and sexuality.
Volume I: Making a Sociology of Sexualities
Focusing on the evaluations of some of the major traditions of sex research and theory, dating back to the nineteenth century, this section gives an overview of the entire field. Drawn from a broad range of sources, articles include evaluations of some of the founders of the field, survey research, anthropological fieldwork, social psychological experimentation and contemporary ethnology.
Volume II: Some Elements for an Account for the Social Organization of Sexualities
The focus of this section is upon the main theoretical approaches to sexuality within both sociology and allied traditions, including references to Marxism, feminism, interactionalism and Freudian, Foucauldian and postmodernist thought.
Volume III: Difference and Diversity of Sexualities
This section examines the politics, power and critique of sexual catergories - including bisexuality, sex addiction, prostitution and sadomasochism.
Volume IV: Sexualities and their Futures
The final volume of the set considers the wider issues around sexualities. The articles address social change, postmodernity and the shifting of sexualities including work on AIDS/HIV, ethnicities, sexual citizenship and cybersex, as well as an examination of the term 'queer'. An epilogue of suggested further reading is also included.

Presenting the landmark Pioneers life stories project, this one-of-a-kind book documents how modern social research in the UK was shaped. It sheds new light on the lives, methods and motivations of men and women who helped develop a new world of research methodology, pioneered feminist research, and first confronted the issues of race and ethnicity. It combines a fascinating history of the generations who built outstanding and influential social research with a valuable resource for future research and teaching on methods.

This groundbreaking new introduction to sociology is an innovative hybrid textbook and reader. Combining seminal scholarly works, contextual narrative and in-text didactic materials, it presents a rich, layered and comprehensive introduction to the discipline. Its unique approach will help inspire a creative, critical, and analytically sophisticated sociological imagination, making sense of society and the many small and large problems it poses.

This book explores the rites of a sexual story-telling culture and examines the nature of these newly emerging narratives and the socio-historical conditions that have given rise to them.

Solo parenting, in vitro fertilization, surrogate mothers, gay and lesbian families, cloning and the prospect of "designer babies," Viagra and the morning-after pill, HIV/AIDS, the global porn industry, online dating services, virtual sex--whether for better or worse, our intimate lives are in the throes of dramatic change. In this thought-provoking study, sociologist Ken Plummer examines the transformations taking place in the realm of intimacy and the conflicts--the "intimate troubles"--to which these changes constantly give rise. In surveying the intimate possibilities now available to us and the issues swirling around them, Plummer focuses especially on the overlap of public and private. Increasingly, our most private decisions are bound up with public institutions such as legal codes, the medical system, or the media. What impact, Plummer asks, does the public character of personal life have on our sense of ourselves and on how we view our intimate choices? To navigate our way through a world in which people's private lives are so often subject to public scrutiny and debate, and in which the public sphere is more and more pluralized and contested, we must, Plummer argues, broaden our understanding of what it means to be a citizen and entertain new approaches to "doing" citizenship. We must learn to be "intimate citizens," who, like citizens of the more familiar sort, are able to participate in public discussion and in social or political movements that represent our concerns.

Documents of Life was originally published in 1983 and became a classic text, providing both a persuasive argument for a particular approach and a manifesto for social research. As a critique of anti-humanist methodology in the social sciences, it championed the use of life stories and other personal documents in research which are now widely used today. This book is a substantially revised and expanded version which takes on recent developments.

Providing numerous illustrations from a range of life documents, the book traces the history of the method, examines ways of 'doing life story' research, and discusses the many political and ethical issues raised by such research. The whole book has been substantially re-written and updated, and there are four wholly new chapters. These look at the wider emergence of an auto//biographical society; writing and narrative; memory and truth; and humanism.

Whilst the original book argued for more life stories in social research, this book senses a major celebration and proliferation of the method over the past twenty years. At the same time. in the wake of postmodernism, feminist and queer writings, the writing of a life can never again be a simple exercise in 'telling it like it is'. Plummer's new book confronts these new concerns head on, whilst restating his strong commitment to the methodologies of humanism.

Passionate and unashamedly partisan, this is no ordinary 'methods text'. Even more than its predecessor, it sees the research process as social, moral, and political at every stage.

Like the earlier book, Documents of Life 2 is written in an easy and engaging style which should make it equally accessible to first year undergraduates and much more advanced graduate scholars across a range of social science disciplines.