Ronald Jacobs (PhD, UCLA) is Professor of Sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York.Eleanor Townsley (PhD, UCLA) is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Sociology and the director of the curriculum to career program, Nexus, at Mount Holyoke College.

Living Sociologically is one of the more actively engaging books on the market. It pulls the reader in with great examples, complex topics and multi-discipline methods.

• ContentsPreface PART I: The Basics CHAPTER 1 What Is Sociology? 1.1 What Is Sociology? The Sociological Imagination The Discipline of Sociology Sociology and Everyday Knowledge 1.2 Levels of Analysis MicrosociologyMacrosociology Institutional Perspectives 1.3 Thinking Relationally: The Paired Concepts Solidarity and Conflict Power and Resistance Inequality and Privilege Global and Local Structure and Contingency 1.4 Why Sociology? CAREERS: Opportunities for Sociology Majors CHAPTER 2 American Sociology: Theory and Methods 2.1 Thinking Like a Sociologist Critical Questions and the Sociological Imagination 2.2 Sociology: Theory and Contexts Classical Sociology Sociology in America Moving Away from Grand Theories Theories about Difference The Cultural Turn Global Context Sociology Today 2.3 Social Research: Purpose and Process Social Research and Ethics Science and Complex Societies Research Methods and Critical LiteracyData and Measurement Variables, Data Collection, and Causal Relationships Common Strategies for Sociological Research Basic, Applied, and Public Sociology CAREERS: The Importance of TheoryCASE STUDY: Understanding Covid-19 PAIRED CONCEPTSPOWER AND RESISTANCE: Protecting Human Subjects in Social Research INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Forgotten Founders in Sociology GLOBAL AND LOCAL: Citizen Science: Using Local Data to Understand Global Patterns STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: The Baby Einstein Phenomenon SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: Race, Difference, and the Politics of Medical Research PART II: Structure and Control CHAPTER 3 Culture 3.1 How Do Sociologists Study Culture? What Is Culture? Ideal Culture and Material Culture 3.2 Culture and Power Recognizing and Resisting Cultural Power 3.3 Types of Culture in Today's World Global Culture Dominant Cultures and Subcultures Popular Culture, Commercial Culture, and High Culture CAREERS: Working in the Creative Industries CASE STUDY: Protesting the National Anthem PAIRED CONCEPTSSTRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion GLOBAL AND LOCAL: The History of Manga SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: Music and Social Protest POWER AND RESISTANCE: Fanfiction INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Who Goes to the Museum and Opera? CHAPTER 4 Socialization, Social Interaction, and Group Life 4.1 Socialization and Selfhood Nature and Nurture The Social Self Agents of Socialization Adult Socialization 4.2 Interaction and the Social Construction of Reality Status and Role Performance and the Social Self Social Interaction in a Digital Age 4.3 Group Life Group Size Primary Groups and Secondary Groups Reference Groups Bureaucracy in Group Life Social Networks in Group Life CAREERS: Getting a Job: The Strength of Weak Ties CASE STUDY: Caitlyn Jenner and Gender Socialization PAIRED CONCEPTSINEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Different Styles of Parenting STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: What Is the Meaning of Fair Play? The 2012 Olympic Badminton Controversy POWER AND RESISTANCE: Challenging Gender Stereotypes with the SlutWalk Campaign SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: The Stanford Prison Experiment GLOBAL AND LOCAL: Bureaucracy in Singapore CHAPTER 5 Deviance, Crime, and Punishment 5.1 Deviance Why Does Deviance Exist? The Social Construction of Deviance5.2 Crime Categories of Crime Policing Crime Surveillance 5.3 Punishment Punishment as a Public Display of Morality Punishment and Treatment Incarceration CAREERS: The Criminal Justice Field CASE STUDY: Why Are Crime Stories So Popular? PAIRED CONCEPTSSTRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: Is Chewing Gum Deviant? SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: The Moral Panic over Pandemic Hoarding POWER AND RESISTANCE: What's Wrong with Graffiti? GLOBAL AND LOCAL: The Global Drug Trade INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Punishment and Plea Bargaining PART III: Difference and Inequality CHAPTER 6 Inequality, Mobility, and Social Change 6.1 What Is Inequality? Is Inequality Natural or Social? Is Inequality Good or Bad? Inequality and Stratification 6.2 Types of Stratification Caste Systems Class Systems Status Systems Party Systems: Inequality through Meritocracy 6.3 A Portrait of Stratification Today Stratification in the United States Global Stratification 6.4 Social Mobility Social Factors Associated with Mobility Structural Mobility 6.5 Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality Social Policy Social Conflict CAREERS: Social Mobility and Career Planning CASE STUDY: The Bachelor: Crystallizing Stratification on TV PAIRED CONCEPTSPOWER AND RESISTANCE: Ending Apartheid in South Africa INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Marketing to the Super-Rich GLOBAL AND LOCAL: Wealthy Chinese Students at Elite US Schools STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: Creating Social Security SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: A Short History of the Workers' Strike in the United States CHAPTER 7 Race, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism 7.1 The Social Construction of Race Race and Biology The Changing Understanding of Race over Time Race and Ethnicity 7.2 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States Defining and Measuring Race in Official Government Data Native Americans White Ethnic GroupsAfrican Americans Latinas and Latinos Asian Americans 7.3 Race, Privilege, and Inequality The Privileges of Being in the Majority Group Racial Discrimination and Segregation Consequences of Discrimination Racial Conflict 7.4 Multiculturalism and Diversity Multiculturalism (Movement and Policy) Multiracial and Multiethnic Identities 7.5 Immigration Trends in Immigration What Causes Immigration? Immigrant Communities 7.6 The Politics of Immigration Laws About Citizenship and Immigration Anti-Immigrant Movements CAREERS: Multiculturalism in the Workplace CASE STUDY: Intersecting Identities PAIRED CONCEPTSSTRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: The Growth and Success of Native American Casinos SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and the Struggle to Define African American Politics GLOBAL AND LOCAL: Latino Computer Engineers from Colombia and Puerto Rico INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: How Irish Americans Became White POWER AND RESISTANCE: Black Lives Matter CHAPTER 8 Gender, Sexuality, and the Body 8.1 Sex, Gender, and the Body Gender and Performance Gender Stereotypes 8.2 Gender and Power Masculinity and Femininity The Gender Order Divisions of Labor Workplace Harassment and Sexual Exclusions in Work and Public Spaces Challenging Patriarchy and the History of the Women's Movement 8.3 Sexuality and the Body The Marketing of Romance Heteronormativity Queer Identities beyond the Closet CAREERS: Women, Men, and Social Networks CASE STUDY: Gender Intersections at McDonald's PAIRED CONCEPTSSTRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: Classifying Intersex Babies INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Men in Pink-Collar Work SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: Feminist Politics GLOBAL AND LOCAL: Sex Work POWER AND RESISTANCE: Stonewall PART IV: Institutions and Issues CHAPTER 9 Health, Illness, and Medicine 9.1 Health Geography, Class, Race, Gender, Age, and Other Differences Genetics Environment An Intersectional Understanding of Health Disparities 9.2 Illness Experiencing Illness Differently Being a Patient Medicalization 9.3 Medicine Public Health Medical Institutions Social Responses to Sickness and Illness Access to Health Care CAREERS: Sociology and Medicine CASE STUDY: Genetic Testing PAIRED CONCEPTSINEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: How Inequality Shapes Our Final Years POWER AND RESISTANCE: Stigma and Size SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: Disruptive Behavior in Medical Settings GLOBAL AND LOCAL: Does Modern Society Make You Sick? STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: Waiting for an Organ Transplant CHAPTER 10 Marriage, Family, and the Law 10.1 Family and Society Family, Kinship, and Society Marriage and Family as Social Institutions 10.2 Changes in Marriage and Family Traditional Families and Nuclear Families Divorce Single-Parent Families Delay and Decline of Marriage Boomerang Kids and Sandwich Parents Transnational Families 10.3 Challenging Family Forms Feminist Challenges to the Family Blended Families Multiracial Families Lesbian and Gay Families CAREERS: Marriage and Family Therapists CASE STUDY: Family Names PAIRED CONCEPTSINEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Legal Biases in Favor of Marriage SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: Disagreements over Parenting Styles STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: "Bird-Nesting" as a Co-Parenting Strategy after Divorce GLOBAL AND LOCAL: Korean "Wild Geese" Families POWER AND RESISTANCE: Loving v. Virginia CHAPTER 11 Politics, Media, and Social Movements 11.1 Politics as the Struggle for Influence Power, Authority, and Hegemony 11.2 Politics and Democracy Systems of Representation Representing the People 11.3 Mediated Politics Media and Agenda Setting Economic Distortions of the Media Agenda 11.4 Social Change Challenging the Powerful Organizing for Change Getting Noticed Movement Success CAREERS: Sociology and Politics CASE STUDY: The Strange History of the US Electoral College PAIRED CONCEPTSPOWER AND RESISTANCE: Public Protests in Tahrir Square INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Who Gets Elected to the US Senate? SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: Push Polls and the Politics of Division STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: Barack Obama and <"Joe the Plumber> " GLOBAL AND LOCAL: The Creation of Greenpeace PART V: Change, Issues, and the Future CHAPTER 12 Climate Change and Sustainability 12.1 Climate Change and the "Risk Society" The Unequal Distribution of Environmental Risk 12.2 Controlling the Narrative: Denial and Expertise Culture, the Media, and Socialization Science and Religion 12.3 Profit, Politics, and the Environment Renewable Energy Corporate Social Responsibility12.4 Sustainability: Promise and Responsibility Making Wastefulness Deviant CAREERS: Job Prospects in the Green Economy CASE STUDY: The Destruction of the Amazon PAIRED CONCEPTSPOWER AND RESISTANCE: The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests INEQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE: Contaminated Water in Flint, Michigan SOLIDARITY AND CONFLICT: The Battle for Yellowstone STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCY: COVID-19 and Air Pollution GLOBAL AND LOCAL: The Causes and Consequences of Transboundary Water Pollution Glossary References Credits Index