Gary Alan Fine is a visiting scholar at Emory University in Atlanta and the James E. Johnson Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University. He is the author of Fair Share: Senior Activism, Tiny Publics, and the Culture of Resistance, published by the University of Chicago Press.

Over the course of a celebrated career, Gary Alan Fine has analyzed the seemingly mundane to reveal the crucial patterns, processes, and forms that produce social life in all its richness and complexity. In Joy to the World, hecontinues advancing this ambitious line of research by developing a comprehensive sociological account of pleasure. Challenging the all-too-common tendency to focus on conflict and social problems, Fine deftly investigates the ways in which joy, happiness, and fun depend on sociability, shared allegiance, and group cultures. The book is a delight, nimbly navigating fascinating sociological territory, and it will serve as crucial reading for those interested in understanding how pleasure emerges from the interaction order.

• Introduction. Joyous Days: The Delight of Being Together1. Communities of Fun2. Hanging Out on the Corner3. Joking Cultures4. Play, Pleasure, and Human Nature5. The Game World and Its Sticky Cultures6. Leisure Worlds as Soft Communities7. Loving Friends8. Dark PleasuresConclusion. The Joyous Pleasures of Tiny PublicsNotesReferencesIndex

Gary Alan Fine is a visiting scholar at Emory University in Atlanta and the James E. Johnson Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University. He is the author of Fair Share: Senior Activism, Tiny Publics, and the Culture of Resistance, published by the University of Chicago Press.

Over the course of a celebrated career, Gary Alan Fine has analyzed the seemingly mundane to reveal the crucial patterns, processes, and forms that produce social life in all its richness and complexity. In Joy to the World, hecontinues advancing this ambitious line of research by developing a comprehensive sociological account of pleasure. Challenging the all-too-common tendency to focus on conflict and social problems, Fine deftly investigates the ways in which joy, happiness, and fun depend on sociability, shared allegiance, and group cultures. The book is a delight, nimbly navigating fascinating sociological territory, and it will serve as crucial reading for those interested in understanding how pleasure emerges from the interaction order.

• Introduction. Joyous Days: The Delight of Being Together1. Communities of Fun2. Hanging Out on the Corner3. Joking Cultures4. Play, Pleasure, and Human Nature5. The Game World and Its Sticky Cultures6. Leisure Worlds as Soft Communities7. Loving Friends8. Dark PleasuresConclusion. The Joyous Pleasures of Tiny PublicsNotesReferencesIndex