Exploring Society: Sociology for New Zealand Students, 4th Edition - Softcover

Brickell, Chris; Matthewman, Steve; McLennan, Gregor; McManus, Ruth; Spoonley, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1869409361 ISBN 13: 9781869409364

Verlag: AUCKLAND UNIV PR, 2019

Inhaltsangabe

A brand new edition of the bestselling sociology textbook, written by New Zealand’s leading sociologists for New Zealand students. The book introduces sociological concepts and methods before investigating key areas of sociology (class, race, gender, family life, health, death, work, the city, populations, technology, religion, leisure and crime) through the New Zealand experience. The book includes many useful pedagogical features, including: key word definitions and push text in the margins; key themes highlighted; study questions; engaging full colour photography; and case studies written by working sociologists.

The 4th edition has been revised and rewritten throughout by a renewed author team. Key changes include: data, examples and case studies completely updated; chapters re-ordered and a new chapter on death added to reflect requests from departments using the book as a teaching text; and more emphasis on tikanga and kaupapa Maori. Also included is a refreshed photograph selection with a local focus. Exploring Society is an engaging, comprehensive and up to date introduction for New Zealand sociology students.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ruth McManus teaches in and researches on sociology and death studies. Steve Matthewman is associate professor of sociology at the University of Auckland and outgoing president of the Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (SAANZ). Chris Brickell is associate professor in gender studies at the University of Otago. Gregor McLennan is professor of sociology at the University of Bristol, UK. Paul Spoonley is the pro vice-chancellor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Massey University.

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Exploring Society

Sociology for New Zealand Students

By Ruth McManus, Steve Matthewman, Chris Brickell, Gregor McLennan, Paul Spoonley

Auckland University Press

Copyright © 2019 Ruth McManus, Steve Matthewman, Chris Brickell, Gregor McLennan and Paul Spoonley
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-86940-936-4

Contents

Acknowledgements, 
Preface, 
1 The sociological imagination: insights, themes and skills, 
2 The story of sociology I: understanding modernity, 
3 The story of sociology II: classical to contemporary, 
4 Sociological methods, 
5 Stratification and class, 
6 Racism and ethnicity, 
7 Gender, sexuality and identity, 
8 Family life, 
9 Health, illness and medical power, 
10 Dying and death in Aotearoa New Zealand, 
11 Work and economic life, 
12 The city and city life, 
13 Population dynamics, 
14 Technology today, 
15 Religion, 
16 Leisure and sport, 
17 Deviance and crime, 
18 The story of sociology III: new society, new sociological imagination, 
Bibliography, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

The sociological imagination: insights, themes and skills

Chapter aims

• To describe some of the key features of sociology

• To introduce the three core themes that will be used throughout the book

• To discuss the roles that theorising and research play in developing sociological knowledge

Introduction

This chapter addresses three main tasks. Firstly, we say a few things about sociology – about what it is and what you can do with it. Secondly, we introduce the core themes that act as running threads throughout the book. These themes are interesting in their own right, but they also give us a useful 'handle' on the wide range of material covered in this book, and in the study of the discipline more generally. Thirdly, we want to highlight the two main characteristic and indispensable skills of social inquiry: theorising and researching. We particularly stress the role of theory in what sociologists do, because theorising is sometimes perceived by starting students as being 'difficult'. This is actually a misperception, partly because research itself – or, expressed simply, finding out – is not exactly easy. People are complicated. But partly, too, it is because theory can very quickly become rewarding and enjoyable, once you get over any initial inhibitions around grasping and manipulating unfamiliar terminology. Students at all levels can readily 'catch' the infectious feeling of sharing in the real insights and engaging debates that theoretical ideas facilitate more than anything else. We want you to be that kind of infected and infectious student.

Why study sociology?

Let's begin with the most practical reason for studying anything at university: getting a decent job.

Sociology gives you valuable skills that can be applied to a wide range of endeavours. It is of increasing value in relation to employment and careers. Gone are the days when sociology was regarded, employment-wise, as something that you only took if you wanted to be a lecturer, a social worker or a prison educational officer (vital though those occupations are).

Why sociology is valuable

Three sociological insights tell us why this should be so. Firstly, we now live in a world with a more flexible job market, where 'generic skills' and adaptable credentials are more important than training in the kind of specialist but limited expertise that may quickly go out of date in today's era of 'precarious' work. Many first degrees from universities no longer take you straight into specialised employment – often you also have to take a higher degree, or learn 'on the job' with little background preparation. Secondly, we live in a society where the supply, interpretation and use of information are more important than they used to be. This hugely increases the face value of our two sociological skills: researching (finding out) and theorising (thinking about and explaining). In the world of big data we are positively awash with concepts and facts, and it takes people with good critical judgement to decide which are most valid and important for particular purposes. Being a 'researcher' is itself now an accepted occupation in its own right, whether undertaken as a freelancer or while institutionally employed in government departments, the press, think-tanks, large corporations, or the educational sector. Thirdly, in proportion as work becomes more information- driven and as organisations become more streamlined in competitive global markets, they risk losing sight of the human side of things, and feel the need to have a 'people-centred' aspect to their systems.

Few are better placed than sociologists to understand the pressures, perspectives and contradictions in achieving 'work–life balance' and in seeing where people from different social and ethnic backgrounds are 'coming from'. So, putting all this together: sociology turns out to deliver an ideal 'knowledge-society, people-centred' basis for a wide range of valued jobs in the media, politics, education and health, voluntary or third-sector work and commercial businesses.

Now to some of the 'intrinsic' motivations for doing sociology.

• Sociology facilitates self-knowledge and self-development. For people who have just left school, sociology provides a deeper understanding of the contemporary social world and our place within it than do many other disciplines. For more-mature students, sociology gives intellectual shape to the practical knowledge that they have already acquired in real life. Sociology enhances understanding partly by challenging common-view assumptions that are passed down to us, whether through our families, our peers or the mass media. The result is frequently liberating.

• Sociology helps us understand the situation of other people. Sociology is not just about self-development and self-understanding – it is not a 'selfish' subject – because it tells us that our individual situations and fate are intrinsically bound up with those of others. We are social beings. Some of these are 'people like us' while many are (apparently) very different, and sociologists seek to understand what makes everyone 'tick'.

• Sociology helps us understand the world. We have long since moved beyond an exclusive interest in humans alone to think about all of those other things that contribute to human being and that make the world what it is. Thus, we are increasingly interested in energy, technology, non-human animals and the broader environment. Indeed, given how pressing today's environmental problems are, it is imperative that sociologists think of these topics and their many connections. There is open talk of the prospect of the Sixth Mass Extinction event and/or movement into a new geological age, the Anthropocene; both of these, should they occur, will be the consequence of human activities.

• Sociology helps us comprehend and shape social change. A memorable slogan of one of the 'founders' of sociology, Karl Marx, was that the point was not only to interpret the world, but to change it. Sociology was born in the heat of a changing modern world around two hundred years ago, and it constantly forces us to think about whether society is 'progressing' or not; about who the winners and losers of social change are; about whose side we are on; and about how things can be...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: AUCKLAND UNIV PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2019
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1869409361
• ISBN 13: 9781869409364
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 508
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Easy Access System Europe Oü, 16879218; gpsr.requests@easproject.com; ; Mustamäe tee 50, 10621, Tallinn, Estonia; Tallinn; 10621; Estland