6Sociology For Dummies
Part V: Sociology and Your Life
Your life is inextricably tied to your society — the life you’ve lived, the life you’re living, and the life you will live. Understanding society can help you understand your own life. In this part, I first explain how sociologists think about individuals’ life courses (including childhood, old age, health, and family life) and then look at what sociology can tell us about life in the future.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
This final part contains three chapters that get very specific: What interesting and readable sociology books are out there besides this one? How can you use sociology in your everyday life? The book concludes with the chapter that was my favorite to write: “Ten Myths About Society Busted By Sociology.” Flip to that chapter to see how sociological insight will change the way you think about the social world around you.
Icons Used In This Book
As you read, you’ll notice a few symbols popping up in the margin. They give you hints about how to understand what you’re reading.
This icon highlights information that you should especially pay attention to. Make a point of remembering the information in paragraphs highlighted by this icon.
This icon signals that the information near it is of interest to the curious, and delves a little deeper into the specific topic that’s being discussed.
When you see this lit fuse, you’ll see information about a trap to avoid — a risk of being misled or confused.
Introduction 7
When you see this icon, you can be sure that you’re getting a significant piece of information that may come in handy in class or in your everyday life.
The Important icon indicates significant information that you shouldn’t miss.
Where To Go From Here
Like all Dummies books, this book is written to be modular — meaning that each part can stand alone. So if you look through the table of contents and see something you’re particularly curious about, feel free to head straight to that section. That said, I’ve organized the book to lead you through sociology from beginning concepts to specific topics, so if you’re pretty sure you’ll be looking at the whole book, your best bet is to start at the beginning and read your way through.
I’d also recommend flipping through and glancing at some of the text boxes. They provide concrete examples of the material discussed in the main body of the text, so if you feel like things are getting too theoretical or abstract, look to the text boxes for down-to-earth illustrations of what’s being discussed. Have fun!
8Sociology For Dummies
Part I
The Basic Basics
In this part . . .
What is sociology? It’s not a term that usually comes up during dinner-table conversation, and most
people have only a vague idea of what it’s all about. By the end of this part, you’ll know what sociology is, where it comes from, what sociologists do, why they do it, and how they do it.
Chapter 1
Sociology: Getting Your
Head Around It
In This Chapter
Understanding sociology
Seeing the world as a sociologist
Understanding differences among people and groups
Looking at social organization
Appreciating your own sociological insights
You may be holding this book because you’re enrolled in a sociology course in college or high school, or are thinking about studying sociol-
ogy. You may be wondering if sociology can help you in your job; you may just be curious about different ways of looking at society; or you may be wondering about sociology for a different reason. Whatever the reason, you’re reading this book because you want to know more about this thing called “sociology.”
In this book, I explain the basics of sociology: what it is, how it’s done, and what it’s good for. Along the way, I do mention a lot of specific findings that sociologists have made, but my main goal is to tell you about sociology, not about society. After you understand the basics of sociology, you can roll up your sleeves and get online or into the library to see what sociologists have learned about any given place or time.
This chapter provides a road map to the rest of the book. In this chapter, I summarize the book and explain the basic ideas that this book will cover. I’ve organized the book to proceed from basic concepts to more specific topics, but the chapters are designed to stand alone, so you may not want to start right at the beginning.
Whatever path you take through this book — and through sociology generally — I hope you’ll enjoy it and find the topic of sociology as fascinating as I do.