W e wrote this book with the belief that sociology plays a key role in modern intellectual culture and
occupies a central place within the social sciences. We have aimed to write a book that combines
classic theories of sociology with empirically grounded studies and examples from real life that
reveal the basic issues of interest to sociologists today. The book does not bring in overly sophisticated notions;
nevertheless, ideas and findings drawn from the cutting edge of the discipline are incorporated throughout.
We hope it is a fair and nonpartisan treatment; we endeavored to cover the major perspectives in sociology and
the major findings of contemporary American research in an evenhanded, although not indiscriminate, way.
Author: Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier, Richard P