1. Sociology: A Panorama 1.1. The world you live in 1.2. The study of social facts 1.3. The sociological imagination 1.4. The study of society 1.5. What is sociology? 1.6. Study resources 2. Doing Sociology 2.1. Not a desk job: sociology as a form of practice 2.2. Studying sociology 2.3. Doing sociological research: a quick and simple sketch 2.4. How to become a sociologist 2.5. Guide to further reading 3. Classical Western Sociology 3.1. Making sense of classical sociology 3.2. Introducing classical sociologists 3.3. The story of sociology 4. Individual and Social Process 4.1. Continuing sociology’s story 4.2. What is modernity? 4.3. From modernity to postmodernity 4.4. Culture 4.5. Self and social interaction 4.6. The social life of emotions 4.7. Making the social body 4.8. What holds society together? Social systems 4.9. Power and politics 4.10. Families and personal life 4.11. Religion 4.12. Deviance 4.13. Conclusion 5. Globalisation and the Modern World 5.1. Social change in the contemporary world 5.2. Globalisation 5.3. Capitalism 5.4. The network society 5.5. Rationalisation 5.6. Risk and reflexive modernisation 5.7. Consumer culture 5.8. Communication, media and everyday life 5.9. Cities 5.10. Work and economic life 5.11. Individualisation 5.12. Conclusion 6. Social Inequalities and Globalisation 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Race, ethnicity and racism 6.3. Social class and socio-economic stratification 6.4. Sex and gender 6.5. Reconsidering social inequalities: a research project 6.6. Global inequalities and global poverty 6.7. Civil society and social justice 6.8. Colonialism, imperialism and postcolonialism 6.9. Global warming, risk and global inequalities 6.10. Mobilities 6.11. Conclusion 7. Why Sociology? Some Concluding Remarks 7.1. Does sociology matter? 7.2. Three arguments in favour of sociology 7.3. Returning to the sociological imagination Epilogue by Ken Plummer