Includes glossary and index

Contents: Sociological perspectives and sociological research: The Sociological imagination -- The Forest and the tress -- Not our kind of girl -- Sense and nonsense about surveys -- Culture: Body ritual among the Nacirema -- September 11 2001: mass murder and its roots in the symbolism of American consumer culture -- Barbie doll culture and the American waistland -- Buy this 24-year-old get all his friends absolutely free -- Socialization and the life course: Leaving home for college: expectations for selective reconstruction of self -- Navajo women and the politics of identity -- Gender and aging -- Society and social interaction -- The Presentation of self in everyday life -- Code of th street -- Life beyond the screen: embodiement and identity through the internet -- Groups and organizations: Clique dynamics -- Fraternities and collegiate rape culture: why are some fraternities more dangerous places for women? -- Social networks: the value of variety -- Deviance and criminal justice: The function of crime -- The Medication of deviance -- The Rich get richer and the poor get prison? -- Social class and social stratification: The communist manifesto -- Great divides -- Wealth matters -- Studying the quagmire welfare reform -- Global stratification: The garment industry in the restructuring global economy -- The Nanny chain -- Michael Jordan and the new global capitalization -- Race: The souls of black folk -- Seeing more than black and white -- Immigrant America: who they are and why they come -- Color-blind priviledge: the social and political functions of erasing the color-line in post race America -- Gender: The social construction of gender -- The Politics of masculinities -- Catchung sense: learning from our mothers to be black and female -- Challenges for middle eastern women -- Sexuality and intimate relationships: Pluralistic ignorance and hooking up -- Masculinity as homophobia -- The Long godbye -- Social insttutions: Family -- Religion -- Education -- Work -- Government and politics -- Health care -- Population, urbanization and the environment: American apartheid -- Black, brown, red and poisoned -- Mobilizing minority communities -- Social movements and social change.