Ken Plummer - Sociology: The Basics

A lively, accessible and comprehensive introduction to the diverse ways of thinking about social life, Sociology: The Basics (second edition) examines:

• The scope, history and purpose of sociology.
• Ways of understanding society and the social.
• The state of the world we live in today.
• Suffering and social inequalities.
• Key tools for researching and thinking about society.
• The impact of the digital world and new technologies.
• The values and the role of sociology in making a better world for all.

The reader is encouraged to think critically about the structures, meanings, histories and cultures found in the rapidly changing world we live in. With tasks to stimulate the sociological mind and suggestions for further reading both within the text and on an accompanying website, this book is essential reading for all those studying sociology and those with an interest in how the modern world works.

Ken Plummer is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex, UK, and is internationally known for his research on sexualities and narrative. He is author of many books, including the bestselling Sociology: A Global Introduction (with John Macionis, fifth edition, 2012). His most recent book is Cosmopolitan Sexualities (2015).

The Basics

ACTING
BELLA MERLIN

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
NANCY STANLICK

ANCIENT NEAR EAST
DANIEL C. SNELL

ANIMAL ETHICS
TONY MILLIGAN

ANTHROPOLOGY
PETER METCALF

ARCHAEOLOGY (SECOND EDITION)
CLIVE GAMBLE

ART HISTORY
GRANT POOKE AND DIANA NEWALL

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
KEVIN WARWICK

THE BIBLE
JOHN BARTON

THE BIBLE AND LITERATURE
NORMAN W. JONES

BIOETHICS
ALASTAIR V. CAMPBELL

BODY STUDIES
NIALL RICHARDSON AND ADAM LOCKS

BRITISH POLITICS
BILL JONES

BUDDHISM
CATHY CANTWELL

CAPITALISM
DAVID COATES

CHRISTIANITY
BRUCE CHILTON

THE CITY
KEVIN ARCHER

CONTEMPORARY LITERA TURE
SUMAN GUPTA

CRIMINAL LAW
JONATHAN HERRING

CRIMINOLOGY (SECOND EDITION)
SANDRA WALKLATE

DANCE STUDIES
JO BUTTERWORTH

EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
VICTORIA S. HARRISON

ECONOMICS (THIRD EDITION)
TONY CLEAVER

EDUCA TION
KAY WOOD

ENERGY
MICHAEL SCHOBERT

EUROPEAN UNION (SECOND EDITION)
ALEX WARLEIGH-LACK

EVOLUTION
SHERRIE LYONS

FILM STUDIES (SECOND EDITION)
AMY VILLAREJO

FILM THEORY
KEVIN MCDONALD

FINANCE (THIRD EDITION)
ERIK BANKS

FOOD ETHICS
RONALD SANDLER

FREE WILL
MEGHAN GRIFFITH

GENDER
HILARY LIPS

GENOCIDE
PAUL R. BARTROP

GLOBAL MIGRATION
BERNADETTE HANLON AND THOMAS VICINIO

GREEK HISTORY
ROBIN OSBORNE

HUMAN GENETICS
RICKI LEWIS

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
ANDREW JONES

INTERNA TIONAL RELA TIONS
PETER SUTCH AND JUANITA ELIAS

ISLAM (SECOND EDITION)
COLIN TURNER

JOURNALISM STUDIES
MARTIN CONBOY

JUDAISM
JACOB NEUSNER

LANGUAGE (SECOND EDITION)
R. L. TRASK

LAW
GARY SLAPPER AND DAVID KELLY

LITERARY ANALYSIS
CELENA KUSCH

LITERARY THEORY (THIRD EDITION)
HANS BERTENS

LOGIC
JC BEALL

MANAGEMENT
MORGEN WITZEL

MARKETING (SECOND EDITION)
KARL MOORE AND NIKETH PAREEK

MEDIA STUDIES
JULIAN MCDOUGALL

METAPHYSICS
MICHAEL REA

NARRATIVE
RONWEN THOMAS

THE OLYMPICS
ANDY MIAH AND BEATRIZ GARCIA

PHILOSOPHY (FIFTH EDITION)
NIGEL WARBURTON

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
JOSEPH HOLDEN

POETRY (THIRD EDITION)
JEFFREY WAINWRIGHT

POLITICS (FIFTH EDITION)
STEPHEN TANSEY AND NIGEL JACKSON

PUBLIC RELATIONS
RON SMITH

THE QURAN (SECOND EDITION)
MASSIMO CAMPANINI

RACE AND ETHNICITY
PETER KIVISTO AND PAUL R. CROLL

RELIGION (SECOND EDITION)
MALORY NYE

RELIGION AND SCIENCE
PHILIP CLAYTON

RESEARCH METHODS
NICHOLAS WALLIMAN

ROMAN CATHOLICISM (SECOND EDITION)
MICHAEL WALSH

SEMIOTICS (SECOND EDITION)
DANIEL CHANDLER

SHAKESPEARE (THIRD EDITION)
SEAN MCEVOY

SOCIAL WORK
MARK DOEL

SOCIOLOGY (SECOND EDITION)
KEN PLUMMER

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY (SECOND EDITION)
JANICE WEARMOUTH

SPORT MANAGEMENT
ROBERT WILSON AND MARK PIEKARZ

SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
DAVID TOD

STANISLAVSKI
ROSE WHYMAN

SUBCULTURES
ROSS HAENFLER

SUSTAINABILITY
PETER JACQUES

TELEVISION STUDIES
TOBY MILLER

TERRORISM
JAMES LUTZ AND BRENDA LUTZ

THEATRE STUDIES (SECOND EDITION)
ROBERT LEACH

WOMENS STUDIES
BONNIE SMITH

WORLD HISTORY
PETER N. STEARNS

The Basics

Ken Plummer

First published in 2010
by Routledge

This second edition published in 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2010, 2016 Ken Plummer

The right of Ken Plummer to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Plummer, Kenneth, author.

Title: Sociology : the basics / Ken Plummer.

Description: 2 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2016. | Series: The basics | Revised edition of the author's Sociology, 2010. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015046127 | ISBN 9781138927445 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138927452 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315682594 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Sociology.

Classification: LCC HM585 .P58 2016 | DDC 301dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015046127

ISBN: 978-1-138-92744-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-92745-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-68259-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Aldine401 BT-RomanA
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

For all my students who taught me much

So these are the hauntings of social things.
Attuning to people and drenched with their presence,
We do things together. We move with the other
The living, the dead, the soon to arrive.
Sociality becoming the air that we breathe.

Our lifes social worlds, so stuffed with the possible.
Proliferating multiples and things on the move.
Yet, here we all dwell in the rituals we make;
The pounding of patterns to engulf and entrap us.
These worlds not of our making that haunt till we die.

The tiniest things and the grandest of horrors.
Inhumanities of people and generations at war;
Gendered classed races, sexy nations disabled;
Excluding, exploiting, dehumanizing the world.
The stratified hauntings of pain we endure.

Standing amazed at this chaos and complexity
We celebrate, critique and cry in our shame.