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| Preface | |
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| The Nature of Sociology | |
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| The Discipline of Sociology | |
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| What Is Sociology? | |
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| Sociology Is an Academic Discipline | |
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| Sociology Focuses on Our Social World | |
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| Sociology Asks Three Questions | |
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| Sociology Focuses on Five Topics | |
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| Sociology Is a Scientific Discipline | |
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| The Meaning of Sociology: A Summary | |
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| The Beginnings of Sociology | |
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| Science Was an Inspiration ... | |
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| And So Were the Problems of Industrialization ... | |
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| And the Need to Understand Revolution ... | |
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| As Well as Experiences with Other Peoples and Societies ... | |
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| And a Climate for New Ideas Arose | |
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| The Development of Sociology | |
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| Conclusion and Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Sociology as a Perspective: How Sociologists Think | |
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| Humans Are Social Beings | |
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| Humans Exist Within Social Patterns | |
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| Humans Are Socialized | |
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| Durkheim: The Study of Suicide | |
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| Durkheim's Theory | |
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| Durkheim's Evidence | |
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| Extending His Theory | |
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| Durkheim's Influence | |
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| Sociology: A Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Humans Are Embedded in Social Organization | |
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| Organization Begins with Social Action | |
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| Mutual Social Action Is Social Interaction | |
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| Social Organization Is Patterned Social Interaction | |
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| The Forms of Social Organization | |
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| Dyads Are Twos | |
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| Groups Are More | |
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| Formal Organizations Write Down Their Rules | |
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| Communities Are Self-Sufficient Units of Organization | |
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| Societies Are the Most Inclusive Form of Organization | |
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| Social Organization Seems to Sit Right on Top of US | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Social Structure | |
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| We All Fill Positions in Social Structure | |
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| Roles Are Attached to Positions | |
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| Roles Are Not as Simple as a Script in a Play | |
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| Status Positions Form Our Identities | |
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| Positions Are Unequal | |
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| Unequal Power | |
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| Unequal Prestige | |
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| Unequal Privileges | |
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| Our Positions Also Give Us Our Perspectives | |
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| Summary: The Meaning and Importance of Structure | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| The Nature of Social Organization | |
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| Inequality in Society | |
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| The Meaning of Social Class | |
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| Gender and Race | |
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| Class, Race, and Gender Structures Are Special Social Structures | |
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| Social Stratification Affects Placement in Other Social Organizations | |
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| The Origin of Social Stratification Systems | |
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| Social Mobility | |
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| Structural Change | |
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| Marx's View of Social Stratification | |
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| Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Culture | |
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| Culture Is a Shared Perspective on the World | |
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| Culture Is Learned | |
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| Culture Is a Social Inheritance | |
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| Culture Is a Body of "Truth" | |
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| Culture Is a Set of Values | |
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| Values Are Reflected in Action | |
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| There Is an American Value System, but It Is Complex and Often Inconsistent | |
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| Culture Is a Set of Goals | |
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| Culture Is a Set of Norms | |
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| Culture, Subculture, and Counterculture | |
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| Culture Is Important | |
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| The Real Significance of Culture: The Social Construction of Reality | |
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| Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Social Institutions | |
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| Institutions Are Social Patterns | |
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| Social Institutions Are the Most Central Grooves in Society | |
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| Institutions Are the Central Ways a Society Functions and Solves Its Ongoing Problems | |
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| Institutions Are Widely Accepted and Deeply Entrenched | |
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| Social Institutions Are Real Forces Working on Actors | |
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| The Meaning of Institutions: A Summary | |
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| Institutions Are Important | |
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| Institutionalization and Deinstitutionalization | |
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| The Rejection of Social Institutions | |
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| Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Organizations, Societies, and Globalization | |
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| Social Organizations Influence Each Other | |
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| Society in the World Order | |
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| Karl Marx: A Future Worldwide Capitalist Order | |
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| Immanuel Wallerstein: Core Societies, Semi-Peripheral Societies, and Peripheral Societies | |
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| Globalization in the Twenty-First Century: Economic, Political, and Cultural | |
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| The Meaning of Globalization | |
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| Economic Globalization | |
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| Cultural Globalization | |
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| Political Globalization | |
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| The Criticisms of Globalization | |
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| Conclusion and Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Order and Power in Social Organization | |
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| Social Order, Social Control, and Social Deviance | |
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| Social Order Is Established Through Structure and Culture | |
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| Social Order Depends on Working Institutions | |
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| Social Order Depends on Socialization | |
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| Loyalty to the Organization Is the Fifth Foundation for Social Order | |
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| Social Controls Contribute to Social Order | |
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| Social Deviance | |
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| Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Social Power | |
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| The Meaning of Social Power | |
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| Three Definitions of Power | |
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| Resources and Social Power | |
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| Influence, Control, and Powerlessness | |
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| Authority | |
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| The Inevitability of Inequality in Organization | |
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| Class Position and Power | |
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| Organization as Power | |
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| Three Theories of Power | |
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| Pluralism | |
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| The Power Elite | |
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| The Corporate Elite | |
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| Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| The Dynamic Nature of Human Social Life | |
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| Symbols, Self, and Mind: Our Active Nature | |
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| Individuality and Freedom | |
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| How Can We Explain Individuality? | |
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| The Origin of Human Freedom | |
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| Human Beings Are Symbol Users | |
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| The Meaning of Symbols | |
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| The Importance of Symbols | |
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| Symbols and Freedom | |
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| We Possess Self and Mind | |
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| Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Social Change | |
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| Individual Change and Social Change | |
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| Acts of Individuals and Groups Change Organization | |
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| Social Conflict Changes Organization | |
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| External Social Organizations and Environments Change Social Organization | |
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| Technology Changes Social Organization | |
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| Changes in Population Change Social Organization | |
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| Change in Social Patterns Causes Change in Other Social Patterns | |
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| Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| The Family in Society | |
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| The Importance of the Family to Sociology | |
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| Meaning of the Family | |
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| Is the Family Universal? | |
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| Why Is Definition Difficult? | |
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| The Family: A Primary Group in a Household | |
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| The Family: The Socialization Function | |
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| The Family: Economic and Social Functions | |
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| The Family: The Social Class Placement Function | |
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| The Family: The Expressive Function | |
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| The Meaning of the Family: A Summary | |
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| Marriage as an Institution | |
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| The Changing Structure of Marriage | |
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| Marital Satisfaction | |
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| Divorce | |
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| Children and Socialization in the Family | |
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| Individual Choice and the Changing Family | |
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| Summary | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Religion, Society, and the Individual | |
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| The Industrial Revolution: Religion and the Beginning of Sociology | |
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| Auguste Comte (1798-1857): The Death of the Sacred | |
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| Ferdinand Toennies (1855-1936): Religion and Community | |
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| Karl Marx (1818-1883): Religion as the Opiate of the Masses | |
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| Emile Durkheim (1858-1917): Meaning and Function of Religion | |
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| Religion and the Creation of the Sacred | |
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| Religion's Creation and Function Is Social | |
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| Religion Creates and Upholds the Morality of Society | |
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| Religion Is Important for the Individual | |
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| The Future of Society | |
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| Max Weber (1864-1920): Religion, the Rationalization of Life, and Social Change | |
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| The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: Religious Thought Influences Economic Action | |
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| Rationalization of Life and the Future of Religion | |
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| Charismatic Authority and the Role of Religion in Social Change | |
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| Weber: A Summary | |
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| The Heritage of Sociology from the Early Sociologists: Conclusion | |
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| The Study of Religion in the Late-Modern World | |
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| Secularization: Is Religion Becoming Less Important Today? | |
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| The Role of Fundamentalism | |
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| Organized Religion and Individual Spirituality | |
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| Summary: The Sociology of Religion | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| References | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| The Meaning and Uses of Sociology | |
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| The Uses of Sociology | |
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| Questions to Consider | |
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| Reference | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Index | |