hat is fun? How is it distinct from happiness or pleasure? How do we know when we are having it? This book is the first to provide a comprehensive sociological account of this taken for granted social phenomenon. Fincham investigates areas such as our memories of fun in childhood, the fun we have as adults, our muted experiences of fun at work and our lived experiences of having fun. Using first-hand accounts and a new approach to interpreting fun, the paradox of fun as not serious or unimportant whilst at the same time essential for a happy life is exposed. Addressing questions of control, transgression and the primacy of social relationships in fun, The Sociology of Fun is intended to provoke discussion about how we want to have fun and who determines the fun we have.

Learn about how we organize our society in The Sociology Book. Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Sociology in this overview guide to the subject, great for beginners looking to learn and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Sociology Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in. This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Sociology, with: - More than 80 ideas from the world's most renowned sociologists - Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts - A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout - Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding The Sociology Book is the perfect introduction to a range of societal issues, ranging from government and gender identity to inequalities and globalization, aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you'll find biographies of key sociologists and social activists that give a historical context to each idea. Your Sociology Questions, Simply Explained This book explores the similar issues that affect us all; the tension between the needs of the individual and society, the changing workplace, and the role of everything from government to mass culture in our lives. If you thought it was difficult to learn about social theory, The Sociology Book presents key information in a clear layout. Learn about issues of equality, diversity, identity, and human rights; the role of institutions; and the rise of urban living in modern society, with fantastic mind maps and step-by-step summaries. The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Sociology Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.

The study of every unit of social organization must eventually lead to an analysis of the interaction of its elements. The analytical distinction between units of organization and processes of interaction is, therefore, not destined to divide up our work for us. A division of labor seems more likely to come from distinguishing among types of units, among types of elements, or among types of processes. Sociologists have traditionally studied face-to-face interaction as part of the area of “collective behavior”; the units of social organization involved are those that can form by virtue of a breakdown in ordinary social intercourse: crowds, mobs, panics, riots. The other aspect of the problem of face-to-face interaction—the units of organization in which orderly and uneventful face-to-face interaction occurs—has been neglected until recently, although there is some early work on classroom interaction, topics of conversation, committee meetings, and public assemblies. Instead of dividing face-to-face interaction into the eventful and the routine, I propose a different division—into unfocused interaction and focused interaction. Unfocused interaction consists of those interpersonal communications that result solely by virtue of persons being in one another’s presence, as when two strangers across the room from each other check up on each other’s clothing, posture, and general manner, while each modifies his own demeanor because he himself is under observation. Focused interaction occurs when people effectively agree to sustain for a time a single focus of cognitive and visual attention, as in a conversation, a board game, or a joint task sustained by a close face-to-face circle of contributors. Those sustaining together a single focus of attention will, of course, engage one another in unfocused interaction, too. They will not do so in their capacity as participants in the focused activity, however, and persons present who are not in the focused activity will equally participate in this unfocused interaction. The two papers in this volume are concerned with focused interaction only. I call the natural unit of social organization in which focused interaction occurs a focused gathering, or an encounter, or a situated activity system. I assume that instances of this natural unit have enough in common to make it worthwhile to study them as a type. Three different terms are used out of desperation rather than by design; as will be suggested, each of the three in its own way is unsatisfactory, and each is satisfactory in a way that the others are not. The two essays deal from different points of view with this single unit of social organization. The first paper, “Fun in Games,” approaches focused gatherings from an examination of the kind of games that are played around a table. The second paper, “Role Distance,” approaches focused gatherings through a review and criticism of social-role analysis. The study of focused gatherings has been greatly stimulated recently by the study of group psychotherapy and especially by “small-group analysis.” I feel, however, that full use of this work is impeded by a current tendency to identify focused gatherings too easily with social groups. A small but interesting area of study is thus obscured by the biggest title, “social group,” that can be found for it.

Essays by popular children's authors reveal the books that shaped their personal and literary lives, explaining how the stories they loved influenced them creatively, politically, and intellectually.

In this book, Jonathan H. Turner combines sociology, evolutionary biology, cladistic analysis from biology, and comparative neuroanatomy to examine human nature as inherited from common ancestors shared by humans and present-day great apes. Selection pressures altered this inherited legacy for the ancestors of humans—termed hominins for being bipedal—and forced greater organization than extant great apes when the hominins moved into open-country terrestrial habitats. The effects of these selection pressures increased hominin ancestors’ emotional capacities through greater social and group orientation. This shift, in turn, enabled further selection for a larger brain, articulated speech, and culture along the human line. Turner elaborates human nature as a series of overlapping complexes that are the outcome of the inherited legacy of great apes being fed through the transforming effects of a larger brain, speech, and culture. These complexes, he shows, can be understood as the cognitive complex, the psychological complex, the emotions complex, the interaction complex, and the community complex.

This book explores the possibility of drawing upon a punk ethos to inspire and invigorate sociology. It uses punk to think creatively about what sociology is and how it might be conducted and aims to fire the sociological imaginations of sociologists at any stage of their careers, from new students to established professors.

American Cultural Sociology presents a serious challenge to British Cultural Studies and European grand theory alike. This exciting volume brings together sixteen seminal papers by leading figures in what is emerging as an important intellectual tradition. It places them in the context of related work in Sociology and other disciplines, exploring the connections between cultural sociology and different approaches, such as comparative and historical research, postmodernism, and symbolic interactionism. The book is divided into three sections: Culture as Text and Code, The Production and Reception of Culture, and Culture in Action. Each section contains edited contributions, both theoretical and empirical, addressing the key debates in cultural sociology, including the autonomy of culture, power and culture, structure and agency and how to conceptualise meaning.

Thousands of books have examined the effects of parents on their children. In All Joy and No Fun, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior now asks: what are the effects of children on their parents? In All Joy and No Fun, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior tries to tackle this question, isolating and analyzing the many ways in which children reshape their parents' lives, whether it's their marriages, their jobs, their habits, their hobbies, their friendships, or their internal senses of self. She argues that changes in the last half century have radically altered the roles of today's mothers and fathers, making their mandates at once more complex and far less clear. Recruiting from a wide variety of sources—in history, sociology, economics, psychology, philosophy, and anthropology—she dissects both the timeless strains of parenting and the ones that are brand new, and then brings her research to life in the homes of ordinary parents around the country. The result is an unforgettable series of family portraits, starting with parents of young children and progressing to parents of teens. Through lively and accessible storytelling, Senior follows these mothers and fathers as they wrestle with some of parenthood's deepest vexations—and luxuriate in some of its finest rewards. Meticulously researched yet imbued with emotional intelligence, All Joy and No Fun makes us reconsider some of our culture's most basic beliefs about parenthood, all while illuminating the profound ways children deepen and add purpose to our lives. By focusing on parenthood, rather than parenting, the book is original and essential reading for mothers and fathers of today—and tomorrow.

..".[This is] the kind of book that inspires and invites change... the 'tipping point' that students need to become more aware, involved, and engaged in their schools, communities and societies." -Jennifer Klein, DePaul UniversityThis Second Edition of The Engaged Sociologist: Connecting the Classroom to the Community brings the public sociology movement into the classroom by showing students how to use the tools of sociology to become effective participants in our democratic society. Through exercises and projects, authors Kathleen Korgen and Jonathan M. White encourage students to apply these tools to get hands-on training in sociology and to develop their sociological imaginations as they work for a more just and civil society. *10% of the proceeds from this book will be donated to Free the Children*New and Retained Features *new* Updated and additional exercises and projects, including more global activities, allow students to connect the sociological knowledge they are learning to their campus and the larger community. Each chapter contains both hands-on data collection exercises (surveys, interviews, observations) and library-based research. *new* Increased connection to theory helps students see how their practical efforts are grounded in sociological research and theory. *new* Enhanced "Sociologist in Action" sections include powerful examples of how sociology students and professional sociologists use sociology in efforts to improve society. More examples of student "Sociologists in Action" have been added to this edition. *new* More material on the environment, including expanded discussions of Hurricane Katrina and its outcomes as well as of global warming, provides more coverage of a hot-button topic of concern to many students, engaging their interest and encouraging them to act to improve environmental issues. Discussion questions challenge students to ponder and converse about what they've learned and to use their sociological imagination to relate the issues covered in each chapter to their individual lives. Ancillaries - *new* Instructors' Resources on CD-Rom, featuring a test bank, are available to qualified instructors by contacting Customer Care at 1-800-818-SAGE (7243) between 6 am - 5 pm, PST. - *new* A new student study site at www.pineforge.com/korgen2study features Web addresses that link to helpful organizations; additional exercises for several chapters; a survey, a scoring sheet, and interview guidelines for the last chapter; and resources for job and volunteer opportunities. Intended Audience: This is an ideal supplement or affordable, brief stand-alone, core text for courses in which the instructor wishes to include a public sociology component, particularly Introduction to Sociology, Principles of Sociology, Social Problems, or Applied Sociology. "The Engaged Sociologist will help students connect their own lives to the larger society, as they learn about the 'sociological imagination' and the power it has to positively affect the community."-SirReadaLot.org