Introduction to Sociology 3e

Social analysis connects individual experience to relationships, institutions and patterned circumstances.

How to study this source

• How does a social explanation differ from a personal one?

  coreSections 1.1–1.3

  Social analysis connects individual experience to relationships, institutions and patterned circumstances.

• How can we describe a practice without assuming its meaning?

  coreChapter 3, Culture; compare definitions, examples and research cautions

  Observation and interpretation are separate stages of a social inquiry.

• How can an institution reproduce inequality?

  coreChapters on social stratification and race; choose one explanation and its supporting example

  Repeated rules and resource differences can sustain unequal outcomes without identical intentions.

Ideas and questions

Read background definitions when a term blocks the argument. Then return to the source and reconstruct its claim in your own words.

Read alongside, read against