21st Century Sociology: A Reference Handbook

The field of sociological inquiry is multi-faceted in perspective, and does subsume a variety of specialty interests, as a result the literature in this discipline has developed and proliferated in a near exponential fashion. Sociology, today, has become so specialty driven in its research and theory agenda that the result is an enormous and complex body of sociological knowledge that is often considered to be unwieldy.

21st Century Sociology provides, in two volumes, a concise forum through which the vast array of knowledge accumulated, particularly during the past three decades, can be organized into a definitive resource.

21st Century Sociology focus on the corpus of knowledge garnered in traditional areas of sociological inquiry, as well as documenting the general orientation of the newer and currently emerging areas of sociological inquiry.

Key features include:

- a timely and comprehensive assessment of the 100+ specialty fields of sociology with contributions by leading international authorities in their area of expertise;

- an examination of the four distinct phases of development in the history of sociological inquiry: a period of theoretical development; the emphasis on methodological development and refinement; the phase of specialization; and a period that has taken representatives of the discipline into previously unexplored areas;

- discussion on the various traditional sub-fields of sociology such as: political sociology; educational sociology; rural sociology; criminology; occupational sociology; and minority relations, among others;

- an exploration of the important new, evolving sub-fields, such as: environmental sociology; sociology of sports and leisure; military sociology; medical sociology; the sociology of food and eating; and the sociology of emotions, among others;

- a discussion on the 'satellite' or 'peripheral' sub-disciplines, such as women's studies, black studies and gay and lesbian studies.

21st Century Sociology is the most comprehensive overview of modern sociology making it a 'must have' resource for any academic library.