This book argues that the foundations of sociology - key concepts which are necessary to all sociology, from whatever perspective - have become taken-for-granted and require re-assessment. Focusing on society, culture, the individual, and collectivity, the author builds a powerful case for an overhaul of these basic concepts, offering a unified model of the subject matter of sociology as 'the human world' - understood as individual, interactional and institutional orders - which is part of the 'natural world'. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this is a powerful restatement of the value of sociological sense as a necessary critique of common sense, and its relevance to an audience far beyond academia.

RICHARD JENKINS is Professor of Sociology at the University of Sheffield. He has done field research in Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Denmark. His previous books include Lads, Citizens and Ordinary Kids (1983), Racism and Recruitment (1986), Pierre Bourdieu (1992), Social Identity (1996) and Rethinking Ethnicity (1997).