This book offers a guide to sociology that explores its theoretical and methodological dimensions. Aiming to provide the reader with a sense of the reasoned character of the discipline, it traces how different theories and methods relate to one another, exploring the particular problems they spawn and the debates that have arisen in response.

JOHN HUGHES has published widely in the fields of political socialization, political sociology, and research methods.

Preface
Introduction: Sociology: Pluralism or Disarray?
PART 1: THE POSITIVIST PROJECT Building a Science of Sociology
Variable Analysis and Measurement
Interviews and Questions
The Social Survey and Multivariate Analysis
The Demise of Positivism
PART 2: THE QUALITATIVE TURN Introduction: The Contest Over Realism
The Method of Fieldwork
Explorations in Actor's Point of View
Data Collection versus Analysis
PART 3 The Refurbishing of Critical Sociology
Post-modernism, post-structuralism
Discourses and Research
Conclusion
Bibliography.