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Sociology has developed as a discipline in which we set aside our personal view of the world in order to look more carefully at the influences that shape our lives and those of others. Sociology emerged as a distinct intellectual endeavour with the development of modern societies, and the study of such societies remains a central concern. However, in an increasingly interconnected global world, sociologists must take a similarly global view of their subject matter if they are properly to understand and explain it. During the founding period of sociology, society’s central problems included social class conflict, wealth distribution, the alleviation of poverty, and the question of where the process of modernization was headed.

In the contemporary period most of these issues remain, but it may be argued that sociology’s central problems are shifting. Today there are also other issues such as rapid globalization, international terrorism, health pandemics, environmental damage, global risks with potentially grave consequences, multiculturalism and gender inequality. This means that sociologists have to question whether the theories designed to grasp problems of an earlier period still have any purchase on the new issues of today. If not, then we will need to design new theories that are better able to perceive what Karl Mannheim once called ‘the secret of these new times’. The ongoing debate about the status and continuing relevance of the classical sociological theories runs throughout this book.

Sociology is not just an abstract intellectual field but has practical implications for people’s lives, and learning to become a sociologist should not be a dull or tedious endeavour. The best way to make sure it does not become so is to approach the subject in an imaginative way and to relate sociological ideas and findings to situations in your own life. In that way, you should learn important things about yourself as well as better understanding social life, societies and the wider human world.