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Thinking Sociologically cover

Sociology

Sociology

Thinking Sociologically

Zygmunt Bauman and Tim May

An accessible introduction to the sociological imagination that connects everyday choices with institutions, relationships, power, and social change.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
sociological imaginationeveryday lifeinstitutionspowersocial structureagency

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Bauman, Z., & May, T. (2019). Thinking Sociologically (3rd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Chapter Summary

The third edition is a short book of about 220 pages: an introduction, ten chapters grouped in three parts, a closing section of questions for reflection and further reading, and an index. The publisher presents it as an exploration of the underlying assumptions and tacit expectations that structure our view of the world, with application to everyday life. The authors are Zygmunt Bauman (1925–2017) and Tim May, Professor of Social Science Methodology at the University of Sheffield. The publisher says the world has changed a great deal since the second edition: climate change, sustainability, inequality, social justice, inclusion and the role of social media have risen to prominence, and ways of thinking about intimacy, community, consumption, ethics and social identity are being challenged. The new edition is revised to reflect these transformations. The book has been translated into twelve languages.

Introduction: Crafting Sociological Lenses

The opening section sets out what it means to think sociologically and introduces the idea of sociological "lenses" that the later chapters apply to familiar topics.

Part I, Chapters 1–3: Understanding Ourselves with and through Others; Sustaining Our Lives; Social Bonds: Speaking of "You" and "We"

Part I, "Action and Understanding in Everyday Life," starts from the individual's everyday position: how a person understands themselves through and with other people, how lives are sustained from day to day, and the bonds that make "you" and "we" possible. These chapters set the book's opening questions about self and togetherness.

Part II, Chapters 4–6: Values, Power, and Choice; Gifts, Exchange, and Intimacy; Body, Sexuality, and Health

Part II, "Choices, Contexts, and Challenges," turns to conduct and relationships. Chapter 4 takes up values, power and choice; Chapter 5 gifts, exchange and intimacy in relationships; Chapter 6 the body, sexuality and health.

Part II, Chapters 7–9: Space, Time, and Social Dynamics; Culture, Nature, and Territory; Consumption, Technology, and Lifestyle

These chapters move to wider frames of social life: space, time and social dynamics; the relations among culture, nature and territory; and consumption, technology and lifestyle.

Part III, Chapter 10: Sociological Lenses: Retrospect and Prospect

The final chapter looks back over the lenses the book has developed and forward to their use, and works as the book's conclusion. It is followed by "Questions for Reflection and Further Reading."

Key Concepts

Introduction and Part I

  • Sociological lenses: the organising image of the introduction and of the closing chapter.
  • Selfhood with and through others: the theme of Chapter 1.
  • Social bonds ("you" and "we"): Chapter 3's title points to the bonds that unite people into groups.

Part II

  • Values, power and choice: named together in the title of Chapter 4.
  • Gifts, exchange and intimacy: Chapter 5's lens on relationships.
  • The body, sexuality and health: Chapter 6's subjects.
  • Space, time, culture, nature and territory: Chapters 7 and 8's organising terms.
  • Consumption, technology and lifestyle: Chapter 9's everyday-life topics.

Part III

  • Retrospect and prospect: the closing chapter's reflection on what thinking sociologically offers.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • Organised by everyday topics. Each chapter takes a familiar area of life (relationships, the body, consumption) and approaches it sociologically, making the book a way into sociological thinking for readers who have not yet met theory by name.
  • Short and self-contained. At about 220 pages with ten chapters, it can be read straight through in a few sittings, and the final chapter pulls the argument together.
  • Updated for current issues. The publisher describes this edition as revised for climate change, sustainability, inequality, social justice, inclusion and social media, and as applying sociology to everyday life in the context of current issues.
  • Aimed at a wide readership. The publisher presents the book as written for undergraduates, postgraduates and practising sociologists and as holding broad appeal for a general audience; it also lists contributions from major theorists that introduce central concepts.
  • Study support. A closing section collects questions for reflection and further reading.

Limitations

  • Not a survey of the discipline. The chapter titles show no chapters on classical theorists, research methods or the major institutions. A student who needs those must pair the book with a textbook.
  • Different from the 2001 edition. Chapter titles and arrangement changed in the third edition (the second edition has ten chapters with different titles), so notes made from one edition do not match the other.
  • Compact treatment of large topics. With ten chapters in about 220 pages, topics such as consumption or the body are introduced rather than developed in depth.

Where It Fits in the Course

In the introductory sociology list, this is a short, reflective introduction to the sociological way of looking at ordinary life. It sits between Mills's The Sociological Imagination, a concise argument about the discipline's task, and the comprehensive textbooks: OpenStax's Introduction to Sociology 3e, an openly licensed survey for a first course, and Giddens and Sutton's Sociology, a broad introduction covering classical theory, methods, institutions, inequality and globalisation.

Read it before or alongside one of those textbooks for the orientation it gives, and then use the textbook for coverage of theory and methods. Joas and Knöbl's Social Theory: Twenty Introductory Lectures and Bourdieu and Wacquant's An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology are the more demanding books on the list and make a natural step after this one.

How to Use This Book

The book suits first-year students, and general readers, who want to see how sociologists think about familiar topics before studying the discipline's theories. No prior sociology is required.

  • Core: the introduction and Chapters 1–3 for the framing, then Chapter 10 for the conclusion.
  • Choose by interest: Chapters 4–9 are topic chapters. Read the ones closest to your course, such as Chapter 8 on culture, nature and territory or Chapter 9 on consumption, and skim the rest.
  • Alongside: after each chapter, write a short note on a situation from your own experience and say which of its features are individual choices and which are shaped by social arrangements.
  • Questions: use the closing questions for reflection and further reading to pick the next book to read.
  • Pairing: read Chapter 1 of Mills's The Sociological Imagination next to Chapters 1–2 of this book and compare how each connects personal experience to wider social arrangements; the comparison shows the difference between a programmatic essay and an introduction organised around everyday topics.