A lively, accessible and comprehensive introduction to the diverse ways of thinking about social life. The reader is encouraged to think critically about the structures, meanings, histories and cultures found in the rapidly changing world we live in. With tasks to stimulate the sociological mind and suggestions for further reading both within the text and on an accompanying website, this book is essential reading for all those studying sociology and those with an interest in how the modern world works.;Social hauntings -- Preface: welcome to the social maze -- Imaginations : acting in a world i never made -- Theory : thinking the social -- Societies : living in the twenty first century -- History : standing on the shoulders of giants -- Problems : puzzling some key questions of sociological analysis -- Research : critically engaging with the empirical -- Trouble : suffering inequalities at the intersections of social divisions -- Visions : creating sociological hope -- Conclusion: the sociological imagination -- Appendix: epigrammatic sociology -- Glossary -- Digital sociology: a short guide -- References -- Index.