The current volume is for the students of sociology and related disciplines. It provides an exposition as well as an important critique of the present situation in the field of sociology. This is simply the best and most comprehensive introductory text currently available. All of the chapters are written in a clear and cogent style, but also manage to initiate the reader into debates in a complex character. This book will deservedly become the standard introduction to sociology in numerous colleges and universities. The book is accessible in its style and content to students with no previous grounding in the area of sociology, whether they first approach the discipline, as undergraduates, or as someone meeting sociology as a component of vocationally orientated courses in social work, management, law, and civil service examinations. About the Author J.P. Singh holds a PhD from the Australian National University, Canberra. He had advance training in the Population Studies and Economics at the ISS, Hague (the Netherlands), and twice attended Summer Training Programme at Institute of Population, East-West Center of University of Hawaii (USA). He has worked as a Professor of Sociology, Additional Director of Population Research Center (sponsored by MoHFW, Government of India) and a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Patna University, Patna. He has also worked as Director (Higher Education), Government of Bihar. He has published more than hundred research papers and book reviews in professional journals from India and abroad, and set a record of publishing forty books in the field of demography, sociology, indology and gender studies. A Comprehensive Dictionary of Sociology (2 vols.); Contemporary Sociological Theories; Mapping India’s Population; Sociology of Family and Western Social Thinkers are some of his notable contributions.
