Written by Shamus Khan (Princeton University), Patrick Sharkey (Princeton University), and Gwen Sharp (Nevada State College) as part of the Third Edition of A Sociology Experiment. To read this chapter, add it to your cart, complete the checkout process, return to this page, and select “Read Now” to open the Bookshelf reader.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Define sociology as a discipline
• Discuss the concept of the sociological imagination; and
• Identify various key scholars in the early development of sociology.

Discussion Podcast

You can listen to this chapter’s accompanying discussion section podcast on Apple, Spotify, or our Spreaker page.