ABSTRACT
I wrote a version of ‘Rules for reading and writing sociology’ some years ago in order to provide a common body of knowledge for students who had varying backgrounds in sociology. Students have found it useful in directing both their reading and writing. I have included it here to serve the same function, as well as to provide one theoretical and methodological framework within which to consider the materials in this book and to give guidance to those unfamiliar with sociology. Readers will find that the rules I set forth are followed more closely by the authors whose works comprise this book than they are by sociologists in general.
