ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. According to the United Nations and human rights experts and activists, human rights are universal, interdependent, indivisible, inalienable, and promote equality regardless of context. Expanding the Human in Human Rights: Toward a Sociology of Human Rights focuses on the fundamental insights gleaned from the scholarship on groups in society for the study of, understanding of, and, ultimately, realization of human rights. The book examines the relationship of sociology and human rights with sex and gender, aging and the life course, mental health, racial and ethnic minorities, Asia and Asian America, Latina/o sociology, children and youth, race, class, and gender, sexualities, animals and society, and disability and society. They demonstrate crucial contributions the sociology of human rights can make to sister subdisciplines in sociology. A key feature of sociology is its ability to demonstrate how everyday tools and ideas are socially constructed, including human rights.
