Includes index.

Content: The field of sociology: The sociological imagination -- Is sociology important? the need for a critical understanding of society -- Society in Canada -- Foundations of society -- Interaction and socialization : The glass ceiling -- Kids as customers -- Canadian and American culture -- Biology as ideology -- Social structure : Pathology of imprisonment -- Egoistic suicide -- Social inequality / Class and gender inequality : Poverty in Canada -- Gender,class, and post industrialism in Canada,Scandinavian,and the United state -- The class language of clothes -- Ethnic and racial inequality : Ethnic heroes and racial villains -- The victimization of racial minorities in Canada -- Public opinion on aboriginal rights -- Multiculturalism or vertical mosaic: occupational stratification among Canadian ethnic groups -- Social institutions:families -- What is a family? the homosexual challenge -- The social context of medicalized childbirth -- Violence against women -- Politics and social movements: Canadian elections and the limits of brokerage politics -- French Quebec,the quiet revolution,and after:Glories and miseries of four utopias -- Affluence,power,and strikes in Canada,1973-2000 -- Promotional ism and sub politics: Nike and its labour critics -- The economy and work : The McDonaldization thesis: is expansion inevitable? -- Work and society:Canada in continental Context -- Deviance and crime: Violence,sex,and drugs among Canadian teenagers -- The selective control of drugs -- Corporate crime -- Race and crime: A critique -- Global development and the environment: Industrial pollution in Canada -- More than 100 million women are missing -- The state and progress of human development.