Choices and Chances: Sociology for Everyday Life

Providing a brief introduction to sociology, this work encourages students to think seriously about the choices they will face in education, career, marriage, parenthood, and other important aspects of life. Popular ideology argues that people can - and should - get what they want from life, but the research highlighted in this book indicates that most people do not get what they want, and settle instead for what they can get. How choices are shaped and limited by the actions of others underlies the authors' explanation of social structure and sociology - the systemic study of social relations.