Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-402) and index

Introduction: a way of looking -- Approaches: View from the fourteenth floor ; The individual and the social ; Knowing the place for the first time ; Disaster at Buffalo Creek -- Beginnings: Human origins ; Discovering the social ; Coming to terms with social life ; The journey of Piotr and Kasia Walkowiak -- Places: Village ; City ; Worlds beyond ; It seemed like the whole bay died -- Processes: Becoming a person ; Creating divisions ; Becoming a people ; War comes to Pakrac -- Postcripts

The culmination of a distinguished career, this exhilarating book offers an invitation to see the world with a sociologist's eye. Eminent sociologist Kai Erikson describes the field of sociology as a way of looking at the world rather than a simple gathering of facts. He notes that sociologists approach the same human scenes as poets, historians, economists, and other observers of our social landscape with emphasis on distinct aspects of that vast panorama. An animated, accessible volume, this book considers how sociology became a field of study and how the field has shifted over time, and articulates the particular perspective through which sociologists explore human social life. Erikson offers not only basic tools for understanding human culture and social interaction but also profound insight into what it means to interpret the world through a sociological lens. -- from dust jacket