Introducing Sociology Using the Stuff of Everyday Life

by Josee Johnston, Kate Cairns, Shyon Baumann

Overview

The challenges of teaching a successful introductory sociology course today demand materials very different from the norm. It is a question of making the practice of sociological thinking meaningful, rigorous, and relevant to today’s world of undergraduates.

This comparatively concise, highly visual, and engaging book offers a refreshingly new way forward to reach students, using one of the most powerful tools in a sociologist’s teaching arsenal – the familiar stuff in students’ everyday lives throughout the world: the jeans they wear to class, the coffee they drink each morning, or the phones their professors tell them to put away during lectures.

A focus on consumer culture, seeing the strange in the familiar, is not only interesting for students; it is also (the authors suggest) pedagogically superior to more traditional approaches. By engaging students through their stuff, this book moves beyond teaching about sociology to helping instructors teach the practice of sociological thinking. It moves beyond describing what sociology is so that students can practice what sociological thinking can do. This pedagogy also posits a relationship between teacher and learner that is bi-directional. Many students feel a sense of authority in various areas of consumer culture, and they often enjoy sharing their knowledge with fellow students and with their instructor. Opening up the sociology classroom to discussion of these topics validates students’ expertise on their own life-worlds. Teachers, in turn, gain insight from the goods, services, and cultural expectations that shape students’ lives.

While innovative, the book has been carefully crafted to make it as useful and flexible as possible for instructors aiming to build core sociological foundations in a single semester. A map on pages xix–xx identifies core sociological concepts covered so that a traditional syllabus as well as individual lectures can easily be maintained. Theory, method, and active learning exercises in every chapter constantly encourage the sociological imagination as well as the “doing” of sociology.

This new edition is thoroughly revised and updated, incorporating the latest research around material sociology, culture, and object-oriented studies. New teaching materials and illustrations are included. Online resources to support teaching and learning include:

• Videos, flashcards, quizzes, and further reading
• Instructor’s manual, PowerPoints, and test bank

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032479644
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/17/2025
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	612
Product dimensions:	7.38(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Josée Johnston is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. She is co-author of Happy Meat: The Sadness and Joy of a Paradoxical Idea and Food and Femininity.

Kate Cairns is a feminist sociologist of childhood and youth. She is co-author of Food and Femininity. 

Shyon Baumann is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. He is co-author of Foodies: Democracy and Distinction in the Gourmet Foodscape, second edition, and Happy Meat: The Sadness and Joy of a Paradoxical Idea.

Table of Contents

Preface: for Instructors
Preface: for Students
Acknowledgements

1. A Day in the Life of Your Jeans: Using Our Stuff to Discover Sociology

Part I: Surviving (and Thriving) in Consumer Culture

2. You are What You Eat: Culture, Norms, and Values
3. Fast-Food Blues: Work in a Global Economy
4. Coffee: Class, Distinction, and “Good” Taste

Part II: Fitting in: Being Part of the Group

5. Shopping Lessons: Consuming Social Order
6. Get in the Game: Race, Merit, and Group Boundaries
7. Barbies and Monster Trucks: Socialization and “Doing Gender”
8. Dreaming of a White Wedding: Marriage, Family, and Heteronormativity
9. I

Part III: Standing Out: Individuals Negotiating the Social World

10. Branding Your Unique Identity™: Consumer Culture And the Social Self
11. Looking Good: Ideology, Intersectionality, and the Beauty Industry
12. What’s on Your Playlist? Subcultures, Racism, and Cultural Appropriation
13. Our Love–Hate Relationship with the Car: Masculinity, Industry, and Environmental Sustainability

Appendix: Advertising and Society: An Overview of Sociological Methods

References
Glossary/Index

Editorial Reviews

“With a remarkable gift for storytelling, the authors show us how the things we use reflect the conflict between our private lives and the public issues structuring them. After reading this book, it will be impossible to see a marketing campaign or a PR event in quite the same way. I can’t wait to teach Introducing Sociology Using the Stuff of Everyday Life in my classroom!”

Frederick F. Wherry, The Townsend Martin Class of 1917 Professor of Sociology, Princeton University and Director of Debt Collection Lab

“One of the reasons I love this textbook, and students do too: it’s really applicable and up to date with their everyday lives. By using the objects of everyday life the book makes sociological topics accessible and easy to understand, and shows the applicability of methods and theory throughout – it shows students not only how to think but also how to practice sociology. I will definitely continue to use this book as long as I teach Introduction to Sociology.”

Meredith Katz, Associate Professor of Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University

From the Publisher