Cover; Title; Copyright; CONTENTS IN BRIEF; CONTENTS; Preface: for Instructors; Preface: for Students; Acknowledgements; 1. A Day in the Life of Your Jeans: Using Our Stuff to Discover Sociology; 1. Introduction: Sociological Imagination and Global Blue Jeans; 2. How We Came to Be a Society of Shoppers; Sociology's Founders: Critical Commentators on Capitalist Relationships; Is Hello Kitty Slowly Taking Over the World?; 3. The Sociology of Stuff: The Chapters Ahead and Three Thinking Frames; The Evolution of Jeans Culture: A Material and Symbolic Story; Thinking Frame #1: Material/Cultural.
Thinking Frame #2: Structure/AgencyThinking Frame #3: Micro/Macro; Thinking Frames; Active Learning; PART I Surviving (and Thriving) in Consumer Culture; 2. You Are What You Eat: Culture, Norms, and Values; 1. Introduction: How Food is Sociological; 2. Theorizing Food; 2.1. Marx: Food as "Fetish"; 2.2. Durkheim: Food as Totem; 2.3. Feminism: Food as a Women's Issue; Sociologists in Action: Qualitative Interviewing; 3. Food Rules: Culture, Norms, and Deviance; 3.1. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism; 4. Food as a Sociological Research Topic; Thinking Frames; Active Learning.
3. Fast-Food Blues: Work in a Global Economy1. Introduction: Do You Want Fries with That?; 2. Working in a Global Food Economy; Sociologists in Action: Ethnography; 3. The Costs of Fast Food: McDonaldization and the Iron Cage; 4. Worker Resistance in the Fast-Food Industry; Thinking Frames; Active Learning; 4. Coffee: Class, Distinction, and "Good" Taste; 1. Introduction: Consuming the Perfect Coffee & 2. How Consumption Conveys Class and Status; Sociologists in Action: Survey Research; 3. Coffee Consumption and Social Status; Caffeine as an Acceptable Addiction.
4. The Paradox of the 4 CappuccinoThinking Frames; Active Learning; PART II Fitting in: Being Part of the Group; 5. Shopping Lessons: Consuming Social Order; 1. Introduction: Why Shopping Matters; 2. Shopping: A Brief History; Is the Mall Open to Everyone?; 3. Shopping Motivations and Values, Comparison and Choice; 4. Shopping, Social Order, and Solidarity; 4.1. A Durkheimian Approach to Social Order and Solidarity; 4.2. Consumer Culture and Social Solidarity: Bonding Through Brands; Sociologists in Action: Focus Groups; 4.3. Is Shopping a Social Problem?; Thinking Frames; Active Learning.
6. Get in the Game: Race, Merit, and Group Boundaries1. Introduction: Who Are You Rooting For?; 2. Sports Teams, Group Membership, and Boundary Work; 3. Athleticism and the Social Construction of Race; Sociologists in Action: Field Experiments; 4. Cheaters and Liars or Strategic Actors? Deviance in the World of Sport; 5. Sports as a Business: Constructing Popular Heroes; Thinking Frames; Active Learning; 7. Barbies and Monster Trucks: Socialization and "Doing Gender"; 1. Introduction: Is it "Natural" For Girls to Play with Dolls and Boys to Drive Toy Trucks?