Making a Difference: Using Sociology to Create a Better World

Making a Difference begins with the question that many sociology students often ask: Sociology tells us what's wrong with society, but what does sociology say we should do about it? Michael Schwalbe answers this question by drawing on sociology's methods, findings, and distinct ways of looking at social life. Schwalbe shows readers how social change can be accomplished by taking a sociologically mindful approach to a range of ordinary actions, such as listening, researching, writing, organizing, empathizing, advocating, conserving, teaching, dissenting, and imagining. Readers who have ever wondered how to use sociology to make the world a better place will find concrete answers and advice in Making a Difference.

Michael Schwalbe is Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University. He is the author of several books, including The Sociologically Examined Life: Pieces of the Conversation, Fifth Edition (OUP, 2017), and Rigging the Game: How Inequality Is Reproduced in Everyday Life, Second Edition (OUP, 2008).