The Blackwell Companion to Sociology is a milestone collection of new essays by renowned sociologists, covering both the traditions and strengths of the field as well as newer developments and directions. Authors from the US, the UK, Europe and elsewhere have contributed to this all-in-one reference work, highlighting the relevance of interdisciplinary and international perspectives, while at the same time representing the scope and quality of sociology in its current form.

Judith R. Blau is Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and President of the US chapter of Sociologists without Borders, an international NGO. She is the author of Architects and Firms (1984), The Shape of Culture (1989), and Social Contracts and Economic Markets (1993), and Race in the Schools (2003), and has published articles on organizations, networks, economic inequalities, crime, sociology of science, urban sociology, historical sociology, medical sociology, and sociology of education.