With contributions from leading scholars and a provocative collection of discussion topics and group activities, this innovative series provides an accessible and affordable entry point for strong sociological perspectives on topics of immediate social import and public relevance.

The fifth volume in The Society Pages series deals with culture, broadly and ecumenically defined. The chapters are organized in three main sections: "Cultural Sociology" provides a sampling of the unique subjects, materials, and methods that define the sociological approach to culture from four of the hottest, most up-and-coming scholars in the field. In "Sociological Critique," chapters illustrate distinctively sociological interpretations of cultural phenomena, ranging from images of beauty and conceptions of the body to festivals celebrating comic books and fringe art. Finally, "Culture as Ways of Life" describes and analyzes unique subcultural communities whose significance and mere existence are easy to miss or misunderstand.