Sociology
Best Books, Education, History, Nonfiction

A Ranking Of The Best Sociology Books

“What are the best Sociology Books?” We looked at 467 of the top Sociology books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

Sociology is the latest scientific subject for us to cover. We have slowly built up a nice little backlog of other sciences, Statistics, EntomologyAstronomyPhysics, EvolutionBotanyQuantum Physics, and several more scientific areas.

The top 18 books, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Sociology” book lists, are below arranged by the number of times they appear. The remaining 400+ books, as well as the sources we used, can be found in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!



Top 18 Sociology Books



18 .) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • Goodreads
  • Goodreads 2

“Once we bowled in leagues, usually after work—but no longer. This seemingly small phenomenon symbolizes a significant social change that Robert Putnam has identified in this brilliant volume, which The Economist hailed as “a prodigious achievement.”

Drawing on vast new data that reveal Americans’ changing behavior, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from one another and how social structures—whether they be PTA, church, or political parties—have disintegrated. Until the publication of this groundbreaking work, no one had so deftly diagnosed the harm that these broken bonds have wreaked on our physical and civic health, nor had anyone exalted their fundamental power in creating a society that is happy, healthy, and safe. “

Purchase / Learn More



17 .) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson

Lists It Appears On:

  • List Muse
  • Goodreads
  • Goodreads 2

“The full magnitude of Benedict Anderson’s intellectual achievement is still being appreciated and debated. Imagined Communities remains the most influential book on the origins of nationalism, filling the vacuum that previously existed in the traditions of Western thought. Cited more often than any other single English-language work in the human sciences, it is read around the world in more than thirty translations.

Written with exemplary clarity, this illuminating study traces the emergence of community as an idea to South America, rather than to nineteenth-century Europe. Later, this sense of belonging was formed and reformulated at every level, from high politics to popular culture, through print, literature, maps and museums. Following the rise and conflict of nations and the decline of empires, Anderson draws on examples from South East Asia, Latin America and Europe’s recent past to show how nationalism shaped the modern world.”

Purchase / Learn More



16 .) Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason by Michel Foucault

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • Goodreads
  • Goodreads 2

Michel Foucault examines the archeology of madness in the West from 1500 to 1800 – from the late Middle Ages, when insanity was still considered part of everyday life and fools and lunatics walked the streets freely, to the time when such people began to be considered a threat, asylums were first built, and walls were erected between the “insane” and the rest of humanity.

Purchase / Learn More



15 .) Rules of the Sociological Method by Emile Durkheim

Lists It Appears On:

  • Social Science Careers
  • Goodreads 2
  • We Speak For Earth

“he Rules of Sociological Method represents Emile Durkheim’s manifesto for sociology. He argues forcefully for the objective, scientific, and methodological underpinnings of sociology as a discipline and establishes guiding principles for future research.

The substantial new introduction by leading Durkheim scholar Steven Lukes explains and sets into context Durkheim’s arguments. Lukes examines the still-controversial debates about The Rules of Sociological Method’s six chapters and explains their relevance to present-day sociology. The edition also includes Durkheim’s subsequent thoughts on method in the form of articles, debates with scholars from other disciplines, and letters. The original translation has been revised and reworked in order to make Durkheim’s arguments clearer and easier to read. “

Purchase / Learn More



14 .) Sociology by Anthony Giddens

Lists It Appears On:

  • Clear IAS
  • List Muse
  • Goodreads 2

Introduction to Sociology focuses only on what students need to know in order to master the sociological concepts taught in the introductory course. Each chapter in the Tenth Edition follows the same consistent four-part structure: First, the authors introduce the basic concepts before discussing sociological theory. They then turn their attention to current research and finally wrap up by exploring unanswered questions that face sociologists today. This consistent, thoughtful organization―coupled with learning objectives, Concept Checks, and Big Picture concept maps―keeps students focused on the core concepts. Now supported by InQuizitive, the Tenth Edition builds on the book’s long-standing strengths: emphasis on linking micro and macro sociology, coverage of the best recent research, and an exceptionally affordable price relative to other comprehensive texts.

Purchase / Learn More



13 .) Sociology: Themes And Perspectives by Michael Haralambos

Lists It Appears On:

  • Clear IAS
  • Nice IAS
  • Goodreads

The eighth edition of this essential resource covers new and completely up-to-date sociological teaching, with the latest research, empirical studies and theoretical developments, includes new Chapter ‘Development and Globalisation’.

Purchase / Learn More



12 .) Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity by Erving Goffman

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • The Society Pages
  • Goodreads 2

“Stigma is an illuminating excursion into the situation of persons who are unable to conform to standards that society calls normal. Disqualified from full social acceptance, they are stigmatized individuals. Physically deformed people, ex-mental patients, drug addicts, prostitutes, or those ostracized for other reasons must constantly strive to adjust to their precarious social identities. Their image of themselves must daily confront and be affronted by the image which others reflect back to them.

Drawing extensively on autobiographies and case studies, sociologist Erving Goffman analyzes the stigmatized person’s feelings about himself and his relationship to “normals” He explores the variety of strategies stigmatized individuals employ to deal with the rejection of others, and the complex sorts of information about themselves they project. In Stigma the interplay of alternatives the stigmatized individual must face every day is brilliantly examined by one of America’s leading social analysts.”

Purchase / Learn More



11 .) The Civilizing Process by Norbert Elias

Lists It Appears On:

  • ISA
  • List Muse
  • The Society Pages

The Civilizing Process stands out as Norbert Elias’ greatest work, tracing the “civilizing” of manners and personality in Western Europe since the late Middle Ages by demonstrating how the formation of states and the monopolization of power within them changed Western society forever.

Purchase / Learn More



10 .) The Lonely Crowd by David Riesman

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • List Muse
  • The Society Pages

The Lonely Crowd is considered by many to be the most influential book of the twentieth century. Its now-classic analysis of the “new middle class” in terms of inner-directed and other-directed social character opened exciting new dimensions in our understanding of the psychological, political, and economic problems that confront the individual in contemporary American society. The 1969 abridged and revised edition of the book is now reissued with a new foreword by Todd Gitlin that explains why the book is still relevant to our own era.

Purchase / Learn More



9 .) The Social Construction of Reality by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • ISA
  • List Muse

Called the “fifth-most important sociological book of the 20th century” by the International Sociological Association, this groundbreaking study of knowledge introduces the concept of “social construction” into the social sciences for the first time. In it, Berger and Luckmann reformulate the task of the sociological subdicipline that, since Max Scheler, has been known as the sociology of knowledge.

Purchase / Learn More



8 .) The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard G. Wilkinson; Kate Pickett

Lists It Appears On:

  • Real Sociology
  • List Muse
  • Goodreads 2

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone is the most influential and talked-about book on society in the last decade – now updated with a new chapter on the controversy the book has ignited. Why do we mistrust people more in the UK than in Japan? Why do Americans have higher rates of teenage pregnancy than the French? What makes the Swedish thinner than the Australians?

Purchase / Learn More



7 .) The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • Goodreads 2
  • Ranker

“In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.

This seemingly counterintuitive notion has endless and major ramifications for how businesses operate, how knowledge is advanced, how economies are (or should be) organized and how we live our daily lives. With seemingly boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, economic behaviorism, artificial intelligence, military history and political theory to show just how this principle operates in the real world.

Despite the sophistication of his arguments, Surowiecki presents them in a wonderfully entertaining manner. The examples he uses are all down-to-earth, surprising, and fun to ponder. Why is the line in which you’re standing always the longest? Why is it that you can buy a screw anywhere in the world and it will fit a bolt bought ten-thousand miles away? Why is network television so awful? If you had to meet someone in Paris on a specific day but had no way of contacting them, when and where would you meet? Why are there traffic jams? What’s the best way to win money on a game show? Why, when you walk into a convenience store at 2:00 A.M. to buy a quart of orange juice, is it there waiting for you? What do Hollywood mafia movies have to teach us about why corporations exist?”

Purchase / Learn More



6 .) Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology by Max Weber

Lists It Appears On:

  • Ranker
  • ISA
  • Social Science Careers
  • Goodreads 2

“Published posthumously in the early 1920’s, Max Weber’s Economy and Society has since become recognized as one of the greatest sociological treatises of the 20th century, as well as a foundational text of the modern sociological imagination.

The first strictly empirical comparison of social structures and normative orders conducted in world-historical depth, this two volume set of Economy and Society—now with new introductory material contextualizing Weber’s work for 21st century audiences—looks at social action, religion, law, bureaucracy, charisma, the city, and the political community.

Meant as a broad introduction for an educated general public, in its own way Economy and Society is the most demanding textbook yet written by a sociologist. The precision of its definitions, the complexity of its typologies, and the wealth of its historical content make the work an important challenge to our sociological thought: for the advanced undergraduate who gropes for her sense of society, for the graduate student who must develop his own analytical skills, and for the scholar who must match wits with Weber.”

Purchase / Learn More



5 .) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • ISA
  • List Muse
  • The Society Pages

Max Weber’s best-known and most controversial work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, first published in 1904, remains to this day a powerful and fascinating read. Weber’s highly accessible style is just one of many reasons for his continuing popularity. The book contends that the Protestant ethic made possible and encouraged the development of capitalism in the West. Widely considered as the most informed work ever written on the social effects of advanced capitalism, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism holds its own as one of the most significant books of the twentieth century. The book is one of those rare works of scholarship which no informed citizen can afford to ignore.

Purchase / Learn More



4 .) The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Depository
  • Book Depository
  • Social Science Careers
  • Goodreads 2

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

Purchase / Learn More



3 .) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste by Pierre Bourdieu

Lists It Appears On:

  • Five Books
  • List Muse
  • Social Science Careers
  • Goodreads 2
  • ISA

“No judgement of taste is innocent. In a word, we are all snobs. Pierre Bourdieu brilliantly illuminates this situation of the middle class in the modern world. France’s leading sociologist focusses here on the French bourgeoisie, its tastes and preferences. Distinction is at once a vast ethnography of contemporary France and a dissection of the bourgeois mind.

In the course of everyday life people constantly choose between what they find aesthetically pleasing and what they consider tacky, merely trendy, or ugly. Bourdieu bases his study on surveys that took into account the multitude of social factors that play a part in a Frenchperson’s choice of clothing, furniture, leisure activities, dinner menus for guests, and many other matters of taste. What emerges from his analysis is that social snobbery is everywhere in the bourgeois world. The different aesthetic choices people make are all distinctions-that is, choices made in opposition to those made by other classes. Taste is not pure. Bourdieu finds a world of social meaning in the decision to order bouillabaisse, in our contemporary cult of thinness, in the “”California sports”” such as jogging and cross-country skiing. The social world, he argues, functions simultaneously as a system of power relations and as a symbolic system in which minute distinctions of taste become the basis for social judgement.”

Purchase / Learn More



2 .) Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • Letter Pile
  • Book Depository
  • Real Sociology
  • Goodreads 2

“Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life-;from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing-;and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives-;how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of … well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.”

Purchase / Learn More



1 .) The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills

Lists It Appears On:

  • We Speak For Earth
  • ISA
  • List Muse
  • Social Science Careers
  • Goodreads
  • Goodreads 2

C. Wright Mills is best remembered for his highly acclaimed work The Sociological Imagination, in which he set forth his views on how social science should be pursued. Hailed upon publication as a cogent and hard-hitting critique, The Sociological Imagination took issue with the ascendant schools of sociology in the United States, calling for a humanist sociology connecting the social, personal, and historical dimensions of our lives. The sociological imagination Mills calls for is a sociological vision, a way of looking at the world that can see links between the apparently private problems of the individual and important social issues.

Purchase / Learn More




The Additional Best Books About Sociology



 

#BookAuthorLists
(Titles Appear On 2 Lists Each)
19Blink: The Power of Thinking Without ThinkingMalcolm GladwellLetter Pile
Goodreads 2
20Caste Its Twentieth Century AvatarM. N. SRINIVASClear IAS
Nice IAS
21Democracy in AmericaAlexis de TocquevilleList Muse
The Society Pages
22Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the PrisonMichel FoucaultList Muse
Goodreads 2
23Escape from FreedomErich FrommRanker
Goodreads
24Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth ApproachJames M. HenslinRanker
Bethel University
25Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American MealEric SchlosserRanker
Goodreads 2
26Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the StreetsSudhir VenkateshGoodreads 2
Real Sociology
27Guns, Germs And SteelJared M. DiamondBook Depository
We Speak For Earth
28Ideology and UtopiaKarl MannheimList Muse
The Society Pages
29Main Currents in Sociological ThoughtRaymond AronList Muse
Nice IAS
30Modern RomanceAziz AnsariBook Depository
Goodreads 2
31Modernization Of Indian TraditionYogendra SinghNice IAS
Clear IAS
32OrientalismEdward W. SaidList Muse
Goodreads 2
33Oxford Dictionary Of SociologyJohn Scott; Gordon MarshallBethel University
Clear IAS
34Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern RelationshipsChristopher Ryan and Cacilda JethaBook Depository
Bookriot
35SuperfreakonomicsSteven D. LevittBook Depository
Goodreads 2
36The Beauty MythNaomi WolfWe Speak For Earth
Goodreads 2
37The Communist ManifestoFriedrich Engels and Karl MarxWe Speak For Earth
Goodreads 2
38The Death and Life of Great American CitiesJane JacobsList Muse
Goodreads 2
39The Elementary Forms of the Religious LifeÉmile DurkheimGoodreads 2
We Speak For Earth
40The Marx-Engels ReaderRobert C. Tucker; Karl Marx; Friedrich EngelsList Muse
Goodreads
41The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of ColorblindnessMichelle AlexanderGoodreads
Goodreads 2
42The Power EliteC. Wright MillsList Muse
The Society Pages
43The Presentation of Self in Everyday LifeErving GoffmanISA
List Muse
44The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness IndustryJon RonsonBook Depository
Goodreads 2
45The Second SexSimone de BeauvoirWe Speak For Earth
List Muse
46The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster CapitalismNaomi KleinReal Sociology
Goodreads 2
47The Structural Transformation of the Public SphereJürgen HabermasRanker
The Society Pages
48The Structure of Social ActionTalcott ParsonsISA
List Muse
49The Theory of Communicative ActionJurgen HabermasISA
List Muse
50The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass MovementsEric HofferSocial Science Careers
Goodreads 2
51Unequal ChildhoodsAnnette LareauWe Speak For Earth
List Muse
(Titles Appear On 1 Lists Each)
5223 Things They Don’t Tell You About CapitalismChang, Ha-JoonReal Sociology
53A Civil ActionJonathan HarrRanker
54A Different MirrorRonald TatakiWe Speak For Earth
55A Sociology of Mental Health and IllnessDavid PilgrimGoodreads
56A Vindication of the Rights of WomanMary WollstonecroftWe Speak For Earth
57A Voice from the SouthAnna Julia CooperThe Society Pages
58Abnormal PsychologyRonald J. ComerGoodreads
59Abortion and the Politics of MotherhoodKristin LukerThe Society Pages
60Africa: Altered states, ordinary miraclesDowden, R.Real Sociology
61Against MethodPaul FeyerabendList Muse
62Agrarian RevolutionJeffrey M. PaigeList Muse
63America AloneMark SteynRanker
64American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the UnderclassDouglas Massey; Nancy DentonList Muse
65American SavageBookriot
66Amusing Ourselves to DeathLetter Pile
67An Engine, Not a CameraDonald MacKenzieFive Books
68Anti UtopiaDipankar GuptaNice IAS
69Armed AmericaKyle CassidyRanker
70Asian American DreamsHelen ZiaWe Speak For Earth
71AsylumsErving GoffmanList Muse
72Bad ScienceGoldacre, B.Real Sociology
73Banksy’s Bristol: Home Sweet Home: The Unofficial GuideSteven WrightGoodreads
74Basic Concepts in SociologyMax WeberList Muse
75Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai UndercityKatherine BooGoodreads 2
76Between the World and MeTa-Nehisi CoatesGoodreads 2
77Black ReconstructionW.E.B. DuBoisThe Society Pages
78Body Talk: The Material and Discursive Regulation of Sexuality, Madness and ReproductionJane M. UssherGoodreads
79Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and SexBookriot
80Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined AmericaBarbara EhrenreichGoodreads 2
81Bringing it all back homeLawrence GrossbergRanker
82CapitalKarl MarxList Muse
83Capitalism and modern social theoryAnthony GiddensNice IAS
84Captive State: The corporate takeover of BritainMonbiot, G.Real Sociology
85Caste in modern India and other essaysM.N.SrinivasNice IAS
86Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern IndiaNicholas B. DirksGoodreads
87Celebrity CultureEllis CashmoreGoodreads
88Chavs: The Demonization of the Working ClassOwen JonesGoodreads
89Chinese Education in Singapore: An Untold Story of Conflict and ChangeZhixiong ZhangGoodreads
90Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl CulturePeggy OrensteinGoodreads 2
91Civilization and CapitalismFernand BraudelList Muse
92Class and Class Conflict in Industrial SocietyRalf DahrendorfThe Society Pages
93Class, Race, Gender, and CrimeJeanne Flavin; Gregg Barak; Paul LeightonBethel University
94Coming of Age in SamoaMargaret MeadWe Speak For Earth
95Coming to AmericaRoger DanielsWe Speak For Earth
96Communalism, caste and Hindu nationalismOrnit ShaniNice IAS
97Conscious evolutionBarbara Marx HubbardRanker
98Contemporary Christianity and LGBT SexualitiesStephen J. HuntGoodreads
99Continuities in cultural evolutionMargaret MeadRanker
100Conversations with Anthony GiddensAnthony GiddensRanker
101Corrosion of CharacterRichard SennettThe Society Pages
102Crime Control as IndustryNils ChristieList Muse
103CriminalisticsRichard SafersteinRanker
104Critical PathBuckminster FullerRanker
105Critique of Everyday LifeHenri LefebvreList Muse
106Cultural AnthropologyWilliam A. HavilandRanker
107Cultural change in IndiaY.SinghNice IAS
108Cultural studies and cultural valueJohn FrowRanker
109Culture and Integration of Indian TribesR.S.MannNice IAS
110Culture and ValuesLawrence S. CunninghamRanker
111Culture JamKalle LasnWe Speak For Earth
112Culture of FearFuredi, F.Real Sociology
113Data trashArthur KrokerRanker
114David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling GiantsMalcolm GladwellGoodreads 2
115Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create DifferenceCordelia FineGoodreads 2
116Democracy and ethnic conflictRajat GangulyNice IAS
117Democracy and Social EthicsJane AddamsThe Society Pages
118Demography is Politics: How We Control Demographic ChangeJoanne RodriguesGoodreads
119Development-induced displacement and resettlementJason StanleyNice IAS
120Dialectic of EnlightenmentTheodor W. AdornoList Muse
121Digital CapitalismDan SchillerRanker
122Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS StatisticsAndy FieldBook Depository
123Doctoring the mind : why psychiatric treatments failRichard P. BentallGoodreads
124DurkheimAnthony GiddensRanker
125Eros and CivilizationHerbert MarcuseList Muse
126Essays in socio-economicsAmitai EtzioniRanker
127EvaluationPeter Henry RossiRanker
128Every Family in the Land: Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination Against People with Mental IllnessA.H. CrispGoodreads
129Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American CityMatthew DesmondGoodreads 2
130Exit, Voice, and LoyaltyAlbert O. HirschmanRanker
131Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, KinshipKath WestonGoodreads
132Fat Is a Feminist IssueSusie OrbachGoodreads
133Female Chauvinist PigsAriel LevyWe Speak For Earth
134Feminist Theory: From Margin to Centerbell hooksWe Speak For Earth
135Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial AutomationDavid F. NobleList Muse
136Forging Industrial PolicyFrank DobbinFive Books
137Formation of modern social thoughtKen MorrisonNice IAS
138Foundations of Social TheoryJames ColemanList Muse
139GameNeil StraussBook Depository
140Gandhi and beyondDavid CortrightRanker
141Gender and Power: Society, the Person, and Sexual PoliticsR.W. ConnellList Muse
142Getting a JobMark GranovetterFive Books
143Getting the Love You WantHarville HendrixBook Depository
144Getting To Know Waiwai: An Amazonian EthnographyAlan Tormaid CampbellGoodreads
145Ghostly MattersAvery GordonThe Society Pages
146Globalisation and its discontentsStiglitz, J.Real Sociology
147God is Not OneStephen ProtheroWe Speak For Earth
148Going Sane: Maps of HappinessAdam PhillipsGoodreads
149Great American CityRobert J. SampsonList Muse
150GuylandMichael KimmelWe Speak For Earth
151Hacking the futureArthur KrokerRanker
152Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women WorldwideNicholas D. KristofGoodreads 2
153Handbook of Indian Sociology editedVeena DasNice IAS
154Harvest of EmpireJuan GonzalesWe Speak For Earth
155Hegemony or Survival: America’s quest for global dominanceChomsky, N.Real Sociology
156Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in CrisisJ.D. VanceGoodreads 2
157History and Class ConsciousnessGeorg LukacsList Muse
158Homo DeusYuval Noah HarariBook Depository
159Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its ImplicationsLouis DumontGoodreads
160Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in CultureJohan HuizingaGoodreads
161How to Do EverythingJesse FeilerRanker
162How to Talk to AnyoneLeil LowndesRanker
163How to Think More About SexBookriot
164Human EcologyAmos H. HawleyList Muse
165Human Nature and the Social OrderCharles CooleyThe Society Pages
166Humanities through the ArtsF. David MartinRanker
167Identity and development of self from a cross cultural perspectiveStephen JNice IAS
168If Each Comes Halfway: Meeting Tamang Women in NepalKathryn S MarchRanker
169In other worldsGayatri Chakravorty SpivakRanker
170In Praise of Idleness and Other EssaysBertrand RussellRanker
171Indian Sociology:Social Conditioning and Emerging ConcernsY.SinghNice IAS
172Interrogating CasteDipankar GuptaNice IAS
173Introduction to Physical AnthropologyRobert JurmainRanker
174Issues and Ethics in the Helping ProfessionsGerald CoreyRanker
175Journeys through Mental Illness: Client Experiences and Understandings of Mental DistressJuliet FosterGoodreads
176Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth CenturyHarry BravermanList Muse
177Last fleshChristopher DewdneyRanker
178Leading at schoolJohn C. MaxwellRanker
179Legitimation CrisisJürgen HabermasRanker
180Letters to a Young ContrarianChristopher HitchensBook Depository
181Liquid ModernityBauman, Z.Real Sociology
182Love and addictionStanton PeeleRanker
183Loving relationships IISondra RayRanker
184Mad, Bad, and Sad: Women and the Mind DoctorsLisa AppignanesiGoodreads
185Madness and Democracy: The Modern Psychiatric UniverseMarcel GauchetGoodreads
186ManifestAJennifer Baumgardner and Amy RichardsWe Speak For Earth
187Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of NostalgiaRussell T. McCutcheonGoodreads
188Marriages and FamiliesNijole V. BenokraitisRanker
189Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of Modern Social ThoughtKenneth MorrisonGoodreads
190Mass Media in a Mass SocietyRichard HoggartGoodreads
191Master of Sociological ThoughtLewis CoserNice IAS
192Me, Myself, and ThemKurt SnyderGoodreads
193Medical SociologyRobert E. Gamer; William C. CockerhamBethel University
194Men and Women of the CorporationRosabeth Moss KanterList Muse
195Methods in social researchGoode and HuttNice IAS
196MiddletownRobert Lynd and Helen Merrell LyndThe Society Pages
197Millennials RisingNeil HoweRanker
198Mind, Self, and SocietyGeorge Herbert MeadList Muse
199Modern social theoryIan CraibRanker
200Moral mattersJan NarvesonRanker
201Mutual Aid: A Factor of EvolutionPeter KropotkinList Muse
202My life among the deathworksPhilip RieffRanker
203Nation-Building and CitizenshipReinhard BendixRanker
204New rules of sociological methodAnthony GiddensRanker
205Nickel and Dimed: OnBarbara EhrenreichGoodreads 2
206No LogoNaomi KleinGoodreads 2
207NudgeRichard H. ThalerBook Depository
208On Behalf of the Insane PoorDorothea DixWe Speak For Earth
209ON INDIVIDUALITY AND SOCIAL FORMSGEORG SIMMELSocial Science Careers
210ON SUICIDE: A STUDY IN SOCIOLOGYEMILE DURKHEIMSocial Science Careers
211One Blood: Inside Britain’s new street gangsHeale, J.Real Sociology
212One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s NestKen KeseyGoodreads
213One-Dimensional ManHerbert MarcuseRanker
214Other People’s ChildrenLisa DelpitWe Speak For Earth
215Our OriginsClark Spencer LarsenRanker
216Our ReligionsArvind SharmaWe Speak For Earth
217OutliersMalcolm GladwellBook Depository
218Outsiders: Studies In The Sociology Of DevianceHoward S. BeckerList Muse
219Paths in UtopiaMartin BuberThe Society Pages
220Patriarchy and Accumulation On A World ScaleMaria MiesList Muse
221Patterns of CultureRuth BenedictList Muse
222Pedagogy of the OppressedPaulo FreireList Muse
223Persistence and Change in Tribal IndiaM.V. RaoClear IAS
224Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of UsJesse BeringBookriot
225Phenomenology of the Social WorldAlfred SchutzList Muse
226Political PartiesRobert MichelsThe Society Pages
227Postmodern EthicsZygmunt BaumanList Muse
228Power and PrivilegeGerhard E. LenskiList Muse
229Power: A Radical ViewSteven LukesList Muse
230Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our DecisionsDan ArielyGoodreads 2
231PreemptionAlan DershowitzRanker
232Pretty in PunkLetter Pile
233Principles of Western CivilisationBenjamin KiddRanker
234Privilege, Power, and DifferenceAllan JohnsonRanker
235Prospects for conservativesRussell KirkRanker
236Prozac NationElizabeth WurtzelGoodreads
237Psychiatry: The Science of LiesThomas SzaszGoodreads
238Public relationsEdward BernaysRanker
239QuietSusan CainBook Depository
240Race RulesMichael Eric DysonWe Speak For Earth
241Race, Class, and GenderMargaret L. AndersenRanker
242Raising a Secure ChildKent HoffmanBook Depository
243Reading CapitalLouis Althusser; Etienne Balibar; Roger EstabletList Muse
244Reason and RevolutionHerbert MarcuseRanker
245Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public WelfareFrances Fox Piven; Richard A. ClowardList Muse
246Religion in Human EvolutionRobert BellahThe Society Pages
247Religion in Western SocietyStephen J. HuntGoodreads
248Religious fundamentalism in developing countriesSantosh C. Saha, Thomas K. CarrNice IAS
249Rights for Victims of CrimesIrvin WallerBethel University
250Risk SocietyUlrich BeckList Muse
251Runaway World: How globalisation is reshaping our livesGiddens, G.Real Sociology
252Rural SociologyA.R.DesaiNice IAS
253Sapiens: A Brief History of HumankindYuval Noah HarariGoodreads 2
254Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s SchoolsJonathan KozolList Muse
255Schizophrenia: A Scientific Delusion?Mary BoyleGoodreads
256Scholarship on social movement organizationsBeth Schaefer Caniglia and JoAnn CarminNice IAS
257Schooling In Capitalist AmericaSamuel Bowles; Herbert GintisList Muse
258Seeing sociologicallyHarold GarfinkelRanker
259Selections from the Prison NotebooksAntonio GramsciList Muse
260Sex is Not a Natural Act & Other EssaysBookriot
261Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa PuffsLetter Pile
262Sexing the BodyAnne Fausto-SterlingWe Speak For Earth
263SidewalkMitch DuneierThe Society Pages
264Sitting in the fireArnold MindellRanker
265Smart Mobs: The Next Social RevolutionHoward RheingoldRanker
266So You’ve Been Publicly ShamedJon RonsonGoodreads 2
267Social and Cultural DynamicsPitirim SorokinList Muse
268Social Background of Indian NationalismA. R. DesaiClear IAS
269Social Change In Modern IndiaM. N. SRINIVASClear IAS
270Social Exclusion and PovertyTodman, L.Nice IAS
271Social Justice and the CityDavid HarveyList Muse
272Social Movements 1768-2012Charles TillyList Muse
273Social movements and the stateG.ShahNice IAS
274Social movements in IndiaM.S.A.RaoNice IAS
275Social Origins of Dictatorship and DemocracyBarrington MooreList Muse
276Social Problems In IndiaRam AhujaClear IAS
277Social ResearchSotirios SarantakosNice IAS
278Social Research MethodsAlan BrymanGoodreads
279Social stratification and change in IndiaY.SinghNice IAS
280Social stratification edDipankar GuptaNice IAS
281Social Stratification in IndiaK.L.SharmaNice IAS
282Social SystemsNiklas LuhmannList Muse
283Social Theory and Social StructureMerton, Robert K.ISA
284Social Theory, Psychoanalysis and RacismSimon ClarkeGoodreads
285Social welfare and individual responsibilityDavid SchmidtzRanker
286Society in AmericaHarriet MartineauThe Society Pages
287Society In India: Concepts, Theories And Recent TrendsRam AhujaClear IAS
288Sociological TheoryGeorge RitzerClear IAS
289Sociological Theory in the Classical Era: Text and ReadingsLaura Desfor EdlesGoodreads
290Sociological Theory: A Critical PrimerWalter A. JensenGoodreads
291Sociological ThoughtFrancis Abraham, John Henry MorganClear IAS
292SociologyHorton and HuntNice IAS
293SociologyT.B.BottomoreNice IAS
294SociologyJames FulcherGoodreads
295Sociology : Your Compass for a New WorldRobert J. Brym; John LieBethel University
296Sociology of Religion : Contemporary DevelopmentsKevin J. Christiano; William H. Swatos; Peter KivistoBethel University
297Sociology of Religion: A Critical PrimerWalter A. JensenGoodreads
298Soul Murder: Persecution in the FamilyMorton SchatzmanGoodreads
299SPSS Survival ManualJulie PallantRanker
300State, Power, SocialismNikos PoulantzasList Muse
301Statistics for the Behavioral SciencesFrederick J GravetterRanker
302Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American RightArlie Russell HochschildGoodreads 2
303Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian SlumWilliam Foote WhyteList Muse
304Structure of social actionJonathan TurnerNice IAS
305Studies in EthnomethodologyHarold GarfinkelList Muse
306SuicideEmile DurkheimList Muse
307Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Patients, and ProvidersE. Fuller TorreyGoodreads
308Tally’s CornerElliott LiebowWe Speak For Earth
309Technically TogetherMichele A. WillsonRanker
310The 48 Laws Of PowerRobert GreeneBook Depository
311The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in EnglandPeter HitchensGoodreads
312The Affluent WorkerJohn H. GoldthorpeList Muse
313The Alpha Enterprise: Evangelism in a Post-Christian EraStephen HuntGoodreads
314The American Way of WarEugene JareckiRanker
315The Battle for GodKaren ArmstrongWe Speak For Earth
316The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has DeclinedSteven PinkerGoodreads 2
317The Blackwell companion to sociology of religionRichard K. Fenn (Editor)Bethel University
318The Blank SlateSteven PinkerWe Speak For Earth
319The Bottom BillionCollier, P.Real Sociology
320The Bureaucratic PhenomenonMichel CrozierList Muse
321The Complete Guide to Asperger’s SyndromeTony AttwoodBook Depository
322The Concise 48 Laws Of PowerRobert GreeneBook Depository
323The Condition of Postmodernity: An enquiry into the conditions of social changeHarvey D.Real Sociology
324The Construction of HomosexualityDavid F. GreenbergGoodreads
325The Cultural CreativesRanker
326The Cultural LandscapeJames M. RubensteinRanker
327The Culture ClashJean DonaldsonRanker
328The Culture IndustryTheodor AdornoThe Society Pages
329The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary SocietyDavid W. GarlandGoodreads
330The Culture of Public ProblemsJoe GusfieldThe Society Pages
331The deep democracy of open forumsArnold MindellRanker
332The Descent of Madness: Evolutionary Origins of Psychosis and the Social BrainJonathan BurnsGoodreads
333The DESIRABLE BODYJon StrattonRanker
334The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and MadnessR.D. LaingGoodreads
335The Earth Shall WeepJames WilsonWe Speak For Earth
336The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis BonaparteKarl MarxThe Society Pages
337The equality illusion : The truth about men and women todayBanyard, K.Real Sociology
338The Evolution of CooperationRobert AxelrodList Muse
339The Family in India: Critical EssaysA.M.ShahNice IAS
340The Female EunuchGermaine GreerWe Speak For Earth
341The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture 1830-1980Elaine ShowalterGoodreads
342The Feminine MystiqueBetty FriedanWe Speak For Earth
343The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy – What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with DestinyWilliam StraussRanker
344THE FREUD READERSIGMUND FREUD AND PETER GAY (EDITOR)Social Science Careers
345The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup ArtistsNeil StraussRanker
346The Giddens readerAnthony GiddensRanker
347The GiftMarcel MaussList Muse
348The God DelusionRichard DawkinsGoodreads
349The Good Book: A Humanist BibleA.C. GraylingGoodreads
350The good city and the good lifeDaniel KemmisRanker
351The Good HeartHis Holiness the Dalai LamaWe Speak For Earth
352The Goose-StepUpton SinclairRanker
353The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our TimeKarl PolanyiList Muse
354The Handbook of Political SociologyThomas Janoski (Editor); Robert Alford (Editor); Alexander Hicks (Editor); Mildred A. Schwartz (Editor)Bethel University
355The Hero with a Thousand FacesJoseph CampbellWe Speak For Earth
356The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An IntroductionMichel FoucaultGoodreads 2
357The Humanistic TraditionGloria K. FieroRanker
358The I in WeAxel HonnethList Muse
359The Information SocietyJohn FeatherRanker
360The Internet As A Diverse CommunityUrs E. GattikerRanker
361The Interpretation Of CulturesClifford GeertzList Muse
362The Life Course: A Sociological IntroductionStephen HuntGoodreads
363The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of GroupsMancur OlsonList Muse
364The Logic of Scientific DiscoveryKarl PopperList Muse
365The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our TimesGiovanni ArrighiList Muse
366The Lost Child of Philomena LeeMartin SixsmithBook Depository
367The Lucifer EffectPhilip ZimbardoWe Speak For Earth
368The Madness of Our Lives: Experiences of Mental Breakdown And RecoveryPenny GrayGoodreads
369The making of sociologyRonald FletcherNice IAS
370The Making of the English Working ClassE. P. ThompsonList Muse
371The Managed HeartArlie HochschildThe Society Pages
372The Media of Mass CommunicationJohn VivianRanker
373The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth CenturyImmanuel WallersteinList Muse
374The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal ConductThomas SzaszGoodreads
375The Nature and Origins of Mass OpinionJohn ZallerRanker
376The new golden ruleAmitai EtzioniRanker
377The New ImperialismHarvey D.Real Sociology
378The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four MealsMichael PollanGoodreads 2
379The Opium of the IntellectualsRaymond AronThe Society Pages
380The Original Rider Waite Tarot DeckArthur Edward WaiteBook Depository
381The Origins of TotalitarianismHannah ArendtList Muse
382The Palimpsest of Human RightsJabez L. Van CleefGoodreads
383The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is LessBarry SchwartzRanker
384The Peter PrincipleLaurence J. PeterGoodreads
385The Philosophy of MoneyGeorg SimmelList Muse
386The place you love is goneMelissa Holbrook PiersonRanker
387The Polish Peasant in Europe and AmericaWilliam Thomas; Florian ZnanieckiList Muse
388THE PORTABLE JUNGCARL JUNGSocial Science Careers
389The possessed individualArthur KrokerRanker
390The power of charmBrian TracyRanker
391The power of identityManuel CastellsRanker
392The Profits of ReligionUpton SinclairRanker
393The Promise of SociologyRob B. BeamishBethel University
394The Purity MythJessica ValentiWe Speak For Earth
395The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of MadnessLori SchillerGoodreads
396The Real WorldKerry FerrisRanker
397The Rebellious CenturyCharles Tilly, Louise A. Tilly, Richard TillyRanker
398The Reproduction of MotheringNancy ChodorowThe Society Pages
399The Rise of ProfessionalismMagali Sarfatti LarsonList Muse
400The Rise of the Network SocietyManuel CastellsList Muse
401The road to equalitySeymour ItzkoffRanker
402The Sane SocietyErich FrommGoodreads
403The Science of PowerBenjamin KiddRanker
404The Secular Mirage: Modernity, The Postmodern Turn, and Religious RevivalismManochehr DorrajNice IAS
405The Seven Principles for Making Marriage WorkJohn GottmanBook Depository
406The Social Meaning of MoneyViviana A ZelizerFive Books
407The Society of the SpectacleGuy DebordList Muse
408The Sociological TraditionRobert NisbetList Muse
409The Sociology of American Drug UseGreg S. Weaver; Charles E. Faupel; Alan M. HorowitzBethel University
410The Sociology of Ethnicity: the Sociology of EthnicitySinisa MalesevicNice IAS
411The Sociology of NewsMichael SchudsonBethel University
412The Sociology of ReligionMax WeberWe Speak For Earth
413The Sociology of ScienceRobert K. MertonList Muse
414The Sociology of social changePiotr SztompkaNice IAS
415The Sociology Student Writer’s ManualWilliam Archer Johnson; Stephen M. Garrison; Greg M. ScottBethel University
416The solitary outlawB. W. PoweRanker
417The Souls of Black FolkW.E.B. Du BoisGoodreads 2
418The Sources of Social PowerMichael MannList Muse
419The State: Its Nature, Development, and ProspectsGianfranco PoggiList Muse
420The Structure of Scientific RevolutionsThomas KuhnList Muse
421The structure of social amovements: Environmental activism and its opponentsLuther P.GerlachNice IAS
422The Theory of the Leisure ClassThorstein VeblenGoodreads 2
423The Three Worlds of Welfare CapitalismGosta Esping-AndersenList Muse
424The Tibetan Book Of Living And DyingSogyal RinpocheBook Depository
425The Tribal Culture of IndiaL.P.VidyarthiNice IAS
426The Varieties of Religious ExperienceWilliam JamesWe Speak For Earth
427The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first CenturyThomas L. FriedmanGoodreads
428The World: A Beginner’s GuideGoran TherbornList Muse
429The World’s ReligionsHuston SmithWe Speak For Earth
430The World’s WisdomPhilip NovakWe Speak For Earth
431The Wretched of the EarthFrantz Fanon; Jean-Paul SartreList Muse
432The Yellow Wall-PaperCharlotte Perkins GilmanGoodreads
433They F*** You Up: How To Survive Family LifeOliver JamesGoodreads
434This Is Your Brain On SexBookriot
435Thought contagionAaron LynchRanker
436To the Survivors: One Man’s Journey as a Rape Crisis Counselor with True Stories of Sexual ViolenceRobert UttaroGoodreads
437Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy & Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock & Biochemical Theories of the New PsychiatryPeter R. BregginGoodreads
438Tristes TropiquesClaude Levi-StraussList Muse
439Uncanny NetworksGeert LovinkRanker
440Understanding PowerNoam ChomskyList Muse
441Unjust Rewards: Exposing greed and inequality in Britain todayToynbee, P and Walker D.Real Sociology
442Untouchability in IndiaG.Shah, Harsh Mander, Sukhdeo Thorat, Satish Despande and Amita BaviskarNice IAS
443Urban VillagersHerbert J. GansList Muse
444User ErrorEllen RoseRanker
445Vices Are Not CrimesLysander SpoonerRanker
446Visionary leadership skillsRobert DiltsRanker
447We Have Never Been ModernBruno LatourList Muse
448We Should All Be FeministsChimamanda Ngozi AdichieBook Depository
449We want some tooHal NiedzvieckiRanker
450Weber’s Last Theory of CapitalismRandall CollinsNice IAS
451Weight of the WorldPierre BourdieuThe Society Pages
452What Do Women Want?: EssaysErica JongGoodreads
453What is SociologyAlex InklesNice IAS
454What Is Sociology?Norbert EliasList Muse
455What the Dog Saw and Other AdventuresMalcolm GladwellGoodreads 2
456When Breath Becomes AirPaul KalanithiBook Depository
457When Religion Becomes EvilCharles KimballWe Speak For Earth
458When Work DisappearsWilliam Julius WilsonList Muse
459White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in AmericaNancy IsenbergGoodreads 2
460Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?Beverly Daniel TatumWe Speak For Earth
461Woman’s Role in Economic DevelopmentEster BoserupList Muse
462Women Race & ClassAngela Y. DavisWe Speak For Earth
463Women Who Run With The WolvesClarissa Pinkola EstesBook Depository
464Women’s Madness: Misogyny Or Mental Illness?Jane M. UssherGoodreads
465Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They DoStuds TerkelRanker
466World Regional GeographyLydia Mihelic PulsipherRanker
467Worlds Of PainLilian Brelow RubinList Muse


16 Best Sociology Book Sources/Lists



SourceArticle
Bethel University Sociology Students: Best Sociology Books
Book Depository All Sociology
Bookriot SIX-PACK: SMART BOOKS ABOUT THE SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY OF SEX
Clear IAS Sociology Optional Paper: Books to read for Civil Services Main Exam
Five Books Neil Fligstein recommends the best books on Economic Sociology
Goodreads Best Sociology Books
Goodreads 2 Popular Sociology Books
ISA Books of the XX Century
Letter Pile Five Must-Read Sociology Books
List Muse The Sociology Books Top 100
Nice IAS Books for sociology mains
Ranker The Best Books About Sociology
Real Sociology My top eight books with sociological content – roughly in order
Social Science Careers TOP 10 MUST-READ BOOKS FOR SOCIOLOGY STUDENTS
The Society Pages 20 Great Books in Sociology that Deserve More Readers
We Speak For Earth 50 Best Sociology Books of All Time