Sociology is the study of how society functions, or in some cases does not function. There are many competing schools of sociology with different conceptual systems. This introductory book traces the origins of these systems, from Enlightenment thought and the work of Auguste Comte to Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Also outlines are the rapid expansion of sociology in 20th-century America and Britain, the post-World War II dominance of Talcott Parsons, the Chicago School, the rise of Structuralism, postmodernism, globalisation and digital society.