Understanding Post-War British Society is a unique textbook which brings together the perspectives of a group of distinguished sociologists and social historians to understand the shaping of British society. The premise of the book is that these two approaches are complementary and mutually enriching. Too many sociology textbooks begin and end with how society is structured. To understand how society operates it is necessary to explore not only its constituent structures and relationships, but how these structures emerge and why changes occur within them. This book critically appraises the usefulness of current theories in advancing our understanding of contemporary society, and explores British society as dynamic and developing. In the process the authors draw our attention to the fact that society is shaped not just by social policy and structures, but by how far these influence people's life-patterns, attitudes, experience and conduct. James Obelkevich is Lecturer in Social History at the University of Warwick; Peter Catterall is Director of the Institute of Contemporary British History, London. Contributors: Celia Brackenridge; Joan Brown; Robert Burgess; Rosemary Crompton; John Curtice; Grace Davie; Chris Harris; Chris Law; Arthur Marwick; Anne Murcott; Edward Royle; Richard Smith; Penny Summerfield; Anthea Tinker and Diana Woodward.