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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. By bringing together a group of distinguished sociologists and social historians, this book critically appraises the usefulness of current theories in advancing our understanding of contemporary society. It 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. Celia Brackenridge (Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education, Joan C Brown, Robert G Burgess (University of Warwick), Rosemary Crompton (University of Kent), John Curtice (University of Str