Sociology as a Population Science

John H. Goldthorpe is Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

• Introduction; 1. Sociology as a population science: the central idea; 2. Individual variability in human social life; 3. The individualistic paradigm; 4. Population regularities as basic explananda; 5. Statistics, concepts and the objects of sociological study; 6. Statistics and methods of data collection; 7. Statistics and methods of data analysis; 8. The limits of statistics: causal explanation; 9. Causal explanation through social mechanisms; Conclusion.

'In this book, Goldthorpe provides an elegant discussion on the fundamental tenets of sociology as a population science. Based on nine propositions, he explains what sociology is and is not, and defines its logic as a population science, where traditional disciplinary boundaries between sociology and demography, epidemiology and applied economics blur. Sociology as a Population Science should be read by all sociologists engaged in theoretically driven empirical research. Many will find a solid rationale for the type of sociology that they, in fact, already do and stronger and clearer conceptual bases to pursue their research further on. A precious book.' Fabrizio Bernardi, European University Institute, and Chair, Board of the European Consortium for Sociological Research