Life in Britain is increasingly defined by Britain’s place within Europe and British students are seeing their futures in a European context. This is an introductory sociology text which looks at Britain in terms of both its geographical position within Europe and its political and economic situation as a member of the European Union. Its coverage is divided into five parts covering: the making of modern European society equality and inequality social institutions, including: the family; religion and education; the individual; the state; and the future for Europe. The text is accompanied by tables, graphs and boxed case studies giving comparative information on European societies. Key concepts at the beginnings of chapters and summaries at the end aim to give students a handy framework for revision, and annotated guides to further reading will help them to develop their interest in particular themes.