Can Sociology Save Us?

The Sense of Sociability: How People Overcome the Forces Pulling Them Apart is a sweeping, ambitious book that attempts to synthesize insights from generations of sociological analysis, and thus to provide the tools we can use to help “humans live together more happily and more effectively.” With years of introductory lectures in sociology at the University of Toronto under his belt, Lorne Tepperman is able to present his findings in an easily digestible style, admirably suited for a popular audience unschooled in the social sciences. His book attempts to harness the insights of social research in order to improve human social life—turning theory into practice. The Sense of Sociability is subtler than most such works. Although his project is to bring people together, Tepperman repeatedly emphasizes the central conundrum present in such a project: every divisive force—race, class, religion, nationality—is on some level a uniting force as well. He quotes...