The purpose of this book is "to familiarize the student of linguistics with the social context of speech, and to familiarize the student of society with language as a referent and dimension of social behavior." An attempt is made at a conceptual integration of the literature of sociolinguistics (with emphasis on work published in the 1960's) so that the relationships between micro-sociolinguistics, macro-sociolinguistics and applied sociolinguistics can be made clear. The material presented thus stresses the interdependency of linguistic and societal analysis, the usefulness of methods from all of the behavioral sciences, and the need for interrelating theories and methods that have often been kept separate. Chapter headings are: "Linguistics: The Science of Code Description...And More"; "Some Basic Sociolinguistic Concepts"; "Interactional Sociolinguistics: Micro and Macro"; "Societal Differentiation and Repertoire Range"; "Societal Bilingualism: Stable and Transitional"; "Sociocultural Organization: Language Constraints and Language Reflections"; and "Applied Sociolinguistics." A bibliography containing 169 entries is appended. (FWB)