Twenty-six essays describing current research in sociology are included in this publication. The essays fall into 10 categories: differentiation and stratification; political sociology; social processes; institutions; individual and society; formal organizations; urban sociology; theory and methods; sociology of world regions; and historical sociology. Several essays call attention to new ways of thinking that challenge traditional approaches. Examples include the challenge to sociocultural theories of emotion, the resource mobilization theory of social movements, and the exposition of the "new home economics" challenge to traditional family sociology. Some essays highlight developments from outside the sociological mainstream that demand equal time from sociological audiences, e.g., the essay on neo-Marxian urban analysis. Other essays, such as those dealing with attribution and distributive justice, reveal the impact of ideas from neighboring disciplines on sociological theory and research. These and all the other essays reveal the continuing ferment in sociology. (RM)