Introduction

Abstract

Introductory works on sociology, defined as the scientific study of society, generally include a survey of the major social sub-systems, namely the family, religion, the educational, economic, political and legal systems. They also treat the main social processes: differentiation and stratification, interaction and organisation, order and change. In the present study of French society, which is aimed primarily at students of the social sciences and humanities, the systems approach has been adopted as the framework, and this is indicated in the chapter headings. The subheadings point to the processes to be examined for each topic.