The Concise Encyclopedia of Comparative Sociology presents the current state of knowledge in comparative sociology for students, scholars, and the educated lay public. The major aim of comparative sociological research is to identify similarities and differences among societies, studying variation across both geographical regions and historical periods. This volume is divided into six broad categories: Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Comparing Societies, Comparative Historical Sociology, Comparing Institutions and Social Structures, Comparing Social Processes, Comparing Nation States and World Regions, and Biographies of Exemplary Comparative Sociologists. Nearly 60 essays written by distinguished experts in their fields focus on the first five categories, while the biographical section contains forty biographies of both classical and contemporary sociologists who have made major contributions to comparative sociology.

Contributors include: David Baker, Wenda Bauchspies, Hans-Peter Blossfield, Harriet Bradley, Sandra Buchholz, Miguel Centeno, Karen Cerulo, Brett Clark, Amy Corming, William D'Antonio, Mario Diani, Mattei Dogan, Riley Dunlap, Shmuel Eisenstadt, Mike Featherstone, Claude Fischer, Joshua Fishman, William Gamson, Julian Go, Jack Goldstone, Ralph Grillo, John Hall, Steve Hall, Robert Heiner, Joseph Hermanowicz, Margret Hornsteiner, David Johnson, Andrew Jorgenson, Jack Levy, Robert Marsh, Bill McCarthy, David Johnson, James Midgley, Peter Mohler, Linda Molm, Benjamin Moodie, Victor Nee, Anthony Orum, William Outhwaite, Anthony Pogorelc, Harland Prechel, Danielle Resnick, Glenn Robinson, Luis Roniger, Thomas Saalfeld, Stephen Sanderson, Michelle Sandhoff, Masamichi Sasaki, Saskia Sassen, Andrew Savchenko, Harald Schoen, Howard Schuman, David Segal, Michael Siemon, Tom Smith, Joonmo Son, Hendrik Spruyt, Robert Stebbins, George Steinmetz, Piotr Sztompka, Henry Teune, Arland Thornton, Kathleen Tierney, Jonathan Turner, Nicholas van de Walle, Henk Vinken, Veljko Vujačic, Erich Weede, Michel Wieviorka, Ekkart Zimmermann.
About the Author: Masamichi Sasaki, Ph.D.(1980), Sociology, Princeton University, is Professor of Sociology at Chuo University, Tokyo; Past President of International Institute of Sociology 1997-2001; Founding Editor of Comparative Sociology. His recent publications are (ed.) New Frontiers in Comparative Sociology (Brill, 2009) and Trust: Comparative Perspectives edited with Robert Marsh (Brill, 2012).

Jack A. Goldstone, PhD (1981), is Hazel Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, Senior Research Fellow at RANEPA, Moscow, and the author of Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World (UC Press, 1993) and many other works of comparative history.

Ekkart Zimmermann, doctorate (1975), University of Cologne, Professor of Macrosociology from 1993-2011 at Dresden University of Technology. He has published widely in conflict research, including Political Violence, Crises, and Revolutions (Routledge, 2011). Being retired he now teaches at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and at the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen.

Stephen K. Sanderson is Visiting Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Riverside. He specializes in sociological theory, comparative sociology, and evolution and human behavior. He has published 12 books in 18 editions and approximately 60 articles.