Sociology is often a puzzle to those who come into contact with it for the first time. What are its defining characteristics? To some, particularly in Britain, sociology is identified with social investigation. Charles Booth, Seebohm Rowntree and other figures in the Pantheon, rather than Herbert Spencer or L. T. Hobhouse, are seen as having established the subject and started a distinctive indigenous tradition (cf. Bulmer [1985]). To others sociology appears primarily as a theoretical or philosophical concern dealing with highly abstract and difficult concepts and propositions, using special (often obscure) language and addressing a narrow audience of fellow-prof essionals.