本書討論的範圍涵蓋了台灣原住民族、台灣漢人社會和大陸傳統社會，透過對不同社會的分析，探討中國家族與親屬制度，及其在各該社會中展現的型態和作用。 作者從本土學者的觀點，對有關中國家族研究的成果提出反省性的思考，試圖擺脫西方社會研究理論的制約，經由對自己社會的考察，提出獨特的經驗與見解，並進而建構出一個屬於本土學者的理論模型。

本书依据通识课的指导思想以及学生的特点，重在介绍人类学的一些最基本的知识以及探索问题的不同于其他学科的特殊方式，并将人类学的“理解他人、善待他人”的基本态度，“各美其美、美人之美、美美与共、天下大同” (费孝通语)的文化自觉精神，以及“反思性”的学科特点贯穿于各章之中。

In New Jersey Dreaming pioneering anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner turns her attention to the question of how social class is lived in the United States and, specifically, within her own peer group. Ortner returns to her Newark roots to present an in-depth look at Weequahic High School's Class of 1958, of which she was a member. Exploring her classmates' recollected experiences of the neighbourhood and the high school, she provides an ethnographic chronicle of their journeys from the 1950s into the 1990s, following the movement of a striking number of them from modest working- and middle-class backgrounds into the wealthy upper-middle or professional/managerial class. Sherry B. Ortner is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Life and Death on Mt. Everest: Sherpas and Himalayan Mountaineering and Making Gender: The Politics and Erotics of Culture. She has received many awards, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

本书把人类学的社会研究传统和文化研究传统通过家、传统的惯性、社会结合等主题有机地结合起来展开讨论。作者通过在中国不同民族和地域的田野调查和理论提升，给读者展现家族文化的传统与延续、家的社会结合与周边社会、家族与民族的内在特点和运行机制，并把其纳入历时性与共时性、文本与情境、中心与周边、民族与国家、全球和地方、和而不同与文化自觉的视野下进行比较研究。重新思考文化和社会的延续性以及在不同时空视野下，人类学之中国研究的方法论意义。

Making Religion, Making the State combines cutting-edge perspectives on religion with rich empirical data to offer a challenging new argument about the politics of religion in modern China. The volume goes beyond extant portrayals of the opposition of state and religion to emphasize their mutual constitution. With chapters written by experts on Buddhism, Protestantism, Catholicism, Daoism, Islam, and more, this volume will appeal broadly to those interested in politics, religion, and modernity in China.