‘But he isn’t wearing anything at all!’, shrieked the young child. Among the throngs of well-wishers and dignitaries, the Emperor strolled triumphantly through the streets for all to admire his resplendent attire. He had just been made the finest clothes by two tailors who had procured the most beautiful threads; so wonderful was this finery that it was invisible to the naked eye. The Emperor’s ministers and admirers all noted the exceptional workmanship and sumptuous detail of the new clothes so that they would not highlight their stupidity in front of their superior. It was not until a child declared that actually the Emperor was naked that the myth surrounding the vain leader began to unravel.

Hans Christian Andersen’s fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes provides a useful metaphor for the discipline of sociology. As sociologists we untangle the invisible threads through our analyses, showing them for what they are – pure air spun by the structures of power and inequality – revealing to the world what they knew, but didn’t know they knew. Such unravelling is not just about uncovering truths, but about challenging the very structures that uphold such truths. As Marx (1970) famously said, ‘The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.’ How much change (or ‘impact’) our research really makes is debatable, but that sociologists’ strive for this change cannot be refuted.

It is this sense of discovery, insight and transformation that flows through the narratives that are contained within Sociologists’ Tales. In this book, 33 sociologists tell us their tales of a life in sociology. They share with us their ideas and passions, their daily practices and challenges, and their tips for those aspiring a similar career. The result is a book both about sociology and sociological practice. Together the narratives provide an overview of the questions and concerns that are driving contemporary British sociologists, while also giving advice to the ‘next generation’ of sociologists. Through these accounts, the reader can discern a story of sociology as a discipline, and how biography and the political economic context shape scholars’ research and careers. This book will be of interest to anyone with an attraction to sociology: for established sociologists there are insights from some renowned exponents of the discipline.