Jonathan Turner is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at University of California Riverside. He received his PhD from Cornell University in 1968 and since the 1969-1970 academic year, he has been at UCR. Within the discipline, he is known primarily as a general theorist, although he has a number of more substantive specialities, including: the sociology of emotions, ethnic relations, social institutions, social stratification, and bio-sociology. He has been Faculty Research Lecturer at UCR, and in the profession he has been president of the Pacific Sociological Association and California Sociological Association.He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has lectured widely all over the world, and he has been a visiting professor at Cambridge University, UK, Universitat Bremen, Germany, Universitat Bielefeld, Germany, Shandong University, and Nan Kai University, People's Republic of China.

In a general study of Sociological Theory, social processes are usually broken down into three tiers: macrodynamics (societies and large-scale institutions), microdynamics (interpersonal encounters), and mesodynamics (corporations, communities, smaller organizations). In this seminal work, the author pulls these separate areas of research into one comprehensive general theory of social reality. More than analytical distinctions or research terminology, the author demonstrates that the social world actually unfolds along these three (macro, micro, and meso) levels of interaction. By developing a set of explanatory, testable, repeatable principles, the author creates a general empirical framework for sociological research. The three volumes of Principles of Sociology explore each level of social dynamics individually, with cross-references to bring the three together. This work will be essential for researchers in Sociological Theory and Social Psychology. Individual volumes will present new research of interest for researchers in Race and Ethnicity, Stratification, Demography, Political Sociology, Organizations and Community Movements, Motivation and Emotions.