For example, Berger addresses the complementary approaches to the study of society developed by Max Weber and Émile Durkheim.

[2] Berger emphasizes that sociology is a broad academic discipline; it is both a body of knowledge and a way of viewing the world, rather than being merely a prescriptive methodology for achieving certain social goals.

As his central theme, Berger advocates that sociology should emphasize its humanistic aspects, rather than adopting the image of positivistic scientism favored by the natural sciences.

The content is wide-ranging and engaging for beginners; among other topics, Berger alludes to Machiavellianism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, existentialism, the caste system and race, and Black pride, stating of the latter in 1963, that it is "building up a counter-formation of a black racism that is but a shadow of its white prototype.

Many of the themes presented in Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective were later developed in Berger's 1966 book The Social Construction of Reality, coauthored with Thomas Luckmann.