Description
Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials includes the best work of classical and established contemporary sociologists, and it weaves an inclusive treatment of all people—across lines of race/ethnicity, class, gender, age, ability/disability, and other social attributes—into the examination of sociology in all chapters. It does not water down the treatment of sociology for students! Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials provides students with the most relevant information about sociological thinking and helps them to consider contemporary social issues through the lens of diversity. While helping students learn to appreciate how sociology can help them better understand the world, this text also encourages them to see themselves as members of their communities and shows them what can be done in responding to social issues. As a result, students learn how sociology is not only a collection of concepts and theories but also a field that can make a difference in their lives, their communities, and the world at large.
What’s New to the Tenth Edition?
The tenth edition builds on the best of previous editions but places more emphasis on social change, while offering new insights, learning tools, and opportunities to apply the content of each chapter to relevant sociological issues and major concerns of the twenty-first century. As it is my goal to make each edition better than the previous one, I have revised all the chapters to reflect the latest in sociological theory and research, and have updated examples throughout. Additionally, all statistics, such as data relating to crime, demographics, health, and the economy, are the latest available at the time of this writing.
To further emphasize the new theme on social change, the “Media Framing” box has been expanded to include issues and societal changes from the increased use of social media. In addition, the feature titled “Sociology and Social Policy” has been brought back to this edition. This feature discusses important social issues (such as the high rate of suicide in the military, the right of homeless people to occupy public spaces, and the extent to which employers should be able to spy on employees) to provide a systematic examination of how social policy and law may bring about social change or impede it.
To assist your students in learning about sociology and reflecting their knowledge on tests, I have continued to revise the learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, provide integrated learning objective (LO) icons throughout the chapter, and offer students a study guide at the end of each chapter. The learning objectives have been carefully conceived to help the reader focus on the most crucial concepts of the chapter.