Essentials of Sociology

Essentials of Sociology highlights how our everyday lives are deeply integrated with global social forces. Countless examples featuring the connections between globalization and student’s lives can be found throughout the book, including the “Globalization and Everyday Life” boxes in each chapter. New boxes in the Third Edition include:

• Chapter 4, Social Interaction and Everyday Life in the Age of the Internet: “Online Interaction in China”
• Chapter 5, Groups, Networks, and Organizations: “Social Networks and Music Taste”
• Chapter 13, Politics and Economic Life: “The iPod: The Global Production of Value”
• Chapter 14, The Sociology of the Body: Health, Illness, and Sexuality: “The Rise of International NGOs and Health Services”

Each chapter has been reoriented around a set of key questions that students should ask themselves as they read. The questions, which are the section titles throughout each chapter, are introduced in the chapter-opening spread and reinforced with the Concept Checks at the end of each section. Every chapter concludes with a final section that asks students, “How does the chapter topic affect you?” 

These short exercises underscore the emphasis on macro-micro linkages and the sociological imagination that runs throughout Essentials of Sociology. Included in every chapter, each “Do It Yourself” exercise asks students to rate themselves on some dimension, and then to compare their characteristics with some other population—whether the national average, international average, same-age persons, persons in their sociology class, etc. 

The Third Edition includes seven new infographics (by award-winning designer Agnieszka Gasparska) that take complex sets of data and represent them with easy-to-understand art. The figures include:

• Chapter 6: Incarceration Rates around the World
• Chapter 7: Social Inequality in the United States
• Chapter 8: Global Inequality: Comparing the Quality of Life among Countries
• Chapter 9: Gender Empowerment around the World
• Chapter 10: Racial and Ethnic Populations in the United States
• Chapter 14: Sex in America: Social Influences on Sexual Behavior
• Chapter 16: The Widening Gap: Between Richer and Poorer Countries, 1800 to 2008

The authors have also streamlined the book, reducing it by 20 percent, and added marginal definitions, new photos, and a more visually appealing approach that makes the reading experience more engaging for today’s students.

The ancillary package offers all the tools students need for study and review, as well as media that inspires students to think about “big questions” and to reflect on the relationship between the chapter material and their own experiences. Instructors have everything they need to manage their course in and out of the classroom: three DVDs of lecture launcher video clips with accompanying discussion questions in the Instructor’s Manual and on StudySpace; an Instructor Resource Disc that includes PowerPoints and a suggested classroom lecture script; and a free WebCT/Blackboard coursepack.