Synopses & Reviews
This balanced, mainstream, beautifully written and totally up-to-date text is unrivalled in its ability to get students to see the connection between themselves and the social world. It teaches students "how" to think sociologically, not just "what" to think, and emphasizes the importance of diversity and a global perspective. It has been heralded for its inclusion of pop culture examples that instantly connect with today's students, and for its presentation of sociological concepts in a fresh, contemporary light.
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"Scholarly and engaging."
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"A well-organized, research-supported, inspiring and compelling up-to-date read."
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"Both a sound representation of the best traditions of sociology and an innovator in presenting new ways to think about and teach the material."
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"I find this text creative, interesting, and useful... I recommend the text for anyone... in search of a cutting edge application to recent trends in society."
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"Let me congratulate Brym and Lie for their eloquent work.... No sociologist can fail to be impressed by the clarity of the ideas expressed, the synthesis of relevant material, and the poignancy of the examples used."
About the Author
Robert J. Brym (pronounced "brim") is an internationally known scholar. He studied in Canada and Israel and received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, where he is now on faculty and especially enjoys teaching introductory sociology to more than 1000 students every year. He has won numerous awards for his teaching and scholarly work, which has been translated into half a dozen languages. His main areas of research are in political sociology, race and ethnic relations, and sociology of culture. His major books include Intellectuals and Politics (London and Boston: AllenandUnwin, 1980); From Culture to Power (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1989); The Jews of Moscow, Kiev, and Minsk (New York: New York University Press, 1994); and New Society, 4th ed. (Toronto: Nelson, 2004), one of Canada's best-selling introductory sociology textbooks. In 2001, he was co-investigator for the world's first large-scale survey of online dating, sponsored by MSN. From 1992 to 1997, Robert served as editor of Current Sociology, the journal of the International Sociological Association. He recently completed a study of the Russian civil service with sociologists at the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Science, and is now conducting a study of suicide bombers with Israeli and Palestinian sociologists.John Lie (pronounced "lee") was born in South Korea, grew up in Japan and Hawaii, and attended Harvard University. Currently he is professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, where he also holds the C. K. Cho Professorship. Previously he was professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at the University of Michigan. He has also taught at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of Oregon, and Harvard University in the United States, as well as universities in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and New Zealand. His primary research interests are comparative macrosociology and social theory. His major publications include Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los Angeles Riots (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995); Han Unbound: The Political Economy of South Korea (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998), Multiethnic Japan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), and Modern Peoplehood (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004). He has taught introductory sociology classes ranging in size from 3 to more than 700 students in several countries and hopes that this book will stimulate your sociological imagination.
Table of Contents
Part I: FOUNDATIONS. 1. A Sociological Compass. 2. How Sociologists Do Research. Part II: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF SOCIAL LIFE. 3 Culture. 4. Socialization. 5. Social Interaction. 6. Networks, Groups, and Organizations. Part III: INEQUALITY. 7. Deviance and Crime. 8. Social Stratification: United States and Global Perspectives. 9. Globalization, Development, and Inequality. 10. Race and Ethnicity. 11 Sexuality and Gender. 12. The Body. Aging and Disability. Part IV: INSTITUTIONS. 13. Work and the Economy. 14. Politics. 15. Families. 16. Religion. 17. Education. 18. The Mass Media. 19. Health and Medicine. Part V: SOCIAL CHANGE. 20. Population and Urbanization. 21. Collective Action and Social Movements. 22. Technology and the Global Environment.