read more. While this text does provide an adequate foundation for students with no prior experience or exposure to the sociological discipline, it lacks alternative perspectives, and is White, and male privilege heavy. Overall, I think this is a very good introductory text that would work well for many introduction to sociology courses. Yes, the brief and general format is conducive to a quick review of general sociology concepts and material. A sociological theory is a supposition that intends to consider, analyze, and/or explain objects of social reality from a sociological perspective,: 14 drawing connections between individual concepts in order to organize and substantiate sociological knowledge.Hence, such knowledge is composed of complex theoretical frameworks and methodology.. It does not include Feminist Theory as theoretical perspective. Each section under the chapter is titled due to what is specifically talked about, along with the multiple choice, the short answer and the reference section. The textbook is comprehensive covering all the ‘traditional topics’ typically covered in a general Introduction to Sociology course. Symbolic interaction—often associated with interactionism, phenomenology, dramaturgy, interpretivism—is a sociological approach that places emphasis on subjective meanings and the empirical unfolding of social processes, generally accessed through micro-analysis. To be sure, [its] beginnings can be traced back well beyond Montesquieu, for example, and to Condorcet, not to speak of Saint-Simon, Comte's immediate predecessor. It would be helpful to have a separate, clickable comprehensive glossary for each chapter, and ideally for the book, which one can... Please update all of the statistics in this book - at least into the 21st Century. There is an important place in academia for these broad on-line overviews of disciplines, especially with students struggling with the high cost of textbooks, so I am glad that so many authors and publishers are trying to make them available. The work produced by quantitative researchers is also deemed more 'trustworthy' and 'unbiased' by the general public,[105] though this judgment continues to be challenged by antipositivists. Sociology overlaps with a variety of disciplines that study society, in particular anthropology, political science, economics, social work and social philosophy. It looked good and worked well, whether reading it online or downloading the PDF. I'm impressed that each section includes a references list. 1/Intro -- and in Ch. I would recommend newer lecturers to use a traditional Intro book in the beginning. I would like to see more hyperlinked content, especially in the references (especially web references) and further research sections as well as on charts and other graphics. It avoids being self referential by adhering to an internal framework in which each chapter begins with a general description of the topic, introduction to main concepts and ideas, connections to social issues and public policy and finally ending with a link back to the theoretical perspectives.

The text is brief and only covers the three main theoretical perspectives so Feminist theory, Rational Choice, or Exchange theory would have to be supplemented. In Ch. However, a few sections (depending on Chapter) are more thoroughly fleshed out or investigated then others (for example, the Chapter 1 sections on Functionalism vs Conflict Theory, where the latter as several paragraphs dedicated to different theorists in said tradition). The book is clear in parts, but some chapters are better than others. one of the parts could be ‘diversity, inequality and inclusion.’. This is actually a very well organized text. The book is organized as a set of modules whose order can be changed. Topics include the dominant assumptions held by those in the military, changes in military members' willingness to fight, military unionization, military professionalism, the increased utilization of women, the military industrial-academic complex, the military's dependence on research, and the institutional and organizational structure of military. I like how the topic covered in boxes or bold are current. Functionalist theories emphasize "cohesive systems" and are often contrasted with "conflict theories", which critique the overarching socio-political system or emphasize the inequality between particular groups. The book does a good job on topical material (i.e. are sociological and can be up to interpretation and/or evolution over time. The lack of a definition for social structure is disappointing. The authors have done an excellent job in maintaining the overall consistency between chapters.

This can be problematic if the instructor expects students to know these. The book is indifferent to various social issues and avoids any material that might be insensitive or offensive. No issues with grammatical errors in this text. I probably would not divide the chapters into smaller reading sections, but I could imagine an instructor only using some of the chapters from the text. This textbook offers a consistent read and framework for learners.