Introduction to Sociology

Introduction to Sociology

  • Downloads:5060
  • Type:Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date:2021-09-07 07:52:51
  • Update Date:2025-09-07
  • Status:finish
  • Author:Frank van Tubergen
  • ISBN:0815353855
  • Environment:PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Summary

Comprehensive and engaging, this textbook introduces students not only to foundational sociological work, but also to insights from contemporary sociological theory and research。 This combined approach ensures that students become familiar with the core of sociology: key concepts, theories, perspectives, methods, and findings。 Students will acquire the ability to think like a sociologistinvestigate and understand complex social phenomena。



This text presents a complete sociological toolkit, guiding students in the art of asking good sociological questions, devising a sophisticated theory and developing methodologies to observe social phenomena。 The chapters of this book build cumulatively to equip students with the tools to quickly understand any new sociological topic or contemporary social problem。



The textbook also applies the sociological toolkit to selected key sociological issues, showing how specific sociological topics can be easily investigated and understood using this approach。 Taking a global and comparative perspective, the book covers a rich diversity of sociological topics and social problems, such as crime, immigration, race and ethnicity, media, education, family, organizations, gender, poverty, modernization and religion。



The book presents a range of helpful pedagogical features throughout, such as:




Chapter overview and learning goals summaries at the start of every chapter;



Thinking like a sociologist boxes, encouraging students to reflect critically on learning points;



Principle boxes, summarizing key sociological principles;



Theory schema boxes, presenting sociological theories in a clear, understandable manner;



Stylized facts highlighting key empirical findings and patterns;



Key concepts and summary sections at the end of every chapter; and



Companion website providing additional material for every chapter for both instructors and students, including PowerPoint lecture notes, discussion questions and answers, multiple-choice questions, further reading and a full glossary of terms。



This clear and accessible text is essential reading for students taking introductory courses in sociology。 It will also be useful for undergraduate and graduate courses in other social science disciplines, such as psychology, economics, human geography, demography, communication studies, education sciences, political science and criminology。

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Reviews

Hayden Lane

As a book exploring the process of researching and exploring specific sociological topics, this was interesting。 As an introduction to sociology textbook, I found it missing huge amounts of what should be "core" content in an introductory textbook。 For example, there is no chapter on Socialization, formal institutions like government, corporations, education, etc。 are barely discussed or not at all, the chapter on Religion only really explores the secularization of western Europe and why America As a book exploring the process of researching and exploring specific sociological topics, this was interesting。 As an introduction to sociology textbook, I found it missing huge amounts of what should be "core" content in an introductory textbook。 For example, there is no chapter on Socialization, formal institutions like government, corporations, education, etc。 are barely discussed or not at all, the chapter on Religion only really explores the secularization of western Europe and why America is more religious than expected, elements of culture and society are explored only in limited capacity。Strengths of the book: Thorough detailing of how to ask sociological questions, especially testable research questions。the chapter on Inequality/Mobility the section exploring Integration and the honor culture of the southern U。S。The chapter on Religion, especially investigating the relationship between modernization, welfare states, and religiosity。The deeper exploration of topics/themes could be a good supplement to the core content I am teaching in my class。Weaknesses: I don't believe that the content in this book aligns with the full ASA standards for teaching sociology, so I couldn't use it in my class except as a supplement。There is no real explanation of concepts considered foundation knowledge in basically every other introduction course。 Though there is a lot about the foundational work done by Durkheim/Weber/Marx & Engels and the other "pioneers" of sociology, the core frameworks they developed are glossed in one section, then dropped in favor of "sociological themes" (culture, social relations, inequality)。The research design section often gets lost in the weeds of logic formulae/flow charts。A surprising amount of the statistics and research cited in examples are old (1990s, 80s, 70s, earlier)。 I was surprised that more current research either hasn't been done or wasn't included, considering the drastic ways that computer/internet technology has changed the global social landscape since the 1990s。The writer doesn't use the Oxford comma : )Ultimately, this isn't an introductory textbook。 It's something you use after you've had an introductory class and already have a grasp of the elements of society, culture, socialization, formal institutions, and interpretive frameworks, and want to explore how to design testable research questions and explore limited thematic topics in the field with an eye toward doing research of your own。 。。。more