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Overview
The text frames sociological debates around the major theoretical perspectives of sociology and focus on capturing students’ imaginations with cutting-edge research and real-world events. The hallmark of the book continues to be clear writing that helps students understand the intricacies of the discipline like no other textbook on the market.
New to the eighth edition
Thinking outside the box (or inside it…)
Selected chapters contain thematically linked boxed inserts aimed at bringing analytical and expositional focus to certain issues, as follows:
- Sociological Insights: These boxes focus on how sociology can help us better understand a variety of issues and how examples from everyday life can help us to understand sociological principles, illustrating how topics are carefully linked to that material.
- Global Sociology: One of the most pronounced social changes of the past century has been globalization—a transition from the dominance of nation-states and national economies to global interactions. These boxes examine how social change moves around the world.
- Sociological Surprises: One common criticism of sociologists is that we sometimes expend a great deal of effort to prove things that are obvious. On the contrary, the reality is that what we find often goes against what people commonly believe and even against sociological researchers expect to find. These boxes focus on such unexpected findings, analyzing why the social reality turns out to be something different from what is expected.
- Understanding Race, Class, and Gender: These boxes give added emphasis to the book’s focus on race, class, and gender inequality. In every issue that sociologists study, race, class, and gender play a key role—and these boxes provide students with clear and concrete examples of how this occurs.
- Student Life: These boxes, which discuss student life from a sociological viewpoint, show how sociology is relevant to students in their everyday lives, covering race relations to dating to paying for college, and draws out their sociological implications.
- Putting Sociology to Work: These boxes focus on application: How can sociology be used to solve a social problem or to make an important decision?
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781032423593 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
| Publication date: | 09/03/2024 |
| Edition description: | 8th ed. |
| Pages: | 650 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
Michael W. Flota is Professor and Chair of the School of Social Science at Daytona State College, where he teaches Introduction to Sociology every semester, and serves as the Managing Editor for the Journal of Florida Studies.
J. Scott Carter is currently a Professor of Sociology at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orland, FL. He has published in several journals, including the Annual Review of Sociology, Social Problems, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Social Science Research, Social Science Quarterly, and the Journal of Family Issues to name a few. He is also co-author of the book, The Death of Affirmative Action? Racialized Framing and the Fight Against Racial Preference in College Admissions (2021), and co-editor of the book, Protecting Whiteness: Whitelash and the Rejection of Racial Equality (2020).
Table of Contents
PrefaceAcknowledgementsAbout the Authors1. Sociology: The Discipline2. How Sociology Is Done3. Perspectives on Society and Interaction4. Culture and Social Structure5. Socialization6. Stratification: Structured Social Inequality7. Race and Ethnic Relations8. Sex, Gender, and Society9. Groups, Organizations, and the Workplace10. Deviance, Crime, and Social Control11. Economy and Society12. Politics, Power, and Society13. Marriages and Families14. Education15. Religion16. Health, Population, and Aging17. Urban Society: City Life and Collective Behavior18. Social Movements and Change
Introduction
As this fifth edition of Sociology goes to press, I would like to begin by saying that I am gratified by the success this book has enjoyed in its first four editions. In the development of this fifth edition, I have worked very hard to improve the book and to respond to feedback from readers of earlier editions, while at the same time retaining those features that readers have found useful in earlier editions. In particular, there are three features of this book that have made it different from other introductory textbooks, and I have made every effort to retain and strengthen each of these features.
First, from the initial edition of the book, I have used sociology's three major perspectives—functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist—as a way of linking the very diverse topics, issues, and theories that sociology addresses. Many other introductory sociology texts briefly introduce these perspectives in a small part of an early chapter, then, at most, mention them occasionally in later parts of the book. In contrast, this book devotes a full chapter—Chapter 3—to an in-depth examination of the perspectives and how they have been used and increasingly combined in order to develop a better understanding of society. And through the rest of the book, the perspectives are used to show linkages among theories and issues throughout sociology—in every chapter in the remainder of the book, one or more of these perspectives is used to analyze and understand the subject matter. And wherever a specific sociological theory about a particular topic can be readily linked to one of the broader sociological perspectives, that linkage is made. The endresult is a more integrated and less fragmented understanding of sociology. A second advantage of this approach is that it encourages critical thinking about how research findings in sociology support, challenge, or lead to modifications in sociological theory. Specifically, students are invited to consider how sociological research findings and data are consistent or not consistent with the claims of the broad perspectives, or of more specific theories arising from these perspectives.
Second, in every edition I have maintained a strong emphasis on race, class, and gender throughout the book. Reviewers of the book have noted that, while many books in effect segregate coverage of issues of race, class, and gender to the chapters on those particular topics, this book addresses race, class, and gender in its coverage of every topic. Issues of race, class, and gender are discussed and illustrated in every chapter, thus showing their pervasive impact on every area of society from health to education to deviance to urban society. In this new edition, this emphasis throughout the textual material of every chapter has been augmented by a new set of boxed inserts focusing specifically on issues of race, class, and gender in the different subject areas of sociology.
Third, from the first edition, I made a conscious decision to cover slightly fewer topics than other introductory sociology texts, but to cover those I do in somewhat greater depth. In addition, I place a greater emphasis than do other textbook authors on showing how one topic in sociology relates to another. In part, this is done through the theoretical linkages and the emphasis throughout the book on issues of race, class, and gender. However, it is also facilitated by my decision to cover slightly fewer topics in greater depth—this provides the opportunities to make those linkages. I believe that the end result of this approach is to make the book more integrated and less disjointed than other introductory texts, and to encourage students to think and reason more deeply about sociological issues, principles, and theories.
ORGANIZATION: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE FIFTH EDITION
As in earlier editions, I have divided my book into five parts. However, some organizational changes have been made both in the content of some chapters and in the organization of some of the components. In this new organization, I have sought to retain organizational features that help students see key linkages among sociological topics and issues, while introducing some new organizational features that may further highlight such linkages. As before, Part I introduces sociology as a discipline. Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of what sociology is all about: what insights can we gain through sociology that we may not be able to gain through other ways of knowing? What is the sociological way of knowing, and where does it fit within the broader picture of science and the social sciences? The key theories and theorists of sociology are briefly introduced, along with the social conditions that gave rise to sociology and that continue to make sociology relevant in the new millennium. Chapter 2 provides an overview of how sociology is done. The concept of the scientific method is introduced, along with an overview of the various types of methods used in sociology and key concepts such as variables. Attention is given both to the role of values in sociology and to the relationship between theory and research. Emphasis is also placed upon the notion that different methods, including quantitative and qualitative methods, have tradeoffs: something is gained and something is lost in the choice of any method as opposed to another.
Part II focuses on society and interaction. It begins with Chapter 3, devoted entirely to the three sociological perspectives—describing and presenting each one within a broader context of micro- and macro-sociology, and exploring efforts to combine two or all three of the perspectives. No other introductory text of which I am aware `provides such a thorough discussion of the sociological perspectives, and this chapter lays the groundwork for all that follows. Chapter 4 provides combined coverage of culture and social structure. While my book was one of the first to treat culture and social structure together in the same chapter, I am gratified to see that other books are now adopting this organization. I believe it is essential, because culture and social structure are so interconnected that neither can be understood outside the context of .the other. The third chapter in Part II, Chapter 5, covers socialization, the process by which human beings become members of human societies.
As before, Part III focuses on social structure and inequality, but three chapters that previously appeared elsewhere have been added to this part of the book. Chapter 6 introduces the concept of stratification as structured social inequality. It provides a detailed examination of both class inequality (including wealth, income, and the problem of poverty) and power inequality, as well as the strong relationship between the two. Chapter 7 provides an in-depth analysis of race, ethnicity, and racial inequality, while Chapter 8 examines gender and gender inequality. Reflecting the book's continuing and heightened emphasis on race, class, and gender inequality, this chapter now appears in this part of the book along with the chapters on class and racial inequality. Also added to this part of the book are Chapter 9, on groups, organizations, and the workplace, and Chapter 10, on deviant behavior, crime, and social control. This new organization reflects the intricate linkage of these subject areas with race, class, and gender inequality. It is impossible to study groups, organizations, or the workplace without addressing social inequality, and inequality is and always has been a major emphasis of this chapter. Similarly, inequalities along the lines of race, class, and gender are a critical element in the definition, labeling, and punishment of deviant behavior and crime, and many sociologists argue that a major function of social control is the preservation of such inequalities. Both work/organizations and deviance/crime are key arenas in which processes involving social inequality are played out, and such inequality has been emphasized in these chapters in each edition of the book. This new placement makes this emphasis even more clear, and provides a direct linkage of material in the stratification, race, and gender chapters to material in the work/organizations and deviance/crime chapters.
The organization of Part IV is retained as in earlier editions. This part of the book focuses on major social institutions, with chapters on economy and society, marriages and families, education, religion, and health and health care. These chapters, too, contain extensive material on race, class, and gender inequality within each of these major institutional areas. Finally, as before, Part V focuses on social change, but here, too, chapter content has been reorganized. As before, the first chapter in this part of the book addresses population and aging. However, the other two chapters have been reorganized. Material on collective behavior now appears with material on urban society in Chapter 17. I believe this organization makes a great deal of sense, because to a large extent, collective behavior is a phenomenon of urban societies. Material on social movements now appears in Chapter 18 with material on social change, reflecting the fact that social movements are an important engine of social change. I have also consciously chosen to place material on social movements in a separate chapter from material on collective behavior, because, far too often, models of collective behavior have been blindly and inappropriately applied to social movements. The two phenomena are different, and are worthy of separate treatment.
The observant user of earlier editions of the book will note one other organizational change: There are now 18 chapters instead of 20. This reflects feedback that I and nearly every other introductory sociology textbook author has received the last few years: intro books have gotten too long and encyclopedic. I have tried to respond to this concern by organizing the book better and cutting material that is not really essential to a good overview of sociology The result is a reduction of approximately 16,000 words in the textual material of this edition.
WHAT ELSE IS NEW IN THE FIFTH EDITION
In response to requests for greater thematic unity in the book's boxed inserts, and to further emphasize the book's focus on certain issues, I have reorganized the boxed inserts, and added new ones in nearly every chapter. The boxes are now focused as follows:
SOCIOLOGICAL SURPRISES—One common, but (I strongly believe) unjustified criticism of sociologists is that we sometimes spend a great deal of effort to prove things that are obvious. On the contrary, the reality is that what we find often goes against what people commonly believe, and even sometimes against what we as sociological researchers expect to find. These boxes focus on such unexpected findings, and analyze why the social reality turns out to be something different from what most people believe or would have expected to find.
UNDERSTANDING RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER—These boxes give added emphasis to the book's focus on race, class, and gender inequality. In every issue that sociologists study, race, class, and gender play a key role-and these boxes provide students with clear and concrete examples of how this occurs.
GLOBAL SOCIOLOGY—One of the most pronounced social changes of the past century has been globalization—a transition from the dominance of nation-states and national economies to global interactions. Whether we realize it or not, global processes affect nearly every aspect of our lives, and are a key factor in social inequality not only worldwide but also "at home," wherever "home" is. These boxes examine social change around the world, and how change in one part of the world brings changes in other parts.
STUDENT LIFE—These boxes, which discuss student life from a sociological viewpoint, show how sociology is relevant to students in their everyday lives. They cover a range of issues that directly affect today's students, from race relations to dating and mating to paying for college, and draw out the sociological implications so students can use their own personal experiences to gain sociological understanding.
SOCIOLOGICAL INSIGHTS—These boxes focus on how sociology can help us better understand a variety of issues, and how examples from everyday life can help us to understand sociological principles. They also explore the contributions of key sociologists to the development of the discipline. They are used to illustrate and elaborate on topics covered in the accompanying text material, and are carefully linked to that material.
PERSONAL JOURNEYS INTO SOCIOLOGY—Major figures in sociology, including William Julius Wilson, Joan McCord, Diane Vaughan, Harry Edwards, William Domhoff, and Charles Tilly, have written boxed inserts specifically for this text, explaining both the nature and the personal meaning of their work. In many cases, they explore how and why they became sociologists. To personalize this book, I added my own personal journey in the fourth edition. In this edition, several of the authors have revised and updated their personal journey boxes.
In this edition, twenty boxed inserts are entirely new, and many others have been revised and updated. I am excited about this edition's boxed inserts, because I think they move a step further toward what I have always strived for in this book: the best linkage and integration of topics of any introductory sociology textbook.
I have also taken pride in the currency of my book. With each edition, hundreds of new sociological studies and data sources have been added to keep the book as up-to-the-minute as possible. Of the more than 2,800 references in the fifth edition, more than 400 are new in this edition. Major sociological journals from 1998 through 2001 were reviewed issue-by-issue to ensure the inclusion of the most current sociological research. The book was timed to take advantage of the availability of statistics from the 2000 Census, and data from that census appear in the relevant places throughout the book. Today, with the availability of the Internet, it is possible to present statistics that are more current than ever before. Throughout the book, national and international data have been updated using data sources on the Internet. Data released as late as the fall of 2001 are included.
The tragedy of September 11, 2001 forced Americans to deal with two difficult realities. First and most obviously, we learned that the potential loss of life from terrorism is beyond what we previously believed possible, and that terrorism is a reality that threatens every American. Second, and equally important, we were reminded that we both affect and are affected by things that happen in other parts of the world. In today's global economy and, increasingly, global society, this is an inescapable reality. For example, societies in the Middle East are profoundly influenced by the actions of the United States, and the United States in turn is profoundly influenced by what occurs in the Middle East. To help students to understand these realities, this edition includes expanded coverage, both in textual material and in boxed inserts, on the issue of terrorism and the need for a better understanding of the Arab and Muslim worlds. I am proud of the fact that my book has always included substantial and balanced discussion of difficult Middle East issues, such as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. It has also included substantial discussion of the Islamic religion and of the experiences of Arab Americans, including a personal journey box by researcher Jack Shahenn on his lifelong study of the racist and stereotypical portrayals of Arabs and Arab Americans in Hollywood films. Finally, this book has included in each edition a discussion of terrorism that has sought to convey the point that terrorism is defined by the act, not the actor, and which seeks to understand terrorism from a sociological perspective. All of this material, including Dr. Shaheen's box, has been expanded and updated, and new boxed and textual material has been added on September 11, terrorism, and understanding Islam.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
In addition to the above changes, the book includes a number of features designed to enhance student learning. Some are new; others are carried over from earlier editions. One feature that has been added is Suggestions for Further Reading. Three or four books are suggested and briefly described in each chapter's section on the Companion Website.™ A few are "classics"; most are new and current. Some are designed to give students general overviews of the topics addressed in the chapter, but in greater detail than is possible in one chapter of an introductory textbook. Others are examples of current sociological work exploring a topic related to the chapter material. These works are chosen for currency, for interesting topics and innovative sociological research, and for readability and accessibility to undergraduate students.
A feature that has been carried over from earlier editions is Putting Sociology to Work sections in selected chapters. The focus of these sections is application: How can sociology be used to solve a social problem or to make an important decision? While this feature is carried over from previous editions, all of these sections have been modified and updated, and some have been re-written to focus on issues of current importance. For example, the Putting Sociology to Work section in Chapter 6 assesses the impacts of the "welfare reform" legislation that was passed in 1996: Did it achieve its goals? Did it make poor people less dependent? Did it take away their safety net? Are the people it intended to help better off or worse off today?
As in earlier editions, the book includes a variety of pedagogical aids, including end-of-chapter lists of key terms, which appear in bold print where they are first introduced and in a glossary at the end of the book. Each chapter begins with a real-life vignette, often based on actual sociological findings or data. Some have been updated for the fifth edition, and some are entirely new. Each chapter ends with a summary, designed to provide a succinct wrap-up of the main points of the chapter. I have strived mightily to write clearly in language students can readily understand, always keeping in mind the introductory sociology student as reader. Where I have failed to do this as well as possible, skillful editors have bailed me out. Yet, while writing in as clear and direct a way as possible, I also have called upon students to reason sociologically and to explore the relationship between theory and research in a sophisticated way. I believe strongly that this is something introductory-level students can and should do, but I also know they will only have the opportunity to do so if called upon by their textbooks and instructors to do so.
This brings me to what I believe is the most important pedagogical feature of this book. It is not to be found in boxes, lists of key terms, or opening or closing sections of chapters, as important as all of these are. Rather, it is found throughout the book, in clearly written material with a constant emphasis on sociological thinking. In every chapter, students are encouraged to discover how ideas and concepts relate to one another. They are encouraged to reason sociologically to see whether the research evidence is consistent with the ideas advanced by one or the other of the three major perspectives. I believe that students can do this if we give them the proper tools in clear, understandable language. That is what I have tried to do, and I believe that if I am successful, the lives of the students who read this book will be enriched by their newfound ability to use the sociological imagination.
SUPPLEMENTS
Prentice Hall is pleased to offer an extensive supplements package to accompany this text. Each supplement has been carefully prepared to give the instructor the resources needed to teach the course and the student the tools needed to successfully complete the course.
For the Instructor
INSTRUCTOR'S RESOURCE & TESTING MANUAL. This carefully written guide includes chapter by chapter learning objectives, key concepts, lecture topics, acid detailed chapter outlines. Also included are over 1,800 test questions keyed to each chapter in multiple-choice, true/false, and essay/critical thinking formats.
MAC/WIN PH TEST MANAGER. This computerized software allows instructors to create their own personalized exams, to edit any or all test questions, and to add new questions. Other special features of this program, which is available for Windows and Macintosh, include random generation of an item set, creation of alternate versions of the same test, scrambling question sequence, and test preview before printing.
FILM/VIDEO GUIDE: PRENTICE HALL INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY, SIXTH EDITION. This guide describes more than 300 films and videos appropriate for classroom viewing. It also provides summaries, discussion questions, and rental sources for each film and video.
ABC News/Prentice Hall Video ABCN Library for Sociology. Selected video segments from award-wining ABC News programs such as Nightline, ABC World News Tonight, and 20/20 accompany topics featured in the text. An Instructor's Guide is also available. Please contact your Prentice Hall representative for more details.
PRENTICE HALL COLOR TRANSPARENCIES: SOCIOLOGY SERIES VI. Full-color illustrations, charts, and other visual materials from the text as well as outside sources have been selected to make up this useful in-class tool. An Instructor's Guide is also available.
PRENTICE HALL INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY POWERPOINT™ TRANSPARENCIES. This set of 300 PowerPoint slides combines graphics and text in a colorful format to help you convey sociological principles in a new and exciting way. For easy download, please visit our Website
DISTANCE LEARNING SOLUTIONS. Prentice Hall is committed to providing our leading content to the growing number of courses being delivered over the Internet by developing relationships with the leading vendors—Blackboard™ and CourseCompass, Prentice Hall's own easy-to-use course management system powered by Blackboard™. Please visit our technology solutions Website.
For the Student
CENSUS2000 INTERACTIVE CD-ROM. Capturing the rich picture of our nation drawn by Census2000, this CDROM brings related Census data, including audio, video, actual reports in PDF format, into your classroom in a multimedia format. It is free when packaged with Sociology, Fifth Edition.
COMPANION WEBSITE™. In tandem with the text, students can now take full advantage of the Internet to enrich their study of sociology. Features of the Website include chapter objectives, study questions, and links to The New York Times and the USA Today Census 2000. In addition links to interesting material on the Web can reinforce and enhance the content of each chapter. Use of the site is free to all students and faculty. Simply visit the Website and click on the cover of Sociology, Fifth Edition.
A PRENTICE HALL GUIDE TO EVALUATING ONLINE RESOURCES, SOCIOLOGY, 2003. This guide provides a brief introduction to navigating the Internet, along with references related specifically to the discipline of sociology. Also included with the guide is access to ContentSelect. Developed by Prentice Hall and EBSCO, the world leader in online journal subscription management, ContentSelect is a customized research database for students of sociology. The guide is free to students when packaged with Sociology, Fifth Edition.
STUDY GUIDE. Carefully written to enhance the comprehension of the material presented in the text, this guide contains a section on maximizing your, sociology test performance as well as chapter by chapter objectives, summary, key terns, and chapter review questions in multiple-choice, true/false and fill-in-the blank formats. All questions are page-referenced to the text.
10 WAYS TO FIGHT HATE. This brochure is produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the leading hate-crime and crime-watch organization in the United States. It walks students through ten steps that they can take on their own campus or in their own neighborhood to fight hate every day. This brochure is free when packaged with Sociology, Fifth Edition.