Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology

by Patrick Nolan, Gerhard Lenski

Human Societies differs from most texts written for the introductory sociology course, being neither a survey of contemporary Americana society nor an eclectic, encyclopedia-like collection of topics, perspectives, and conflicting theories. Taking a macrosociological, global approach, it offers an introduction to sociology that is truly comparative, cross-cultural, and historical. It compares societies over time and across environments, emphasizing the dynamics of social change. Its clearly developed ecological-evolutionary perspective provides a powerful theoretical framework for understanding the array of social arrangements found in human societies over the past 100,000 years. Since industrial societies are encountered only after this theoretical base has been firmly established and older, simpler, and smaller societies have been examined in detail, students see their own society (and other contemporary societies) in a broader and more meaningful way. By showing how social arrangements are related to the environmental and technological context societies are situated in, it encourages students to look for the reasons why social arrangements are the way they are, and why they change over time.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published November 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the textbook for my undergraduate introductory sociology class.
For a textbook, it's pretty readable, and it is formatted more like a regular non-fiction book than a textbook. If one was looking to do independent study on sociology, I think this textbook would be a nice candidate for reading outside a class.
However, the later chapters are kinda Islamophobic and there's a weird paragraph that argues that climate change isn't caused by humans, and that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my majors is Sociology, so I was hoping that this book would be fascinating. It wasn't. Though the subject matter was interesting enough, the book came off a little drab and unexciting, and has made me rethink my choice to double-major in Sociology. I did enjoy some aspects of the book, and found it to be interesting and knowledgeable in several aspects, but I the emotion I ended up feeling the most while reading this book was "bored". Unfortunately. I would like to see if I could read this outside of a school setting - I think I would possibly find this more interesting. I did like this book, and I still love and am fascinated by the subject, but it was still a little difficult to get through.