Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach

Rate this book
"A Down-to-Earth Approach" James Henslin shares the excitement of sociology in "Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach," 11/e. With his acclaimed "down-to-earth" approach and personal writing style, the author highlights the sociology of everyday life and its relevance to students' lives. With wit, personal reflection, and illuminating examples, Henslin stimulates students' sociological imagination so they can better perceive how the pieces of society fit together. In addition to this trademark down-to-earth approach, other distinctive features include: comparative perspectives, the globalization of capitalism, and visual presentations of sociology. MySocLab is an integral part of the Henslin learning program. Engaging activities and assessments provide a teaching a learning system that helps students see the world through a sociological lens. With MySocLab, students can develop critical thinking skills through writing, explore real-world data through the new Social Explorer, and watch the latest entries in the Core Concept Video Series. Revel from Pearson is a new learning experience designed for the way today's students read, think, and learn. Revel redesigns familiar and respected course content and enriches it for today's students with new dynamic, rich-media interactives and assessments. The result is improved student engagement and improved learning. Revel for Henslin will be available for Fall 2014 classes. This program will provide a better teaching and learning experience-for you and your students. It:

Personalizes Learning with MySocLab: MySocLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program. It helps students prepare for class and instructor gauge individual and class performance.
Explores a A Down-to-Earth Approach: This title highlights the sociology of everyday life and its relevance to students' lives.
Improves Critical Thinking: Features throughout help build critical thinking skills.
Understands Social Change: An important theme of the text, social change over time, examines what society was previously like, how it has changed, and what the implications are for the present and future.
ALERT: Before you purchase, check with your instructor or review your course syllabus to ensure that you select the correct ISBN. Several versions of Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products exist for each title, including customized versions for individual schools, and registrations are not transferable. In addition, you may need a CourseID, provided by your instructor, to register for and use Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products. PackagesAccess codes for Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products may not be included when purchasing or renting from companies other than Pearson; check with the seller before completing your purchase. Used or rental booksIf you rent or purchase a used book with an access code, the access code may have been redeemed previously and you may have to purchase a new access code. Access codesAccess codes that are purchased from sellers other than Pearson carry a higher risk of being either the wrong ISBN or a previously redeemed code. Check with the seller prior to purchase.

502 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

35 people are currently reading
707 people want to read

About the author

James M. Henslin

215 books9 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
120 (27%)
4 stars
129 (30%)
3 stars
115 (26%)
2 stars
40 (9%)
1 star
25 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Little Timmy.
7,393 reviews59 followers
February 14, 2016
This was the text book for my college course. good read and well laid out chapters made this a good book to learn from. Recommended
Profile Image for S.
376 reviews
May 22, 2016
Textbook for Intro to Sociology class. This isn't the first intro sociology textbook I've read. I didn't agree with everything in the book, and I remember noting some mistakes that probably don't matter to anyone but me. On the upside, I like the way the information was presented. I'm not a big psyc/socio person, but this book made me talk about sociology. Not in class, just randomly to friends and family. I think that says a lot about this book. I wouldn't read it for fun, but it gives a very thorough overview. 3.7* rounded up.
Profile Image for Tiff.
265 reviews5 followers
May 6, 2013
I was rather surprised how much I enjoyed this textbook and how much material was covered for an intro to sociology course. It was written in layman's terms which made it easy to understand and relatable. Glad my professor chose this book as the main text!
Profile Image for Destiny Ann.
63 reviews9 followers
March 14, 2018
I read this for my Sociology class and it was a good class! I enjoyed it a lot and I it’s nice having a break now because I can read!
Profile Image for Adam.
97 reviews11 followers
July 3, 2022
master status - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_...

sandwich generation - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwic...

primary group (usually family)

Horatio Alger myth – the belief that anyone can get ahead if only he or she tries hard enough

"When husbands get laid off, most do less housework […] it threatens his masculinity"

"romantic love usually begins with sexual attraction. Finding ourselves sexually attracted to someone, we spend time with that person. I f we discover mutual interests, we may label our feelings “love.” Apparently, then, romantic love has two components. The first is emotional, a feeling of sexual attraction. The second is cognitive, a label that we attach to our feelings. If we attach this label, we describe ourselves as being 'in love.'"

Profile Image for Reet.
1,461 reviews9 followers
March 28, 2018
I read this for my own interest, because I try to figure out how human beings got in the overpopulated, planet-destroying mess we're in. It was interesting and I learned quite a bit. Here's the thing, though. In the chapters concerning environment, overpopulation and the planet's ability to feed all these swollen rivers of humans, industry, etc., there's no mention of CAFOS, or food grown for and fed to "food" Animals, and how rain forests are being Pac-manned to grow these crops. Why? Oh, wait, we're not supposed to know about these things. That's right.
Profile Image for Aly .
68 reviews
December 6, 2021
I had to use this textbook this semester for a college course. It does it's job but it's a textbook so, you know, it can get pretty boring. It wasn't hard to read and it did a really good job explaining things in a way that I could understand them. I enjoyed the examples and it made the textbook feel more personal when the author used "I" "me" and "my" within the text. It felt better knowing that the research was done by him rather than some things he saw looking around on the internet.
Profile Image for Qiaoyun.Hu.
26 reviews
January 2, 2019
关于社会学的一本精美有趣的入门书籍,结合生动的实例解释互动论、功能论、冲突论等理论知识,很喜欢。
Profile Image for night birdie.
95 reviews8 followers
July 7, 2025
honestly, started reading because i needed to for class. became a fun read when i realized it wasnt just an info dump. bought a copy in lieu of keeping it on the pdf version!
Profile Image for Vee Gretzinger.
58 reviews
April 21, 2013
i thought this book was very interesting. Yes, it's a textbook, and it was assigned reading. but, quite frankly, i enjoyed it very much. i enjoyed reading the authors personal accounts, and he simplified everything for better understanding. however, trying to read a college textbook, maintain a social life, and still be in high school, forced me to lower the score. #sorryimnotsorry
Profile Image for Beth.
900 reviews17 followers
October 18, 2012
Henslin's personal accounts throughout the chapters helped to illustrate the basic sociological concepts and themes. Well written textbook that is easy to read.
Profile Image for Christina.
87 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2014
This was my sociology 100 text book. I don't remember much about it, but I also don't remember this class being abnormally hard.
Profile Image for Heather.
481 reviews1 follower
July 29, 2014
This book was really informative when explaining sociology. It was easy to read and used examples to explain. Easy to follow and learn from it.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.