The latest edition of SOCIOLOGY IN OUR TIMES: THE ESSENTIALS builds on the best of this popular text's previous editions while offering new chapter-opening first-person accounts of individuals lived experience and significantly updated coverage, learning tools, and opportunities for students to apply what they learn and make a difference in their own communities. Compelling examples, a vivid writing style, and chapter themes grounded in social issues already familiar to students hold students' interest and engage their sociological imaginations as they learn the concepts, theories, and research that comprise sociology today. A vibrant new interior design and an exciting collection of new videos with assignable activities complement the texts' new coverage of timely topics such as health care legislation, the U.S. and global economies, Barack Obama's presidency, and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.
This book started out from the very basics of "what is sociology" and "what are some theories used overall in sociology." Then it went on to examine many different sociological issues, showing where those different theories think differently about those issues. It does this without seeming to favor any one theory over another and seems to just report what they think rather than analyze them. It was useful for framing a basic understanding of social issues in the United States, and often talks about semi-recent events such as the passing of Obamacare and creation of the Tea Party. I don't know whether this book has been updated since 2008 though, and if there is a more recent edition.