Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

* Features updated and revised chapters (as well as some back from previous editions) to broaden the scope and depth of the text. These chapters include: * Chapter 6: Deviance and Criminality; * Chapter 9: Age, Gender, and Sexuality; * Chapter 12: The Family; and * Chapter 13: Religion and Education. * Incorporates collective behavior and social movements into the chapter on social change (Ch. 10). * Presents a revised International Relations chapter (Ch. 19) that has been updated and streamlined and now introduces the issue of the role the U.S. should play on the world stage in the 21st century. * Presents an integrated, thought-provoking approach that draws upon sociology, political science, economics, anthropology, geography, history, psychology, and their related disciplines to give students an overview of the social sciences. * Emphasizes social change and how it impacts society. * Contains chapter summaries that serve as an excellent tool for focusing on the key concepts presented in each chapter. * Includes a glossary of terms with succinct, yet accessible definitions in each chapter. * Provides historical and timely topics for class discussion in the box features presented

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• 1 Through the Lens of Science
• The Social World Seen Through the Lens of Science
• The Scientific Method
• Steps of the Scientific Method
• The Scientific Spirit: Skepticism, Objectivity, Relativity
• The Social Science Disciplines
• Research Methods in the Social Sciences
• 2 In the Beginning
• The Beginnings of Life
• The Emergence of the Theory of Evolution
• Genetics
• 3 Culture: Product and Guide to Life in Society
• Culture: Concept and Importance
• The Symbolic Nature of Culture
• The Most Important System of Symbols: Language
• The Content of Culture
• The Components of Nonmaterial Culture: Cognitive and Normative
• Pivotal Institutions
• Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity
• Cultural Differences and Universals
• 4 Group Interaction: From Two to Millions
• How Is the Social System Organized and Structured? The Multiplicity of Statuses and Roles
• Groups
• Primary and Secondary Groups
• Society
• Interaction and Social Processes
• Formal Organizations
• Bureaucracy
• 5 Becoming a Person: The Birth of Personality
• Personality
• Becoming Human: Socialization
• Theories of Socialization
• Agents of Socialization
• Socialization Through the Life Cycle
• Some Conclusions
• 6 Deviance and Criminality: The Need for Social Control
• Deviance
• The Relative Nature of Deviance
• Explaining Deviance
• Mental Disorders
• Deviance as Seen from a Sociological Perspective
• Crime: Deviance That Hurts
• 7 The Great Divide: Ranking and Stratification
• Social Differentiation, Ranking, and Stratification
• Stratification
• Theoretical Views on Stratification
• Dimensions of Stratification: Class, Status, and Power
• Systems of Stratification
• Determining Social Class
• Social Classes in the United States
• Social Class and its Consequences
• Social Mobility
• 8 Minority Status: Race and Ethnicity
• Majority and Minority Relations: Defining the Terms
• Common Characteristics of Minorities
• The Making of Pluralist Society
• Majority and Minorities: Processes of Coexistence
• In the Way: Obstacles to Pluralism
• Racial Minorities
• Ethnic and Religious Minorities
• The New Face of America
• 9 Minority Status: Age, Gender, and Sexuality
• The Aging Society
• Women: Differentiation According to Gender
• The Cultural Construction of Gender
• Sexuality
• 10 From the Plow to the Computer: Change, Collective Behavior, and Social Movements
• Society and Change
• Processes of Social and Cultural Change
• The Industrial Revolution
• Modernization
• Collective Behavior
• Social Movements
• Revolutionary Movements
• 11 Population, Urbanization, and Environment
• Demographic Processes: Dynamics of Population Change
• Characteristics and Composition of a Population
• Population Around the World
• Demographic Transition
• Zero Population Growth
• Population Policies
• The Urban Society
• Urbanization