Give students the sociological skills to understand the world today—and prepare for tomorrow.
Drawing on current events, cutting-edge research, and the most up-to-date data, Essentials of Sociology illustrates the power of sociology to make us better community members, citizens, and professionals. Our stellar author team helps students understand and apply key sociological insights to contemporary challenges. New online learning resources support understanding and deep, engaged reading.
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Heavily revised chapter on Race, Ethnicity, and Racism
Drawing on new research and up-to-date case studies, the chapter offers coverage of important issues and problems, including institutional racism and the recent rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.
Interactive activities take sociology beyond the classroom
New Employing Your Sociological Imagination interactives in the Norton Illumine Ebook highlight the practical relevance of sociology.
Engages students in
applying sociology
New topical coverage includes sociological examinations of the unequal effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, an aging global population, crime and policing, stratification and inequality, social determinates of heath, and work and economic life.
About the Authors
Anthony Giddens, the former director of the London School of Economics and a current member of the House of Lords, is a world-renowned social theorist who has written more than forty books. He has written on just about every major topic in sociology but is best known for his work on modernization theory and globalization.
Mitchell Duneier is an award-winning urban ethnographer at Princeton University and the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is most famous for his book Sidewalk, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Duneier's research focuses on the urban poor and other groups at the margins of society. His latest book, Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea, which traces the changing meaning of the ghetto, was named one of the best books of 2016 by the New York Times.
Richard P. Appelbaum, Distinguished Research Professor and former MacArthur Chair, Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has won several awards for his teaching and works mainly on globalization and labor issues. Appelbaum is the co-author of Behind the Label and co-editor of Critical Globalization Studies and Achieving Workers' Rights in the Global Economy.
Deborah Carr is a demographer and an active teacher at Boston University, where she regularly teaches the intro course. Her work focuses on sociology of the life course, aging, social psychology, and gender. Carr's latest book, Worried Sick: How Stress Hurts Us and How to Bounce Back, looks at how stress gets under our skin, makes us sick, and how and why people cope with stress differently.
What Instructors are Saying
“I am very happy with the Essentials text and will continue to use it. The depth of knowledge presented is perfect for my student population and the chapters combine the perfect complement for an undergraduate introductory course in Sociology.”
—Daniel Armanino, California State University, Channel Islands
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