Features of the NEW edition

NEW coverage gets students thinking sociologically about the pandemic

NEW Covid-19 coverage explores the wide-ranging—and unequal—impact of the pandemic on our social world. A substantially revised chapter on health and illness begins with the story of a health-care worker in New York City and includes a NEW section on Covid-19 and health disparities by race, class, and gender.

Updated examples include a thoroughly revised chapter on social change

The Real World makes sociological concepts relevant with examples that resonate with today’s students. The final chapter, on social change, has been thoroughly updated to account for the massive protests for racial justice that swept the country in 2020.

Data Workshops in text and online get students doing sociology

The Eighth edition features a NEW data workshop on pandemic norms in Chapter 3 (Culture), as well as a NEW exclusive workshop that asks students to do a content analysis of Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb.”

About the Authors

Kerry Ferris is Associate Professor of Sociology at Northern Illinois University, where she teaches introduction to sociology, qualitative methods, mass media and popular culture, and sociology of food. Her work has been published in Symbolic Interaction, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography , The Journal of Popular Culture , and Text & Performance Quarterly . She is the coauthor, with Scott R. Harris, of Stargazing: Celebrity, Fame, and Social Interaction .

Jill Stein is Professor of Sociology at Santa Barbara City College, which was recently named the top community college in the United States by the Aspen Institute. She teaches introduction to sociology in both in-person and online formats every semester. Her work has been published in Symbolic Interaction, Youth & Society , and TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology .

What Instructors are Saying

“I have been using the Real World for nine years and appreciate how the authors have updated each edition to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of our social world. This is especially true for the ways in which they have adapted to gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality.”

—Dina Giovanelli, Monroe Community College

Learn more from the Norton Sociology team

Sign up to receive exclusive invites to our workshops, first access to our surveys, and learn more about our upcoming sociology titles!

Contact your Norton representative
Norton Learning Blog