Sociology

Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life: Brief Edition

• Updated statistical information from government/organizational sources (e.g., Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Justice Statistics, State Department, Population Reference Bureau, National Center for Education Statistics, United Nations, and various other agencies) keeps the book as timely and useful as possible.
  
  
• Several specific recent developments have had—and will continue to have—a dramatic impact on sociological thought and on people’s everyday lives and have led to substantive changes in the new edition:
  
  • the political fallout brought about by the 2016 election;
  • trends in the global economy;
  • the unsettled nature of race relations and immigration;
  • global climate change; and
  • the continued dramatic growth of wireless communication technology, particularly ever-present social media.
    
    
• New examples and analysis of contemporary events and trends, include:
  
  • Suicide
  • The vocabulary of war
  • Smartphone usage
  • Cultural influence on emotions
  • Children’s toys
  • Social media
  • Dual-earner households
  • Clergy sexual abuse
  • The cultural impact of antidepressants
  • Same-sex marriage
  • The global health divide
  • Multiracial identity
  • Residential segregation
  • Racial mistrust of medical research
  • The cultural appropriation of race
  • Sexual harassment and assault in the military
  • Dangerous media images of eating disorders
  • Intergenerational conflict
  • The shifting politics of immigration

KEY FEATURES:

• Carefully condensed from his full version, Newman’s Brief Edition gives students all the continuity and crucial content, in a 1/3 shorter and less-expensive format.
  
  
• The “Social Construction of Reality” is a perspective used throughout, offering a counter to the widely-held perception that society is something “fixed” and largely outside of our control.
  
  
• Instead of surveying every subfield in sociology, the more streamlined coverage focuses on the individual and society, the construction of self and society, and social inequality in the context of social structures.
  
  
• Examples from American subcultures draw students in by making the concepts relevant to their lives.
  
  
• Cross-cultural examples and discussions of globalization show students how their lives are affected by our increasingly global society.
  
  
• Touching personal vignettes throughout engage students and keep them reading.