Sociology: A Brief Introduction invites students to take sociology with them in their daily lives. This successful, student-friendly program includes strong coverage of race, ethnicity, and globalization. The approachable material encourages students to develop their sociological imaginations and start to think like a sociologist. Paired with Connect, a personal and adaptive learning experience, students learn to apply sociology’s three theoretical frameworks to the world around them.

Three basic premises guide this highly successful introductory text - first that theory and research must be both comprehensive and clear, second that the text must show how sociology is relevant both to the study of society and to students' lives and third that sociology can play a valuable role in teaching critical thinking skills. To that end, this solid, well respected text combines a balanced three-perspective approach with excellent student oriented examples, and distinctive social policy sections in a concise presentation that offers an alternative to full length books.

Sociology in Modules offers approachable content in a well-organized, flexible teaching format. The comprehensive program allows instructors to choose the content they’d like to present and introduce it in a layout that students can manage. Connect, the proven online experience, adapts to student’s learning needs, enhancing the understanding of topics and developing their sociological imagination.

Like its predecessors, the seventh edition of this text reflects Rick Schaefer's mission to bring readers a comprehensive, up-to-date presentation that teaches them how to think critically about society and their own lives from a wide range of classical and contemporary perspectives. Combining balanced coverage of theory with current research findings, distinctive social policy sections, examples of interest to students, and abundant learning aids and exercises, this text will help students develop a sociological imagination. An optional package combines Schaefer, Sociology, Seventh Edition and Reel Society Interactive Movie 2.0 CD-ROM at nominal extra cost. "The introductory sociology class provides the ideal laboratory in which to study our own society and those of our global neighbors. The distinctive emphasis on social policy found in this text shows students how to use the sociological imagination in examining such public policy issues as sexual harassment, the AIDS crisis, welfare reform, the death penalty, and the offshoring of service jobs." Richard T. Schaefer

Designed for courses in sociology of the family, this work covers a variety of topics, including: the history of the family; gender and families; class; race and ethnicity; families and the state; family formation; spouses and partners; and domestic violence.