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| View Larger Image | Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life
by David M. Newman
| | List Price: | $59.95 | | Price: | $53.95 | | You Save: | $6.00 (10%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 74510 | | Studio: | Pine Forge Press | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 648 | | Publication Date: | January 18, 2006 | | Publisher: | Pine Forge Press |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The new Sixth Edition of Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life once again invites students into the world of sociological thought! Author David M. Newman encourages students to think less about the next test and more about how sociology applies to their everyday lives.
New to the Sixth Edition: - Updated Examples and Statistical Information: This edition provides some sociological insight into contemporary events that have occurred since the last edition, namely, the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq that have altered the course of international relations and domestic politics. The most current statistical information is provided, and many of the graphic exhibits have been updated.
- New Sociologists at Work and Micro-Macro Connections: These extended discussions link social institutions to personal experiences and provide insight into the methods sociologists use to gather information and draw conclusions about how our world works. Several new topics have been added, including the economics and politics of food, cell phones, human trafficking, how class and racial differences affect children, and much more!
- New and Improved Visual Essays: Several unique, vivid, and provocative new visual essays have been added to paint detailed, informative sociological portraits of the many concepts and ideas covered in the book. The visual essays are now embedded in most chapters, focusing on a wide range of diverse social phenomena.
- Increased Focus on Globalization: This edition also contains many more cross-cultural examples and discussions of globalization than the previous editions, showing how our lives are linked to, and affected by, our increasingly global society.
Accompanied by High-Quality Ancillaries! - Instructors’ Resource CD-ROM: Includes ALL NEW digital test bank of sortable multiple-choice, short-answer, and essay questions, chapter summaries, class exercises and discussion topics, literary and visual resources, Internet resources, and much more!
- Student Study Site: Includes interactive quizzes, vocabulary flashcards, and resources for further study and research. The study site has been revised to include audio clips from “This American Life,” as well as study guides related to those clips.
IRCDs are available for qualified instructors only. To request an IRCD for this book please contact Customer Care at 1.800.818.7243 (6 am – 5 pm Pacific Time) or by emailing info@sagepub.com with course name and enrollment and your university mailing address to expedite the process. A new companion reader, Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life, Readings, Sixth Edition edited by David M. Newman and Jodi O’Brien, is also available. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 9 reviews)
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Sociology Text Review 
The overall text was a pretty easy read and interesting. The text kept my attention and I loved the use of the author using personal examples when he would explain aspects of the architecture of our everyday life. It was not just a boring read but one of the best text books I actually looked forward to ready for my sociology class every night.
Some of the strengths in the text would have to be the personal touch the author added to make it more than just a text book of information but more enjoyable for a reader to compare to their own lives too. A weakness would have to be maybe a more organized arrange of the ideas to go in order. Make the book flow a little more smoothly. This book is by far the best college text book I've had because it kept my interest and attention. The facts seemed really up to date and I learned a lot from this good read.
I learned that everything around us is influenced by everything that we interact with and everything that interacts with us. Things from the micro view (small) to the macro view (big) all play a part in our every day lives and this book elaborates on each different aspect that can or does alter our way of living.
The author chooses this title for the reason that our life is built and altered by building blocks in the every day world. Whenever something changes in the social world affects us and helps build our character and our own personal views for things. I didn't really understand but every minor and major event that takes place in our world will always have some affect on a person it being for a good or bad way. It made me open my eyes to acknowledge every piece of society and life that has made me the type of person I have become and will grow to become as I get older.
March 20, 2008 | |
sociology text review, from walla walla community college student
I found this book to be interesting. I thought that the key issues that were talked were very important. I thought that it had very important topics that society as whole needs to look closely at. Overall I thought that this is a great text book for the class.
The things that I liked most about this text book are that it went straight to the point in most chapters. It did not wonder far from the topic of the chapter like some books do. It gave you what was necessary for the topic and that is what I like. There was no loop whole that it took you through to get to where it was going. One draw back from this is the fact that it is almost boring to read. I had a hard time staying truly interested in reading the book because of this, it was vary robotic. However with all of this said I would rather read something that is straight to the point rather than something that carries on nonsense.
One thing that I really like about this text is its affordability. Most text books are well into the one hundred dollar range and make it a negative aspect of the class. This book however is very affordable, I believe to be important. One draw back from this is that lack of creativity that book comes with. I think it would be more appealing if there were more pictures or graphs like in other texts, and add a little more color to the pages.
If I was assigned another book for class that was comparable to this book, I would not be unsatisfied. I think that this book have everything that a good text book needs to have. Information is the key to a good text and this book has that.
March 20, 2008 | |
A Great Textbook 
This textbook was incredibly easy to read. The content was interesting and presented in a very clear, understandable way that was easy to learn from. I didn't have to re-read anything just to get the basic idea like in some text books I've used. The photograph essays scattered throughout the book were on interesting, thought provoking topics.
March 19, 2008 | |
Sociology Text Review for Soc 101 by Jeanine
I really enjoyed this textbook for the most part and would definitely recommend it for other sociology instructors.
The best thing about this book is that it is exceptionally easy to read because it is actually quite interesting. The author does a great job of relating the information in the text to real world examples which makes it much easier to understand. This also allows for the reader to understand how the ideas discussed in the text might have an effect on the society that they live in. Unlike many other textbooks, I found that this book had a lot of detailed, up-to-date data about what has gone on in different societies all over the world, not just in the USA. The author seems to be extremely knowledgeable about the subject, and also how it applies to different situations. I really like the author's writing style also. Although there are many new terms, they are defined in a way that makes it easy for the reader to grasp the concepts. Another thing I enjoy about this book is that the text flows really well. It isn't overly "academic" sounding, it can be read by just about anyone with a high school education.
There is really only one thing that I didn't like about the textbook, although the examples are extremely helpful, they seem to be somewhat long and drawn out. Sometimes it felt like I was learning more about the event itself than how it is related to the sociological ideas being discussed.
My favorite chapter is Chapter 12 which is titled "The Architecture of Inequality: Sex and Gender". I think this chapter is very interesting because the information discussed is so familiar. Everyone has had experience interacting with the opposite sex, and Chapter 12 discusses the differences in the way women and men are treated and behave. One of my favorite parts is the discussion of sexual violence towards women and how the author points out how women are told to take all these precautions to avoid being a victim of sexual violence instead of men being taught to control their sexual urges. If women do not take these precautions they are often said to be "inviting trouble" (p. 436).
I learned a lot about human behavior and social structure from this textbook. It makes it so much clearer that even though we are responsible for our choices, most things that influence our choices are out of our control. They are a product of our beliefs, and our beliefs are a product of the environment in which we grew up. So even though we might initially blame an individual for something, their choice is really just a product of what they have learned from the world around them.
I think that the author chose the title because it expresses that society is built like an architectural structure, each area plays an important part in its functioning, just like each piece in a building plays a part in holding it together and keeping it strong.
March 18, 2008 | |
Sociology Text Review by [alexandra.s.krous@student.wwcc.edu] 
I found this book to be a very easy read. It breaks ideas down, many times into each perspective category. Each new topic is enhanced with numerous examples; that are relative to the reader. This book seems to be up-to-date and an accurate account of the social world.
The main strength that I found was that the terms are presented with viable examples and situations. There are numerous charts, graphs, and diagrams with each addition of data. The book provides many means of understanding the new information. For instance, when the book discusses social norms, or folkways (as defined on page 113 in chapter 4) it explains what they are and how to test these in correlation with their contribution to society's stability. Norms such as chewing with your mouth closed are legitimately favored and accepted. These folkways exist in order to establish uniformity among people. This book reinforces the new terminology with examples and the "Your Turn" assignments for personal experience. I perceived this as a very effective method of teaching new information.
I think there are limited weaknesses of this book. Perhaps the order of the ideas could be rearranged to flow better. This confusion might have stemmed from the order of the class agenda. A specific weakness that stood out to me was the elaboration for each topic unveiled. Every perspective is described in enormous detail which kind of draws out the ideas. For example, in chapter 6 when the book discusses impression management it goes into political perspectives (p. 187) and gives numerous different examples of George W. Bush preserving a certain image. These reinforcing examples seem to pull the reader away from the main idea because they expand the idea a bit too much. The reader only needs one or two examples to help gain knowledge of an idea. When reading a book for class, the simple breakdown can be done in a precise and more efficient manor.
Compared to other collegiate books, such as an Anatomy and Physiology book, this text is more entertaining. The sociology book is written from a personal narrator who tells a story in each chapter. Chapters begin by putting you in a certain place and time. In chapter ten, the book sets the scene with the topic of "the 1997 Hollywood film Titanic" (p. 326). This provides the setting for the reader to relate to in order to think and prepare their mind to explore in the following chapter. More formal science books simply state information and lack conversation from the narrator.
This book projects multiple lessons. The one that particularly stood out to me was the idea of race and ethnicity in chapter eleven. I found this comparison to be intriguing. The idea that race is socially constructed and "seen as a continuum of categories" (p. 379) really stands out. I have never really put much thought into race and ethnicity until this class. After reading this chapter I have learned a new definition of these two concepts. There really is no such thing as race but it is what we make it in society. I like the ideas presented in this chapter to explain race and ethnicity in detail.
Overall, this book lays out the sociological world in an easily comprehended manuscript. The title ties into the superior concept of the text. That is, that the world of sociology is architecture built to protect and unify society. There is architecture in every category of sociology as well, like the architecture of cultures and economic status, to name a few. This book makes sense with every detail it presents and describes sociology in an informative way.
March 16, 2008 | |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
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