What’s happening behind the scenes of our everyday lives? Why are there winners and losers in society, haves and have-nots? How do aspects of difference–race, class, gender, age–shape our identities, and our experiences? How do structural forces influence local realities?Getting Started begins with a morning cup of coffee and visits the supermarket and the drive-through, the family room and the Internet. Along the way it unpacks a wide range of contemporary social issues. Countering information overload and overwhelming problems, the social analysis approach builds insight and confidence. In a world where individual solutions are increasingly commonplace, Getting Started promotes collective action and social justice.Preserving its unique approach to social literacy, this completely revised and updated edition offers a wealth of new statistics, examples, and resources. Chapters on globalization, work, and new technology address momentous changes of the past decade.

Jacqueline M. Davies teaches in the Philosophy and Women's Studies departments at Queen's University, Kingston. She is the co-author of Good Reasons for Better Arguments, a textbook in critical thinking.

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Kingston writer Jamie Swift is the author of a dozen books, most recently The Vimy Trap, or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great War (with Ian McKay), finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the Canadian Historical Association Prize for the Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History. He has held the Michener Foundation fellowship for public service journalism and was a longtime documentary producer for CBC-Radio’s “Ideas.” In addition to the writing life, he is a social justice advocate. He taught “Critical Perspectives on Business” at the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University for many years.

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Robert Clarke, of Peterborough, Ontario, is a long-time BTL editor and member of the collective.

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Michael Czerny's profile page