Unlike most introductory texts that take a topical approach to studying sociology, this smart, challenging, and accessibly written text looks at the core principles of the discipline, making links to a contemporary context.

The second edition of this award-winning book has been substantially revised, making more direct connections between Generation Z, Mills’s concept of the sociological imagination, and the challenges students face in higher education today. The section on popular culture contains a new chapter on the history of popular music from early rock ’n’ roll to contemporary pop and R&B. New chapter objectives, end-of-chapter review and reflection questions, key terms, and glossary, as well as an instructor’s manual, make this text much more useful in the classroom.

Rob Beamish holds a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. In addition to numerous articles and book chapters related to social theory and sport sociology, he is the author of Marx, Method, and the Division of Labor (University of Illinois Press, 1992) and, with Ian Ritchie, Fastest, Highest, Strongest: A Critique of High-Performance Sport (Routledge, 2006.

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An introduction to the discipline and an exercise in critical thinking and learning.

<I>Teaching Sociology</I>

Engaging, accessible, and written in a lively and often humorous style. Highly recommended.

<I>CHOICE</I>