Customer Reviews

The Big Picture: A Sociology Primer

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was one of two texts used in my Introduction to Sociology class (the other being George Ritzer's The McDonaldization of Society, which I was not too thrilled with). As someone who only had a passing knowledge of Marx and who had never heard of Weber, I was going into this book totally blind.

This book was the best possible introduction to the subject I could have asked for. Witt leads you through the topics in such a way that you feel like you are being talked to instead of talked at. After a very well-written introductory chapter, subsequent chapters deal with one issue at a time, building the foundation so that by the end of the book you know enough sociology that Witt can discuss very complex racial and gender issues without losing the reader.

That last phrase, "without losing the reader," is probably a good phrase to apply to the book itself. Witt never lost my interest, even when discussing a (rare) dry subject. He only uses technical terms when necessary, he provides real-life examples (often from his own experience; his daughters frequently appear in the book) and always eplains what he is talking about when he talks about it (none of that "We'll see why this is true in the next chapter").

All in all, if you are looking at this book, you probably need it for a class and do not have a choice, but fear not - it is one of the better textbook reads out there. If you *are* just browsing for an introductory text to sociology, you search ends here.

the book arrived within the scheduled time and was labeled as acceptable condition, which is was, with some slight water damage. id like to of known there was a some form of liquid damage since it makes the pages difficult to separate

He promises not to change his book for eight years so students can keep using the book