Society: The Basics (10th Edition) [Paperback]

John J. Macionis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2008 | ISBN-10: 013501882X | ISBN-13: 978-0135018828 | Edition: 10

Seeing Sociology in Everyday Life

  

John Macionis shares his enthusiasm, excitement and teaching experience with a clear and engaging writing style that connects with students. Macionis', Society: The Basics, 10th edition is designed to help students see the relevance of the sociological theories and ideas that inform their own lives.

 

Four main themes are found throughout the text:

Seeing Sociology in Everyday Life

Social Diversity

Global Comparisons

Critical Thinking

 

The new edition has an innovate new design, contemporary and compelling student applications, plus a wealth of author-written and author-managed supplemental material. This revision elevates Society's high standard of excellence, ensuring that it remains one of the foremost introductory sociology resources for students and instructors alike.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Pearson Education and John Macionis thanks the following instructors for reviewing Macionis’ Society: The Basics, 10/e

 

Anita Gardner, Mitchell Community College

Boyejo Adefuye, Collin County Community College 

Chalane Lechuga, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 

Christine Janis, Northern Illinois University

Emily Carroll, Arkansas State University — Jonesboro
Francis Adeola, University of New Orleans
Heather Rimes, Florida Southern College
J Beth Mabry, Indiana University of Penn

Jane Elmore, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Jennifer Haskin-Corwin, Washtenaw Community College/Eastern Michigan University       

Jody Nedley-Newcomb, Southwestern Community College
Karla McLucas, Bennett College for Women
Kathleen Holmes, Darton College
Kendra Murphy, University of Memphis

Kimberly Bottema, Metropolitan State College of Denver
Lee Reineck, Stautzenberger College
Mark Sherry, The University of Toledo
Meryl Nason, University of Texas, Dallas

Michael Abel, Brigham Young University — Idaho
Patricia Gibbs, Foothill College

Roneiko Henderson, Tidewater Community College
Rosalind Fisher, University of West Florida
Scott Potter, Marion Technical College
Sondra McKinney, Southwest Missouri State University
Tim Sexton, Chippewa Valley Technical College

---

Here are what professors are saying about John Macionis’ Society: The Basics, 10^th edition:

Overall review

 

“John Macionis writes a great textbook that is easy to use and that the students enjoy as well.”
Lee Reineck, Stautzenberger College

 

“I have been a Macionis user for almost 12 years and I do not plan on changing in the future.”
Tim Sexton, Chippewa Valley Technical College

 

“Students find the materials to be interesting and engaging. The illustrations are captivating for the students”
Francis Adeola, University of New Orleans

 

“This book is well written for all levels of higher education. Students find it easy to follow along with, yet challenging in the way that it delivers critical thinking analysis.”
Tim Sexton, Chippewa Valley Technical College

 

"Allows the reader to appreciate the relevance of sociology in everyday life."

Boyejo Adefuye, Collin County Community College 

  

"Macionis provides tables, charts, and several visuals summaries that other texts do not. These tools not only assist students towards understanding how sociology "works" in society, but they also facilitate an understanding of "why" social inequities exist in the US and abroad."

Anita Gardner, Mitchell Community College

 

"Macionis is visually stunning."

Patricia Gibbs, Foothill College

 

"Engaging, accessible narrative and illustrations / learning tools."

Patricia Gibbs, Foothill College

 

"Easy to approach and understand, yet thorough."

Jennifer Haskin-Corwin, Washtenaw Community College/Eastern Michigan University       

 

"The boxes are EXCELLENT!!!"

Roneiko Henderson, Tidewater Community College

"Good definitions, nicely organized...students do not have to go "searching" for information during the process of studying for exams."

Christine Janis, Northern Illinois University
 
"Text is well supported by online student materials, in text review, and an excellent study guide."

J Beth Mabry, Indiana University of Penn

 

"Crisp writing, excellent examples, and visually interesting."

J Beth Mabry, Indiana University of Penn

 

"Deals with everyday events and material students can relate to."

Sondra McKinney, Southwest Missouri State University

 

"Macionis is a very good book for stimulating discussion and explaining basic concepts. In many cases, it makes students want to go beyond it and learn more."

Kendra Murphy, University of Memphis

 

"Making the Grade is a big asset. My students need constant reinforcement and this provides it immediately."

Meryl Nason, University of Texas, Dallas

 

"This is a fantastic book, based on my opinion as well as the favorable reports that I get from my students!"

Juanita Ortiz, University of Oklahona, Norman

 

"I like how the author of the text keeps the students in mind when writing the text."

Timothy Sexton, Chippewa Valley Technical College

 

"The topics are broad however simple enough for the students to gain knowledge in each of the areas of interest."

Timothy Sexton, Chippewa Valley Technical College

 

"I like the critical thinking questions presented throughout the text."

Timothy Sexton, Chippewa Valley Technical College

 

"The pages are colorful and full of valuable information."

Timothy Sexton, Chippewa Valley Technical College

 

Strengths of the text

 

“The overall design of the textbook is great - and very easy for the student to follow.”
Kimberly Bottema, Metropolitan State College of Denver

 

[The main strengths of the text are] “The e-text version and MySocLab.”
Kathleen Holmes, Darton College

 

[The main strengths of the text are] “1. Comprehensive Coverage, 2. Up to date issues, 3. Good combination of theory and practice”
Mark Sherry, The University of Toledo

 

“The major strengths of "Society the Basics" include: (1) the fact that it well written and aimed at the intended audience, that is, students taking a sociology course for the first time; (2) the depth of coverage of essential principles, concepts, methodological and theoretical orientations; and (3) the book is well-illustrated.”
Francis Adeola, University of New Orleans

 

[The main strength of this text is] “a level of writing that allows a majority of students to be able to read and understand the concepts.”
Jody Nedley-Newcomb, Southwestern Community College

 

“The 3 main strengths of my current textbook, Society: The Basics are readability, quality and timeliness of information, and organization.”
Lee Reineck, Stautzenberger College

 

[The main strength of this text is] “The emphasis on the sociological imagination.”
Rosalind Fisher, University of West Florida

 

“Seeing Sociology in Everyday Life boxes allow for great discussion and seeing how sociology and its' perspective can be employed in our daily lives. Seeing Ourselves boxes with national and global maps really brings home the fact that our lives our greatly influenced by the society in which we are born into.”
Tim Sexton, Chippewa Valley Technical College

 

[The ...

From the Back Cover

> Society 10/e shows students how sociology is relevant in their daily lives. The new edition has an innovative new design, contemporary and relevant student applications, plus a wealth of supplemental material. This revision elevates Society's high standard of excellence, ensuring that it remains one of the foremost comprehensive introductory sociology resources for students and instructors alike.

 

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 10 edition (October 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013501882X
• ISBN-13: 978-0135018828
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars From an instructor's perspective, February 7, 2009

By 

Jonathan McKellar (Savannah, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Society: The Basics (10th Edition) (Paperback)

I have to use this book to teach Sociology 101, and it frustrates me to no end. The book is a failure in every aspect.

Introductory textbooks have to simplify things, of course, but Macionis oversimplifies to the point where my students feel that their intelligence has been insulted, and worst of all, don't realize that the sociological concepts he's talking about are more than simple stereotypes and platitudes. He writes at one point, essentially, that "white people don't understand poverty", while every college freshmen knows that poor whites do exist, and that the author must be either a racist or an idiot for thinking otherwise. But what does the cultural construct of race have to do with social hierarchy and economics? Macionis doesn't start that conversation, you'll have to do it yourself.

And that's the general flaw of the book, Macionis writes chapter after chapter of superficial lists of concepts, theorists, and vocabulary, but never does the real work of laying out key sociological theories in a simple and thorough way, which of course is exactly what a textbook is for. As a teacher, I'm then forced to spend class time laying out the basics that Macionis didn't cover, everything from culture to symbolic interactionism. He'll give a few paragraphs to Weber, Marx, or Freud, but doesn't actually explain them in any coherent way.

Some things are completely absent. Macionis doesn't mention some key concepts, like social capital, and doesn't explain at all how sociologists use statistics. With glaring omissions like those, it's obvious that Macionis simply doesn't understand sociology.

Finally, the book just isn't organized in any worthwhile way. Macionis puts the three big "approaches" (StrucFunc, Conflict, Interaction) in the first chapter, before the students have been exposed to enough material to understand why they're useful or important. Then the rest of the book is a laundry list of concepts, clumped into chapters without any real theme. For example, chapter 4 is about social interaction, status, role, emotion, and humor, but gender, class, race, social groups, and social stratification are spread out in other chapters. Sure, the students learn their vocabulary, but it becomes very difficult to connect the different concepts to each other.

Macionis offers snippets of narrative to help explain the concepts, but nothing big enough for actual analysis, so you'll have to do it instead. All in all, this book does nothing that it's supposed to do, and should not be bought by anyone.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A boring approach for an already boring subject., October 12, 2011

By 

A. Nolan "PBP" (MT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Society: The Basics (10th Edition) (Paperback)

Please take my review with a grain of salt, as sociology is not an interesting subject for me, you may enjoy this text book thoroughly, but I did not.

I approached sociology 100 with an open mind, the class relied pretty heavily on the textbook (I read it cover to cover). When I began reading I thought I was in for an exciting study of society. Unfortunately, after I read the first chapter I began to notice a trend: everything centered around a hard-left tilt, everything seemed to be repeating. The book is very left slanted and uses any means possible to get the reader to believe that Karl Marx is the greatest sociologist to ever live and that the white man is essentially the evil man. And again each chapter read like it was on repeat, constantly revisiting the same examples, black people are oppressed by the white man, the white man is rich, the white man oppresses the women, if you're a woman and you're black it's twice as bad. The white man makes you poor etc. I just paraphrased the entire text for you, so do yourself a favor and avoid this class/text book if you can.

I don't have a problem with socialism, nor do I believe society is perfect, but this book is going to try and convince you that everything in the US is absolutely terrible and that Karl Marx and feminism are the answer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sociology, September 30, 2011

By 

Emily B. - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Society: The Basics (10th Edition) (Paperback)

Good sociology book. Used this instead of the new edition. Its basically the same thing word for word. There are only a few differences. Page numbers and very few words are different.