Customer Reviews

Sociology (13th Edition)

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

 

 

As a Sociology professor I have used and reviewed dozens of introductory sociology textbooks over the years, and Macionis Sociology is the one I always come back to. Although it is not perfect, it is simply one of the best. Why? Here are the major reasons:

1) Clear writing that is easily understood by students who are at a basic learning level and yet challenging to advanced students.
2) Comprehensive coverage of all major areas of the discipline of sociology with very thorough citation of most of the essential scholars in the field, including scholars with a variety of viewpoints.
3) Outstanding use of art, photography, graphs, maps and tables to engage visual learners.
4) Practical, real world examples to engage concrete learners.
5) An extensive and exhaustive bibliography that serves as an invaluable research tool for students.
6) Concise chapter summaries that serve as effective study guides for tests and exams.
7) Evenhanded discussion and debate guidelines for controversial topics.
8) Exceptional incorporation of international sociology and international examples.

In short, you will find intro textbooks that are more advanced, others that are more basic, but few as comprehensive as Macionis Sociology. There is a reason it is now in its 13th Edition.

I needed this book for class and decided to just get it online. The book itself is pretty interesting. There are a lot of graphics and very useful review pages at the end of each chapter.

I'll first say that I am 42 years old and I am finally finishing my degree after many years away. I imagine because of this that I found many of the examples in the book to be simplistic and geared towards what they think a young barely-adult student might be interested in. The book is filled with large, colorful pictures of rock stars and models. It could probably be half as large if they cut out all the meaningless photos. They have "stories" you read to understand issues, but these stories are often set up between fairly inane students who are being snide to each other. The stereotype is a little heavy.

There are certainly interesting issues covered. They explain that when you try to survey a group of people to find out how they feel, the very act of you surveying them may affect their answers. The group can be biased by how you ask the questions. Statistics can be manipulated and packaged to be misleading. The book is trying to get you to think critically about issues and to evaluate them - even when it comes to this very book. Everything is open to interpretation.

But amongst the quite useful foundation information are entire pages on symbols used in instant messaging, pictures of American Idol contestants, and pictures of Spider-Man. I really don't think the use of the pages for this content was worth the extremely high price I paid for the textbook. I'd rather have half the textbook, pay half as much, and learn the same information.

The book makes a good attempt to present multiple sides to issues. Yes, industrialization was good, in that it brought more products to the masses. But it was also bad, because human workers began to be treated like machines and dehumanized. Yes, some people use sociology to help other people live more happy lives. But others use sociology to find ways to control people and make sure they keep quiet. There are always two sides (or more!) to stories.

There are discussions that anybody could use, for example on the roles we juggle in life and how we prioritize the different demands placed on us. We all have to deal with non-verbal communication and dealing with impressions others have of us.

There are also issues which some will find challenging, and this gets into areas where some people will think it is "OK" to discuss the issues and others feel it is "not appropriate". For example, chapter 8 is on sexuality. It talks about transsexuals, the incest taboo, and sexual orientation. If a person feels that only monogamous, male-female sex is OK, then any of the other discussions are going to be very uncomfortable. If a person is interested in learning how different cultures view these topics, and learning about how these topics are handled around the world, then it's almost necessary to talk about them. So you could certainly say it's "liberal" to have a chapter that includes transgenders and bisexuals / homosexuals in its discussion of sexuality. On the other hand, though, you could say that having a book about the world's views on sex, and then to only include what male-female-only oriented people have to say on the topic, would be a book which did not adequately cover the topic.

Similarly, there are discussions about social class and how things like personal wealth, skin color, gender, and family background affect how people feel you rank in their society. Is this liberal or conservative to say these things happen? The book doesn't make judgments in general about any of this being "good" or "bad". It just seems to look at what happens and examine the changes in different countries or different time periods.

I agree that sometimes issues are explained in simplistic terms, just as they are accompanied by photos of bikini-clad teen girls ogling the camera. I imagine they're trying to cater to what they feel their target audience wants to see. I wish they'd give that audience a bit more credit. I think college students of all ages can appreciate a maturely presented set of material. But I don't see any overreaching problem with the actual text presented; unlike other reviewers, I don't see a massive liberal slant. If you take the point of view that even just discussing homosexuals and similar topics is a liberal thing to do, then I suppose you will probably be stuck if you read any sociology text.

one of the greates books i have bought online. the discription said it was good but it should have said that it was almost new!!!!!!!!!

Even though I have no received the book, I am not be fooled about exemplary service. Using a third party vendor, my case is disspicable. The offer on Amazon's site was far less than the cost through my school. There was no way to upgrade shipment or contact the vendor. Amazon.com should relook this situation and be more sensitive to a customer's needs. Even if I wanted to upgrade for a reasonable delivery date (which I need to for class), there was nobody to respond to except for an auto message. And the last straw, there was no way to track the shipment. So lesson learned, pay the $155.00 new book cost because in this instance of saving a few dollars added undo frustration in having to borrow the book from my instructor. Amazon offered the same book at $70.00; I ordered the book on 1-14-12 and I received an email four days later with a delivery timeframe of 1-23-12 thru 2-7-12. RIDICULOUS!!!!

I order this book and then found out this is not the book I needed so I retuned it exactly how they told me to and I still have yet to get my money refunded and ths was at keast 3 weeks ago.

Got the book in plenty of time for school. It was in outstanding condition and saved over 50% of what it would have cost if I bought it at the College bookstore.

Correct item shipped expeditiously with great follow up. You are a wonderful asset to this community.

Kind regards

Bazyli

First, this book was written with a typical left-wing agenda. I found it to be completely un-objective.

Second, there are countless misleading statistics and twisted facts. There are also countless out of date facts.

Third, there are also countless made-up "facts" with NO citation. These are opinions that are being presented as facts without any supporting evidence.

I can't believe this book is being used to teach Sociology classes.

Never recieved item. Item returned to seller via USPS as undeliverable. Most items ship UPS and is never a problem. Seller did not specify item was to be sent by US Postal service. Bought this book for my son for a college course. Had to purchase elsewhere. Course will probably be over by the time this gets resolved. Have asked for a refund several times through emails & phone call. Won't return call or emails and NO refund as of yet. Very disappointing since most sellers on amazon are great.