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Exercise your sociological imagination and step into the world of Reel Society, an interactive movie that brings key sociological concepts to life. You become part of the story of several college students during three challenging days on campus. You take part by making decisions for them. You see the consequences of your choices. Through it all, a wide variety of issues and perspectives are shown for the purpose of relating sociological thought to real life. To learn more about Reel Society Interactive Movie CD-ROM, visit its website.

"I am firmly convinced that sociology can play a valuable role in teaching critical thinking skills. Sociology can help students to better understand the workings of their own lives as well as of their society and other cultures." -- Richard T. Schaefer

The Fifth Edition of Sociology, like its predecessors, reflects Rick Schaefer's mission to bring readers a comprehensive, up-to-date text that teaches students how to think critically about society and their own lives from a wide range of classical and contemporary perspectives. Combining balanced coverage of theory with current research findings, distinctive social policy sections, examples and issues of interest to students, and abundant learning aids and exercises, Sociology is a text that will help students to develop a sociological imagination and perspective.

Three basic premises guide this highly successful introductory text: first, that theory and research must be both comprehensive and clear; second, that the text must show how sociology is relevant both to the study of society and to students' lives in particular; and third, that sociology can play a valuable role in teaching critical thinking skills. To that end, this solid, well-respected text combines a balanced three-perspective approach with excellent student-oriented examples and distinctive social policy sections in a concise presentation that offers an alternative to full-length books.