Introduction to Sociology

This Fourth Edition of George Ritzer’s Introduction to Sociology shows students the relevance of sociology to their lives. While providing a rock-solid foundation, Ritzer illuminates traditional sociological concepts and theories, as well as some of the most compelling contemporary social phenomena: globalization, consumer culture, the digital world, and the “McDonaldization” of society. With examples on every page from current events and contemporary research, and stories about “public” sociologists who are engaging with the critical issues of today, the text demonstrates the power of sociology to explain the world, and the diversity of questions that sociologists seek to answer.

New to this Edition

• New “Trending” boxes focus on influential books written by sociologists that have become part of the public conversation about important issues.
• Replacing “Public Sociology” boxes, these boxes demonstrate the diversity of sociology's practitioners, methods, and subject matter, and feature such authors as:
• Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow)
• Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton (Paying for the Party)
• Randol Contreras (The Stick-Up Kids)
• Matthew Desmond (Evicted)
• Kimberly Hoang (Dealing in Desire)
• Arlie Hochschild (Strangers in Their Own Land)
• Eric Klinenberg (Going Solo)
• C.J. Pascoe (Dude, You're a Fag)
• Lori Peek and Alice Fothergill (Children of Katrina)
• Allison Pugh (The Tumbleweed Society)Updated examples in the text and "Digital Living" boxes keep pace with changes in digital technology and online practices, including Uber, bitcoin, net neutrality, digital privacy, WikiLeaks, and cyberactivism.
• New or updated subjects apply sociological thinking to the latest issues including:
• the 2016 U.S. election
• Brexit
• the global growth of ISIS
• climate change
• President Trump's proposed Mexican border wall
• further segmentation of wealthy Americans in the "super rich"
• transgender people in the U.S. armed forces
• charter schools
• the legalization of marijuana
• the Flint water crisis
• fourth-wave feminism

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has also been a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and won a Teaching Excellence Award. He was awarded the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association, an honorary doctorate from LaTrobe University in Australia, and the Robin Williams Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. His best-known work, The McDonaldization of Society (8th ed.), has been read by hundreds of thousands of students over two decades and translated into over a dozen languages. Ritzer is also the editor of McDonaldization: The Reader; and author of other works of critical sociology related to the McDonaldization thesis, including Enchanting a Disenchanted World, The Globalization of Nothing, Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society, as well as a series best-selling social theory textbooks and Globalization: A Basic Text. He is the Editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2 vols.), the Encyclopedia of Sociology (11 vols.; 2nd edition forthcoming), the Encyclopedia of Globalization (5 vols.), and is Founding Editor of the Journal of Consumer Culture. In 2016 he will publish the second edition of Essentials of Sociology with SAGE.