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Preface To Our Students

This book will change how you view the social world—and your place in it. You will gain a sociological perspective on the world that will change what you notice and how you make sense of your social world. Some of you will become sociology majors. All of you will find the subject matter of this course relevant to your personal and professional lives. You will learn how society works—and how you can influence it, develop interpersonal skills, and gain new information about social life in small groups and global social systems. As the broadest of the social sciences, sociology has a never-ending array of fascinating subjects to study.

Sociology and this book ask you to think outside the box. Why? The best way to become a more interesting person, to grow beyond the old familiar thoughts and behaviors, and to make life exciting is to explore new ways to view your social world. The world in which we live is intensely personal and individual, with much of our social interaction occurring in intimate groups of friends and family. Our most intense emotions and most meaningful links to others are at this small-group “micro” level of social life. As you use this book, apply what you read to your life and those in your social world. This will make the book relevant to you and help you apply what you learn to your own life.

However, these intimate micro-level links in our lives are influenced by larger social structures and global trends. The social world you face in the job market of the 21st century is influenced by changes and forces that are easy to miss. Like the wind, which can do damage even if the air is unseen, social structures are themselves so taken for granted that it is easy to miss seeing them. However, their effects can be readily identified. Sociology’s perspectives will help you to better understand your family, friends, work life, leisure time, and your place in a diverse and changing world.

Becoming Literate in Sociology

Each day you have routines, many of them involving other people and groups to which you belong or have a connection. Think about your roommate, classes, sports team, Greek organization, college you attend, and country in which you live. All these groups—and many more—make up your social world. Just as you learn the ideas, principles, theories, and frameworks in your other science and social science courses, so, too, sociology has key ideas, theories, frameworks, and models that fit together to give a picture of the social world and literacy in the field of sociology. Your text and course will introduce you to key elements that make up your individual social world. Each chapter provides a slice of the total sociological pie, and each different ingredient adds to the whole. When you finish this course you will have achieved basic literacy in sociology. You will see how you as an individual fit into your social world.

The following table shows an outline of the sociological competencies you will begin to learn in this course that will aid you in getting a job and navigating life. Advanced courses in sociology go into more depth in these competencies.

The Social World Model

A well-constructed course needs to be organized around a central question, one that leads to other questions and intrigues the participants. For you to understand sociology as an integrated whole rather than a set of separate chapters in a book, we have organized this book around the social world model. The social world model demonstrates the relationships among individuals (micro level); organizations, institutions, and subcultures (meso level); and national societies and global structures (macro level). At the beginning of each chapter, a visual diagram of the model illustrates this idea as it relates to the topic of that chapter. This opening includes examples of issues related to the topic that have implications for the social world, influencing and being affected by other parts of society. No aspect of society exists in a vacuum. Note that this model does not assume that everyone always gets along or that relationships are always harmonious or supportive. Sometimes different parts of society compete for resources and conflict with one another over policies.

This micro- to macro-level analysis is a central concept in the discipline of sociology. It will help you to develop a sociological imagination, an ability to see the complex links among various levels of the social system, from the micro level of close relationships to the macro level of globalization. Within a few months, you may not remember all the specific concepts or terms that have been introduced, but if the way you see the world has been transformed during this course, a key element of deep learning has been accomplished. Learning to see things from alternative perspectives is a precondition for critical thinking. This book attempts to help you recognize connections between your personal experiences and problems and larger social forces of society. Thus, you will be learning to take a new perspective on the social world in which you live.

A key element of that social world is diversity. We live in societies in which people differ in a host of ways: ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religious background, political persuasion, gender, sexual orientation, and so forth. The most productive and creative organizations and societies are those that are highly diverse. This is the case because people with different backgrounds solve problems in different ways. When people with such divergences come together, the outcome of their problem-solving can create new solutions to vexing problems. Thus, diversity is a blessing in many ways to a community or society. However, diversity often creates challenges as well. Misunderstanding and “us” versus “them” thinking can divide people. These issues are explored throughout this book. We now live in a global village, and in this book, you will learn something about how people on the other side of the village live and view the world.

We hope you enjoy the book and get as enthralled with sociology as we are. It genuinely is a fascinating field of study.

Jeanne H. Ballantine

Wright State University

Keith A. Roberts

Emeritus, Hanover College

Kathleen Odell Korgen

William Paterson University

Your authors—teaching “outside the box”

In the electronic edition of the book you have purchased, there are several icons that reference links (videos, journal articles) to additional content. Though the electronic edition links are not live, all content referenced may be accessed at edge.sagepub.com/ballantine7e . This URL is referenced at several points throughout your electronic edition.