• The text's theme of “debunking” encompasses looking behind the facades of everyday life, challenging common assumptions, and helping students develop critical thinking skills as well as a better understanding of how society is constructed and sustained. “Debunking Society's Myths” features in each chapter reinforce this theme in interesting and thought-provoking ways.
• “A Sociological Eye on the Media” boxes help students become savvy and discerning consumers of media messages that can be misleading or inaccurate. Topics include “Images of Violent Crime” and “Reproducing Class Stereotypes”.
• “Thinking Sociologically” features in every chapter pose critical-thinking questions that encourage students to engage their sociological imaginations.
• “See for Yourself” features in every chapter provide several levels of detailed prompts to guide student-writing exercises. This feature gives you the flexibility to tailor the length and depth of writing assignments to your students' abilities and the needs of your course.
• The text provides the most thorough coverage of diversity found in any brief introductory text on the market. The authors broadly define diversity to include social factors such as age, religion, sexual orientation, and region of residence, in addition to race, ethnicity, class, and gender. This primary focus is emphasized in the boxed feature “Understanding Diversity”.
• “Doing Sociological Research” features highlight the importance of research while providing a proven, practical structure to help students learn key concepts and develop their own skills. These features build on a unique four-step approach that guides students to consider research questions, methodology, results, and implications.
• Andersen and Taylor, UNDERSTANDING SOCIOLOGY, Eighth Edition continues to present and expand upon the most complete use of race/class/ gender and sexual orientation in the study of American and world society. In chapter 10, “Race and Ethnicity” there is a new section on multiracial identities, including a pro-and-con discussion of what has come to be called multiracialism and the 2010 census on multiple identification. The new edition includes an up-to-the minute treatment of the changing attitudes to same-sex marriage.
• A full treatment of the impact of the recent Economic Recession and the growing issue of inequality is explored. For example, Chapter 8, “Social Class and Social Stratification” offers a new discussion on the rise of the superrich, wealth differences by race, and concentrated poverty. In Chapter 13, “Families and Religion” features a section on boomerang families, the “third shift” of women's family care work, and child care.
• The text continues the use of maps to convey crucial sociological data. There are two types of maps, one focused on the U.S. called “Mapping America’s Diversity and the other on the world called, “Viewing Society of Global Perspective.” Two-thirds of the maps are new to this edition.
• NEW box feature, “What Would A Sociologist Say?” takes a topic and examines how sociologists would likely interpret the subject. The topics are selected to capture student interest such as a discussion of veteran suicides, hip-hop culture, sex and popular culture.
• The text provides expansive coverage of the impact of social media on social networks and human organizations. Chapter 2, “Culture and the Media” provides a new section on the widespread availability of Internet-based blogs, chat groups, and social networks and how these are changing the way people communicate. Chapter 5, “Social Structure and Social Interaction” offers new information on the demographic composition of Internet users and the influence of cyberspace on social interaction.

1. Sociological Perspective.

2. Culture and the Media.

3. Doing Sociological research.

4. Socialization and the Life Course.

5. Social Structure and Social Interaction.

6. Groups and Organization.

7. Deviance and Crime.

8. Social Class and Social Stratification.

9. Global Stratification.

10. Race and Ethnicity.

11. Gender.

12. Sexuality.

13. Families and Religion.

14. Education and Health Care.

15. Economics and Politics.

16. Environment, Population and Social Change.

Margaret L. Andersen, University of Delaware

Margaret L. Andersen (B.A., Georgia State University; M.A., Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Sociology at the University of Delaware, where she has also served in several senior administrative positions, including most recently as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity. She holds secondary appointments in Black American Studies and Women and Gender Studies. She is the author of several books, including (among others) THINKING ABOUT WOMEN, recently published in its tenth edition; the best-selling anthology, RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER (co-edited with Patricia Hill Collins, now in its ninth edition); LIVING ART: THE LIFE OF PAUL R. JONES, AFRICAN AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR; and ON LAND AND ON SEA: A CENTURY OF WOMEN IN THE ROSENFELD COLLECTION. She is a member of the National Advisory Board for Stanford University's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, the Past Vice President of the American Sociological Association, and Past President of the Eastern Sociological Society, from which she received the ESS Merit Award. She has also received two teaching awards from the University of Delaware and the American Sociological Association's Jessie Bernard Award.

Howard F. Taylor, Princeton University

Howard F. Taylor has taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and Princeton University, where he is presently Professor of Sociology and former director of the African American Studies Center. He has published over fifty articles in sociology, education, social psychology, and race relations. His books include THE IQ GAME (Rutgers University Press), a critique of hereditarian accounts of intelligence; BALANCE IN SMALL GROUPS (Van Nostrand Reinhold), translated into Japanese; and the forthcoming RACE AND CLASS AND THE BELL CURVE IN AMERICA. He has appeared widely before college, radio, and TV audiences, including ABC's Nightline. Past president of the Eastern Sociological Society, Dr. Taylor is a member of the American Sociological Association and the Sociological Research Association, an honorary society for distinguished research. He is a winner of the DuBois-Johnson-Frazier Award, given by the American Sociological Association for distinguished research in race and ethnic relations, and the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hiram College and has a Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University.

Kim A. Logio, St. Joseph's University

Kim A. Logio is Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at Saint Joseph's University, where she recently received a teaching award. She often teaches research methods and guides students through the completion of their undergraduate thesis projects. A member of the American Sociological Association and the Eastern Sociological Society, Dr. Logio has been interviewed for local television and National Public Radio for her work on body image and race, class, and gender differences in nutrition and weight control behavior. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Delaware and lives in Delaware County, Pa., with her husband and three children.