Taking a topical approach to the subject and treating conceptual material only as it arises in the discussion, Giddens (London School of Economics, UK), Duneier (City U. of New York and Princeton U., US), and Appelbaum (U. of California at Santa Barbara, US) undergraduate-level introduction to sociology. Twenty chapters discuss the standard concerns of the field, including socialization, groups and organizations, conformity and deviance, class and inequality, ethnicity and race, political power and social movements, education and the mass media, health and illness, urbanization and the environment, and globalization. Among the primary themes cited by the authors as motivating the character of the proceedings are the globalization of social life, the importance of comparative study, the necessity of a historical approach to sociology, issues of gender, and links between macro and micro levels of analysis. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR