Foundations of Social Understanding: A Theory and Institutions Based Introduction to Sociology

The goal of Foundations of Social Understanding: A Theory and Institutions Based Introduction to Sociology is to convey the essential aspects of sociology, keeping the focus on the theoretical ideas that form the backbone of the discipline. This book fills a niche for instructors and students who wish to have a rigorously presented, yet low-cost text that covers essential aspects of the field. The text is distinctive in the density of material it covers. The authors move beyond the tiresome debates about which theoretical position is "really" correct and which is wrong. The guiding philosophy is that the discipline of sociology has a strong and integrated core. While no theory explains everything, each of those presented does well at shedding light on something. Part of what needs to be considered in conjunction with the study of theory is the question of what domain of social reality it is most useful at explaining. The very core of a discipline is the theories it has developed. For b