Essentials of Sociology, adapted from George Ritzer’s Introduction to Sociology, provides the same rock-solid foundation from one of sociology′s best-known thinkers in a shorter and more streamlined format. With new co-author Wendy Wiedenhoft Murphy, the Third Edition continues to illuminate traditional sociological concepts and theories and focuses on some of the most compelling features of contemporary social life: globalization, consumer culture, the internet, and the "McDonaldization" of society.
New to this Edition
New "Trending" boxes focus on influential books by sociologists that have become part of the public conversation about important issues. Replacing "Public Sociology" boxes, this feature demonstrates the diversity of sociology′s practitioners, methods, and subject matter, featuring such authors as
o    Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow)
o    Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton (Paying for the Party)
o    Matthew Desmond (Evicted)
o    Arlie Hochschild (Strangers in Their Own Land)
o    Eric Klinenberg (Going Solo)
o    C.J. Pascoe (Dude, You′re a Fag)
o    Lori Peek and Alice Fothergill (Children of Katrina)
o    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
further segmentation of wealthy Americans as the "super rich"
transgender people in the U.S. armed forces
charter schools
the legalization of marijuana
the Flint water crisis
fourth-wave feminism
 
About the Author
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.