The latest edition of "Sociology In Our Times: The Essentials, International Edition" builds on the best of this popular text's previous editions while offering new chapter opening first person accounts of individuals' lived experience and significantly updated coverage, learning tools, and opportunities for students to apply what they learn and make a difference in their own communities.

Compelling examples, a vivid writing style, and chapter themes grounded in social issues already familiar to students hold students' interest and engage their sociological imaginations as they learn the concepts, theories, and research that comprise sociology today. A vibrant new interior design and an exciting collection of new videos with assignable activities complement the text's new coverage of timely topics such as health care legislation, the U.S. and global economies, Barack Obama's presidency, and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

1. Society and social life
2. Social groups and control
3. Social inequality
4. Social institutions
5. Social dynamics and change