Introduction to Sociology Interactive eBook

While providing a rock-solid foundation on all the basic topics and concepts in sociology, George Ritzer focuses on three of today’s most compelling sociological phenomena: globalization, consumption, and the Internet. A fourth focus throughout the book is one of Ritzer’s signature interests, the McDonaldization of Society (the process by which social organizations and institutions adopt the rational, efficient, means-to-an-end principles of a fast food restaurant). Key features include:

• Globalization features and international case studies throughout expose students the realities of their changing world.
• Consumer Culture and its increasing preeminence in the world is discussed throughout.
• Living Digital features allow students to take an objective look at the Internet and its profound effect on individuals and society.
• Public Sociology exhibits in every chapter demonstrate that sociology is more than an academic discipline.
• Biographical “Bits” in every chapter introduce students to influential sociologists (some in their own words!).
• The Interactive eBook version of the text is available for students in online and traditional courses who prefer a more contemporary, multimedia-integrated presentation for learning. In addition to a full electronic textbook, they can link directly from the "page" to video, audio, additional enrichment readings, glossary terms, and other relevant resources, bringing sociology to life in a way that a traditional print text can't.

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.