Product Description

Sociology Themes and Perspectives is a favourite with students and teachers, selling over a million copies world-wide over 25 years. This seventh edition has been fully updated to give all the detail and depth needed to get students the best grades and prepare teachers for teaching. The new edition of this essential resource will enable you to: - Deliver new and completely up-to-date sociological teaching, with the latest research, empirical studies and theoretical developments - Match the specification with confidence with new added material for AQA and a completely new chapter on Age for the OCR specification - Give your students the best chance of getting the top marks in their exams, through informative, clear and concise explanations of all sociological concepts and theories - Raise standards and engagement in the subject with an easy-to-follow format that makes understanding sociology easier for all your students

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5577 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 960 pages

Review
"Excellent, got me to university and through it ! It was an easy read, explained the concepts in very simple terms and illustrated debate with clarity, whilst remaining a readable reference book ! it was so good that I loaned my copy out and it was never returned!" Review by an Access student on Amazon.co.uk "This book has been of great help to me during my first year at Greenwich University where I am studying a B.A. in Childhood Studies, especially the chapters on the family and education. I will be buying the new edition of this soon. It is definitely worth the money." Review by an undergraduate student on Amazon.co.uk "Continuing in the tradition of the 'blue bible', this book is so excellent simply because it is so comprehensive. An excellent all-round summary of sociology." Review by Mark Kirby, AS/A-level teacher and author, on Amazon.co.uk

From the Author
Broader coverage of key developments in the subject
This new edition extends the coverage of sociology to include both new topics and new approaches. The new chapters on culture and identity and on the mass media take full account of the 'cultural turn' in the subject. Increasingly influential concepts and approaches such as postmodernism, the sociology of modernity and globalization are integrated into existing chapters as well. Other improvements include comprehensive referencing and a two-colour format. Readers are welcome to contact me by e.mail with any queries or comments.

Martin Holborn.

About the Author
Mike Haralambos wrote the first edition of Sociology Themes and Perspectives while a lecturer at Preston College in the late 1970s. Following the phenomenal success of the book he founded Causeway Press. He is involved in writing and editing for Social Sciences and is an active member of ATSS. Martin Holborn has authored the last three editions of Sociology Themes and Perspectives as well as co-authoring the recent Student Handbook. He is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at Preston College and as active member of the ATSS.

Customer Reviews

The Leviathan rumbles on.
The first rule for any textbook as to be is it readable? Yes, this is readable, and more to the point palatable. It is supposed to be an A-level textbook, however 1056 pages is a weighty tome, at a time when a lot of students are looking for short answers. It certainly functions at this level, the language is about right without patronising. You would be very foolish to rely upon this alone for an assignment as an undergraduate, but for essential background, the skeleton of a standard text answer, then this certainly has what it takes. More to the point it is a lot more up to date than the main competition written in 1997 by Anthony Giddens.

I would recommend this to anyone taking an A-level course primarily in sociology, and yes, also to new undergraduates to the subject. Those not new to the subject will probably already be aware of it. It is also very useful for background reading to current affairs, especially in the otherwise very dry domestic agenda. At the time of writing this, I would consider, the best book of its kind on the market.

Valuable book at A/AS and even undergraduate level
I *used* the older edition of Haralambus Themes and persepectives (amongst many other sociology books) whilst writing my first essay as a mature student on a BSc(H) degree.
Overall, it is easy to read and even pleasurable to someone who hasn't sudied sociology before.
My 16 year old daughter is going to start an A Level in sociology in Septmeber, so when I saw that a new edition had been published I jumped to pre-order for her prep.
This new edition is similar in content, slightly differantly worded but none-the-less a GREAT inro to sociology.
The newly offered web site support is invaluable and I wish the chapters on health and the body had been inclded in the last edition--would have made my writing easier.
The Retrosexism content is also interesting,and almost (unwittingly) supported a recent programme on channell 4 recently.
Over all, it is a MUST for A Level students, and I found it the best in its area for My 1st year at degree lel too.
Highly reccomended

One of the best AS/A2 revision guides/course companions.
This should meet some of the needs of students on AS and A lebvel courses - at last! Two established, talented authors have taken one of the biggest and best textbooks and summarised the "good bits". Notes are clear but do not stint on detail, when dealing with central or particularly useful studies. Even the short answer questions are relevant and challenging, whilst offering useful self-review (not always the case with revision books). As the Blue Bible has grown ever larger and more cumbersome, this really does make the breadth of Sociology accessible for the A level student again. As a Sociology teacher in FE I would recommend this to any A level Sociology students needing help with revision, and anyone wanting support with the day-to-day of an AS course.