Product Description

The sixth edition of Anthony Giddens’ Sociology is the best yet.

Revised and updated throughout, it provides an authoritative overview of recent global developments and new ideas in sociology. Classic debates are also given careful coverage, with even the most complex ideas explained in an engaging way.

Written in a fluent, easy–to–follow style, the book manages to be intellectually rigorous but still very accessible. It aims to engage and excite readers, helping them to see the value of thinking sociologically.

The sixth edition includes:

• substantive new material on education, media, social theory, inequalities, politics and government, and a whole new chapter on war and terrorism
  
  
• further revisions and updating in all the chapters
  
  
• a strong focus on global sociology, and the sociological imagination
  
  
• new ‘classic studies’ boxes, which examine in detail influential empirical research
  
  
• additional ‘thinking critically’ sections woven through the text, to stimulate students’ own insights
  
  
• specially chosen, eye–catching photographs, which capture the everyday drama of the social world

A best–selling textbook for more than 20 years, the sixth edition sets the standard for introductory sociology. It is the ideal teaching text for first–year University and college courses, and will help to inspire a new generation of sociologists.

Please visit the accompanying website at www.polity.co.uk/giddens6.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12574 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 1000 pages

Review
Selected endorsements for previous edition:

“With this new edition of Sociology, Anthony Giddens has done the seemingly impossible. He has lifted the best introductory text in sociology in the world to yet a further level of excellence. It is a great achievement.”

Ulrich Beck, The London School of Economics

“There’s no one on the planet with such a refined grasp of the practical and political significance of sociology as Anthony Giddens. This new edition of his best–selling textbook is his best yet.”

Anthony Elliott, University of Kent at Canterbury

Review

"There's no one on the planet with such a refined grasp of the practical and political significance of sociology as Anthony Giddens. This new edition of his best-selling textbook is his best yet."

Review

"I have a high opinion of Giddens's book, which I consider to be a comprehensive and lucid introduction to the major topics, debates and theoretical perspectives in sociology. It combines a detailed overview of the contemporary sociological landscape with sensitivity to the enduring debt that the discipline owes to earlier theorists."

Customer Reviews

Brilliant book
I am a social work student and I purchased this book for my sociology module. The book is informative and easy to understand. I think this book will be very useful for future information and I intend to dip in and out of it during my degree. I recommend this to students.

Highly recommended
This is an excellent introduction to Sociology, but also provides plenty that would be of interest to someone with more familiarity on the subject. The book is structured like a textbook, but is very readable, unlike most textbooks I am familiar with. Giddens has also added a few interesting new chapters including on terrorism, so it is very current.

Good quality, short shelf life, not so A level
Sociology is a developing field, and this is a good introductory undergraduate text, but probably of less direct use for A level, where more specific texts are available (Haralambos and Holborn's "Sociology: Themes and Perspectives" with more usable material at a similar price point - may be the most obvious perhaps, but other less unwieldy texts, tailored to topics or exam syllabuses might be more directly useful). One for the College/School Library rather than a must have text for A level students.
I also wonder at how many "new" editions can be justified here? A new chapter this time? Previous new editions have had less justification than this.
However, as I said, I would recommend this as preliminary reading for degree level Sociology. It's not badly written (contrary to some of the tags appended by other readers) for a book of it's type. There is much worse out there. The accompanying books of introductory readings for various editions of this text are very good, and I have found them much more useful.