A hands-on introduction to the craft of social research for Introductory Sociology courses, Exploring Social Issues: Using SPSS for Windows, Third Edition puts students in the role of active researchers as they test their own ideas about topics such as divorce, abortion, crime, inequality, prejudice, and television violence using SPSS, the pre-eminent software program in the social sciences. This Third Edition uses updated General Social Survey (GSS) data sets and offers a robust SPSS primer in an appendix. The book is available in two formats: as a stand-alone text, or bundled with SPSS (Student Version). Key Features Stresses active and collaborative learning as students engage in a series of investigative explorations of social issues Shows students how analyzing data from the General Social Survey, a major national research program, can help them better understand compelling social issues Teaches students how to use SPSS as they analyze GSS data on a random sample of the population Guides students step-by-step through exercises that have been designed for those with no background in SPSS Includes research reports that follow a standardized fill-in-the-blank format for analyzing and presenting results, but with space left for students to summarize their results in their own words Exploring Social Issues: Using SPSS for Windows, Third Edition can be effectively used in Introductory Sociology or other undergraduate sociology courses and may be used in conjunction with most of the standard textbooks in the field. The text is ideal for courses where the professor also wants to introduce students to doing social research and using SPSS. Data sets available online! Click on 'Sample Materials and Chapters' on the left hand menu bar. These data sets provide historical depth, and allow students to analyze trends over time by comparing 2006 results and patterns with data from the 1972 General Social Survey.

Derived in part from Joseph F. Healey's best-selling text "Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class," this accessible 10-chapter text teaches concepts and theories through current, engaging topics, such as the Obama election and presidency and the economic recession. An analysis of minority-dominant relations is presented clearly, reinforced through case studies, and enhanced through gender and comparative perspectives. Particular emphasis is given to the history of race and ethnicity in the United States with more coverage than any other brief text.

The Second Edition of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: Selected Readings offers comprehensive, varied, and highly readable views of the problems of racism and sexism in American society. Editors Joseph F. Healey and Eileen T. O'Brien present a variety of perspectives on some of the most pressing problems facing American society: racism and prejudice, inequality and discrimination, and assimilation and pluralism. This new edition includes historical perspectives, case studies of minority groups, a strong emphasis on gender, clashing perspectives on contemporary problems, and a chapter on solutions.

· Written with the conviction that sociology can play a major role (perhaps THE major role) in helping college students understand how their lives are shaped by the complexities of global social forces in our new century. · Helps students develop an approach to thinking about social issues and evaluating claims and arguments that they can use long after the course has ended. · Reflects the following qualities from the sociological tradition: a commitment to the principles of scientific investigation, a deep concern for social issues and human welfare, and a macro approach that takes account of history, geography, and relations between the societies and regions of the globe. · Strives less to introduce sociology, and more to demonstrate the power and value of thinking sociologically about societies today. · Centers on a small number of organizing themes and principles, introduced in Chapter 1 and used throughout the remainder of the text (see detailed table of contents). · Contains 16 chapters and 7 topical essays interspersed between Chapters 1-10. The first 10 chapters are the core foundation of the text. Chapters 11-15 apply sociological thinking to a series of significant global issues including war, work, health, and population growth. Chapter 16 brings the text to a close with a discussion of how individuals and organizations can create positive change in the world. · Written to help teach the process of investigation, the sociological craft of research, critical thinking, and careful analysis. Rather than presenting students with answers, the core Chapters 1-10 are each organized around a specific question or problem selected for its interest to students as well as its importance to the U.S. and the world (see table of contents). Thus, sociological terms and concepts are introduced as they become relevant to the analysis --never for their own sake. · The Topical Essays broaden the coverage of issues and diversity of viewpoints in the text, while the book maintains its overall thematic coherence. Most essays are written by leading scholars and researchers in sociology, save one essayist who is an undergraduate student (Tracey Dawson) and one, a cartoonist (Nick Rutter) who has illustrated Gay Seidman's essay on Sweatshops and Chapters 11-16. · Active Learning Exercises extend and reinforce the emphasis on critical thinking throughout the book. · A Web Site specifically devoted to Sociology For a New Century provides many helpful ways students can strengthen their ability to think and see sociologically. · A Sociological Atlas in the back of the book provides 32 four-color maps of global, sociological information as well as a wealth of web sites and other information resources. · Graphical Displays of Social Data and informative Photographs and Cartoons throughout the chapters make learning easier and more fun. · Teaching Resources, available upon adoption of the text, contains an excellent set of various tests, a bank of PowerPoint visuals to use in lectures, and an annotated set of literary and visual resources, in addition to an annotated bibliography of teaching resource materials.