Introduction to Sociology: Canadian Version

It's the 21st century and the world is changing. Today's students have instant access to anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime. They want to be enlightened, entertained, and informed on their terms. They want to be shown the relevance of the introductory sociology course to their lives. Who better than George Ritzer, one of sociology's best-known thinkers, to do just that? While providing a rock-solid foundation of sociology, Ritzer illuminates traditional sociological concepts and theories, as well as some of today's most compelling social phenomena: globalization, consumer culture, and the internet. As technology flattens the globe, students are challenged to apply a sociological perspective to their world. Ritzer brings students into the conversation by bridging the divide between the outside world and the classroom.

And now, we offer a version of Introduction to Sociology that is designed just for Canadian students, featuring George Ritzer's distinctive voice and style as well as Neil Guppy's definitive view on Canadian sociology.

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.

Neil Guppy is professor and head of Sociology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He was associate dean (Students) from 1996 to 1999 and associate vice-president (Academic Programs) from 1999 to 2004. Having taught at UBC since 1979 he has received both a University Killam Teaching Prize and a University Killam Research Prize. He is a graduate of Queen’s University (BA/BPHE) and the University of Waterloo (MSc/PhD, 1981). He has published several books, including Education in Canada and The Schooled Society (both with Scott Davies), Social Inequality in Canada (with Edward Grabb), and Successful Surveys (with George Gray). His published work has also been in Canadian Public Policy, Canadian Review of Anthropology and Sociology, Canadian Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review and International Migration Review. His research interests include social inequality (especially class, ethnicity, and gender), work and occupations, and education.