IN CONFLICT & ORDER Understanding Society Eitzen (2006)

This introductory text, written from a conflict perspective, emphasizes four themes: diversity, the struggle to achieve social justice, economic and global transformations in the U.S., and a global perspective.

In Conflict and Order studies the forces that lead to both stability and change in society. As they examine the standard topics in an introductory course, the authors show how social problems are structural in origin and that while the pace of social change is increasing, society's institutions are resistant to change.

Eitzen and Baca Zinn challenge readers to develop a sociological perspective by questioning their own basic beliefs, and to debate the facts rather than merely accepting the authors' way of looking at the world.

New to this Edition

• Expanded coverage of globalization. This includes an international view on gay marriage, a look inside the mind of a suicide bomber, female lawmakers, worldwide [there was a comma after ‘worldwide’ but did not make sense in the sentence] and globalization’s effect on disease, the stock market, pollution, and job insecurity.
• Updated coverage, including Michael Jackson’s criminal case, the Internet as a surveillance tool (the end of personal privacy), 9/11 and the federal government’s financial costs, Gen-Xers and the Millennial Generation, news about single-mother and single-father families, the "Walmartization" of America, The McCain-Feingold law for campaign finance reform, No Child Left Behind and the re-segregation of American schools, using marketing strategies to spread the evangelical Word, and the rise of professional sports leagues for women.