This best-selling textbook returns for an eighth edition with material on the most fundamental issues in sociology today. The authors continue their tradition of focusing on the big picture, with an emphasis on race, class, and gender in every chapter—building on the seventh edition’s discussion of reproductive justice after the revocation of Roe v. Wade, social movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, a discussion of the Covid-19 pandemic and Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The text frames sociological debates around the major theoretical perspectives of sociology and focuses on capturing students’ imaginations with cutting-edge research and real-world events. The hallmark of the book continues to be clear writing that helps students understand the intricacies of the discipline like no other textbook on the market. New to the eighth edition Thinking outside the box (or inside it…) Selected chapters contain thematically linked boxed inserts aimed at bringing analytical and