OER Text MaterialsSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 15.2Section 2 applies the three sociological perspectives to the family. A great summary chart is provided at the beginning of the chapter.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 15.6Section 6 covers violence against intimates, dating violence on campus and child abuse. This is an OK overview for an introduction to sociology course.

Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Sections: 15.3-15.5Section 3 defines marriage and discusses trends related to the marriage in the U.S. and cross-nationally. Section 4 outlines changes and issues affecting American families. Section 4 includes a discussion of cohabiation, working mothers, Section 5 4 styles of parenting and briefly discusses spanking. Also differences in parenting styles by social class, with a focus on views on spanking, is presented.

OER Text MaterialsSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 15.1The chapter starts with a definition of family and other definition of key terms related to family arrangements such as nuclear and extended family. Family arrangements across cultures are briefly presented. Considerable attention is given to changes in the American family over time and is organized into key periods such as during and after industrialization. This is a great historical overview of American families.

OER Text MaterialsSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Sections: 15.3-15.4Section 3 defines marriage and discusses trends related to the marriage in the U.S. and cross-nationally. Trends related to children are also discussed. Data from 2010 census is used. Section 4 also discusses changes in the American family and current issues related to families such as cohabitation, divorce, working mothers and daycare and same-sex marriage. The section on same sex marriage needs updated to reflect current policy. The text currently states that only five states allow same sex marriage. This is a significant short-coming of this chapter.

OER Text materialPower and AuthoritySociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, 14.1.1This section defines power from a sociological perspective

OER Text materialTheories of Power and SocietySociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. This section reviews pluralism and power elite theory, assessing brief weaknesses of both.

OER Text materialPolitics in the United StatesSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. 14.4.2, 14.4.3 The influence of felony disenfranchisement law and the existence of PACs and lobbying on political policy and economy are briefly reviewed.

OER Text materialTypes of Political SystemsSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. This section describes and explores the strengths and weaknesses of monarchies, democracies, and authoritarian and totalitarian structures.

OER Text MaterialPower and AuthorityTheories of Power and SocietyUnderstanding and Changing the Social World, 14.1.2 explains Weber’s three types of authority and 14.1.3 explains the difficulty of maintaining charismatic authority.

OER Text materialPower and AuthorityTypes of Political SystemsSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. 14.4.1 This section reviews the concept of political ideology, and divisions among voters according to political ideology.  14.4.2 Voter participation rates and the influence of socioeconomic status on the voting process are also covered.

OER Text materialPopulation and UrbanizationPopulation Growth and DeclineSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, 19.1 (Population and Urbanization) & 19.2.1 (Population and Growth Decline). 19.1 introduces the population shift in Michigan  and provides an overview of consequences that come from population declines.  19.2.1 provides concise definitions of the concepts. It also has a good explanation of population growth, and how demographers use knowledge of the concepts to make predictions about population growth. This section also includes global and U.S. population statistics from 1950 to predictions in 2050.

OER Text materialDemography and PopulationUrbanizationRural LifeIntroduction to Sociology 2e, by OpenStax, 20.1 (Demography and Population) & Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, 19.3 (Urbanization) & 19.4 (Rural Life). In section 20.1 of OpenStax, the source reviews population changes in Africa, The United States and Europe, and briefly addresses immigration patterns.  Section 19.3 of Sociology addresses the population growth of urbanization and introduces the human ecology school. It describes types of residents in cities and problems that can emerge in urban life including economic problems, overcrowding, housing, pollution, traffic, public education and crime.  It identifies a limited number of global urbanization patterns across the globe. The short section on rural living in 19.4 of Sociology provides a limited discussion that contrasts the urban and rural life. It goes into some detail about rural problems with health, education, poverty, and domestic violence.

OER Text materialPopulation Growth and DeclineSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, 19.2.1. This section introduces Mathusian ideas on population growth and the means to sustain that population (i.e. food production).  It also provides evidence that the growth Malthus anticipated has not been realized and critiques those who have adopted Malthusian theories as veiled forms of racism in the 1970s. The only alternative theory to Malthusian theory provided is demographic transition theory, which links population growth to technological development. Additionally, this section discusses the declines in birthrates, and policies that encourage women to have more children.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 10.3This section defines race and racism and discusses theoretical perspectives on prejudice. The differencebetween prejudice and discrimination is explained. The section also includes a great discussion of the relationshipbetween prejudice and public policy, as well as the broader implications of prejudice.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 10.1This section provides an overview of racial and ethnic relations in the U.S. over time. The section is an okoverview, but lacks detail. There is a picture of a lynching included in this section. This may be problematic forsome and instructors should use with caution.