Sociology Now: The Essentials introduces students to the discipline as it is practiced and taught by contemporary sociologists, and explains how the classic concerns of sociology-social order, social conflict, social interaction-have been reshaped by contemporary insights aboutmulticulturalismandglobalization. Sociology has always offered a way to make sense of the complex and sometimes contradictory forces that shape our social lives in any era. AsSociology Now explains sociology as both a body of knowledge and a "way of seeing," it shows how two such forces in particular have come to preoccupy sociologists and influence the way they look at the events and experiences of the early twenty first century: The first isglobalization--the economic, political, cultural, and social interconnections among people and institutions all over the world. The second ismulticulturalism--the recognition that race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and other statuses are sources of social inequality, but also the foundations of our identities. Michael Kimmel, a leading sociologist and gender researcher, and co-author Amy Aronson, a journalist and media scholar, address these questions head-on as they make a compelling case for the importance of sociology in the contemporary world.