In Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life, David M. Newman shows students how to see the "unfamiliar in the familiar"—to step back and see organization and predictability in their take-for-granted personal experiences. With his approachable writing style and lively personal anecdotes, the author's goal from the first edition has always been the same: to write a textbook that, in his words, "reads like a real book." Newman uses the metaphors of "architecture" and "construction," to help students understand that society is not something that just exists "out there," independently of themselves; it is a human creation that is planned, maintained, or altered by individuals. Using vivid prose, examples from current events, and the latest research findings, this fully updated Twelfth Edition presents a unique and thought-provoking overview of how society is constructed and experienced. Instead of surveying every subfield in sociology, the more streamlined coverage focuses on the individual and society, the construction of self and society, and social inequality in the context of social structures.