With a strong critical thinking focus, this text encourages students to think about tomorrow and the next century from a sociological viewpoint. This text introduces students to sociology using an eclectic approach that is tied together by systematically highlighting two aspects of social change—1) the change or contrast between social life organized around personal, communal relations and social life organized around impersonal, associational relations; and 2) the ongoing social processes and the implications they have for life in the twenty-first century.