Why This Textbook Still Comes Up in Syllabi Years Later
The Perry & Perry textbook is one of those works that shows up in introductory sociology courses at community colleges and large state universities across the country. It covers the standard beats — culture, socialization, social structure, institutions like family and religion, stratification, population dynamics, and social change. Nothing surprising there. The thing most students don't realize going in is how uneven the coverage gets depending on the edition, and how much the supplementary materials matter for actually passing the course. I've guided enough students through intro soc classes to know that the book itself is only part of the equation. The real friction comes from how the instructors frame the assignments around it. Some professors treat the Perry volume as the primary source for everything. Others use it as a reference and lean heavily on outside readings, journal articles, or lecture notes. If you're working with a course that does the latter, reading the book cover to cover before the exam is a waste of time. You'll miss the specific chapters they actually test on. I learned this the hard way my first semester tutoring. A student told me to just read the whole book for the midterm. We ended up spending three weeks on chapters 4, 7, and 11 because those were the ones she kept getting questions wrong on quizzes. The other twelve chapters barely came up.
Contemporary Society An Introduction To Social Science 11th Edition By Perry John Perry Erna 2005 06 03 Paperback
Getting your hands on the right edition matters more than you might think. The 11th edition came out in mid-2005 and uses a specific numbering system for chapters that shifted slightly from the 10th edition. If you grab the 10th by accident, the chapter titles look similar but the data inside — especially in the demographics and population chapters — is four to five years older. Census figures from 2000 instead of 2003. Marriage and divorce statistics from the late 90s. Professors who build test questions around current data will penalize you for using the older edition because the answer choices won't match what's in the book. The ISBN for the 11th edition paperback is 978-0072487438. That's the one you want if your syllabus references it directly. There's a practical issue with the paperback format that people rarely mention. The binding on this particular edition is not tight. After about six to eight weeks of regular use, the spine starts to separate near the middle sections — specifically around chapters 8 through 12 where the discussion of social institutions gets dense. The pages don't fall out, but you'll find yourself holding the book open with your hands or propping it against something just to read a two-page spread without it closing. It sounds minor until you're highlighting key terms on page 287 and the book keeps snapping shut. A cheap bookmark or a rubber band around the middle of the text block will keep it open without damaging the binding. I started doing that with every cheap paperback I buy for school. Takes ten seconds and saves you from the frustration of a book that won't stay put. The supplementary materials are where this edition has its real weaknesses. The 11th edition came with a companion website that had quizzes, flashcards, and study guides. That website has been discontinued for well over a decade now. If you buy a used copy, any access code printed inside is dead. The publisher moved students to newer platforms with newer editions, so the digital resources attached to the 11th are gone. This means you're working with the text alone unless your professor provides additional materials. Some instructors still upload their own PowerPoint decks or create custom quiz banks that align with the Perry chapters. Others don't. It completely depends on the course design. There's no way to know which situation you're in until you get to class and listen to the first lecture.
One counter-intuitive thing about using this book: the summaries at the end of each chapter are not reliable as a substitute for reading the chapter itself. The summaries are compressed to about two pages and they strip out the empirical examples and case studies that the test questions are built around. I watched students read only the summary sections and then get blindsided by questions that referenced a specific study or statistic discussed in the main text. The summary will tell you that "socialization is a lifelong process," but it won't tell you about the Langlois et al. study on facial preferences that was used as evidence in the chapter. That study became a multiple-choice question. The summary doesn't have it. If you're short on time, at minimum skim the first and last paragraphs of each section within the chapter. Those usually contain the key evidence and the takeaway points that instructors pull questions from. Another nuance that beginners miss is how the book handles the difference between correlation and causation in its discussion of social phenomena. The Perry text is generally careful about this, but the chapter on social stratification and the chapter on population tend to present correlational data in a way that can read as causal if you're not paying attention. For example, the discussion of crime rates and poverty levels presents a strong statistical relationship but the text frames it carefully. Students who write essays for this class sometimes overstate causation because they absorb the correlation as if it were proven cause and effect. That's an easy way to lose points on a paper. Stick closely to how the authors phrase their conclusions and you'll be fine. The book also has a notable gap in coverage. The 11th edition gives maybe two or three pages to globalization and transnational issues, which is thin for a contemporary social science text. If your course includes anything on globalization, you should plan to supplement with outside readings. The Perry volume isn't going to carry that material on its own. I recommend pairing it with whatever journal articles or lecture materials your professor assigns for those topics rather than expecting the textbook to fill the gap.
Get the Full Details
When it comes to using this for exam prep, the most efficient approach is to work backward from the chapter objectives. Each chapter in the 11th edition starts with a list of learning objectives. Those objectives are essentially a preview of what the instructor is likely to test on. I'd suggest reading those first before diving into the chapter. It gives you a framework for what to focus on. Then read the chapter actively, skipping the longer illustrative sidebars unless you have extra time. The sidebars are interesting but they're rarely the source of exam questions. Focus on the main text, the key terms defined in bold, and the summary sections. The cost of a new copy of this edition is roughly forty to fifty dollars if you can find one at a campus bookstore, which is unlikely since it's been superseded. Used copies run anywhere from five to twenty-five dollars depending on condition. The cheapest option is usually fine for this book since the content doesn't change dramatically between printings. Just verify the ISBN and check that all pages are present before you buy. A missing chapter section is annoying enough when you're studying for a midterm you're already stressed about.
