Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Critical Perspectives on Technology and the Family
Susan K. Walker · University of Minnesota
As Information and Communications Technology (ICT) evolve families and the professionals who work with them are best armed with tools that enable their intentional use. This comprehensive text offers a balanced perspective of family life, member development and relationships, and professional use through contemporary research, learning activities and more.
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Comparative Culture and Society 2e
Danshiro Velasco · LibreTexts
This textbook contains fifteen short units that give students opportunities to discuss, debate, present, and write about global topics and issues. Most units are paired with one country, so that each topic can be viewed from that cultural perspective, which can then be compared to students’ own cultural perspectives and experience. This textbook integrates such fields as intercultural communication, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, as well as elements from the field of English-as-a-Secon
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Contemporary Families in the US: An Equity Lens 2e
Elizabeth B. Pearce · Linn-Benton Community College
This text provides students with a foundational understanding of the changing experiences and needs of contemporary families in the United States. It emphasizes the multi-directional influence of social structure as well as the impacts of difference, power, and oppression. Using an intersectional lens and placing the diversity of families at its core, the text prepares students with a range of majors and career paths.
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International Relations
Stephen McGlinchey · E-International Relations
This book is designed to be a ‘Day 0' introduction to International Relations. As a beginner's guide, it has been structured to condense the most important information into the smallest space and present that information in the most accessible way. The chapters offer a broad sweep of the basic components of International Relations and the key contemporary issues that concern the discipline.
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Beyond Race: Cultural Influences on Social Life
Vera Kennedy · West Hills College Lemoore
In the contents: 1.03: Cultural Sociology
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Precarious Creativity: Global Media, Local Labor
Michael Curtin and Kevin Sanson · LibreTexts
Precarious Creativity examines the seismic changes confronting media workers in an age of globalization and corporate conglomeration. This pathbreaking anthology peeks behind the hype and supposed glamor of screen media industries to reveal the intensifying pressures and challenges workers face. The authors take on crucial issues and provide insightful case studies of workplace dynamics regarding creativity, collaboration, exploitation, and cultural difference.
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Exploring Socio-Cultural Perspectives in Diversity
Deanna Cozart et al. · University of Georgia
The fundamental knowledge of understanding culture and teaching children from diverse backgrounds. Examination of the nature and function of culture, development of individual and group cultural identity, definitions and implications of diversity, and the influences of culture on learning, development, and pedagogy. This course has a required field experience component.
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The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands
Erika Wolters; Brent Steel · Oregon State University · 2020
In this volume, Erika Allen Wolters and Brent Steel have brought together the experts who can explain the evolution of public lands policies and politics in all their complexities. While their subject is complex, their prose is clear, and while their subject is torn by some of the most viciously self-interested, deceitful arguments in politics today, their prose is calm, factual, and evenhanded. No one should underestimate what a rare and valuable gift this is.
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A Quick Guide to Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences
Christine Davies · University of Wales Trinity Saint David · 2020
This resource is intended as an easy-to-use guide for anyone who needs some quick and simple advice on quantitative aspects of research in social sciences, covering subjects such as education, sociology, business, nursing. If you area qualitative researcher who needs to venture into the world of numbers, or a student instructed to undertake a quantitative research project despite a hatred for maths, then this booklet should be a real help. The booklet was amended in 2022 to take into account previous review comments.
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Community Resilience to Climate Change: Theory, Research and Practice
Dana Hellman; Vivek Shandas · Portland State University Library · 2020
This reader is an Open Educational Resource, meant to accompany a graduate or higher-level undergraduate university course in climate change resilience, adaptation, and/or planning. While the material is geared toward students in urban and regional planning, it may also be of interest to students of urban studies, public health, geography, political science, sociology, risk management, and others. Each section of this volume includes (1) an introductory summary, (2) a reading list with full text articles, (3) student exercises meant to enhance understanding and facilitate in-class discussion, and (4) additional discussion prompts or activities for instructors to use in class. The format of materials is intended to convey key concepts, while leaving ample space for student exploration, discourse, and creativity. Lessons may culminate in an applied, imaginative final project, a sample framework of which is provided at the end of Section VI.
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Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy
Meggie Mapes · University of Kansas Libraries · 2024
Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy (second edition) is a contemporary, interdisciplinary public speaking textbook that fuses rhetoric, critical/cultural studies, and performance to offer an up-to-date resource for students. With a focus on advocacy, this textbook invites students to consider public speaking as a political, purposeful form of information-sharing.
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Memory & Cognition
Priyanka Mehta · University of Wisconsin System · 2026
Memory & Cognition offers a fresh, engaging tour of how the mind works—spanning the brain, mental imagery, the different functions of memory, and decision‑making. Blending psychology with neuroscience, computer science, sociology, and philosophy, the book grounds concepts in real‑life examples and uses experimental evidence, diagrams, and hypothetical scenarios to introduce complex topics to readers. Memory & Cognition is a concise, interdisciplinary guide for anyone curious about how we think, remember, and make decisions.
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Race, Crime and Injustice
Shanell Sanchez, PhD; Jessica Peterson, PhD · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2025
Welcome to the Race, Crime, and Justice Open Educational Resource! This book was developed with a diversity, equity, and inclusion framework. This course is about race, so our primary focus will be on the experiences of people of color (POC) in the criminal justice system. An important aspect of this book is the various spotlight examples we weave throughout the chapters to demonstrate the application of materials. We hope to increase awareness of the experiences of people of color, both historically and in modern day, and the criminal justice system. Throughout history, people of color have had routinely negative experiences with the criminal justice system at every level. A person’s race and ethnicity can determine how one interacts with and experiences the criminal justice system. People of color have faced various barriers and challenges when attempting to make meaningful changes to a system that has operated in a repressive manner since it began.
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The Craft of Sociological Research
Victor Chen; Gabriela León-Pérez; Julie Honnold; Volkan Aytar · Virginia's Academic Library Consortium (VIVA) · 2024
The Craft of Sociological Research: Principles and Methods of Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Social Science Data was developed with the goal of developing an open educational resource (OER) that makes well-written and engaging methods-training materials available for free to students. The manuscript was written by a team of authors at Virginia Commonwealth University who are all researchers as well as teachers of undergraduate methods courses. Some portions of the text were adapted from existing OER social scientific methods textbooks, and others are original. Our aim is to provide broad but sound coverage of widely used methodologies, giving students the background they need to both evaluate and conduct research. While targeted at undergraduates, the textbook includes optional sections that provide more advanced methodological training. It also features Q&As with prominent sociologists and sidebars on topical issues that social scientific research has helped illuminate. We hope the text is accessible to students with a variety of backgrounds and interests, and to that end we have tried to make the writing lively and clear throughout and provide supplemental online and multimedia resources when possible. This project was funded with the generous support of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA), a program of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), and VCU Libraries’ Open and Affordable Course Content Initiative.
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Changing Society
Aimee Krouskop; Ben Cushing; Kimberly Puttman; Avery Temple · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2025
Changing Society offers a foundational exploration of the causes, impacts, and dynamics of social change. Informed by the tenets of universal design, equity and belonging, and a commitment to a decolonizing approach, it is written for undergraduate students majoring in social sciences, social work, ethnic studies, or social justice studies.
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Keepin' Up with Popular Culture
David Arditi · Mavs Open Press · 2025
In Keepin’ Up with Popular Culture, Dr. David Arditi introduces students to popular culture as a way to view and understand society, politics, and culture. This book demonstrates to students the overall importance of popular culture in their lives. It explores the ways that language is used (and the way that we use language) to construct the world around us through popular culture.
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Social Justice & Advocacy in Human Services
Cailyn Green; Bernadet DeJonge; Nikki Golden; Kim Brayton · Milne Open Textbooks · 2025
Social Justice & Advocacy in Human Services delves into the complex realm of social justice, offering a deep dive into historical roots and theories to practical applications in the field. This text covers fundamental concepts, including power, privilege, and oppression, and explores critical issues like racism, gender, sexuality, poverty, religion, and disability in the context of the United States. The last section of the book hones in on the field of human services, discussing power, privilege, and bias in this context, and lastly exploring equitable distribution, human rights, and the systems and entry points within human services practice. The text provides many resources, videos, definitions, and reflection questions, ensuring readers have a solid foundation in social justice concepts. The authors also present real-world stories and examples, enriching the learning experience. The text also offers educators and students opportunities to explore, learn more on their own, and take actionable steps toward advancing social justice.
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Inequality and Interdependence: Social Problems and Social Justice
Kimberly Puttman; Kathryn Burrows; Bethany Howe; Nora Karena · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2025
Inequality and Interdependence: Social Problems and Social Justice examines the persistent social problems of our world, asking both who suffers and who benefits. We explore inequality in issues that challenge communities today, such as education, mental health, death and dying, and disaster recovery, among others. We invite students to celebrate the work of those who remind us of our interdependence, to imagine powerful equitable solutions, and to co-create a more just world.
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Introduction to Human Services: An Equity Lens
Elizabeth Pearce; Martha Ochoa-Leyva · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2025
Introduction to Human Services: An Equity Lens exemplifies equity, diversity, and inclusion while providing a foundational understanding of the human services field, including core principles and theories and the characteristics and skills needed for the field. Features include ethical codes of conduct, the whitewashing of the history of helping professions, and a transitory chapter into internship settings. An emphasis is placed on the relationship between the complexity of social problems, services, systems and programs that comprise human services. The text prepares students who are considering or are committed to the Human Services field to participate in more advanced courses and practicum experiences.
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Research Methods for the Social Sciences: An Introduction
Valerie Sheppard · BCcampus · 2020
This textbook provides a broad overview of research methods utilized in sociology. It will be of particular value for students who are new to research methods.