This introductory text, written from a conflict perspective, emphasizes four themes: diversity, the struggle by the powerless to achieve social justice, the changing economy, and globalization.

In Conflict and Order studies the forces that lead to both stability and change in society and asks:

'Who benefits from the existing social arrangements, and who does not?'

'How are human beings shaped by society?'

'What are the forces that maintain social stability, produce social inequality, and resist social change?'