The text emphasizes contemporary issues such as religious fundamentalism, transnational marriage, the World Bank, the spread of disease, aging, and genocide as a response to ethnic conflict. * This edition focuses on topics that affect your students today, such as gay marriage, religious fundamentalism, ethnic and religious differences in Iraq, changing norms and practices on marriage and kinship, increasing national and global inequalities, and the cultural construction of race. * The authors integrate globalization into the narrative of almost all chapters while using boxed "Globalization" features in every chapter to delve into more detail and highlight various kinds of globalization, such as the spread of cultural ideas, language, market exchanges, inequality, art, and migration. * This valued text provides the latest statistical data on the distribution of annual income and wealth in North America. The authors also discuss the possible relationship between globalization and terrorism.