Social Sciences Textbooks
Digging into Archaeology: A Brief OER Introduction to Archaeology with Activities
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributors: Paskey and Cisneros
Publisher: Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
License: CC BY-NC
This book is intended for use in a variety of introductory archaeology settings, such as in lectures and lab courses. This text can complement an existing traditional text or completely replace a standard text. It can be used for its activities or as a study resource. When we wrote this text, we designed the chapters to be brief, providing concise and to-the-point information. This book is not intended to replace lectures or direct instruction from an instructor; rather, it supports learning in a variety of settings and formats. The book can be printed in whole, read digitally, or used piecemeal in either format. However you use this text, we hope that you find it serves as an instructive learning tool and that you dig archaeology as much as we do!
(1 review)
Intercultural Communication
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributor: Ahrndt
Publisher: University of Missouri - St. Louis
License: CC BY-NC-SA
Intercultural Communication examines culture as a variable in interpersonal and collective communication. It explores the opportunities and problems arising from similarities and differences in communication patterns, processes, and codes among various cultural groups. It explores cultural universals, social categorization, stereotyping and discrimination, with a focus on topics including race, ethnicity, social class, religion, gender and sexuality as they relate to communication.
(12 reviews)
Contemporary Families: An Equity Lens
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributor: Pearce
Publisher: Open Oregon Educational Resources
License: CC BY
This openly licensed text, created with students, approaches contemporary families from an equity lens. It asks two questions relevant to the Difference, Power, and Discrimination outcomes at Linn-Benton Community College and Oregon State University: “What do families need?” and “How do society and institutions support or get in the way of families getting what they need?" Original content is licensed under CC BY, except as otherwise noted. More specific information can be found under Licenses and Attributions at the bottom of each section.
(4 reviews)
Physical Geography - Version 1
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributors: Patrich and Radtke
Publisher: College of the Canyons
License: CC BY
Welcome to Physical Geography at College of the Canyons.
(1 review)
General Psychology for Honors Students
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributor: Votaw
Publisher: University of Missouri - St. Louis
License: CC BY-NC-SA
What are the most effective methods to study for a test? What are the meanings of dreams? How do illusions work? With whom are you most likely to fall in love? These are just a few of the questions that have been asked by psychologists since the birth of the field as an area of scientific research in the 1870’s. This text surveys the basic concepts, theories, and pivotal findings over the past 100 years in the science of Psychology, with special emphasis on contemporary concepts and findings focused on the relation of the brain to normal and pathological behaviors. Psychology has long evolved past the psychodynamic influence to include biological, social, learning, motivational, and developmental perspectives, to name a few. Contemporary psychologists go beyond philosophical or anecdotal speculation and rely on empirical evidence to inform their conclusions. Similarly, readers will push beyond pre-existing schemas and misconceptions of the field of psychology to an understanding of contemporary quantitative research methods as they are used to predict and test human behavior.
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(0 reviews)
Languages and Worldview
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributor: Allard-Kropp
Publisher: University of Missouri - St. Louis
License: CC BY-NC-SA
Asking and answering questions about what culture entails and examines the fundamental properties and intertwining nature of language and culture. This text explores linguistic relativity, lexical differences among languages and intercultural communication, including high and low contexts.
(2 reviews)
The American LGBTQ Rights Movement: An Introduction
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributors: Morgan and Rodriguez
Publisher: Humboldt State University Press
License: CC BY-SA
The American LGBTQ Rights Movement: An Introduction is a peer-reviewed chronological survey of the LGBTQ fight for equal rights from the turn of the 20th century to the early 21st century. Illustrated with historical photographs, the book beautifully reveals the heroic people and key events that shaped the American LGBTQ rights movement. The book includes personal narratives to capture the lived experience from each era, as well as details of essential organizations, texts, and court cases that defined LGBTQ activism and advocacy.
(2 reviews)
The Western World: Daily Readings on Geography
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributors: Quam and Campbell
Publisher: College of DuPage
License: CC BY-NC-SA
In essay format, this textbook considers examples of various sub-categories of Geography in combination with five regions of the Western World.
(1 review)
Attenuated Democracy: A Critical Introduction to U.S. Government and Politics
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributor: Hubert
Publisher: Salt Lake Community College
License: CC BY-NC-SA
The U.S. political system suffers from endemic design flaws and is notable for the way that a small subset of Americans—whose interests often don’t align with those of the vast majority of the population—wields disproportionate power. Absent organized and persistent action on the part of ordinary Americans, the system tends to serve the already powerful. That’s why this text is called Attenuated Democracy. To attenuate something is to make it weak or thin. Democracy in America has been thin from the beginning and continues to be so despite some notable progress in voting rights. As political scientists Benjamin Page and Martin Gilens wrote, “The essence of democracy is not just having reasonably satisfactory policies; the essence of democracy is popular control of government, with each citizen having an equal voice.” (1) Since this is likely to be your only college-level course on the American political system, it is important to point out the structural weaknesses of our system and the thin nature of our democracy. Whenever you get the chance—in the voting booth, in your job, perhaps if you hold elected office—I encourage you to do something about America’s attenuated democracy.
(6 reviews)
Parenting and Family Diversity Issues
Copyright Year: 2020
Contributor: Lang
Publisher: Iowa State University
License: CC BY-NC-SA
This book has been created for students and all individuals who work with children and families (e.g., educators, parents, caregivers, direct support workers, etc.) in diverse contexts. It is imperative to understand how and what factors may influence child outcomes across the lifespan. Therefore, key concepts related to parenting, child-rearing, care-giving, and parenting education are outlined in this textbook to provide historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives across vast settings and developmental domains.
(5 reviews)