Scott Sernau's Critical Choices shows students how to apply sociological insights to their own lives in ways that challenge complacency and easy answers. In exploring the connections between their social world and day-to-day lives--their plans, aspirations, and life choices--students sharpen their critical-thinking skills. Written in an engaging, conversational tone, Critical Choices helps instructors communicate the relevance of studying sociology to students--how it can make us more savvy, successful, and empathetic social actors. The book's interactive, critical-thinking approach calls on students to apply data on trends and patterns, confront myth-challenging facts, examine tables and charts, and explore the social underpinnings of current controversies. Included are global concerns and issues of race, health, community, and gender--all crucial in the contemporary context of making critical choices. "Reaching Out" sections extend to interaction with the student's particular community. These include a wide range of hands-on learning experiences, such as short field projects, content analyses, ethnographic writing, and other community activities to encourage habits of thoughtful involvement. Critical Choices offers a key resource to instructors seeking to convey both the intrigue and the practicality of sociology--and to spark fresh sociological imaginations. The table of contents is designed to match the range of topics found in most core introductory texts.