An Introduction to Social Science. This best-selling text emphasizes why social and cultural changes are the pervasive realities of our time. A key theme of Contemporary Society is that the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial order in todays world is fraught with difficulties, as was the transition from an agricultural to an industrial order in an earlier era. Within this framework, we can observe the increasing fragmentation of the social order today, which tends to lead people away from community and a common purpose, more often bringing conflict and disunity. Still, countervailing social forces are also at