Synopses & Reviews
When thirteen machine shop workers from Ohio won a $295.7 million lotto jackpot, the largest ever, it made headlines. But the real story is that the lottery is a losing proposition for the vast majority who play it.
Hitting the Lottery Jackpot provides the hard truth to the questions everybody asks: What are my chances of winning? Doesn't the money go to education? Isn't it harmless? This concise book explains who really profits from lotteries-advertising agencies, TV stations, and ticket vendors-and that shows only about half the money wagered is returned as prizes, the rest pocketed by state governments. Hitting the Lottery Jackpot also demonstrates who loses: lower-income groups and people of color, who spend a much higher percentage of their income on lotteries than others.
David Nibert connects the rise of lotteries, illegal in every state before the 1960s, to the economic stagnation beginning in the 1970s, when budgetary crises prompted legislatures to seek new revenues. Difficult economic times produced uncertainty and anxiety for the working class, leading many poor and middle-income people, yearning for security, to throw away huge sums on lotteries they stand almost no chance of winning. Finally, Nibert explores the ideological dimensions of the lottery-the get-rich-quick individualism that they promote among the very groups who would be better served by political action and solidarity.
Hitting the Lottery Jackpot is a powerful case for seeing lotteries as a pernicious government tax on the poor, seductively disguised as fun.
Review
"A more nuanced and embedded analysis of men's experiences of procreation than we have ever had. One can no longer speak of fatherhood as separate from the decisions about contraception, pregnancy, and reproduction." - Michael Kimmel, State University of New York, Stony Brook
Review
"Sex, Men, and Babies is a significant contribution to a surprisingly under-researched area: the meaning and place of fathering in the lives of young men. It is a valuable contribution to men's studies, to gender studies, and to the sociology of the family."
"A more nuanced and embedded analysis of men's experiences of procreation than we have ever had. One can no longer speak of fatherhood as separate from the decisions about contraception, pregnancy, and reproduction."
"Readers unfamiliar with the burgeoning literature on the neglected importance of fatherhood will find this study a helpful beginning point."
"A more nuanced and embedded analysis of men's experiences of procreation than we have ever had. One can no longer speak of fatherhood as separate from the decisions about contraception, pregnancy, and reproduction."
Synopsis
Over the past 15 years much pioneering work has been done on the social demography of young men's sexual activities, contraceptive use, and fertility experiences. But how do men develop and manage their identities in these areas?
In Sex, Men, and Babies, William Marsiglio and Sally Hutchinson provide a compelling and insightful portrait of young men who are capable of anticipating, creating, and fathering human life. Based on in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of 70 single men aged 16-30, this is the most comprehensive, qualitative study of its kind. Through intimate stories and self-reflections, these men talk about sex, romance, relationships, birth control, pregnancies, miscarriages, abortions, visions of fathering, and other issues related to men's self-awareness, and the many ways they construct, explain, and change their identities as potential fathers. The interviews also provide valuable insights about how young men experience responsiblities associated with sex and the full range of procreative events.
Accessibly written for a wide audience and raising a host of issues relevant to debates about unplanned pregnancy, childbearing among teens and young adults, and women's and children's well-being, Sex, Men, and Babies is the fullest account available today on how young men conceptualize themselves as procreative beings. Lessons from this study can inform interventions designed to encourage young men to be more aware of their abilities and responsiblities in making babies.
Synopsis
This accessibly written collaboration between a sociologist and a nursing teacher is a full account of how young men conceptualize fatherhood.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-272) and index.
About the Author
William Marsiglio, Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida, has written extensively on the social psychology of men's sexuality, fertility, and fatherhood. His most recent books include
Procreative Man and
Fatherhood: Contemporary Theory, Research, and Social Policy.
Sally Hutchinson, Professor of Nursing at the University of Florida, teaches qualitative methods to doctoral students and has published more than 60 articles on the method or product of qualitative health research. As an international speaker and consultant in qualitative research, she has worked in Brazil, Australia, Egypt, Canada, Scandinavia, and East Africa.