Synopses & Reviews
A unique and groundbreaking collection of 54 articles organized in 11 thematic sections, SOCIAL PROBLEMS: READINGS WITH FOUR QUESTIONS 2e takes a structural/conflict approach yet lets the voices of those impacted by social problems be heard. The articles are a mix of classic and contemporary readings, covering a wide range of issues in the United States and the world. The introductory article, written by Joel Charon, focuses on four questions that students are urged to apply throughout the reader: What is the problem? What makes the problem a "social problem"? What causes the problem? What can be done? This four questions approach gives students a consistent sociological framework within which to analyze social problems. The articles have been painstakingly selected to hold student interest, highlight contemporary social problems, and help professors show students how to think sociologically about the social problems around us.
Synopsis
A unique and groundbreaking collection of 58 articles, organized in 13 thematic sections, that takes a structural/conflict approach yet lets the voices of those impacted by social problems be heard. The articles are a mix of classic and contemporary readings that cover a wide range of issues in the United States and the world. The introductory article, written by the author, focuses on four questions that students are urged to apply throughout the reader: What is the problem? What makes the problem a
About the Author
Joel M. Charon is a successful author and a professor of Sociology at Moorhead State University in Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He has published numerous textbooks and readers, and TEN QUESTIONS: A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE has gone through three editions. He is a member of the ASA and the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.Lee G. Vigilant is a professor at Minnesota State University at Moorhead. He received his Ph.D. from Boston College (1995).
Table of Contents
PART I: AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 1. Joel M. Charon, An Introduction to the Study of Social Problems. 2. Joseph R. Gusfield, How Do We Decide What Are Social Problems? 3. Joel Best, What's Wrong with Declaring War on Social Problems? 4. Robert W. Fuller, Somebodies and Nobodies: Rankism and What It Means. PART II: SOCIAL PROBLEMS: ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND POVERTY. 5. Jennifer L. Hochschild, What's Wrong with the American Dream? 6. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, The Have-Mores and Have-Lesses. 7. Katherine S. Newman, The Invisible Poor. 8. Robert Perrucci and Earl Wysong, The Global Economy, the Privileged Class, and the Working Class. 9. Thomas M. Shapiro, Inheritance and Privilege. 10. John Iceland, Poverty in the United States. PART III: SOCIAL PROBLEMS: WORK AND UNEMPLOYMENT. 11. Barry Schwartz, The Demaning of Work. 12. Eric Schlosser, Work in the Strawberry Fields. 13. Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, Globalization and the Race to the Bottom. 14. Eric Schlosser, The Most Dangerous Job. 15. Griff Witte, The Vanishing Middle Class. PART IV: SOCIAL PROBLEMS: RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY. 16. Lawrence D. Bobo and Ryan A. Smith, Laissez-Faire Racism. 17. Roberto Suro, Latino Lives in a Changing America. 18. William Julius Wilson, From Institutional to Jobless Ghettos. 19. Nathan McCall, The Revolution Is about Basketball. 20. Joe R. Feagin and Hernan Vera, Eliminating the Waste of Racism. PART V: SOCIAL PROBLEMS: GENDER INEQUALITY AND ISSUES IN SEXUAL ORIENTATION. 21. Barbara Risman, Socialization into Gender. 22. Sharon Hays, The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood. 23. Susan Faludi, The Betrayal of the American Man. 24. Michael L. Penn and Rahel Nardos, Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls. 25. Sharon Hays, Flat Broke with Children. 26. Michael Bronski, Homosexuality and American Citizenship. PART VI: SOCIAL PROBLEMS: CRIME AND DRUGS. 27. Elliott Currie, The Possibilities for Crime Prevention. 28. Elijah Anderson, Violence and the Inner-City Code. 29. Stephen M. Rosoff, Henry N. Pontell, and Robert Tillman, White-Collar Crime. 30. Eva Bertram, Morris Blachman, Kenneth Sharp, and Peter Andreas, Three Fatal Flaws in the War on Drugs. 31. Jeremy Travis and Michelle Waul, From Prison to Home. PART VII: SOCIAL PROBLEMS RELATED THE THE FAMILY. 32. Elijah Anderson, Sex Codes and Family Life among Poor Inner-City Youths. 33. Kristin Luker, The Politics of Teenage Pregnancy. 34. Stephanie Coontz, Divorce in Perspective. 35. Maxine Baca Zinn and D. Stanley Eitzen, The Incidence and Causes of Wife Abuse. 36. Barbara Bergmann and Suszanne Helburn, What's Wrong with Child Care in America. PART VIII: SOCIAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO EDUCATION. 37. James Traub, What No School Can Do. 38. Jonathan Kozol, American Education: Savage Inequalities. 39. Barry Schwartz, The Debasing of Education. 40. Katherine S. Newman, Cybelle Fox, David Harding, Jal Mehta, and Wendy Roth, The Social Roots of School Shootings. 41. William G. Ouchi with Lydia G. Segal, Making Schools Work. PART IX: SOCIAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO HEALTH CARE. 42. Ronald W. Dworkin, The Cultural Revolution in Health Care. 43. Charles J. Dougherty, Protection of the Least Well-Off. 44. Grace Budrys, Health Care Costs and Cost Containment. 45. Tony Barnett and Alan Whiteside, Why AIDS in Africa. PART X: SOCIAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, VIOLENCE, AND TERRORISM. 46 Charles Derber, Resurrecting a Civil Society. 47. Charles A. Reich, The Corporation as Invisible Government. 48 Ervin Staub, The Origins of Group Violence. 49. Mark Juergensmeyer, The Global Rise of Religious Violence. 50. Michael Ignatieff, Democracy in an Age of Terror. PART XI: SOCIAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENT. 51. Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns, The Elderly--A Demographic Tidal Wave. 52. Donella H. Meadows, Seeing the Population Issue Whole. 53. Michael Parenti, Ecology for the Money. 54. Allen Hammond, Three Views of the Future.