1. Sociological Approach to Social Problems.
History of Social Problems Theory.
Toward a Definition of Social Problems.
Types of Social Problems.
Norm Violations.
Social Conditions.
Social Structure as the Basic Unit of Analysis.
Person-Blame Approach versus System-Blame Approach.
Reasons for Focusing on the System-Blame Approach.
Organization of the Book.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
2. Wealth and Power: The Bias of the System.
Capitalism and Socialism.
Capitalism.
Socialism.
U.S. Economy: Concentration of Corporate Wealth.
Monopolistic Capitalism.
Transnational Corporations.
Concentration of Wealth.
Political System: Links Between Wealth and Power.
Government by Interest Groups.
Financing of Political Campaigns.
Candidate Selection Process.
Bias of the Political System.
Consequences of Concentrated Power.
Subsidies to Big Business.
Trickle-Down Solutions.
The Powerless Bear the Burden.
Foreign Policy for Corporate Benefit.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
3. World Population and Global Inequality.
World Population Growth.
Demographic Transition.
Family Planning.
Societal Changes.
Poverty.
Food and Hunger.
Sickness and Disease.
The New Slavery.
Concentration of Misery in Cities.
Priorities of Third World Nations: Military Security or Economic Security?
U.S. Relations with the Third World.
Transnational Corporations.
United States in the Global Village.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
4. Threats to the Environment.
Worldwide Environmental Problems.
Degradation of the Land.
Environmental Pollution and Degradation.
Global Environmental Crises.
Fossil Fuel Dependence, Waste, and Environmental Degradation.
Destruction of the Tropical Rain Forests.
Global Warming.
Sources of U.S. Environmental Problems.
Cultural Sources.
Structural Sources.
Solutions to the Environmental Crises.
Probusiness Voluntaristic Approach.
Egalitarian/Authoritarian Plan.
Control of Resource Use.
International Implications of Environmental Problems.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
5. Demographic Changes in the United States: The Browning and Graying of Society.
Profile of the U.S. Population.
New Immigration and the Changing Racial Landscape.
Immigration and Increasing Diversity.
Consequences of the New Immigration.
Immigration and Agency.
Effects of Immigration on Immigrants: Ethnic Identity or Assimilation?
The Aging Society.
Demographic Trend.
Demographic Portrait of the Current Elderly Population.
Problems of an Aging Society.
Social Security.
Paying for Health Care.
Elderly Abuse.
Responses by the Elderly: Human Agency.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
6. Problems of Place: Urban, Suburban, and Rural.
Urban Problems.
Urban Job Loss.
Disinvestment.
Federal Abandonment.
Urban Poverty.
Urban Housing Crisis.
Decaying Infrastructure.
Transportation, Pollution, and the Environment.
Health and Health Care.
Urban Schools.
Crime, Drugs and Gangs.
Suburban Problems.
Suburban Sprawl.
Automobile Dependency.
Social Isolation in the Suburbs.
Rural Problems.
Poverty.
Jobs in Rural Areas.
Environment.
Health Care and Delivery.
Small Town Decline.
Crime and Illicit Drugs.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
7. Poverty.
Extent of Poverty.
Racial Minorities.
Nativity.
Gender.
Age.
Place.
The New Poor.
The Working Poor.
The Near Poor.
The Severely Poor.
Myths about Poverty.
Refusal to Work.
Welfare Dependency.
The Poor Get Special Advantages.
Welfare Is an African American and Latino Program.
Costs of Poverty.
Causes of Poverty.
Deficiency Theory I: Innate Inferiority.
Deficiency Theory II: Cultural Inferiority.
Structural Theories.
Elimination of Poverty.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
8. Racial and Ethnic Inequality.
How to Think About Racial and Ethnic Inequality.
Racial and Ethnic Minorities.
Racial Categories.
Differences among Ethnic Groups.
Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality.
Deficiency Theories.
Bias Theories.
Structural Discrimination Theories.
Discrimination Against African Americans and Latinos: Continuity and Change.
Income.
Education.
Unemployment.
Type of Employment.
Health.
Contemporary Trends and Issues in U.S. Racial and Ethnic Relations.
Growing Racial Strife.
Economic Polarization in U.S. Inner Cities.
Racial Policies in the New Century.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
9. Gender Inequality.
Women and Men Are Differentiated and Ranked.
Is Gender Biological or Social?
Gender and Power.
What Causes Gender Inequality?
Socialization versus Structure: Two Approaches to Gender Inequality.
Learning Gender.
Children at Home.
Children at Play.
Formal Education.
Socialization as Blaming the Victim.
Reinforcing Male Dominance.
Language.
Interpersonal Behavior.
Mass Communications Media.
Religion.
The Law.
Politics.
Structured Gender Inequality.
Occupational Distribution.
Earnings Gap.
Intersection of Race and Gender in the Workplace.
Pay Equity.
How Workplace Inequality Operates.
Gender in the Global Economy.
Costs and Consequences of Sexism.
Who Benefits?
The Social and Individual Costs.
Fighting the System.
Feminist Movements in the United States.
Women's Struggles in the Twenty-First Century.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
10. Sexual Orientation.
Social Deviance.
Gay and Lesbian Community: An Overview.
Defining Homosexuality.
Roots of Homosexuality.
Numbers: How Many Gays and Lesbians?
Interpersonal Relationships and Domestic Arrangements among Gays and Lesbians.
Discrimination.
Ideological Oppression.
Legal Oppression: The Law, the Courts, and the Police.
Occupational Discrimination.
Fighting the System: Human Agency.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
11. Disability and Ableism.
Definitions.
Individual Model of Disability.
Social Model of Disability.
Toward a More Complete Definition of Disability.
People with Disabilities as a Minority Group.
Defined as Different.
Naming.
Minority as a Master Status.
Categorization, Stigma, and Stereotypes.
Exclusion and Segregation.
Matrix of Domination.
Discrimination.
Issues of Gender, Sexual Behavior, and Fertility.
Gender Stereotyping.
Sexual Relationships.
Physical and Sexual Abuse.
Abortion Issue.
Agency.
Disability Rights Movement.
Americans with Disabilities Act.
Conclusion.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
12. Crime and Justice.
Crime in Society.
What Is Crime?
Crime Rates.
Demographic Characteristics of People Arrested for Crimes.
Categories of Crime.
Unjust System of Justice.
Laws.
Police.
Judicial Process.
Correctional System.
Unjust Imposition of the Label "Criminal".
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
13. Drugs.
The Politics of Drugs.
Historical Legality of Drugs.
Factors Influencing Drug Laws and Enforcement.
Drug Use in U. S. Society.
Commonly Abused Illegal Drugs.
Legal But Dangerous Drugs.
Drug Use Patterns by Class and Race.
Learning to Use Drugs: The Impact of Social Factors.
Why Use Drugs?
U. S. Official Policy: A War on Drugs.
Consequences of Official Drug Policies.
Is the Drug War Racist?
Alternatives.
Regulation of Trade or Use through Licensing and Taxation.
Noninterference.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
14. Work.
Problems of Work.
Control of Workers.
Alienation.
Dangerous Working Conditions.
Sweatshops.
Unions and Their Decline.
Discrimination in the Workplace: Perpetuation of Inequality.
Unemployment.
Globalization and the Structural Transformation of the Economy.
Globalization.
Structural Transformation of the Economy: From Manufacturing to Services.
Age of Discontinuity.
Changing Nature of Jobs.
Job Insecurity.
Increased Workload.
Worker Compensation.
Demography and Jobs.
Changing Economy, Demography, and the Future of Work.
Transformation of the Economy and the Bifurcation of the United States.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
15. Families.
The Mythical Family in the United States.
Families in Contemporary U.S. Society: The Family in Capitalism.
Stratification and Family Life: Unequal Life Chances.
Structural Transformation and Family Life.
Changing Composition of Households and Families.
Parents and Children.
Social Supports for Working Parents.
Single Parents and Their Children.
Societal Response to Disadvantaged Children.
Divorce.
Consequences of Divorce.
Children and Divorce.
Violence in U.S. Families.
Violence and the Social Organization of the Family.
Spouse Abuse.
Child Abuse and Neglect.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
16. Education.
Characteristics of Education in the United States.
Education as a Conserving Force.
Mass Education.
Local Control of Education.
Competitive Nature of U.S. Education.
"Sifting" and "Sorting" Function of Schools.
Preoccupation with Order and Control.
Education and Inequality.
Financing Public Education.
Family Economic Resources.
Higher Education and Stratification.
Curriculum.
Segregation.
Tracking and Teachers' Expectations.
Possibilities for Promoting Equality of Opportunity.
Restructuring Society.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
17. Health and Health Care Delivery.
The Crisis in Health Care: Cost and Coverage.
Rising Health Care Costs.
Uninsured and Underinsured.
Unequal Access to Health Care.
Social Class.
Race.
Gender.
Class, Race, and Gender: Who Wins and Who Loses in the Battle Against HIV/AIDS?
Changing Social Organization of Health Care Delivery.
Fee-for-Service System.
Shift to Managed Care.
Shift from Private to For-Profit Hospitals.
Toward a Better Health Care System: Some Alternatives.
Reforms within the Medical Community.
National Health Insurance.
Societal Changes.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
18. National Security in the Twenty-First Century: The War on Terror.
A War Like No Other.
U.S. Military Establishment.
How Big Is the U.S. Military?
U. S. National Security Policy and the War on Terror.
The Bush Doctrine.
Homeland Security: The Bush Doctrine II.
Consequences of the Bush Doctrine, and Bush Doctrine II.
Should the United States Destabilize International Law, or Promote It?
Should the United States Become a Fortress Society?
Can We Claim the Moral High Ground?
How Should the War on Terror Change Our Government’s Spending Priorities?
What About Domestic Terrorists?
New Cornerstones of Policy for 21st Century National Security.
Why Do They Hate Us?
How to Win the War on Terror.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.
19. Progressive Plan to Solve Society's Social Problems.
Sociology, Social Problems, and Social Change.
Sociological Paradox: Structure and Agency.
Sociological Dilemma: Recognition and Rejection.
Progressive Principles to Guide Public Policy.
Is a Progressive Social Policy Possible?
Should a Progressive Plan Be Adopted by U.S. Society?
Financing the Progressive Agenda.
Is There Any Hope of Instituting a Social Agenda Based on Progressive Principles?
Human Agency: Social Change from the Bottom Up.
Individuals Protesting and Organizing for Change.
Chapter Review.
Key Terms.
Websites for Further Reference.