Contemporary Readings in Social Problems includes a broad range of topics from different perspectives and encourages students to explore complex social issues. The many esteemed articles included in this collection have been carefully selected and edited to make them more accessible to undergraduate students. Introducing students to original writings on major topics in social problems, this reader brings real-world examples into courses covering social problems and is sure to spark interesting class discussion. Key Features Focuses on teaching both theory and application, providing a more contemporary view of social problems and integrating a global perspective Presents in-depth material in a clear and concise collection of well-edited, accessible articles Includes unique pedagogy, featuring a detailed table of contents with article abstracts; a topic guide to help instructors better integrate the material into their courses; article introductions written by the Editor; discussion questions for each article; and a detailed list of internet links for further exploration Provides a value-priced selection of 32 outstanding readings Intended Audience This comprehensive reader is an ideal supplemental text for undergraduate students enrolled in Social Problems, Sociological Theory, Introduction to Sociology, Global Issues, or Special Topics courses in departments of sociology. Contributor to the SAGE/Pine Forge ASA Teaching Innovations & Professional Development Awards Fund
Social problems affect everyone. Because so many actual and potential problems confront us, it is often difficult to decide which ones affect us most severely. Is it the threat of death or injury during a terrorist attack? Is it the threat caused by industrial pollution that may poison us or destroy our physical environment? Or does quiet but viciously damaging gender, age, class, racial, or ethnic discrimination have the most far-reaching effect? Do the problems of cities affect us if we live in the suburbs? Do poorer nations' problems with overpopulation affect our quality of life? The Encyclopedia of Social Problems offers an interdisciplinary perspective into many social issues that are a continuing concern in our lives, whether we confront them on a personal, local, regional, national, or global level. With more than 600 entries, these two volumes cover all of the major theories, approaches, and contemporary issues in social problems and also provide insight into how social conditions get defined as social problems, and the ways different people and organizations view and try to solve them. Key Features * Provides as comprehensive an approach as possible to this multifaceted field by using experts and scholars from 19 disciplines: anthropology, biology, business, chemistry, communications, criminal justice, demography, economics, education, environmental studies, geography, health, history, languages, political science, psychology, social work, sociology, and women's studies * Presents a truly international effort with contributors from 17 countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand, Romania, Scotland, Turkey, and the United States * Addresses social problems that are fairly new, such as computer crimes and identity theft, and others that are centuries old, such as poverty and prostitution * Examines social problems differently from place to place and from one era to another * Explains the perspectives and foundations of various social theories and offers different lenses to view the same reality Key Themes * Aging and the Life Course * Community, Culture, and Change * Crime and Deviance * Economics and Work * Education * Family * Gender Inequality and Sexual Orientation * Health * Housing and Urbanization * Politics, Power, and War * Population and Environment * Poverty and Social Class * Race and Ethnic Relations * Social Movements * Social Theory * Substance Abuse Readers investigating virtually any social problem will find a rich treasure of information and insights in this reference work, making it a must-have resource for any academic library.
This introductory textbook presents psychological and sociological perspectives on the family and explores the links between the family and social policy. The focus is on issues which bring the family into contact with the welfare state - such as domestic violence, child abuse, mental health, old age, poverty, juvenile delinquency and homelessness. The book highlights the different forms of regulation and intervention that "the family' can be subejct to, and how theoretical and ideological models of the "family" are use to explain a wide range of "problems" and inform professional interventions.
This volume explains the significance of postmodernism for understanding social welfare. The author provides readers with a relevant and authoritative guide to postmodern welfare since the last two decades have witnessed a sustained assault on the Keynesian "welfare state". Throughout the West governments have sought to replace the post-war welfare compact with neo-conservative individualism which has championed reduced taxation, increased profitability, market competitiveness and minimal residual public services. The alternatives for the Left - for feminists, socialists, those struggling against racism and for minority cultural rights - look bleak. Postmodernism appears to have compounded the problem by questioning the validity of a mass politics of emancipation based upon universal values of justice, reason and progress. Leonard develops a particular reading of the impact of postmodernism in a number of areas of social theory and political practice. His aim is to consider how positive and creative thinking about welfare can be reconstructed.
`I've always enjoyed reading the British Social Attitudes survey, which shows what the British people really think, as opposed to what journalists and politicians like to pretend they think' - John Pilger Britain is a well-documented nation. We know a lot about the characteristics of our society - who we are and what we do. We know much less ......
The anti-capitalist movement is increasingly challenging the global hegemony of neo-liberalism. The arguments against the neo-liberal agenda are clearly articulated in Radical Social Welfare. The authors: * hightlight the growing inequalities and decimation of state welfare * use Marxist approaches to contemporary social policy to provide a ......
Technology, in its current usage, can most simply be understood to have three components: artifacts, practices, and knowledge. Artifacts are the material objects that exist in the world. Practices are the methods and techniques used to interact with artifacts and knowledge represents the underlying theoretical and conceptual paradigms that influence technology in different cultural contexts. Using these components as the framework, this four volume major work traces the intellectual, scholarly, and public evolution of technology studies and ultimately questions whether technologies are truly autonomous within the societies they inhabit and whether or not technological changes drive social changes. Rayvon David Fouche presents the evolving conceptualizations of technology to understand the ways in which technology has shaped global society. Technology Studies is part of the 'Key Issues for the 21st Century' series published by SAGE which brings together collections on those critical issues that will shape our future. This four-volume set covers: Volume 1: Conceptualizing Technology Volume 2: Theorizing Technological Change Volume 3: Politics of Technology Volume 4: Technology and Culture
"This is a brilliant explanation of how social marketing can address upstream issues... As the author points out, too often people think of the downstream applications of social marketing. This book is the only one in this camp, and it does a very good job of it." -Mike Basil, University of Lethbridge, Canada Most observers and many practitioners see social marketing as a downstream approach to influencing people with "bad behaviors"-smoking, neglecting prenatal care, not recycling. However, this narrow view hugely underestimates social marketing's real potential. Social marketing is simply about influencing the behavior of target audiences. There are many more target audiences who need to act besides "problem people" if we are to solve major social problems. The goal of this cutting edge book is to reposition social marketing so that foundations, government agencies, and various nonprofits will approach social change in a way that reaches both upstream and downstream individuals in society. Author Alan R. Andreasen outlines potential roles, restates fundamental principles, and then suggests how social marketing might be applied to a sample of nontraditional challenges. Key Features: Emphasizes Broad Social Change: Repositions social marketing as an approach to social change that reaches both upstream and downstream. Reviews Social Marketing Concepts and Tools: A number of different strands of scholarship are used to provide an accessible introduction to social marketing including the evolution of social problems, the science of framing, the process of social change, and social marketing history and elements. Presents Frameworks for Influencing Behavior: Three simple frameworks are provided that anyone can use whenever there is a situation where one needs to influence another's behavior- stages of change, the BCOS model and competition. Social Marketing in the 21st Century is an excellent text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Health Promotion, Social Marketing, Social Enterprise, Social Change, Public Health, Social Welfare, and Communications. In addition, it is a valuable resource for social marketing practitioners, public health communicators, nonprofit managers, social workers, and social enterprise programs.
'This book shows that manners, far from being superficial adornments of behaviour, are thoroughly interwoven with our personalities and the structures of our societies. The concept of 'informalization' provides both an invaluable addition to Norbert Elias's theory of civilizing processes and a most useful tool for understanding how changes in manners are related to shifts in the balances of power between social classes, sexes, and generations' - Johan Goudsblom, University of Amsterdam 'Informalization supplants and surpasses all previous work on the changing manners and emotional styles of the West in the last century. Wouters helps us to understand trends in Britain and the USA gains from Wouters comparing them not just with each other, but also with Germany and the Netherlands' - Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin 'Cas Wouters stakes out a powerful theory about changes in human relationships in the Western world over the past twelve decades...essential reading for anyone interested in the contemporary human condition' - Theory and Society 'It is written in clear, unequivocal language, abounds with detail and replaces many normative statements about the alienating state of contemporary , capitalist, mass-consumption-oriented bureaucracy. ..A nuanced, subtle and theoretically informed analysis of the sometimes quite chaotic civilising process of the last century' - Figurations This highly original book explains the sweeping changes to twentieth-century regimes of manners and self. Broad in scope and deep in analytic reach, it provides a wealth of empirical evidence to demonstrate how changes in the code of manners and emotions in four countries (Germany, Netherlands, England and the US) have undergone increasing informalization. From the growing taboo toward the displays of superiority and inferiority and diminishing social and psychicogical distance between people, it reveals an 'emancipation of emotions' and the new representation of emotion at the centre of personality. This thought-provoking book traces: " The increasing permissiveness in public and private manners, such as introductions, the use of personal pronouns, social kissing, dancing, and dating " The ascent and integration of a wide variety of groups - including the working classes, women, youth and immigrants - and the sweeping changes this has imposed on relations of social inferiority and superiority " The shifts in self-regulation that require manners to seem 'natural', at ease and authentic " Rising external social constraints towards being reflexive, showing presence of mind, considerateness, role-taking, and the ability to tolerate and control conflicts, to compromise " Growing interdependence and social integration, declining power differences and the diminishing social and psychic distance between people Continuing the analysis of Sex and Manners, this book is a dazzling work of historical sociology and a fascinating read.
