UNIT 1. Introduction: The Nature of Social Problems and General Critiques of American Society

1. Social Problems: Definitions, Theories, and Analysis, Harold A. Widdison and H. Richard Delaney, McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 1995

This essay, written specifically for this volume, explores the complexities associated with defining, studying, and attempting to resolve “social” problems. The three major theoretical approaches—symbolic interactionism, functionalism, and conflict—are summarized.

2. The Fragmentation of Social Life, D. Stanley Eitzen, Vital Speeches of the Day, July 1, 2000

In this essay about America, Stanley Eitzen addresses a crucial problem: the fragmentation of social life. He suggests that America could come apart in the future if this fragmentation continues. Eitzen discusses excessive individualism, heightened personal isolation, increasing inequality, and the deepening racial/ethnic/religious/sexuality divide.

3. How to Re-Moralize America, Francis Fukuyama, The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 1999

Recently, many of the indicators of moral decline have started to show improvement. Francis Fukuyama reports the changes and accepts the challenge of explaining how moral regeneration occurs generally and what caused a potential moral regeneration in the 1990s. In the process he is forced to explore the basic sociological questions: What are the sources of value systems? How do they arise and change? In his search for an answer, he leads the reader through a sociological detect

UNIT 2. Problems of the Political Economy

Part A. The Polity

4. Who Rules America?, G. William Domhoff, from Who Rules America? Power and Politics in the Year 2000, Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997

G. William Domhoff is the leading proponent of the power elite view of American politics as it applies to political influence in America today.

5. A Call to Civil Society, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Society, July/August 1999

This article is a call to America by the bipartisan Council on Civil Society to strengthen civil society and reverse many of the unwholesome trends of recent decades. This involves strongly supporting the family, local communities, faith communities, voluntary associations, and several other elements of society.

6. How the Little Guy Gets Crunched, Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Time, February 7, 2000

Politics means a win for some and a loss for others. The authors of this article show that campaign contributions from powerful special interest groups provide gains for the contributor but losses for the little guy.

Part B. The Economy

7. Twilight of the Corporation, Tony Clarke, The Ecologist, May/June 1999

In the last decade or so, the transnational corporation has virtually supplanted the nation-state as the central institution dominating the lives of people in most parts of the world. These corporations have created a global market system, which is now helping to reshape the destiny of people and nations.

8. The “New” Means of Consumption: A Postmodern Analysis, George Ritzer, from The McDonaldization Thesis, Sage, 1998

The consumption side of the economy is undergoing a rationalization revolution that is somewhat similar to the rationalization of production in the industrial revolution. George Ritzer provides a guide to this consumption revolution.

9. Work, Work, Work, Work!, Mark Hunter, Modern Maturity, May/June 1999

According to Mark Hunter, the place of work in the lives of Americans is changing. Work time is increasing, and the line between work life and private life is fading. Increasingly, work is seen as a means of self-fulfillment, and our careers start earlier and end later. Hunter discusses many other changes in the lives of Americans that are related to the changes in the meaning and conditions of work.

Part C. Problems of Place

10. When Activists Win: The Renaissance of Dudley St., Jay Walljasper, The Nation, March 3, 1997

As the pain and despair of ghettos become common knowledge, stories of poor neighborhoods organizing to make life better act as beacons of hope. Jay Walljasper tells the story of the successful Dudley Street Initiative and explains how it was done.

UNIT 3. Problems of Poverty and Inequality

Part A. Inequality and the Poor

11. Are the Rich Cleaning Up?, Cait Murphy, Fortune, September 4, 2000

Cait Murphy presents the facts on the increasing inequality in America, explains its causes, and suggests what should be done about it.

12. Out of Sight, Out of Mind, The Economist, May 20, 2000

Poverty is a problem that will not go away even when the economy is good. The conditions of poverty change, but the grinding struggle continues.

Part B. Welfare

13. Corporate Welfare, Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Time, November 9, 1998

In this essay, the authors explain how hundreds of companies get on the dole to the tune of 2 weeks’ pay for every working American. The federal government has issued over $125 billion to corporate America, which tilts the playing field toward the already powerful in society.

14. From Welfare to Work, Isabel Sawhill, Brookings Review, Summer 2001

What have been the results of the 1996 welfare reform laws that force most welfare mothers to work? Isabell Sawhill reviews the evidence. Caseloads have dropped from 5 million to 2.2 million and 60 percent of those who leave welfare are working, but it is hard to determine whether these changes are due mostly to what has been a good economy or to welfare reform itself.

Part C. Racial and Ethnic Inequality and Issues

15. Learning From Others, Marcia Cantarella, Vital Speeches of the Day, May 15, 2001

How do we go beyond racism? Marcia Cantarella explores the psychological side of this issue and suggests that getting beyond racism means conscious affirmation of the worth and total uniqueness of each individual. Blacks and other minorities often are not treated as individuals, usually to their detriment.

16. Why Worry About Multiculturalism?, Anne Phillips, Dissent, Winter 1997

America is becoming more multicultural, and many Americans fear the consequences. Anne Phillips examines three of these anxieties and finds them largely groundless.

Part D. Gender Inequalities and Issues

17. Different Words, Different Worlds, Deborah Tannen, from You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, William Morrow 1990

Deborah Tannen analyzes how the communication patterns and methods of relating for men and women differ, often causing them to misunderstand each other badly.

18. Violence Against Women, Toni Nelson, World Watch, July/August 1996

A major civil rights failure worldwide is the widespread suppression of and violence against women as expressed in rape, female infanticide, bride burning, enforced prostitution, domestic abuse, and female genital mutilation.

19. Where the Boys Are, Cathy Young, Reason, February 2001

Cathy Young explores the question of whether boys are “the victimized sex in American education and culture.” The social changes of the past three decades have greatly helped girls become more self-assured and opened opportunities for them. Have these changes also left men and boys confused about what is expected of them? Strong views are often presented on these issues, which Cathy Young reviews before presenting her more balanced assessment.

Part E. Disadvantaged or Vulnerable Groups

20. Scouts Divided, David France, Newsweek, August 6, 2001

David France reports on how the recent Supreme Court ruling against gays in the Boy Scouts brings into focus the issue of gay rights versus the rights of groups to exclude gays or to limit their rights within the group.

21. When Baby Boomers Grow Old, Elizabeth Benedict, The American Prospect, May 21, 2001

Currently, the elderly are often badly treated. As the baby boomers grow old, the problems will multiply. Elizabeth Benedict foresees major housing problems and the need for new public policies.

UNIT 4. Institutional Problems

Part A. The Family

22. The American Family, Stephanie Coontz, Life, November 1999

Stephanie Coontz explains that modern families are better than the way the media portray them and that families of the past were probably worse. She corrects many myths about the modern family with many underreported facts.

23. Fathers’ Time, Paul Roberts, Psychology Today, May/June 1996

Paul Roberts reports on research that shows the important role of fathers in the development of children, because they parent differently than mothers. They play with children more and “tend to be more physical and less intimate, with more reliance on humor and excitement.” This helps children learn emotional self-control.

24. Should You Stay Together for the Kids?, Walter Kirn, Time, September 25, 2000

Walter Kirn reviews the hot debate over whether parents who are in bad marriages should stay together for the sake of the children. Clearly the children suffer from the divorce of their parents, and in many cases, the damage lasts for a long time, but incompatible marriages can also be harmful.

Part B. Education

25. Schools That Develop Children, James P. Comer, The American Prospect, April 23, 2001

James Comer says of 15 proposed school reforms that they “can’t work or, at best, will have limited effectiveness” because “they all are based on flawed models.” The model that he proposes is based on current knowledge of child and youth development and features “positive and powerful social and academic interactions between students and staff.”

26. What No School Can Do, James Traub, New York Times Magazine, January 16, 2000

This pessimistic article argues that school reform will have only a small impact on poor children, because good schools cannot correct the many other disadvantages that poor children face.

Part C. Health

27. Healing in a Hurry: Hospitals in the Managed-Care Age, Suzanne Gordon and Timothy McCall, The Nation, March 1, 1999

The authors demonstrate that the reorganization of the health care system under the control of HMOs is adversely affecting the care that patients are receiving. Hospital stays have been dramatically reduced, as have referrals and tests. HMO profit maximizers rather than practicing physicians are making critical decisions about the health care that we receive.

28. Death Stalks a Continent, Johanna McGeary, Time, February 12, 2001

One of the greatest and most painful crises in the world today is the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Johanna McGeary’s report on this crisis reveals shocking behavior by families and others toward victims and points out cultural and structural factors that contriute to the crisis.

UNIT 5. Crime, Violence, and Law Enforcement

Part A. Crime

29. Preventing Crime: The Promising Road Ahead, Gene Stephens, The Futurist, November 1999

Gene Stephens reports on the results of research conducted on over 500 crime-prevention programs. He attempts to find out which prevention programs work and which do not work. There are many surprising results, especially in those that do not work.

30. Sex-Slave Trade Enters the U.S., Catherine Edwards and James Harder, Insight, November 27, 2000

The brutal and criminal sex-slave trade is booming around the world and in the United States. The authors describe the trade, the money that drives it, and the abuse and pain that are at the heart of it.

Part B. Law Enforcement

31. Reasonable Doubts, Stephen Pomper, The Washington Monthly, June 2000

Stephen Pomper critically assesses the criminal justice system and recommends strong, badly needed reforms.

32. On Patrol, Eli Lehrer, The American Enterprise, June 2001

The police have been both strongly praised and strongly criticized this past decade. Now it is time to get up close and personal as the police do their work. Eli Lehrer follows a policewoman on her patrol and lets us see how extremely varied is police work.

Part C. Violence and Terrorism

33. Teaching Kids to Kill, Dave Grossman, Phi Kappa Phi Journal, Fall 2000

Why is violent crime rapidly rising worldwide? The key indicator of this problem is aggravated assault, which “went up from around 60 per 100,000 in 1957 to over 440 per 100,000 by the mid-1990s” in the United States. David Grossman describes the psychological processes whereby violence in the media has trained kids to kill, inadvertently mimicking the principles of basic military training.

34. Why Don’t They Like Us?, Stanley Hoffmann, The American Prospect, November 19, 2001

America is now the prime target for terrorist attacks. Stanley Hoffmann explains that the United States is the current hegemon power and “through the ages, nobody—or almost nobody—has ever loved a hegemon.” Hoffmann also discusses the new world order, which is very disorderly; American’s international failures; and the antipathy of many against current processes like globalization, for which America is blamed.

UNIT 6. Problems of Population, Environment, Resources, and the Future

Part A. Population Issues

35. Sixteen Impacts of Population Growth, Lester R. Brown, Gary Gardner, and Brian Halweil, The Futurist, vol. 33, no. 2 (February 1999)

The authors discuss many impacts of world population growth on the environment, food production, depletion of resources, biodiversity, climate change, jobs, income, housing, education, and urbanization.

Part B. Environmental Issues

36. Feeling the Heat: Life in the Greenhouse, Michael D. Lemonick, Time, April 9, 2001

Michael Lemonick reviews the evidence for and the impacts of global warming. In the past century the increase in temperatures was only 1 degree Fahrenheit, but scientists predict that it will increase between 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. The effects of even the lower figure would be difficult to deal with, but if temperatures rise as much as 10 degrees, “the results could be disastrous.”

37. The Hidden Threat of Groundwater Pollution, Payal Sampat, USA Today Magazine (Society for the Advancement of Education), July 2001

A good example of how modern society is damaging the environment and endangering itself in the process is groundwater pollution. Payal Sampat describes the problem and discusses the best ways to deal with it.

Part C. The Future

38. A New Era of History, William Van Dusen Wishard, Vital Speeches of the Day, December 1, 2000

William Van Dusen Wishard, a leading world trends expert, describes many historical realities that have ended and the new era that is beginning. We are in a transition period. Key trends in this transition are an increasing awareness that “our existence is a single entity” (globalization), the advance of technology to the point that technological developments could permanently alter life on Earth, and the idea that "we are in the midst of a long-term spiritual and psychological reorientation."

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.