Understanding Social Problems

PRODUCT ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN CENGAGE UNLIMITED. UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL PROBLEMS, progresses from micro to macro analysis, focusing first on health care, drugs and alcohol, families, and crime and then looking at the larger issues of poverty and inequality, population growth, aging, environmental problems, and global conflict.

Written from a distinctly Canadian point of view, Understanding Social Problems, Fourth Canadian Edition, examines how the structure and culture of societies contribute to social problems and their consequences. This text has strong pedagogical features and is comprehensive in its coverage, progressing from micro to macro levels of analysis. It focuses first on problems of health care, drug use, and crime, and then broadens to the widening concerns of population, health and welfare, science and technology, large-scale inequality and environmental problems. Known for its inclusive approach, Understanding Social Problems, Fourth Canadian Edition, explores powerful stories of real life people struggling with the challenges society and its problems have thrust upon them.

"Understanding Social Problems, Policies, and Programs offers a comprehensive analysis of policies used in the United States to address social problems and to develop social programs. Leon Ginsberg, a respected authority in the field of social work policy, provides a framework for understanding some of the most controversial issues facing the nation, including welfare assistance, food stamps, and health care reform. In this timely volume, he defines the components of social welfare policy and illuminates the complex issues encountered by helping professionals." "Intended for practitioners, educators, administrators, and students, Understanding Social Problems, Policies, and Programs focuses on the history and analysis of social welfare policies as well as the political process of policymaking. Ginsberg describes social problems as their inevitable result of people living together in complex societies, and he traces society's desire to help its most vulnerable members - the children, the elderly, the homeless, and the poor. By explaining how policies and programs are developed, Ginsberg offers insight into the ways that individuals and groups might initiate, modify, and implement improved programs for the disadvantaged."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

An introduction to how social psychological theories, methods and interventions can be applied to manage real-world social problems.

Drugs, Alcohol, and Social Problems, a collection edited James D. Orcutt and David R. Rudy, includes 14 clearly written articles that exemplify the best of sociological scholarship on drug and alcohol problems. The readings strike a balance between constructionist, epidemiological, and ethnographic approaches to the study of drinking, drug use, and related problems such as domestic violence, crime, and the spread of HIV/AIDS. A general introduction and five section introductions written especially for this volume highlight basic theoretical questions and analytical themes that run through the articles. In contrast to many books on problems of substance use, Drugs, Alcohol, and Social Problems devotes equal attention to drug- and alcohol-related issues. The volume is organized around important theoretical and research approaches to the sociology of social problems, making it suitable for adoption as a supplement in undergraduate courses on social problems as well as for more specialized undergraduate and graduate courses in the area of drug and alcohol studies.

This engaging and accessible reader takes a social problems approach to health and medicine, providing a broad and critical lens on contemporary health problems. Designed for courses on social problems and on medical sociology, the volume embraces two fundamental principles: that health and illness are at least partly socially produced, and that health care is not an unfettered good and often brings with it serious social problems. The volume is organized into six sections, addressing the medicalization of human problems; the social construction of health problems; social movements; gender; race and class and the provision of health care; and medical accountability. Taken together, the essays demonstrate the depth and richness of a social problems approach to health and medicine, and the critical perspective it brings to our understanding of health and illness in U.S. society.

Angles of Vision is a compact text that provides students with basic information about social problems and teaches them a strategy for understanding these issues. Students learn how to distinguish between individual and structural analyses and the importance of placing issues in a historical and international context to gain a clearer understanding. In so doing, students come to appreciate that sociology is a hypothesis-testing discipline. The author uses metaphors, vignettes, and humor to convey the fundamental concepts, key findings, and methods by which sociologists understand social problems. } Angles of Vision is a compact text that provides students with basic information about social problems and teaches them a strategy for understanding these issues. Students learn how to distinguish between individual and structural analyses and the importance of placing issues in a historical and international context to gain a clearer understanding. In so doing, students come to appreciate that sociology is a hypothesis-testing discipline. The author uses metaphors, vignettes, and humor to convey the fundamental concepts, key findings, and methods by which sociologists understand social problems.Each chapter is organized to facilitate students understanding. First the issue is presented. The reasons why it is considered a social problem are explained along with a brief history. Second, historical and international data on the issue are sketched, ordinarily in simple tables or figures. The historical data go back as far as plausible, usually a century or more. The international data usually compare the U.S. with Western European nations, such as the U.K., France, and others. Third, the consequences of the issue are discussed. Fourth, the way individuals affect and are affected by the problem is outlined. Fifth, the relationship between social structure and the problem is explained. Finally, the implications of the problem are reviewed. *Jargon-free writing style and use of humor and anecdotes clearly illustrate concepts and hold students interest. *Historical and international data provide students with a broader and more empirical basis with which to examine social problems. *Looks at social problems from different angles of vision such as individual or structural. *Emphasizes the importance of hypothesis testing.. Angles of Vision is a compact text that provides students with a strategy for understanding social problems.Ten readable chapters cover:abortion, gender inequality, racial and ethnic inequality, poverty, drugs, homicide, aging, health.Chapters begin with a brief outline of what is to follow, and end with a short list of further reading. Each chapter succinctly addresses the dimensions of the problem, its consequences, its effect on individuals, its effect on the social structure, and its implications. Key studies, comprehensive historical and comparative data, fundamental concepts, and key methods are explained using metaphors, vignettes, and humor that will draw your students in, while giving them a firm grounding in social problems. }

This up-to-date and accessible text fills an important gap in the market by introducing students to social policy perspectives on social problems. Written in an accessible, student-friendly style, using subheadings, boxed material, tables, and up-to-date examples Each chapter includes a brief outline of the issues to be explored and question sections to help learning, develop evaluative skills and encourage project work Includes an annotated guide to further reading, helpful internet addresses, and a bibliography of sources cited Chapters can be used independently or in conjunction with others addressing related questions

Goldberg uses a multi-media approach to critically examine the most significant and volatile issues of our times: the environmental crisis, upheavals in the developing world, health, terrorism, and technology. The book is unique in its in-depth coverage of these pressing social concerns and its use of extensive media resources through a companion website. An introductory section reviews basic sociological concepts and theories, including the sociological imagination and class, gender, and race stratification all of which are revisited in each chapter. The book helps students appreciate the magnitude of the problems of the twenty-first century as they develop the intellectual tools to understand them sociologically and personally.Features of the text: "