Social Problems in a Diverse Society provides students and instructors with a text that covers all the major social concerns we must deal with today. It focuses on the significance of racialization and ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, class, ability, and gender in understanding social problems in Canada and around the globe. Throughout the text, people--especially those from marginalized groups--are shown not merely as "victims" of social problems, but also as individual actors with agency who resist discrimination and inequality and seek to bring about change in families, schools, workplaces, and the larger society.

A. Javier Treviño, working with a panel of experts, thoroughly examines all aspects of social problems, providing a contemporary and authoritative introduction to the field. Each chapter is written by a specialist on that particular topic and the unique, contributed format ensures that the research and examples provided are the most current and relevant available. The text is framed around three major themes: intersectionality (the interplay of race, ethnicity, class, and gender), the global scope of many problems, and how researchers take an evidence-based approach to studying problems.

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.

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 collection of articles presents a critical, issue-oriented approach to law and society, emphasizing its important relationship to contemporary social problems. By exploring the interstitial area between the sociology of law, social problems and social movements, the initial chapters trace out a theoretical trajectory which points to the need to move beyond traditional and social constructionist approaches. A variety of empirical studies together explore the contradictory dynamics of class as they relate to race and gender in both a national and global context, illustrating the dialectical interplay between the state and social movements. Employing a wide range of perspectives so as to convey the great diversity found in the contemporary sociology of law and justice studies, these authors collectively share a broad consensus concerning the need to explore how social movements and the larger political economy play a pivotal role in shaping state reactions to the challenges presented by contemporary social problems. With its integrated presentation of theoretical perspectives and empirical studies, this unique anthology will be useful in a variety of sociology, criminology, and justice studies course offerings such Law and Society, Social Problems, Crime and Social Justice, Social Movements, Law and Social Control, Social Change, Law and Public Policy, Introduction to Legal Studies, and others. Undergraduate and graduate students alike will appreciate that these articles, selected for their academic rigor, are highly readable and strongly oriented towards high profile social issues, including those of class, race, and gender inequalities as well as social movement and legal struggles in community, national and global settings.

Internet addiction. Cell-phone-distracted drivers. Teen suicide. Economic recession. The health risks of trans fats. The carefully selected collection of case studies in Making Sense of Social Problems is designed to help students understand and critically evaluate a wide range of contemporary social issues.

There is no adequate definition of social problems within sociology, and there is not and never has been a sociology of social problems. That observation is the point of departure of this book. The authors aim to provide such a definition and to prepare the ground for the empirical study of social problems. They are aware that their objective will strike many fellow sociologists as ambitious, perhaps even arrogant. Their work challenges sociologists who have, over a period of fifty years, written treatises on social problems, produced textbooks cataloguing the nature, distribution, and causes of these problems, and taught many sociology courses. It is only natural that the authors' work will be viewed as controversial in light of the large literature which has established a "sociology of" a wide range of social problems-the sociology of race relations, prostitution, poverty, crime, mental illness, and so forth. In the 1970s when the authors were preparing for a seminar on the sociology of social problems, their review of the "literature" revealed the absence of any systematic, coherent statement of theory or method in the study of social problems. For many years the subject was listed and offered by university departments of sociology as a "service course" to present undergraduates with what they should know about the various "social pathologies" that exist in their society. This conception of social problems for several decades has been reflected in the substance and quality of the literature dominated by textbooks. In 'Constructing Social Problems', the authors propose that social problems be conceived as the claims-making activities of individuals or groups regarding social conditions they consider unjust, immoral, or harmful and that should be addressed. This perspective, as the authors have formulated it, conceives of social problems as a process of interaction that produces social problems as social facts in society. The authors further propose that this process and the social facts it produces are the data to be researched for the sociology of social problems. This volume will be of interest to those concerned with the discipline of sociology, especially its current theoretical development and growth.

In this major new textbook, Vic George and Robert Page provide an original and much-needed introduction to global social problems and the emergence of a global social policy response. In an increasingly globalized world, it is inevitable that many of the social problems which have so far been seen as national in character will assume a global character. Global social problems are those which cannot be confined within national boundaries and which need both national and international attention if they are to be ameliorated. Pollution of the atmosphere is a stark example of this process. Global Social Problems begins with a discussion of the contested concept of globalization. Then eight of the most important global social problems are explored and explained by leading experts in environmental degration, international poverty, crime, AIDS, drugs, family violence, racism and migration. The book also includes chapter which explores the global social policy implications of these developments. With suggestions for further reading and accessible style, this book will be essential reading for undergraduate students in the social science, particularly those studying social policy, sociology and politics.

This book challenges sociologists and sociology students to think beyond the construction of social problems to tackle a central question: What do sociologists do with the analytic tools and academic skills afforded by their discipline to respond to social problems? Service Sociology posits that a central role of sociology is not simply to analyse and interpret social problems, but to act in the world in an informed manner to ameliorate suffering and address the structural causes of these problems. This volume provides a unique contribution to this approach to sociology, exploring the intersection between its role as an academic discipline and its practice in the service of communities and people. With both contemporary and historical analyses, the book traces the legacy, characteristics, contours, and goals of the sociology of service, shedding light on its roots in early American sociology and its deep connections to activism, before examining the social context that underlies the call for volunteerism, community involvement and non-profit organisations, as well as the strategies that have promise in remedying contemporary social problems. Presenting examples of concrete social problems from around the world, including issues of democratic participation, poverty and unemployment, student involvement in microlending, disaster miitigation, the organization and leadership of social movements, homelessness, activism around HIV/AIDS and service spring breaks, Service Sociology and Academic Engagement in Social Problems explores the utility of public teaching, participatory action research, and service learning in the classroom as a contribution to the community.

This book offers an innovative perspective on the intersection of politics, education, and social problems. It considers how we can create social change by talking about politics and social problems in more open, direct, and inclusive ways in educational spaces. Drawing on data from a range of settings, this book closely examines how and when complicated conversations take place in classrooms, schools, and communities. The book tackles a series of hot-button, timely issues, including race, religion, politics, and gender, and turns a critical eye to schools and the communities in which they are situated; the conversations adults have—and pointedly ignore—with one another; and, perhaps most critically, the politics that shape our society.