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Handbook of Social Problems
A Comparative International Perspective

Edited by:

Courses:
Social Problems

November 2003 | 704 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

"Ritzer's Handbook of Social Problems offers a comprehensive treatment of today's major societal issues. The articles are authored by some of the top scholars in the field and address problem areas that will capture the interests of students and professors alike. The international coverage is most welcome in this time of intensifying global inequalities."

-Nancy Jurik,
Arizona State University

The Handbook of Social Problems: A Comparative International Perspective provides a unique, broadly comparative perspective on the current state of social problems and deviance in a variety of societies around the world. Editor George Ritzer, along with leading U.S. and international sociologists, examines the relationship between social problems and a society's level of development and affluence.

The essays in this volume focus on four interrelated issues involved in the relationship between social problems and the level of development and affluence:

· Less developed and less affluent societies are more likely to experience a range of social problems than developed and affluent societies.

· Affluence causes or at least brings with it a series of social problems that do not exist in less affluent societies.

· It is only with affluence that certain things can come to be imagined as social problems, such as excessive consumption.

· The very affluence of a society makes it vulnerable to problems that would not be social problems in poorer societies.

The Handbook explores the theory of the weakness of the strong—in other words, strong or wealthy nations may have greater vulnerability to some social problems than less developed or affluent societies. This theory is clearly illustrated in this volume by the aftermath of September 11, 2001depicting the vulnerability of the U.S. to social problems in far-removed corners of the world. In addition, the international and comparative essays in this volume cover other important issues such as the impact of modern technologies on social problems, ecological problems, global inequality, health as a social problem, and much more. The Handbook of Social Problems is a vital resource for sociologists and graduate students, as well as an excellent addition to any academic library.


 
INTRODUCTION
George Ritzer
Ch.01 Social Problems: A Comparative International Perspective
Joel Best
Ch 02 Theoretical Issues in the Study of Social Problems and Deviance
Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln
Ch. 03 Methodological Issues in the Study of Social Problems
Tim Blackman and Roberta Woods
Ch. 04 Social Problems and Public Policy
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Sonalde Desai
Ch. 05 Population Change
Steven Yearley
Ch. 06 Ecological Problems
Salvatore J. Babones and Jonathan H. Turner
Ch. 07 Global Inequality
Joe R. Feagin and Pinar Batur
Ch. 08 Racism in Comparative Perspective
Thomas D. Hall
Ch. 09 Ethnic Conflict as a Global Social Problem
Amy S. Wharton
Ch. 10 Gender Inequality
Chigon Kim and Mark Gottdiener
Ch. 11 Urban Problems in Global Perspective
Teresa A. Sullivan
Ch. 12 Work-Related Social Problems
Douglas Kellner
Ch. 13 The Media and Social Problems
Douglas J. Goodman
Ch. 14 Consumption as a Social Problem
Felix M. Berardo and Constance L. Shehan
Ch. 15 Family Problems in Global Perspective
Caroline Hodges Persell, Richard Arum, and Kathryn Seufert
Ch. 16 Racial and Ethnic Educational Inequality in Global Perspective
William C. Cockerham
Ch. 17 Health as a Social Problem
Andrew Twaddle
Ch. 18 How Medical Care Systems Become Social Problems
Bronwen Lichtenstein
Ch. 19 Aids as a Social Problem: The Creation of Social Pariahs in The Management of an Epidemic
Ian Roxborough
Ch. 20 War, Militarism and National Security
Gus Martin
Ch. 21 Sea Change: The Modern Terrorist Environment in Perspective
David Norman Smith
Ch. 22 The Rhetoric and Reality of "Mass Destruction": How Genocide Became an International Social Problem
John Boli, Michael A. Elliott and Franziska Bieri
Ch. 23. Globalization
Frank Webster and Mark Erickson
Ch. 24 Technology and Social Problems
Gili S. Drori
Ch. 25 The Internet as a Global Social Problem
John Tulloch
Ch. 26 Risk
 
DEVIANCE
Michael Tonry
Ch. 27 Crime
Mark C. Stafford
Ch. 28 Juvenile Delinquency
Erich Goode
Ch. 29 Drug Use as a Global Social Problem
Ken Plummer
Ch. 30 The Sexual Spectacle: Making a Public Culture of Sexual Problems
Julia O'Connell Davidson
Ch. 31 Modern Day Folk Devils and the Problem of Children's Presence in the Global Sex Trade
Howard B. Kaplan
Ch. 32 Mental Illness as a Social Problem
Gary L. Albrecht
Ch. 33 Disability As a Global Issue
Gary LaFree and Nancy Morris
Ch. 34 Corruption as a Global Social Problem


"Ritzer's Handbook of Social Problems offers a comprehensive treatment of today's major societal issues. The articles are authored by some of the top scholars in the field and address problem areas that will capture the interests of students and professors alike. The international coverage is most welcome in this time of intensifying global inequalities."

Nancy Jurik
Arizona State University
Key features
Global perspective: The unique, broadly comparative perspective looks at the current state of social problems and deviance in a variety of societies worldwide for both their similarities and differences.

Relationships: the international and comparative nature of the essays focus on the relationship between social problems and the level of societal development and affluence.

Post 9/11 Effect: illustrates the vulnerability of wealthy societies to social problems in far-removed corners of the world.

Technological impacts: Modern technologies often create social problems in both affluent and less-developed societies, but of widely different natures. The impact of technologies are examined throughout the book

Contributors: some of the top sociologists in the U.S. and the world whose expertise is in the social problems they cover have contributed essays to this book.

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ISBN: 9781452261553

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