Reading Between the Lines: Toward an Understanding of Current Social Problems

Drawing from a wide selection of current research and writings, "Reading Between the Lines" brings together accessible readings that examine a broad range of social problems and reflect different conceptual approaches. The text provides a conceptual framework for understanding social problems and enables an integrated race, class, and gender analysis.

Table of Contents:
SECTION I. TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF CURRENT SOCIAL PROBLEMS Chapter 1. A Conceptual Tool Kit Chapter 2. Thinking About Social Problems 1. The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills Why history is necessary to understand experience; how social problems (issues) differ from individual troubles 2. Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, and Gender as Categories of Analysis and Connection, Patricia Hill Collins How everyone's life experience exists within overlapping structures of race, gender and class 3. The Limits of Science in Understanding Who We Are, Barbara Katz Rothman How science constructs problems and solutions 4. Why I Love Trash, Joshua Gamson How the media shapes our common sense understandings of difference and deviance 5. The Reproduction of Inequality: Interactionist Analysis,Michael Schwalbe, Sandra Godwin, Daphne Holden, Douglas Schrock, Shealy Thompson, Michele Wolkomir How our uncritical choices and behavior remake inequality every day SECTION II. SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND INEQUALITY Chapter 3. Power, Capitalism and Globalization 6. One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism, William Greider How the forces of global capitalism contribute to worldwide inequality 7. Enchanting a Disenchanted World: Revolutionizing the Means of Consumption, George Ritzer How U.S. consumerism is affecting other cultures around the world 8. Corporate Welfare, Donald L. Barlett and James B Steele How the U.S. government spends more money on aid to wealthy corporations than on aid to the nation's poor 9. The Social Psychology of Modern Slavery, Kevin Bales How contemporary forms of slavery are created and maintained within the global economy 10. Disposable Domestics: Immigrant Women in the Global Economy, Grace Chang How immigration laws lead to the economic exploitation women Chapter 4. Poverty 11. A World of Poverty, John Isbister Why wealthy corporation share responsibility for the conditions of impoverished countries 12. Ghetto-Related Behavior and the Structure of Opportunity, William Julius Wilson How poverty and racism limit the choices available to individuals in poor neighborhoods 13. The Enemy Within, Ruth Sidel Why women on welfare have become the scapegoat for a variety of social problems 14. Without a Safety Net, Barbara Ehrenreich and Frances Fox Piven What happens to former welfare recipients when the jobs are gone 15. Making Ends Meet on a Welfare Check, Katheryn Edin and Laura Lein An examination of the many difficulties facing families on welfare Chapter 5. Race and Ethnicity 16. American Diversity and the 2000 Census, Nathan Glazer How race has been constructed through 200 years of governmental census taking 17. Exploring Asian Americans: The Myth of the "Model Minority" and the Reality of Their Lives, Jieli Li How racial stereotypes obscure ethnic differences and real social problems 18. The Black-White Test Score Gap, Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips How biased edicational tests hinder the success of non-whites 19. The Place of Women Inside Organized Racism, Kathleen Blee How traditional gender roles support organized racist groups 20. Beyond Black and White: Ethnoviolence Between Oppressed Groups, Barbara Perry How intercultural violence works to maintain social boundaries, group privileges, and racial hierarchies Chapter 6. Gender and Sexuality 21. Supremacy Crimes, Gloria Steinem Serious consequences of media blindness to the gender of the killers at Columbine High School 22. Why Gender Matters: Women, Militarism, and Violence, Amy Caiazza Why attention to women is necessary to curb support for terrorism and to secure peace 23. Domestic Violence Among the Navajo: A Legacy of Colonization, Diane McEachern, Marlene Van Winkel, and Sue Steiner Why US military domination and intentional obliteration of Navajo culture led to woman battery 24. Embattled Terrain, Judith Lorber An evaulation of the evidence supporting different explanations of sexuality 25. Family Man: Fatherhood, Housework, and Gender Equity, Scott Coltrane Why it is difficult for heterosexual couples to change the way they enact care-giving roles SECTION III. SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Chapter 7. Work 26. White-Collar Sweatshop, Jill Andresky Fraser Corporate America's attempts to define the nature of work 27. The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work, Arlie Hochschild How women and men deal with the conflicts between work and family demands 28. Nickle and Dimed: On (not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich What happens when the author tries to support herself in the low-wage labor market 29. Gang Business: Making Ends Meet, Martin Sanchez Jankowski How urban gangs share the same entrepreneurial spirit that drives successful corporate leaders 30. The Effects of Affirmative Action on Other Stakeholders, Barbara Reskin The ways that affirmative action issues are constructed by policy stakeholders Chapter 8. Family 31. The Myth of Family Decline, Edward L. Kain Why many common sense ideas about family are wrong. 32. Families on the Fault Line: America's Working Class Speaks about the Family, the Economy, Race, and Ethnicity, Lillian Rubin How economic change particularly burdens working class families 33. Lesbians Blurring the Boundaries and Transforming the Meaning of Parenthood and Kinship, Gillian A. Dunne How lesbian mothers redefine the boundaries, meaning, and content of parenthood 34. Activist Mothering, Community Caretaking, and Civic Work, Nancy A. Naples How a broader notion of "mothering" can lead women to political action 35. Dubious Conception: The Politics of Teenage Pregnancy Kristen Luker Why both liberals and conservatives are wrong about teen pregnancy Chapter 9. Education 36. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, Jonathon Kozol How poverty produces devastating results on the education of America's children 37. How Corporations are Buying Their Way into America's Classrooms, Steven Manning Ways that the growing influence of large corporations is shaping the educational experience for students 38. Missing in Interaction, Myra Sadker and David Sadker How teachers in America's schools perpetuate gender inequality 39. Confronting White Students: The Whiteness of University Spaces, Joe R. Feagin, Hernan Vera and Nikitah Imani The consequences of institutionalized racism at universities across the country 40. Religion and Public Education in a Multicultural America, James Fraser Why religious tolerance must be included in the increasingly diverse classrooms of America's schools Chapter 10. The Criminal Justice System 41. Crime and Policy, Steven R. Donziger Why criminal justice policy is driven by myths not the realities of crime 42. Steeltown Lockdown, Barry Yeoman How corrections policy is controlled by a prison-industrial complex 43. Who Own's Death?, Robert Lifton and Greg Mitchell An evaulation of the social and political context of the death penalty in the USA 44. DWB Is Not a Crime: The Numbers Show that Police Unfairly and Unconstitutionally Pull Over More Cars Driven By Blacks, John Lamberth How racial profiling in traffic stops can be demonstrated 45. "Whodunit? An Examination of the Production of Wrongful Convictions, William S. Lofquist How normal, day-to-day, routine decision making in a flawed system produced a wrongful conviction 46. "I Don't have to be Afraid of You," Amanda Konradi Why and how sexual assault survivors manage their emotions during their court appearances Chapter 11. Illness and Health Care 47. Your Money or Your Life: Access to Medical Care as a Social Problem, Robert Hanneman How the medical care we receive is affected by our ability to pay 48. Millions for Viagra, Pennies for Diseases of the Poor, Ken Silverstein The ways that corporate profits determine pharmacological research 49. An Old City Seeks a New Model, Joshua Wolf Shenk How one major U.S. city changes the ways it deals with drug abuse 50. The Patient as Object, Daniel F. Chambliss How health care personnel view and treat patients as less than fully human 51. The Social Organization of Responsibility in the Hospital and the Home, Carol A. Heimer and Lisa Staffen. How patients and their families make difficult medical decisions Chapter 12. Environment 52. Wealth, Resources, and Power, Michael Klare The global implications of resource management and environmental policies 53. Open Season on Open Space, Bob Burtman How the profit interests of America's lawmakers are placed above environmental concerns 54. Mapping the Nuclear Landscape, Valarie Kuletz The ways that America's nuclear policies reflect racial inequality 55. Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawkin How defining environmental resources as a form of capital can help to ensure clean water, air, and land Chapter 13. Global Politics, Terrorism, and War 56. Why the World's Superpower Can't Go it Alone, Joseph S. Nye Why the United States must see itself as part of a global community in order to achieve true security 57. Liberty vs. Patriotism, Chip Pitts and Jennifer Holmes Why lawmakers' focus on homeland security conflicts with fundamental principles of American society 58. Conquest: Sex, Rape and Exploitation in War Time, Joshua Goldstein How gender-based inequality and violence become a key strategy of war 59. The Pa inful Art of Reconciliation, David Lamb How interaction between former enemies from vastly different cultures leads to psychological healing