About the Book
SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF THE MODERN WORLD: A READER provides Sociology instructors with a variety of readings in all of the areas covered in a typical Social Problems course. The reader uses a global perspective, in order to help students understand that the social problems faced by people in the U.S. and around the world are increasingly shaped by our common fate in this interconnected world. At the same time, at least half of the articles in each chapter focus on the U.S., in order to engage students with issues that are immediate and relevant to their own personal lives and the communities in which they live.
Table of Contents:
Preface. 1. Introduction to the Study of Global Social Problems. "The Promise of Sociology," C. Wright Mills. "Open Veins of Latin America," Eduardo Galeano. "When in Rome," Nina Schuyler. "Strategies for Changing Society," Marvin E. Olsen. 2. The World Economy and World Poverty. "Tortilla Curtain," Luis Urrea. "The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All," Herbert J. Gans. "Why Can't People Feed Themselves?" Frances Moore Lappei and Joseph Collins. "Fair Trade: Buying and Selling for Justice," Medea Benjamin and Andrea Freeman. 3. Democracy and Human Rights. "376 Killed. Did the World Bank Know?" Earth Island Journal. "The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights." "The Domestic Scene," Noam Chomsky. "Who Rules Now? American Elites in the 1990's," Stanley Rothman and Amy E. Black. "Jihad vs. McWorld," Benjamin R. Barber. "States of Bondage," Manfred Nowak. 4. Gender and Sexual Orientation. "Three Voices on Gender: Being a Boy; Girl; he Defies You Still: The Memoirs of a Sissy," Julius Lester, Jamaica Kincaid, and Tommi Avicolli. "The Burden of Womanhood," John Ward Anderson and Molly Moore. "American Family Decline, 1960-1990," David Popenoe. "The Globtrotting Sneaker," Cynthia Enloe. "Widows Banding Together," Margaret Owen. "First They Came After the Homosexuals," Pastor Martin Niemuller. 5. Population Growth. "How Many People Can the Earth Support?" Joel E. Cohen. "Too many Mouths to Feed," Frances Moore Lappei and Joseph Collins. "Gray Dawn: The Global Aging Crisis," Peter G. Peterson. "Female Empowerment Leads to Fewer Births," Cameron Barr. "With Iran Population Boom, Vasectomy Receives Blessing," Neil MacFarquhar. 6. Environmental Destruction. "Easter's End," Jared Diamond. "The Limits of the Earth," David C. Korten. "Childhood Cancer," Charles W. Schmidt. "A Pipeline Killing Field: Exploitation of Burma's Natural Gas," Pamela Wellner. "Border Patrol," Bruce Selcraig. 7. War and Militarism. "Child Soldiers," Mike Wessells. "Bill Clinton's America: Arms Merchant to the World," Lora Lumpe. "Bringing the Cost to Light," Blaise Tobia and Virginia Maksymowicz. "Too Much Fun: Toys as Social Problems and the Interpretation of Culture," Joel Best. 8. The Global Media. "What Waco Stood For: Jokes as Popular Constructions of Social Problems," Kathleen S. Lowney and Joel Best. "The Myth of a Liberal Media," Michael Parenti. "Out of Africa!: Western Media Stereotypes Shape World's Portrait," Ezekiel Makunike. "All Power to the Conglomerate: If Information is a Commodity, What Price is International Understanding?" Stewart M. Hoover. "Northern Exposure: Canada Fights Cultural Dumping," Carl Wilson. "Brave New World: Right to Communicate Reshapes Human Connections: An Interview with Howard Frederick." "Balance Bias with Critical Questions," Patricia Hynds. 9. The Cultural Survival of Indigenous Peoples. "Our Homes are Not Dumps: Creating Nuclear-Free Zones," Grace Thorpe. "Death of a People: Logging in the Penan Homeland," Wade Davis. "Indians in Brazil Wither in an Epidemic of Suicide," Diana Jean Schemo. "Looking for Indians," Cheryl Savageau. "Like Tributaries to a River," Winona LaDuke. "How to Succeed in Business: Follow the Choctaws' Lead," Fergus M. Bordewich. 10. Racial/Ethnic Conflicts and the Danger of Genocide. "163 and Counting?" Hate Groups Find Home on the Net," Mark Potok. "Rwanda: Death, Despair, and Defiance," African Rights Organization. "The Outsider Looks In: Constructing Knowledge About American Collegiate Racism," Sylvia R. Tamale. "Census and the Complex Issue of Race," Ellis Cose. 11. Global Crime. "Nothing Bad Happens to Good Girls," Esther Madriz. "Who Benefits (and Who Doesn't)," Clarence Lusane. "A Year in Corporate Crime," Robert Sherrill. "Pay Now, Pay Later: States Impose Pension Peonage," Christian Parenti. "Japanese Say No To Crime: Tough Methods, at a Price," Nicholas D. Kristof. 12. World Health. "Death Without Weeping: Has Poverty Ravaged Mother Love in the Shantytowns of Brazil?" Nancy Scheper-Hughes. "Essential Drugs in Bangladesh: The Ups and Downs of a Policy," Zafrullah Chowdhury with Andrew Chetley. "The Resurgence of Infectious Diseases," Anne Platt. "Sense and Sanitation," Sheela Patel. 13. Prospects for the Future. "The Civil Society Sector," Lester M. Salamon and Helmut K. Anheier. "Global Women's Movement: A World System Perspective," Torry D. Dickinson. "Places to Intervene in a System: An Increasing Order of Effectiveness," Donella H. Meadows. "Possibilities and Limits of U.S. Microenterprise Development for Creating Good Jobs and Increasing the Incomes of the Poor," Frank Lindenfield. "Redefining Leadership," Linda Stout. "What Are You Going to Do for Us?" MaryBe McMillan.
