This book covers a wide range of contemporary methods for researching social problems and connects these approaches to the broader substance and theories of social problems. Expository and discursive in approach, chapters follow a uniform structure, with each offering research examples and a broad description of the related method and its theoretical context, together with a "how-to" guide for applying that method using substantive examples from the field of social problems. For every method explored, there is a research example that fully reviews and illustrates the application of the particular method, before giving a full assessment of the method’s strengths and weaknesses and latest developments. With chapters exploring survey interviews, in-depth interviews, narrative inquiry, institutional ethnography, participatory action research, auto-ethnography, Actor-Network Theory, experimental research, visual research methods, and research ethics, Researching Social Problems will appeal to scholars and students of sociology and politics working in the fields of research methods and social problems.
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.
Sociology has tackled some of the most formidable problems that confront contemporary society: inequality, homelessness, violence, gender, and many more. Sociologists assert that hypotheses can be formulated and tested against empirical evidence, that faulty viewpoints can be uncovered and discarded, and that plausible theory can be distinguished from mere ideology. This collection was written over a span of forty-four years and is presented in the belief that sociology is a science.In Social Problems, Social Issues, Social Science, James D. Wright presents his research on some of the social issues that have most vexed America: homelessness, addiction, divorce, minimum wage, and gun control, among others. Starting with essays first published in the flagship journal Society, Wright offers readers a foundational look at specific social problems and the methods sociologists have used to study them. He then provides an up-to-date re-examination of each issue, analysing the changes that have occurred over time and how sociologists have responded to it.This book is both a retrospective on the field and on one scholar's life and work. Using his own experience in researching and writing about America's most trenchant social issues, Wright describes the evolution of the methods and theory used by social scientists to understand and, ultimately, to confront America's most troublesome social problems.
Pushing ‘social’ responsibilities on schools is a process that has been underway for a long time. This phenomenon has been studied more in Europe than in North America and the U.K. and has been labelled Pädagogisierung. The editors have chosen to use ‘Educationalization’ to identify the overall orientation or trend toward thinking about education as the focal point for addressing or solving larger human problems. The term describes these phenomena as a sub-process of the ‘modernization’ of society, but it also has negative connotations, such as increased dependence, patronization, and pampering. In this book distinguished philosophers and historians of education focus on ‘educationalization’ to expand its meaning through an engagement with educational theory. Topics discussed are the family and the child, the ‘learning society’, citizenship education, widening participation in higher education, progressive education, and schooling movements such as No Child Left Behind. ‘Smeyers’ and Depaepe's book offers great insights into one of the most ambivalent phenomena of today's educational world and especially educational policy. The contributions assembled represent perspectives of some of the most respected scholars in the field. Their manifold critiques of the educationalization of social problems are rather convincing. Our time is definitely ripe for such analysis!’ Roland Reichenbach, Center for Educational Studies, University of Basel, Switzerland ‘This is a challenging, critical and analytical treatment of the tendency of contemporary administrations to overburden educational institutions with the expectation that they will provide the solutions to an increasingly diverse range of social and economic problems. It brings together the theoretical resources of a distinguished international group of philosophers and historians of education and deserves the careful attention of educational policy makers, practitioners and researchers alike.’ David Bridges, Von Hügel Institute, St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, England This publication is realized by the Research Community (FWO-Vlaanderen / Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium) Philosophy and History of the Discipline of Education: Evaluation and Evolution of the Criteria for Educational Research. Also realized by the Research Community are Educational Research: Why ‘What Works’ Doesn’t Work (2006) and Educational Research: Networks and Technologies (2007).
For the Third Edition of Investigating Social Problems, editor A. Javier Treviño, has gathered a panel of top experts to thoroughly examine all aspects of social problems, providing students with a contemporary and authoritative introduction to the field. Each chapter is written by a well-known specialist on the topic being covered. This unique, contributed format ensures that the research and examples described are the most current and relevant available. In addition, the experts use both general theoretical approaches (structural functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism) as well as specialized theories chosen to bring additional insight and analysis to their assigned topics. 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 title is accompanied by a complete teaching and learning package.
Each chapter in this innovative social problems text is written by a specialist or pair of specialists from appropriate subfields within sociology. The typical single-author approach is limiting given the complexity of the contemporary issues surrounding each social problem discussed. Involving many content experts ensures that the theories, research, and examples used in each chapter will be as current and relevant as possible. Chapters open with personal statements from the contributing authors, discussing how they got involved with studying the problem they are writing about. Javier Trevino serves as the general editor, making sure that each author follows the chapter template and maintains a consistency in level and style.
Updated with recent issues such as the national debate on health care reform, this Second Edition of How Can We Solve Our Social Problems? gives students a sense of hope by demonstrating specific, realistic steps we can take to solve some of the most pervasive social problems in America today. Author James Crone maintains a sense of sociological objectivity throughout and helps students realize that we can take steps to solve such key social problems as poverty, racial and ethnic inequality, unequal education, and environmental issues. The book's first two chapters define "social problem,," provide a theoretical background, discuss the daunting barriers we face in attempting to solve social problems, and demonstrate how sociology can help.
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.
"For the past thirty years, I have been teaching, studying, and researching social problems in the US. The topics have always been challenging and fascinating, while at the same time they have been frustrating and often disappointing. I always found examples of social programs that were effective at targeting a specific aspect of a complex problem, but too often these extraordinary ideas were applied beyond their capacity. Then, once the program failed to be a panacea, policymakers discounted the actual value of the program in its original design. I felt a similar frustration when enormous resources were dedicated to programs that, while politically popular, had little chance at succeeding because they were based on inaccurate assessments of the problem. It is easy to see why students might feel that a social problems course offers little encouragement to find solutions. When I had the opportunity to write a comprehensive social problems textbook for Oxford University Press, I was presented with a moment to frame the issues in an objective way: to explain clearly and effectively not only the nature and complexity of specific social problems, but how sociological theory is a useful lens through which these problems can be understood. I also had the chance to point out that there are, in fact, solutions that work. As I tell my students, the question is not really what caused the problem -- we know these are social problems and that means they have social causes. The interesting question is: what we are willing as a society to do about them?"--
