Encyclopedia of Social Problems

Encyclopedia of Social Problems

Author: Vincent N. Parrillo

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2008-05-22

Total Pages: 1209

ISBN-13: 1412941652

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From terrorism to social inequality and from health care to environmental issues, social problems affect us all. The Encyclopedia will offer an interdisciplinary perspective into these and many other social problems that are a continuing concern in our lives, whether we confront them on a personal, local, regional, national, or global level.


Social Problems

Social Problems

Author: Joel M. Charon

Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing Company

Published: 2005-05

Total Pages: 534

ISBN-13: 9780495004608

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A unique and groundbreaking collection of 54 articles organized in 11 thematic sections, SOCIAL PROBLEMS: READINGS WITH FOUR QUESTIONS 2e takes a structural/conflict approach yet lets the voices of those impacted by social problems be heard. The articles are a mix of classic and contemporary readings, covering a wide range of issues in the United States and the world. The introductory article, written by Joel Charon, focuses on four questions that students are urged to apply throughout the reader: What is the problem? What makes the problem a "social problem"? What causes the problem? What can be done? This four questions approach gives students a consistent sociological framework within which to analyze social problems. The articles have been painstakingly selected to hold student interest, highlight contemporary social problems, and help professors show students how to think sociologically about the social problems around us.


U.S. Health in International Perspective

U.S. Health in International Perspective

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2013-04-12

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 0309264146

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The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.


Introduction to Social Problems

Introduction to Social Problems

Author: Thomas J. Sullivan

Publisher: Prentice Hall

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 676

ISBN-13: 9780205191482

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This book is an economical introduction to social problems with a built-in study guide, emphasizing an applied approach that looks at the interplay between research and policy in finding solutions. This book explores the nature and extent of social problems, documents the advances and setbacks that we as a society have made, and analyzes what works and what doesn't work regarding solutions to todays problems. This straightforward book helps readers study this constantly changing field by applying social science research to the solutions of some of the most difficult and controversial problems confronting the United States and the world today. Designed for those interested in social problems, sociology or social sciences.


Communities in Action

Communities in Action

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-04-27

Total Pages: 583

ISBN-13: 0309452961

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In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.


Alleviating World Suffering

Alleviating World Suffering

Author: Ronald E. Anderson

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-03-01

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 3319513915

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This is the first volume on the subject of the alleviation of world suffering. At the same time it is also the first book framing the fields of global socio-economic development, world health, human rights, peace studies, sustainability, and poverty within the challenge of alleviating suffering and improving quality of life. Both international studies and global development have become specialized and fragmented, whereas this work assembles all of these development fragments together in order to determine whether common ground exists to make headway in reducing global suffering. Leading experts in these various fields of development and suffering have been recruited worldwide to give scholarly assessments of the major human problems and how they can be successfully tackled.


Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research

Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research

Author: Kenneth C. Land

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-11-25

Total Pages: 594

ISBN-13: 9400724217

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The aim of the Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research is to create an overview of the field of Quality of Life (QOL) studies in the early years of the 21st century that can be updated and improved upon as the field evolves and the century unfolds. Social indicators are statistical time series “...used to monitor the social system, helping to identify changes and to guide intervention to alter the course of social change”. Examples include unemployment rates, crime rates, estimates of life expectancy, health status indices, school enrollment rates, average achievement scores, election voting rates, and measures of subjective well-being such as satisfaction with life-as-a-whole and with specific domains or aspects of life. This book provides a review of the historical development of the field including the history of QOL in medicine and mental health as well as the research related to quality-of-work-life (QWL) programs. It discusses several of QOL main concepts: happiness, positive psychology, and subjective wellbeing. Relations between spirituality and religiousness and QOL are examined as are the effects of educational attainment on QOL and marketing, and the associations with economic growth. The book goes on to investigate methodological approaches and issues that should be considered in measuring and analysing quality of life from a quantitative perspective. The final chapters are dedicated to research on elements of QOL in a broad range of countries and populations.


Brief History of Social Problems

Brief History of Social Problems

Author: Frank J. McVeigh

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 9780761828310

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In this book, Frank McVeigh and Loreen Wolfer take an historical approach to examine the causes and conflicts behind ten major social problems that have existed for nearly 230 years. Using a critical thinking perspective of the history, sociology, politics, and economics of the period, the authors analyze social problems as a series of conflicts between those with power and those who were at one time virtually powerless. Embedded in this analysis is a discussion of how the shift from a Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft society has influenced how we address these problems. Using these themes, McVeigh and Wolfer provide thought-provoking insight into the ways individuals, groups, and social institutions change over time, gaining or losing power. The book contains a preface by Arthur Shostak, Drexel University.