Major Social Issues

Teaching and Studying Social Issues: Major Programs and Approaches focuses on many of the major innovations developed over the past 100 years by noted educators to assist students in the study and analysis of key social issues that impact their lives and society. This book complements earlier books that address other aspects of studying and addressing social issues in the secondary classroom: Researching and Teaching Social Issues: The Personal Stories and Pedagogical Efforts of Professors of Education (Lexington, Books, 2006); Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond: The Pedagogical Efforts of Pioneers in the Field (Information Age Publishing, 2007); and Social Issues and Service at the Middle Level (Information Age Publishers, 2009). The current book ranges in scope from Harold Rugg’s pioneering effort to develop textbooks that purposely addressed key social issues (and thus provided teachers and students with a major tool with which to examine social issues in the classroom) to the relatively new efforts over the last 20 to 30 years, including global education, environmental education, Science/Technology/Society (STS), and genocide education. This book provides the readers with details about the innovators their innovations so they can (1) learn from past efforts, particularly in regard to what worked and didn’t work and why, (2) glean new ideas, methods and approaches for use in their own classrooms, and (3) craft new methods and approaches based on the strengths of past innovations.

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.

Excerpt from Major Social Problems Plans and schemes by the hundred have been worked out to meet the new conditions growing out of the World War. They attack this evil and remedy that situation. On the whole, they leave us where we were, because they deal with what may be called minor social problems. Underlying these minor problems are the major social problems which deal with fundamental principles and attitudes. The author has attempted to discuss these in the following pages. Unless we face the facts as we find them and try to find solutions for them, we may never succeed in evolving a better society. This task demands courage and an open mind. The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness directly to the late Frank Lester Ward, to Professors Franklin H. Giddings of Columbia University and Edward A. Ross of Wisconsin University and to many other writers indirectly, although with no less sincere appreciation. The material of this book has been used in classes at New York University. References and questions for each chapter have been added at the end of the volume in the hope that other teachers may find them of use in their classes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"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.

Social Problems and Inequality explores integrated and root-cause-based explanations of complex social problems. Written in clear and understandable language, allowing it to be used for classroom purposes, it addresses the most fundamental principles of how humans, acting through social units, create, and eventually can remedy, social problems. With a central focus on the problem of inequality and the manner in which this is manifested in crime, social class and stratification, this book examines the key theoretical perspectives relevant to the study and solution of social problems, whilst drawing upon rich illustrations and case studies from the US and Europe to offer a thorough examination of the nature, common root causes and social remedies of social problems. Providing discussions of both theoretical approaches and concrete applications, Social Problems and Inequality investigates the sources of various prejudices and attitudes that contribute to social problems and the associated issues of globalization, economic greed and imperialism. Accessible in style and comprehensive in its coverage, this book will appeal to students and scholars of social problems across the social sciences.

In this major new textbook, Vic George and Robert Page provide an original and much-needed introduction to global social problems and the emergence of a global social policy response. In an increasingly globalized world, it is inevitable that many of the social problems which have so far been seen as national in character will assume a global character. Global social problems are those which cannot be confined within national boundaries and which need both national and international attention if they are to be ameliorated. Pollution of the atmosphere is a stark example of this process. Global Social Problems begins with a discussion of the contested concept of globalization. Then eight of the most important global social problems are explored and explained by leading experts in environmental degration, international poverty, crime, AIDS, drugs, family violence, racism and migration. The book also includes chapter which explores the global social policy implications of these developments. With suggestions for further reading and accessible style, this book will be essential reading for undergraduate students in the social science, particularly those studying social policy, sociology and politics.