Annual Editions: Social Problems 06/07 (Comtemporary Learning)

This thirty-fourth edition of ANNUAL EDITIONS: SOCIAL PROBLEMS provides convenient, inexpensive access to current articles selected from the best of the public press. Organizational features include: an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites; an annotated table of contents; a topic guide; a general introduction; brief overviews for each section; a topical index; and an instructor’s resource guide with testing materials. USING ANNUAL EDITIONS IN THE CLASSROOM is offered as a practical guide for instructors. ANNUAL EDITIONS titles are supported by our student website, www.dushkin.com/online.

UNIT 1. Introduction: The Nature of Social Problems and General Critiques of American Society

1. Social Problems: Definitions, Theories, and Analysis, Harold A. Widdison and H. Richard Delaney, McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 1995

This essay, written specifically for this volume, explores the complexities associated with defining, studying, and attempting to resolve “social” problems. The three major theoretical approaches— symbolic interactionism, functionalism, and conflict—are summarized.

2. The Fragmentation of Social Life, D. Stanley Eitzen, Vital Speeches of the Day, July 1, 2000

In this essay about America, Stanley Eitzen addresses a crucial problem: the fragmentation of social life. He suggests that America could come apart in the future. Eitzen discusses excessive individualism, heightened personal isolation, increasing inequality, and the deepening racial/ethnic/religious/sexuality divide.

3. How to Re-Moralize America, Francis Fukuyama, The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 1999

Recently many of the indicators of moral decline have started to show improvement. Francis Fukuyama reports the changes and accepts the challenge of explaining how moral regeneration generally occurs and what caused a potential moral regeneration in the 1990s. In the process he explores the basic sociological questions: What are the sources of value systems? How do they arise and change? In his search for an answer he leads the reader through a sociological detective story.

UNIT 2. Problems of the Political Economy

Part A. The Polity

4. Who Rules America?, G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America? Power and Politics in the Year 2000, Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997

G. William Domhoff is the leading proponent of the power elite view of American politics as it applies to political influence in America today.

5. Sugar Daddies, Jason Lee Steorts, National Review, July 18, 2005

Everyone knows that money influences politics to the detriment of the public good, but it is helpful to know the details of a specific informative case. Jason Lee Steorts reports on the sugar lobby as such a case.

6. Rights, Liberties, and Security: Recalibrating the Balance After September 11, Stuart Taylor Jr., Brookings Review, Winter 2003

A rule of government is that when dangers increase, liberties shrink. Yes, but how much? Where should the balance be? Stuart Taylor Jr. analyzes the problem starting with the premise that today we face dangers without precedent: a mass movement of militant Islamic terrorists who crave martyrdom, hide in shadows, are fanatically bent on slaughtering as many of us as possible. Taylor calls for a reassessment of the civil liberties rules that restrict the government’s investigative powers.

7. 4 Places Where the System Broke Down, James Carney, Time, September 19, 2005

Unfortunately the tragedy caused by Katrina in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast revealed a lot about the way government can malfunction in times of crisis or emergencies. The governments and agencies that failed so badly were supposed to be able to handle these types of situations. The sociologists must ask whether the failures identified in this article were just the failures of individual leaders or were systemic.

Part B. The Economy

8. Evaluating Economic Change, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Daedalus, Summer 2004

Joseph Stiglitz evaluates the costs and benefits of the momentous changes involved in the processes of globalization. These processes have greatly benefitted some countries and hurt other countries. Surprisingly his economic analysis leads him into an extended discussion of morals.

9. America Isn’t Ready, Geoffrey Colvin, Fortune, July 25, 2005

Geoffrey Colvin examines whether American businesses are ready to compete in a tech-driven tough global economy. He concludes that many American companies are not ready to compete. Some of the American companies that can compete are really more international than American.

10. Born to Buy, Juliet Schor, Dollars & Sense, September/October 2004

The consumption side of the economy is quite dynamic today. Juliet Schor discusses some of its major findings in this article including the fact that the materialism that undergirds the consumer society “ undermines well-being in lots of different ways—People who are more materialistic are more depressed, they’re more anxious, they have less vitality, they are less well connected with people, they have more stomach aches and headaches.”

Part C. Problems of Place

11. Will Great Cities Survive?, Joel Kotkin, Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2005

Joel Kotkin presents the long view on cities. For millennia " great cities have been among humanity’s supreme achievements." But, now they have an uncertain future because their size has become a burden, they no longer provide security, new technologies undermine the reasons for centralizing activities, and urbane secularism undercuts the historical sacredness of cities.

12. The Longest Journey, The Economist, November 2–8, 2002

Are immigrants on average a drain on the American economy or net contributors? The Economist cites studies showing that in the long run they pay more in taxes than they draw out in expenditures. Some economists even argue that many immigrants are necessary to support the increasing numbers of elderly. But immigration issues are complex and have no easy answers.

UNIT 3. Problems of Poverty and Inequality

Part A. Inequality and the Poor/Welfare

13. The Rich and the Rest, Sam Pizzigati, The Futurist, July/August 2005

Pizzigati raises many issues about today’s very unequal income distribution that warrant thoughtful discussion including the idea of minimum and maximum income levels.

14. The Vanishing Middle Class, Griff Witte, The Washington Post National Weekly Edition, September 27–October 3, 2004

Most discussions on the stratification of America today focus on the obscenity of the wealth of the rich or the tragedy of the poverty of the poor. Griff Witte focuses on the middle class that is struggling and shrinking. He examines the causes and consequences of the decline of the middle class and tells stories of this class.

15. Understanding Welfare Reform, Scott Winship and Christopher Jencks, Harvard Magazine, November/December 2004

The 1996 Welfare Reform has been a great success. Welfare rolls were cut in half and the poverty rate among female-headed families declined. The authors explain these changes and many other more subtle impacts of the reform.

Part B. Racial and Ethnic Inequality and Issues

16. Shame in Our Own House, Gay McDougall, The American Prospect, October 2004

Gay McDougall explains how racism in the United States prevented our government from supporting international human-rights treaties and providing world leadership on rights issues.

17. Why We Hate, Margo Monteith and Jeffrey Winters, Psychology Today, May/June 2002

The authors demonstrate the prevalence of prejudice and hatred in America and explain this in terms of social identity theory. Whenever people are divided into groups, negative attitudes develop toward the out group.

Part C. Gender Inequalities and Issues

18. Human Rights, Sex Trafficking, and Prostitution, Alice Leuchtag, The Humanist, January/February 2003

One of the evil plagues haunting the world today is sex slavery and it is getting worse. It is the product of extreme poverty and considerable profits. The exploitation involved is horrendous. Human rights groups are trying to stop the practice. Alice Leuchtag covers many aspects of this issue.

19. Family’s Value, Jonathan Rauch, The New Republic, May 30, 2005

In this article Johnathan Rauch develops the thesis that gay marriage is not only good for gays but also good for America, for children, for straights, and for the institution of marriage. His major point is that there is “no evidence that children raised by same-sex couples fare worse, on average, than other children.”

20. Reversing the “Gender Gap”, Joel Wendland, Political Affairs, March 2004

Joel Wendland counters the recent magazine articles announcing a gender gap that favors women. Yes, girls do better in school than boys and graduate from high school and college in greater numbers. But on many other dimensions of inequality women still substantially trail men.

21. Biology, Destiny, and Bad Science, Rosalind C. Barnett and Caryl Rivers, Dissent, Summer 2005

Obviously there are