This fourteenth edition of TAKING SIDES: SOCIAL ISSUES presents current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Each issue is thoughtfully framed with an issue summary, an issue introduction, and a postscript. An instructor s manual with testing material is available for each volume. USING TAKING SIDES IN THE CLASSROOM is also an excellent instructor resource with practical suggestions on incorporating this effective approach in the classroom. Each TAKING SIDES reader features an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites and is supported by our student website, www.dushkin.com/online.
PART 1. CULTURE AND VALUES
ISSUE 1. Is America in Moral Decline?
YES: Robert H. Bork, from Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline (Regan Books, 1996)
NO: Kay S. Hymowitz, from “Our Changing Culture: Abandoning the Sixties,” Current (June 2004)
Robert H. Bork, famous for being nominated for the Supreme Court but not confirmed by the Senate, argues that modern liberalism is responsible for the decline in morals. Journalist Kay S. Hymowitz argues that the permissive culture of the sixties, which led to less respect for authority, crime, sexual promiscuity, and other indicators of moral decline, is waning. The cultural pendulum is swinging back to a more traditional culture of commitment, moderation, and family values.
ISSUE 2. Does the News Media Have a Liberal Bias?
YES: William McGowan, from Coloring the News: How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism (Encounter Books, 2001)
NO: Robert W. McChesney and John Bellamy Foster, from “The ‘Left-Wing’ Media?” Monthly Review (June 2003)
Journalist William McGowan argues that political correctness pertaining to diversity issues has captured media newsrooms and exerts a constraining pressure on reporters. Robert W. McChesney and John Bellamy Foster argue that news reporting is bent in the direction of the political and commercial requirements of media owners, and heavy reliance on government officials and powerful individuals as primary sources biases news toward the status quo.
ISSUE 3. Is Third World Immigration a Threat to America’s Way of Life?
YES: Patrick Buchanan, from “Shields Up!” The American Enterprise (March 2002)
NO: Ben Wattenberg, from “Immigration Is Good,” The American Enterprise (March 2002)
Political analyst Patrick Buchanan asserts that the large influx of legal and illegal immigrants, especially from Mexico, threatens to undermine the cultural foundations of American unity. Ben Wattenberg, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, argues that the United States needs a constant flow of immigrants to avoid population decline and also to avoid the diminishment of power and influence.
PART 2. SEX ROLES, GENDER, AND THE FAMILY
ISSUE 4. Is the Decline of the Traditional Family a National Crisis?
YES: David Popenoe, from “The American Family Crisis,” National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal (Summer 1995)
NO: Frank Furstenberg, from “Can Marriage Be Saved?” Dissent (Summer 2005)
Sociologist David Popenoe contends that families play important roles in society but how the traditional family functions in these roles has declined dramatically in the last several decades, with very adverse effects on children. Sociologist Frank Furstenberg argues that diversity of and change in family forms are common throughout history, and the move away from the unusual family form of the 1950s does not indicate a crisis. It does present some problems for children but the worst problem for children is the lack of resources that often results from divorce or single parenting.
ISSUE 5. Should Mothers Stay Home with Their Children?
YES: Claudia Wallis, from “The Case for Staying Home,” Time (March 22, 2004)
NO: Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels, from The Mommy Myth (Free Press, 2004)
Journalist Claudia Wallis reports that more and more mothers are choosing to quit work and stay home to care for the children. The work demands on professional women have increased to the point that very few can do both work and family. Forced to choose, growing numbers choose family. Communication studies professor Susan Douglas and writer Meredith Michaels attack the media for promoting the mommy myth, that "motherhood is eternally fulfilling and rewarding, that it is always the best and most important thing to do, ... and that if you don’t love each and every second of it there’s something really wrong with you." They object to the subtle moral pressure that the media puts on mothers to stay home with their children.
ISSUE 6. Should Same-Sex Marriages Be Legally Recognized?
YES: Human Rights Campaign, from “Answers to Questions about Marriage Equality” (HRC’s FamilyNet Project, 2004)
NO: Peter Sprigg, from “Questions and Answers: What’s Wrong with Letting Same-Sex Couples ‘Marry’?” (Family Research Council, 2004)
America’s largest lesbian and gay organization, The Human Rights Campaign, presents many arguments for why same-sex couples should be able to marry. The main argument is fairness. Marriage confers many benefits that same-sex couples are deprived of. Researcher Peter Sprigg presents many arguments for why same-sex couples should not be able to marry. The main argument is that the state has the right and duty to specify who a person, whether straight or gay, can marry so no rights are violated.
PART 3. STRATIFICATION AND INEQUALITY
ISSUE 7. Is Increasing Economic Inequality a Serious Problem?
YES: Christopher Jencks, from “Does Inequality Matter?” Daedalus (Winter 2002)
NO: Christopher C. DeMuth, from “The New Wealth of Nations,” Commentary (October 1997)
Christopher Jencks, professor of social policy at the Kennedy School at Harvard University, presents data on how large the income inequality is in the United States and describes the consequences of this inequality. Christopher C. DeMuth, president of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, argues that the “recent increase in income inequality… is a very small tick in the massive and unprecedented leveling of material circumstances that has been proceeding now for almost three centuries and in this century has accelerated dramatically.”
ISSUE 8. Is the Underclass the Major Threat to American Ideals?
YES: Charles Murray, from “And Now for the Bad News,” Society (November/December 1999)
NO: Barry Schwartz, from “Capitalism, the Market, the ‘Underclass,’ and the Future,” Society (November/December 1999)
Author Charles Murray describes destructive behavior among the underclass. Murray asserts that this type of behavior will result in serious trouble for society even though, according to statistics, the number of crimes committed has decreased. Psychology professor Barry Schwartz states that the underclass is not the major threat to American ideals. He counters that “the theory and practice of free-market economics have done more to undermine traditional moral values than any other social force.”
ISSUE 9. Has Affirmative Action Outlived Its Usefulness?
YES: Curtis Crawford, from “Racial Preference Versus Nondiscrimination,” Society (March/April 2004)
NO: Lawrence D. Bobo, from “Inequalities that Endure?” in Maria Krysan and Amanda E. Lewis, eds., The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity (Russell Sage Foundation, 2004)
Curtis Crawford, editor of the Web site , explores all possible options for bettering the situation of disadvantaged minorities in a truly just manner. He argues that the right of everyone, including white males, to nondiscrimination is clearly superior to the right of minorities to affirmative action. Sociologist Lawrence D. Bobo demonstrates that racial prejudice still exists even though it has become a more subtle type of racism, which he calls laissez-faire racism. Though it is harder to identify, it has significant effects that Bobo illustrates. In fact, it plays a big role in current politics.
ISSUE 10. Are Boys and Men Disadvantaged Relative to Girls and Women?
YES: Michelle Conlin, from “The New Gender Gap,” Business Week Online (May 26, 2003)
NO: Joel Wendland, from “Reversing the ‘Gender Gap’,” Political Affairs (March 2004)
Journalist Michelle Conlin reviews the many disadvantages of boys and men in school from kindergarten to grad school. Since education is the route to success, men will be less able to compete in the marketplace. Joel Wendland acknowledges the edge that females have over males today in education but argues that females are still disadvantaged in the marketplace.
PART 4. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND INSTITUTIONS
ISSUE 11. Is Government Dominated by Big Business?
YES: Bill Moyers, from “This Is the Fight of Our Lives,” Timeline (September/October 2004)
NO: Jeffrey M. Berry, from “Citizen Groups and the Changing Nature of Interest Group Politics in America,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (July 1993)
Television journalist Bill Moyers describes the harmful consequences of the influence and power of businessess and the rich over government. To him, the stories and evidence that he presents are "something to get mad about." Jeffrey M. Berry, a professor of political science, contends that public interest pressure groups that have entered the political arena since the end of the 1960s have effectively challenged the political power of big bu siness.
ISSUE 12. Should Government Intervene in a Capitalist Economy?
YES: Eliot Spitzer and Andrew G. Celli Jr., from “Bull Run: Capitalism with a Democratic Face,” The New Republi...
