"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.
George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has also been a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and won a Teaching Excellence Award. He was awarded the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association, an honorary doctorate from LaTrobe University in Australia, and the Robin Williams Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. His best-known work, The McDonaldization of Society (8th ed.), has been read by hundreds of thousands of students over two decades and translated into over a dozen languages. Ritzer is also the editor of McDonaldization: The Reader; and author of other works of critical sociology related to the McDonaldization thesis, including Enchanting a Disenchanted World, The Globalization of Nothing, Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society, as well as a series best-selling social theory textbooks and Globalization: A Basic Text. He is the Editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2 vols.), the Encyclopedia of Sociology (11 vols.; 2nd edition forthcoming), the Encyclopedia of Globalization (5 vols.), and is Founding Editor of the Journal of Consumer Culture. In 2016 he will publish the second edition of Essentials of Sociology with SAGE.
INTRODUCTION Ch.01 Social Problems: A Comparative International Perspective - George Ritzer Ch 02 Theoretical Issues in the Study of Social Problems and Deviance - Joel Best Ch. 03 Methodological Issues in the Study of Social Problems - Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln Ch. 04 Social Problems and Public Policy - Tim Blackman and Roberta Woods SOCIAL PROBLEMS Ch. 05 Population Change - Sonalde Desai Ch. 06 Ecological Problems - Steven Yearley Ch. 07 Global Inequality - Salvatore J. Babones and Jonathan H. Turner Ch. 08 Racism in Comparative Perspective - Joe R. Feagin and Pinar Batur Ch. 09 Ethnic Conflict as a Global Social Problem - Thomas D. Hall Ch. 10 Gender Inequality - Amy S. Wharton Ch. 11 Urban Problems in Global Perspective - Chigon Kim and Mark Gottdiener Ch. 12 Work-Related Social Problems - Teresa A. Sullivan Ch. 13 The Media and Social Problems - Douglas Kellner Ch. 14 Consumption as a Social Problem - Douglas J. Goodman Ch. 15 Family Problems in Global Perspective - Felix M. Berardo and Constance L. Shehan Ch. 16 Racial and Ethnic Educational Inequality in Global Perspective - Caroline Hodges Persell, Richard Arum, and Kathryn Seufert Ch. 17 Health as a Social Problem - William C. Cockerham Ch. 18 How Medical Care Systems Become Social Problems - Andrew Twaddle Ch. 19 Aids as a Social Problem: The Creation of Social Pariahs in The Management of an Epidemic - Bronwen Lichtenstein Ch. 20 War, Militarism and National Security - Ian Roxborough Ch. 21 Sea Change: The Modern Terrorist Environment in Perspective - Gus Martin Ch. 22 The Rhetoric and Reality of "Mass Destruction": How Genocide Became an International Social Problem - David Norman Smith Ch. 23. Globalization - John Boli, Michael A. Elliott and Franziska Bieri Ch. 24 Technology and Social Problems - Frank Webster and Mark Erickson Ch. 25 The Internet as a Global Social Problem - Gili S. Drori Ch. 26 Risk - John Tulloch DEVIANCE Ch. 27 Crime - Michael Tonry Ch. 28 Juvenile Delinquency - Mark C. Stafford Ch. 29 Drug Use as a Global Social Problem - Erich Goode Ch. 30 The Sexual Spectacle: Making a Public Culture of Sexual Problems - Ken Plummer Ch. 31 Modern Day Folk Devils and the Problem of Children's Presence in the Global Sex Trade - Julia O'Connell Davidson Ch. 32 Mental Illness as a Social Problem - Howard B. Kaplan Ch. 33 Disability As a Global Issue - Gary L. Albrecht Ch. 34 Corruption as a Global Social Problem - Gary LaFree and Nancy Morris
"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
