Social Problems

(NOTE: Each chapter begins with Goals of the Chapter and concludes with Summary, Study Questions, and Endnotes.)

1. A Troubled Society. Americans View Their Lives Workaday Troubles Latino and African Americans The View from the Home Problems with Gender Discrimination: Women Workers Family Tragedies Interpreting Life's Troubles Societal Decline: The Genuine Progress Indicator People Working for Change: Some Recent Examples The United Farm Workers Union Clerical Workers' Unions Striking for Better Conditions in the South Protesting Toxic Pollution Traditional Perspectives on Society and Social Problems The European Background Corporate Liberalism Social Problems: The Durkheimian Tradition in the United States Mainstream Social Science Views of Social Problems A Critical Power-Conflict Perspective Background: The Thought of Karl Marx Contemporary Class Perspectives Perspectives Emphasizing Gender and Race Conclusion: Some Working Propositions 2. Class Relations and the Problem of Inequality. Some Revealing Societal Snapshots Plant Closings Workplace Hazards Five Million Rolling Fire Bombs Toxic Chemicals in the Environment How Are Classes Defined? Some Lessons from the Snapshots A Closer Look at Class Relations in Our Society The Class Structure The Capitalist Class The Working Class The Managerial Class The Small-Business Class Other Important Groups The Corporate Structure The State Capitalism Large Corporations and the State: The Example of the Farm Crisis Contrasting Views of Inequality The Persisting Problem of Income Inequality Patterns of Income Inequality The Very Rich Effects of Income Inequality: Length and Quality of Life Education and Income Inequality Impact on Government Workers' Real IncomesA Two-Tiered Society? The Inequality of Wealth The Early Period Wealth in Contemporary America Families and Corporations Taxation Consequences of Income and Wealth Inequality Sources of Capitalists' Wealth Mercantile and Plantation Capitalism (1700-1850) Industrial Capitalism (1850-1890) Early Monopoly Capitalism (1890-1940) Advanced (Late) Monopoly Capitalism (1940-?) 3. Poverty Unemployment and Underemployment. Low Incomes and Poverty The Extent and Character of Poverty Questioning the Official Poverty Count Unemployment Underemployment and Poverty Official Unemployment Statistics Questioning Official Unemployment Statistics The Unemployment Link to Poverty Unemployment's Impact Capitalism Unemployment and Poverty The Underclass Concept Capitalism and the Poor The Intense Quest for Private Profit Moving to the Sunbelt The Working Poor A Reform Initiative The Ideology of Individualism and the Poor The Historical Background Views on the Poor: The 1960s Public Opinion Consequences of the Rationalizations for Poverty Ideological Socialization Government Intervention: The Broad Subsidy System The Context of Aid for the Poor 4. Problems of Racial Groups and Racial Inequality. The Revolutionary Background Racial Thinking Racial Groups and Racism The Social Definition of Racial Groups Explaining Racial Domination African Americans The Chains of Slavery The Labor Market: A Racial Split Recent Gains and Losses in Employment and Income Issues of Wealth Patterns of Discrimination: Employment and Housing Racial Discrimination: Some Dimensions Persisting Discrimination in Recruitment and Hiring The Glass Ceiling Discrimination in Business Housing Discrimination Debates on the "Underclass" and Racial Discrimination Reactions to Equal Opportunity Efforts White Attitudes White Resistance Black Anger over Discrimination and Poverty The Issue of Recent Immigration 5. Problems of Gender Roles and Sex Discrimination. Ideas About Stratification by Gender Power-Conflict Ideas: The Class Emphasis Feminist Views Gender Discrimination and Racism Gender Role Stereotyping Schools The Mass Media Stereotyping in Biologically Oriented Accounts Family and Home: Patterns of Oppression Family Decisions Childbearing and Child Rearing Sexuality Housework and Consumption Work Domestic Violence Child Sexual Abuse Sexual Assault Outside and Inside the Home Date Rape Rape and Law Enforcement Sexual Terrorism in Prisons Employment Outside the Home Occupational Segregation of Women Workers The Occupational Gap Comparable Pay for Comparable Work? Employment Discrimination Recruitment Practices Screening and Tracking Practices Promotion Practices Sexual Harassment Other Discrimination in the Workplace Double Jeopardy: The Situation of Women of Color Discrimination in Housing Law and Politics Housing Law and Politics The Resurgence of Femininity Hazards of Being Male Gender Role Problems Men Moving into Traditionally Female Jobs 6. Problems in Education. The Growing Scope of Education Roots: The Development of Public Schools Public Schools in Urban Areas High Schools Humanistic Goals Labor Movement Resistance School Choice and Schools-for-Profit Tracking Systems and the Curriculum Two-Tiered Schooling The Content of Schooling IQ Testing and Public Schooling The So-Called Intelligence Tests Racial Issues High Schools Today Restlessness and Despair in Suburbia Learning Consumerism Teen Sitting and Discipline Problems Colleges and Universities Changes Tracking in Higher Education Government Corporations and Universities Student Protests Diplomas Credentials and "Human Capital" Qualifications and Credentials Overqualified College Students New Concern for "Human Capital" Racial Discrimination and Related Problems Schools for Black Americans The Struggle for Desegregation School Desegregation: Cultural Chauvinism Does More Education Bring Higher Incomes? High School Dropouts or "Pushouts"? Reforming the Public Schools Racial Problems at the College Level Problems in Education for Latinos Education and the Stereotyping of Asian Americans Sexism in Education Elementary and Secondary Schools Higher Education Title IX 7. Problems in Health and Medical Care. Health Statistics Death and Illness Rates Health Care Services The High Cost High-Technology Medicine The Bureaucratization of Medicine Technology or Corporate Decisions? The High-Tech Focus Medical Education: The Move to Hospitals and Offices High-Technology Medicine: Benefits and Problems Health Care: Private Control and Private Profit The Medical-Industrial Complex Today Profits Fee-for-Service Physicians Corporate Profits Private For-Profit Hospitals Blood Banks and Profits Drugs and Profits Consumers Drugs and Advertising Profits from Poor Countries Income and Health Racial and Gender Discrimination Racial Discrimination Sexism in Health Care Abortion and Control Government Intervention in Health Care A Shift in the 1930s The War on PovertyAlternative Health Care Health Care Financing Reform Warehouses for the Aged and Disabled: The Nursing Home Industry Numbers and Private Homes Nursing for Profit 8. Problems of Crime and Law Enforcement. Types of Law Violations Goals of the Chapter Street Crime Official Statistics: An Inadequate Measure of Crime Certain Dimensions of Street Crime Explaining Street Crime A Power-Conflict Perspective: Low Wages and Unemployment The Structural Solution Crimes of Personal Violence Crimes by the Very Powerful Corporate Crime Who Pays? Punishment Occupational and Small-Business Crime Crimes by Government Officials The President's Men The FBI and CIA Corporations and Government Organized Crime Business and Government Prosecuting Criminals The Police The Courts The Death Penalty IssuePrisons and Jails Overcrowding: A National Scandal Prison Riots An Alternative Approach 9. Problems Labeled "Deviance": Homelessness Mental Illness Drug Addiction and Homosexuality. Perspectives on Deviance Accenting Maladjusted Individuals Toward a Critical Power-Conflict Approach to "Deviance" The Treatment of Those Labeled Deviant Homelessness Reactions to the Homeless as "Trash" Who Are the Homeless? Causes of Homelessness: Unemployment and the Lack of Affordable Housing Deinstitutionalization Local Responses to Homelessness Mental Illness Labeling the Mentally Ill Drug and Other Substance Addiction What Substance Use Is Illegal? Tobacco Use: An Ancient Addiction The Role of Large Corporations in Tobacco Use Alcohol: Another Major Addiction Illegal Drug Use Who Controls the Illegal Drug Trade? The World of Illegal Drug Users Indiscriminately Prescribing "Legal" Drugs Illegal Drugs and Neighborhoods Law Enforcement Illegal Drugs and Government Policy in Central America The Legalization Debate Homosexuality Labeling Sexual Behavior as Deviance Sexism and Public Reactions to Homosexuals Gays and Lesbians in the Military Politics and Organizing Homosexual Communities AIDS and the Homosexual Community 10. Problems of Work and Worker Alienation. Dangers in the Workplace Accidents and Injuries Occupational IllnessesResponsibility for Dangers Toxic Exposure Safety Regulation The Right-to-Know Movement Alienation and Work The Concept of Alienation Dissatisfaction with Work The Health Impact Desire for More Control The Impact on Dignity and Self-Respect Is White-Collar Work a Way Out? Is High-Tech a Way Out? The Increase in Contingent Work Resistance and Change in the Workplace The Fight for Better Wages and Conditions Unions and Worker Protests Ongoing Class Struggle Strategies for Controlling Workers Scientific Management (Taylorism) The Team Concept: A New Type of Taylorism Hierarchical Control Automation and Technical Control Job Losses and Capital Flight Workers Fighting Back: Plant Closing Laws 11. Environmental Energy and Military-Industrial Problems. A Societal Snapshot Environmental Pollution and Degradation Toxic Chemicals Ozone Depletion Waste Disposal Water Pollution Air Pollution Private Profits and the Costs of Pollution Pollution Prevention Measures The Military-Industrial Establishment as Polluter Citizens Fighting Pollution Modest Government Action on Pollution A Global Perspective Energy Problems Energy Consumption and Waste Alternative Energy Technologies Energy Class and Race Oil and Energy Problems Resource Depletion and Pollution: Automobiles Trucks and Buses The Decline of Mass Transit Nuclear Power and Nuclear Pollution Major Problems Pollution from Nuclear Wastes Nuclear Technology: The Military Connection Is a Major Disaster Possible? Can People Bring Change? The Military-Industrial Complex: A Social Problem? Nuclear WeaponryWar in Historical Perspective War in the Nuclear Age The Military-Industrial Complex Arms Sales Abroad The Case of General Electric "Weapons Welfarism" Growth and Technology Growth Technology The Ecological Crises and Capitalism 12. Remedying Social Problems. The Mass Media and Information Control The Mass Media Prepolitical Thought? People Protesting and Organizing for Change Women's Groups Union Movements Older Americans Americans of Color The Consumer Movement Antinuclear and Antiwar Protest Environmental Action Groups Other Community Action Groups Prospects for Expanded Progressive Grassroots Action Conservative and Reactionary Groups Alternative Social Systems Varieties of Socialism A Social Welfare State A Note on Government Intervention in the United States Democratic Socialism in the Kibbutz The Possibility of Economic Democracy Democratic Socialism in the United States Workplace Democracy Views of Democratic Socialism and Economic Democracy Beyond Racism and Sexism in the United States The Transitional Stage of Economic Democracy The Beneficial Impact of a Democratic Economy The Future of Democracy Index