Social Problems

Reviews / Votes

Eric Bonds has written a different kind of social problems textbook: engaged, critical, and international in scope. Social Problems: A Human Rights Perspective rejects the value-neutral approach common to scholarship in social problems. By developing a human rights perspective, Bonds offers his readers a coherent, overarching framework for understanding contemporary social problems and enduring inequalities. Social Problems: A Human Rights Perspective will help students understand the world they encounter beyond the classroom, as well as the ongoing efforts of activists and social movements to promote equality and justice.

Jared Del Rosso, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Denver and author of Talking About Torture: How Political Discourse Shapes the Debate

Thanks to its emphasis on topics of great concern to today's undergraduates, such as climate change, pollution, immigration, racial discrimination, and the growing concentration of wealth and power that will increasingly impact their lives, this book provides an ideal way to engage students' attention. The human rights approach does so in a way that's less likely to raise hackles, and thereby opens students up to possible solutions to these pressing social problems.

G. William Domhoff, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and author of Who Rules America: The Triumph of the Corporate Rich

I have built social problem courses around this book as it is engaging, well organized, and provides comprehensive treatment to core problems. Students connect to Bonds' approachable style when tackling difficult subject matter. The new edition provides updated material on the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter, and human rights debates on immigration, which will undoubtedly help create dynamic class engagement.

Kristina Kahl, Professor of Sociology at Front Range Community College