Light rubbing wear to cover, spine and page edges. It's a very clear description and clear organization. Best connects social constructionist theory to the real world with timely end-of-chapter case studies and multiple boxed examples in every chapter. In contrast, the sociology of social problems defines social problem differently and adopts a different analytic approach. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements.
It may take time out of your day but it is here to help you. Best demonstrates how people with more money, power, and other resources generally find it easier to have their claims heard. Drawing on social constructionist theory, Best shows how activists, experts, and their opponents engage in claimsmaking, and how the media then report on these claims, prompting public reaction and driving policy. Such traditional textbooks display minimal theoretical integration; that is, they do not discuss crime as a social problem, or compare social problems. Two more recent texts adopt rather different orientations: is more microsociological, while is more macrosociological. In order to help students connect theory to everyday life, the text includes colorful examples and case studies from the real world. My only complaint is that the author can also sometimes get a little repetitive, but it's just to drive the point home.
Possible clean ex-library copy, with their stickers and or stamp s. One of the only books that instead of being boring, was infuriating to read. His current research focuses on awards, prizes, and honors in American culture. I also used the book in class and while working on assignments frequently to refer back to some ideas or concepts. The goal of Best's book is to give students a better way of thinking about whatever social problems strike them as interesting—whether it's age-old problems like poverty and sexism or newer problems like the digital divide and climate change.
It's an analytically useful way of approaching the construction of social problems, and very readable for students, but I wouldn't recommend making it the core text for a course, mainly because if you stretch it out over a full semester, you'll start belaboring the point halfway through. Every chapter can essentially be summed up by: state a statistic, misinterpret said statistic, define a new term based on the misinterpretation that sounds like a 2 year old smashed somewhat related terms together, bold the term, move on to next statistic and repeat. The constructionist approach began to guide researchers in the 1970s and has generated a substantial literature that continues to develop in new directions. This book does not teach anything but a persons perspective, and common sense which is seen by everyone who knows anything about how the world works. The book may be personalized and could contain page markers or stickers. He is an author of over ten books and dozens of academic articles. Better to excerpt a couple of chapters at the beginning of the semester and then use it as a theoretical framework for addressing specific social pr I used this as the main textbook for a Social Problems course.
Used books may not include working access code or dust jacket. Connecting readers with great books since 1972. The boxes, which are peppered throughout the chapter, give students bite-sized examples that elucidate concepts from the chapter as they read. We ultimately only read the first half of the book. An intellectual toolkit to analyze any and all social problems Social Problems provides readers with the tools to recognize and respond to claims about social problems from the media, experts, politicians, and activists.
In order to help students connect theory to everyday life, the text includes colorful examples and case studies from the real Best helps readers think carefully about how activists, experts, and their opponents frame social problems through the logic that they use, the rhetoric of claims-making, and the ways that access to resources determines who gets their claims heard. This was a required reading for class, it's one of the worst textbooks I have ever read. The end-of-chapter case studies pull all of the chapter's concepts together and apply them to one extended example. A complete set of tools for analyzing any social problem. The structure and framework lend themselves well to a course that requires writing or exams.
For the Third Edition, Joel has written nine new case studies and added more than 50 boxed examples throughout the book. Fails to see things from a neutral perspective and often gives a backwater form of criticism against anyone opposing his opinion through context of writing. A complete set of tools for analyzing any social problem. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain limited notes and highlighting. Very minimal writing or notations in margins not affecting the text. Grounded in a phenomenological perspective.
Rather, their chapters present basic information about a set of social conditions usually understood to be social problems, such as crime and racism. It focuses on how and why people come to understand that some condition ought to be viewed as a social problem, that is, how they socially construct social problems. This is a paper back book: This item is fairly worn but is functional. Best helps readers think carefully about how activists, experts, and their opponents frame social problems through the logic that they use, the rhetoric of claims-making, and the ways that access to resources determines who gets their claims heard. Typically, the social problems process begins with claimsmakers who make claims that some condition ought to be considered a problem, that this problem should be understood in particular ways, and that it needs to be addressed. He also earned a second M.
Joel Gordon Best born August 21, 1946 is a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the. It's an analytically useful way of approaching the construction of social problems, and very readable for students, but I wouldn't recommend making it the core text for a course, mainly because if you stretch it out over a full semester, you'll start belaboring the point halfway through. Drawing on social constructionist theory, Best shows how activists, experts, and their opponents engage in claimsmaking, and how the media then report on these claims, prompting public reaction and driving policy. Less concerned with phenomenological issues than the earlier textbooks, and more focused on integrating the constructionist literature, and making connections to other sociological research specialties, such as the sociology of social movements and political sociology. An accessible but relatively abstract introduction to constructionism with a strong focus on theoretical, and especially phenomenological issues. Question 4 Understanding the stages in the social problems process is helpful because it allows us to see how Select one: a.