Featuring twenty-six in-depth and engaging articles, Conflicting Interests: Readings in Social Problems and Inequality is a unique social problems reader in which the majority of the selections reflect the conflict perspective. This approach views social problems as the consequence of social and economic inequalities and therefore encourages students to critically analyze American public policy responses to social problems. Conflicting Interests is organized into five sections: Thinking about Social Problems, The Economics of Inequality, Social Inequalities, Problems of the Family, Crime and Drugs, and Problems of the Environment. Several articles address the contemporary economic crisis and the role that the media plays in constructing social problems. In addition, many of the essays describe public policies in countries outside of the United States, providing students with alternative, cross-cultural perspectives and solutions to social problems. Each section begins with an introduction that briefly summarizes the articles and shows how they are interrelated. Each essay concludes with critical thinking questions that are designed to stimulate class discussion and to help students carefully evaluate the issues. A thought-provoking and accessible supplement for social problems courses, Conflicting Interests can also be used in courses on inequality or social stratification. It is an ideal supplement to editor Robert Heiner's textbook, Social Problems: An Introduction to Critical Constructionism, Third Edition.

Preface Part One: Thinking about Social Problems 1. The Sociological Imagination: The Promise, C. Wright Mills 2. Constructing Social Problems, Malcolm Spector and John I. Kitsuse 3. An Introduction to the Sociology of Social Problems, Robert Heiner 4. The Problem of Journalism, Robert W. McChesney Part Two: The Economics of Inequality 5. The Governing Class, Jeff Faux 6. The New Economic Insecurity, Jacob S. Hacker 7. The Copenhagen Consensus, Robert Kuttner 8. Global Inequality and the Challenges of Reducing Extreme Poverty, Joan Ferrante Part Three: Social Inequalities 9. Women and Wealth: A Primer, Amy Gluckman 10. The Payoff from Women's Rights, Isobel Coleman 11. Doubly Divided: The Racial Wealth Gap, Meizhu Liu 12. School Finance: Inequality Persists, Michael Engel 13. Double Standards in Health Care, James W. Russell Part Four: Problems of the Family 14. The Way We Wish We Were: Defining the Family Crisis, Stephanie Coontz 15. Striking a Balance, Robert W. Drago 16. More than Welcome: Families Come First in Sweden, Brittany Shahmehri 17. Life without Children, David Popenoe and Barbara Defoe Whitehead Part Five: Crime and Drugs 18. The Implicit Ideology of Criminal Justice, Jeffrey Reiman 19. Schools and Prisons: How Far Have We Come since Brown v. Board of Education?, Marc Mauer and Ryan S. King 20. The Growth of Incarceration in the Netherlands, Robert Heiner 21. First, Reduce Harm, Vince Beiser 22. Rx Drugs, 60 Minutes Part Six: Problems of the Environment 23. Reversal of Fortune, Bill McKibben 24. The Establishment vs. the Environment, Robert Heiner 25. The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty, World Resources Institute 26. Differential Vulnerabilities: Environmental and Economic Inequality and Government Responses to Unnatural Disasters, Robert D. Bullard

"The primary strength [of this book] is the focus on a critical constructionist approach. This sets this text apart from the wide body of work that already exists. Furthermore, this perspective seems to strike an important cord in students, and once they begin to grasp the underpinnings of this paradigm, it dramatically alters the way in which they view the world around them. This approach is also most effective at enabling faculty to teach critical thinking skills, which is something that I am constantly striving to do."--Joan Brehm, Illinois State University |k No