Social Problems 09/10 by Kurt Finsterbusch

Preliminary Table of Contents

Unit 1: Introduction: The Nature of Social Problems and General Critiques of American Society

1. Social Problems: Definitions, Theories, and Analysis, Harold A. Widdison and H. Richard Delaney, Social Problems: Definitions, Theories, and Analysis, 1995

This essay, written specifically for this volume, explores the complexities associated with defining, studying, and attempting to resolve “social” problems. The three major theoretical approaches—symbolic interactionism, functionalism, and conflict —are summarized.

2. The Fragmentation of Social Life, D. Stanley Eitzen, Vital Speeches of the Day, July 1, 2000

In this essay about America, Stanley Eitzen addresses a crucial problem: the fragmentation of social life. He suggests that America could come apart in the future. Eitzen discusses excessive individualism, heightened personal isolation, increasing inequality, and the deepening racial/ethnic/religious/sexuality divide.

3. How to Re-Moralize America, Francis Fukuyama, The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 1999

Recently many of the indicators of moral decline have started to show improvement. Francis Fukuyama reports the changes and accepts the challenge of explaining how moral regeneration occurs generally and what caused a potential moral regeneration in the 1990s. In the process he is forced to explore the basic sociological question: What are the sources of value systems? How do they arise and change? In his search for ananswer he leads the reader through a sociological detective story.

Unit 2: Problems of the Political Economy Part A. The Polity

4. This is the Fight of Our Lives, Bill Moyers, Timeline, September/October 2004.

Bill Moyers makes an excellent case that the extreme inequality in the United States should make us mad when we see it up close. The stories he tells stir up our feelings.

5. “Inside the Hidden World of Earmarks, ” Eamon Javers, Business Week, September 17, 2007

6. Our Incompetent Government, Richard A. Posner, The New Republic, November 14, 2005

Richard A. Posner makes a serious charge against the U.S. government, which has been repeatedly proven incompetent in anticipating disasters and dealing with them. U.S. government performance is so bad as to require extensive explanation.

7. Rights, Liberties, and Security: Recalibrating the Balance After Sept. 11, Stuart Taylor, Jr., Brookings Review, Winter 2003

A rule of government is that when dangers increase liberties shrink. Yes, but how much? Where should the balance be? Stuart Taylor, Jr. analyzes the problem. Starting with the premise that “today we face dangers without precedent: a mass movement of militant Islamic terrorists who crave martyrdom, hide in shadows, are fanatically bent on slaughtering as many of us as possible and—if they can—using nuclear truck bombs to obliterate New York or Washington or both.” Taylor calls for a reassessment of the civil liberties rules that restrict the government’s investigative powers.

Part B. The Economy

8. Evaluating Economic Change, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Daedalus, Summer 2004

Stiglitz evaluates the costs and benefits of the momentous changes involved in the processes of globalization. These processes have greatly benefited some countries and hurt other countries. Surprisingly, his economic analysis leads him into an extended discussion of morals.

9. The New Rules, Betsy Morris and Patricia Neering, Fortune, July 24, 2006

This article states that the principles that make for effective large corporations are changing because the corporate environment is changing. The old rules of being the big dog, cutting out the weak, and doing all for shareholder value undercut the long term. The new rules are being agile and innovative, networked, and to enthrone the customer.

10. Debtor Nation, Johnathon Shaw, Current, September 2007

11. Born to Buy, Juliet Schor, Dollars & Sense, September/October 2004

The consumption side of the economy is quite dynamic today and Juliet Schor discusses some of its major findings in this article, including the fact that the materialism that undergirds the consumer society “undermines well-being in lots of different ways. … People who are more materialistic are more depressed, they’re more anxious, they have less vitality, they connect less-well with people, they have more stomach aches and headaches.”

Part C. Problems of Place

12. Why Aren’t U.S. Cities Burning?, Michael B. Kats, Dissent, Summer 2007

Sociologists should be surprised that American cities are peaceful. Most of the conditions that produced nearly 150 riots in 1967 have continued and some like racial segregation have worsened. Michael B. Katz tries to solve this paradox.

13. Phantom Menace, John B. Judas, The New Republic, February 13, 2008

14. The invisible Ones, Rebecca Clarren, MS., Summer 2007

Unit 3: Problems of Poverty and Inequality Part A. Inequality and the Poor

15. How Stratification Works, Douglas S. Massey, from Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System, 2007

16. Goodbye Horatio Alger, Jeff Madrick, The Nation, February 5, 2007

One of the prized characteristics of America has been the opportunity to go from rages to riches. Unfortunately, moving up economically is now impossible for most Americans. Income mobility has declined dramatically in the last three decades in America and now several European countries have more income mobility than the United States.

17. Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated?, Jeffery D. Sachs, Scientific American, September 2005

Jeffrey D. Sachs argues that world poverty can be eliminated. The market and globalization has and will lift most people out of extreme poverty, but the elimination of extreme poverty would require the proper use of a $160 billion-a-year donation by the rich nations (0.5% of their GNP).

18. The Real Face of Homelessness, Joel Stein, Time, January 20, 2003.

The “bum” sleeping on the park bench is not the new face of homelessness. Increasingly, the homeless are mothers with children. Joel Stein points out why this is the case and tells the painful stories of some homeless families.

Part B. Welfare

19. Confessions of a Welfare Queen, John Stossel, Reason, March 2004.

John Stossel admits to being a welfare queen because he, along with the upper middle class and the rich, are the beneficiaries of subsidies, tax breaks, and countless beneficial programs. The stories he tells are shocking and unfair.

20. Welfare Redux, Christopher Jencks, Joe Swingle, and Scott Winship, Prospect, March 2006

The authors argue that the 1996 welfare reform has been a huge success, but tougher requirements in the 2002 revision will create new hardships for many disadvantaged persons.

Part C. Racial and Ethnic Inequality and Issues

21. Virtual Equality, Virtual Segregation, Norman Kelley, Society, July/August 2006

Norman Kelley presents a negative picture of the situation of blacks in America today. Schools are as segregated now as before the Supreme Court’s desegregation decision. The Civil Rights Act has allowed significant progress for the black middle and upper classes, but the black lower class is “locked into Third World-like poverty and divorced from the black middle class. Black leadership and black politics are failing them.

22. Why We Hate, Margo Monteith and Jeffrey Winters, Psychology Today, May/June 2002

The authors demonstrate the prevalence of prejudice and hatred in America and explain this in terms of social identity theory. Whenever people are divided into groups negative attitudes develop toward the out group.

23. American Dreamers, Lisa Miller, Newsweek, July 30, 2007

A major cultural issue today is the place of Muslim Americans in America. They have been good citizens relative to other groups and think strongly of themselves as American. Now their situation is changing. Americans are becoming more suspicious of them and, according to a government study, radicalism is growing among Muslims in the West.

Part D. Gender Inequalities and Issues

24. Great Expectations, Judith M. Havemann, The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2007

Women have taken tremendous strides toward equality in the corporate world and now hold half of all management and professional jobs and their leadership style is superior to men’s. They rarely, however, half top management positions. Why? Several explanations are discussed.

25. Human Rights, Sex Trafficking, and Prostitution, Alice Leuchtag, The Humanist, January/February 2003

One of the evil plagues haunting the world today is sex slavery and it is getting worse. It is the product of extreme poverty and considerable profits. The exploitation involved is horrendous. Human rights groups are trying to stop the practice. Alice Leuchtag covers many aspects of this issue.

26. All Happy Families, Julian Sanchez, Reason, August 2005

Julian Sanchez advocates adoptions by gay couples of children in the foster care system. Regardless of public attitudes toward gay families Sanchez shows that the children will be better off in gay families than in foster care.

Unit 4: Institutional Problems Part A. The Family

27. The Frayed Knot, The Economist, May 26, 2007

The thesis that marriage is in trouble is a half truth. It is true for the lower class and not for college educated class. Thus there is a marriage gap and it contributes to the income gap.

28. The Opt-Out Myth, E.J. Graff, Current, May 2007

E.J. Graff explains why the media reports that upper class women are opting out of the labor market to raise children in substantial numbers is a myth. The proportion of women, even mothers, in the labor force is increasing, not decreasing. The consequences and policy implications of the truth are immense.

29. (Rethinking) Gender, Debra Rosenberg, Newsweek, May 21, 2007

Debra Rosenberg opens the window on people who are born one gender but feel that they are the other gender. Some use surgery and/or hormones to bring their bodies into compliance with their identity. Their stories are riveting, and their lives raise questions about what gender really is.

30. Overworked, Time Poor, and Abandoned by Uncle Sam, Janet C. Gornick, Dissent, Summer 2005

According to Janet C. Gornick the above title describes the American parent, especially the mother. Yes parents are under considerable stress, but appropriate public policies would greatly help them.

31. Peer Marriage, Pepper Schwartz, The Communitarian Reader: Beyond the Essentials, Rowman & Littlefield, 2004

Pepper Schwartz celebrates the widespread diffusion of peer marriages in which spouses regard each other as full social equals, both have careers, share family decision making, and more equally share child-rearing responsibilities. He argues that peer marriages generally result in stronger families and greater satisfaction.

Part B. Education

32. Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why, John Taylor Gatto, Harper’s Magazine, September 2003

John Taylor Gatto attacks the American school system for being boring and preventing children from growing up. He suspects that this result is exactly what those who control the school system want schools to be. In arguing his radical thesis he presents a very provocative history of the evolution of the American school system.

33. Can the Center Find a Solution That Will Hold?, Chester E. Finn, Jr., Education Next, Winter 2006

American high schools are failing and Washington is not going to fix them. Chester E. Finn, Jr. describes six major problems and proposes six solutions.

Part C. Health

34. Fixing Hospitals, Robert Langreth, Forbes, June 20, 2005

Robert Langreth accepts the report that medical errors kill 100,000 Americans every year and then proposes reforms that will dramatically reduce this number

35. Medical Guesswork, John Carey, BusinessWeek, May 29, 2006

John Cary reports that most doctors’ medical decisions are based on very little empirical evidence. His report features medical crusader Dr. David Eddy who is championing evidence-based medicine.

Unit 5: Crime, Law Enforcement, and Terrorism Part A. Crime

36. Analyzing Crime, John J. Donohue, Current, June 2005.

It is amazing what conclusions we would come to about crime and punishment if we used economic logic as John J. Donohue shows in this article. We would stop building prisons, abolish the death penalty, expand the police force, adopt sensible gun controls, and legalize drugs among other things.

37. The Aggregate Burden of Crime, David A. Anderson, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1999

David A. Anderson makes a valiant effort to compute the annual costs of major types of crime and the net annual total costs of all crime, which he claims annually exceeds $1 trillion or over $4000 per capita. Fraud and cheating on taxes costs Americans over 20 times the costs of theft, burglary, and robbery.

38. Drugs, Ethan Nadelmann, Foreign Policy, September/October 2007

Part B. Law Enforcement

39. Causes and Consequences of Wrongful Convictions, Hugo Adam Bedau, Current, March/April 2003

Recently much light has been shed on the injustices of the criminal justice system. Hugo Adam Bedau has spent several decades researching wrongful convictions and lays out the evidence for its prevalence and suggests reforms that should greatly reduce them.

40. Reforming Juvenile Justice, Barry Krisberg, The American Prospect, September 2005

Juvenile Justice needs to be reformed. Barry Krisberg reviews the history of the oscillation between punitive and rehabilitation phases in juvenile justice. Science supports the rehabilitation model and public fears support the punitive model, which is in force today. But rehabilitation of children often occurs and society gains from it.

41. America Incarcerated, Glenn C. Loury, Utne, Nov-Dec 2007

Part C. Terrorism

42. Defeating Terrorism. Myron J. Cetron

43. Nightmare in Manhattan, Bruce Goldman

Unit 6: Problems of Population, Environment, Technology, and the Future Part A. Population and Environment Issues

44. Enough Already, Paul and Anne Ehrlich, New Scientist, 30 September 2006

Paul and Anne Ehrlich counter those who fear negative consequences from stable or declining population. The worriers fail to notice the benefits of stable population and the population decline thesis is overblown. Developed countries with health economies are likely to grow through immigration. Stable or declining population countries will have to change some of their retirement policies and make other adaptations, but adjustments need not be very severe.

45. SOS: We Need a Plan B, Lester R. Brown, Population Press, Winter 2006

Lester Brown describes many of the ways that the ecology of the planet has seriously declined over the past half century and identifies trends that provide grim prospects for the future. He also provides a rescue plan.

46. The Science of Climate Change, Anna da Costa, Ecologist, January 2007

Climate Change may be the major long term trend affecting humanity. Anna da Costa explains what generates our climate, what is causing climate change, what are the expected impacts, and what can be done to prevent much of the predicted climate change and negative impacts.

Part B. Technological Issues

47. Who’s Afraid of Human Enhancement? Nick Gillespie, Ronald Bailey, Eric Gohen, and Joel Garreau, Reason, January 2006

48. The Secret Nuclear War, Eduardo Goncalves, Ecologist, April 2001

An extremely consequential technology is nuclear. The energy it produces has greatly benefited mankind, but at what price? Eduardo Goncalves reports on all the nuclear accidents, testings, experiments, leaks, production, cover-ups, and storage and reuse of nuclear materials that he can find out about. The death toll could be as high as 175 million, and the shameful behavior of countless agencies that he reports on is shocking.

49. Stem Cells, Nancy Gibbs, Time, August 7, 2006

Part C. The Future

50. Update on the State of the Future, Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon, The Futurist, January/February 2006

In this article two leading futurists provide a wide range of trends and predictions on the future. Their environmental predictions are particularly frightening but they do point to increasing awareness of the problems and support for measures that favor sustainability.

51. How Globalization Went Bad, Steven Weber et al., Foreign Policy, January/February 2008

52. Understanding Our Moment in History, William Van Dusen Wishard, Vital Speeches of the Day, May 1, 2005

The author is a specialist in trend analysis and his research convinces him that the world is transiting between two ages. The world as we know it is coming to an end because of globalization, information technologies, urbanization, the explosion of knowledge and technologies, the quickening pace of change, and a long-term spiritual and psychological reorientation.