Joel Best is a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware. His books include
Damned Lies and Statistics and Flavor of the Month.
Summary
Updated with over 60 new examples and case studies, Social Problems shows 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. Drawing on social constructionist theory, the idea that our experience of reality is created through the interaction and participation of individuals and groups, Joel Best helps readers understand the complex competitive process through which problems emerge. In order to help students connect theory to everyday life, Joel Best fills the book with colorful examples and case studies from the real world.
Table of Contents
Figures vii
Boxes ix
A Note to the Reader xiii
Acknowledgments xv
1 The Social Problems Process 3
2 Claims 29
Case Study Making Claims about Problem Animals and Animal Problems 61
3 Activists as Claimsmakers 64
Case Study Mobilizing against Homophobic Bullying 93
4 Experts as Claimsmakers 96
Case Study The Autism Epidemic and Disputes over Expertise 123
5 The Media and Claims 127
Case Study Reporting about Risk 157
6 Public Reaction 160
Case Study Public Reactions to Immigration 187
7 Policymaking 190
Case Study Health Care as a Policy Challenge 218
8 Social Problems Work 221
Case Study Loan Applications and Financial Collapse 251
9 Policy Outcomes 255
Case Study Technological Change and Policy Outcomes 283
10 Claims across Space and Time 286
Case Study Sexual Trafficking across Space and Time 315
11 The Uses of the Constructionist Stance 318
Glossary 331
References 339
Index 353
