Preface Contributor List Introduction Chapter 1: Social Construction of Social Problems Activist Interview: Sut Jhally 1. Interpersonal Violence as Social Construction: The Potentially Undermining Role of Claims Making and Advocacy Statistics, Robin D. Perrin and Cindy L. Miller-Perrin 2. Terrorism, Ziad Munson Box: Making Claims: The Role of Language in the Construction of Social Problems, Kiersten Kummerow 3. Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics, Joel Best Chapter 2: Core American Values Activist Interview: Stiv Wilson 4. The Way We Were: Rethinking the American Dream, David Kamp 5. Endangered Childhoods: How Consumerism is Impacting Child and Youth Identity, Jennifer Ann Hill 6. Public Attitudes toward the Next Social Contract, Bruce Stokes Box: Hidden Beneficiaries of Federal Programs, Gwen Sharp 7. Political Polarization in Contemporary American Society, Megan M. Tesene Box: The Story of Citizens United v. FECr, Annie Leonard, Jonah Sachs, and Louis Fox Chapter 3: Wealth and Income Inequality Activist Interview: Ann Larson 8. Building a Better America--One Wealth Quintile at a Time, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely Box: For the Public, It's Not about Class Warfare, but Fairness, Pew Research Center 9. Rising Inequality and the Fading American Dream, Renee M. Shelby Box: The Middle Class Myth: Here's Why Wages are Really So Low Today, Edward McClelland 10. Roots of the Widening Racial Wealth Gap: Explaining the Black-White Economic Divide, Thomas Shapiro, Tatjana Meschede, Sam Osoro 11. Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%, Joseph E. Stiglitz Box: Paying for Politics: How Elite Donors Purchase Political Power, Lee Drutman Chapter 4: Poverty Activist Interview: David Pirtle 12. Rethinking American Poverty, Mark R. Rank Box: Poverty as a Childhood Disease, Perri Klass, M.D. 13. Surviving the Great Recession: Growing Need and the Stigmatized Safety Net, Jennifer Sherman 14. Traps, Pitfalls, and Unexpected Cliffs on the Path Out of Poverty, Mary A. Prenovost and Deborah C. Youngblood Box: Voices of the Near Poor, Sabrina Tavernise, Jason DeParle, Robert Gebeloff 15. The Compassion Gap in American Poverty Policy, Fred Block, Anna C. Korteweg, Kerry Woodward, Zach Schiller, and Imrul Mazid Box: I Wish I Could Eat That Well: Misconceptions and Resentment about Food Stamp, Arthur Delaney 16. The Myth of Prosperity: Poverty among Native Americans, Chris McGreal Chapter 5: Racial and Ethnic Inequality Activist Interview: Allegra Phox 17. Sociologists on the Colorblind Question, Elaine McArdle Box: White Americans' Racial Attitudes and their Effect on Anti-Discrimination Policies in the 'Age of Obama', Amanda Atwell 18. Fences and Neighbors: Segregation in 21, John E. Farley and Gregory D. Squires 19. The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander 20. Explaining and Eliminating Racial Profiling, Donald Tomaskovic-Devey and Patricia Warren 21. Tomahawk Chops and Red Skin: Cultural Appropriation of Sports Symbols, Elizabeth S. Cavalier 22. Learning to Be Illegal: Undocumented Youth and Shifting Legal Contexts in the Transition to Adulthood, Roberto G. Gonzales Chapter 6: Gender Inequality Activist Interview: Emily May 23. The Problem When Sexism Just Sounds So Darn Friendly, Melanie Tannenbaum Box: Selling Feminism, Consuming Femininity, Amanda M. Gengler 24. Men are Stuck in Gender Roles, Emily Alpert Reyes 25. Normalizing Sexual Violence: Young Women Account for Harassment and Abuse, Heather R. Hlavka Box: Tackling the Roots of Rape, Frank Bruni 26. Transgender Discrimination in the Workplace, Elis Herman and Elroi J. Windsor 27. Why Gender Equality is Good for the World, Stacy Gorman Harmon Chapter 7: Social Problems related to Sex and Sexuality Activist Interview: Heather Corinna 28. Children Having Children, Stefanie Mollborn Box: Reducing Unintended Pregnancy: The Role of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs), Stacy Gorman Harmon 29. Sexuality Education in the United States: Shared Cultural Ideas across a Political Divide, Jessica Fields Box: The Social Consequences of Abstinence-Only Sex Education, Lanier Basenberg 30. One Town's War on Gay Teens, Sabrina Rubin Erdely 31. Prostitution: Facts and Fictions, Ronald Weitzer Box: Selling People: Sex, Money, and Brutality, Sutapa Basu Chapter 8: Social Problems related to Media Activist Interview: Josh Golin 32. A Modern Empire: The Concentration of Media, Desmond Goss Box: Connection Failed: Internet Still a Luxury for Many Americans, Jana Kasperkevic 33. How to Stop the Bullies, Emily Bazelon 34. Constructing Crime, Gary W. Potter and Victor E. Kappeler Box: #IfTheyGunnedMeDown and the Power of Social Media to Change the Message, Mindy Stombler and Nate Steiner 35. Equal Opportunity Objectification? The Sexualization of Men and Women on the Cover of Rolling Stone, Erin Hatton and Mary Nell Trautner Box: At the Movies, The Women are Gone, Linda Holmes Chapter 9: Social Problems related to Education Activist Interview: Jesse Hagopian 36. Inequality and School Resources: What Will it Take to Close the Opportunity Gap, Linda Darling-Hammond Box: Why Some Schools Want to Expel Suspensions, NPR Staff 37. How Schools Really Matter, Douglas B. Downey and Benjamin G. Gibbs 38. The (Mis)Education of Monica and Karen, Laura Hamilton and Elizabeth A. Armstrong Box: A Campus More Colorful than Reality: Beware that College Brochure, Deena Prichep 39. Screw U: How For-Profit Colleges Rip You Off, Yasmeen Qureshi, Sarah Gross, and Lisa Desai Chapter 10: Social Problems related to Families Activist Interview: Oscar Hernandez 40. Families Facing Untenable Choices, Lisa Dodson and Wendy Luttrell Box: Challenges Faced by LGBT Families with Children, Kaitlin A. Hippen 41. Unmarried with Children, Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas Box: The Changing American Family: Bonding from Behind Bars, Natalie Angier 42. Does It Pay to Have Kids? Not for Working Moms, Kirstin Ralston-Coley Box: Lean In, Dad: How Shared Diaper Duty Could Stimulate the Economy, Catherine Rampell 43. Fighting Back, Tim Stelloh 44. Families and Elder Care in the Twenty-First Century, Ann Bookman and Delia Kimbrel Chapter 11: Social Problems related to Health and the Healthcare System Activist Interview: Elba L. Saavedra 45. They've Got a Pill for That: The Medicalization of Society, Stephanie Medley-Rath Box: Selling Sickness: How Drug Ads Changed Health Care, Alix Spiegel 46. Paying Till It Hurts: The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill, Elisabeth Rosenthal 47. Big Pharma Comes of Age, Rose Weitz Box: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Rose Weitz 48. What's Killing Poor White Women?, Monica Potts 49. How We Do Harm, Otis Webb Brawley, M.D., and Paul Goldberg Chapter 12: Social Problems related to Crime and the Criminal Justice System Activist Interview: Nicole D. Porter 50. Mass Shootings and Masculinity, Tristan Bridges and Tara Leigh Tober Box: More Guns, More Mass Shootings-Coincidence?, Mark Follman 51. Crimes of the Powerful: Crafting Criminality, Miriam Konrad Box: Inequality in Life and Death: The Death Penalty in the U.S., Erin Thomas Echols 52. For-Profit Justice: How the Private Prison Industry and the Criminal Justice System Benefit from Mass Incarceration, Amanda Atwell 53. How Prisons Change the Balance of Power in America, Heather Ann Thompson 54. Can the Police be Reformed?, Ronald Weitzer Chapter 13: Social Problems related to the Economy and Work Activist Interview: Ai-jen Poo 55. The Rhetoric and Reality of Opting Out, Pamela Stone Box: How Sheryl Sandberg and Getty are Making Stock Photos Less Sexist, Claire Suddath 56. Sex Segregation at Work: Persistence and Change, Anastasia Prokos 57. Pride and Prejudice: Employment Discrimination against Openly Gay Men in the United States, Andras Tilcsik Box: ENDA's End Game: Why Workplace Protections for LGBT People is a Necessary Step, J. Jennings Moss 58. The Case against Racial Colorblindness in the Workplace, Carmen Nobel Box: What's in a Name? Discrimination, Erin Thomas Echols 59. The Hands that Feed Us: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers along the Food Chain, Food Chain Workers Alliance Box: Why U.S. Taxpayers Pay $7 Billion a Year to Help Fast-Food Workers, Allison Aubrey 60. In China, the Human Costs that are Built into an iPad, Charles Duhigg and David Barboza Chapter 14: Social Problems related to the Environment and Food System Activist Interview: Daniel Wildcat 61. Environmental Inequalities,Hollie Nyseth Brehm and David Pellow Box: U.S. Electronic Waste Gets Sent to Africa, Ron Claiborne 62. Fixing the Bungled U.S. Environmental Movement, Robert Brulle and J. Craig Jenkins 63. Why Beef is What's for Dinner: Agricultural Policy and Its Implications, Emily Stutzman Jones Box: Consumers Fight Back, Food Chain Workers Alliance 64. The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, Michael Moss 65. A Bug in the System: Why Last Night's Chicken Made You Sick, Wil S. Hylton Chapter 15: Strategies for Social Change Activist Interview: Alicia Garza 66. Same-Sex, Different Attitudes, Kathleen E. Hull 67. Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, Malcolm Gladwell 68. Get Angry. Go Viral. Change Everything!, Alexis Jetter 69. What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution, Allan G. Johnson Box: The Arc of Justice and the Long Run: Hope, History, and Unpredictability, Rebecca Solnit