Social Problems A Critical Power-Conflict Perspective,9780130999276

Social Problems A Critical Power-Conflict Perspective

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Edition: 6TH
ISBN13: 9780130999276
ISBN10: 013099927X
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2005-08-29
Publisher(s): Pearson
List Price: $173.32

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Summary

For freshman - sophomore level courses in Social Problems taught from the conflict perspective. This books major contribution is that it develops the critical power conflict perspective as a necessary first step to making sense of the many crucial problems facing United States society. The book provides a well-organized application of the critical power-conflict perspective to the analysis of the roots of major societal troubles found in the patterns of class, racial, and gender stratification and subordination. This textbook shows just how closely interconnected these problems are to the historically defined patterns of classism, racism, and sexism in United States society.

Table of Contents

Preface xvii
A Troubled Society
1(32)
Goals of This Chapter
3(1)
Americans View Their Lives
3(6)
Workaday Troubles
4(2)
Latinos and African Americans
6(1)
The View from the Home
7(1)
Problems with Gender Discrimination: Women Workers
7(1)
Family Tragedies
8(1)
Interpreting Life's Troubles
8(1)
Societal Decline: The Genuine Progress Indicator
9(1)
People Working for Change: Some Examples
10(3)
The United Farm Workers Union
10(1)
Clerical Workers' Unions
11(1)
Striking for Better Conditions
11(1)
Protesting Toxic Pollution
12(1)
Traditional Perspectives on Society and Social Problems
13(4)
The European Background
13(1)
Corporate Liberalism
14(1)
Social Problems: The Durkheimian Tradition in the United States
15(1)
Mainstream Social Science Views of Social Problems
16(1)
A Critical Power--Conflict Perspective
17(9)
Background: The Influential Thought of Karl Marx
18(2)
Contemporary Social Class Perspectives
20(1)
Perspectives Emphasizing Gender and Race
21(2)
Latina Sexual Slavery in the United States
23(3)
Some Working Propositions
26(7)
Summary
29(1)
Study Questions
30(1)
Endnotes
30(3)
Class Relations and the Problem of Inequality
33(46)
Goals of This Chapter
33(1)
Some Revealing Societal Snapshots
34(3)
Plant Closings
34(1)
Workplace Hazards
34(1)
9 Million ``Rolling Fire Bombs''
35(1)
Toxic Chemicals in the Environment
35(1)
How Social Scientists Define ``Class'': Some Lessons from the Snapshots
36(1)
A Closer Look at Class Relations in U.S. Society
37(8)
The Class Structure
37(3)
The Capitalist Class
40(1)
The Working Class
40(2)
The Managerial Class
42(1)
The Small-Business Class
43(1)
Other Important Groups
44(1)
The Corporate Structure
45(1)
The State
45(5)
Capitalism, Large Corporations, and the State: The Example of the Farm Crisis
48(2)
Contrasting Views of Inequality
50(1)
The Persisting Problem of Income Inequality
51(12)
Patterns of Income Inequality
52(1)
Foreign Workers in the United States
53(2)
The Very Rich
55(2)
Effects of Income Inequality: Length and Quality of Life
57(1)
Education and Income Inequality
57(2)
Impact on Government
59(2)
Workers' Real Incomes
61(1)
A Two-Tiered Society?
62(1)
The Inequality of Wealth
63(3)
Wealth in Contemporary America
63(1)
Families and Corporations
64(2)
Taxation
66(2)
Consequences of Income and Wealth Inequality
68(1)
Sources of Capitalists' Wealth
68(11)
Mercantile and Plantation Capitalism (1700--1850)
68(1)
Industrial Capitalism (1850--1890)
69(1)
Early Monopoly Capitalism (1890--1940)
70(1)
Advanced (Late) Monopoly Capitalism (1940--?)
71(1)
Summary
72(2)
Study Questions
74(1)
Endnotes
74(5)
Poverty, Unemployment, and Underemployment
79(35)
Goals of This Chapter
82(1)
Low Incomes and Poverty
82(4)
The Extent and Character of Poverty
82(2)
Questioning the Official Poverty Count
84(2)
Unemployment, Underemployment, and Poverty
86(6)
Official Unemployment Statistics
86(2)
Questioning Official Unemployment Statistics
88(1)
The Unemployment Link to Poverty
89(1)
Unemployment's Impact
90(2)
Capitalism, Unemployment, and Poverty
92(7)
Capitalism and the Poor
92(1)
The Intense Quest for Private Profit
92(2)
Moving to the Sunbelt and Overseas
94(1)
The Working Poor
95(1)
Corporate Cultures: Wal-Mart and Costco Stores
96(3)
A Reform Initiative
99(1)
The Ideology of Individualism and the Poor
99(5)
Some Historical Background
100(1)
Views on the Poor: The 1960s Accent on Structural Issues
100(1)
Public Opinion
101(1)
Consequences of the Rationalizations for Poverty
102(1)
Ideological Socialization
103(1)
Government Intervention: The Broad Subsidy System
104(10)
The Context of Aid for the Poor
105(3)
Summary
108(1)
Study Questions
109(1)
Endnotes
110(4)
Problems of Racism and Racial Inequality
114(36)
Goals of This Chapter
114(1)
The Revolutionary Background
115(2)
Racialized Thinking
117(1)
Racial Groups and Racism
117(1)
Social Definition of Racial Groups
117(1)
Explaining Racial Domination
118(2)
The Case of African Americans
120(5)
The Chains of Slavery
120(1)
The Labor Market: A Racial Split
120(1)
Recent Gains and Losses in Employment and Income
121(3)
Issues of Wealth
124(1)
Patterns of Discrimination: Employment and Housing
125(8)
Racial Discrimination: Some Dimensions
125(3)
Persisting Discrimination in Recruitment and Hiring
128(1)
The Hostile Racial Climate and the Glass Ceiling
128(2)
Discrimination in Public Places and in Business
130(1)
Housing Discrimination
131(1)
Persisting Residential Segregation
132(1)
White Reactions to Efforts to Reduce Discrimination
133(9)
Negative White Attitudes
133(1)
White Supremacists and Hate Crimes
134(3)
Contexts of White Supremacist Groups
137(1)
Vindicating Civil Rights-Era Cases: Retrying Segregationists for Decades-Old Murders
138(2)
Black Protests Against Racial Discrimination and Poverty
140(2)
The Issue of Contemporary Immigration
142(8)
Summary
143(1)
Study Questions
144(1)
Endnotes
145(5)
Problems of Gender Roles and Sex Discrimination
150(49)
Goals of This Chapter
151(1)
Ideas about Stratification by Gender
151(1)
Power--Conflict Ideas: A Class Emphasis
151(1)
Some Feminist Views
152(1)
Gender and Racial Subordination
153(1)
Gender Stereotyping
153(4)
Schools
154(1)
The Mass Media
155(1)
Stereotyping in Biologically Oriented Accounts
156(1)
Family and Home: More Patterns of Oppression
157(7)
Family Decisions
157(1)
Childbearing and Child Rearing
158(1)
Sexuality
159(1)
Housework and Consumption Work
160(1)
The Abuse of Domestic Workers
161(1)
Domestic Violence
162(1)
Child Sexual Abuse
163(1)
Sexual Assault Inside and Outside the Home
164(5)
Spousal Rape
166(1)
Date Rape
166(1)
Rape and Law Enforcement
167(1)
Sexual Terrorism in Prisons
168(1)
Employment Outside the Home
169(14)
Occupational Segregation of Women Workers
170(1)
The Occupational Gap
170(2)
Comparable Pay for Comparable Work?
172(2)
Employment Discrimination
174(1)
Recruitment Practices
175(1)
Screening and Tracking Practices
175(1)
Promotion Practices
176(3)
Sexual Harassment
179(1)
Other Discrimination in the Workplace
180(2)
Double Jeopardy: The Situation of Women of Color
182(1)
Discrimination in Housing, Law, and Politics
183(4)
Housing
183(1)
Law and Politics
184(3)
The Resurgence of Femininity
187(1)
Some Hazards to Being Male
187(12)
Gender-Role Problems
187(2)
Men Moving into Traditionally Female Jobs
189(1)
Summary
190(1)
Study Questions
191(1)
Endnotes
191(8)
Problems in Education
199(43)
Goals of This Chapter
200(1)
The Growing Scope of Education
201(1)
Roots: The Development of Public Schools
201(5)
Public Schools in Urban Areas
201(1)
High Schools
202(2)
Labor Movement Resistance
204(1)
School Choice and Schools-for-Profit
204(2)
Tracking Systems and the Curriculum
206(4)
Two-Tiered Schooling
207(1)
The Content of Schooling
208(1)
The Educational Needs of American Indian School Children
209(1)
Testing and Public Schooling
210(4)
``Intelligence'' Tests
210(1)
Racial Issues
211(3)
High Schools Today
214(3)
Restlessness in Suburbia
214(1)
Learning Consumerism
214(1)
Teen Sitting and Discipline Problems
215(2)
Colleges and Universities
217(3)
Tracking in Higher Education
218(1)
Government, Corporations, and Universities
219(1)
Diplomas, Credentials, and ``Human Capital''
220(3)
Student Protests
220(1)
Qualifications and Credentialism
221(1)
New Concerns for ``Human Capital''
221(2)
Discrimination and Related Problems
223(9)
Schools for Children of Color
223(1)
The Struggle for Desegregation
224(1)
Does More Education Bring Higher Incomes?
225(1)
Dropouts or ``Pushouts''?
226(1)
Racial Inequality in College Environments
226(3)
Latinos and Issues of Language
229(2)
Stereotyping and Asian Americans
231(1)
Persisting Gender Discrimination
232(10)
Elementary and Secondary Schools
232(1)
Higher Education
233(1)
Summary
234(2)
Study Questions
236(1)
Endnotes
236(6)
Problems in Health and Medical Care
242(42)
Goals of This Chapter
242(1)
Health Statistics
243(3)
Death and Illness Rates
243(1)
Health Care Services
243(2)
The High Cost of Health Care
245(1)
High-Technology Medicine
246(7)
The Bureaucratization of Medicine
246(2)
Technology or Corporate Decisions?
248(1)
The High-Tech Focus
249(1)
Medical Education: The Move to Hospitals and Offices
250(2)
Benefits and Problems
252(1)
Health Care: Private Control and Private Profit
253(9)
The Medical-Industrial Complex Today
253(1)
Profits
253(2)
Fee-for-Service Physicians
255(1)
Corporate Profits
256(1)
Private For-Profit Hospitals
257(1)
Blood Banks and Profits
258(1)
Drugs and Profits
259(1)
Consumers, Drugs, and Advertising
260(1)
Profits from Poor Countries
261(1)
Income and Health
262(1)
Racial and Gender Discrimination
263(5)
Racial Discrimination
263(2)
Sexism in Health Care
265(2)
Abortion and Control
267(1)
Government Intervention in Health Care
268(2)
A Shift in the 1930s
268(1)
New Programs in the 1960s
268(2)
Alternative Health Care
270(1)
Health Care Financing
270(2)
Warehouses for the Aged and Disabled: The Nursing Home Industry
272(12)
Numbers and Private Homes
272(1)
Nursing for Profit
272
Eugenics in the United States
53(225)
Summary
278(1)
Study Questions
279(1)
Endnotes
279(5)
Problems of Crime and Criminal Justice
284(45)
Goals of This Chapter
285(1)
Types of Law Violations
285(2)
Street Crime
287(5)
Official Statistics: An Inadequate Measure of Crime
287(1)
Dimensions of Street Crime
288(1)
Explaining Street Crime
289(1)
A Power--Conflict Perspective: Low Wages and Unemployment
290(1)
The Structural Solution
291(1)
Crimes of Personal Violence
291(1)
Crimes by the Powerful
292(7)
Corporate Crime
293(1)
Who Pays?
294(2)
Punishment
296(2)
Occupational and Small-Business Crime
298(1)
Crimes by Government Officials
299(3)
The President's Men
299(2)
The FBI and the CIA
301(1)
Corporations and Government
301(1)
Organized Crime, Business, and Government
302(2)
Prosecuting Criminals
304(25)
The Police
304(2)
The Courts
306(3)
The Death Penalty Issue
309(3)
Prisons and Jails
312(1)
Prosecutorial Misconduct and Wrongful Capital Convictions
313(3)
Overcrowding: A National Scandal
316(1)
Prison Riots
316(2)
Female Prisoners
318(1)
An Alternative Approach
318(1)
Summary
319(2)
Study Questions
321(1)
Endnotes
321(8)
Problems Labeled ``Deviance'': Homelessness, Mental Illness, Drug Addiction, and Homosexuality
329(40)
Goals of This Chapter
329(1)
Perspectives on Deviance
329(3)
Accenting Maladjusted Individuals
329(1)
Toward a Critical Power--Conflict Approach to ``Deviance''
330(2)
The Treatment of Those Labeled Deviant
332(1)
Homelessness
332(8)
Reactions to the Homeless as ``Trash''
332(1)
Who Are the Homeless?
333(2)
Causes of Homelessness
335(2)
Deinstitutionalization of Mentally Impaired Persons
337(1)
Local Responses to Homelessness
337(3)
Mental Illness
340(3)
Labeling the ``Mentally Ill''
340(3)
Drug and Other Substance Addiction
343(12)
What Substance Use Is Illegal?
343(1)
Tobacco Use: An Ancient Addiction
343(1)
The Role of Large Corporations in Tobacco Use
344(2)
Alcohol: Another Major Addiction
346(2)
Illegal Drug Use
348(1)
Who Controls the Illegal Drug Trade?
349(1)
The World of Illegal Drug Users
350(1)
Indiscriminately Prescribing ``Legal'' Drugs
351(1)
Illegal Drugs and Neighborhoods
352(1)
Law Enforcement
352(2)
Illegal Drugs and Government Policy in Central America
354(1)
The Legalization Debate
354(1)
Homosexuality
355(14)
Labeling Sexual Behavior as Deviance
355(2)
Sexism and Public Reactions to Gays and Lesbians
357(1)
Gays and Lesbians in the Military
358(2)
Politics and Organizing Gay and Lesbian Communities
360(1)
AIDS and the Gay and Lesbian Community
361(1)
Summary
362(1)
Study Questions
363(1)
Endnotes
364(5)
Problems of Work and Worker Alienation
369(39)
Goals of This Chapter
370(1)
Dangers in the Workplace
370(9)
Accidents and Injuries
370(1)
Occupational Illnesses
370(2)
Responsibility for Dangers
372(2)
Toxic Exposure
374(1)
Safety Regulation
375(2)
The Right-to-Know Movement
377(2)
Alienation and Work
379(8)
The Concept of Alienation
379(1)
Dissatisfaction with Work
380(1)
The Health Impact
381(1)
Desire for More Control
381(1)
The Impact on Dignity and Self-Respect
381(1)
Is White-Collar Work a Way Out?
382(1)
Is High-Tech a Way Out?
383(1)
The Increase in Contingent Work
384(3)
Resistance and Change in the Workplace
387(6)
The Fight for Better Wages and Conditions
388(1)
Unions and Worker Protests
389(2)
Ongoing Class Struggle
391(2)
Strategies for Controlling Workers
393(15)
Scientific Management (Taylorism)
393(1)
The Team Concept: A New Type of Taylorism
393(1)
Hierarchical Control
394(1)
Automation and Technical Control
394(1)
Job Losses and Capital Flight
395(3)
Workers Fighting Back: Plant Closing Laws
398(3)
Summary
401(1)
Study Questions
402(1)
Endnotes
403(5)
Environmental, Energy, and Military-Industrial Problems
408(50)
Goals of This Chapter
408(1)
An Environmental Snapshot
409(1)
Environmental Pollution and Degradation
410(17)
Toxic Chemicals
410(1)
Ozone Depletion
411(1)
Waste Disposal
412(3)
Water Pollution
415(3)
Air Pollution
418(1)
Private Profits and the Costs of Pollution
419(1)
Pollution Prevention Measures
420(1)
The Military-Industrial Establishment as Polluter
421(1)
Citizens Fighting Pollution
422(3)
Modest Government Action on Pollution
425(1)
A Global Perspective
426(1)
Energy Problems
427(7)
Energy Consumption and Waste
427(1)
Alternative Energy Technologies
428(1)
Energy, Class, and Race
428(1)
Oil and Energy Problems
429(2)
Resource Depletion and Pollution: Automobiles, Trucks, and Buses
431(1)
The Decline of Mass Transit
432(2)
Nuclear Power and Nuclear Pollution
434(6)
Major Problems
434(2)
Pollution from Nuclear Wastes
436(1)
Nuclear Technology: The Military Connection
437(2)
Is a Major Disaster Possible?
439(1)
Can People Bring Change?
440(1)
The Military-Industrial Complex: A Social Problem?
440(7)
Nuclear Weaponry
440(1)
War in Historical Perspective
441(1)
War in the Nuclear Age
442(1)
The Military-Industrial Complex: Keeping War Alive
443(2)
Arms Sales Abroad
445(1)
``Weapons Welfarism''
446(1)
Ecological Crises, Consumerism, and Capitalism
447(11)
Summary
448(2)
Study Questions
450(1)
Endnotes
450(8)
Remedying Social Problems
458(49)
Goals of This Chapter
459(1)
The Mass Media and Information Control
459(2)
The Mass Media
459(2)
Prepolitical Thought?
461(1)
People Protesting and Organizing for Change
462(19)
Women's Groups
464(2)
Union Movements
466(2)
Older Americans
468(1)
Americans of Color
469(4)
The Consumer and Public Interest Movement
473(1)
Antinuclear and Antiwar Protest
474(1)
Environmental Action Groups
475(2)
Other Community Action Groups
477(1)
Prospects for Expanded Progressive Grassroots Action
478(2)
Conservative and Reactionary Groups
480(1)
Alternative Social Systems
481(5)
Varieties of Socialism
481(1)
A Social Welfare State
482(2)
A Note on Government Intervention in the United States
484(1)
Democratic Socialism in the Kibbutz
485(1)
The Possibility of Economic Democracy
486(11)
Democratic Socialism in the United States
487(1)
Workplace Democracy
488(1)
Views of Democratic Socialism and Economic Democracy: The Future?
489(3)
Beyond Racism and Sexism in the United States
492(1)
The Transitional Stage to Economic Democracy
493(2)
The Beneficial Impact of a Truly Democratic Economy
495(2)
The Future of Democracy
497(10)
Summary
500(1)
Study Questions
501(1)
Endnotes
501(6)
Index 507

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