Social Problems

by Joel Best, Brian Monahan

Not your parents’ social problems textbook


Joel Best, author of the best-selling Damned Lies and Statistics, and new coauthor Brian Monahan offer a fresh approach to the social problems course. Rather than overloading students with details and data, the book focuses on how and why particular conditions come to be constructed as social problems. Each chapter explores a different stage of the construction process, ending with a rich case study that applies the concepts to a contemporary issue. In this way, the authors equip students with the tools needed to analyze any social problem they encounter in the media.


New to this



Short, boxed features in every chapter tackle current issues such as the controversy over Drag Queen Story Hour, pharmaceutical pollution, and the concussion crisis in youth sports.
All-new end-of-chapter case studies apply the topic of the chapter to hot-button issues like abortion policy after Dobbs v. Jackson and the rise of cancel cultures.
A thoroughly updated Chapter 5 on the media includes a new discussion of news values and how these criteria have changed due to the shift to digital delivery. A new end-of-chapter case explores “The Blame Game,” or how the media not only distribute claims but can also become the target of claims.

432 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2024

Reviews

[Aliyah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for my undergraduate social problems class, and I thought it was very interesting. This was the second social problems class I took, and both the class and the textbook were very unique. The book addresses how other social problems textbooks and classes (like the one I took in high school) usually go, which is to address specific social problems such as poverty, homelessness, racism, and sexism, one by one, and talk about arguments, causes, and solutions. But this book takes a completely different perspective, which is a social construction view. We only see phenomena as social problems once it has been defined as such using specific rhetorical devices that are explained in the book. Reading this book makes it easy to dissect arguments on both sides of any controversial issue, such as abortion or trans rights, and to see where appeals to emotion are happening, where logic and fact may be overridden by an outrageous story, and explains why conversations about certain social problems may rise in popularity during particular moments of political opportunity.

Overall, highly recommend, and I think the format makes it an easier read. The format is novel-like, the book itself is not bulky like other textbooks, and it is not overly long.