Thinking about Social Problems: An Introduction to Constructionist Perspectives (Paperback, 2)

Preface to the Second Edition Part I: Issues in Studying Social Problems1 Examining Social Problems * What Is a Social Problem? * Social Problems as Objective Conditions * The Construction of Social Life and Social Problems * Social Construction Questions about Social Problems * An Invitation to Social Construction Perspectives on Social Problems2 Claims-Makers and Audiences * Claims and Claims-Making * Audiences * Claims-Makers and the Social Problems Industry * Social Problems Activists as Claims-Makers * Scientists as Claims-Makers * Mass Media as Claims-Makers * Relationships among Claims-Makers * Social Problem Claims-Makers and AudiencesPart II: Constructing Packages of Claims3 Constructing Conditions * The Social Contexts of Social Problems Work * Social Problems Work: Constructing Grounds * Social Problems Work: Constructing Diagnostic Frames * Social Problems Work: Constructing Motivational Frames Appealing to Logic * Social Problems Work: Constructing Social Problem Ownership The Social Problems Work of Constructing Conditions4 Constructing People * Social Problems Work: Constructing Motivational Frames Appealing to Emotion * Social Problems Work: Constructing Victims Deserving Sympathy Social Problems Work: Constructing Villains Deserving Condemnation Social Problems Work: Packaging Claims As Stones The Social Problems Work of Constructing People5 Constructing Solutions * Constructing Prognostic Frames * The Social Contexts of Public Policy * Social Problems Work: Government Policy Construction * Social Problems Work and Cultural Change * The Social Problems Work of Constructing SolutionsPart III: From Social Constructions to Social Actions6 Social Problems and Everyday Life * Successful Claims and Social Change Social Problems Work in Daily Life Personal Identities and Collective Identities Social Problems and Social Change7 Social Problems and Troubled People 139 * Social Problems Formula Stones and the Troubled Persons Industry * Workers and Clients in the Troubled Persons Industry * Social Problems Work: Categorizing Potential Clients * Social Problems Work: Encouraging Identity Change * The Troubled Persons Industry and Reproducing Social Problems * Social Problems and Social Interventions8 Evaluating Constructionist Perspectives on Social Problems * Objectivist and Constructionist Perspectives on Social Problems Lessons Learned from Constructionist Perspectives on Social Problems Practical Actors and Social ProblemsAppendix: Social Construction Theories and Issues Justifications for Social Construction Perspectives on Social Problems Challenges to Constructionist TheoryReferences Index