Thinking About Social Problems : An Introduction to Constructionist Perspectives (Hardcover, 2 ed)

Preface to the Second Edition

Part I: Issues in Studying Social Problems
1 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 Problems
2 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 Audiences

Part II: Constructing Packages of Claims
3 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 Conditions
4 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 People
5 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 Solutions

Part III: From Social Constructions to Social Actions
6 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 Change
7 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 Interventions
8 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 Problems

Appendix: Social Construction Theories and Issues
Justifications for Social Construction Perspectives on Social Problems Challenges to Constructionist Theory
References
Index