Overview

Seeing Social Problems: The Hidden Stories Behind Contemporary Issues shows students how to think about social problems in a new way, by carefully analyzing headline-making issues they are already familiar with and illustrating the connection between individual problems and larger social forces. Each chapter engages students in thinking about the world sociologically by focusing on a specific case study that represents a more general social problem. The chapters always start with the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and personal experiences that students bring to the case—what author Ira Silver refers to as conventional wisdom—and effectively demonstrate to them the “first wisdom” of sociology: “things are not what they seem.” In each instance, Silver shows how sociologists ask questions, gather empirical data, use multiple perspectives, and consider larger social forces to discover the “hidden stories” behind individual behavior.

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9781538181973

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Reviews

"""Seeing Social Problems, second edition presents qualitative and quantitative evidence to show that hot-button issues such as the environment, drugs, and immigration are more complicated than often thought. It also shows that policy responses to social problems are vastly different when you view them through a sociological rather than individual perspective."" --Elizabeth Clifford, Towson University ""Ira Silver has produced a timely and highly effective resource for developing the skills needed to grasp the importance of differing viewpoints and for demonstrating how they shape the ways we address social problems. The clear writing, impactful learning objectives, and relatable content set this text apart from all others."" --David N. Pellow, UC Santa Barbara ""Ira Silver's Seeing Social Problems is defined by distinctive, memorable chapter topics that address social problems which students are actively interested in. Those chapters are written in an eminently approachable manner that encourages students new to sociology to be inquisitive, reflecting on both what they knew and what they learn."" --Mike Ohsfeldt, Tarleton State University"

Author Information

Ira Silver is Professor of Sociology at Framingham State University, where he has taught since 2002. He also teaches during the summer at Wellesley College. He is the author or editor of four books: Giving Hope: How You Can Restore the American Dream (CreateSpace, 2013), Social Problems: Readings (Norton, 2008), Academic Street Smarts: Informal Professionalization of Graduate Students in Sociology (American Sociological Association, 2008), and Unequal Partnerships: Beyond the Rhetoric of Philanthropic Collaboration (Routledge, 2006).

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